Chapter 313: Prodigy Ranking

In the front courtyard of the Daoist temple, a young female cultivator dressed in a black dress with a sword box on her back rose into the air against the wind, preparing to head down the mountain.

However, just as she flew to the main gate of the Dao Courtyard, she felt a tremendous pressure force her to the ground out of thin air, and at the same time, a faint voice rang out in her Sea of Consciousness: "You'er, it is chaotic down the mountain recently, so do not go out."

The woman in black hurriedly turned around and bowed, saying: "Elder Baiyun, this disciple has nothing to do in her spare time and wanted to go down the mountain to clear her head. I will return shortly. Please rest assured, Elder, this disciple will absolutely not cause any trouble!"

With a flash of spiritual light, True Monarch Baiyun appeared out of thin air near the courtyard gate, looked at the woman in black, and said: "You should have already heard about today's events. Great Elder Chixia has ordered that no one is allowed to go down the mountain. You should just stay on the mountain and cultivate properly. Do not be willful; it is likely not as you think!"

The woman in black's body trembled slightly, her eyes instantly turned red, and she hurriedly lowered her head and whispered: "Disciple... this disciple knows, it is just that I feel upset, so I wanted to go down the mountain to clear my head."

True Monarch Baiyun reached out to pat the top of the woman in black's head, sighed with a kind face, and said: "Fate is destined by heaven; one must not force things. Sigh, fine, if you want to go, then go for a stroll, but return early!"

"Thank you, Elder!"

Tears rolled down the woman in black's eyes as she rose into the air, transformed into a cyan Escape Light, and whistled away.

True Monarch Baiyun stood at the courtyard gate with his hands behind his back, looking at the scattered gathering places of cultivators down the mountain and the bustling scene of Escape Lights filling the sky, and could not help but sigh again.

As powerful as they were, being a large Immortal Sect ranked in the top ten of the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance, they felt obstructed and thwarted in every aspect of their affairs.

Having lived for so many years, the casualties and immense pressure caused by this Nether Beast Catastrophe made even him feel as if he could not catch his breath.

Furthermore, he recalled what True Monarch Yuyang had speculated earlier; although it seemed like nonsense, he always had a feeling of unease.

If that miraculous youth named Xu Chen really appeared at the Immortal Alliance venue and caused trouble, how would it ever be resolved?

Additionally, Lan You being favored by the Thunder God Hall was also part of the behind-the-scenes trading of this Immortal Alliance Assembly. Although it was only a spur-of-the-moment request from the Thunder God Hall, for the sake of the big picture, Yuqing Hall had no choice but to agree.

Judging by Lan You's potential, this price paid by Yuqing Hall was immense.

But an arm cannot twist a thigh; facing a behemoth like the Thunder God Hall, which had a True Immortal presiding over it, Yuqing Hall could only grit its teeth and accept it.

"Sigh~"

True Monarch Baiyun sighed again, took a step out of the courtyard gate, and vanished without a trace.

……

Southeast of the foot of Langya Mountain.

Two streaks of Escape Light landed, revealing a man and a woman.

The man had a flat nose, small eyes, and a face full of pockmarks, wearing an extremely ordinary blue Daoist robe; he looked so plain that one would have no memory of him if he were thrown into a crowd.

The woman was different; she wore a simple yet elegant yellow dress, with a beautiful face and a graceful figure. Every movement she made carried a natural charm, causing passing cultivators to look at her a few extra times, and some even wanted to approach and strike up a conversation from time to time, but feeling the not-so-weak aura on the male cultivator, none dared to provoke them.

"Daoist Friend Xu, the rules on and off the mountain are different. There are many anti-flight arrays set up. Unless one is a Danyuan Realm cultivator or a disciple of a large Immortal Sect, one cannot fly. We can only walk up the mountain. Xuanhua Sect is ranked seventh in the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance, and their station is near the summit. We have to walk up slowly, otherwise, if we trigger the restrictions or are discovered by patrolling cultivators, we will be punished by the Immortal Alliance," Lin Qiu Ya explained in a low voice.

Xu Chen could not help but twitch his face a few times, and his round, ugly face became even uglier.

Langya Mountain was about a thousand zhang high; it was not particularly tall, but it faced the sea on two sides, the terrain was steep, and there was little soil and much rock, with sparse vegetation. Therefore, the entire mountain looked like a pitch-black iron mountain standing by the coast, and the path up the mountain was naturally steep and rugged, with many places having no path at all.

The two began to walk up the mountain like mortals.

Although the mountain road was difficult to travel, for cultivators, it was still relatively easy. In less than two quarters of an hour, the two reached the mountainside.

Stations established by Immortal Sects began to appear in this vicinity, with various temporarily constructed brick and stone buildings stretching out in layers. Everywhere were arrays flickering with spiritual light, rendering the entire mountainside toward the summit into a colorful, brilliant world.

As she walked, Lin Qiu Ya introduced the information of the sects they passed along the way to Xu Chen.

Xu Chen was very surprised. How could Lin Qiu Ya be so clear about the Immortal Sects at the entire venue? Upon asking in detail, he learned that this information could be bought from many cultivators and sect organizations down the mountain for only one or two Spirit Stones.

Lin Qiu Ya took out a handful of colorful Jade Slips.

Xu Chen took them and checked them with his Divine Sense, only then realizing the truth.

This information was extremely detailed, covering almost every aspect of the Shenzhou Immortal World, including various information about this Immortal Alliance Assembly, and even the smallest details were included.

"Not bad, not bad. This information is very complete. One or two Spirit Stones is indeed worth it. I didn't notice it when I was down the mountain just now."

Xu Chen nodded continuously while reading.

However, when he saw one of the Jade Slips, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, and at the same time, an expression of great surprise appeared on his face.

"Daoist Friend Xu, why have you stopped?" Lin Qiu Ya asked hurriedly.

"Daoist Friend Lin, who compiled this Profound Continent Heaven's Pride Ranking? Isn't this ranking a bit of a joke?" Xu Chen asked curiously.

Lin Qiu Ya was stunned for a moment and said: "This Prodigy Ranking was compiled by an organization called Juntian Pavilion. They are not a formal Immortal Sect, but a loose alliance composed of Immortal Sects and rogue cultivators of various sizes from many nations. They mainly provide information for various transactions. For the convenience of communication, they often compile various rankings, including the most common Spirit Material Ranking, Spirit Medicine Ranking, Spirit Beast Ranking, as well as Spirit Pill and Magic Treasure rankings. Basically, they all come from the hands of Juntian Pavilion. Even the Shenzhou Immortal Sect strength ranking is said to have been created by them, and it has been recognized by all Immortal Sects, including the Thunder God Hall. This time at the Immortal Alliance Assembly, they launched this Prodigy Ranking to build momentum in advance for the subsequent battle against the Nether Beasts and to prepare to open betting pools for the prodigies within."

"Betting pools?!" Xu Chen was stunned and even more surprised.

"That's right. Although Juntian Pavilion mainly provides transaction information, they also do some business, and gambling is one of them. Every person on this Prodigy Ranking is indeed extraordinary. Even if there are some problems with the ranking, it is definitely not a joke, so Daoist Friend Xu must not underestimate them."

Xu Chen thought to himself that he would certainly not underestimate them, and was even very interested.

Because the person ranked first on this Prodigy Ranking was someone he was very familiar with, and she was a woman—Lan You of Yuqing Hall.

The information recorded about Lan You was also quite comprehensive. Apart from a cold and pretty portrait he was very familiar with, showing her in a black dress with a sword box on her back, there was also some information about Lan You's growth experience.

Among them was the data that she had once fallen into the depths of the Nether Rift at Black Wind Ridge and met a True Immortal from Yuxu Palace.

In addition, there was a detailed introduction to Lan You's cultivation realm.

True Essence Late Stage, Soul strength comparable to the Danyuan Realm, a dantian size several times that of genius cultivators of the same generation, and a formidable physical body.

Precisely because of her aptitude and strength, which far exceeded her peers, she was ranked at the top of the Prodigy Ranking, and the words "Heaven Grade" were marked after her name.

There were exactly one hundred people on the ranking, and only Lan You was marked with these two words, which showed how highly the person who compiled this list regarded her.

Xu Chen naturally knew the reason for Lan You's heaven-defying aptitude; it was because she had undergone two life-and-death transformations and reinforcements with him using the Grand Void Demon Refining Art.

But even so, he did not think Lan You's strength could be ranked first on this list, because the top ten that followed were almost all Danyuan Realm powerhouses of the younger generation.

These people were all under thirty years old.

And what surprised him the most was that Yuqing Hall alone had three people on the list.

Apart from Lan You, there was another name he was familiar with: Yi Zhen, age twenty-seven, Danyuan Realm Early Stage, ranked fifth.

There was also someone named Song Qingzhi, age twenty-nine, ranked tenth.

In other words, out of the top ten on this list, Yuqing Hall occupied three seats.

"Yi Zhen actually succeeded in forming a Golden Core so quickly." Xu Chen was very surprised.

Although he did not know that person named Song Qingzhi, he had heard the name when he stayed at Yuqing Hall for more than half a month; he was also a Core Disciple of the inner sect and was called Fourth Senior Brother by Lan You.

In an instant, he seemed to understand why Supreme Elder True Monarch Xuan Chen was detained by the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance, and he also understood more clearly why the Xuanhua Sect had forcibly abducted the two senior sisters.

Look at the rankings.

Yuqing Hall ranks at the bottom of the ten great Immortal Sects in the Divine Continent, yet it holds the top spot on the Prodigy Ranking, occupying three of the top ten seats, more than any of the five super sects.

Ranked second is a twenty-five-year-old male cultivator named Su Mo, a Disciple of Taiqing Palace.

Third is a male cultivator named Zhang Ting, also twenty-five years old, a Disciple of Thunder God Hall.

Fourth is a male cultivator named Feng Zhangqing, twenty-six years old, a Disciple of Spirit Treasure Temple.

Since the Immortal World of the Divine Continent recognizes the various rankings of Juntian Pavilion, they must certainly care a great deal about the rankings within the Prodigy Ranking; the order of these young-generation genius Disciples on the list will also greatly influence the entire sect's status within the Immortal Alliance, especially its reputation among the common people.

Great cultivators might not care about such superficial things, but for young Disciples still in the stage of Refining Essence into Qi and full of youthful vigor, face and ranking are very important.

Therefore, the competition for the rankings on the list must be extremely intense.

Thus, the fact that this list could be successfully released and widely circulated, and that Disciples of the major sects did not engage in fierce fighting over it, shows that this list still possesses a certain degree of authenticity and authority.

According to the strength of the Immortal Alliance sects, the young Disciples of the top ten sects should all be able to make the list without issue; even if there are slight changes or discrepancies, the shifts in ranking are minimal, as a sect's strength does not rely solely on its top-tier great cultivators, but rather on its overall strength from top to bottom, including cultivation techniques, Spirit Roots, resources, Magic Treasures, Dao arts, cultivation speed, and so on.

It is precisely because of the sudden emergence of the Yuqing Hall Disciples that the rankings of Disciples from other sects have been pushed back significantly; previously, the top ten were contested by the five super sects, but this time they couldn't even hold onto the first place, and the Kongtong Mountain of Qin Kingdom and Junwang Hall of Wuguo didn't even make the top five—the highest-ranked Disciple of Kongtong Mountain is in sixth place, while Junwang Hall is ranked all the way down at ninth.

And the sudden rise of Yuqing Hall is inevitably related to the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill.

(End of this chapter)