Chapter 83: Azure Sky Divine Wood

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Azure Sky Divine Wood

After Ji Zhixing submitted his Blood Crystals, Zhou Han also stepped forward. He took eight Tier One Blood Crystals from the genetic furnace and tossed them into the blood-red vortex in front of him.

"Eight crystals, eight thousand points," Zhou Han said, shaking his head. "I wonder if that’s enough to make the rankings."

Su Qing followed suit, taking out five Tier One Blood Crystals and tossing them into the vortex.

"I only have five." She smiled. "I definitely won’t make the rankings, but exchanging them for five thousand points isn’t bad."

It had already been past ten in the morning when they entered the secret realm today. Combined with Su Qing’s rather poor luck, her haul was modest. Otherwise, earning ten thousand points in a day to exchange for ten thousand genetic coins wouldn’t have been a big problem.

Tie Shan, however, didn’t make a move. He looked at the blood-red vortex in front of him and shook his head. "I won’t submit mine. I’m keeping my Blood Crystals; I have a use for them."

"A use?" The others looked at him curiously.

"Yeah," Tie Shan nodded. "I have a passive genetic ability called Savage Bear Physique. I want to try absorbing the power within the Blood Crystals to see if I can upgrade its quality."

Ji Zhixing glanced at Tie Shan but didn’t say anything. He also planned to use his remaining Blood Crystals to strengthen his Gigantification genetic ability, hoping to upgrade it into Super Gigantification.

"Let’s go. We should head to that cliff we found earlier and set up our tents," Xiao Mingyue said. "As for the point rankings, it’ll probably be a while before they’re released." She glanced at the sky. The blood sun had already sunk below the horizon, leaving only a smear of dark red in the distance.

"Alright," the group agreed. They had been busy all day and were exhausted.

They made their way back to the cliff they had passed earlier, found a spot sheltered from the wind at its base, and pitched their tents to rest for the night.

Once the tents were set up, the group sat in a circle, eating their rations and making casual conversation.

"Where do you guys think Ji Zhixing will rank?" Su Qing asked.

"Top ten, no problem," Zhou Han said. "With forty-two thousand points, it’d be unbelievable if he didn’t make the top ten."

"I wonder if he can take first place?" Su Qing looked hopeful.

"Don’t even think about it. This year’s genius class has a few absolute monsters," Zhou Han shook his head. "Especially Cao Zhenxing, who fused with the Tier Five Radiant Moon-grade Celestial River Profound Water Turtle Gene. He caught Yu City University’s attention long before official enrollment. They backed him with a ton of resources, and he broke through to Tier Two very early on.

"I even suspect he’s on the verge of breaking through to become a Tier Three Genetic Cultivator!"

*Tier Five Radiant Moon-grade gene...* Ji Zhixing shook his head slightly upon hearing this. That level truly wasn’t something he could compare to at the moment. Sitting on a rock, he gazed up at the blood-red sky. "Let’s just wait. We’ll find out soon enough."

Meanwhile, at Yu City University.

Inside a spacious room, over a dozen teachers sat around a long table. In front of them was a massive crystal screen densely packed with names and numbers—the submission records transmitted from the Blood Beast Secret Realm.

"The tally is complete," a young teacher announced, hitting the final key. A ranked list immediately popped up on the screen.

"First place, Cao Zhenxing, seventy-five thousand points.

"Second place, Meng Feiyi, fifty-three thousand points.

"Third place, Xiang Lin, forty-nine thousand points.

"Fourth place, Ye Chutong, forty-five thousand points.

"Fifth place, Ji Zhixing, forty-two thousand points.

"Sixth place—hm?"

The young teacher’s voice suddenly faltered when he reached sixth place. He looked back up the list, staring at the name on the screen with a furrowed brow, and read it again. "Fifth place, Ji Zhixing, forty-two thousand points."

"Ji Zhixing? Who is that? Why haven’t I heard of him?" He turned to his colleagues with a bewildered expression. "Is he from the elite class? Does the elite class really have someone like this?"

The other teachers looked at the rankings on the screen and broke into a buzz of discussion.

"Ji Zhixing..." a white-haired elder mused. "I feel like I heard a freshman mention that name, but I didn’t pay attention to it at the time."

"Ji Zhixing? I know him," a female teacher’s voice rang out. Yang Man Ni looked up from the other end of the long table, a flash of surprise in her eyes. "He’s the only self-recommended student at Yu City University this year."

"A self-recommended student?" The teachers all looked astonished. "A self-recommended student should only be fusing with a Tier Two gene right now, shouldn’t they? He must be a regular class student!"

"That’s right. He’s in regular Class Twenty-One," Yang Man Ni nodded.

"A regular class student managed to get this rank?" The young teacher from earlier said in disbelief. "Could there be an error with the rankings?"

"How could the rankings be wrong?" Yang Man Ni shook her head. "Our school’s ranking tally is handled by the Azure Sky Divine Wood left behind by the old principal. With it overseeing things, it’s impossible for anyone to cheat.

"The Blood Crystals submitted by the students must have been refined today, and they were definitely refined by the students themselves."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "I remember this Ji Zhixing. He’s a freshman who just graduated from Yu City Third Middle School this year.

"Right after graduating, he completed a genetic evolution, evolving the Three-inch Stone Monkey gene into an unrecorded Staff Soldier Stone Monkey gene.

"On top of that, he possesses a Dual-core Genetic Aperture."

"A Dual-core Genetic Aperture?" The teachers’ eyes lit up. "What gene did he fuse with his other genetic aperture?"

"I’m not sure. I asked him before, and he said he planned to fuse a Tier One Willow Tree gene," Yang Man Ni shook her head. "I tried to advise him against it, but he was very resolute, so I didn’t press the matter."

"A Tier One Willow Tree gene?" Several teachers frowned deeply at the news.

"Is this Ji Zhixing the student you recommended to me before, Teacher Yang?" At this moment, a dark-complexioned elder set down his teacup and looked at Yang Man Ni. Though his hair was white, he was robust and hale. His eyes were bright and piercing, and he possessed a natural, commanding authority as he sat there.

"That’s him," Yang Man Ni smiled and nodded.

"Hm." The dark-faced elder nodded. "Then I will keep an eye on his performance going forward."

The elder’s name was Liang Jin. He was a highly senior teacher at Yu City University who had fused with the Tier Five Radiant Moon-grade Moon-devouring Demon Ape Gene. He had also long since reached the Radiant Moon-grade himself, giving him an extremely high status within the university. He rarely paid attention to regular class students, and usually, not even the elite class students could catch his eye. But the fact that Ji Zhixing was able to rank fifth on the first day—surpassing over a dozen genius class students who had fused with Tier Four genes—spoke volumes.

"I will watch him closely tomorrow," he thought to himself. "If this Ji Zhixing’s performance is truly solid, I wouldn’t mind taking on another disciple."

"Since the rankings are finalized, let’s have the Azure Sky Divine Wood publish the standings," one teacher suggested.

"Let’s publish them," the other teachers nodded in agreement.

Inside the Blood Beast Secret Realm.

Ji Zhixing and the others had just finished setting up their tents and were sitting in a circle chatting when, suddenly, a blood-red light illuminated the sky. The light seemed to rise from the deepest part of the secret realm, shooting straight up into the heavens before exploding into a massive screen of light. A dense list of a hundred names was displayed on the screen, with points and class assignments following each one.

"The rankings are out!" Zhou Han’s eyes lit up as he immediately stood up.

The others raised their heads, their eyes rapidly scanning the glowing screen.

"Hurry, look for Ji Zhixing’s rank!"

"First place, Cao Zhenxing."

"Second place, Meng Feiyi."

"Third place, Xiang Lin."

"Fourth place, Ye Chutong."

"Fifth place, Ji Zhixing, regular Class Twenty-One, forty-two thousand points."

"I see it! Fifth place!" Su Qing exclaimed excitedly. "Ji Zhixing, you’re ranked fifth!"

"One, two, three, four... five!" Zhou Han counted them one by one, his eyes growing brighter. "It really is fifth!"

"Impressive!" Tie Shan said in his muffled, booming voice.

"Forty-two thousand points, beating over a dozen genius class students." Xiao Mingyue smiled at Ji Zhixing. "You’re going to be truly famous now."

Ji Zhixing just smiled. He was already famous before. But that was because he was a self-recommended student and had offended Gu Zheng. This time, however, things were different.

"First place is indeed Cao Zhenxing." Su Qing glanced at the top of the leaderboard and shook her head. "Over seventy thousand points... that’s too absurd. If he were only refining Tier One Blood Beasts—even if he didn’t have to kill them himself and just sat there refining non-stop—he wouldn’t be able to get that many points. He must have killed a massive number of Tier Two Blood Beasts."

"It can’t be helped. He fused with the Tier Five Celestial River Profound Water Turtle Gene. We simply can’t compare," Zhou Han shook his head. "Let me see if I made the list." After saying that, he eagerly began checking the leaderboard from the bottom up.

"Ninety-seventh place, Zhou Han, elite Class Five, eight thousand points. I made the list! Though it’s a shame I’m only ninety-seventh!" He spotted his name instantly, a broad smile spreading across his face.

"That’s good enough. Just making the list is great," Su Qing laughed. "I submitted fewer Blood Crystals than you. If you’re ninety-seventh, I’m definitely not on there." She glanced at the screen of light and, sure enough, couldn’t find her name.

"There’s not much of a difference," Zhou Han said, though his tone betrayed his smugness. "The extra reward for those ranking below the top ten is just a doubling of points. At most, I’ll get sixteen thousand points.

"Compared to your five thousand, it’s only a little over ten thousand extra."

Su Qing rolled her eyes at him.

The group chatted and laughed, the atmosphere light and cheerful.

"Fifth place... even higher than I imagined," Ji Zhixing thought, staring at his rank. He took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

"Ranking fifth on the first day rewards one hundred and sixty thousand points according to the rules. Added to my base forty-two thousand, that’s over two hundred thousand points," he calculated rapidly in his mind. "Two hundred thousand points, plus the remaining four Tier Two Blood Crystals and sixty-six Tier One Blood Crystals I have on hand...

"Just today alone, I’ve earned over three hundred thousand genetic coins.

"And that’s not even counting the External Gene, the Spiderweb Scroll, the Blood Attribute Genetic Potions, and my other gains."

A gleam of anticipation flashed through his eyes.

"There’s an extra reward for the first-day ranking, which boosts my gains. Also, I might not necessarily obtain another treasure like an External Gene later on.

"But regardless, once this secret realm expedition ends, I will definitely make a massive profit.

"By then, I can try to rapidly develop the genetic abilities I want."