Chapter 69: How to Enter the Golden Sword Rankings

  On the other side of the Grand Canyon, on a gentle slope of the mountain waist, dozens of disciples in green and gray robes smiled and waited. The mountain wind blew up everyone's clothes, and one person turned his head to smile at the person next to him: "I don't know how many of this generation of disciples can come over?"

  The people around shook their heads: "Looking at their performance on the stage, it's already good if three of them can make it over."

  Another person chuckled and said, "Three? The trial is already over, I think it's very difficult for these people to come over even one, judging from the character of the trial, it's highly likely that all the disciples will be wiped out, not a single one can pass."

  Only a few people knew that this was highly likely, and they smiled and nodded in agreement. Just then, someone suddenly shouted: "Look!" And a group of twenty people emerged from the depths of the gorge, standing at the edge of the sky, on open ground. The twenty people let out a long sigh, looking towards their fellow cultivator with smiles on their faces.

  "We finally leaped over the Dragon Gate and became disciples of Xuancheng Mountain."

  The crowd opposite suddenly fell silent, and the expressions on the faces of those green-robed and grey-robed disciples were all very colorful. They looked at each other in dismay, unsure what had happened at the other end of the valley, and yet it had ended like this.

  Suddenly, a buzzing discussion arose:

  "Huh? All 20 of them passed? How is this possible?"

  "How did that little brat learn to slack off too? I'll have to find some time to ask him thoroughly later."

  Doubts return to doubts, the procedure for welcoming new disciples into the mountain gate still needs to be carried out. A green-robed figure hesitated for a moment before smiling and walking forward: "Welcome, welcome you all for leaping over the dragon gate to become official disciples of the Xuanji Sect. In a while, please choose your own domain, from now on you will begin your brand new cultivation life in Xuanji Mountain."

  At this time, the five gray-clad men who had been guarding the Dragon Gate rushed over from behind, squeezed into the crowd and whispered in a low voice. Before long, everyone's face changed, and their gaze at Li Fenger's knife was extremely strange.

  Two groups of people gathered together to handle the procedures for new apprentices, in the crowd, hearing that Li Ruo Dao was willing to join Xuan Huo Dong, a thin and long horse-faced green-clothed person's face with acne lit up with excitement, and he pulled Li Ruo Dao into his side, as if afraid of being snatched away by others.

  Qing Yi Na Dan saw this and shook his head again with a sigh of frustration.

  A brief welcoming ceremony, the leader of the various sects' disciples will divide the twenty people among themselves and take them back. Li Ran's heart secretly rejoiced as he followed the horse-faced green-robed man around the mountain ridge towards the Xuanhuo Cave.

  Entering that secluded cave entrance, the deeper you go, the hotter it gets. A thick stone gate lies across the path, and last time Na Dan led everyone here but didn't proceed further, so what scenery lies within is unknown.

  The horse-faced man in green clothes stretched out his hand and slapped the stone gate with force: "Open the door, it's me."

  The stone gate slowly opened a seam, and Ma Lianqing led Li Ran into the knife with his face. A bright cave was facing him, with stalactites hanging down, thin fog swirling around, and rocks standing disorderly. The cave was quite deep, and it didn't feel hot anymore.

  Li Ran's gaze extended into the depths, where strange rocks stood like sentinels in the stone cave, with countless passages stretching out densely.

  A man in grey clothes saw the two enter, and laughed as he shouted: "Ma Kong, you've actually brought back a junior brother? This junior brother isn't another quota appointment, is he?"

  "Shut up, this is Li Ruo, the younger brother of Knife Master, and the top student of this generation. Hurry up and call all our brothers from the Mystic Fire Cave to come and meet each other."

  The gray-robed man's expression suddenly became very strange: "First name? How is that possible? How could the first name come to our Xuanhuo Cave, has the sun risen in the west?"

  The grey-robed figures ran swiftly towards the depths of the cave, and in a short while, eleven people rushed out from various passageways inside. Two were dressed in green robes, nine in grey robes. Apparently, this was the entire lineup of the Xuanhuo Cave disciples. Li Ran's eyes shook his head secretly, with over 600 people on the Thirteen Peaks, the Xuanhuo Cave only had so few guards; this lineup was indeed a bit shabby.

  Ma Kong saw the crowd's disbelieving faces gathering around and pulled Li Ran's knife to his side, laughing loudly as he introduced:

  "Come on, let's get acquainted. This is Li Ruo, a voluntary newcomer to our Xuanhuo Cave. Brother Ruo is the top student of this generation, and..."

  Ma Kong sold a pass, seeing that everyone had an extremely interested expression, only then continued to say: "And just now, Burning Knife defeated the barrier's butcher, from now on he will soar to new heights."

  "What? Impossible..."

  "How is that possible?"

  "The new disciple defeated Ren Tu Shixiong? Ran Jian Shidi, how old are you this year?"

  "Thirteen, almost fourteen."

  Li Ran Dao smiled and replied.

  "My goodness, is it really Butcher who defeated Nine Peaks at thirteen?"

  The sound of inhaling cold air kept ringing out.

  Jingyuan Jingba's Qin Fengchuan and Gu Lieyang, upon entering the Xuanji Mountain, could receive praise from Dan Shengxian himself. Li Ranno, a 13-year-old, defeating Jiutian Difeng's Butcher in front of everyone was simply an unthinkable thing.

  Ma Kong looked at everyone's face and angrily said: "This is all true."

  The crowd looked at each other in surprise and suddenly cheered together, surrounding Li Nian with questions.

  Ma Kong smiled and said, "Stop smiling, Tu Shun. First, take Burning Knife to explore the cave and get familiar with the environment. Then help him get new clothes and a door plaque. We have plenty of time to chat later."

  The last one who opened the door was a gray-clothed man who laughed loudly and responded, turning his head to look at Li Ruo Dao: "Ruo Dao Shidi, let's go, I'll take you to see the Xuan Huangdi Fire in the Zi Dong first."

  Finally able to see Dan Huo, Li Ruo's heart was also delighted, and followed the gray-clothed Tu Suo as he walked deeper into the mountain cave.

  At the end of this cave, there were countless narrow paths. Tú Shùn chose one and stepped in first. The mountain cave was narrow and deep, and suddenly turned steeply downward. A steep stone staircase plunged down into the darkness, its bottom invisible.

  Both sides of the stone wall are hung with wind lanterns, and hot air keeps surging up from below, scorching people's skin dry.

  Tú Shùn smiled and turned his head to chat: "Rán Dāo, little brother, do you know why everyone is so happy that you've come?"

  Without waiting for Li Ran to respond, Tu Shun continued on his own: "It's just that our Xuanhuo Cave is short-handed and weak, and we're often bullied. Other sects look at us like a joke, especially the Yanxian Hall, which has always looked down on the brothers of our Xuanhuo Cave.

  "Brother Burning Knife, with your potential, I dare to bet that you will definitely enter the Golden Sword List in the future. If the Mystic Fire Cave also produces a Golden Sword strongman, then let's see who dares to underestimate us."

  Li Ran's heart skipped a beat as he smiled and asked, "Tou Shun, brother, the rumors say that the top ranked on the Golden Sword List are extremely formidable. Just how formidable are they?"

  Tu Shun tilted his head slightly to one side, and a hint of admiration involuntarily flowed out from the depths of his eyes as he sighed softly:

  "Junior brother, didn't you see?"

  We have nearly six hundred Grey Robes in the Thirteen Peaks of Tongtian, and among the thirty-three peaks of the Xuanji Sect, there are more than twenty thousand Grey Robes. Every one of these Grey Robe disciples was a genius back then. Among these twenty thousand geniuses, only eighty made it onto the Golden Sword List.

  Among these eighty Golden Swordsmen, even the weakest, Shan Zhi Shixiong, has the power to rival a God-Moving First-Order expert, and he just entered the tenth level of Jingyuan Jin. You can imagine how abnormal those who can enter the Golden Sword List are."

  It wasn't until then that Li Ran's expression turned serious and solemn, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath of cold air.

  Crossing the Divine Movement Stage is a transformation of life, even if it's the peak of the tenth level of Jingyuan's power, there is still a huge gap with the Divine Movement Stage. A Golden Sword disciple ranked 80th dared to challenge the initial stage of the Divine Movement, and his talent is indeed against the sky.

  It's no wonder that the Golden Sword List has a great reputation on Xuanji Mountain, and it's no wonder that those Golden Sword disciples will be taken in as direct disciples by Dan Sheng once they enter the Divine Movement stage. With their talent, they have a good chance of achieving the Dan Sheng stage after all.

  Li Ran's eyes gradually became fiery as he asked: "Shifu Tu Shun, how can one enter the Golden Sword List? Is it through a challenge?"

  Tu Shun saw Li Ran's enthusiasm for the Golden Sword List and nodded in approval:

  "There are two ways to get on the Golden Sword List. First, go directly challenge the person on the list. If you can beat any of them, you can directly obtain their ranking on the Golden Sword List. Moreover, if you win, there will be rewards in terms of points."

  "School Points?"

  Li Ran's eyes lit up again. He was now too "poor" and had an urgent desire for the sect's points.

  Tu Shun smiled and shook his head, letting out a long sigh: "But those Golden Sword List disciples are all too abnormal, it's really too difficult to challenge them. Moreover, in order to protect the quiet cultivation of the Golden Sword disciples, the sect rules that each gray-robed disciple can only fight against a Golden Sword disciple once every six months."

  Li Ran nodded slowly.

  Tu Shun continued, "Besides the challenge, there is another way to get on the list. In the distant Cang Zhen Peak, five hundred miles away from our Thirteen Peaks, there is a pre-heavenly secret land called Huan Ling Cave. Inside, the ancient immortal's forbidden array is mysterious and unimaginable. The Huan Ling Cave has seven layers, each with spiritual energy giving birth to and transforming into spiritual beasts. The strength of the spiritual beasts increases with each layer."

  "If you can successfully break into the fourth layer of the Phantom Spirit Cave and slay more than seventy Phantom Beasts, you will be able to enter the Golden Sword Rankings. Because the record of four layers and seventy beasts is Brother Shan Zhi's record, breaking this record would naturally mean defeating Brother Shan Zhi."

  Li Ran's mind had already formed a clear outline, and he nodded again.

  Tu Shun smiled and reminded, "However, the Phantom Cave also has restrictions. Similarly, each gray-robed disciple can enter at most once every six months. Of course, new disciples have a one-time free entry experience."

  Li Ran Dao nodded again, secretly calculating that he should be able to cover the 500-mile mountain road in two days.

  Tu Shun saw Li Ruo's expression and guessed his thoughts, with a mysterious smile on his face: "Ruo Dao junior brother, are you calculating how many days it will take to rush to the Phantom Cave? Let me tell you, our thirteen peaks have a secret place, from there to the Phantom Cave only takes three breaths of time. Ha! Can you guess why?"

  Looking at the map, Li Ran's expression changed slightly, and he smiled: "Our Thirteen Peaks have a transmission array, that's much more convenient."

  Tu Shun Zhang stared at Li Ran Jian with a tongue-tied expression: "You...you even know the transmission array, this kind of immortal family secret technique?"

  When he first entered the Xianpai, even the disciples of the big families were shocked and amazed by the transmission array, but Li Ruo's calmness made Tu Shun not calm. Tu Shun didn't know that in his previous life, Li Ruo had seen much more than him.