Chapter 849 The Emergence of Geniuses in Large Numbers
Countless eyes were fixed on Lei Cang.
All the pract.i.tioners were shocked by Cloud Light Saintess’s previous attempt to get on the Heaven Rankings List. Now, they had even higher hopes for Lei Cang. He had overtaken Cloud Light Saintess and became the new top master on the Earth Rankings List. Theoretically speaking, he had a very good chance of becoming the first pract.i.tioner in the Upper King Realm to get on the Heaven Rankings List in thousands of years.
The people of the Thunder Clan were excited beyond words.
Everything seemed to have fallen into place naturally.
Standing in front of the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List, Lei Cang took a deep breath, prepared himself mentally, and activated his power to the optimal extent. Streaks of lightning swirled around his body like divine lights, and there were even flas.h.i.+ng lights darting from his eyes. A terrifying force erupted and spread in all directions.
Boom!
Lightning bolts flashed and surged forth like molten lava.
Lei Cang threw a powerful punch at the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List with all his strength.
The deafening rumbling sounds of thunder rang out.
Sparks scattered in all directions.
The combat skills of the Thunder Clan were more visually shocking than those of the Cloud Clan.
The tableau created by Lei Cang’s strike was much more spectacular than the one created by Cloud Light Saintess. It looked as if the thunder G.o.d had descended to the world, making countless pract.i.tioners of various immortal sects tremble with fear.
The pract.i.tioners of the Thunder Clan couldn’t help cheering loudly.
It seemed that Lei Cang would surely get on the Heaven Rankings List.
Lei Cang’s smile was one of utmost confidence.
However, something that surprised all the pract.i.tioners present happened.
After the streaks of lightning disappeared, no golden divine patterns appeared on the smooth surface of the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List, and no other changes took place. There wasn’t even a single beam of golden light, nor did Lei Cang’s name appear.
It turned out that Lei Cang’s performance was much worse than Cloud Light Saintess, who managed to produce some golden divine patterns like swimming fish with a strike.
Lei Cang’s smile gradually stiffened and finally froze on his face.
The cheers from the pract.i.tioners of the Thunder Clan suddenly stuck in their throats.
The pract.i.tioners from various immortal sects waiting in antic.i.p.ation for a miracle to happen were all dumbfounded. They rubbed their eyes repeatedly as if they couldn’t believe what they saw.
“What... what’s going on?”
“Obviously, Lei Cang performed better than Cloud Light Saintess in the verification process. Why did he fail to cause the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List to change even a little bit? In that respect, he performed much worse than Cloud Light Saintess.”
“How could the first place on the Earth Rankings List be inferior to the second place?”
“What kind of logic is this?”
Lei Cang stood dazedly in front of the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List, unable to believe the result.
“I refuse to accept this!”
He roared and prepared to throw another punch.
He performed an ultimate skill of the Thunder Clan and punched the stone tablet hard.
Boom!
Streaks of lightning flashed, and liquid plasma overflowed copiously.
However, the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List still stood unmovable, without any reaction.
“How could... it... be like this?”
After throwing tens of punches in a row with all his strength, Lei Cang was exhausted and gasped for air. At the same time, anger and disbelief engulfed him in waves.
“Alas, get off the platform.”
An old voice came from a high pavilion in the distance.
Lei Cang looked like he was reluctant to give up, but he didn’t dare to disobey the order given by the speaker. In the end, he made an obeisance and said, “Yes, master.”
He walked down the stone steps with a dejected look on his face. He no longer had the confidence and demeanor that he had when he was ranked first on the Earth Rankings List. With a gloomy look on his face, he left directly without saying a word.
Many pract.i.tioners of various immortal sects didn’t know what to say after they saw what happened.
“This is a little strange.”
“Cloud Light Saintess, who ranked second on the Earth Rankings List, produced golden divine patterns on the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List with only one strike and almost got on the list. In comparison, Lei Cang ranked first on the same list, but he failed to do what Cloud Light Saintess did. Why?”
Li Mu was a little puzzled too.
“Could it be that instead of showing her real power, Cloud Light Saintess struck the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List so casually that the stone tablet misjudged her real strength?”
“Who is more powerful? Cloud Light Saintess or Lei Cang?”
That was the question on the minds of countless pract.i.tioners of immortal sects.
Another peerless genius from a Divine Clan showed up at this time.
Like a gust of cold wind, the successor of the Ghost Clan, who was shrouded in ghostly black fog, ascended the stone platform via the stone steps and came to the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List. Then, he raised his hand and struck the stone tablet hard.
Boom!
A gust of cold wind swept past and Resentful Spirits howled in grief.
Numerous golden divine patterns appeared around the stone tablet, s.h.i.+ning brightly like little golden suns and shedding beams of light that dazzled the people around the platform; they could not even open their eyes. After a while, the golden world “ghost” appeared at the top of the Earth Rankings List. The newcomer took the place of Lei Cang—the successor of the Thunder Clan and became the new top master on the list.
Lei Cang dropped to second place.
Cloud Light Saintess then dropped into third place.
The crowd burst into exclamations of surprise.
Another person ranked first on the Earth Rankings List.
No one had expected that the mysterious successor of the Ghost Clan, who had been keeping a low profile, would catch up and gain the upper hand while the people of the six major Divine Clans were secretly contending against each other.
The faces of the pract.i.tioners of the Thunder Clan and the Cloud Clan turned ashen.
After a short period of exclamations of surprise, all the pract.i.tioners grew more concerned about another question. Would the successor of the Ghost Clan named “Ghost”, who ranked first on the Earth Rankings List now, go to the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List and try to get on that list as Li Rouran—Cloud Light Saintess and Lei Cang—the successor of the Thunder Clan, did?
As expected, under the crowd’s gaze, “Ghost” walked down the stone steps from the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List and strode toward the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List.
“He’s coming!”
“He’s really going to try to get on the Heaven Rankings List.”
“Will he succeed?”
All the watchers became excited.
Li Mu was quite curious too. He waited to see what would happen.
“Ghost” walked to the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings list. When everyone thought that he was going to take action, he suddenly hesitated for no reason.
Standing in front of the stone tablet that symbolized one of the greatest honors for the pract.i.tioners of various immortal sects in thousands of years, “Ghost” did not acc.u.mulate energy, nor did he activate his power. Instead, he stared at the stone tablet for a few breaths of time. Finally, he chuckled, turned around, and walked straight down the stone steps.
“He gave up!”
What “Ghost” did was beyond many people’s expectations.
“Is it because he doesn’t have confidence?”
“Could it be that he clearly knows what he can do and what he can’t?”
“The retreating figure of ‘Ghost’ is obviously more dignified than that of Lei Cang, who lost his temper because of his failure.”
“Small details can sometimes show who is better, right?”
There was a lot of discussion among the crowd.
Some people fixed their eyes on Li Mu.
Some high-level pract.i.tioners of immortal sects who knew the truth about the battle in the six major channels behind the Gate of the Ancestors were very curious about one thing. Back then, Li Mu could protect a woman and successfully escape with her from the siege of Cloud Light Saintess, Lei Cang, Fairy Shuiyue, and “Ghost”. What place would he rank on the Earth Rankings List?
That battle involved too many factors, so it couldn’t be used as a measure of Li Mu’s real fighting power. The high-level pract.i.tioners of various immortal sects had different opinions on his true power. Some thought highly of him, while others didn’t think that way.
Everyone believed that the divine artifacts corresponding to the three lists would give an accurate answer today.
However, Li Mu had no intention of competing for the ranking right away.
He still considered himself a watcher and continued to watch the compet.i.tion with interest.
The compet.i.tion for the ranking was still ongoing.
The compet.i.tion for places on the Human Rankings List and the Earth Rankings List was quite intense.
In the blink of an eye, there were so many names of pract.i.tioners on the stone tablets for these two lists that there was no more s.p.a.ce for any other names. Therefore, an elimination mechanism was introduced. When a new pract.i.tioner got on a list, the pract.i.tioner who ranked last on the list would be eliminated.
This mechanism made the compet.i.tion even more intense.
Some pract.i.tioners who managed to get on the lists were eliminated after a short while. They could only cover their faces and smile bitterly.
After about an hour, another big shot showed up.
It was Fairy Shuiyue, the successor of the Mist Clan. Clad in a light purple dress, she looked sweet, pure, and incomparably beautiful and resembled a beauty made of s.h.i.+ning white jade. Surrounded by swirling fairy mist, she walked up the stone steps, stopped in front of the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List, and struck the stone tablet!
The stone tablet shook.
Dazzling golden light flashed.
Numerous divine patterns appeared and turned into two words—”Jiang Yourong”. The name rose up and finally stopped moving at the location below the name “Ghost” and above Lei Cang’s name. Now, Fairy Shuiyue ranked second on the Earth Rankings List, Lei Cang ranked third, and Cloud Light Saintess dropped into fourth place.
As the rankings changed constantly, the pract.i.tioners around the stone platforms exclaimed in surprise and had a heated discussion about the changes.
For a long time, the successors of the six major Divine Clans had been regarded as the top figures among the Heavenly Legends of the new generation in the immortal sects. There had been a great deal of dispute about their rankings.
The truth would be revealed today.
Among the successors of the six major Divine Clans, Young Master Wuxing, the successor of the Wind Clan, was the only one that had not shown up yet.
Clouds were formless, and the wind had no form.
The Wind Clan didn’t send anyone to the battlefield in the six major channels behind the Gate of the Ancestors. Young Master Wuxing had always been elusive. It was said that he once went to Mount Tianxuan, but he didn’t take any action in the end.
There were various legends about this mysterious person.
Some people said that he was the most talented and powerful one among the successors of the six major Divine Clans and had far surpa.s.sed the others, while others said that he was actually not that powerful, and there were few rumors about him because he didn’t like to seek fame and wealth.
Today’s compet.i.tion for places on the three lists would undoubtedly bring an end to those legends about him.
Everyone was looking forward to his appearance.
Six hours later, the sun gradually set in the west, but he still did not show up, as if he were not interested in the rankings on the three lists at all.
The stone tablets for the Earth Rankings List and the Human Rankings List were already full of names. Almost all the pract.i.tioners who were qualified to be ranked on the two lists had taken action, so there weren’t many changes in the rankings on these lists.
Lin Guanquan from the Rain Clan, who was the first to get on the Earth Rankings List, now ranked third-to-last, which was a rank hanging in the balance. Many other pract.i.tioners of the Rain Clan who were included on the list later had already been eliminated and became laughing stocks.
There was a dismal and gloomy atmosphere among the pract.i.tioners of the Rain Clan.
Finally, Lin Yuhan, known as the top talent of the Rain Clan, who got injured in the fight with w.a.n.g Yanyi, showed up after recovering from his injury.
Carrying the hopes of the Rain Clan, he struck the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List, making a loud sound. Dazzling golden divine patterns appeared, forming his name—Lin Yuhan. The name rose up continuously and stopped below Cloud Light Saintess’s name. He ranked fifth on the Earth Rankings List!
All the pract.i.tioners of the Rain Clan burst into cheers.
They erupted with long-stifled pa.s.sions in an exaggerated way.
They looked as if some pract.i.tioner of the Rain Clan had taken first place on the Earth Rankings List.
Lin Guanquan, the chief of the Seasonal Rain Palace, patted his chest and heaved a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, his senior fellow apprentice ranked among the top five on the Earth Rankings List, and only one pract.i.tioner had been eliminated. For this reason, he stayed on the list, ranking second-to-last. He had obtained the qualification for entering the immortal palace.
However, as a hubbub rose like a tide, his face suddenly turned gloomy.
w.a.n.g Yanyi, who had been sleeping soundly under the shed, finally woke up. He yawned, walked up the stone steps dragging his sword, and came to the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List.
He had defeated Lin Yuhan, who ranked fifth on the Earth Rankings List, in the Immortal-slaying Ring, so he would undoubtedly get on the list.
All the people there, including Li Mu, were very curious about what the ranking of this young G.o.d of Sword from one of the six major clans of traitorous devils would be on the Earth Rankings List.