Lighting the flame of the Earthly Soul, eliminating the muddy qi within it, and the merging of the Earthly and Heavenly Soul with the world.
This was the intermediate-stage of the Mysterious Immortal Realm.
But it carried a very unusual meaning to Chen Xi because it meant that his already extremely formidable combat strength had obtained another transformation!
If he were to undergo the first round of the test once more, then he was confident that he would at least be able to be ranked in the top five!
At the very least, he wasn’t quite sure about the limits of his combat strength.
In short, perhaps Chen Xi was slightly afraid of Zhen Lu, Ji Xuanbing, and Zhao Mengli in the past, yet now, he wasn’t afraid of fighting them at all.
This was the change in his state of mind that came with the improvement of his cultivation.
It’s time to completely merge the myriad of profundities contained within the three moves of the Sword of Water… Chen Xi was rather pleased by the changes in his strength. However, before he could think about it, he suddenly noticed that the gazes of everyone present here seemed to be looking at him…
But he came to an understanding in the next instant, and it was definitely because of the Praise of the G.o.ds that he caused to descend.
He hadn’t heard the name, Yun Fusheng, in the past, but he was clearly aware that his accomplishments from before seemed to have even surpa.s.sed Zhen Lu…
After that, Chen Xi stopped thinking about all of this.
He wasn’t concerned about his rankings in the test, and he was instead concerned about whether he would be able to enter Dao Emperor Academy. Now that he’d finally succeeded, it caused the load in his heart to be put down completely.
Swis.h.!.+Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Daolu suddenly flicked his sleeve, causing a shapeless force to envelop Heart Reflection Lake, and it enveloped Chen Xi and the others as well.
“The third round of the test has concluded. I’m about to bring all of you to the Hall of Vie. Once the final rankings of the test have been announced, I’ll arrange places of cultivation for all of you.”
Swoos.h.!.+
w.a.n.g Daolu’s voice hadn’t finished resounding through the air when Chen Xi and the others felt the scene before their eyes flash, and then they were led along by a shapeless force.
“Everyone, let’s go as well. All your a.s.sistance will be needed in order to make arrangements for all these new students.” Zhou Zhili stood up and instructed the other instructors, and then he didn’t seem to make any movement, yet his figure had already vanished on the spot.
…
The Hall of Vie.
An ancient and grand hall that was covered in the marks of the times.
At this moment, Chen Xi and the other 499 disciples that pa.s.sed the third round of the test were standing solemnly within this hall.
At the center of the hall was a mottled bronze bell. It was around 30m in height and floated in midair. The surface of the bell was inscribed with various diagrams of flowers, animals, landscape, the sacrificial wors.h.i.+p of predecessors, and so on and so forth. It emanated an ancient and desolate aura.
This Dao bell was called Vie, and it was named to represent the vie for supremacy. It was personally refined by the primeval Equipment Emperor for Dao Emperor Academy, and it was made from Chaotic Steel. It was a Void Grade Immortal Artifact!
A Void Grade Immortal Artifact was a precious treasure that only Immortal King Realm experts could control.
The Dao Bell of Vie had already been floating in this hall for countless years. It possessed numerous effects, and it was profound and extraordinary. Moreover, after the conclusion of every single recruitment test held by Dao Emperor Academy, the final rankings would be spread via the Dao Bell of Vie.
At that time, every ring of the bell wouldn’t just be clearly heard within Dao Emperor Academy, all the living beings within the entirety of Darkombat City would be able to hear it clearly.
Moreover, the fact that their names appeared within the ring of the Dao Bell of Vie proved that this disciple was already a true student of Dao Emperor Academy and was protected by the academy!
As it represented the vie of supremacy, doing this meant that all these newly recruited students would emanate a ring of their own in the Immortal Dimension of the future.
Zhou Zhili, w.a.n.g Daolu, and all the great figures of the academy were already standing beneath the Dao Bell of Vie at this moment, and they had solemn expressions on their faces while they seemed to be waiting silently for something.
Om!
After a short moment, a deep ring spread throughout the hall, and it was like the tune of the Dao that had descended from the heavens and enlightened all that heard it.
At the same time, the square outside Dao Emperor Academy that was originally filled with animated discussion suddenly became silent because a ring of a bell had resounded at this moment!
The test has ended!
Everyone reacted to the meaning behind this ring of the bell, and their spirits were refreshed while they couldn’t help but reveal a wisp of antic.i.p.ation.
What will the final rankings of the test this time be?
Who will obtain the supreme honor of being the first?
Within Darkombat City, the clamorous streets, bustling restaurants, noisy stores… Everything had suddenly gone silent, perfectly silent. Even the streams of people that were moving busily through the streets had suddenly stopped moving, and their gazes shot towards Dao Emperor Academy in unison.
The atmosphere was deathly silent, and only a strand of that deep ring of the bell was reverberating through the heavens and the earth.
“The 500th, Moqi Long.”
This deathly silence didn’t last for long before a sound reverberated through the heavens and the earth. It was the ring of the bell yet seemed like the sound of a G.o.d reading out his decree, and it carried a force that struck directly at the heart.
No matter if it was those great figures that were gathered on the square before Dao Emperor Academy or all the living beings in Darkombat City, all of them were clearly aware that the final rankings for this year’s recruitment test would be announced from the bottom.
To ordinary people, hearing a list of an entire five hundred names was an extremely boring and dull thing, yet at this moment, it was like listening to a supreme and profound tune to everyone in Darkombat City.
It was even to the extent that many took out transmission jade slips and recorded the names within the rings of the bell, and they would immediately send these transmission jade slips out as soon as they recorded a single name. They flew out of Darkombat City as if they’d grown wings and flew into the various cities within Valiant Star Continent, flew into the various continents in the entire Immortal Dimension, and flew into the Buddha Dimension, Dragon Dimension, Phoenix Clan…
Because everyone was clearly aware that even though these were the five hundred disciples that Dao Emperor Academy was recruiting, it was a small handful of the top geniuses in the younger generation of the entire three dimensions.
Their futures were limitless.
A new blazing sun might appear amongst one of them.
They were bound to lead the younger generation in the Immortal Dimension and become a great figure that shook the world in the future!
Even if some of them would perish in the future, or some of them would become ordinary, but at this moment, they were undoubtedly the group of people that were the worthiest of everyone’s attention!
…
The ring of the bell curled into the sky and reverberated through the heavens and the earth. The deep ring carried a force that was like the tune of the Dao, and it caused the hearts of others to calm down as if they were listening to the sound of nature.
Name after name was announced while time trickled by, and it resounded throughout the entirety of Darkombat City.
As they heard these names, some people couldn’t refrain from revealing a wisp of excitement, some could stop their tears from flowing, some beamed from ear to ear, some…
But not a single person made any noise.
All of them were expressing their feelings in silence, and they each revealed different expressions. It was like a scene where the expressions that could be displayed by the living beings in the world was revealed. Even though it was without sound, the silent atmosphere shook the heart.
Within the Hall of Vie.
Most of the disciples that had pa.s.sed the test were extremely excited. Especially when they heard their final rankings, some of them felt a sense of loss, some were disgruntled, and there were also some that were overjoyed and exclaimed about their fortune in their hearts.
Only Chen Xi, Zhen Lu, Zhao Mengli, Ji Xuanbing, and the other disciples that had always been in the ranks of the top twenty seemed to be rather composed.
Firstly, it was a long way till the ring of the bell announced their names on the list, and secondly it was because they had mostly roughly guessed their own final rankings.
Of course, even if they were composed, it would be a lie to say that they weren’t nervous. After all, they still didn’t know their exact ranking, and they hoped in their hearts that their rankings would be slightly better than they expected.
When one paid attention to something, it was the easiest for time to flow soundlessly.
Unknowingly, even all the instructors of Dao Emperor Academy within the hall revealed a wisp of nervousness because practically the entirely of the top hundred positions were occupied by the disciples of top powers like the seven great ancient clans, the Buddha Dimension, the Dragon Dimension, and the Phoenix Clan.
Many of these instructors came from the same power, and if these disciples from their powers were able to be ranked in the top hundred, then it would greatly affect the powers that stood behind them.
Because the display of these disciples had an effect that was impossible to overlook towards the compet.i.tion and cooperation between these top powers.
Chen Xi was the least nervous amongst them all because he didn’t care about all of this, and he even felt slightly bored. However, in his heart, he was still counting exactly how many disciples from these top powers had entered into the top hundred, and which power they were from.
Thus, when the ring of the bell announced up to the final twenty, he’d roughly grasped a great deal of information.
For example, the Ji Clan had the most disciples in the top hundred: an entire fifteen of them.
The Jiang Clan and Zhongli Clan were on par, and they each had twelve disciples that entered into the top hundred.
The Mu Clan, Moqi Clan, and Xuanyuan Clan were equal, and all of them had around eight disciples that had entered into the top hundred.
On the other hand, the Buddha Dimension, Dragon Dimension, and Phoenix Clan combined had over twenty disciples that entered into the top hundred, and it seemed to be slightly few in number, yet it was actually extremely extraordinary.
After all, the disciples from their three powers that partic.i.p.ated in the test were much fewer in number.
As for the Zuoqiu Clan, it was the most terrible, and only three disciples had entered into the top hundred. Moreover, their rankings were rather low amongst the top hundred, so it seemed to be extremely conspicuous.
Amongst them was also a small portion of the disciples from other top powers like the Wenren Clan.
After a short moment, Chen Xi couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to all of this because the Dao Bell of Vie had started to announce the top ten positions.
“The 10th, Xuanyuan Yun.”
“The 9th, Mu Yuchong.”
“The 8th, Moqi Yan.”
The 7th, 6th, 5th, and 4th were Jiang Canghai, Ao Wuming, Zhongli Xun, and Ji Xuanbing respectively.
Up until this point of the announcement, nothing unexpected had appeared within the final rankings of the test, and their rankings were almost the same as it was during the three rounds of the test.
The only surprise was that Ji Xuanbing had actually become the 4th, and it caused everyone to feel slight disbelief. Moreover, it even caused a great uproar outside Dao Emperor Academy.
Only Ji Xuanbing himself seemed to be rather calm as if he’d expected this outcome a long time ago. He seemed to be composed in the face of anything, and he revealed the bearing of an emperor.
“The 3rd, Zhao Mengli.”
“The 2nd, Zhen Lu.”
“The 1st, Chen Xi.”
The final three names were practically revealed in one go, and it didn’t give anyone present here the opportunity to express their feelings before the final rankings of the test had been completely announced.
At this moment, the hall was filled with shock, the are outside the academy was filled with shock, and the entirety of Darkombat City was filled with shock. They seemed to feel that it was too sudden, and their minds had become slightly sluggish.
But right after that, the hall, the area outside the academy, and the entire Darkombat City exploded with clamorous waves of noise that shook the heavens, and it was seething with excitement that drowned the heavens and the earth…