Chapter 648: Fire Spiritual Body
“Cut the crap. Wang Meng, take out your wager,” Nuan Muyun demanded, not showing any fear.
Wang Meng took out a jade bottle and said, “There is half a drop of Dragon Marrow in there. Likewise, it can improve the body. It is not inferior to your Monarch Blood Grass. If you win, it is yours.”
The items that the two of them took out were rare treasures worth cities. The sight of these filled the surrounding cultivators with envy.
“Come, let’s go and watch. Let’s see who will win.”
A group of people trailed after Nuan Muyun and Wang Meng into the Proud Son of Heaven Pavilion, walking in a line.
In front of the Sage Wall, cultivators from various places in the Tianwu Domain all looked with disconsolate expressions at the last lantern of the thousand lanterns on the Sage Wall.
As long as one managed to make it into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking, one would benefit from it. As for these people, while they would have difficulty getting into the top eight hundred or nine hundred, getting the last position was very possible—especially for those who had prepared for many years.
Some cultivators only wanted to appear on the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking once, just for a little self-satisfaction; they did not hope to place highly on the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking.
However, that final lantern dashed the dreams of these people. They were mercilessly blocked; hence, their woebegone state.
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
Footsteps came from the distance. From the sound, there were easily a thousand people at the very least.
“Odd, why are there so many people coming to attempt to break into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking?”
Failing to break into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking engendered serious internal injuries and damage to the spirit. Under normal circumstances, no one would make an attempt without absolute confidence.
Everyone who wanted to break into the ranking had to think thrice, taking extra caution. Thus, no large group of people would ever come to challenge the rankings.
The cultivators looked over curiously. When they saw the two people leading the group, they could not help the shock in their eyes. After a while, joy bloomed on their faces.
“This is great! Nuan Muyun and Wang Meng are leading people here to challenge the ranking.”
“The people that they brought are definitely not weak. They might even be able to break into the rankings by fifty ranks.”
“What rubbish! Not to mention the Rank 9 sect behind Wang Meng, just the disciple of the Phoenix’s Passion Palace would surely be able to advance by at least a hundred ranks. Otherwise, they would not have allowed them to come and attempt to break into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking.”
“Ha ha ha! No matter what, they will definitely be able to push Xiao Chen off. Fortunately, I had wisely not rushed into attempting the rankings.”
The cultivators already at the Sage Wall quickly made way, opening a path for Wang Meng and Nuan Muyun. Those who had not rushed into attempting to break into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking had especially happy expressions.
Nuan Muyun, Wang Meng, and the other cultivators who just arrived felt that the current situation was strange.
After asking around, the newcomers learned of what happened earlier. They looked at the last lantern and instantly felt shocked.
When Leng Liusu heard Xiao Chen’s name, she trembled visibly. Earlier, she thought that it was someone with the same name. However, when she looked at the lantern, the figure in the lantern quickly became larger in her mind, and she eventually saw the white-robed Xiao Chen holding the Lunar Shadow Saber. Now, she was sure of it.
The shock in Leng Liusu’s heart was indescribable. The young bladesman from back then had unexpectedly arrived in the Kunlun Realm. Furthermore, he managed to cause such a commotion in the Proud Son of Heaven Pavilion.
Nuan Muyun frowned slightly and asked, “Liusu, you know this person?”
Leng Liusu blinked a few times. When she was in the outer sect, she had heard rumors of Xiao Chen defeating in quick succession a few of the Phoenix’s Passion Palace’s disciples from their legacy clan.
Afraid that once Nuan Muyun knew about that incident, it would bring Xiao Chen some trouble, Leng Liusu hid the truth, saying, “He seems to be a disciple of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.”
“The Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s Xiao Chen, I have some impression of him.”
Leng Liusu could not help but feel that it was strange that her Senior Sister Nuan paid some attention to someone insignificant like Xiao Chen.
Nuan Muyun smiled gently and continued, “I heard Junior Brother Mu mention him before. This Xiao Chen had beaten his brother up miserably in the Sky Dome Realm. If I am not wrong, that saber Qi earlier should be from him.”
When Wang Meng understood what happened earlier, he laughed loudly and said, “Interesting. Unexpectedly, the Sky Dome Realm has someone of this level.
“Very good! I like a challenge. Nuan Muyun, are you going to chase that brat off, or should I do it?”
A crafty look quickly flashed in Nuan Muyun’s eyes. She smiled faintly and replied, “I will let you go first, then.”
Wang Meng chuckled as a strong fighting spirit blazed in his eyes. He declared loudly, “In that case, it would be impolite of me to refuse. Ninth Junior Brother, go chase that brat from the Sky Dome Realm down. If you cannot even compare to a lower-realm disciple, you will be greatly embarrassing our sect.”
Wang Meng sounded extremely confident. He had a high opinion of this Ninth Junior Brother. He believed that his junior brother would be able to advance at least a hundred ranks in one breath, so there should not be any problems in taking Xiao Chen down.
Wang Meng’s Ninth Junior Brother smiled proudly. Then, a faint flame appeared on his body as he said, “I will not fail you!”
“Fire Spiritual Body!”
“From the looks of it, that should be a sixty-percent-completed fire Spiritual Body. Otherwise, he would not be so confident.”
“Given this, Xiao Chen will definitely be chased off the rankings.”
Such a scene gave rise to loud exclamations from all around. Several people who saw hope could not resist cheering out loud.
“Hu chi!”
Wang Meng’s Ninth Junior Brother only spent about ten minutes and breezed through the Sage’s foundation test. Everyone watched in anticipation.
Then Wang Meng’s Ninth Junior Brother’s lantern knocked into Xiao Chen’s. His flame figure leaped out and entered Xiao Chen’s lantern.
—
This fight took much longer than everyone’s expectations. Initially, the crowd thought that this Ninth Junior Brother would be able to suppress Xiao Chen easily. However, the battle had not ended even after fifteen minutes.
The previously excited cultivators filled with anticipation of breaking into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking slowly started to reveal conflicted expressions.
After another fifteen minutes, the victor was still undecided. The unperturbed Wang Meng could not help but frown.
“Ka ca!”
Suddenly, a crisp shattering sound rang out in the quiet hall. Wang Meng relaxed his frown and smiled, saying, “The victor is decided!”
However, when Wang Meng looked carefully, he discovered the shattered lantern belonged to his Ninth Junior Brother. Not expecting such an end, he could not help being dumbfounded.
“How can this be?!”
The onlookers filled with anticipation sighed. They now cast their hopeful gazes on Leng Liusu. However, they did not expect that Nuan Muyun would place her right hand on Leng Liusu’s shoulder, stopping her from attempting to break into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking.
“There is no need to try. Liusu, let’s come back next year and try then.”
Everyone was astonished when Nuan Muyun said this. Someone from the Holy Lands actually gave up on breaking into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking because of a lower-realm genius.
Wang Meng smiled coldly and demanded, “Nuan Muyun, what do you mean by this?”
Nuan Muyun looked at the many Sage images on the wall and pointed. She said, “Take a look for yourself.”
Wang Meng looked in the direction that Nuan Muyun’s finger indicated. He saw a Sage image that was much dimmer in the midst of the many Sage images. If Nuan Muyun had not pointed it out, it would not catch anyone’s attention.
“This is…a Sage had personally guided Xiao Chen in a Martial Technique!” Wang Meng exclaimed hoarsely in startlement.
Normally, only cultivators with exceptional comprehension ability would attract the attention of the Sages. Such people would induce these Sages to exhaust their will to guide them.
There were less than twenty such people in the entire Proud Son of Heaven Ranking. Today, there was one more—Xiao Chen.
“No wonder Xiao Chen took so long to finish the foundation test! So this was the reason.”
“I’m really a fool. To think I believed what that Bai He and Bai Yu said, that Xiao Chen was just running around and dragging things out!”
“Damn it! Those two fools turned us into fools as well.”
The onlookers suddenly understood what had happened. They could not help but scold themselves for their foolishness at that time; they even scolded Bai Yu and Bai He as well.
—
Far in the distance, Bai Yu and Bai He, who were traveling back, started sneezing nonstop. They exchanged glances with each other, wondering at the strangeness of it.
“Achoo! This is really strange. Why are we sneezing so much?” Bai Yu said depressedly. After he spoke, he sneezed again.
Bai He mumbled, “Could it be that there are hundreds of people calling us fools?”
“What a joke. If we are fools, that there is no smart person in the world. Achoo!”
—
Wang Meng eyed Nuan Muyun unhappily. She had probably noticed the dimmed Sage image early on and had purposely let him go up to embarrass himself.
“Let’s go. We will be back next year!” Wang Meng withdrew his gaze and walked away without looking back.
Nuan Muyun called out to stop the two, “Wait a moment!”
Feeling depressed in his heart, Wang Meng asked impatiently, “Nuan Muyun, what else do you want?”
“Ha ha! Nothing much, just pay up the agreed bet. You are not going to renege shamelessly, are you? Hand over the half drop of Dragon Marrow,” Nuan Muyun said without restraint, holding out her hand.
“What a joke! I did not lose to you. Why should I give it to you?”
Nuan Muyun smiled gently and said, “Both of us lost. According to the rules, we both have to hand over the bet. Pass me the Dragon Marrow, and I will send someone to bring it and the Monarch Blood Grass to Xiao Chen.”
Nuan Muyun sounded calm, but the look in her eyes said that she would not let anyone question her resolution in the slightest.
Wang Meng was quite disgruntled, but although he was arrogant, that depended on who the other party was. While he did not care about the other giants, he did not dare to go against what the Phoenix’s Passion Palace’s Holy Daughter, Nuan Muyun, had decided, no matter how frustrated he was.
Wang Meng could only hand the Dragon Marrow over to Nuan Muyun and leave vexed. Not only he had lost face today, but he also lost some wealth as well.
All this is because of that brat Xiao Chen, Wang Meng thought. I have to get my revenge for this.
Nuan Muyun and Wang Meng, the Phoenix’s Passion Palace’s Holy Daughter and the most arrogant of the seven giants. Within the Tianwu Domain, they were people many paid attention to—dazzling absolute geniuses. This was especially so for Nuan Muyun. Her lantern had remained in the second row of the pyramid of lanterns for a long time already.
Just like this, the disciples the two brought had lost to Xiao Chen—a Sky Dome Realm cultivator that everyone looked down on—while trying to break into the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking.
“The carriers of Luck of the ten great battle realms were able to advance more than two hundred ranks in their first attempt. Now, there is another Xiao Chen. Things are going to change in the Tianwu Domain.”
“This is the era of geniuses. There are not only the geniuses in the great realms that the Martial God Palace controls but also the young experts of our own Tianwu Domain.”
“The top hundred positions of the Proud Son of Heaven Ranking has not had many changes for a very long time already. I guess that in less than a year, after these lower-realm geniuses grow up, there will be great changes in this ranking.”
