10,000x Cultivation: I Gain Power by Adopting Training Acolytes

Outside Southern Wind Forest, the ranking monument flickered ominously:

1st: South Mountain Sect's Grand Elder - 301 pts

2nd: South Mountain Sect's Third Elder - 251 pts

...

10th: South Mountain Sect's Twelfth Elder - 188 pts

11th: Lingxian Sect's Ninth Elder - 179 pts

"Pathetic! Not a single Lingxian elder in the top ten!" A spectator spat.

"That clown Zhang Yun was briefly third earlier—probably stumbled upon a nest of weaklings!" Another sneered.

Lingxian disciples flushed with humiliation. Their sect's highest scorer remained the infamous "Eccentric Elder," while even their Grand Elder trailed by nearly 200 points. Sect Master Ling's knuckles whitened against his armrest—this wasn't mere defeat, but slaughter.

South Mountain's Sect Master shot him a viper's smile. Everything proceeded as planned.

Then—

"Look! Zhang Yun's score's moving!"

Gasps rippled through the crowd. The monument blazed as "Lingxian Ninth Elder" skyrocketed:

178... 210... 288...

Digits cascaded like waterfall numerals until—

1st: Lingxian Sect's Ninth Elder - 335 pts​

The square plunged into stunned silence.

"Impossible!" South Mountain's Sect Master surged forward, veins bulging. His gaze darted to the monument's bottom—"31st: South Mountain Eighth Elder - 0 pts"—and realization struck. "That blundering fool Qiu Lue..."

Sect Master Ling's gloom dissolved into a tiger's grin. However Zhang did it, this was a lifeline.

Inside the Forest​

Schlikt!

Zhang Yun wiped bat blood from his blade. The cavern floor writhed with twitching chiropteran corpses—over fifty Qi Refining Seventh-Level Bloodsucking Bats.

Xu Ming and Wu Xiaopang gaped at the carnage. "Master... you slaughtered these alone?"

"Efficiency matters." Zhang Yun sheathed his sword, eyeing the cavern's ink-black depths. "We'll clear the nest."

As disciples stored carcasses, Zhang checked his bracelet—335 points blazed crimson. A feral smile tugged his lips. Let the monument burn.