Chapter 313: Final Examination

Fei Si cooperated actively. In his view: the Pigtail Guest was obviously an elite of the Un-Empty Gate; otherwise, in the battle with Qi Bai, the latter could not have risked his life to rescue Sun Lingtong.

The Un-Empty Gate was a common enemy of both Zhu Xuanji and Meng Kui. If they wanted to investigate the Un-Empty Gate and could also drag out the energy and time of the Zhu family, it was killing two birds with one stone, so why wouldn't he cooperate actively?

Two days later.

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

"The City Lord's Mansion discovered many floating cloud threads from the Up-Down As-You-Wish Rope. 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 acting secretly, 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 Xuanji's brows immediately furrowed.

Zhu Zhen's first achievement did not make Zhu Xuanji pay attention; at most, it was a side-glance corroboration.

Zhu Zhen's second discovery was the key point.

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 restraining himself 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 Xuanji took a detour by investigating the No. 2 Golden Furnace and peeked into a part of the truth about Meng Kui.

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

At this moment, his heart was full of anger: "These feudal lords!"

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

He asked Zhu Zhen to continue searching for 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 Xuanji, and came to see him.

Now, there were two Yuan Ying-level red flame demon beasts participating in the beast tide, appearing from time to time. The Lava Immortal Palace had almost become an isolated island.

Zhu Xuanji, a Jin Dan level, wanted to enter and leave the Lava Immortal Palace alone, so he had to take risks.

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

Zhu Xuanji met Meng Kui, pretending that he hadn't discovered Meng Kui's little actions, his face heavy, and he said that the situation was critical, and the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit had a different heart and wanted to escape.

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

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

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

Both sides knew the other was performing, and both were willing to perform.

Zhu Xuanji: "Now the volcano is erupting, as dangerous as a pile of eggs, if one is not careful, the entire Immortal City, countless citizens will have the disaster of destruction."

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

"From today on, the Void-Locking Domain shall be locked, and all teleportation methods within a

Meng Kui revealed a trace of hesitation: "The Void-Locking Domain and the Heaven-Piercing 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 situation of lacking follow-up power. Lord Zhu, how did you judge that we should use such means at this time?"

Zhu Xuanji smiled slightly, took out a royal decree, and proactively displayed it: "I have no need to explain to you. Lord Meng, you only need to cooperate."

Meng Kui's pupils shrank slightly; even at the Nascent Soul level, one could not suppress a royal decree.

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

The royal decree in 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 you, Lord Zhu, but since you insist on this and have even brought out the royal decree, I shall act according to the order."

"It is just that once this matter of the Lava Immortal Palace is concluded, this old man will certainly report the details. I hope Lord Zhu Xuanji will not take offense."

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

A royal decree is extremely precious and possesses powerful effects.

Use it once, and one is consumed.

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

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

Previously, Meng Kui had hidden the secret of the Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit from him. Now, Zhu Xuanji was hiding the existence of the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon from Meng Kui. It was not impossible to have both sides be open and sincere in their cooperation, but it was indeed too difficult.

Just as Zhu Xuanji had anticipated, the second round of the palace examination had long since entered its final stages, and after the twenty-seventh test question, its conclusion 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 carefully tallied the results while participating in the palace examination.

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 could not be checked, one could roughly calculate them through the strength gap between the two sides.

What the cultivators did not know was how the battle records of the second round of the palace examination were combined with the current overall ranking.

They were unclear about what proportion the second round of the palace examination accounted for in the total score and how it was specifically calculated.

The truly tense moment had arrived.

The overall ranking list was freshly released!

First place, Zhu Xuanji.

Second place, Shuzhong Jun.

Third place, Zheng Danlian.

Fourth place, Meng family cultivator A.

Fifth place, Zheng Shuanggou.

Sixth place, Purple Firmament Pavilion Jin Dan true disciple.

Seventh place, Ning Jiufan.

Eighth place, Yang Chanyu.

Ninth place, Entrance Standard.

Tenth place, Zhou Nongying.

Eleventh place, 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.

If one carefully studied this ranking list, one would make many discoveries.

First place is Zhu Xuanji, which everyone had long anticipated. 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 Shuzhong Jun, which is also understandable. After all, in the previous merit ranking list, Shuzhong Jun was already at the forefront. This time, he also performed very well in the second round of the palace examination, only losing more to Zhu Xuanji.

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

The cultivators representing the Meng family only had the fourth-place external aid cultivator A and the twelfth-place Qi Refining genius Meng Chong, who appeared quite fatigued.

The Purple Firmament Pavilion Jin Dan 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-large sects; since they could send Jin Dan true disciples to compete for the position of Palace Master, they must have carefully selected their people.

From the Purple Firmament Pavilion's Jin Dan true disciple, one could infer that the Grand Clarity Palace's true disciple, if he had not died, would likely also be on the list. In this regard, many cultivators on the list should thank Zheng Danlian.

Ning Jiufan and Ning Zhuo both made the list. Entrance Standard and Yang Chanyu were the same. In terms of overall performance ranking, the Non-Empty Gate and the Ning family were about the same.

Some cultivators saw this and sighed that Ning Zhuo had made a great contribution. In the latter half, he severely damaged the Golden Blood Battle Ape · Dasheng, so much so that Entrance Standard Sun Lingtong's battle record plummeted, eventually only managing to reach 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 Jin Dan seedling.

In fact, many Jin Dan cultivators were also eliminated.

For example, Zhu Zhen of the royal Zhu family. He also realized the result of his elimination, withdrew early, and did not invest energy in the palace examination, but instead actively completed the tasks entrusted by Zhu Xuanji.

Or for example, the two Jin Dan cultivators among the Cloud Merchants were also brushed off.

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

Overall, most were Jin Dan level cultivators; there was only one Foundation Establishment cultivator—Sun Lingtong, and only two Qi Refining stage cultivators—Ning Zhuo and Meng Chong.

Meng Chong possessed Immortal Talent, which was shown quite a lot in the second round of the palace examination. On the arena, many of his opponents voluntarily conceded, as did the Meng family's Jin Dan cultivators.

From this point of view, perhaps it was precisely because they supported Meng Chong that the Meng family's Jin Dan power suffered quite a lot of damage.

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

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

Ning Zhuo showed off his style in the second round of the palace examination. He severely injured the Golden Blood Battle Ape · Dasheng, leaving a deep impression. The Five Elements Pawns he created looked unremarkable, but were actually balanced, with no obvious shortcomings in any aspect. There were not a few who lost to Ning Zhuo; as long as they had competed with him, they could truly appreciate that this genius youth was not simple.

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

"The Ning family has produced an excellent descendant."

"Although the conflicts between the Ning family's main and branch lines are deep, Ning Zhuo has already gained Ning Jiufan's attention, and his future prospects are limitless!"

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

Ning Zhuo's reputation soared.

And what the public did not know was that Ning Zhuo's true ranking was even higher.

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

"The third round of the palace examination begins!"

Boom.

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

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

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