As time passed, more and more people arrived at the stage.
There were more than 3,000 disciples. Some raced to the top while others took their time. They each approached the battle stage with different goals as well.
Some wanted to become the best, while some just participated for fun.
The fastest groups had already replenished their energy spent during the Zhengdu battle, while the slowest groups were only halfway on their flight toward the stage.
No matter what happened after that, the results of the Zhengdu battle had been decided.
Chen Jingzhai of Daoxuan Peak was ranked first.
It was an achievement that would be recorded in the clan’s history record.
Peak Master Yang stood in front of his Heaven and Earth Palace. His lips were arched so high that he couldn’t bring them down.
“If I’m not wrong, he just broke our peak’s record, right?” Mrs. Yang asked.
“Yes.” Hao Feng nodded as he smiled. “Ever since the establishment of our branch, the best record we’d achieved was by Peak Master’s eldest disciple 100 years ago. He was able to get the fifth place with the help of a magic treasure.”
“Not only did he break the record, but he also got the first place in the Zhengdu battle. What rewards are you going to give him?” Mrs. Yang asked her husband.
“Aren’t you favoring him a little too much?” The Peak Master’s smile froze.
“Are you saying that he should not be rewarded?” Mrs. Yang raised a brow and turned to look at Hao Feng.
“O-of course not,” the Sage quickly explained. “However, we can’t give him something too amazing, or the disciples might resort to despicable means to get the first place in the future, and that’s not what we want to see.”
In the end, Chen Jingzhai had broken the record, which was encouraging to the other disciples. Therefore, it was natural that he should be rewarded.
However, Sage Hao Feng pointed out that if Chen Jingzhai was too well rewarded, the disciples might get swayed by it.
“Do you have any suggestions?” Peak Master Yang asked, agreeing that Chen Jingzhai should also be rewarded.
“I remember that someone gifted us a pair of demonic beast eggs, right?” Mrs. Yang asked.
“Isn’t that too much?” The Peak Master’s eyes twitched.
“We can’t give him that,” the Sage quickly said. “Those are the eggs of Grade 3 demonic beast, the Sky Black Crane, that we’ve gotten from the secret zone exploration. There are only a few of these.”
“Aren’t we already raising a lot of demonic beasts? How many of them do you think will actually survive? So instead of wasting the egg, why not give it to Jingzhai? He’s an elixir alchemist, and he definitely could use it.”
“But, it’s still too much for a gift. So, we’ve also prepared a lot of gifts for those who managed to get into the top 100. This is…”
Cultivators would be excited if they managed to tame a demonic beast.
Many of the clan’s major branches were trying to achieve that.
It wouldn’t have been much if Mrs. Yang had asked for a Grade 2 egg, but the Sky Black Crane’s egg was a level higher.
If one were to tame it, one would be able to achieve mysticism faster.
And if the beast was raised properly, it could sell for a very high price.
“No, our success rate is actually really high since we have the Spirit Beast Formation.” Peak Master Yang sighed. “How about this—if he manages to get ranked first, I’ll give both to him.”
“Top five,” Mrs. Yang argued with a calm expression. “You can’t forget that he only started cultivation two years ago and is still in the Beginning Foundation Plane. So it’s almost impossible for him to get crowned the champion, but it’s still possible for him to get into the top five.”
Her words made a lot of sense as their best disciple, Li Yifei, who was participating as well, had only managed to get ranked in 18th place in the previous battle forum.
If Chen Jingzhai made it into the top five, it wouldn’t be surprising if his rewards would be better.
After a moment of hesitation, Sage Hao Feng finally nodded. He also agreed that Chen Jingzhai was too young.
His getting first place in the Zhengdu battle was partially due to luck and the help of the two disciples from Sky Whale Peak.
However, no one would be able to assist him in the battle forum.
It was clear that he was at a disadvantage.
That was why getting into the top five would also be an impossible task.
“It’s decided then,” Peak Master Yang said. “If Jingzhai manages to get into the top five, we’ll reward him with two Sky Black Crane’s eggs. However, there won’t be any rewards for him if he doesn’t achieve that.”
Hao Feng nodded in agreement.
The battle forum had always been the stage for the sword branches’ disciples.
The top five spots were all taken by them previously.
Sage Hao Feng believes that it would even be difficult for Chen Jingzhai to get into the top ten.
However, neither he nor the Peak Master noticed the grin and relaxed expression on Mrs. Yang’s face.
A few minutes later, all of the disciples had reached the stage.
Once the last jade token was taken, the stage started to glow.
It expanded once again, and stairs began to appear on both sides.
The disciples were then teleported up onto the stairs. The lower their number was, the higher they stood.
Chen Jingzhai stood on the top with Wang Yao and Kong Guang next to him.
They stood a head lower than him, and their expressions were pretty much sour.
A round platform that was 300 meters in diameter rose in the middle of the stage.
The platform had the eight trigrams on it and was shining.
The lotus patterns on the stage were glowing too.
A few seconds later, a huge light barrier covered the entire stage.
The clouds dissipated, and only the stage remained floating in the sky.
Almost all the branches of the Luo Sheng Sword School could clearly see the stage now.
Near the Test of Swords of Golden Jade Peak, Jin Zetian stood on top of a massive rock with his long sword strapped to his back as he stared at the stage.
The only person he could focus on was Chen Jingzhai.
Among all the same batches of aspirant cultivators who had joined the Luo Sheng Sword School with him, the only person he could not forget was Chen Jingzhai.
Although Jin Zetian was born with celestial bones on both arms, he remained a casual disciple of the Golden Jade Sword Branch.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t been working hard.
On the contrary, he had been diligent with his training after seeing what Chen Jingzhai had achieved.
The sword branch even had a Golden Core Sage become his master.
Not only did he get one-on-one training, but he was able to train his will to comprehend the sword’s will at the Test of Swords.
His cultivation had skyrocketed after a couple of Seclusion Training sessions.
The only problem was that he was having difficulty establishing his foundation, as the foundation of sword branches was much more complicated.
What he had not expected was that Chen Jingzhai was already strong enough to compete with his senior brothers and was even able to get first place in the Zhengdu battle.
The huge difference between them made him click his tongue.
As the disciple of a sword branch, it was natural that he had the same mentality as his peers—he didn’t like admitting that he had lost.
The more successful Chen Jingzhai became, the more he vowed to train even harder.
He then averted his gaze away from Chen Jingzhai and headed back into the Test of Swords.
At the top of Elixir Peak, Gao Shixin looked at the stage with a hoe in his hand and a mixed expression on his face.
Just like Jin Zetian, Gao Shixin was only focused on Chen Jingzhai.
His Master-Uncle had become very well known among the clan in the past few months.
Even the elixir alchemists of Elixir Peak were sugarcoating their words when they spoke to Chen Jingzhai, trying to get his secret for creating Foundation Establishment Elixirs.
Chen Jingzhai had been the topic of everyone’s everyday conversation.
Gao Shixin was suffering from that.
Although they had arrived at the clan on the same day, Chen Jingzhai had become the direct disciple of Hongluan Peak while he was only a gardener whose job was to tend the herb garden.
He couldn’t help but sigh at the two different lives they now lived.
On Tianzhu Peak, Xu Ziyue, who still remained a casual disciple, was also staring at the stage.
He was a promising aspirant cultivator with a celestial bone on his shoulders.
Because of that, he was proud and had always looked down on Chen Jingzhai back at the Aspirant Cultivator Academy.
He had never thought that one day, he could only dream of the achievements that the kid he had looked down on had achieved.
Xu Ziyue cursed at God for such a different fate, and a hint of hatred appeared in his eyes.
Among all the casual disciples, Chen Jinsheng of Lijiang Peak had the calmest expression.
Unlike others, he had already long accepted that Chen Jingzhai had become his Master-Uncle.
He was able to think that way because he could see that even the genius of Lijiang Peak, Jiang Youning, had already accepted that.
