Chapter 120: The Beginning of the Ranking Battle

Jiang Long shouted loudly; the first sentence was directed at Lin Fan, while the second was an order to his team. How could he tolerate being publicly humiliated like this? Yet he was no fool. From Lin Fan’s move, he knew he was up against a tough opponent, so he called his team to attack together.

His team had over a hundred Qi Vein Realm warriors and more than a thousand Qi Gathering Realm cultivators. With their combined assault, no matter how formidable Lin Fan was, escape would be impossible.

Cough, cough!

Lin Fan coughed lightly again, blood trickling out but wiped away without concern. He paid no heed to Jiang Long’s ferocious demeanor. Instead, he pulled out a jar of aged wine from his storage ring and took a hearty gulp, his carefree manner almost silently mocking Jiang Long.

“Don’t be rash!”

A black-robed youth blocked Jiang Long, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Lin Fan. “Although I don’t know why you’ve concealed your cultivation, you are definitely at the Qi Vein Realm. If you retreat now, I’ll let you off this time. Otherwise...”

“Otherwise what?” Lin Fan curled his lips into a smile, tossing the wine jar to Xiao Shuihan, who gulped twice before passing it to Li Ji. One after another, they all took several big swigs of the strong liquor.

Seeing Lin Fan’s indifference to their words, the black-robed youth’s face darkened. “Otherwise, we will launch a full-scale attack with tens of thousands of people and eliminate you from the trial space!”

“Hahaha!”

Suddenly, Lin Fan burst into loud laughter. Then, his laughter stopped abruptly as he fixed the black-robed youth with a serious gaze. “Then I’ll say it again: if you all retreat now, there’s still time. Otherwise, I will ruin your futures and ensure you’ll never enter the Celestial Tome Academy!”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

Despite the repeated warnings, the morbid youth remained stubborn, and the black-robed youth gave up on any goodwill.

“Prepare—!”

The black-robed youth raised his palm and shouted loudly. Over ten thousand people gathered their energy again. With a palm strike, the black-robed youth commanded, “Attack!”

In an instant, countless fierce attacks rained down on Lin Fan and his group standing on the embankment.

“Don’t blame me either!”

Lin Fan’s expression finally turned cold. After several warnings, no one had listened to him, so he bore no responsibility.

“Leap!”

Lin Fan shouted sharply. Xiao Shuihan and the others, who had been secretly signaled, hesitated not at all and all leapt toward the inside of the embankment.

“Have they gone mad?”

The black-robed youth was shocked. If they were attacked, they might only be heavily wounded or eliminated directly, but at least they could resist somewhat. The final outcome would be the same, but there would have been a chance to struggle.

However, if they leapt inside the embankment, countless ferocious beasts in the water would shred them to pieces in an instant. They would be instantly eliminated with no chance to struggle—a guaranteed death.

If luck was bad, they might even lose limbs before teleporting out, truly doomed.

Such a savage situation was far worse than facing their attacks directly. He couldn’t understand why they would do this!

“Don’t hate me in the future. Of course, you can hate me, but remember this scene today!”

At that moment, as Lin Fan and the others leapt backward, tens of thousands of attacks were about to strike the embankment. Lin Fan’s calm voice rang out.

That voice became a nightmare forever etched into the minds of those tens of thousands!

“Explode—!”

With a cold shout from Lin Fan, a deafening explosion erupted. The attacks from tens of thousands were blown away by the blast’s shockwave. Lin Fan, Xiao Shuihan, and the others were buffeted by the force, spitting blood, then a transparent shield rose to protect them, propelling them even higher.

Boom—crash!

The Eternal Embankment collapsed in an instant. With a cracking sound, massive stones were swept away by the raging water like a breached Yellow River dam. Waves surged up to the mid-mountainside, crashing downward, teeming with countless level-three ferocious beasts and many level-four ones.

“Mother of God! That guy blew up the Eternal Embankment! Run!”

Everyone was stunned, frozen in place. Suddenly, someone shouted loudly. Everyone snapped back to their senses and fled without a word, running with all their might.

But they were already below the embankment, trapped between two mountain slopes, blocking the youths’ escape path, holding firm on the embankment to prevent their flight.

Now, with the Eternal Embankment destroyed by that youth, the water surged instantly with overwhelming force. How could they outrun that?

In just one breath, thousands of white lights flashed as people were eliminated from the trial space. Two breaths later, over five thousand flashes had appeared. After three breaths, only a few dozen remained.

After five breaths, the waves had leveled all within the two mountain peaks, completely submerged.

Even the black-robed youth at the Qi Vein Realm was no exception. When caught by the waves, countless beasts tore him apart, turning him into white light.

Lin Fan and the others in the sky spat blood calmly, watching this scene unfold.

He had spent over 1.3 million negative emotion points on draws. Though he hadn’t drawn a Life Origin Pill, he had pulled over thirty Thunder Crystals, each with the power of a Qi Vein Realm warrior’s strike.

So the moment he and Xiao Shuihan leapt away, he had thrown these Thunder Crystals at the embankment, blowing it up.

This was a plan long in the making!

Only by doing so could he instantly take down tens of thousands and eliminate them all!

The embankment held back water that had swollen to the mid-mountain slope, filled with countless ferocious beasts. Eliminating the tens of thousands below was an easy task.

With over thirty Thunder Crystals, destroying the embankment was no difficulty.

The only challenge was that the shockwave from the blast could severely injure or even eliminate him and Xiao Shuihan instantly. Xiao Shuihan and others were already badly wounded, so he had to plan an escape.

That was why he had them drink the strong liquor—not to belittle Jiang Long—but because the liquor contained healing pills from his draws. Though they barely helped his injuries, for Xiao Shuihan and the others, they were miraculous cures.

His repeated warnings to the black-robed youth were also to buy time for Xiao Shuihan and the others to recover.

Still, the shockwave dealt heavy damage. Fortunately, among the treasures he drew was the Nine Heavens Ice and Fire Shield, which could withstand a mid-Qi Vein Realm strike, blocking the worst of the blast.

Lin Fan’s clothes were stained with blood, blood still dripping from his mouth. Cradling the red-clad youth, the others were all enveloped in the Nine Heavens Ice and Fire Shield.

Countless golden lights surged toward Lin Fan as his silver token’s points rapidly increased.

One hundred!

Five hundred!

One thousand!

The silver token turned gold, then shifted to a purple-gold hue—the Purple Gold Token was formed!

Two thousand points!

Five thousand points!

Eight thousand points!

Ten thousand points!

In mere moments, the Purple Gold Token blazed with a radiant light, merging into a blood-red glow. Suddenly, all the light transformed into a deep crimson, like blood, as Lin Fan’s token shifted dramatically.

Twenty-three thousand seven hundred fifty-eight points!

Lin Fan looked at the crimson token and saw its points had soared to this level. It seemed the points for eliminating over ten thousand people by destroying the embankment had all been credited to him, elevating him to the level of the Crystal Token mentioned by that elder.

Boom!

At that moment, a magnificent pillar of light descended from the sky across the trial space, accompanied by a majestic voice echoing throughout.

“In view of someone reaching the Crimson Crystal level—the fastest in history among all students—an early commencement of the ranking battles and elimination rounds is hereby announced!”

“Ranking rules: each token allows viewing of remaining participants in the trial space and the names of the top five thousand highest scorers.”

“Simultaneously, the trial space will shrink, shortening the duration from three months to one month. The trial will end once only five thousand participants remain!”

“If after one month there are still more than five thousand, rankings will be final!”

This announcement reverberated throughout the trial space. Every participant, whether hiding in the woods, concealed behind waterfalls, hunting beasts, or snatching points from others, heard it clearly.

Faces changed as everyone checked their token rankings.

First place: Qingxue County, Lin Fan, 23,758 points.

Second: Qingxue County, Lin Hongyi, 9,813 points.

Third: Imperial City, Zhao Tianbei, 8,853 points.

Fourth: Underworld City, Ming Hong, 4,131 points.

Fifth: Qingxue County, Shangguan Feihong, 4,111 points.

Sixth: Qingtian County, Li Feixue, 3,223 points.

Seventh: Beihai County, Xi Wenyun, 3,050 points.

Eighth: Qingxue County, Sun Hao, 2,802 points.

Ninth: Tianshuang County, Tian Fei, 1,904 points.

Tenth: Fenglin County, Yue Tianchong, 1,938 points.

Eleventh place...

No one had expected the trial space to suddenly switch modes, initiating elimination rounds with only one month remaining, abandoning pure point counts in favor of knockout competition to leave only five thousand survivors.

Of course, if more than five thousand remained after a month, points would decide.

Regardless of participants’ thoughts, the Celestial Tome Academy’s senior officials erupted into debate. A tall middle-aged man stood and angrily declared, “This person must be expelled. Relying on the treasures he obtained, he dared to blow up the Eternal Embankment, eliminating so many excellent students. This is a violation.”

“Exactly. He didn’t rely solely on his own strength for the trial. There’s no such powerful treasure in the trial space. He must have concealed some method to bypass inspections and committed this violation. It cannot be tolerated!”

At the same time, a thin man nodded in agreement.

[End of Chapter 120: The Commencement of the Ranking Battle]