Standing in front of the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List, Wang Yanyi stretched himself languidly, drew his sword casually, and thrust it. A beam of sword light ripped through the air like a flash of lightning and hit the stone tablet.
Li Mu watched attentively with wide open eyes.
Not only did he want to know Wang Yanyi’s true power, cultivation level, and ranking on the Earth Rankings List, but he also wanted to know the latter’s real name.
Wang Yanyi was too mysterious.
He was born in the Ziwei Star Zone, but he knew so much about the Celestial Court. Moreover, he came to Earth through other channels rather than the Gate of the Ancestors, and he blended in with the people on Earth so quickly. Li Mu had a feeling that Wang Yanyi was not his real name.
The stone tablets for the three lists, which had a kind of mysterious power, would show people’s real names.
For example, the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List showed the real name of Cloud Light Saintess—Li Rouran.
Boom!
Sword light flashed.
As expected, numerous golden divine patterns shining with dazzling light appeared on the stone tablet and formed three large words—
Wang Yanyi.
The name rose up continuously and finally stopped moving at the location below Cloud Light Saintess’s name, close to the top of the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List.
He ranked fifth!
The crowd broke into exclamations of surprise, and a heated discussion ensued.
A strange mood pervaded through the crowd.
Many people, especially the practitioners of various immortal sects other than the six major Divine Clans, had high expectations of Wang Yanyi because he had defeated Lin Yuhan. They hoped that he would take first place on the Earth Rankings List and defeat the geniuses from the Celestial Court, which, in a certain sense, could prove some things.
However, it turned out that Wang Yanyi was just a little more powerful than Lin Yuhan, and he was still inferior to Cloud Light Saintess and other peerless geniuses from the Divine Clans of the Celestial Court.
Li Mu felt quite disappointed.
Wang Yanyi’s ranking was not the reason why he felt that way.
The reason was that this person was really called Wang Yanyi.
It meant that “Wang Yanyi” was not an assumed name.
Some questions in Li Mu’s mind disappeared in an instant.
Wang Yanyi walked down the stone stairway from the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List and yawned under the gazes of many people without regard for his own image. He had no intention of walking to the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List. He just nodded at Li Mu, returned to the shed, and began to drink holding the sword in his arms.
The Earth Rankings List changed again.
Lin Yuhan, the genius from the Rain Clan, dropped from the top five ranking into sixth place.
That was enough to make the faces of the people from the Rain Clan darken.
The reason was that his ranking indicated something else.
It indirectly proved that Young Master Tingyu, the former successor of the Rain Clan who died at Wang Yanyi’s hands, was less powerful than Cloud Light Saintess and the successors of the other Divine Clans. In others words, Young Master Tingyu ranked last among the successors of the six major Divine Clans in terms of fighting power.
All kinds of arguments could be settled now.
Undoubtedly, the Rain Clan had suffered the biggest blow in the competition for their rankings on the three lists. It was like a sponge saturated with water whose real weight was revealed after it was squeezed. It became so light that it didn’t even seem to exist.
Among all the practitioners of the Rain Clan, Lin Guanquan, the chief of the Seasonal Rain Palace, was perhaps the only one who breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, only one practitioner was eliminated from the Earth Rankings List, and his ranking fell from second-to-last to the last place.
Anyway, he remained on the list, which meant that he was qualified to enter the immortal palace.
That was a blessing in misfortune.
However, his luck did not last long.
Li Mu had been watching quietly with his arms folded across his chest. However, to his horror, Lin Guanquan saw Li Mu coming over from a distance and making his way toward the three stone tablets. Li Mu had finally decided to compete for the ranking!
“This son of a bitch…”
Despair gripped Lin Guanquan’s heart.
Being more powerful than Lin Guanquan, Li Mu would surely get on the Earth Rankings List. In this case, Lin Guanquan would be expelled from the list
For a moment, Lin Guanquan had an impulse to rush forward and stop Li Mu, but he knew that doing so would only bring shame upon himself.
His face contorted with jealousy, anger, and horror.
Countless other practitioners became excited.
“Is he going to take action?”
As a mortal from the secular world, Li Mu had given many outstanding performances. He was said to be on the same level as the talented successors of the six major Divine Clans. All the practitioners wondered which position Li Mu would rank on the Earth Rankings List.
Soon, however, their eyeballs nearly popped out of their eye sockets.
Li Mu didn’t go to the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List; instead, he walked toward the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List!
“What…”
“Is he going to compete for a place on the Human Rankings List?”
The practitioners in the inner square didn’t believe it until Li Mu walked up the stone steps, stepped onto the stone platform, and stopped in front of the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List.
After feeling great despair, Lin Guanquan became so excited that his entire body began to tremble.
“That’s great.
“He’s not going to the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List.
“In this case, my name would not be expelled from the Earth Rankings List.”
He roared with laughter when he heard the people around him doubting Li Mu’s power.
“Li Mu, you would rather be someone in a group of nobodies than be a nobody in a group of geniuses, right?” He laughed wildly. For some reason, he directly mocked Li Mu, saying, “You know very well that you can’t get a good place on the Earth Rankings List, and you are afraid of revealing your true power. Is that the reason why you have chosen the Human Rankings List? I’m afraid you don’t know that only practitioners in the King Realm can compete for places on the Human Rankings List. You once said that you could contend with the successors of the six major Divine Clans, didn’t you? Even though you chose the Human Rankings List, the stone tablet for the list will not accept you. It is a divine artifact with a spirit, so it won’t accept a coward like you.”
The other practitioners watching the competition had the same thought.
In their opinion, choosing to compete for places on the Human Rankings List because of the lack of ability to rank high on the Earth Rankings List was some kind of opportunistic behavior.
They believed that the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List, which was a divine artifact, would surely let Li Mu know what it meant to go for wool and come home shorn.
Li Mu took action under their gazes.
Instead of using his broadsword, he punched the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List with his fist.
“Once upon a time, there was a practitioner in the Upper King Realm who was greedy for fame. He wanted to take first place on the Human Rankings List. The divine artifact for the Human Rankings List was enraged and hurt him badly. The divine artifact has its own spirit, and it is something beyond the reach of ordinary people. The path for practitioners is a long one, so they must be sincere. Those who want to take advantage of opportunities will surely be hurt by the Great Way.”
The speaker was a white-haired practitioner in the crowd.
Many people agreed with him.
Boom!
Li Mu hit the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List with his fist.
The stone tablet shook violently.
Numerous golden divine patterns shining brightly with dazzling golden light appeared above the stone tablet. The patterns looked like golden snakes dancing wildly and almost covered the whole stone tablet. The entire surface of the stone tablet turned into a golden mirror.
In the end, the golden divine patterns converged and formed two large words shining with golden light—
Li Mu!
The words rose to the top of the stone tablet and stopped there.
That was the first place on the Human Rankings List.
When the divine patterns and golden light disappeared, the result became clear.
Li Mu ranked first on the Human Rankings List.
All the practitioners around the stone platforms were dumbfounded.
The practitioners who thought that Li Mu would surely be punished by the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List because of his so-called opportunistic behavior lowered their heads in shame and wished they could bury their heads in the sand like ostriches.
Lin Guanquan’s jaw dropped.
The crowd in the inner square remained silent for a while and then burst into an uproar, as if another handful of salt had been flung into a pot full of boiling oil.
There was only one reason why Li Mu was not punished by the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List. It was because he was actually a practitioner in the King Realm and not someone in the Upper King Realm as everyone had guessed.
However, that made things even more frightening.
Rumor had it that Li Mu was on par with the successors of the six major Divine Clans.
Among the practitioners of various immortal sects in the inner square, some vaguely knew something about the battle in the six major channels behind the Gate of the Ancestors. The look on their faces changed. “If Li Mu was really in the King Realm, things would be way too ridiculous. After all, he’s able to contend against high-level practitioners like Cloud Light Saintess.”
From the intensity of the golden divine patterns on the stone tablet for the Human Rankings List, it could be seen that Li Mu was much more powerful than the practitioner who ranked second, and they were simply not on the same level.
Standing in front of the stone tablet, Li Mu tried to recall the feeling he had when his fist hit the surface of the stone tablet just now. The surface of the stone tablet was as hard as iron, but he felt as if he had punched air. “Why did I have such a feeling?”
He turned around and walked down the stone steps.
Of course, things were not over yet, according to his plan.
As the crowd watched curiously, he walked up the stone steps, stepped onto the stone platform, and walked slowly to the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List.
This time, nobody said anything.
Lin Guanquan gawked at Li Mu’s back.
He had taunted Li Mu a few moments ago, but he was like a clown now.
It would be a new miracle if Li Mu could get on the Earth Rankings List as a practitioner in the King Realm.
If a practitioner could get on any of the three lists that were intended for practitioners whose cultivation levels were higher than his, he would become famous across the world. Moreover, that meant he had peerless potential and opportunities and would surely become an influential figure in the future.
Now, even the elders of various major Divine Clans and sects staying in the pavilion in the distance began to pay attention to the competition.
“Will this mortal get on the Earth Rankings List?” A graceful middle-aged woman said. She was Cloud Light Saintess’s master.
“You asked the wrong question,” the founder of Chunyang Clan said, his eyes half-closed.
“Why?”
“You should think about Li Mu’s ranking on the Earth Rankings List.”
“Chun Yang, why do you think so highly of this mortal?” Another elder asked.
The founder of Chunyang Clan said, “I don’t think highly of him. I’m interested in the person behind him.”
“Humph! Do you mean that old faker? He hasn’t fought for a long time. Maybe he is too old to fight. According to the Pavilion of Nature’s Secret, his foundation was destroyed in the Power-ending Age due to his lingering yearning for the mundane world. Perhaps he is no longer as powerful as before.”
“Why don’t you take action and wash away the shame that you suffered back then?”
“Humph.”
The people in the pavilion were all big shots from the Celestial Court and various famous mountains and great rivers. They were watching the competition between the practitioners of the younger generation in the inner square. Few young practitioners could really arouse their interest and arguments. However, when Li Mu stopped in front of the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List, they watched him attentively and even had some arguments.
There was only one reason.
The person behind Li Mu was a formidable master whom they couldn’t afford to mess with.
Standing in front of the stone tablet for the Earth Rankings List, Li Mu took action.
As usual, he used his fist.
He threw a punch at the stone tablet.
The hearts of countless people suddenly began to thump, as if they had been struck by Li Mu’s fist.
