Chapter 54

The time has come, and the quadrennial palace examination ranking battle is about to begin.

The most tense moment has arrived.

At the Yanhuang Academy, the five palace masters are present, personally overseeing the ranking battle, demonstrating the academy's high regard for it.

Previously, the qualifying battles were only overseen by senior masters.

The time has come, and the five palace masters have jointly appeared.

Among the five palace masters, this time the central figure is the Phoenix Palace Master Wei Zikun.

This session of the palace examination ranking battle is fully hosted by the Phoenix Palace, which is in charge of the overall situation.

"I am Wei Zikun, and together with the other four palace masters, I welcome all of you to this grand event."

This opening statement immediately sparked a wave of cheers and excitement.

This means that the thrilling moment has arrived.

"Before the ranking battle begins, on behalf of the academy, I solemnly welcome the distinguished guests who have come to oversee the event."

"Your presence makes the academy's ranking battle more fair, just, and glorious!"

"Many of you may not know who the distinguished guests are, so please allow me, Wei Zikun, to introduce them to you!"

Those esteemed guests are now in the private rooms, and the public indeed cannot see them.

"First, let us welcome His Highness Prince Xuan of the Vermilion Bird Royal Family!"

"Salutations, Prince Xuan."

All the dignitaries present today, upon hearing that Prince Xuan has personally arrived, naturally greeted him in unison.

Prince Xuan is the younger brother of the Vermilion Bird King and one of the top figures in the Vermilion Bird Royal Family, serving as the right-hand man of the Vermilion Bird King.

Wei Zikun introducing him first naturally indicates that he is the highest-ranking person present.

From the most luxurious private room, a gentle voice came: "No need for formalities. The young people are the stars of the day, and I am merely here to observe. Please do not feel constrained."

It is said that Prince Xuan has a very good temper, and today's words confirm this.

Wei Zikun continued his introductions.

The second distinguished guest comes from the Tianji Palace.

Strictly speaking, the Tianji Palace is not a separate power.

This is because the Tianji Palace is affiliated with the Vermilion Bird Royal Family.

Most of the officials in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom today are trained by the Tianji Palace.

The Tianji Palace emphasizes cultural education and also focuses on martial cultivation.

Unlike the Yanhuang Academy, the Tianji Palace primarily cultivates talents for governance.

The current Prime Minister of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom is the Palace Master of the Tianji Palace.

The representative from the Tianji Palace today is the daughter of the current Prime Minister Qin, the head of the Tianji Palace's Library, Qin Xuan Yu.

She is also one of the distinguished figures in Yan City, and her age is roughly the same as Wei Jing's.

The third distinguished guest comes from the Lei Zun Mansion, and is the son of the current Lei Zun, who is also the next Lei Zun, named Lin Tianjian.

Lin Tianjian has already taken over the position of Marshal of the Lei Ming Army from his father and is now the first marshal of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, as well as a world-class powerhouse.

His prestige and status are extremely high, and in terms of fame and position, he is definitely above Qin Xuan Yu of the Tianji Palace.

However, the Vermilion Bird Kingdom traditionally places the Tianji Palace, which serves the Vermilion Bird Royal Family, ahead of the Lei Zun Mansion.

For many years, the Tianji Palace and the Lei Zun Mansion, one in culture and one in martial arts, have protected the eternal existence of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom.

Lin Tianjian and the Star Saints are of the same generation. He was the pride of the previous generation of the Lei Zun Mansion, and it is said that in the competition of his generation, he was not inferior to the Star Saints.

Li Tianming, of course, knows that he has another identity, which is the father of Lin Xiaoting and Lin Xiaoxiao!

So when he heard this name, Li Tianming wondered if Lin Xiaoting and Mu Qingqing were sitting next to him at this moment.

If they were, would they be searching for him in the crowd?

As his gaze fell on the private rooms, Wei Zikun continued to introduce other distinguished guests.

For example, Xue Lan, the wife of the Star Saint from the Star Chamber, the wife of the Star Saint, Lady Yuan Yu, the City Lord of Qianji City, Zhang Yunji, the Deputy Palace Master of the Judgment Hall, Zhao Danhong, and more than twenty other figures who are considered influential in the entire Vermilion Bird Kingdom.

These powerful figures of their age have already reached the peak of cultivation.

Together, they control the lifeline of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom.

"Almost done. Next, let us unveil the new Yanhuang List!"

Beside the entrance of the Yanhuang Battlefield stands a massive stone stele.

The stele is heavy and ancient, bearing the weight of thousands of years.

It is the spiritual symbol of the academy, known as the Yanhuang Stele.

The so-called "Yanhuang List" is the ranking list of the junior class disciples determined through the ranking battle, which will ultimately be listed on the Yanhuang Stele.

In the future, every person who enters the Yanhuang Academy will see the Yanhuang List first.

Imagine being ranked at the top of the list, constantly receiving the admiration of others—what a glorious honor!

The title of the top disciple is one that can easily make people obsessed.

Four years ago, Lin Xiaoting of the Lei Zun Mansion defeated all his opponents and topped the Yanhuang List, causing a sensation nationwide.

It should be noted that for decades before that, the top disciple was mostly occupied by geniuses of the Vermilion Bird Royal Family.

That year, Li Tianming personally witnessed Lin Xiaoting's glory.

At that time, he was ranked at the bottom of the Yanhuang List, but his horizons were not high, and he thought he was already quite good.

After all, his background could not be compared to Lin Xiaoting's.

Now, the Yanhuang List on the stele has been erased blank.

Through the ranking battles, names will be listed on the list one by one, and new legends will be born here.

The glory of the top disciple is something that any power desires immensely.

Otherwise, how could figures like Prince Xuan, Lin Tianjian, and Qin Xuan Yu personally oversee the event?

Unveiling the Yanhuang List basically means that the ranking battle has officially begun.

Now, everyone's attention is on the Yanhuang List, and the blank stele allows for endless imagination.

Outside the blank stele, thousands of fireflies are circling around it.

These fireflies have a golden flame burning at their tails.

Li Tianming has seen them before; they use this flame to write the golden names of the disciples on the Yanhuang List.

These fireflies come from a mother queen-type companion beast, and this mother queen-type companion beast is said to belong to a senior master from the Tianyi Palace.

This senior master possesses a mother queen-type companion beast called the Firefly Skyworm.

The golden names burning on the Yanhuang List indeed look impressive!

"I hereby announce that the ranking battle officially begins!"

The subsequent battle arrangements are made by the senior masters.

For example, Senior Master Mu Wan is responsible for her class of fifty junior students.

"Li Tianming, why are you so late!" When Li Tianming returned to Mu Wan's class from the crowd, he was given a stern glare by Senior Master Mu Wan.

"Senior Master, don't you know that important figures always make a grand entrance?" Li Tianming smiled.

Today, Mu Wan is dressed especially formally, with a noble and cold demeanor, making her a beautiful sight on the Yanhuang Battlefield.

"Are you so confident? I wish you get beaten into a pig's head later." Senior Master Mu Wan had been looking for him for a long time and was naturally a bit annoyed.

"How could that happen? I am here to bring glory to Senior Master and the Phoenix Palace." Li Tianming said.

Hearing this, the disciples of Mu Wan's class secretly shook their heads.

In their eyes, Li Tianming not only has poor morals but is also smooth-talking and arrogant.

They cannot understand why Senior Master Mu Wan would consider such a "filth" as a key student to cultivate.

"Behave yourself. I will work with other senior masters to arrange suitable opponents for you. Just wait." Senior Master Mu Wan rolled her eyes and went to work.

The rules of the ranking battle are complex, but in short, it is a "thousand-point system."

All disciples earn points through battles, and the senior masters give comprehensive scores, with a full score of one thousand points.

The senior masters judge and estimate the disciples' abilities, give scores, and then remove the highest and lowest scores to calculate the average, which becomes the initial score of a disciple.

The Yanhuang List is initially ranked according to the initial scores.

Of course, the initial score is not the final score.

Disciples can continue to challenge and perform to improve the senior masters' judgment and have them re-score.

However, if more than half of the senior masters determine that a disciple's cultivation and current score match and there is no exceptional performance,

then the disciple's score will become the final score.

The senior masters are experienced and can generally determine a disciple's talent, potential, and ability after watching a single battle.

Many initial scores are actually very accurate.

Li Tianming does not care about this thousand-point system. For him, the rules of the ranking battle are simple.

He just needs to keep defeating his opponents to stand at the top of the Yanhuang List!

There are many disciples participating in the ranking battle, and the senior masters have made many preliminary arrangements, pairing the disciples for battles and scoring.

This process will definitely be long but very fair.

Li Tianming follows Senior Master Mu Wan's arrangements and waits patiently for the senior masters to assign his first opponent.

"I just need to show top-notch strength in the first battle, and the initial score will directly place me in the top ten, so I don't need to fight my way up from the bottom." Li Tianming is very clear about this.

The sinister events of last night still linger in his mind, and perhaps the person who arranged the assassination is among the participants of the Yanhuang Battlefield.

Therefore, he is still filled with righteous indignation and raging anger.

He is just waiting for the moment of battle to unleash his fury!

More than ten battles are taking place simultaneously, and soon, golden names appear on the Yanhuang List, with the senior masters giving comprehensive scores and listing them.

For example, the name currently at the top of the Yanhuang List—

Chen Yao, 870 points!

In the thousand-point system, such a high initial score is already very rare.

This shining name immediately attracts the attention of the entire audience.

...

[Important] 2 hours later, at 8 PM, Chapter 55, with a "Question"!

The answer is within the first 54 chapters!

The first 4 people to post the correct answer in the book review section will each receive 500.

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