Li Mu was determined to make it to the three lists.
The old faker looked unreliable, but in fact, he had clear aims in his heart. Li Mu believed that the reason why the old faker asked him to come might have something to do with the three lists of Heaven, Earth and Human.
He should have no other purpose except to ask Li Mu to be ranked.
Moreover, there were only two ways to gain access to the immortal palace. One was to make it on the three lists, while the other was to obtain a bra.s.s key fragment. The former was obviously easier than the latter.
At the moment, the winner had almost been decided in the Immortal-slaying Ring.
The cultivation of Lin Yuhan, a genius of the Cloud Clan, was indeed extremely powerful. He had already reached the superior level of the Upper King Realm. His Parting People in Drizzle Swordsmans.h.i.+p was really perfect, which meant that he had reached an amazing level. As his swordsmans.h.i.+p was displayed, the entire Immortal-slaying Ring was covered with a cloak of melancholy and beautiful misty rain, as if heaven and earth were crying for separated lovers.
The sword flashes blurred. The entire Immortal-slaying Ring was filled with a misty rain of swords.
w.a.n.g Yanyi stood on the spot, holding the sword in his right hand in a defensive position. He brandished the sword randomly and it emitted rays of bright light which broke through the misty rain. It flashed for a moment before vanis.h.i.+ng, which helped save him from danger.
Lin Yuhan, Parting People in Sword Rain, executed his swordsmans.h.i.+p and completely suppressed w.a.n.g Yanyi, G.o.d of Sword.
“Senior brother, you can do it!”
“Kill him and avenge Young Master Tingyu’s death.”
“Anyone who offends our Rain Clan must be put to death!”
The young disciples of the Rain Clan shouted loudly aside in the impa.s.sioned atmosphere, regardless of whether Lin Yuhan could hear them in the Immortal-slaying Ring or not.
One of the Rain Clan disciples even turned to Li Mu, smiling sarcastically at him and making a provocative gesture of slitting his own throat.
However, Li Mu ignored the provocation of such a little shrimp.
Instead, he watched the battle with great interest.
Both Lin Yuhan and w.a.n.g Yanyi were peerless geniuses of swordsmans.h.i.+p. No matter how ordinary their swords were, they could exert incredible power even using ordinary sword techniques. Their comprehension and mastery of swordsmans.h.i.+p were also valuable references for Li Mu.
In the martial arts world, all roads led to the same destination.
Li Mu was observing the fight carefully.
At the same time, he felt incredulous about w.a.n.g Yanyi’s progress in his swordsmans.h.i.+p.
During the battle on White Earth, in order to become one of the top ten on the Heavenly Legend List, w.a.n.g Yanyi once had a hard fight with the Witchcraft Saint. It had only been a short period of time, but now he could actually stand firm for half an hour facing the intense attacks from a talented swordsman of the Upper King Realm.
His progress was much too fast and astonis.h.i.+ng.
“Li Mu, didn’t you say that w.a.n.g Yanyi is your friend?” The chief of the Seasonal Rain Palace appeared in a splendid robe. His broken arm had grown back, and his eyes were vicious. He continued, “Now, your friend is about to die under my senior brother’s sword. Do you have anything to say?”
Behind him was the divine generals of the Rain Clan, who had appeared in s.h.i.+yu Manor that day.
Li Mu slowly looked away from the Immortal-slaying Ring. Then he looked at the chief of the Seasonal Rain Palace and counted, “One…”
The chief and the others looked flabbergasted.
“What does that mean?”
“Two…” Li Mu spoke again.
“Playing dumb?” The chief was confused but sneered, “So, are you afraid to admit what you said?”
“Three… It’s over,” Li Mu said.
Almost at the same time, a cry rang out from the Immortal-slaying Ring.
Everyone’s attention was instantly diverted to the sound.
Blood dyed the Immortal-slaying Ring red.
Lin Yuhan staggered back, holding his sword.
With every step he retreated, a b.l.o.o.d.y footprint was seen.
w.a.n.g Yanyi, who had been on the defensive, held the sword with his left hand for some moments. The sword aura was stronger as compared to before. It was as sharp as the collapsing of stars and surging of a nebula. His sword tip was dotted with a little starlight, which seemed to illuminate the dark and lonely Star River with its dazzling and bright rays.
“Buzz!”
A bell rang all of a sudden.
Light flickered in the Immortal-slaying Ring.
Lin Yuhan and w.a.n.g Yanyi disappeared at the same time.
“Hey… What the h.e.l.l happened?”
w.a.n.g Yanyi appeared on the sh.o.r.e of the pond.
The sword in his hand had been returned to its sheath. Looking at Lin Yuhan, who staggered on the other side with clear sword marks on his left shoulder and blood gus.h.i.+ng out of his body, he shook his head gently and clicked his tongue. Then, without saying anything, he went back to the pavilion.
“w.a.n.g Yanyi wins. From today on, anyone from the Rain Clan is not allowed to seek revenge against w.a.n.g Yanyi.”
Stepping on the Eight Trigrams plate, Immortal Taoist appeared above the Immortal-slaying Ring and announced loudly.
The result obviously shocked all the cultivators of immortal sects on the square. They even couldn’t understand it.
It was another unforgettable humiliation for the Rain Clan.
Not only did the avengers they carefully selected fail to kill the murderer, but another insult was added to the humiliating history of the Rain Clan. The face of the Rain Clan, one of the six Divine Clans in the Celestial Court, had been trampled into the mud as a stepping stone by w.a.n.g Yanyi.
Besides the Rain Clan, the other five clans were also quite embarra.s.sed.
The six divisions of the Celestial Court were close-knit. No matter how much internal strife there was among them, the other five divisions also felt ruthless slaps on their faces as the Rain Clan was humiliated again in front of so many cultivators.
However, it was the final battle in the Immortal-slaying Ring, which was an ancient tradition that had been pa.s.sed down even before the existence of the Celestial Court. Hence, even if they were to explode in anger, they could do nothing to w.a.n.g Yanyi.
Next, Immortal Taoist announced the candidates for the second battle.
The two were cultivators of immortal sects that Li Mu didn’t know about. One was an old woman with snow-white hair and the other was a young beauty. Judging by their ages, it was hard to tell how they could be grouped together. However, they probably had some past grievances and hated each other’s guts. When the battle began, Li Mu glanced at them, but they were just inferior cultivators of the King Realm, so he did not pay any attention to them.
As w.a.n.g Yanyi walked into the pavilion, he held the Quadrangle Jade Dragon Cup in his left hand and a wine pot with silver monster patterns on its handles in his right hand. The long sword was hung at his waist casually. He sat opposite Li Mu, poured three gla.s.ses of wine successively, and gulped down all of the wine by himself.
“Just now, someone of the six clans intervened to prevent your last killing move from working, right?” Li Mu asked, “Isn’t it cheating to interfere with the battle in the Immortal-slaying Ring?”
w.a.n.g Yanyi smiled and said casually, “It’s not the first time for the Celestial Court to do such a thing, and it won’t be the last time. You’ll get used to it.”
“Do you know much about the Celestial Court?” Li Mu asked.
Now he felt there were some mysteries surrounding w.a.n.g Yanyi. The more contact he had with w.a.n.g Yanyi, the more Li Mu felt that he did not really know this person at all. Moreover, maybe because he had traveled in the human world for a period of time, w.a.n.g Yanyi’s speech, tone, and way of doing things were similar to those of a modern person.
w.a.n.g Yanyi stretched himself, lay down on the stone chair in the pavilion, and said, “I know better than you do.”
Li Mu still wanted to ask more questions, but a scream came from the Immortal-slaying Ring.
As the beautiful young woman’s waist was slashed apart by the white-haired old woman’s cane, her cultivation gradually dissipated and her beauty faded away. Her delicate and smooth skin instantly turned into the skin that resembled dried orange peel. Her black hair became dry and withered as well. The young woman continued to age and finally turned into a pile of dry skin and bones.
“b.i.t.c.h. Back then, you plotted to seduce my husband with your beauty and murdered my children. Today, you are doomed to die.”
The white-haired old woman spat on the skeleton.
The second battle was over.
The third and fourth fierce battles followed.
Li Mu focused on the battles in the Immortal-slaying Ring to observe the combat skills and Cultivation Methods of pract.i.tioners from different immortal sects. One of the battles was a fight between older generation experts at the peak of the Upper King Realm, which was as intense as a battle between G.o.ds and demons. Li Mu was shocked and benefited a lot.
At this moment, Cloud Light Saintess finally arrived in a hurry.
Li Mu cut to the chase and chastised her severely, “You seem to be late.”
“You can’t blame me for that,” Cloud Light Saintess explained hurriedly. “After I met my companions and returned, you were no longer around, so I couldn’t find you.”
“Huh?” Li Mu’s eyes widened and he said, “How dare you deceive me with such a lame excuse? Are you serious? Are you insulting yourself or me?”
Cloud Light Saintess was at a loss for words.
“Girl, you don’t seem to have the demeanor of a maid at all. I’m very disappointed. You’d better go back and serve my master.” Li Mu added sullenly, “I can’t afford to have such an ill-disciplined maid like you.”
“Please don’t… I…” Cloud Light Saintess stammered.
Li Mu snorted.
Right at this moment…
“Guys, today’s battles have come to an end. We have held seven battles in total. Everyone has seen the outcomes. I hope that all of you will abide by the rules of the Immortal-slaying Ring. Otherwise, you will be violating the heavenly rules and will be put to death by the immortal sects.”
Immortal Taoist appeared once more.
Six hours had pa.s.sed since the Immortal-Devil a.s.sembly began.
The three lists of Heaven, Earth and Human reset after these battles.
Although w.a.n.g Yanyi decided to make a rank, he was not anxious about it. Instead, after drinking the wine, he held the sword in his arms and soon fell asleep in the pavilion.
Li Mu got up, walked out of the pavilion, and walked toward the three lists.
The so-called three lists were three enormous steles.
These stone tablets were simple and unsophisticated and were square in shape. They had four sides with rough striations on three sides, and one side that was smooth like paper on which words could be displayed. The smooth side was sufficient to accommodate a thousand names.
In terms of volume, the “Heaven” tablet was the largest, while the “Earth” tablet was the second, and the last was the “Human” tablet.
But even the smallest Human tablet was 20 meters high. Normal people appeared like small pebbles in front of such a huge rock when they stood beside it. Moreover, the stone tablet was built on a stone platform with carved railings on all sides, as if it was held in the palm of a G.o.d. Only when people climbed up the stone platform along nine stone stairs could they touch the surface of the stone tablet.
They were the legendary divine artifacts, the three lists.
Apart from their sizes, they were exactly the same in style.
Divine generals from the six clans were standing below the three lists, protecting them.
If one wanted to be on the list, he had to climb up to the stone platform along the stone stairs. Then, he had to bombard the tablet bottom with his strongest force. If the impact was sensed by the stone tablet, his name would appear on the tablet, which meant that he had made it on the list.
Someone had already stepped on the stone stairs to compete for the ranks.
The first person was none other than the chief of the Seasonal Rain Palace of the Rain Clan.
The Rain Clan suffered continuous setbacks and great blows to their prestige. They needed to boost their prestige urgently. Thus, they focused most of their energy on making it on the three lists. As long as there were relatively large numbers of their disciples on the three lists, they would win one round.
The chief of the Seasonal Rain Palace chose a tenfold difficulty task from the Earth rank.
He bombarded the bottom of the Earth tablet using his strongest swordsmans.h.i.+p.
Boom!
Sword lights flashed about like streaks of lightning.
However, the earth-splitting power did not even leave the slightest mark on the tablet.
Golden light flickered and lines flowed along the front of the stone tablet.
“Lin Guanquan!” Three golden words appeared on the stele, which was the chief’s name.
“I made it!”
The chief of the Seasonal Rain Palace raised his fists in jubilation.
He was the first person to get on the Earth Rankings List, since the resetting of the three lists.
It was such a glory for him.