Chapter Eighty-Nine: Beyond That, There Truly Are Masters

Wang Li saw Jing Yue nod, but did not notice that something in her gaze was off. He then asked, "Has the ranking board been updated?"

"It has," Jing Yue answered timidly.

"Are there any Soul Transformation experts in the top hundred?"

"Yes."

"How many? Who are they?"

Jing Yue closed her eyes and poured her consciousness into the scroll on her arm. After a moment, she said, "There are twelve Soul Transformation experts in the top hundred. Yun Jingzi is ranked first. She is now at the sixth level of Soul Transformation and has five hundred and twenty thousand points."

"Second place is Zhao Leiling, a disciple of the Ultimate Dao Sect. He is at the peak of the third level of Soul Transformation, with one hundred and seventy thousand points."

Wang Li nodded. "Damn, there really are experts here. They've been hiding them pretty deep. Good thing Yun Jingzi is around, or this would be troublesome. Go on."

"Mm." Jing Yue continued, "Third is Wu Liu Zhengying of the Five Willows Sect, at the third level of Soul Transformation, with one hundred and sixty-five thousand four hundred points."

"Seventh is True Person Zhengpin of the East Sea Sect. He has just entered Soul Transformation and has one hundred and fifty thousand points."

Wang Li had wanted to hear who the top ten were, but Jing Yue skipped directly from seventh place, omitting fourth through sixth.

"Wait, why did you jump over three people?"

Wang Li stopped her report and frowned.

Jing Yue said pitifully, "Didn't you say you wanted to know the Soul Transformation experts among the top hundred? Fourth, fifth, and sixth are all Nascent Soul cultivators..."

"What? Nascent Soul cultivators are ranked above Soul Transformation experts?"

Wang Li exclaimed in surprise.

"What's so strange about that? In the early phase of the ruins battlefield trial, it's a turn-based duel. Winners gain points, losers lose all their points and are eliminated. As long as the Nascent Soul cultivators refuse challenges from Soul Transformation experts, that's all there is to it."

Only after Jing Yue explained did Wang Li understand the rules of selection in the ruins battlefield.

Compared with the vague rules during the first phase of the survival mission, the selection rules in the ruins battlefield were much clearer.

The trial in the ruins battlefield was divided into two parts. The first part was a personal arena battle using a point system. Participants were given base points according to their cultivation realm. The higher the realm, the more base points they received. Before battle, participants could freely wager their own points. The winner would obtain the points the loser had staked, as well as the reward from the Chosen Ranking. The heavier the wager, the richer the reward. Once a participant lost all their points, they would be automatically transported back.

Soul Transformation cultivators had a base score of one hundred thousand. Nascent Soul cultivators had fifty thousand. Core Formation cultivators had twenty thousand. Foundation Establishment cultivators had ten thousand.

Every participant had only three chances to refuse a challenge. After three refusals, their points would be reduced to zero and they would be eliminated.

The personal arena battle would last a full two years. When time was up, all participants with fewer than five hundred thousand points would be eliminated. After that, the second half of the ruins battlefield would begin: the Boundless Illusory Array.

The Boundless Illusory Array was no ordinary illusion formation. It encompassed all things, and its real purpose was to test human nature. Participants who met the requirements of the Chosen might walk out in just a few steps, while those who did not would be in for a miserable time. They would have to remain in the Boundless Illusory Array for a full year before they could leave and go home.

As for what lay within the Boundless Illusory Array, that was not something outsiders could know. In any case, it would certainly not be anything good.

"In other words, we'll have to wait here for at least another three years?"

Wang Li scratched his chin and immediately felt that the Chosen truly dragged on forever. One selection taking eight years—it was hardly worth the trouble.

Master Sheng laughed. "Be content. Not everyone can advance as effortlessly as you, as if it were drinking water. A cultivator's growth takes time, and eight years is already very short. Maybe this final stage will drag on for a thousand or eight hundred years."

Wang Li nodded in agreement.

After all, the Chosen was selecting a master for a sacred artifact. The chosen one's strength could not be too poor. One could see this from the influence woven into the simulated battle scenes. The fate child most likely to win the sacred artifact's recognition, Ling Xiao, was only at the perfection of the Core Formation realm, while his backup, Zhou Qian, was merely at the sixth level of Core Formation. With strength like that, they were clearly not suited to obtain a sacred artifact. To say nothing else, even if they did obtain one, it would be like a child carrying gold through a crowded market—there would be no chance of keeping it.

So it was only natural to leave them enough room and time to grow.

Besides, allowing the future master of the sacred artifact to grow rapidly within the Chosen ruins was far more efficient than letting him cultivate outside. On balance, spending a little more time on selection was in fact the most time-saving approach.

Yet Jing Yue said, "Not necessarily. I can sense that something will happen with the Chosen. It may end ahead of time."

"Is that a hint from the Chosen Ranking?"

"Not exactly a hint. It just seems unhappy, as if it wants to leave this place sooner."

Wang Li: Could it be that I've shown some flaw?

Jing Yue's few words set Wang Li off on another round of self-examination. It was only after Master Sheng said that this matter had nothing to do with him that he regained the mood to learn more about the Chosen.

Jing Yue was no longer in the ruins battlefield, yet she knew everything that happened within it.

Wang Li was most concerned about Ling Xiao's point ranking, which was outside the top four hundred, not even as high as Hong Luan Feng at three hundred and twenty, Nan Qi at four hundred, or Zhou Qian at four hundred and twelve.

No one knew how this fate child was supposed to stage a comeback.

Five Elements Pavilion had sent eleven people into the Chosen ruins, but apart from Xing Kai breaking into the top fifty, both Jiang Yu, who had long been highly regarded, and Huang Tao were outside the top five hundred. Worse still, the two were constantly being challenged, with more losses than wins. It was obvious they would not make it to the final sacred artifact recognition stage. The other disciples of Five Elements Pavilion were even worse. On the very first day of the personal arena battles, three of them had their points reduced to zero and were eliminated.

Clearly, Five Elements Pavilion had been treated as an easy target.

Still, that was not surprising. Five Elements Pavilion was the weakest of the eight righteous mountain sects, so it was hardly strange that the disciples of other sects would use them as stepping stones.

The mysterious Soul Transformation cultivator at the second level from Immortal Suppression City, Xi Nanfei, was ranked eleventh. Wang Meng, who had already revealed himself, was fifteenth. Young Master Mo Qian was ranked seventieth. Aside from these three, the nineteen other disciples from Immortal Suppression City who entered the ruins battlefield were all ranked between one hundred and two hundred, which showed just how profound Immortal Suppression City's foundations were.

The Holy Radiance Sacred Land had no Soul Transformation experts, but the ten experts who entered the ruins battlefield, led by Spirit Sword Master, were all ranked between one hundred and two hundred, making their overall strength extremely formidable.

Apart from True Person Zhengpin, the East Sea Sect had no other Soul Transformation experts. However, their disciple Hai Kuan, at the seventh level of Nascent Soul, was ranked sixth, and Hu Xianer, at the third level of Nascent Soul, was ranked twentieth. Although the other disciples were all at the bottom of the list, those two alone were already dazzling enough.

The Beast Taming Sect did not even have a Nascent Soul expert. The six disciples who entered the ruins battlefield were all ranked around four hundred. But that did not mean they were weak. The reason was that all of them were at the Core Formation realm and had low base points. After the personal arena battles began, no one challenged them, because they did not fight alone—they were bolstered by their natal spirit beasts and possessed great ability to fight above their level. They were like hedgehogs covered in spikes. Soul Transformation experts looked down on the little points in their hands, while Nascent Soul experts might not necessarily beat them...