Forging Immortality through the Dao Seed

"Junior Brother, please speak, we are all ears."

"In that case, allow me to be presumptuous..."

...

...

After a hasty round of regaining composure.

Zhang Jing and the others had already arrived early in the open space in the middle of the performance platform.

Those who were eliminated in the morning, gathered around the outer edge of the platform, all watching the 53 people in the centre with eyes full of envy and resentment, wishing they could replace them.

At this moment.

In the crowd, Zhang Jing was closing his eyes to rejuvenate himself.

Not long after.

The figure of Senior Brother Liu appeared again.

Looking down at the crowd who had arrived early, a satisfied expression flashed in his eyes, followed by a strange look.

The next moment, Senior Brother Liu began to speak:

"In the flighty Immortal Way, we cultivators must not only have the courage to forge ahead relentlessly, overcoming all obstacles, but also possess clear self-awareness."

"Dear junior brothers and sisters, the ranking battle officially begins, and the rules are as follows:"

"The entire ranking battle is divided into three stages, determining the rankings from twenty to thirty, ten to twenty, and the top ten in order. Each person can only participate in one stage."

"Participants choose their own ranking platform, and winning six consecutive challenges or when no one challenges is considered a victory in the rankings. Everyone has three opportunities to challenge, and they may rest in between. If there are vacancies in the rankings ... they will not be filled!"

"The first phase begins now, platforms one to ten represent positions twenty-one to thirty, those who wish to participate, step forward."

Boom——

The moment the rules were announced, a huge uproar erupted, filled with exclamations of shock that echoed continuously from every direction.

Zhang Jing was also taken aback.

He didn't know how to evaluate this rule.

It was clear that if one's self-assessment was off or there was some bias in one's understanding of competitors, they could potentially have labored in vain.

Unless they were strong enough!

Otherwise, they had to gamble with risk, or retreat to secure a secure ranking.

Zhang Jing could already imagine how fierce the coming duels on the platform would be.

There was no turning back, they could only fight desperately!

"We're done for, this means that if you choose to compete in the top ten and fail, even the worst reward would be lost."

Suddenly, the anxious and restless muttering of Ji Bochang reached his ears.

Zhang Jing turned around and found the man's face filled with panic, all his past preparations must have been disrupted by the rules just announced.

Afterward, he unconsciously looked around him.

In his line of sight, virtually everyone wore the same expression as Ji Bochang. Only the scarce few, including him, had no change in their facial expression.

Among these few.

The two Grade-A Monsters didn't need consideration.

Zhang Jing's attention fell directly on the three men and two women on the other side.

Seeming to have sensed his gaze, a slender man among them suddenly turned his head, meeting Zhang Jing's eyes and then gave a slight nod.

Zhang Jing smiled back in response.

It appeared that these five were his real competitors this time.

With that thought.

Zhang Jing withdrew his gaze and began to rejuvenate himself again.

It was still only the first phase...there was still time!

On the other side.

Quite a few Grade-B Talents were looking at the empty performance platform with a conflicted expression.

If they stepped up now, it would mean automatically giving up the reward for ranking in the top twenty of Tao Merits, and they couldn't help but feel unwilling. After all, the gap was not small.

But if they didn't step up now...

If they happened to fail during the competition in the second stage, they'd end up with nothing.

Taking advantage of their hesitation.

Those who barely got through the first round with Grade-C evaluation, on the other hand, were rushing to get on the platform.

Especially on the last few platforms, the defending challengers had already been replaced more than three times.

In the end.

Rationality won over greed.

"Ah~ Truly bad luck, why did I have to run into this batch? There are too many monsters."

One after another, Grade-B talents began to abandon their unrealistic dreams and ascended to the stage of casting spells amidst sighs.

Fine, having five Tao Merits is better than having none at all.

In an instant.

The fluctuations of the spells cast on the stage grew intense.

...

"Lingyun, I think..."

Beside Chu Lingyun, Deng An withdrew his gaze from Wu Mingyuan on the stage and stuttered.

His eyes showed strong unwillingness, yet powerless resistance.

"Brother Deng, are you planning to take the stage?"

"I am not confident that I will prevail in the ranking competition of the second stage."

"Well, it's not your fault, it's that the batch this year is exceedingly strong. Where in the past have there been so many Grade-B evaluations, let alone two Grade-A monsters firmly holding the first two spots?"

Chu Lingyun's voice was no longer as spirited as it had been at noon.

Her gaze unconsciously swept across the three men and two women who were resting in the distance.

She was aware that under the current examination rules, she had no chance to attempt to compete for the top ten now. The risk was too high.

...

Time passed quickly.

"The first stage is over, congratulations to all of you!"

Senior Brother Liu looked at the ten who persisted on the stage and congratulated with a smile.

At the same time, from his hands, ten cyan lights rose, and then flew directly towards the stage, finally stopping in front of each of the ten people and transforming into round and translucent cyan jade tiles.

"This is your Outer Academy's Identity Jade. Future Tao Merit rewards will be added within it; this jade is also a good defensive Magic Artifact."

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

The ten on stage gripped their identity jades and shouted with one voice.

As these people staggered down the stage, the voice of Senior Brother Liu followed: "The second phase will now commence. Those who wish to compete for ranks eleven to twenty may now take the stage."

The moment his voice fell.

Zhang Jing heard a heavy footstep beside him, then it disappeared.

Opening his eyes, he met Ji Bochang's gaze head-on.

Seeing Zhang Jing standing still, Ji Bochang was surprised: "Brother Zhang, it's the second phase, aren't you going up?"

"I'll wait a while longer."

Zhang Jing replied with a smile.

"You're waiting for—"

As if realizing, Ji Bochang abruptly stopped mid-sentence.

The next moment, he stared at Zhang Jing, feeling a chill crawl up his scalp.

"You..." Ji Bochang pointed at the two Grade A monsters, then babbled: "want...the third stage, top ten?"

Zhang Jing nodded.

"Zhang... Brother Zhang, you..."

His mind went blank.

With a dazed expression, Ji Bochang turned and walked towards the stage.

Another large group of people left.

At this moment, only sixteen people still remained in place.

Although the battle on the stage was intense, countless gazes converged on these sixteen people.

Under the already clear rules, if they dared to participate in the third stage to fight for the top ten, it meant that any of these sixteen individuals had absolute confidence in their own abilities!

And because of the existence of those two Grade A monsters.

It had become a competition of fourteen vying for eight spots.

In today's third stage assessment, nearly half of the top talents would be eliminated!

A tremendous clash was inevitable on the stage!

An inexplicable flame ignited in everyone's heart, continually stirring the excited emotions.

In mid-air.

Senior Brother Liu spotted Zhang Jing among the sixteen.

He had a deep impression of this junior brother.

"Tsk, at the second stage of Qi Refinement, Junior Brother, you really surprised me."

——

Ps: Thanks to "No Beginning is No End" and "Ink Trace Without a Trace" for your contributions~