The Ancient Palace

The Ancient Hall of Ten Thousand Dao hung high above the heavens, its cascading golden light illuminating more than half of the Ancient Realm of Ten Thousand Dao.

Countless Great Dao patterns descended from the bottom of the ancient hall like chains supporting heaven and earth, linking the four regions of the realm together.

The violent spatial turbulence surrounding the hall quickly subsided, and even the ancient beasts still fighting in the deeper regions prostrated themselves on the ground.

Everyone could sense that the laws which had enveloped the realm all this time were beginning to contract. This trial, which had continued for so long, had truly entered its final stage.

Everyone assumed that the teleportation would begin immediately, but a new line of text appeared on the Prodigy Stele.

[Final tally will begin in one hour]

[Before the tally begins, the rankings on the Prodigy Stele may still change]

Seeing this prompt, the prodigies who had been preparing to give up charged out once more, hoping to fight for a final ticket during the last hour.

The difference between seventh and thirteenth place was less than fifty million points. Opening even one ruin could completely alter the final rankings.

Some rushed toward valleys that had yet to be fully explored, while others directly set their sights on fellow prodigies, preparing to seize the points tokens they had painstakingly accumulated.

Immortal-power fluctuations soon erupted in several areas. The radiance of magical treasures and immortal arts constantly shot into the sky, making the scene even more chaotic than it had been at the beginning of the trial.

Ye Chuan, however, had no intention of taking further action.

He currently possessed forty-two billion points. Even if everyone behind him added their scores together and multiplied them several times, they probably still could not reach his heels.

Besides, he had already obtained the four outer core marks. As far as he was concerned, ordinary ruins held very little value worth exploring.

Ye Chuan found a flat rock and sat down. He took out the spatial ring rewarded by the Burial Sword Valley and began sorting through everything he had just obtained.

Various fragments of immortal swords were piled inside like a small mountain. Great Dao immortal crystals filled more than a dozen storage spaces. Any one of them would be enough to make an ordinary Immortal Sect fight over it.

Ye Chuan merely took a rough look before throwing everything into his spatial backpack. He could not even be bothered to calculate the exact amount.

There was simply too much.

Counting it was a hassle.

Lan Xiaoke sat on the rock with Blue Eggy in her arms, staring intently at the second-place position on the Prodigy Stele.

“How much is twenty-three billion minus forty-two billion?”

Fox Li counted on her fingers for a while, then her ears gradually drooped.

“Boss, I can’t figure it out.”

“You can’t even do simple arithmetic...”

Ye Chuan fell silent for a moment.

A hopelessly dim-witted little fool and a foolish fox.

Forget it. He would spoil his own little darlings.

Lan Xiaoke nodded as if she understood, then lowered her head and looked at the Blue Eggy in her arms. She lightly tapped the eggshell with one finger.

“You have to work hard too. Try to earn forty-two billion in child support when you grow up, or raising you will be a huge loss for me.”

A dong came from inside the eggshell, as if in response—or perhaps the little creature inside had accidentally bumped its head.

Fox Li reached out and stroked the eggshell. Feeling the increasingly distinct life force within, her ears perked up curiously.

“Boss, is it about to hatch?”

Ye Chuan examined it for a moment.

“Not quite. Once its bloodline has completely stabilized, it should be able to come out on its own.”

Lan Xiaoke immediately hugged Blue Eggy tighter.

“Take your time. It’s best if you don’t grow too quickly. You’ll eat more once you’re grown.”

Ye Chuan glanced at her.

That statement coming from her was not exactly convincing.

In the deepest part of the Burial Sword Valley, Gu Wufeng sat cross-legged before the broken sword stele, the Burial-Heaven Immortal Sword lying across his knees.

He no longer pursued points. Instead, he carefully dismantled the sword intent left behind by the Burial-Heaven Sword Immortal, strand by strand, and fused it into his own sword heart.

An immense inheritance continuously poured into his sea of consciousness. It contained not only the Burial-Heaven Sword Immortal’s sword techniques, but also the countless battles the other had experienced throughout his life.

Any single one of those insights would be enough to save a sword cultivator tens of thousands of years of detours in the outside world. Yet Gu Wufeng had never completely opened his soul to accept them.

He merely searched through the sword intent for the parts suited to him, then used the immortal sword in his hand to sever and reorganize them.

No matter how powerful the path of his predecessor was, it ultimately belonged to that predecessor.

Gu Wufeng had no intention of becoming a second Burial-Heaven Sword Immortal. He only wanted to be the first Gu Wufeng.

At first, the Burial-Heaven Immortal Sword continued to tremble, as though dissatisfied that this successor had taken it upon himself to alter its former master’s sword path.

But as Gu Wufeng’s sword heart grew clearer and clearer, the final remnant of obsession within the immortal sword gradually fell silent.

“You don’t have to acknowledge me.”

Gu Wufeng gripped the hilt, his voice utterly resolute.

“But my sword will only be swung according to my will.”

Clang!

A sword cry rang throughout the Burial Sword Valley. All the remaining sword intent returned to the sword at once, and the Burial-Heaven Immortal Sword finally acknowledged its new master!

Gu Wufeng looked up at the second-place position on the Prodigy Stele, then glanced at the somewhat absurd string of numbers behind Ye Chuan’s name.

Second place was already enough to enter the ancient hall.

As for first place... that was temporarily beyond the reach of any ordinary sword cultivator!

When only fifteen minutes remained, the prodigy ranked eleventh suddenly gained tens of millions of points, knocking Lin Fan out of the top ten.

Lin Fan stood in the center of a desolate village, but his expression barely changed. The Azure Lotus Dao Seal on his chest was pointing toward a withered well in the middle of the village.

The desolate village appeared to have been abandoned long ago. There was no sign of life in the ruined houses, and thick layers of dust covered the ground.

After arriving there, Lin Fan had searched for a long time and found only a few sacrificial implements that had lost their power. His points had not increased at all.

Emperor Cangxuan watched the time steadily run out, his voice carrying a hint of gravity.

“There are only fifteen minutes left. If we leave the desolate village now, we may still have time to find other prodigies and compete for their points.”

Lin Fan shook his head.

“The Azure Lotus Dao Seal would not have brought me here for no reason.”

“If I give up now, even if I manage to return to the top ten, I’ll miss the opportunity that truly belongs to me.”

He was not affected by the changes in the rankings. Following the guidance of the Azure Lotus Dao Seal, he eventually stopped beside the withered well at the center of the village.

He leaped into the well, passed through a hidden restriction, and finally landed in an underground altar that had been buried for countless years.

A wisp of an Immortal King’s remnant soul was sealed in the center of the altar, while nine different-colored strands of the people’s destiny drifted around it.

Nine stone pillars of different colors stood around the altar. Each pillar was carved with scenes of ordinary living beings offering sacrifices to heaven and earth.

Humans tilled the land. Demons migrated. Weak tribes supported one another through disasters, eventually gathering into nine-colored destiny.

“Young man, sever these chains for this king.”

The remnant soul raised its head, its voice weak to the extreme.

Lin Fan did not rush to demand a reward. Instead, he activated the Azure Lotus Sword Talisman and severed, one by one, the black chains wrapped around the altar.

...

[Rescued the Desolate Village Guardian Spirit. Received one hundred and eighty million points]

The Prodigy Stele trembled once more.

Lin Fan’s name leaped over several others and finally stopped at eighth place.

When the prodigy ranked eleventh saw the change, his face immediately turned pale. But there was no longer enough time for him to search for another opportunity.

The battles throughout the Ancient Realm stopped simultaneously. Everyone looked up at the sky, waiting for the final ten seconds to pass.

Lan Xiaoke began counting down along with the voice echoing throughout the realm. However, after counting to six, she naturally skipped straight to three.

Fox Li quietly reminded her, “You skipped two numbers.”

“As long as the result is the same.”

Lan Xiaoke was utterly unapologetic.

At that very moment, the hour came to an end. The Myriad Dao Ancient Hall sent down ten golden pillars of light.

Gu Wufeng opened his eyes, Fa Wuxiang withdrew his halo, and Lin Fan grasped the Guiding Talisman in his hand.

The other seven prodigies likewise ceased their actions. Whether they were excited or disappointed, the rankings could no longer change.

The top ten on the Heaven's Chosen Stele were simultaneously enveloped in golden light!