The Spiritual Pedestal Tier expert gave him a friendly smile, not daring to be arrogant. A nineteen years old Spiritual Ocean Tier cultivator was truly something surprising, and in days to come, Ling Han might become a Flower Blossom Tier, or even a Spiritual Infant Tier cultivator. Even if he couldn’t be a friend of Ling Han, he definitely couldn’t fall foul of him.
“This is your new token, you mustn’t lose it.” A disciple handed over a heavy black token; on it, the two words “Han Lin” were carved.
Chapter 335
Chapter 335: The Seven Sons of Ao Family
Translator: Reverie_ Editor: Kurisu
Ling Han’s score now ranked seventh, which looked high for now, but when everything ended, it might drop down to 40th or 50th place.
The top ten scores were all very close, differing only be a few hundred, or even a dozen points. Clearly, these were smart people; obtaining ten thousand tokens meant definitely entering top hundred, so what did it matter whether the rank was a bit lower or a bit higher?
The second round of the exam was the key, and it definitely checked one’s power; they only had to give it their all on this stage.
Ling Han walked onto a large rock and sat cross-legged. As his right fist trembled lightly, he envisioned the War Elephant Fist; fist after fist circulated, and on his fists appeared indistinct luster of vein-like lines formed from martial intent.
Being idle, he might as well train—how could he waste time?
“Hmph, a mere small fry in the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier dares to show off here!” A sharp voice sounded near Ling Han’s ear.
Ling Han turned his head to see a lanky man looking at him with arms crossed; the fourth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier was quite an impressive cultivation for his age.
After all, the Spiritual Pedestal Tier warriors under thirty years old were still unheard of in the north region.
“Who do you think you are?” Ling Han said sullenly; he was disguised anyways, and under the condition of not revealing his trump card, he didn’t want to tolerate anything one bit, acting completely arrogant and domineering.
The youngster snorted and said, “This young master is Yan Jun.”
“Oh!” Ling Han suddenly realized. Yan Jun was originally ranked seventh and just happened to be pushed down by him, now ranking eight; however, there was no point to contend for rank in the first round and he ran over so early, so he shouldn’t bother about ranking at all.
“In the next examination, I’ll beat the sh!t of you!” Yan Jun said coldly. He certainly didn’t care for this round’s ranking earlier, but Ling Han was just too young, making him extremely envious. Moreover, Ling Han was only in the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, and being pushed down by such a person made him feel even more uncomfortable inside.
“Dumbass!” Ling Han sneered, paying him no more attention.
Yan Jun’s eyes shot out flames of fury, but he forcefully suppressed it. He simply snorted; once the second examination began, he would definitely let Ling Han know the immensity of the world.
The start of this feud was certainly baffling.
Ling Han shook his head and continued to practice fist techniques. He now formed three flashes of Fist Qi, and if he broke through to form a fourth, his battle prowess would have a small but fundamental change.
It was already getting dark, a little more than four hours before midnight.
More and more people returned. Yang Chang, Si Qi Meng, Zhao Huan, Qi Yong Ye—those that Ling Han were familiar with or knew the names of appeared one after another. He swept a glance and saw Zhao Huan and the others with joyful expressions—looks like they had quite a good chance of squeezing into top ten thousand.
Ling Han’s rank dropped all the way down as expected, and the first place already surged into a high point of twenty thousand; it was no other than Yang Chong.
However, without a moment’s time, he was pushed down, and the first place became Ao Feng Hang.
He ought to be one of the Seven Sons of Ao Family, but it was unknown which this one was. Ling Han laughed. Ao Feng had too many illegitimate children—he himself probably didn’t remember them, let alone outsiders.
“Huh?” His gaze focused. He saw a fatty in the crowd, likely twenty-two or twenty-three years old. He was very unfamiliar to him, but thanks to that round physique, Ling Han could be sure that this guy was Ma Duo Bao.
His stature was quite the flaw; no matter how kickass the Disguise Pill, it still couldn’t disguise him who was like a crane standing amongst chickens.
“Catch him!” As expected, if Ling Han could discover Ma Duo Bao, so could Winter Moon Sect’s cultivators. Instantly, several Spiritual Pedestal Tier warriors leapt out from obscure corners, snatching at Ma Duo Bao.
“Tanned Brother, hope to see you again!” Ma Duo Bao immediately broke into a run and blinked in Ling Han’s direction right before leaving.
The distance was large, but Ling Han was certain that Ma Duo Bao had discovered him.
Strange!
Ling Han was shocked, because he didn’t have a special stature, and on top of the disguise, how did Ma Duo Bao recognize him? Could it be that those who thieve had a special art of distinguishing people?
In spite of Ma Duo Bao being fat, his movement techniques were extremely quick. He was swimming through the crowd like a fish, and even the Spiritual Pedestal Tier pursuers didn’t know how to begin arresting him. They went further and further, and in a short moment, Ma Duo Bao had already ran into the dense forest.
Ling Han wasn’t worried about that guy. His body was full of treasures, and even he couldn’t see through his strength; Ma Duo Bao had enough ability to keep himself alive.
After Hu Niu and Yan Tian Zhao, there was yet another beast… Rong Huan Xuan had already become an old monster that shouldn’t be counted.
The rankings continued to renew. More and more of the top ten were led by those surnamed Ao, and without mentioning, they were definitely the Seven Sons of Ao Family. This certainly explained the seven people’s strengths that were quite out of the ordinary—so many of them reached top ten and none of them was thirty years old.
From this point, Ao Feng’s talent should also be exceptional, or else he couldn’t possibly have fathered so many prodigies—it was no wonder the Yue Family wanted to arrange a marriage with Ao Family back then.
When midnight came, the first round’s exam ended; even if there were people who hadn’t returned, their score wouldn’t be counted.
Ling Han’s ranking dropped into the forties, ranking forty-second, while first place was Ao Xing Lai who attained a shocking score of 30000.
“Top hundred, those who received the black metal token, follow me,” a disciple said.
“Top ten thousand, still tallying, everyone be patient,” another disciple said.
Ling Han got up and left the Falling Goose valley, following everyone to a mountaintop called Rising Sword Peak.
Yu Long Mountains were too large, so even with over twenty thousand people in the Winter Moon Sect, only seven mountaintops were occupied. In terms of surface area, it was only one thousandth.
However, these seven mountaintops were abundant with spiritual Qi, a holy ground for cultivation. Comparatively, Rising Sword Peak’s spiritual Qi quality ranked last; this was where the lowest level disciples lived.
Ling Han and the others had not officially joined the Winter Moon Sect, so they could only live here temporarily.
Amongst the top hundred, Winter Moon Sect’s disciples took thirty spots, so two factions were naturally formed. The first night, a fight almost broke out, but fortunately, with a Spiritual Pedestal Tier warriors keeping watch, nothing big was stirred up in the end.
Ling Han looked around; the Seven Sons of Ao Family all reached the ninth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier—quite out of the ordinary. Besides the seven, there were a few that showed extraordinary talent, not in the least inferior to that of the Seven Sons of Ao Family.
This night was extremely unquiet, silent conflict was turbulent; but the second day, the sun still rose as usual. Ling Han entered the Black Tower at midnight and refined the Yellow Dragon Fruit into Return Spirit Fruit 1 —he might as well not waste time.
A Spiritual Pedestal Tier expert appeared before long, urging everyone to wake up. Without letting them eat breakfast, he brought them to a large platform on the mountainside. White Ore paved these tiles here; hardness was one of its distinguishing features, even a Spiritual Pedestal Tier warrior’s full-power attack wouldn’t easily break them. It was most suitable for making a battleground.
The true ranking battle was about to begin.
Chapter 336
Chapter 336: Reexamination
Translator: Reverie_ Editor: Kurisu
“Time’s limited, and you will all be this sect’s disciples hereafter with many chances to spar, so today’s reexamination will be carried out quickly,” the Spiritual Pedestal Tier cultivator spoke. He pointed at the plaza and continued, “Yesterday’s ninety first to one hundred step forward, and line up on the field.” Immediately, ten people stepped forward and stood separately on the field.
“Eighty first to ninety step forward,” he said again, waiting for ten people to step forward, and continued, “You guys can pick one to challenge, the victor stays, and the loser gets eliminated. The battles begin now, but whether or not the battle ends, the second round of battles starts an hour later, and if the two people are still battling on the field, then both will be eliminated.”
“Start!”
With that said, at least five people already started to fighting.
Rest was counted in the time of battle, with a total of one hour’s time, so the faster one’s opponent was taken care of, the more time one had to rest. Moreover, the order in which people took the field was a reward for those who scored well yesterday—the top ten could battle at their best in the final round.
Of course, a true expert would not care about that at all, having the confidence to easily overcome their opponents.
The battle soon became heated. If they lost in this round, they would be eliminated, so everyone fought with all their might; of course, if they didn’t need to use their trump cards, they wouldn’t. After all, if they wanted to advance into top ten, there were still many tough battles ahead.
Ten minutes later, the first battle was over, and another pair tangled for an hour without a victor; well, the two were both eliminated.
The seventy-first place to the eightieth place took the field, and the second round of battle started. A lucky fellow won without fighting, and could welcome the third round of battles in his peak form.
Round after round, each one an hour. This speed was very fast, and after four hours, it was Ling Han’s turn.
“Huh?” Ling Han revealed an astounded expression, because his opponent was Zhao Hong Cheng; before the exam, he was the one who mocked Qi Yong Ye and others as narrow-minded, and also looked down completely on Ling Han.
What a coincidence that Ling Han actually bumped into him.
“Do you forfeit or should I beat you till you concede?” Zhao Hong Cheng said arrogantly.
Ling Han smiled and said, “We’re both in the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, where do get your confidence from?”
“Haha, from this!” Zhao Hong Cheng brandished his sword. It was an oddly shaped sword, with the tip split like a snake’s tongue and an extremely thin fuller; seven vein-like lines could be seen on top of it.
“Silver Serpent Sword, Fourth Tier Spirit Tool! Under full activation, it can rival the battle prowess of one in the fifth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier!” He circulated his spiritual Qi and began to activate the martial intent of the Spirit Tool. Instantly, the vein-like lines shone and the Spirit Tool emitted a strong presence.
In a sense, the Spirit Tool was equivalent to a cultivator of the same tier, and Zhao Hong Cheng himself was a Spiritual Ocean Tier warrior, which was enough to fully activate the Silver Serpent Sword’s powers; therefore, it was now equivalent to two Spiritual Ocean Tier opponentss attacking Ling Han together. Moreover, Silver Serpent Sword’s power was comparable to an opponent in the fifth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, so no wonder Zhao Hong Cheng would be full of confidence.
One in the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, and one in the fifth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier—that meant there would be some chances of winning even if encountering an opponent in the fifth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier.
Zhao Hong Cheng never used the Silver Serpent Sword in the previous exam in order to surprise people at the next examination.
However, there was no rule in the tournament that one couldn’t use Spirit Tools, so even if he won relying on the Silver Serpent Sword, at most people would only look down on him for not winning with his own skills.
Ling Han smiled faintly and said, “Should I reveal a sense of fear to coordinate with you?”
“Don’t need to pretend, you’re certainly feeling scared!” Zhao Hong Cheng charged out with his sword. Being at the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier while fully activating a fifth layer Spiritual Ocean Tier Spirit Tool was a great burden for him, so he hoped to take care of Ling Han as soon as possible, obtaining some time to recover.
Ling Han formed a fist and moved. Hong , martial intent circulated, and vein-like lines spread out as a silver-colored dragon elephant stepped through the air, charging at Zhao Hong Cheng.
Peng!
In a fierce clash, Zhao Hong Cheng backed up repeatedly, his expression extremely pale. The power in that attack was too heavy, shaking his internal organs such that he felt it extremely unbearable, almost spitting out blood.
“Huh!”
“What!?”
“Yikes!”
Seeing this scene, those who were originally absent-minded all revealed astounded expressions.
That this punch pushed back Zhao Hong Cheng wasn’t a big deal as he was at the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier after all, but he held a Spirit Tool that was fully activated—now, that was weird.
“His battle prowess should be six stars.” Many people evaluated.
This was very surprising; a first layer Spiritual Ocean Tier youth that had six stars battle prowess… that was very hard to believe.
“He should be wearing some sort of Spirit Tool that’s already activated, otherwise… hehe, battle prowess surpassing five stars? Even amongst us not many can do it, right?” Someone immediately thought of a “reasonable” explanation.
Vambraces or leggings could be worn underneath clothes, so it would be very hard to discover them even when they were activated.
“There are still a few people with battle prowess surpassing five stars, but only Ao Da has six stars.” Someone’s gaze moved towards a twenty-two to twenty-three year old youngster; this person was Ao Da, whose real name was Ao Xing Lai.
The Seven Sons of Ao family’s ranking was not based on age, but on ability.
Ao Xing Lai was Ao Feng’s most remarkable son, with cultivation in the ninth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier. It was said that he already had one foot in the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, and such talent could be called a prodigy even in the middle state—of course, not top-notch. At least in the north region, there were already Spiritual Pedestal Tier prodigies in this age segment.
Ao Xing Lai slightly raised the corner of his lips. He certainly didn’t believe that Ling Han possessed battle prowess surpassing five stars, and even if it was so, it couldn’t rival his; his battle prowess fully unleashed could actually surpass seven stars!
His confidence not only came from being the head of the Seven Sons of Ao family and the Winter Moon Sect’s number one genius, but also from being north region’s number one prodigy. One da
y, he would enter the middle state and sweep across the prodigies there, casting down his legendary reputation that would go down in the annals of history.
“I! Don’t! Believe!” Zhao Hong Cheng straightened his sword, charging right back. “I’m in the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier and you too; we both have Spirit Tools as well. Could I be weaker than you!?”
He brandished the long sword and four flashes of Sword Qi were shot out.
‘Four flashes of Sword Qi, not bad, not bad, he’s got talent on the sword path.’
Lign Han fired a punch, also with four flashes of Fist Qi circulating, forming four golden fists that traveled towards Zhao Hong Cheng.
Peng, peng, peng, peng, Sword Qi and Fist Qi collided, annihilating one another.
“Ah!” Zhao Hong Cheng bellowed, brandishing his sword continuously. They were both in the first layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, so even with a Spirit Tool in hand, their energy consumption was very great; he only had to last a little longer than Ling Han to win.
Ling Han’s dantian space was a hundred times larger than a normal Spiritual Ocean Tier warrior’s, and his spiritual ocean was also ten times larger; moreover, he had two that formed yin and yang, almost returning to the universe’s origins.
Thus, he didn’t hurry and just used his opponent to practice the War Elephant Fist.
Chapter 337
Chapter 337: Polishing the Fist Technique
Translator: Reverie_ Editor: Kurisu
Inside Ling Han’s body were two spiritual oceans, one on the bottom as earth, and one on top as heaven, symbolizing the yin and yang.
When he allocated his Origin Power, he could choose one of the two spiritual oceans, but if necessary, the two large spiritual oceans could both circulate at the same time. One yin and one yang, although opposites, it could give terrifying bursts of spiritual power, making his power skyrocket to the seventh layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier.
Against a nobody like Zhao Hong Cheng, he naturally didn’t have to use his full strength; the earth spiritual ocean circulating was enough of a power support.
Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294 Page 183