Chapter 694: Highest

She rubbed her eyes again, took a careful look, and confirmed she hadn't misread it.

"Master, he, he..."

Yue Xi turned to look at Li Tiemu, pointing at the black immortal stele, somewhat incoherent and unable to comprehend.

A difference of over three thousand ranks—it overturned her understanding.

Li Tiemu had long anticipated they would be shocked by Li Hao's rank. He waved his hand, shifting them away from the plaza and appearing beside Li Hao.

Seeing Li Hao's figure, Yue Xi regained some of her composure, though her eyes were still filled with disbelief.

After Murong Qingwu saw her own rank, she scanned the rankings at the top of the black immortal stele, then discovered Li Hao's serial number, and likewise stared at Li Hao in disbelief.

"You haven't stepped into the Tenth Desolate Domain yet. Once you enter, you'll have a chance to rank within the top 1,500. Then, if you persist inside, you'll have a chance to charge into the top 1,000 and stand out among the elite of the Yanchu Immortal Dynasty!"

Li Tiemu looked at them with a smile, his mood excellent. "Haotian is ranked nineteenth. Don't spread this around, lest it bring him trouble. He has already broken through the Tenth Desolate Domain and locked in his qualification to fight ahead of time."

"Broken through the Tenth Desolate Domain?"

Hearing Li Tiemu's words, the two women widened their eyes in shock, looking at each other, too stunned to speak.

After a long while, Yue Xi finally came to her senses and murmured, "How is that possible..."

Murong Qingwu stared fixedly at Li Hao and said, "Breaking through the Tenth Desolate Domain requires power exceeding the Tenth Level of the True Immortal Realm, right?"

"Maybe."

Li Hao said. He had never sparred with anyone at the Tenth Level of the True Immortal Realm, so he didn't know if that counted.

Yue Xi looked at Li Hao's calm demeanor and suddenly bit her lip slightly. With Li Hao's power, if he had left his name at the Imperial Sword Cliff, it would never have been lower than hers. She had previously asked him why he didn't leave his name, and the answer she received was that he had no interest.

Now it seemed.

Perhaps he simply hadn't cared for that kind of showing off at all.

By comparison, she felt a sudden sense of shame and annoyance toward herself.

While they were still calming their emotions, Gu Yan's figure also appeared on the plaza. He looked even more disheveled; a patch of his scalp had been torn off and was slowly healing, and the rest of his hair was frozen into ice shards.

Clearly, he had been trying extremely hard to persist inside.

Li Tiemu flickered, shifting Gu Yan to Li Hao and the others' side as well.

Gu Yan didn't care at all about his disheveled state, nor did he wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth; instead, he looked up to find his rank.

He searched from top to bottom, and soon, he saw an eye-catching number.

"That is..."

Gu Yan's pupils contracted slightly, and he turned to look at Li Hao.

Li Hao offered him a smile.

Gu Yan looked up again, staring at that rank, somewhat stunned.

19th place?

Li Hao's ranking was unexpectedly high, and what's more, it was actually higher than his!

His gaze shifted, and he calmed himself, slowly looking downward.

Soon, 30th, 50th, 100th... 1,000th...

His complexion gradually turned ugly, his heart sank to the bottom, and at the same time, he felt a sense of self-doubt—had he missed it?

It wasn't until he saw Murong Qingwu's serial number at over 2,000th place that he froze, the shock and doubt in his heart shattered into nothingness.

His fists clenched involuntarily. He continued to look down, and before long, he found his own rank.

Upon seeing it, he felt a sense of relief, but at the same time, his mind went blank.

It was actually this rank... He felt somewhat dazed, followed by discomfort, complexity, disbelief, and a sudden, overwhelming shock.

He didn't continue looking down, but immediately looked up again at the 19th position.

Looking at it again, the feeling was completely different from before.

At this very moment, he finally realized how unreachable, how shocking, and how awe-inspiring that rank truly was.

He stared blankly, feeling as if a sharp sword were constantly piercing his body, as if he were still in the Ninth Desolate Domain, still suffering the attacks of the Great Dao Origin.

If it weren't for Li Hao of Imperial Sword Mountain climbing up at the end and entering his field of vision, this senior brother would have been no different from air in his eyes.

But now, this senior brother he hadn't looked at before had far surpassed him.

"This time in the Ancient Immortal Realm Desolate Domain, Haotian has the best results in our Great Dream Daming Jiuyuan."

Li Tiemu said to the three of them, his eyes full of joy. Besides Li Hao's performance, he was also satisfied with the performance of Murong Qingwu, Gu Yan, and Yue Xi, especially Gu Yan and Yue Xi, whose cultivation bases were still low; in three years, they still had significant room for improvement and could still make a charge.

His words fell on the three of them, but left all three somewhat dazed.

None of them had expected Li Hao to be so astonishing here, erupting with strength that completely surpassed them.

As geniuses, the three of them felt extremely complex emotions at this moment.

"Master, you previously promised me that you could ask the Abyss Master to teach me swordplay. I want to use this opportunity!"

Gu Yan suddenly turned and said to Li Tiemu with a solemn expression.

His expression was no longer numb and unchangingly calm, but had ripples.

Li Tiemu noticed that he no longer referred to himself as "you" but as "you" (polite form). Although it was only a small change, the difference between the two words ultimately meant there was a bit more heart!

This kid, was he stimulated... Li Tiemu revealed a knowing smile at the corner of his mouth and said, "Even if you didn't say it, given your performance, you would receive personal guidance from the Abyss Master upon returning anyway. After all, you are all the hope of the Sword Abyss!"

Hearing Old Man Li's words, the three of them felt a sense of relief.

Murong Qingwu looked at Li Hao. She had neither good nor bad feelings toward this junior brother, and likewise, she hadn't thought of competing with this person she had overlooked. At this moment, Li Hao's high ranking made her unable to muster the heart to compete for victory for a while, so her mindset quickly calmed down, and she smiled:

"Junior Brother Haotian, congratulations. You obtained the qualification to fight on the first day. Please give me more guidance when we practice under the Abyss Master later, and let's spar when we have time."

Li Hao shook his head and said, "I won't be practicing under the Abyss Master."

"Hmm?"

The three of them looked at Li Hao in surprise. Yue Xi and Gu Yan's eyes narrowed, and they were more concerned about Li Hao's movements than ever before.

"Then where are you going?" Yue Xi couldn't help but ask.

Li Hao didn't hide it either, smiling lightly: "I plan to go to the border to explore."

"The border?"

The three of them were stunned. Murong Qingwu asked in surprise, "Isn't that where Senior Brother and the others went? Are you also going to accumulate Immortal Merit?"

"I'm just going to practice real combat."

Li Hao knew that if he didn't give a reason, he wouldn't be able to explain it to Old Man Li, so he smiled and said: "I feel my real combat experience is still somewhat lacking."

The three of them were speechless. If your real combat experience is considered lacking, then what about us?

Li Tiemu felt helpless about Li Hao's choice and said, "Are you sure you won't reconsider? Guidance from the Abyss Master is a rare opportunity. If you have a bottleneck in Sword Dao, you might easily overcome it with the Abyss Master's pointers."

Li Hao gave a bitter smile. He wanted to, but his bottlenecks were painting, cooking, and fishing, which had nothing to do with Sword Dao. At this moment, a low dragon roar sounded in the sky.

Chu Xiangtian drove his dragon chariot, breaking through the clouds and landing in front of the black immortal stele.

He stood with his hands behind his back, announcing the rankings on the black immortal stele, and then said:

"The rest of the disciples who didn't make it into the top 1,000 need not be discouraged. There are still three years left, and three years of time are enough to change one's fate!"

"You can choose to stay here to practice, or choose to continue challenging. The Ancient Immortal Realm is open at all times. You can also return to your own sects to practice. If you want to come here to challenge, just trigger the Secret Realm Desolate Talisman, and you will be directly teleported here, but you'll have to return on your own."

Although these were encouraging words, many disciples with lower rankings were already sighing.

Previously, they all considered themselves geniuses, but now, after the struggle in the Desolate Domain, they felt the gap. It turned out there were so many monsters within three thousand years of soul age, and they didn't have the strength to surpass their peers.

Many local sects were already calling their disciples to prepare to return.

Li Tiemu also called Zhou Qingyun and the old woman. Of the ten spots for the Sword Abyss, Li Tiemu got four, Zhou Qingyun only had two, the old woman had three, and there was one more genius who fought their way out from the Earth Academy.

"How is it? I caught a glimpse of that child Qingwu's serial number earlier; she is ranked over 2,000th. This should be the highest among our Sword Abyss disciples, right?"

Zhou Qingyun walked over with his disciples, his eyes filled with emotion. He hadn't expected that besides having a large number of disciples, Old Man Li's disciples this time also had high combat power.

(Note: The text here seems to contain garbled characters, likely a copy-paste error in the source, I will translate the intent.)

"Good fellow, why don't you look at the outer sects instead of just staring at your own people."

Li Tiemu rolled his eyes immediately.

The old woman, however, had a solemn face and said: "I didn't expect the competition to be so fierce this time. It seems that apart from Mingrong having the qualification to fight, everyone else in our Sword Abyss is at risk of being eliminated?"

"Hmm?"

Li Tiemu and Zhou Qingyun looked at her in surprise. They had both heard of her disciple Lin Mingrong, and immediately remembered this little girl.

They looked behind the old woman and saw the little girl named Lin Mingrong, young, beautiful, and standing there gracefully, in pure white snow clothes, like an independent female sword immortal, her expression extremely serene.

"What is Mingrong's rank?" Zhou Qingyun couldn't help but ask.

"921st."

The old woman pointed toward the black immortal stele.

Zhou Qingyun took a deep breath, then gave a bitter smile: "Impressive. That's good too; at least our Sword Abyss has one seedling, so we won't be completely wiped out."

As he spoke, he looked at Li Tiemu and said: "Your little disciple with the Innate Sword Immortal Body has too low a cultivation realm, so he should still be lacking a bit, right? Can he catch up in three years?"

Li Tiemu smiled and said: "Who said our Sword Abyss only has one seedling? The Gu Yan you mentioned will definitely catch up within three years. I have confidence in him."

"Oh."

The two of them heard his words and looked at him in surprise. Zhou Qingyun scanned Li Hao and the others and said: "That child Qingwu is ranked over 2,000th. Besides her, who else is there? That little girl from the Calamity clan, has she already mastered the Calamity True Power?"

Li Tiemu smiled without answering, not reporting Li Hao's rank, otherwise it would give them a huge fright, and if it caused too much of a stir and the news leaked, it would be bad.

Seeing Li Tiemu's mysterious appearance, the two muttered a few words and didn't take his words seriously.

"Let's go, we're returning too. We can't practice here. This first challenge allowed us to see the dangers of the Desolate Domain. We have an idea now, so we'll have more confidence next time."

Zhou Qingyun called out.

At this time, elders from other abysses in the distance were also calling their disciples to return.

After leaving the Ancient Immortal Realm, they arrived at the vast plaza in front of the Yanchu Imperial City. There were other sects returning here as well, and space channels were opening one after another.

As one of the Four Heavenly Sects, the Great Dream Daming Jiuyuan naturally didn't want to fall behind in terms of status. As an elder sent a message back, a space channel immediately extended over; it was the Great Da Da Meng Zhu personally receiving them.

Only an existence at the Immortal King Realm could isolate such a long distance, needing only an anchor point to open a fixed-point space teleportation.

After returning to the Great Dream Daming Jiuyuan, on Great Dream Mountain, the elders of each abyss reported the disciples' rankings.

Except for Lin Mingrong of the Sword Abyss, each abyss had one or two disciples who made it into the top 1,000.

There was also one abyss where not a single disciple broke through the battle line; the whole abyss was dejected and had no face.

There was no point in reporting the results of disciples ranked outside the top 1,000, so only the old woman from the Sword Abyss spoke up, informing them of her disciple Lin Mingrong's ranking, and received encouragement and rewards from the Great Da Da Meng Zhu.

"Mingrong, as the only person in our Sword Abyss currently qualified to fight, you must work hard and set an example for other junior brothers and sisters!"

The old woman said to her disciple.

Lin Mingrong, in snow clothes, nodded slightly, her gaze scanning the others in the Sword Abyss, pausing on Gu Yan. She had also heard of this disciple with the Innate Sword Immortal Body.

Gu Yan felt the other's gaze and stared back, a flame seemingly burning in his heart.

This trip to Yanchu Imperial City had caused him one setback after another; his eyes were no longer numb but had become sharp.

"Go, the Great Da Da Meng Zhu is waiting for you."

The old woman said to Lin Mingrong.

Just now, the disciples from each abyss who made it into the top 1,000 all received encouragement and rewards from the Great Da Da Meng Zhu. In addition, the Great Da Da Meng Zhu also summoned them to meet.

Lin Mingrong nodded slightly, then nodded to everyone to say goodbye, and turned to leave.

Li Tiemu also said to Li Hao: "You go too. I just sent a message to the Great Da Da Meng Zhu about your situation. Only the Great Da Da Meng Zhu knows."

Li Hao was stunned and somewhat helpless, but thinking of those immortal pill rewards—although they weren't what he needed, they could be left for Old Man Feng and Qingying later, or given to Xiyan as snacks.

"Hmm?"

Seeing Li Hao break away from the crowd and follow Lin Mingrong's figure, Zhou Qingyun and the old woman were both stunned and couldn't help but look at Li Tiemu.

Li Tiemu smiled mysteriously and said: "Didn't I just say, our Sword Abyss has more than one seedling."

"You mean, that kid also rushed into the top 1,000? Then why didn't you report it to the Da Da Meng Zhu just now?" Zhou Qingyun looked surprised and couldn't help but ask.

The old woman looked at him suspiciously, "Li Lao, this is not a matter to joke about. If the Da Da Meng Zhu gets angry, we won't help you."

"That kid's ranking is somewhat special, so it's better not to make it public."

Li Tiemu chuckled.

Hearing this, the two were even more surprised and looked at each other. They knew Li Tiemu's character; although he was usually unserious, he was extremely serious at critical moments.

What rank could it be that actually needed to be kept secret?

The two were curious in their hearts and looked at Murong Qingwu and the others, but saw that the three of them all had complex expressions, making them even more astonished.

At the same time, Li Hao followed Lin Mingrong's figure and arrived at a hall on the top of the mountain.

Walking along the corridor of the hall, there was a courtyard.

Lin Mingrong walked in front. When she reached the end of the corridor and saw Li Hao still following, she paused slightly, turned her head, and frowned:

"This junior brother, only those who have obtained the qualification to fight can come here. Who are you?"

"The same as you."

Li Hao coughed lightly: "But I'm not familiar with the way."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 695 =====