Chapter 196 - 195: Rankings
VOID ASCENSION BATTLEFIELD - PRELIMINARY RANKINGS (DAY 27)
1. Xuan Mingzhe (Xuan Province) - 110 Tokens
2. Jiang Wan (Jiang Province) - 83 Tokens
3. Ye Ao (Ye Province) - 78 Tokens
4. Feng Yao (Feng Province) - 70 Tokens
5. Ling Chuan (Ling Province) - 66 Tokens
6. Chu Kuang (Chu Province) - 60 Tokens
...
Twenty-seven days had passed within the pocket realm. In the outside world, a little over a day had elapsed, bringing the grand amphitheater into the cool embrace of dawn.
The atmosphere in the Grand Court had settled into a comfortable rhythm. The initial anticipation surrounding the crucible had long since faded, replaced by the expected and absolute validation that the Six Peerless Geniuses were performing exactly as anticipated.
In the lavish, elevated pavilions reserved for the Upper Division, a group of paramount sect masters and provincial elders sat around tables carved from jade, sipping wine brewed from thousand-year spiritual peaches.
"Look at the disparity," chuckled an elder of the Xuan Province, his beard stroking the rim of his jade cup. He gestured lazily toward the monolith. "Xuan Mingzhe sits at one hundred and ten tokens. He has completely pacified the center of the battlefield. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t even drawn a weapon in fifteen days. He simply projects his Gravity Dao Intent, and the Lower Division rats collapse before they even enter his visual range. A true Half-Step Soul Transformation expert."
"Indeed," agreed a sword-master from the Jiang Province, his eyes gleaming with pride as he looked at the second name on the list. "But do not discount our Jiang Wan. Eighty-three tokens, and he walks the path of the Absolute Severance Sword Intent. He is treating this crucible as a mere walking meditation. The sword only knows truth, and the truth is that the rest of these provinces are utterly beneath him."
A heavily scarred warlord from the Ye Province snorted, slamming his wine cup down. "Meditation is for monks! Look at Ye Ao! Seventy-eight tokens, and he took them through sheer conquest! He doesn’t wait for them to surrender; he beats the arrogance out of them with his bare hands. That is the true spirit of the martial path!"
"And what of the Chu Province?" an elder from a neutral sect inquired, glancing toward the pavilion where the Chu Provincial Lord sat surrounded by his fierce lieutenants. "Chu Kuang has been sitting at exactly sixty tokens for awhile. He hasn’t moved up or down. Is he resting?"
The Chu Province elders puffed their chests out, their faces flushed with absolute confidence.
"Resting? Fools," a Chu sect master sneered condescendingly. "Young Master Chu Kuang does not rest. He is consolidating his might. Sixty tokens are more than enough to secure a high seed in the main bracket after the two preliminary rounds. He is using the temporal dilation of the pocket realm to perfect his cultivation. When he emerges, his Dao Resolve will be so terrifying that even Xuan Mingzhe will have no choice but to treat him as an equal. The Six Peerless Geniuses are the undisputed masters of this generation. Everyone else is merely waiting to be eliminated."
The surrounding elders nodded in fervent agreement. The consensus was absolute. In their eyes, the top six spots were already firmly locked in. No other cultivator could even fathom bridging the enormous gap that separated them from the Six Peerless Geniuses.
No one mentioned Lin Yuan. No one mentioned the Zhao Province. To the Upper Division, the man who had invoked the Ascension Clause and appeared on the rankings with a single token was nothing more than a footnote in a grand epic.
Until the monolith chimed.
It was a sharp sound that echoed across the entire Grand Court, signaling a shift in the rankings.
Conversations naturally tapered off. Thousands of cultivators casually lifted their eyes, expecting to see Jiang Wan and Ye Ao trade places, or perhaps Feng Yao’s count ticking upward by one or two.
Instead, they watched the light on the monolith violently flicker.
The name occupying the sixth slot—Chu Kuang—shimmered, dissolved, and was abruptly thrown off the top of the board entirely, plummeting down into the lower ranks.
In its place, a new name materialized, burning with a blinding brilliance.
VOID ASCENSION BATTLEFIELD - PRELIMINARY RANKINGS (DAY 27)
1. Xuan Mingzhe (Xuan Province) - 110 Tokens
2. Jiang Wan (Jiang Province) - 83 Tokens
3. Ye Ao (Ye Province) - 78 Tokens
4. Feng Yao (Feng Province) - 70 Tokens
5. Ling Chuan (Ling Province) - 66 Tokens
6. Lin Yuan (Zhao Province) - 61 Tokens
...
For ten long, agonizing seconds, the Grand Court was plunged into a silence so absolute, so profound, that one could hear the ashes shifting in the incense burners.
Then, the arena shook. physically trembling as tens of thousands of cultivators simultaneously leaped to their feet, their aura flaring out of control in sheer shock. A deafening, and chaotic roar erupted, tearing through the air like a volcanic eruption.
"What?!"
"Impossible!"
"Lin Yuan? The rat from the Zhao Province?! He jumped from one token to sixty-one?!"
"Where is Chu Kuang?! Look at the bottom of the list! Chu Kuang has zero tokens! Zero!"
"He took them! He robbed the heir of the Chu Province blind!"
The sheer impossibility short-circuited the minds of the Central Continent elites. An Early-Stage Spirit Severing cultivator had just stripped a monster at the peerless Stage of every single token he possessed.
In the Zhao Province pavilion, Lord Zhao Shenming slowly stood up. The heavy wine cup in his hand cracked, spider-webbing under the sudden, immense pressure of his grip. He stared at the glowing name on the monolith, his heart hammering against his ribs like a war drum.
Who on earth is Lin Yuan? Lord Zhao thought, his mind reeling. I brought a genius into my house... but this is not a genius. This is.... Chu Kuang is at the peerless stage! How did he do this? How did he defeat Chu Kuang?
A/N: Thanks for reading, more peak scenes loading!!!