Rumble—
A tremendous shaking rocked the dragon gate.
“You bastard, they want us to leap over the dragon gate. What are you doing smashing it for?” Loud cursing sounded from the other side.
“I just want to see how hard this thing is… And look, it’s made of purple crystal. We’ll be rich if we can break it!” came a blustering response. “You know that I’m really poor right now!”
“Eh? Well, that’s true. Why don’t we try smashing it and see how many purple crystals it contains?”
“Sure!”
“Count me in!”
“I want to try too!”
“All of you, out of the way. All of the purple crystals are mine!”
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
The top one hundred of the Dragonling Ranking geniuses stared, tongue-tied, as the shimmering dragon gate began trembling furiously. Minute cracks appeared in it and—
Hummmm.
The solid gate carved of purple crystal turned into a state of light after a violent shudder. Harrowing attacks pierced through it and shot into the inner world.
“What in the heavens?!” Purpleclad, Li Yiran, and the others jumped with fright. There were more than a thousand attacks flying at them, each on the same level as one from a titled duke half step king!
With so many attacks, even a third step king would be blown to smithereens. Naturally, the beings present on the other side of the gate and the one thousand arcane beasts that’d already passed through jumped and dodged in frenzied pandemonium.
Since killing was forbidden here, the attacks were negated by the rules as soon as they entered the area.
“Huh? Wait a second…” A curious voice called for a halt on the other side.
“What are you blithering idiots doing, attacking the dragon gate?! Do you want the rules to erase you from existence?” Qing Ting harangued them with annoyance. “Hurry up and get your asses over there!”
“Ah, yes, yes!”
Cultivators walked through the dragon gate in an orderly line, all of them wearing heavily cowed expressions and not daring to breathe too loudly.
“This is the truth of the matter?” Purpleclad asked dumbly, turning to Crimsonclad.
“Indeed, this is the truth.” Azureclad nodded instead.
“What a pity.” A wistful expression rose on Crimsonclad’s face. “Many interesting things must’ve happened after we crossed over. Perhaps those arcane beasts were all robbed… We should’ve refrained from being the heroes and just stayed to watch the show.”
“Huh?” Purpleclad and Bloodclad didn’t quite understand her.
“How is this possible?!” shrieked the red-haired youth from Ingress Blood Island. “All of these cultivators are titled duke half step kings??”
Titled dukes weren’t special simply because of their title—they were different from ordinary half step kings. They possessed a special ripple of energy and differed from first step kings only in terms of dao rules and force fields.
Particularly strong half step kings or kings could tell with one glance who was a titled duke and who was an ordinary half step king.
As one titled duke after another walked through the dragon gate of light, their ripples melded into an overwhelming influence. Cultivators who’d already been present on the other side of the gate appraised the new group with trepidation.
“What’s taken place for so many titled dukes to appear in the Hongmeng? There are nineteen hundred and ninety-one of them here!” The red-haired youth swallowed hard and pivoted to Azureclad and Crimsonclad.
They shrugged gently and made their way to the other side without second thought, standing with the newly arrived group of cultivators. The newcomers shifted without hesitation, opening up a crack to make space for Azureclad and Crimsonclad.
Purpleclad and Bloodclad stared at each other, their heads spinning.
“Roar!!” Golden Armor and the other arcane beasts couldn’t help a threatening snarl at the new arrivals. But when they met Lu Yun’s sharp gaze, they involuntarily shrank in on themselves.
“What in the heavens has happened for almost three thousand beings to successfully make it across the dragon gate? What’s with the black dragon king? Not only did he not stop the arcane beasts, but he didn’t stop any of the cultivators afterwards either?” a dumbfounded Li Yiran muttered to himself.
No one answered him as the top one hundred bore the same expressions.
“According to the rules, we can start selecting our battle servants now, correct?” Li Yiran abruptly came to his senses. “The battles of the Dragonling Ranking are about to begin. We can each choose three servants from the alternative candidates that came after us. These titled dukes can be our battle servants!”
Excitement suddenly gripped him—these were all extremely valuable servants! He’d previously been worried that they’d fall behind the arcane beasts because they wouldn’t be able to find satisfactory battle servants. Now it looked like the dragon gate test wouldn’t adversely affect the cultivators’ chances in the assembly.
Pandemonium engulfed the arcane beasts as they also fought over battle servants.
“You!” The red-haired youth from Ingress Blood Island walked out, pointing at Qing Ting. “You are now my battle servant. If I tell you to go east, you cannot go west, understood?!
“Remember, my name is Zhan Lingge and I am your master now!” He looked down at Qing Ting with lofty pretension.
“Hmph!” Azureclad snorted. “What do you think you are, Zhan Lingge, to take my baby sister as your battle servant?!”
“So she’s your baby sister,” sneered Zhan Lingge. “Does Ingress Blood Island lack the right to take a lowly Coiling Dragon citizen for a battle servant?”
“Ingress Blood Island?” Lu Yun frowned, glancing at Qing Ting next to him. She remained coolly composed.
Contrary to the utter mayhem on the arcane beast side, things remained orderly with the cultivators. There was no infighting for battle servants since almost two thousand titled dukes meant more than enough for everyone.
Apart from identifying the top one hundred, there were no other placements on the Dragonling Ranking. There were forty-seven cultivators on it, six less than the arcane beasts. Their true ranks wouldn’t be determined until the conclusion of the ranking battles.
Of course, those in the top one hundred now wouldn’t necessarily mean they were the final one hundred. Other people had the right to challenge them.
“Sure,” Qing Ting smiled. “You need to be strong enough to take me as your battle servant. Come on, let’s fight. You’re my master if you defeat me!”
Okay, who wants to take bets on the top one hundred getting an ass whoopin’ and being robbed now?
*does the it’s so nice to be home dance*
