Chapter 230 - 229: The Nine-Tiered Sky (2)

MERIT RANKINGS (CURRENT)

1. Xuan Mingzhe (Xuan Province) - 1100 Merits

2. Jiang Wan (Jiang Province) - 830 Merits

3. Ye Ao (Ye Province) - 800 Merits

4. Feng Yao (Feng Province) - 700 Merits

5. Ling Chuan (Ling Province) - 660 Merits

6. Lin Yuan (Zhao Province) - 610 Merits

...

323. Chu Kuang (Chu Province) - 0 Merits

The massive monolith hovering at the absolute center of the Central Continent’s Grand Court continued to pulse with a deep, steady light, completely indifferent to the psychological devastation it was inflicting upon the tens of thousands of gathered cultivators.

The first preliminary round had concluded, yet the minds of the Upper Division elites remained violently fixated on the impossibility of the ranking displayed before them.

"I still cannot fathom it," an elder from Ye Province muttered, his voice trembling as he stared at the absolute bottom of the stone. He gripped the railing of his pavilion so tightly that his knuckles had turned bloodless. "Chu Kuang. The heir of Chu Province. The man whose physical foundation was forged through the blood of mythical beasts. Zero merits. He sits at zero!"

"It is not merely the fact that he sits at zero," a sword master from Jiang Province replied, his eyes narrowing as he looked toward the sixth position. "It is the fact that a Lower Division cultivator, a man from a province that has not produced a true expert in nine centuries, is sitting within striking distance of the Six Peerless Geniuses. Look at him. Six hundred and ten merits. He is only fifty points away from breaking into the absolute hierarchy of our generation."

"It has to be an error," an aristocratic woman from Xuan Province hissed, rapidly fanning herself as though the movement could conceal her growing unease. "There is simply no way a man who has only just crossed the threshold of Spirit Severing could suppress Chu Kuang. The Chu heir was on the verge of Half-Step Transcendent! The might of his cultivation alone should have crushed that Zhao rat the moment they crossed paths!"

"And yet," the Jiang sword master replied coldly, "Chu Kuang walked out of the Void Ascension Battlefield alive, completely uninjured, and without a single token of the many he had accumulated. He was not beaten into submission by a desperate coalition. He was extorted. Flawlessly extorted."

Across the arena, the subject of their frantic speculation stood near the edge of the central teleportation array, his posture radiating an almost terrifying serenity.

Lin Yuan’s pristine black-and-white robes fluttered gently in the wind. His hands were clasped casually behind his back, his expression calm and indifferent. To the thousands of probing Divine Senses sweeping over him from the surrounding pavilions, he still appeared to be an Early Stage Spirit Severing cultivator. His aura was certainly denser than that of an ordinary cultivator at the same stage, but it carried none of the obvious weight associated with the higher stages of Dao Resolve.

This was entirely by design.

Deep within his spiritual sea, Lin Yuan silently cycled the Great Tortoise Breath Technique, using its concealment principles to suppress his true cultivation. The Unshaken Stage Dao Resolve within him remained completely hidden, while the tri-colored Dao of Three Rebirths, the profound law that had elevated his combat prowess to the level of a Supreme Stage expert, was locked tightly within his consciousness. Not even the most probing Divine Sense could detect its existence.

Lin Yuan had no intention of drawing more attention to himself than he already had.

He had already accomplished something that had caused the entire Grand Court to turn its gaze toward Zhao Province. His sixth-place ranking alone was enough to make countless people curious about him, and the fact that he had stripped Chu Kuang of every merit he possessed had made that curiosity far more dangerous.

There was a saying in the cultivation world: "The tallest tree catches the strongest wind."

Lin Yuan understood the meaning of those words better than most.

At his current position, revealing another layer of his strength would not bring him any immediate benefit. It would merely tell the people watching him that the monster they had already begun fearing was far more dangerous than they had imagined.

Why reveal the blade before it needed to be drawn?

He would rather allow them to underestimate him for as long as possible.

There was another saying he had once heard: "When the light is too bright, even the smallest shadow becomes conspicuous."

Lin Yuan had already stepped into the light.

There was no reason to burn away the shadows protecting him as well.

For now, Lin Yuan preferred to remain the hunter hidden among the reeds rather than the tiger roaring from the mountaintop.

His deep purple eyes swept casually across the sprawling, tense crowds of the Grand Court, silently taking stock of the pieces on the board.

Among the lower-ranked cultivators, huddled together with the other Lower Division delegations, he spotted a remarkably rotund cultivator dressed in tight robes.

Fu Lang of Fu Province caught Lin Yuan’s gaze.

The fatty, who had befriended Lin Yuan during the first preliminary round, immediately broke into a wide, enthusiastic grin and began waving frantically. He seemed entirely unconcerned by the disgusted looks he received from several neighboring Upper Division disciples.

Lin Yuan offered him an acknowledging nod.

Fu Lang’s grin widened even further.

Lin Yuan’s gaze then drifted toward the Golden Diting pavilion. The disciples there were unusually quiet, their heads bowed, but the suffocating tension that had previously surrounded them had noticeably loosened.

Standing near the front was Jin Rou, the man whose life Lin Yuan had pulled from the jaws of the corpse beetles.

The moment their eyes met, Jin Rou’s expression became solemn.

His eyes contained a deep and absolute reverence. He placed his right fist over his heart and offered Lin Yuan a slow, profound bow.

Lin Yuan returned the gesture with nothing more than a slight tilt of his chin.

The secret of the Golden Immortal Beasts remained secure.

That was enough.

Lin Yuan’s eyes then moved upward, sweeping across the lavish floating pavilions belonging to the core provinces.

He bypassed the seething, homicidal glare of Chu Kuang entirely.

He bypassed the cold, analytical stare of Xuan Mingzhe.

His eyes eventually locked onto the Feng Province pavilion.

Standing at the very edge of the carved railing, isolated from the rest of his delegation, was Feng Yao.

The sixteen-year-old anomaly looked exactly as he had appeared within Lin Yuan’s spiritual sea: frail, exhausted, and burdened beneath the crushing weight of a captive god.

The boy’s milky-white, pupil-less eyes remained fixed on Lin Yuan.

Across the vast expanse of the Grand Court, an unspoken understanding seemed to pass between them.

Top three.

The boy’s blank stare seemed to repeat the words without speaking.

Shatter the board, and I will give you the keys to the higher realms.

Lin Yuan held the boy’s gaze for a long, deliberate second, before turning his attention away.

Finally, Lin Yuan’s eyes found the eastern royal pavilion of his own province.

Sitting in her wheelchair, framed by the anxious, pacing form of Bai Chen and the resolute figure of Lord Zhao Shenming, was Bai Qingyue.

She wore a gown of pale, shimmering blue silk that perfectly matched her eyes. Even from this distance, Lin Yuan could see the radiant flush of health in her cheeks—a direct, beautiful result of the harmony they had shared the previous night.

She was not gripping the armrests in anxiety. She was not trembling at the sight of the towering, malevolent pagoda floating in the sky above them. She was looking at her husband with an expression of absolute devotion.

Lin Yuan’s expression softened, as he offered her a faint, genuine smile, accompanied by a slow, reassuring nod.

Everything will soon end, the nod conveyed. I will conquer this pagoda, I will defeat all in the tournament and I will finally remove that soul transformation restriction from you!