Points Table

“More importantly, the fivefold points multiplier will ensure that you won’t be left behind by the others in the early stages.”

After hearing Emperor Cangxuan’s analysis, Lin Fan quickly made up his mind.

The Ancient Realm adjusted the strength of its enemies according to the cultivation level of those who entered. Even if he chose Earth Grade difficulty, he possessed combat experience personally imparted by Emperor Cangxuan, as well as the Green Lotus Dao Seal and nine-colored fortune within his body. When it came to a real fight, he might not be under that much pressure.

Compared to the riskier Heaven Grade difficulty, Earth Grade was more suitable for him.

As long as he could rely on his nine-colored fortune to find hidden quests and inheritances, the fivefold points multiplier would be more than enough to give him an advantage in the early stages!

Lin Fan no longer hesitated. He raised his hand and touched the scarlet light screen representing Earth Grade difficulty.

A surge of spatial energy flowed into his body through his palm, and the scarlet light soon enveloped him completely.

Before entering the Ancient Realm of Myriad Dao, Lin Fan took one last look at Ye Chuan, who was standing not far away. Then, his entire figure vanished before the ancient stone gate.

The remaining disciples of the Taiyi Immortal Sect stepped forward one after another—

The vast majority chose Yellow Grade or Black Grade difficulty. Only Huang Wuya stood before several light screens and hesitated for a long while. In the end, he gritted his teeth and walked toward the Earth Grade light screen.

He was a Golden Immortal, after all.

Although he was merely a Daoist Disciple, the foundation he had accumulated in the past still remained. If he chose the lowest Yellow Grade difficulty in front of so many disciples from the various immortal sects, he would probably be too ashamed to remain in the sect afterward.

I will become the second most outstanding member of the younger generation, beneath only Holy Son Ye!

More importantly, Lan Xiaoke was standing nearby and staring at him.

To this day, Huang Wuya still remembered the indescribable frustration, helplessness, and heartache he had felt when she snatched away his storage ring.

The moment their gazes met, Lan Xiaoke instinctively hid both hands behind her back and warily took half a step backward.

“Hey, what are you doing? I didn’t take anything this time.”

Huang Wuya’s face darkened.

The tragic determination he had worked up vanished instantly. He simply stopped paying attention to Lan Xiaoke, reached out to touch the Earth Grade light screen, and was soon swallowed by its scarlet radiance.

“Did he just glare at me?”

Lan Xiaoke moved over to Ye Chuan’s side, her expression somewhat puzzled.

Ye Chuan thought seriously for a moment. “He was probably cheering himself on.”

“Why would he glare at me while cheering himself on?”

“Maybe seeing you gave him motivation.”

Lan Xiaoke nodded, seeming to understand.

When it was her turn to choose, Lan Xiaoke did not hesitate in the slightest. She went straight to the yellow light screen representing Yellow Grade difficulty.

Ye Chuan glanced at her in surprise. “You’re not going to choose something more difficult?”

“No.”

Lan Xiaoke planted her hands on her hips and declared righteously, “I’m going in to search for treasures, not to get beaten up. The lower the difficulty, the more time I’ll have to find goodies.”

After a brief pause, she extended a finger and poked the light screen in front of her.

“And this one is yellow.”

“Yellow things obviously look more valuable.”

Ye Chuan fell silent for a moment. He actually could not think of a way to refute her.

Lan Xiaoke waved at him, and her body was soon enveloped by yellow light. The coward’s courage had grown considerably, and the reason was very simple: Ye Chuan had left her with the avatar of a starry-sky behemoth.

The Demon King’s Guard.

Fox Li also chose Yellow Grade difficulty.

She had little interest in her ranking on the Prodigy Stele. She only wanted to enter the Ancient Realm safely and reunite with Ye Chuan as quickly as possible.

After all the other disciples of the Taiyi Immortal Sect had entered, only Ye Chuan remained before the ancient stone gate.

For a moment, countless gazes from all around converged on him.

Most of the young cultivators near the top of the Prodigy Stele rankings had chosen Earth Grade difficulty.

Gu Wufeng, however, had gone straight into the highest Heaven Grade difficulty. Clearly, he intended to rely on the twentyfold points multiplier to widen the gap between himself and the others in the rankings ahead of time.

Everyone wanted to know what this young man would choose—the man who had just climbed to first place on the Prodigy Stele and had even left the stele unable to determine his Dao and foundation.

An immortal sect elder stroked his beard and said in a low voice, “Ye Chuan should choose Earth Grade.”

“He just broke through two major realms in succession. Although his aura doesn’t appear unstable, fully adapting to his suddenly increased strength is definitely not as simple as it looks.”

“Gu Wufeng cultivates the Sword Dao and is naturally skilled at large-scale slaughter. When facing enemies ten times his number, he possesses an inherent advantage. Ye Chuan, on the other hand, has never displayed anything similar in front of everyone.”

Several immortal sect elders beside him nodded one after another.

Choosing Earth Grade difficulty was nothing to be ashamed of.

The fivefold points multiplier already surpassed that of the vast majority of participants. As long as Ye Chuan could maintain a steady pace, with his cultivation at the peak of the Great Firmament Golden Immortal Realm, he would still have an excellent chance of contending for first place in the end.

If he rashly entered Heaven Grade difficulty merely to compete with Gu Wufeng for temporary supremacy, he might instead be forced out of the Ancient Realm ahead of time because there were simply too many enemies.

Ye Chuan naturally heard the discussions around him.

However, his attention was not on Gu Wufeng at all. He was carefully examining the point multipliers displayed above the four light screens.

Yellow Grade: onefold.

Black Grade: twofold.

Earth Grade: fivefold.

Heaven Grade: twentyfold.

There was seemingly nothing worth considering about this difference.

Ye Chuan raised his hand and pointed at the black light screen on the far right. “This is the highest difficulty?”

The white-haired elder was slightly taken aback, then nodded. “That’s right.”

“Heaven Grade difficulty will not only double the strength of the Ancient Realm’s creatures; their numbers will also increase tenfold.”

“During the previous ten openings of the Ancient Realm of Myriad Dao, thirty-seven people chose Heaven Grade difficulty. Only one of them managed to last more than three days. In the end, however, because he was unable to continue exploring the other regions, he failed to make it into the top one hundred of the points rankings.”

“Holy Son Ye, you have only just broken through. This old man still advises you to consider it carefully.”

Ye Chuan listened patiently, but his gaze remained fixed on the twentyfold points multiplier.

“There’s nothing more difficult than this?”

The white-haired elder failed to react for a moment. “What?”

“A difficulty higher than Heaven Grade.”

Ye Chuan repeated himself. “For example, the enemies could become a hundred times stronger, and the points could increase a hundredfold as well.”

The cultivators who had been quietly discussing things around them all stiffened at once.

Not only was this man not concerned about Heaven Grade difficulty, he actually thought that twentyfold points were too few?

The white-haired elder had presided over several openings of the Ancient Realm of Myriad Dao, yet he had never encountered a question like this. After a moment of silence, he slowly shook his head.

“No.”

“Then I’ll choose this one.”

Ye Chuan extended his hand with some regret and pressed it against the black light screen.

The instant the black light touched his palm, the previously tranquil stone gate of the Ancient Realm suddenly began to shake violently!

A massive pillar of light, interwoven with black and golden radiance, shot into the sky. The Great Dao laws that had yet to disperse in the surrounding area were drawn toward it, all converging on the place where Ye Chuan stood!

At the same time, new words appeared on the Prodigy Stele.

[First place on the Prodigy Stele: Ye Chuan.]

[Heaven Grade difficulty selected.]

[Generating a corresponding trial based on the entrant’s cultivation realm.]

The Great Dao patterns on the surface of the ancient stone gate rapidly lit up.

Ye Chuan could sense a mysterious force examining his physical body, divine soul, and the Great Dao within him. It seemed to be trying to generate enemies corresponding to his current strength.

However, the moment this force came into contact with the black-gold chaos power, the entire stone gate began to tremble once more.

Crack-like black patterns rapidly spread outward from Ye Chuan’s palm.

Even the spatial passage, which had already stabilized, briefly twisted!

The white-haired elder’s expression changed slightly. He immediately raised his hand and cast dozens of seals, barely managing to stabilize the entrance to the Ancient Realm once again.

“What happened?”

The surrounding experts from the Immortal Sects all turned toward the stone gate.

The white-haired elder did not answer at once. Instead, he used his authority to communicate with the will of the Ancient Realm.

After a moment, his expression gradually became rather strange.

The Myriad Dao Ancient Realm could generate living beings of the same level based on the Great Dao cultivated by each entrant.

However, the power within Ye Chuan’s body did not belong to any Great Dao recorded in the Ancient Realm.

The Ancient Realm was unable to replicate his black-gold chaos power. It could only use the standard of an ordinary peak Daluo Golden Immortal to generate opponents for him.

This also meant that the enemies Ye Chuan faced in the trial would possess only advantages in cultivation realm and numbers. They could not truly replicate his power.

While the white-haired elder was still considering how to handle the situation, Ye Chuan’s body had already been completely swallowed by the curtain of light.

As the black-gold pillar of light gradually faded, the ancient stone gate returned to stillness.

One of the Immortal Sect elders could not help asking, “What exactly happened just now?”

The white-haired elder was silent for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

“The Ancient Realm cannot determine which Great Dao Ye Chuan cultivates.”

“So it can only generate one thousand peak Daluo Golden Immortal beings for him according to the normal standard for the Heavenly difficulty level.”

Upon hearing this, the astonishment that had just appeared in everyone’s hearts faded somewhat.

The inability to replicate his Great Dao did not mean that Ye Chuan would be able to complete the trial with ease.

One thousand peak Daluo Golden Immortal beings, each of them twice as powerful as an ordinary cultivator of the same realm.

Even if they could not replicate Ye Chuan’s unique power, such a lineup was still enough to wear an ordinary Immortal Venerable to death!

An elder shook his head lightly.

“He was ultimately too impulsive.”

“The Heaven’s Pride Stele judges one’s future potential. It does not mean that he already possesses the strength to suppress everyone of his generation.”

“Once he enters, he will soon pay the price for his choice.”

…

…

After Lin Fan opened his eyes again, he found himself in an abandoned village.

Gray mist shrouded the land and sky.

Most of the houses in the village had already decayed. Broken weapons and long-bleached bones lay scattered everywhere across the ground.

There was no sign of life anywhere nearby.

Only the cold wind blowing through the ruined houses emitted mournful wails that sounded like weeping.

Lines of light condensed into words—

[The outskirts of the Primordial Mountains.]

[Earth-level difficulty.]

[Mission: Leave the Desolate Village.]

[Completion reward: One hundred thousand Myriad Dao Points.]

Lin Fan glanced at the words floating before him but did not immediately walk toward the outskirts of the village.

An ordinary mission only required him to leave the Desolate Village.

However, the most precious opportunities in the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm were often hidden in places that appeared utterly ordinary.

Lin Fan could sense that after entering the village, the Azure Lotus Dao Mark on his chest had begun to emit an extremely faint fluctuation.

Emperor Cangxuan’s voice also echoed from the depths of his sea of consciousness.

“The third house on the left.”

“There’s something inside.”

Lin Fan did not ask why. He immediately walked to the left.

The third house had already collapsed halfway, and only half of its wooden door remained hanging from the wall. Aside from a few rotten pieces of furniture, there seemed to be nothing unusual inside.

Following Emperor Cangxuan’s guidance, Lin Fan found a black stone statue no larger than his palm in the corner of the house.

The surface of the statue did not emit the slightest fluctuation of immortal energy.

Yet the moment Lin Fan reached out and picked it up, the Azure Lotus Dao Mark within his body suddenly lit up!

A stream of azure immortal light surged along his arm and entered the stone statue.

The black shell rapidly peeled away. Slowly, the illusory figure of an old man seated upon an Azure Lotus appeared before Lin Fan.

[Complete the Desolate Village’s Final Wish.]

[Slay the Soul-Eating Beast hidden beneath the village.]

[Reward: Five million Myriad Dao Points.]

[Reward: One ancient immortal technique.]

When Lin Fan saw the rewards, a look of pleasant surprise flashed through his eyes.

The other cultivators had only just entered the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm and had yet to even find their first Ancient Realm creature.

Meanwhile, relying on his nine-colored providence and the Azure Lotus Dao Mark, he had directly triggered a hidden mission worth five million points!

This was his advantage.

Although Ye Chuan possessed power far beyond his cultivation realm, Lin Fan possessed nine-colored providence capable of changing fate, as well as Emperor Cangxuan, a true Great Emperor, personally guiding him.

I may not be inferior to you, Ye Chuan!

As long as opportunities existed within the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm, he might not be slower than anyone else!

Lin Fan put away the stone statue and asked in a low voice, “Master, where is the Soul-Eating Beast?”

Emperor Cangxuan’s divine sense swept through the area beneath the village.

“It’s right below us.”

“This Soul-Eating Beast should originally have been at the mid-stage of the Heavenly Immortal realm, but because you chose Earth-level difficulty, it now possesses strength close to the peak of the Heavenly Immortal realm.”

“However, the Soul-Eating Beast relies on devouring souls to cultivate and is most afraid of pure life force.”

“The Azure Lotus Dao Mark happens to restrain it.”

Lin Fan nodded lightly.

…

At this moment, the people outside were also watching the changes in the point rankings.

The first person to obtain points was not one of the top-ranked prodigies, but an ordinary disciple who had happened to be teleported into a valley of immortal medicine.

After entering the Ancient Realm, he casually picked an immortal herb and obtained one hundred points, causing his name to briefly appear in first place.

However, that position lasted for less than a few breaths.

Gu Wufeng soon encountered his first group of enemies after entering the Ancient Realm.

Ten sword beasts at the Immortal Venerable level attacked simultaneously, yet he casually released a strand of sword intent and cut them all apart.

His name instantly shot from the rear of the rankings to first place.

When the disciples of the Nine Heavens Sword Sect saw this, they immediately erupted into cheers.

“One sword strike killed ten sword beasts of the same realm!”

“As expected of Senior Brother Gu! Even after choosing the highest difficulty, those Ancient Realm creatures still can’t make him draw his sword for real!”

Gu Changge stood at the front of the immortal vessel, a satisfied smile appearing on his face as well.

Gu Wufeng had dared to choose Heavenly difficulty not because he was being impulsive.

His sword domain was perfectly suited to dealing with large numbers of enemies. When facing Ancient Realm creatures in quantities ten times greater, he could instead rely on the twentyfold points multiplier to quickly widen the gap between himself and the others.

The points of the other top prodigies also began to rise one after another.

Some had slain Ancient Realm creatures.

Some had discovered precious immortal medicines immediately after entering.

Others had relied on their sect’s secret techniques to trigger an ordinary mission ahead of time.

In only a brief moment, the top one hundred on the rankings had already changed dozens of times.

Just as Gu Wufeng’s points surpassed twenty million, Lin Fan’s name suddenly began rapidly climbing from far beyond the several-thousandth position!

Ninety-seventh.

Fifty-first.

Twenty-third.

Seventh!

Finally, it stopped at fifth place!

When the disciples of the Taiyi Immortal Sect saw this, their faces immediately filled with excitement.

“Lin Fan has reached fifth place!”

“He completed a hidden mission the moment he entered the Myriad Dao Ancient Realm. As expected of someone with nine-colored providence!”

“With the fivefold points multiplier from Earth-level difficulty, combined with the hidden mission reward, he really has a chance of making it into the final top three!”

Lu Taixu nodded in satisfaction as well.

Although Lin Fan could not compare with Ye Chuan, he was still one of the most promising disciples of this generation in the Taiyi Immortal Sect.

The fact that he had discovered a hidden quest in such a short time was enough to prove the power of his nine-colored destiny.

However, as the other top prodigies continued earning points, Lin Fan’s ranking quickly fell from fifth to seventh, and then settled at ninth.

Even so, this performance was still astonishing enough.

Only Ye Chuan’s name remained at the very bottom of the rankings.

【Ye Chuan: 0 points.】

Some cultivators who had never been convinced by Ye Chuan could not help but smile when they saw this.

“He was so arrogant before choosing the Heavenly difficulty, yet after entering, he hasn’t earned a single point.”

“He was probably surrounded by enemies ten times his number the moment he finished teleporting.”

“The Heaven’s Chosen Stele only judges future potential. It doesn’t mean he can suppress everyone of his generation right now.”

“After breaking through two major realms in succession, his strength really isn’t that easy to control.”

An elder from an ancient immortal sect stroked his beard and slowly said, “If he gives up voluntarily now, he still has a chance to preserve most of his spiritual soul power.”

“If he continues to hold on, he’ll only suffer severe injuries.”

The several elders of the Taiyi Immortal Sect did not look pleased when they heard these remarks.

Naturally, they believed in Ye Chuan’s strength.

But Ye Chuan’s failure to earn any points for so long was indeed somewhat worrying.

Lu Taixu, however, remained silent.

He gazed at the name at the very bottom of the Heaven’s Chosen Stele and faintly sensed that Ye Chuan might simply be waiting for some sufficiently astonishing number to appear alongside it.

The next second.

The name at the bottom of the Heaven’s Chosen Stele suddenly lit up.