This makes no sense, absolutely no sense at all.
Those who failed were left seething with anger—could it be that their combat prowess didn’t meet the standard?
But how exactly is this "combat prowess" evaluated?
"Tell me, is there a possibility that each realm has its own combat prowess assessment?"
"Only those who reach a certain level of prowess qualify?"
"For example, two cultivators might both be in the Divine Transformation Realm, but if one’s combat prowess doesn’t reach three stars, they fail?"
"Earlier, those two who passed had different cultivation levels, but both had three-star combat prowess, meeting the standard?"
Suddenly, someone’s analysis caught everyone’s attention. After some thought, it did seem plausible.
"Holy shit! Seven stars? Combat prowess seven stars?"
Huh?
What?
Seven-star combat prowess?
Just as the crowd was pondering whether this theory held water, another exclamation erupted nearby.
Everyone rushed over to see.
"Age: 55, Cultivation: Void Comprehension Realm, Eighth Layer, Combat Prowess: Seven Stars—Qualified."
Holy shit!
A 55-year-old at the eighth layer of the Void Comprehension Realm? Who is this guy?
"I recognize him—he’s from the Hu family, extremely strong."
"Look over there, another guy passed too. He’s also in the Void Comprehension Realm, but his combat prowess is only three stars."
"So it seems different realms really do have their own combat prowess benchmarks."
"No matter your age or cultivation level, if your combat prowess doesn’t meet the standard for your realm, you fail?"
"Damn, that’s humiliating! Doesn’t that mean those who failed are the weakest in their realm?"
"The weakest batch among their peers? This…"
Realizing this, all those who had failed earlier lost any interest in spectating further.
They’d been publicly branded as the weakest—how mortifying!
"Has anyone noticed something? Every person who passed the test seems… different somehow?"
"Huh? How so?"
"Look at their foreheads—don’t they have some kind of mark?"
"Foreheads?"
The crowd turned their attention to the successful candidates and indeed spotted something unusual.
Those in the Divine Transformation Realm had a faint green flame-like mark on their foreheads.
Those in the Void Comprehension Realm bore a blue mark. Since no Supreme Realm or Immortal Realm cultivators had appeared yet, no one knew what color their marks would be.
Over the past month, the number of failures far exceeded the successes. Millions had already left in disappointment.
"Figures the Earth Ranking wouldn’t let just anyone participate. Otherwise, Mount Taihua’s peak couldn’t possibly hold so many people."
"Even so, the number of qualifiers is staggering—probably in the millions by now."
"This definitely isn’t the final count. The battle for the Earth Ranking will be fiercer than the Human Ranking."
"True. With so many participants, how long will it take to determine the final victors?"
"Hard to say. I wouldn’t be surprised if over ten million eventually qualify."
"Hey, none of the Human Ranking’s top ten have shown up yet."
"Maybe they’re not in a hurry, or still on their way."
When Chen Chang'an arrived at the foot of Mount Taihua with Da Huang, the place was already packed.
He found a quiet spot to sit, drawing no attention.
"We might’ve come a bit early. Wanna try the testing stele?" Da Huang asked curiously.
"I’m not joining the Earth Ranking. Why bother?" Chen Chang'an replied flatly.
"But I heard it measures combat prowess. Aren’t you curious about yours?"
Combat prowess?
Did he even need to test?
Of course he was ridiculously strong!
"More than prowess, I’m curious how the Earth Ranking battles will handle such numbers."
"Mount Taihua’s peak can’t accommodate this many people."
"Something tells me this won’t be a simple tournament."
Chen Chang'an gazed at the barrier-enclosed peak, sensing that crossing it would mark the start of the real competition.
The summit would host only the final showdown.
"Look! The three great families are here!"
"And the three major sects!"
"They’re coming—all the top factions have arrived!"
Shortly after Chen Chang'an’s arrival, elite forces began appearing at the mountain’s base.
Given the Earth Ranking’s significance, every major power had sent experts for protection.
"Wait, we still need to test?"
"Let me go first. This should be no problem for me. Hahaha!"
"…What? I failed?"
"What the hell?"
A disciple from the Carefree Sect strode forward confidently, only to be stunned by the result.
Failed?
How could he fail?
"This… this thing must be broken! There’s no way I’d fail!"
"Stop making excuses. The Earth Ranking is a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao—its testing stele can’t malfunction."
"Move aside. My turn."
"Age: 78, Cultivation: Supreme Realm, Third Layer, Combat Prowess: Four Stars—Qualified."
"Hah! I passed! But… what does ‘four-star prowess’ mean?"
"I passed too—Supreme Realm, Fifth Layer, yet also four stars?"
"Does anyone know what these stars signify?"
As elite disciples tested, many grew uneasy about their ratings.
Four stars? Sounded disappointingly mediocre.
"Enough! Your combat prowess reflects your true strength. Within the same realm, your star rating determines how much of a genius you are."
"A true genius—even at the first layer of the Supreme Realm—could surpass four stars because they can challenge those above their level."
"Let a real genius test, and we’ll see the difference."
"Who’s willing?"
Who’d step up? Everyone wanted to believe they were exceptional, but failing here would be humiliating.
The stele didn’t lie.
"I’ll do it!"
Nie Haotian stepped forward. He’d never accepted being inferior, though the Human Ranking had taught him a harsh lesson.
After three years of relentless training, it was time to reclaim his pride.
"Hmph. Think you’re the only genius here?"
"I’ll join too." Ye Beiming snorted, heading toward another testing stele.
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
