monarch of time
As he looked around him, Shun Long nodded his head inadvertently as he glanced at the remaining Dao Kings and Dao Emperors that were still left on the mountain peak.
Although Xingyi and Bai Longtian had both been eliminated, Shun Long knew that it was only par of the course given the circumstances they were in. In the end, the people left were the most talented geniuses of the entire central continent, so it was only natural for the competition among them to be that fierce.
Although Shun Long knew that Xingyi’s and Bai Longtian’s talents weren’t inferior to any of those people who had passed the first round, luck also played a part in the sixth and seventh trials, whether that was through the power of Xingyi’s opponent being a direct counter to her own, or Bai Longtian somehow failing the sixth trial. Still, the results of the first round wouldn’t change and those who had already passed had proven that they possessed terrifying strength of their own. Most likely, every single person who had passed the fifth trial would end up standing at the peak of the central continent in the future and were practically guaranteed to reach the peak of the Sovereign realm, if not become an Earth Immortal.
Surprisingly, Shun Long was acquainted with the majority of these people left on the mountain peak one way or another.
By the end of the seventh day, Liu Mei, Jiang Chen, and even Jiang Chen’s father, Jiang Tianfang, had all held onto their beams of light and successfully remained among the top 10 who had passed the first round.
As for the remaining 5 people, excluding Shun Long and Xuan Bo; they were the gray-robed youth who had defeated Xingyi, ‘young lady Niu’ who was the disciple of a powerful Earth Immortal, two peak-stage Dao Emperors from the eight ancient families who were ranked 4th and 5th on the Heavenly Rankings respectively, Wei Guoyang from the ancient Wei family and Chen Xuefeng from the ancient Chen family, and finally, the number one genius of the ancient families, the successor of the Huang family, Huang Yun!
Shun Long had observed Huang Yun during the past week, and other than the first day where he won his fight a bit slower than Liu Mei, the young genius of the Huang family was always the fastest to defeat his opponents in the following six days.
It had reached such a point, where most people were wary of even challenging Huang Yun and treated that challenge as a guaranteed loss, putting him on the same level as Shun Long and Xuan Bo!
..
With a satisfied smile on his face, the purple-robed old man glanced at the 10 young geniuses left on the mountain peak and said loudly
”Alright, you brats. Even with my powers, I can’t keep the trial grounds within your mortal world for much longer, so let’s continue. The rules of this second round are also simple: Those of you lower in the rankings will be allowed to challenge a single person who is ahead of you. If you win the fight you can take their spot, but if you lose you will remain where you are… You only have one challenge so give it everything you got!”
As the old man finished speaking, a gigantic slab of stone slowly rose from the ground behind him, quickly occupying a large part of the mountain peak. The surrounding Dao Kings and Dao Emperors looked at this scene with solemn expressions on their faces, as a deathly silence quickly enveloped the previously boisterous, unworldly peak.
Naturally, every single Dao King and Dao Emperor here had already encountered this gigantic piece of stone in the past, right before entering the ‘Heavenly Tower’s’ gates.
Just like that first time, at the very top of the stone, the words ‘Heavenly Rankings’ were carved in radiant golden letters, followed by a list of overly familiar names.
As the geniuses at the peak of the mountain spotted the name in first place, everyone turned to look at Shun Long almost simultaneously, curious expressions adorning all of their faces. Clearly, all of them had already seen this young man who was rumored to be standing toe to toe with Xuan Bo according to the overseer’s judgment, but most of these people didn’t even know his name or where he came from. freёwebnovel.com
No, in reality, other than Jiang Chen, Liu Mei, Jiang Tianfang, and Xuan Bo, there was also one more person who recognized Shun Long’s appearance.
It was ‘young lady Niu’!
The beautiful young woman still remembered the incident of that famous golden skeleton disappearing from the ‘King’s Palace’, as well as the fuss that had been caused during that time. After all, she had personally witnessed the whole thing, including Shun Long’s terrifying tribulation as he broke through to become a Dao King.
However, even after recognizing him, the white-robed beauty didn’t bother throwing more than a couple of glances at Shun Long before focusing on the trial at hand. No matter how curious she was about that outer court disciple of the Holy sect, ‘young lady Niu’ knew she had to focus on passing the seventh trial first.
And yet, Shun Long didn’t pay any heed to the reactions of these people around him and simply read the names that were carved on the gigantic pillar behind the old man
‘Heavenly Rankings’
1st place: Shun Long
2nd place: Xuan Bo
3rd place: Huang Yun
4th place: Wei Guoyang
5th place: Chen Xuefeng
6th place: Liu Mei
7th place: Jiang Tianfang
8th place: Niu Rong
9th place: Fan De
10th place: Jiang Chen
After a few moments of silence, the purple-robed elder stepped forward once more, this time his gaze falling on Jiang Chen as his loud voice entered everyone’s ears
”Go ahead, you little brat. Since you are ranked 10th, you are allowed to challenge anyone from first to ninth place. However, remember this; No matter what happens, you only have one chance. The higher you rank at the end of this trial, the better the rewards you’ll obtain.”
Nodding his head, Jiang Chen cupped his hands at the purple-robed elder indicating he understood, before scanning the Dao Kings and Dao Emperors at the peak of the mountain, searching for his opponent.
In the end, under the astounded gazes of everyone around him, his eyes landed on Xuan Bo as his cold voice reverberated throughout the mountain peak
”Let’s see how strong you are.”