Chapter 1370 - Rising Up
“Coming, coming!”
For the first time in his life, Li Qingshan discovered just how tiring it was to record things in jade slips. He had to maintain his focus at all times, so his soul sense could not relax at all. It was like holding onto something that was not particularly heavy. In the beginning, it was nothing, but as time went on, it would become uncomfortable or even painful. He completely relied on the Spirit Turtle Transformation to hold on.
The most important part of this were the flashes from the badge on his chest and the bookmarks. There were not a lot of them with each book, just a few Black Wood bookmarks and Yellow Bronze bookmarks, without a single White Silver bookmark to be seen, let alone any Green jade bookmarks.
However, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance simply read fast enough, so he acc.u.mulated a great pile in a short while. His contribution constantly climbed higher too.
Towards the end, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance found it too troublesome, so he asked, “How much more do you have?”
Li Qingshan answered, “As much as you want!”
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance directly gave him a great sum of points and ten Green jade bookmarks. He said, “If there’s enough, I’ll reward you additionally. If there’s not enough, then you’re lying to your seniors. Not only will you have to pay it back, but you will even be severely punished too!”
“Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty!” Li Qingshan agreed happily, but upon some further thought, he was also a little wary. “I respect you as my senior, so you better not rip me off!”
The value behind each book was different. It was completely decided by the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance. If it were originally worth Yellow Bronze bookmarks but he received Black Wood bookmarks instead, there was nothing Li Qingshan could do about that.
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance said in displeasure, “d.a.m.ned brat, you’re arrogant and conceited yourself, yet you look down on others! I am a lover of books! Even if it’s just for the sake of their authors, I wouldn’t undermine their value over these petty profits. I’ll take whatever you have, so just bring it!”
“Alrighty!”
In the blink of an eye, the sky lit up. An entire night had pa.s.sed.
The boundless ocean held the Myriad sect as the red flow of the rising sun embraced the sky.
Below the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes, to its eastern foundation, was a stone wall that stood over thirty metres tall. There was a great square in front of the wall.
The wall was smooth and glossy, with the two words “Myriad Rankings” carved at the very top. As the red sun rose into the sky above the eastern ocean, the sunlight gradually illuminated the wall, displaying a series of names.
These names trailed down line by line. The names at the very top were a deep violet before gradually fading in colour. Twenty rankings down, it became a bluish-green before fading again over several hundred names. Towards the very bottom, it was golden yellow with several thousand people.
It was divided into three levels like a pyramid, representing the direct disciples, inner disciples, and formal disciples of the Myriad sect. Le Tian’s name was a deep violet like the afterglow of the sun moments before it completely vanished, ranked eighth from the very top. It represented his tremendous status in the Myriad sect.
Seniority in the Myriad sect did not depend on cultivation or when they joined the sect. It completely depended on these rankings.
It had been less than a day since Li Qingshan joined the sect. Even when he had contributed a lot of magnetic ferrum during the entrance test, leaving him quite close to inner disciple, he still sat at the bottom of this ranking obediently. His faint yellow name had almost vanished in the sunlight, with several thousand names separating him from the green, middle level.
Once again, it was evidence that the words from a boss of a casino could not be trusted. If becoming an inner disciple was that easy, why were there several thousand people struggling here? Why were there only a handful of direct disciples?
However, his name only remained at the bottom of the rankings for a very short amount of time, or more accurately, just an instant. He immediately climbed up by several hundred rankings, which was quite a dazzling sight. Several hundred names shifted down by one ranking at the same time.
People flowed to and from the square. It was extremely busy. There were many people standing below, gazing at the stone wall. This sight immediately attracted the attention of many, making them gasp in surprise. Immediately, the entire square was alarmed, unsure what was happening. They all followed the gazes and looked at the stone wall, noticing a faint, yellow name on there.
“Li Qingshan? Who’s that?”
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“Don’t know. I’ve never heard of someone like that among the readers. He’s probably new. Didn’t the entrance test just occur recently?”
“They just finished the testing, and the ships to receive them have just docked here. Look at the people in front of the stone wall. Aren’t they the new people? They’re still touring the place with the guide, so how can he obtain so much contribution all of a sudden? It must be some reader who struck it lucky. How can you remember the several tens of thousand readers in the sect?”
“Maybe! Look, he’s still climbing higher! Sigh, his seniority grows so quickly. Just earlier, I was his senior brother, but I’ve become his junior brother now! Just how lucky did he get to obtain so much contribution without stopping?”
After using up all the contribution from an entire night, Li Qingshan’s name no longer climbed that quickly anymore, but it continued to move upwards at a slow but visible and steady pace, surpa.s.sing senior brothers after senior brothers and gaining junior brothers after junior brothers. It left everyone dumbfounded.
The brothers Nie Xiuwen and Nie Xiuwu stood side-by-side in front of the stone wall. As the younger brother Nie Xiuwu was fair-skinned, the marks from Li Qingshan’s vicious beating had yet to completely fade away. It was not so obvious with the elder brother, Nie Xiuwen, due to his complexion.
After quite a struggle with each other, they actually did not abandon each other. After a night of sailing, they had instead reconciled, back to how they were before, watching out for each other.
As conventions dictated, the disciple responsible for receiving them took them on a tour around Myriad city. The square was the first stop, primarily to show them the Myriad rankings so that they could understand their ident.i.ties and statuses in the sect, as well as to give them some motivation.
Due to their higher cultivations, the brothers stood at the front of the crowd. Gazing up at the name, their jaws could not help but drop. As the name climbed higher, they raised their heads higher, and their jaws dropped even more.
“Big brother, is it that Li Qingshan?”
“Who else could it be? Sigh, we deserved our defeat at his hand.”
“You’re from the same group, so do you know anything about this junior brother Li’s origins?”
The disciple responsible for receiving them was the same one that Li Qingshan had met the night before. He felt absolutely astonished as well. Where in the world did he go last night? How did he acc.u.mulate so much contribution overnight? If this continues, even I’ll have to call him senior brother when I see him before long.
The two brothers glanced at each other. They had heard about the bold gamble too. After all, they were Soul Nascence cultivators, and Le Tian and Li Qingshan had not intentionally stifled their voices either. However, they decided to stay quiet about it. Let alone Le Tian, just Li Qingshan alone was a person they could not afford to offend.
“Senior brother, we’re not too sure either.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, then don’t. Just don’t try and brush me aside. I’m still your senior brother after all!”
The guiding disciple was quite displeased, but it was not like he could force them to do anything. The two of them were a servant and an attendant, but with their cultivation, becoming formal disciples was only a matter of time.
Su Tong possessed a special ability in this aspect, and she had heard them loudly and clearly yesterday too. She suspected that senior sister Ruan had helped him out. Sigh, a large tree really is good for shade and shelter. I better find one for myself soon too!
Among the faces of admiration in the crowd behind, a hint of resentment flashed through the eyes of a “monk”. His head was bald, but he was dressed in the robes of a daoist priest. He was the muscly old daoist that had been charred.
Due to Li Qingshan’s mercy, he had managed to preserve his life. He had basically climbed out of Magnetic Field mountain, without a single magnetic ferrum on him. He had only pa.s.sed the test due to Le Tian’s promise to Ruan Yaozhu.
His physique was tough, and he was filled with vitality, so his appearance recovered even faster than the two brothers, but not a single strand of hair managed to regrow. His internal injuries were extremely severe too, not only regressing in cultivation, but even affecting his lifespan. He utterly hated Li Qingshan. Because he was afraid the two brothers would come after him secretly, he hid within the crowd, but people constantly glanced his way too, leaving him absolutely embarra.s.sed and fuming!
He watched his enemy climb higher and higher, while he had to start as a servant, piling hatred onto his hatred inside. His body felt like it was being sliced at by blades and burned at by fire, triggering the injuries in his body and making his face darkened and redden.
The two brothers seemed to sense him and looked back, only to see a bald head gradually back away from the crowd. They sneered. “Our combination of wind and fire isn’t something you can just withstand like that. Now, residual winds carve away at your bones, fire poison attacks your organs, and you even have an inner demon? This kid can probably forget about undergoing the fourth heavenly tribulation in his lifetime!”
The muscly old daoist silently backed out of the crowd and stopped a pa.s.serby. “May I ask where I can see senior brother Le Tian?”
“You must be new! What’re you asking that for?”
“I have something to report to senior brother Le Tian.”
“He’s probably at the Fate Perturbing casino right now!”