Chapter 21

"Ren Xihua, it's Ren Xihua, the inner disciple who has only been in the sect for a year, has made it into the Heaven List!"

"Seventy-second place, no, already seventy-first, his ranking is still advancing!" In the distance, a group of outer disciples had gathered in front of the Heaven-Earth Cliff on the south side of Donglai Peak. They were staring at the names on the Heaven-Earth List, which changed from time to time, and the noise and envy were incessant.

Seeing this, Ye Zhen also hurried over to investigate.

In fact, Ye Zhen was also familiar with the name of the Heaven-Earth List. When he was still a miscellaneous disciple, the Heaven-Earth List was a high-end topic among the miscellaneous disciples. If any miscellaneous disciple could know the changes in the rankings of the Heaven-Earth List, they would inevitably become a hot topic of conversation among the miscellaneous disciples during their leisure time.

The Heaven-Earth List is actually two ranking lists, divided into the Heaven List and the Earth List.

The Heaven List consists of seventy-two people. Under normal circumstances, only inner disciples have the possibility of making it into the Heaven List. Those who dominate the Heaven List are mostly the outstanding inner disciples. Of course, if outer disciples have the ability, they can also make it into the Heaven List, but such a thing has never happened before.

The Earth List, on the other hand, is different from the Heaven List. The Earth List consists of three hundred and sixty people and is a dedicated combat strength ranking list for both inner and outer disciples of the Qiyun Sect. Only outer disciples can be listed, and once an outer disciple becomes an inner disciple, they are immediately removed from the Earth List.

The competition for the Heaven and Earth Lists is extremely fierce, even more so than the annual grand competition within the sect. Sometimes, it even carries a hint of bloodshed.

This is mainly because the benefits of the Heaven and Earth Lists are enormous. If inner and outer disciples can make it into the Heaven and Earth Lists, not only will their status within the sect soar, but they will also receive tangible benefits.

Ordinary outer disciples can receive one Blood Essence Pill from the sect every five days. However, once an outer disciple makes it into the Earth List, the number of Blood Essence Pills they receive each time increases to two.

Moreover, for every one hundred and twenty places advanced on the Earth List, the rewards increase. If a disciple can make it into the top two hundred and forty places on the Earth List, they can receive three Blood Essence Pills each time.

If a disciple can make it into the top one hundred and twenty places on the Earth List, they can receive four Blood Essence Pills each time. If they can make it into the top ten, they can receive five Blood Essence Pills each time.

The top ten on the Earth List receive ten times the cultivation resources of ordinary outer disciples.

The most eye-catching and heart-pounding thing is that if a disciple can make it to the top of the Earth List, the pills they receive each time will become True Essence Pills.

True Essence Pills are a benefit that only inner disciples can enjoy, as they can increase true essence and are extremely precious. Moreover, this is just part of the reward.

The rewards for outer disciples of the Qiyun Sect making it into the Earth List are so tempting, and the rewards for the seventy-two people on the Heaven List are even more tempting.

It can be said that as long as one makes it into the Heaven and Earth Lists, the cultivation resources obtained from the sect will increase several times. If the cultivation resources can increase several times, the improvement in cultivation will naturally be faster.

Moreover, the Heaven and Earth Lists are a rare opportunity for inner and outer disciples of the Qiyun Sect to improve their status.

Within the Qiyun Sect, if an outer disciple wants to become an inner disciple, or if an inner disciple wants to become a true disciple, apart from the annual grand competition and assessment, there is only the Heaven and Earth Lists.

If an outer disciple can make it into the top ten on the Earth List, they will have the right to challenge any inner disciple at any time. If they successfully challenge an inner disciple, the outer disciple can directly become an inner disciple.

If an inner disciple can make it into the top three on the Heaven List, they have the opportunity to be favored by an elder and be taken as a true disciple.

All of these factors make the Heaven and Earth Lists the most fiercely competitive and even cruel place in the Qiyun Sect.

The Heaven and Earth Lists are displayed on the Heaven-Earth Cliff within the Qiyun Sect. The Heaven-Earth Cliff is a mountain peak that is partially suspended within the Qiyun Sect, said to be a magical treasure refined by the sect's predecessors with great power.

It can resonate with the identity jade pendants issued by the Qiyun Sect to inner and outer disciples, allowing the rankings on the Heaven and Earth Lists to change in real time.

When Ye Zhen arrived at the south side of Donglai Peak to look at the Heaven-Earth Cliff, Ren Xihua's name on the Heaven List was still flashing from time to time. In just a short while, Ren Xihua had advanced from seventy-first place to sixty-ninth place.

However, the frequency of Ren Xihua's name flashing was slowing down. After advancing to sixty-sixth place, there was no movement for a full quarter of an hour.

"Strange, how can Ren Xihua challenge so many people at the same time?" Seeing Ren Xihua's ranking flash and advance all the way to sixty-sixth place, Ye Zhen couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Ye Zhen vaguely remembered that the challenge rules for the Heaven and Earth Lists within the Qiyun Sect were that disciples ranked lower or not on the list could challenge any person on the list. If they lost, everything would be over.

But if they won, they could directly replace the challenged person's ranking, and the rankings of others would be pushed back one place. However, it was rare for someone to challenge more than two or three places ahead.

"Ha, you don't even know this? Ren Xihua is challenging the Fish-Dragon Path!" A black-clothed outer disciple looked at Ye Zhen with disdain.

"Challenging the Fish-Dragon Path?" Ye Zhen was confused. Challenging the Fish-Dragon Path can also make it into the Heaven and Earth Lists?

After inquiring from various sources, Ye Zhen finally understood this matter, which also resolved his confusion from a few days ago.

The Fish-Dragon Path that Ren Xihua was challenging is also known as the Nine Transformations of the Fish-Dragon, which is the true Fish-Dragon Path within the Qiyun Sect. The Fish-Dragon Path that Ye Zhen and his batch of miscellaneous disciples challenged a few days ago was just the preliminary stage of the true Fish-Dragon Path.

No wonder Ye Zhen saw a mysterious gate inscribed with "First Transformation of the Fish-Dragon" after completing the Fish-Dragon Path. It turned out that was the beginning of the Nine Transformations of the Fish-Dragon.

It is said that the Nine Transformations of the Fish-Dragon is a treasure passed down within the Qiyun Sect, extremely miraculous. If inner and outer disciples enter the First Transformation of the Fish-Dragon, they will encounter spirit beasts and demons created by spiritual energy. Killing these spirit beasts and demons will earn a certain number of points.

Until the disciple can no longer hold out and is kicked out of the Nine Transformations of the Fish-Dragon by the spirit beasts and demons, the total points earned by the disciple for killing the spirit beasts and demons will be used as the basis for ranking on the Heaven and Earth Lists.

As for the method of directly challenging listed disciples to improve one's ranking on the Heaven and Earth Lists, which Ye Zhen knew about, it is rarely done. It is a very face-losing and easy way to make enemies.

However, it is also the most exciting event within the Qiyun Sect.

Ren Xihua's final ranking stabilized at sixty-fifth place on the Heaven List, causing the outer disciples who were watching to be greatly amazed. Entering the sect for only a year and standing out from hundreds of inner disciples to make it into the sixty-fifth place on the Heaven List, he is truly a genius among geniuses.

His cultivation and combat strength have improved at a rate even faster than Qu Zhanqian, who currently holds the top place on the Heaven List. Among the inner disciples, only Changsun Ran, ranked twelfth on the Heaven List, with a medium-grade bloodline talent, can match Ren Xihua's cultivation speed.

The Heaven List has little to do with Ye Zhen at the moment. What he needs to focus on is the Earth List. Although the Earth List has three hundred and sixty people, compared to the more than eight thousand outer disciples, it is still a narrow path.

Ma Hui, 347th place!

On the Earth List, Ye Zhen saw the name of Ma Hui, who had caused him trouble. No wonder Ma Hui was so arrogant and had many followers; he was an outer disciple who had made it onto the Earth List.

As Ren Xihua's name on the Heaven List stopped flashing, the hundreds of outer disciples gathered here lost their interest in watching and dispersed amidst the chatter. Ye Zhen also followed the crowd down the mountain.

While walking, Ye Zhen was thinking about the Earth List. He must make it onto the Earth List as soon as possible to obtain more cultivation resources from the sect. Obtaining more cultivation resources from the sect will allow his cultivation to improve faster.

This will create a virtuous cycle.

Bang!

Suddenly, Ye Zhen, walking in the crowd, was tripped by a leg that suddenly extended from the side. His body swayed, and he almost fell off the side of the mountain.

On one side of the mountain, there was an endless sea of clouds, and if he fell, he would surely be crushed to death.

At the critical moment, Ye Zhen exerted force from his waist, performing a lazy bear stretch, and his body flipped. Just as he was about to fall off the mountain, he grabbed a rock and, with a burst of strength, leaped back onto the mountain path.

On the mountain path, Li Xuelong, who had suddenly extended his foot to trip Ye Zhen, was looking at the shaken Ye Zhen with a mocking expression.

Beside Li Xuelong, Ma Hui stood with a smile.

"Li Xuelong, you damn want to kill me, don't you?" Ye Zhen, who had narrowly escaped death, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and shouted at the culprit, Li Xuelong.

"Brother Ye, that's not right. You were walking carelessly and almost fell to your death. How can you blame Li Xuelong?" Ma Hui laughed sarcastically.

"I was careless? It was clearly Li Xuelong's deliberate act!"

"I did it deliberately, so what? Are you going to bite me?" Li Xuelong made no attempt to hide his malice, looking as if Ye Zhen couldn't do anything to him.

When Ye Zhen was fuming with anger at Li Xuelong's shameless face, Li Xuelong sneered at him again, "What, are you angry? Want revenge? If you have the guts, come to the martial arena with me, and I'll give you a chance to take revenge!"

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PS: I will make up for yesterday's missed update today. This is the first update!

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