Chapter 313: Final Trial

Fei Si cooperated actively. In his view: the Young Guest was obviously an elite of the Kong Sect, otherwise, in the battle with Qi Bai, the latter could not have risked his life to rescue Sun Lingtong.

The Kong Sect was a common enemy of both Zhu Zhu Xuanji and Meng Kui. If they wanted to investigate the Kong Sect, they could also drag the Zhu family's energy and time, simply killing two birds with one stone, so why not cooperate actively?

Two days later.

Zhu Zhen rushed to find Zhu Zhu Xuanji and told him about his two achievements.

"The City Lord's Mansion discovered many floating cloud threads from the Up-and-Down As-You-Wish Ropes. After investigation, it was found that some of the thread varieties were specialties of the Flying Cloud Kingdom."

"Although I didn't find any clues about the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon, I found that a large number of cultivators were secretly acting, trying every means to contact the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit. After my subsequent investigation, it was confirmed that these cultivators all came from the Meng family!"

Zhu Zhu Xuanji frowned tightly.

Zhu Zhen's first achievement didn't make Zhu Zhu Xuanji pay attention; at most, it was just a side piece of evidence.

Zhu Zhen's second discovery was the key point.

Zhu Zhu Xuanji only pondered for a moment before immediately understanding: "It seems that Meng Kui has long known about the catty of the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit."

"In that case, I'm afraid he has always been restrained and has never gone all out to fight against the red flame beast tide!"

Meng Kui relied on the method of deduction to perceive the secret of the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit from the luck and had been hiding it until now.

Now, Zhu Zhu Xuanji took a detour through investigating the No. 2 Gold Furnace and glimpsed a part of the truth about Meng Kui.

"Good, good, good, as expected of the wise general of the Meng family!" Zhu Zhu Xuanji looked up at the heavy clouds and mist above his head.

At this moment, his heart was full of anger: "These vassal families!"

But immediately, Zhu Zhu Xuanji suppressed this anger to the bottom of his heart.

He asked Zhu Zhen to continue to explore the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon, while he himself flew a letter to contact Meng Kui, requesting a meeting.

Meng Kui took action, met Zhu Zhu Xuanji, and came to see him.

Nowadays, two Jin Dan-level red flame beasts participated in the beast tide, appearing from time to time. The Lava Xian Gong had almost become an isolated island.

Zhu Zhu Xuanji, a Jin Dan-level cultivator, wanted to enter and leave the Lava Xian Gong alone, so he had to take risks.

Meng Kui took action to protect him, so he could leave safely.

Seeing Meng Kui, Zhu Zhu Xuanji pretended not to discover Meng Kui's little actions, his face heavy, and opened his mouth to say that the situation was critical, and the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit had a different heart and wanted to escape.

Meng Kui naturally showed astonishment, but in his heart, he was suddenly enlightened, guessing that Zhu Zhu Xuanji probably knew his little actions.

Zhu Zhu Xuanji knew Meng Kui's little actions and pretended not to know.

Meng Kui guessed that Zhu Zhu Xuanji already knew his little actions and also pretended not to know.

Both sides knew the other was acting, and both were willing to continue acting.

Zhu Zhu Xuanji: "Now the volcano is erupting, and it is as dangerous as a pile of eggs. If one is not careful, the entire Fire Persimmon Xiancheng and countless city residents will be destroyed."

"The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit bombarding the Fire Persimmon Mountain is precisely using the overall situation to pressure us, creating the possibility for it to escape from prison."

"From today on, the Absolute Domain of Locking Space should be activated, strictly prohibiting all teleportation methods within a radius of ten miles. Open the ability to observe heaven and earth in the magic array, and mark all Jin Dan-level existences to prevent Jin Dan beasts from launching a surprise attack on Fire Persimmon Xiancheng." 【31

Meng Kui revealed a trace of hesitation: "The Void-Locking Domain and the Heaven-Earth Insight are the trump card means of the city-protecting grand array. If deployed too early, the spirit stone consumption will be too great, and we will fall into a dangerous predicament of lacking follow-up power. Lord Zhu, how did you judge that we should use such means at this time?"

Zhu Zhu Xuanji smiled slightly, took out a royal order, and took the initiative to display it: "I have no need to explain to you. Lord Meng, you only need to cooperate."

Meng Kui's pupils shrank slightly; even as a Nascent Soul level cultivator, he could not suppress a royal order.

The Meng family was one of the pillars of the Nandou Kingdom, and Meng Kui was a high-ranking court official; naturally, he had many constraints held in the hands of the Zhu family's royal house.

The royal order in Zhu Zhu Xuanji's hand was genuine; seeing the token was like seeing the monarch. Meng Kui did not want to defy it and sighed: "I have a different opinion from Lord Zhu, but since you insist on this and have even brought out the royal order, I shall act according to the order."

"It is just that, once this matter of the Lava Xian Gong is finished, this old man will certainly report the details; I hope Lord Zhu Zhu Xuanji will not take offense."

"That is only natural." As Zhu Zhu Xuanji spoke, the royal order in his hand officially took effect, immediately turning into flying dust and dissipating with the wind.

Royal orders are quite precious and possess powerful utility.

Use it once, and one is consumed.

But this arrangement by Zhu Zhu Xuanji was to find every possible way to block the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon. He certainly knew that forcibly activating the city-protecting magic array consumed a great deal and was very risky, but he had no choice but to do so!

As for the matter concerning the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon, Zhu Zhu Xuanji did not mention a single word of it to Meng Kui.

Previously, Meng Kui had hidden the secret of the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit from him. Now, Zhu Zhu Xuanji was hiding the existence of the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon from Meng Kui. To make both sides open, honest, and sincerely cooperate was not impossible, but it was indeed too difficult.

Just as Zhu Zhu Xuanji had anticipated, the second round of the palace examination had long since entered its final stages, and after the twenty-seventh question, its end was announced.

The list of battle records for the second round of the palace examination was arranged on the spot.

None of the cultivators felt surprised.

They usually participated in the palace examination while carefully keeping statistics.

Because for most of the time, the ten arenas were transparent and visible, and there were cultivators who had byes, standing under the platforms to observe comprehensively. Therefore, the results of the vast majority of arena duels could be checked.

Even if they couldn't investigate, they could roughly calculate them through the strength gap between the two sides.

What the cultivators didn't know was how the battle records of the second round of the palace examination were combined with the current total ranking.

They were unclear about what proportion the second round of the palace examination's battle records occupied in the total score, or how it was specifically calculated.

The truly tense moment had arrived.

The total score ranking list was freshly released!

First place, Zhu Zhu Xuanji.

Second place, Shu Zhongjun.

Third place, Zheng Danlian.

Fourth place, Meng family cultivator A.

Fifth place, Zheng Shuanggou.

Sixth place, Purple Firmament Pavilion Golden Core true disciple.

Seventh place, Ning Jiufan.

Eighth place, Yang Chanyu.

Ninth place, Entry Standard.

Tenth place, Zhou Nongying.

Eleventh place, Unlike Ning Zhuo.

Twelfth place, Meng Chong.

Thirteenth place, Song Fuli.

According to what was said in the second round of the palace examination, ten more people were eliminated, leaving only thirteen to enter the third round of the palace examination.

Once the results came out, the cultivators on the main hall plaza had varied expressions.

Those who failed the list had heavy expressions, while those who made the list relaxed, exhaling turbid air, no longer so tense.

Studying this ranking list carefully would lead to many discoveries.

First place is Zhu Zhu Xuanji, which everyone had long anticipated. Zhu Zhu Xuanji originally had the highest merit, and he also had the most wins in the second round of the palace examination.

Second place is Shu Zhongjun, which is also understandable. After all, in the previous merit ranking list, Shu Zhongjun was already among the best. This time, he also performed very well in the second round of the palace examination, only losing more to Zhu Zhu Xuanji.

The two Golden Cores of the Zheng family ranked third and fifth; they are worthy of being the Zheng family, which focuses on artifact refining, as they have many advantages in manufacturing mechanisms.

Representing the Meng family, there was only the fourth-place external aid cultivator A, and the twelfth-place Qi Condensation genius Meng Chong, who looked quite fatigued.

The Purple Firmament Pavilion Golden Core true disciple occupied the sixth place on the list, and no one was surprised. The Purple Firmament Pavilion and the Grand Clarity Palace are both super sects; since they could send Golden Core true disciples to compete for the position of Palace Master, they must have carefully selected their people.

From the Purple Firmament Pavilion's Golden Core true disciple, one could infer that the Grand Clarity Palace's true disciple, if he hadn't died, would likely have been on the list as well. In this respect, many cultivators on the list should thank Zheng Danlian.

Ning Jiufan and Unlike Ning Zhuo both made the list. Entry Standard and Yang Chanyu were the same. In terms of total score ranking, the Non-Empty Gate and the Ning family were about the same.

Some cultivators saw this and sighed that Unlike Ning Zhuo had performed a great service. In the latter half, he severely wounded the Golden Blood Battle Ape, Yuan Dasheng, so that Entry Standard Sun Lingtong's battle record plummeted, eventually only mixing into ninth place.

Zhou Nongying fell to tenth place. This was a bit awkward.

From this point of view, the Zhou family should have suffered the greatest losses in the second round of the palace examination. Zhou Zhu and Zhou Zeshen were both eliminated, leaving only one Golden Core seedling.

In fact, many Golden Core cultivators were also eliminated.

For example, Zhu Zhen of the royal Zhu family. He also realized that he had been eliminated, withdrew in advance, and did not put energy into the palace examination, but actively completed the tasks entrusted by Zhu Zhu Xuanji.

Or for example, the two Golden Core cultivators among the Cloud Merchants were also brushed off.

Among the Meng family Golden Cores, many were also eliminated. The second round of the palace examination revolved around mechanisms, and all cultivators' cultivation bases were suppressed to the Qi Condensation level, weakening the cultivation differences to the extreme.

Overall, most were Golden Core level cultivators; there was only one Foundation Establishment cultivator—Sun Lingtong; and only Unlike Ning Zhuo and Meng Chong were Qi Condensation cultivators.

Meng Chong possessed immortal aptitude, which was displayed quite a lot in the second round of the palace examination. On the arena, many of his opponents took the initiative to admit defeat, and the Meng family's Golden Core cultivators were the same.

From this point of view, perhaps it was precisely because they supported Meng Chong that the Meng family's Golden Core strength suffered heavy losses.

Unlike Ning Zhuo's ranking was actually higher than Meng Chong's.

The cultivators were surprised at first glance, but soon felt relieved.

Unlike Ning Zhuo showed great style in the second round of the palace examination. Severely wounding the Golden Blood Battle Ape, Yuan Dasheng, left a deep impression on people. The Five Elements Pawns he produced looked unremarkable, but were actually balanced, with no obvious shortcomings in any aspect. Many people lost to Unlike Ning Zhuo; as long as they had competed with him, they could truly appreciate that this genius youth was not simple.

Considering that Unlike Ning Zhuo's aptitude had not been measured, and even the immortal-aptitude Meng Chong was suppressed, everyone increased their room for imagination regarding Unlike Ning Zhuo's aptitude.

"The Ning family has produced an excellent junior."

"Although the Ning family's main and branch lineages have deep contradictions, Unlike Ning Zhuo has already gained Ning Jiufan's attention, and his future prospects are limitless!"

"He has aptitude; in a few decades or a hundred years, he will definitely be an important high-level figure in Fire Persimmon Xiancheng."

Unlike Ning Zhuo's reputation soared.

And what the public didn't know was that Unlike Ning Zhuo's true ranking was even higher.

Just one day later, the teleportation light circle brought the thirteen cultivators back to the plaza in front of the main hall.

"The third round of the palace examination begins!"

Boom.

In the astonished gazes of everyone, the main hall gate slowly opened after several hundred years.

The entrance was filled with Five Elements spiritual energy, weaving into a colorful vortex of spiritual energy.

A powerful force erupted from the vortex, sucking all the cultivators in.