by Shian Jeen
“Assessment begin!” Zhang Tianchuan declared.
In the blink of an eye, the sky was filled with silhouettes leaping from the ground, drilling into the black hole.
Ch.535
The first person to pass through the black hole was Gudu Leng, followed by Jiang Shaoze, Wang Biaoyuan, then the rest also made their way through.
Several breaths' time later, Huwang Xiao made his move. However, the actual passageway through the black hole was limited, moving at the same time as Huwang Xiao were tens of thousands of other genius disciples.
Huwang Xiao snorted. A burst of Asura qi was released from his body, hitting those disciples who were trying to squeeze into the black hole at the same time as him. From high above, several disciples dropped to the ground like dead locusts.
Huwang Xiao pretended not to hear the angry shouts coming from below, flying straight into the black hole. Feeling like the universe flipped over, he fell out on the other side of the black hole.
Looking around, Huwang Xiao saw that he appeared in a stone forest, with demonic beasts roars echoing endlessly in the distance.
The assessment deadline given was ten days. In these ten days, their results would be tallied according to the number of demonic beasts, monsters, and demons they killed.
Killing one early Tenth Order Saint realm brought 1 point, mid-stage would garner 5 points, while a late-Tenth Order Saint realm reaped 30 points. A peak-late Tenth Order Saint realm was 80 points, half-step God Realm was a high 300 points, and a peak half-step God Realm was 800 points. Then, the point gap widened further; an early First Order God Realm was 10,000 points, mid-First Order God Realm gave 50,000 points, and a late-First Order God Realm was a whopping 300,000 points!
Suddenly, a strange hair-raising shriek rang out, a multi-colored giant scorpion leaped onto Huwang Xiao. Its enormous tail raised, with the poisonous stinger aimed at his throat.
Huwang Xiao recognized this multi-colored scorpion, its poison was extremely toxic. Once stung, its poison could even corrode a peak half-step God Realm’s tough physique.
Huwang Xiao scoffed looking at the multi-colored scorpion, grabbing its enormous tail with one hand almost immediately. Huwang Xiao’s hand slightly shook and the giant scorpion’s body turned red. Barely half a second later, fire sparks shot out from its body, incinerating the scorpion from inside out, turning it into gray ash, scattered in the air.
After killing the multi-colored giant scorpion, Huwang Xiao noticed that the palm-sized token he received during the registration flowed softly, as a thin golden line emerged on its surface. The dim token looked a little brighter than before.
When a hint of Huwang Xiao’s consciousness submerged into the token, certain messages appeared in his mind.
[Huwang Xiao, 300 points. Rank 957]
This was Huwang Xiao’s current score and ranking. Which meant the multi-colored giant scorpion he had just killed was a half-step God Realm, hence 300 points. But, what he didn’t expect was that a several breaths’ delay in entering would affect his ranking so severely.
Other than information about his points and ranking, there was another list that appeared in his mind. This list was a roll of the top one hundred ranking board and their points.
First place, Gudu Leng-9,538 points.
Second place, Jiang Shaoze-7,694 points.
Third place, Wang Biaoyuan-7,562 points.
This was the current top three’s name and points on the board.
Gudu Leng was merely a few breaths’ time faster than Huwang Xiao, but in the brief few breaths’ time, he had already accumulated more than 9,500 points! Huwang Xiao was a little taken aback, but he wasn’t perturbed.
The assessment period was ten days, up to the very last day, the top ten places’ were subject to changes.
“Still, one shouldn’t lax too much.” Huwang Xiao advised himself. Though the assessment had just begun, it wouldn't do if he fell too far behind.
Huwang Xiao opened his Eye of Hell and everything within a hundred thousand li entered in sight. None could hide.
“En, God Realm?” Huwang Xiao was surprised.
Fifty thousand li from where he stood, a giant black bear tightened its palm, instantly crushing two genius disciples into pieces. Then, its wide mouth inhaled, sucking in a dozen other disciples closeby into its mouth, becoming food that filled its belly.
This black bear was an early First Order God Realm!
This made Huwang Xiao excited instead of turning around and flee.
Oh, boy! The sun was shining on his first God Realm beast core.
Huwang Xiao’s eyes sparkled brightly, releasing the Asura bloodline in his body and spreading out the Wings of Demon on his back. His figure disappeared from the stone forest almost instantaneously. A short while later, he appeared in the air above the black bear.
At this time, the black bear just caught another disciple, flinging the meal into its mouth, issuing loud crunching noises as it chewed the struggling disciple. A muffled blood-curdling scream could be heard before the disciple went totally quiet.
The remaining disciples in proximity stared wide-eyed in fear, their faces white as a sheet. All of them belonged to the same family, banding together as they passed through the black hole. Never did they imagine that they would drop right in front of a God Realm demonic beast. To these Saint realms and half-step God Realm disciples, a God Realm demonic beast was a terrifying nightmare in real life.
“It has been two hundred years since I tasted human flesh, this time, I must eat my fill!” The black bear’s pupils gleamed with bloodthirst as he turned towards the remaining disciples.
The shadow of death loomed over these disciples. Before a God Realm demonic beast, they lacked the ability to escape. As the black bear’s paws slammed down, a violent tremor ran through the ground.
It was at this point that Huwang Xiao’s figure flickered, entering the black bear’s vision. His sudden appearance also dumbfounded the petrified disciples.
“Half-step God Realm?” The black bear took a glance at the human blocking its path and its lips curled back into a grin, “Heh, a death-seeking human.” Its paw swung forward, slapping down on Huwang Xiao.
Huwang Xiao looked ahead with a frosty gaze, blocking the attack with a finger. The black bear’s huge palm was pinned in midair.
The frightened Saint realm disciples watched flabbergasted at this sudden reversal; the attack was stopped? The black bear’s huge palm was still locked in the same position, unable to advance an inch forward. Moreover, that young man merely used one finger!
Shock was evident on the black bear’s face.
Huwang Xiao’s expression remained cold as a blinding light soared skyward from his finger. True essence fire lurked within the finger force, burning a hole right through the bear‘s paw. An abrupt force knocked the black bear off its feet.
When the black bear was knocked back, Huwang Xiao’s silhouette flickered in pursue. His palm was sharp as a knife as it slit across its throat. A hair-raising wail echoed in the air even as the black bear’s head flew into the sky.
Huwang Xiao’s right hand curled slightly and a powerful force sucked a black ball of light out from the black bear’s head, falling into his right palm. The small black ball of light shook violently as it struggled and screamed, trying to escape. The little black ball of light was none other than the black bear’s soul.
Huwang Xiao exerted more pressure and the black bear’s soul quickly stopped struggling, even its separated head and body stopped moving. He walked over to the black bear’s body, removing a fist-sized yellow beast core from its body in less than a second.
His first God Realm demonic beast core! Huwang Xiao put the beast core into the Asura Ring, and as for the black bear’s body, he threw it into the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, letting the Poison Corpse Scarabs deal with it.
Until Huwang Xiao left their sight, the surviving Saint realm disciples barely regained their senses, each of them was agape with
astonishment.
Killing a God Realm demonic beast in two moves?! On top of that, it didn't even seem like the other side had gone all out.
“Who, who is this person?! Gudu Leng? No, he’s not Gudu Leng!”
“Scary, too scary! His strength is definitely more terrifying than Gudu Leng!”
Recovering from their traumatic shock, the surviving disciples began to guess Huwang Xiao’s identity. Due to the Asura bloodline, his body was covered with a layer of Asura scales, unless it was someone familiar with Huwang Xiao, no one could recognize him.
Three hours later and a few million miles away, a tiger-shaped demonic beast plummeted a long way down to the ground.
Huwang Xiao’s right palm was like a sharp knife as it slashed across its body, removing the beast core within. This was Huwang Xiao’s sixteenth God Realm demonic beast.
Even as he was putting the beast core away into the Asura Ring, Huwang Xiao was frowning. He had already killed sixteen God Realm demonic beasts, but his ranking was still outside the top one hundred, unable to inch into the ranks of the top one hundred.
Killing one God Realm demonic beast would reap a lot of points, but they were less in number. He needed to spend time looking for them.
Ch.536
‘This calls for a change of strategy.’ Huwang Xiao thought to himself.
If things were to progress in this direction, even if he killed all the God Realm demonic beasts, monsters, and demons on the Deepwood Star, he still wouldn't be able to clinch that first place.
According to what Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi said, the number of God Realm demonic beasts, monsters, and demons on the Deepwood Star did not exceed one thousand. How many points could one thousand bring? Thirty to forty million points at most.
Even now, Gudu Leng’s points had broken past ten million!
Sitting firmly in the first place on the top one hundred board, Gudu Leng’s points had reached a staggering number.
Second place Jiang Shaoze and third place Wang Biaoyuan were in the eight million range. Gudu Leng had successfully left everyone in the dust.
After pondering the matter for a moment, the Blades of Asura emerged in his hand. Aiming the blades to the front, both blades slashed out. In an instant, howling windstorm appeared, carrying countless blade lights spinning forward. Gale after gale of fierce wind, wave after wave of blade lights, each more powerful than its predecessor.
Asura Sword Skill Ninth Move: Wind Blades Volutions!
All the Tenth Order Saint realm demonic beasts, half-step God Realm demonic beast, even peak half-step demonic beast within the thousand li area in front turned into blossoms of blood mist.
A while later, the violent wind and blade lights dissipated.
Blooms of blood mist rained down from the sky like a monsoon rain, dyeing the soil red, forming red lines of winding streams.
One move killing more than three hundred demonic beasts in the proximity. In an instant, Huwang Xiao’s token became brighter, and his points increased by several tens of thousand. This was equivalent to Huwang Xiao killing two to three God Realm demonic beasts.
Huwang Xiao’s consciousness scanned the message inside the token, he had risen six ranks in an instant!
With a wave of his hand, the hundreds of falling beast cores were swept into the Asura Ring. He then disappeared in a flicker, appearing a thousand li away, and slashed out the Blades of Asura in another wide area attack.
Countless blade lights transformed into chains, spanning out a thousand li. All the demonic beasts within a thousand li radius felt space around them grow solid, impeding their movements. They were looking for the cause, only to discover that they were shackled down by miles of black chains winding around their bodies.
Fear overtook these demonic beasts, just as they wanted to break out, the Blades of Asura in Huwang Xiao’s hands pulled back with a jerk. Instantly, these demonic beasts’ bodies were shredded into ribbons, blasting into clouds of blood mist.
Bloodmist scattered with the wind, some fell splattering down to the ground, painting another thousand li of land in red.
Huwang Xiao made a twisting motion with his hand, collecting another batch of hundreds of demonic beast cores into the Asura Ring.
His ranking rose once more.
Huwang Xiao disappeared in a flicker, appearing a thousand li away, waving the blades in his hands again.
Asura Sword Skill, Fourth Move: State of Abundant Lightning.
Streaks of lightning struck down like heaven’s wrath, turning into lightning flood dragons rampaging in the forest below, sending countless beast cores flying into the sky.
Just like this, Huwang Xiao made continuous attack with the Blades of Asura. At the end of every move, the points in his token would increase by several thousand or more, pushing him up the ranks, closer toward the top one hundred list.
While Huwang Xiao tirelessly attacked using the Asura Sword Skill moves and collecting beast cores, in the square in front of the Hall of Heroes, experts from different forces stared intently at the giant crystal spar hovering in the sky.
On the crystal spar surface were the names of the top one hundred and their scores. The score numbers kept flickering as they changed, with an occasional change to the name rankings.
35.62 million! Such an astounding number was Gudu Leng’s latest score!
Staring at the scoreboard, various levels of discussions took place between these experts.
“It has only been three hours, but this Gudu Leng’s score actually reached 35.62 million. What a freak! If things go on like this, his score definitely will reach 200 million by the end of the day! In the last assessment, the first place only scored 130 million on the first day!”
“It seems like the first place belongs to none other than Gudu Leng!”
Experts from various forces were whelmed as they continued to stare at the scoreboard.
Concealed in the deep void, the two middle-aged men wearing the Black Warrior Institute’s golden robes, Su Haodong, and Li Zhiqun, nodded with a satisfactory smile at Gudu Leng’s score.
“I’m really envious of Old Man Gudu ah, such a genius has come out from the Gudu Family!” Li Zhiqun lamented.
Su Haodong laughed, “That younger generation disciple of your family, Li Mingxuan is not bad either, he’s sitting firmly in the sixth place.”
At the moment, the scoreboard showed Li Mingxuan, at sixth place-23.29 million points. This Liu Mingxuan was one of Li Zhiquan family’s younger generation.
Li Zhiquan laughed heartily, “Still too lacking compared to that Gudu Leng.” Despite saying so, he wore an expression of pride as he added, “Looks like the top ten ranking is just like how we predicted.”
The top four names on the scoreboard at this point were exactly how they had predicted; Gudu Leng, Jiang Shaoze, Wang Biaoyuan, and Xu Shaoqing.
Su Haodong nodded, “It seems like the first of the top ten is none other than Gudu Leng.”
Although there was the possibility of changes in the top ten names, in their judgment however, this possibility was too small. Gudu Leng and the other nine had pulled their scores too far away from the rest to catch up.
Between the eleventh place and tenth place, the score was less by half, which greatly diminished any chances of crossing that gap. Moreover, as times passed, the top ten would only pull their scores further away from the rest.
Time flowed. The end of the first day arrived very quickly.
Huwang Xiao was sitting cross-legged on a high mountain peak. After a day of slaughter, he finally broke into the top twenty. Currently, his score hovered over 90 million, ranked twelve.
This was the result of Huwang Xiao not wanting to draw too much attention, resting to refine beast cores every now and then between the slaughter. If he had gone all out, he’d have entered the top ten by now.
“Gudu Leng, 260.954 million!” The moment Huwang Xiao checked the token with his consciousness, the first thing he’d take note of was Gudu Leng’s
latest score. When Gudu Leng broke past the 200 million mark, his name shone even brighter on the scoreboard.
At the second place was still Jiang Shaoze, the third place also remained the same person, Wang Biaoyuan, and in the fourth place was still Xu Shaoqing. These three individuals’ scores had all surpassed 180 million points.
From the fifth to tenth place were Jiang Wei, Li Mingxuan, He Xiu, Yang Shiqi, Su Meiyi, and Zhu Haixiang.
Zhu Haixiang at the tenth place had over 160 million points.
“Tomorrow, I can change to another location.” Huwang Xiao muttered as the scanned the boundless stone forest. By tomorrow, he would be able to kill all the demonic beasts in this area.
And Huwang Xiao decided to enter the top tenth tomorrow. He had ample time, therefore he wasn’t anxious. Swallowing a divine grade spirit pellet, Huwang Xiao initiated Instant Recovery. It didn’t take long for his depleted battle qi to become vibrant again. Huwang Xiao stood up looking at the rays of sunlight from the edge of the horizon. Today was going to be another bright sunny day.
In front of the Hall of Heroes, the gathered experts were still paying close attention to the scoreboard.
Today was the second day. The sun was already high up in the sky, harsh sunlight heating the land.
The top ten names remained the same as day one.
It was at this time that those experts that had been staring that the scoreboard noticed the name position shift. This…?! Everyone was taken by surprise.
Only when there were changes to the top ten name list would there be a shift in position.
“Look, the tenth place Zhu Haixiang has fallen to the eleventh place!”
“Tenth place, Huwang Xiao, 223.42 million!” Someone exclaimed.
Ch.537
Tenth place, Huwang Xiao!
Looking at the name that suddenly burst into the top ten ranks, everyone in the square was sent into a daze.