LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 213: Ranking
Chapter 213: Ranking
Xu Lian bid farewell and left for the Sequence Hall.
The Sequence Hall was in charge of matters related to direct disciples, including evaluations, cultivation progress, rankings, and more.
The elder in charge of the Sequence Hall was a stern old woman. After Xu Lian bowed and explained his purpose, she raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
“You’ve only just joined the sect today. Given your strength, passing the assessments for miscellaneous disciples, outer sect disciples, and inner sect disciples is indeed simple. However, it’s not so easy to be promoted from a true disciple to a direct disciple. You have to master a martial arts secret technique from an elder. Have you already learned one so quickly?”
Xu Lian had no problem demonstrating his abilities in front of Gu Xiangzhen’s master, as they were on the same side. However, he didn’t want to appear too shocking in front of this old woman.
Thus, he replied, “Elder Untraceable Wanderer taught me some escape techniques. Since I’ve studied escape techniques before, I have a foundation, so I picked it up relatively quickly.”
The old woman nodded. “I see. Then demonstrate it for me.”
Xu Lian proceeded to showcase the escape techniques he had learned, deliberately making his movements appear a bit clumsy.
After watching, the old woman gave her evaluation. “You haven’t mastered it yet, but you have grasped the basics of the Five Element Escape Techniques. It seems you’ve indeed received Elder Cheng Pu’s true teachings.”
Cheng Pu? Xu Lian finally learned the name of Gu Xiangzhen’s master – now his master as well.
The old woman handed him a palm-sized identity token. “As the elder of the Sequence Hall, I grant you access to the Second Sequence.”
Xu Lian took the token and saw the number “218” engraved on it.
The old woman explained, “You are the 218th genius of the Second Sequence among the younger generation of the Heavenly Mystic Sacred Land. This number also represents your rank. The rank of the geniuses of the Sequence is not fixed. You can challenge each other at any time, and the rankings are updated monthly. The higher your rank, the more resources you’ll get from the Sacred Land.”
Xu Lian was slightly surprised. The Second Sequence of the younger generation in a sacred land already had over 200 geniuses. The First Sequence probably had fewer, but over generations, the number would be staggering.
Xue Wuyi, who had participated in the Yin Dynasty royal capital’s consort selection competition, was a Second Sequence genius from the Blood Sea Sacred Land. With only the ninth stage of Grandmaster rank and not yet reaching the level of Great Grandmaster, it seemed that Xue Wuyi’s ranking in the Blood Sea Sacred Land’s Second Sequence wasn’t high.
That was why he had lowered himself to participate in the Yin Dynasty’s consort selection, hoping to climb the ranks by leveraging the Yin Dynasty’s royal family connections.
Thinking carefully, Xu Lian had never truly competed with a Sequence genius from a “sacred land-level” major power. In the Hundred Boats Secret Realm, although he had encountered some Sequence geniuses, they had all been suppressed by the laws of the divine realm, leaving them in a weakened state. They hadn’t been able to display their true strength.
“Your current rank is 218. You can receive 3 million Spirit Stones every month. This is the minimum monthly allowance for Second Sequence geniuses,” the old woman said. “You can challenge other Second Sequence geniuses. If you defeat them, you can swap identity tokens with them and receive a higher monthly allowance”.
Three million Spirit Stones per month? Not bad for a basic allowance…
Xu Lian had no intention of challenging other Second Sequence geniuses. With the laws of the Divine Realm blessing him and the protection of the powerful figures above him, he was already in the spotlight too much.
If he were to climb the rankings of the Second Sequence and suppress other geniuses, it would undoubtedly breed resentment. While he wasn’t afraid of that, there was no need for it. After all, he already had over 30 billion Spirit Stones and wouldn’t lack resources for a long time.
As if reading his thoughts, the old woman said, “Since you’ve gained the favor of that person above, you probably don’t lack cultivation resources. However, you still need to participate in the Second Sequence ranking competition. Only through competition can you improve yourself.
According to tradition, Second Sequence geniuses must gather once a month. I am going to inspect your cultivation progress, and the best way to do that is to directly assign challenges.”
Monthly inspection and assigned challenges?
Xu Lian thought to himself that he could just go easy during the challenges.
The old woman added, “Don’t think about fooling me. My eyes are sharp. Anyone who dares to slack off will be punished, regardless of their background or connections.”
“…” Xu Lian wondered if she had cultivated some kind of mind reading technique.
The old woman said, “That’s right. I can indeed sense what you’re thinking.”
Holy… Xu Lian quickly cupped his hands and bid her farewell. If she kept sensing his thoughts, it would be trouble.
Returning to his residence on the small world tree, he began focusing on his efforts to have descendants.
A few days later, during his free time, he found Gu Xiangzhen to arrange for Lin Bufeng, Fang Shaoze, and Qin Liu.
Gu Xiangzhen smiled. “You are now a genius disciple of the Second Sequence. You can act as their recommender and bring them into the sect.”
Understanding this, Xu Lian took Lin Bufeng, Fang Shaoze, and Qin Liu to complete the registration process. Then, he brought them to the gathering place for miscellaneous disciples and had the master in charge accept them.
Qin Liu was originally a tomb robber who had only learned some basic martial arts at a martial arts school. Fang Shaoze had only studied some crude family martial arts, and Lin Bufeng had never learned any martial arts at all, having only awakened his bloodline. The three of them had poor foundations, so starting as miscellaneous disciples in the sacred land and cultivating from scratch was suitable.
The three of them were very happy. Although miscellaneous disciples usually had to do some work, this was a first-class sacred land of a major power. Once they became disciples here, they were sure to enter the cultivation path.
“Work hard and study well. I have high hopes for you.”
Xu Lian encouraged them with a few words before returning home to continue his efforts to have descendants.
In terms of potential, Lin Bufeng would undoubtedly achieve the most in the future, given his Heavenly Serpent bloodline, which was immeasurable.
However, cultivation was unpredictable. Maybe Fang Shaoze and Qin Liu also had good talents. It was hard to tell because they hadn’t really started the cultivation path yet, and their talent wasn’t clear.
Aside from his efforts to have descendants, Xu Lian had nothing else to do, yet he was still incredibly busy every day because of the sheer number of visitors.
No matter where you were, there were always people trying to cut corners and climb the social ladder. Even the sacred land wasn’t immune to this, and in fact, it placed even more emphasis on connections than ordinary cultivators.
To avoid offending people, Xu Lian initially tried to receive as many visitors as possible. But after days of this, it became unbearable, severely affecting his “cultivation”.
Thus, he hung a sign at his door: “Cultivation behind closed doors. Do not disturb…”
This brought some peace, but there were still some female relatives in the sacred land who kept trying to befriend the women in his household. This was unavoidable, as the women in his home weren’t lifeless and also needed to make new friends.
It should be mentioned that during these visits, Xu Lian tried to gather information about the identity of “that person above.” However, no one seemed to know, only that he had connections with the person above.