Chapter 3805: Punishment
Despite feeling more at ease, Duan Ling Tian still sent a message to Linghu Ren Jie to inform him about this matter as he followed Lan Yu Shan back to the Flaming Dragon Arena.
Linghu Ren Jie was stunned when he received Duan Ling Tian’s message. He replied, “They threatened you with my life so you’d give up ranking in the top ten? Don’t pay attention to the other party. It’s not that easy to kill me. Now that I’m no longer the clan leader, I’m preparing to go into closed-door cultivation in the clan’s estate. I still have great confidence in our clan’s Guarding Formation. Moreover, didn’t you say the Black Elder Dragon in charge of the Latent Dragon Grand Contest suspects it’s the doing of a Lord of G.o.ds outside of the Flying Dragon Sect? With this, there’s even more reason for you to ignore the other party’s threat.”
Linghu Ren Jie remained fearless and calm, which in turn made Duan Ling Tian feel even more relieved.
When Duan Ling Tian returned to the Flaming Dragon Arena, the matches were still ongoing. Nonetheless, he still attracted many people’s attention when he returned.
Ding Yan and Hou Qing Ning also asked about what happened, but Duan Ling Tian only smiled nonchalantly and replied, “It’s nothing.”
On the contrary, when Linghu Huan and Linghu Zheng Xing, the two Supreme Elders of the Linghu clan, inquired about it, Duan Ling Tian told them about what happened. The duo was naturally furious when they heard about what happened. Similar to Linghu Ren Jie, they advised Duan Ling Tian to ignore the other party. Following that, they looked around warily as though they were trying to figure out which Lord of G.o.ds had threatened Duan Ling Tian.
Time pa.s.sed, and soon enough, it was Duan Ling Tian’s turn again. Just like before, he easily defeated his opponent.
Du Po Jun, Hua Tian Du, and a few other partic.i.p.ants also easily defeated their respective opponents.
Lady Seven from the 10,000 Flowers Valley demonstrated her strength, which was no weaker than that of a man as well. None of her opponents managed to withstand more than three moves from her. However, this was also because the opponents she had faced so far were relatively weak.
“We’ll know who ranks in the top 30 first. At present, it’s very clear who ranks in the top 30,” Hou Qing Ning said as he glanced at Duan Ling Tian, “Duan Ling Tian, there’s no question you’ll rank in the top 30. However, I’m afraid many people will try to challenge Ding Yan.”
When dusk painted the sky a dark golden hue, the partic.i.p.ants who temporarily ranked in the top 30 were chosen. Since the ten inner elders of the Flying Dragon thought they were among the strongest partic.i.p.ants, they had not been arranged to fight each other.
At this moment, one of the ten inner elders of the Flying Dragon Sect announced, “I’ll now read out the partic.i.p.ants who temporarily rank in the top 30. The names I call will fight tomorrow. Peng Dong, Qin Yuan Zheng, Ji Wu Chang, Situ Cheng, Duan Ling Tian…”
Ding Yan, the Easter Oriental’s Hua Tian Du, the 10,000 Flowers Valley’s Lady Seven, the Ouyang Clan’s Ouyang Jian Chen, and a lineal disciple of the Murong Clan, Murong Luo Feng, were among the top 30 partic.i.p.ants.
Apart from Duan Ling Tian, no one from the Linghu clan managed to rank in the top 30.
“These 30 partic.i.p.ants will fight again tomorrow. Those who’ve been eliminated previously can challenge them. Needless to say, if the challenger manages to defeat any one of them, the challenger will take over their ranking. However, the challengers who lose will be punished for wasting time in the Latent Dragon Grand Contest. Those defeated within 100 moves will be fined a year’s worth of salary, and they’ll have to patrol the sect’s periphery for a year. For those defeated within 50 moves, they’ll be fined three years’ worth of salary, and they’ll have to patrol the sect’s periphery for three years. As for those defeated within 30 moves…”
The faster the challenger was defeated, the harsher the punishment would be.
Before these words, many partic.i.p.ants thought about trying their luck and challenging the top 30 partic.i.p.ants tomorrow. However, after listening to the words of the inner elder of the Flying Dragon Sect, many of those who were not confident hurriedly dismissed the thought. This was only natural, after all. They would be punished if they lost the challenge. Unless they were truly confident or foolish, no one would rashly issue a challenge.
With that, the Latent Dragon Grand Contest came to an end for the day.
Many people could be heard sighing. They did not have the courage or confidence to issue a challenge, after all. There were also those who sighed because of their lackl.u.s.ter performance.
Meanwhile, Duan Ling Tian thought to himself, ‘I didn’t receive any more Voice Transmission.’
Since he returned to the Flaming Dragon Arena with Lan Yu Shan, he did not receive any threatening Voice Transmissions. After thinking about Lan Yu Shan’s words and Linghu Ren Jie’s fearlessness, he no longer dwelled on the matter.
As Duan Ling Tian, Hou Qing Ning, and Ding Yan walked to their temporary residence, Hou Qing Ning said to Ding Yan with a smile, “Ding Yan, I don’t think anyone will challenge Duan Ling Tian tomorrow. However, I’m afraid that won’t be the case for you. I hope you won’t fail too miserably tomorrow after ranking in the top 30.”
Upon hearing Hou Qing Ning’s words, Ding Yan shook his head gently and said with a sigh, “Under normal circ.u.mstances, I shouldn’t have any problems. I’m confident about ranking in the top 30, but I’m not confident about ranking in the top 20. After all, my cultivation base is still too low.”
“Among the 30 partic.i.p.ants selected today, you’re the only rudimentary King of G.o.ds,” Duan Ling Tian said with a smile, “I’m sure your uncle is already pleased with the results.”
“Uncle Sikong only told me to do my best. He doesn’t have any expectations,” Ding Yan said.
Hou Qing Ning looked at Ding Yan and exclaimed in surprise, “He doesn’t have any expectations for you? Doesn’t he expect you to rank in the top 10? After all, those in the top 10 will be rewarded with Lord Breakthrough Divine Pills. The pills can eliminate the bottleneck for an advanced King of G.o.ds to become a rudimentary Lord of G.o.ds! This will be highly useful to you in the future when you become an advanced King of G.o.ds.”
Hou Qing Ning’s eyes shone brightly, and he could barely contain his excitement when he spoke about the Lord Breakthrough Divine Pill even if he was still far away from becoming an advanced King of G.o.ds. With such a pill, he did not have to worry that he would not be able to break through and become a rudimentary Lord of G.o.ds in the future.
However, Ding Yan only shook his head and said, “I’m not in a rush to break through. Uncle Sikong also knows that it’s impossible for me to rank in the top 10 now. It doesn’t matter if I don’t get the Lord Breakthrough Divine Pill. He’ll ask for one from the sect leader when I need it in the future.”
Hou Qing Ning and Murong Yin Yue, who was standing next to him, looked at Ding Yan with an expression of envy.
When Hou Qing Ning regained his senses, he smiled brightly and asked, “Ding Yan, why don’t you ask your uncle for an extra two Lord Breakthrough Divine Pills for me and Third Miss Murong?”
Ding Yan hesitated for a moment before he finally said, “Uh, I’ll speak to him after the end of the Latent Dragon Grand Contest. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
Before Murong Yin Yue could refuse, Hou Qing Ning laughed and said, “Ding Yan, I was just joking with you. As the saying goes, ‘No pain, no gain’. I appreciate the kindness though.”
Duan Ling Tian sighed in relief inwardly upon hearing Hou Qing Ning’s words. After all, he thought Hou Qing Ning had put Ding Yan in a difficult position with his earlier request. After all, Sikong was Ding Yan’s uncle, not his father. He was also wondering why Hou Qing Ning, who had always been polite in front of him, would make such a bold request. As it turned out, Hou Qing Ning was only teasing Ding Yan.
“You bast*rd!” Ding Yan said with a hint of helplessness. Nonetheless, he still decided to speak to his uncle when he returned about this matter. After all, Hou Qing Ning was one of his few friends. Since Murong Yin Yue would become Hou Qing Ning’s girlfriend sooner or later, he thought that helping her was no different from helping Hou Qing Ning.
When they arrived, night had fallen, and they returned to their respective residence to rest without saying another word.
…
The next day.
Duan Ling Tian, Ding Yan, and the others who were temporarily selected to be in the top 30 were the ringmasters.
The others had two chances to challenge any of the top 30 partic.i.p.ants.
As announced the day before, those who lost their challenges within 100 moves would be punished. Hence, there were only a dozen or so people who dared to issue a challenge, and most of them possessed a certain level of confidence about their strength.
During this time, Ding Yan was challenged several times, but he managed to defeat his challengers every time. There were only two challengers who managed to withstand more than 100 moves from him while the others were defeated within 100 moves.
After the morning had pa.s.sed, only one person from the initial top 30 partic.i.p.ants had changed.
In the afternoon, the 70 people who were ranked from the 31st place to the 100th place took over and became ringmasters.
The rule was the same as before; those who lost within 100 moves would be punished.
In the evening, the final ranking was finally determined.
“The ten inner elders’ judgment is rather accurate. Among the top 100 partic.i.p.ants they selected, only two were eliminated and replaced.”
Many people were quite surprised, but Duan Ling Tian was not surprised at all. After all, the ten inner elders of the Flying Dragon Sect were intermediate Lords of G.o.ds. It was normal that their judgment of a group of Kings of G.o.ds was accurate.
Following this, the final top 100 partic.i.p.ants would be decided over the next few days before the Latent Grand Contest came to an end.
For some inexplicable reason, at this time, Duan Ling Tian thought about the threat he received again.
‘I really hope the other party is only bluffing and trying to intimidate me…’