Ze Tian Ji

Chapter 115 – The Top Ten

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The name that appeared on the eleventh rank of the Proclamation of Azure Sky was unexpectedly not the Mount Li Sword Sect's Qi Jian, but the proud Zhuang Huanyu of the Heavenly Dao Academy! The Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets provided no commentary on Zhuang Huanyu. This meant that the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets did not feel that Zhuang Huanyu's strength had greatly changed over the greater part of the year.

As expected, the person that replaced Zhuang Huanyu on the tenth rank was Qi Jian. This exchange of ranks perplexed many people. Zhuang Huanyu had clearly defeated Qi Jian in the past, and Qi Jian had also lost in the Ivy Festival to Tang Thirty-Six, so how had Qi Jian not only resisted falling, but even advanced?




The commentary of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets came from the Hall of Announcements. In these spa.r.s.e words, one could tell that the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets had a rather high a.s.sessment of Qi Jian's performance in the Ivy Festival. The teachers and students around the Divine Avenue all listened attentively, but Chen Changsheng did not. He was looking at the guest courtyard, thinking to himself, will that courtyard still be so quiet?

The announcing of names finally reached the most critical segment, the top ten of the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Those who had their names appear here were all the most talented young men and women of the continent.

To everyone's surprise and yet not entirely unexpectedly, the name that followed after Qi Jian was not Luoluo. The ninth rank belonged to a young genius from Scholartree Manor.

Chen Changsheng had never heard the name of this young genius, but he presumed that it was someone who had been ranked even higher on the proclamation. At the moment, he only cared about which rank Luoluo ended up in, how many ranks she would advance.

What happened next truly took everyone by surprise.

The eighth rank of the Proclamation of Azure Sky was not Luoluo, nor was the seventh. The seventh rank belonged to Liang Banhu. This brilliant disciple of the Mount Li Sword Sect, the Fifth Law of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws, had been ranked sixth in the past two years. Today, it seemed that, just like those other talented youths, he had been pushed down by Luoluo.

Chen Changsheng lowered his head and seriously listened. He would already be very satisfied if Luoluo was able to enter the top five, but for some reason, he felt like Luoluo could rank even higher. He knew just how much progress Luoluo had made in the months she had spent in the Orthodox Academy, and he could only hope that the people from the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets knew as well.

The crowd lining the Divine Avenue could no longer suppress their gasps of shock. At this point, many people had already begun to guess at the reason for the Proclamation of Azure Sky's impromptu changing of ranks, because…the sixth rank of the Proclamation of Azure Sky still did not contain Luoluo's name.

Chen Changsheng didn't even hear the name of this person. He clenched his hands, somewhat worried and nervous. He hoped that Luoluo could continue advancing, but he knew how difficult such a thing was.

After the gasps of shock came utter silence. It could be presumed that many places in the capital, such as the Heavenly Dao Academy or Star Seizer Academy, were similarly quiet. Everyone was waiting for Luoluo's name to appear.

The voice coming from the Hall of Announcements was not in the least affected by the nervous atmosphere. Somewhat monotonously, even dryly, it read out the fifth name on the Proclamation of Azure Sky: Guan Feibai!

It was actually Guan Feibai! As expected, it was Guan Feibai! The Fourth Law of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws, Guan Feibai, had truly been displaced from the rank that he had dominated for three years!

Countless eyes cast their gazes towards the courtyard on the right side of the Divine Avenue behind the white pines. However, the guest courtyard was still completely quiet. After a moment, those gazes fell upon Chen Changsheng and the students of the Orthodox Academy, the emotions within them extremely complex.

The crowd was both shocked and confused.

Based on the rankings of the Proclamation of Azure Sky that were being announced, the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets had completely recognized the result of the match between the Orthodox Academy and the Mount Li Sword Sect. However, the two matches that had taken place were different from normal matches, so how had the pavilion been able to see who was stronger and weaker? And according to past practice, if the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets recognized the result of the match, Guan Feibai should have fallen straight down to ninth on the Proclamation of Azure Sky and Princess Luoluo should have advanced one or two ranks. How could Guan Feibai only fall one rank and Princess Luoluo go directly into the top four?

After all, those who were able to appear in the top ten of the Proclamation of Azure Sky were all the most outstanding young geniuses of the continent. The gap between each of them was very small, so judgments about them had to be made with great prudence, and advancing even one rank was extremely difficult!

Since Guan Feibai had fallen to fifth, the fourth rank should naturally belong to Princess Luoluo. Just when everyone had prepared themselves to hear her n.o.ble name, another surprise occurred!

In an instant, the two sides of the Divine Avenue were awash with noise, the uproar of the crowd rising up and startling birds from their perches, seeming to want to overturn the clear autumn sky.

The fourth rank of the Proclamation of Azure Sky was still not Princess Luoluo, but another name!

Chen Changsheng looked somewhat dazzled. He asked, "What's happened? Who is this person?"

Tang Thirty-Six also had an expression of utter shock. Only after quite a while did he come to his senses and answer, "The Third Law of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws. After Qiushan Jun and Gou Hanshi went to the Proclamation of Golden Distinction, he became the strongest of the Mount Li Sword Sect on the Proclamation of Azure Sky."

He very solemnly added, "He's always been ranked third."

Chen Changsheng needed a little time to completely understand it all. To be more precise, he needed a little time to shake off his daze. The corners of his lips perked upwards, as he couldn't hold back his smile no matter how hard he tried.

…Luoluo had entered the top three of the Proclamation of Azure Sky!

As Luoluo's teacher, he had interacted with her in the Orthodox Academy for a very long time. It wasn't right to call their relationship very close, but they were still friends that shared the same table. Right now, he felt even happier than if he had gotten into the Proclamation of Azure Sky himself!

The number three had always had a different meaning. Perhaps it was because three was the most stable, or perhaps for some complex psychological reasons. In short, three was different.

For instance, the Grand Examination had only three banners, and the first banner took only three people.

Thus, the top ten of the Proclamation of Azure Sky had one sort of feeling, and the top three had a feeling all its own.

For Luoluo to be able to rank in the top three of the Proclamation of Azure Sky meant that she was already standing at the peak of her generation.

From this moment on, she would not merely possess a most n.o.ble and powerful bloodline, she would also possess a most n.o.ble and powerful status, and the latter had been obtained through her own bitter cultivation, not through her surname.

Just how glorious was this!

Chen Changsheng raised his head and looked at the Hall of Pure Virtue atop the endless flight of stone steps, wondering if Luoluo knew of this news within the Pope's Green Leaf World.

However, the shocks had still not ended.

The third rank of the Proclamation of Azure Sky was still not Luoluo.

The forests lining the Divine Avenue were absolutely silent. The crowd had already grown numb from these shocks.

Amongst the palaces of the Li Palace, however, rose cries of surprise.

His face slightly pale, Tang Thirty-Six said incredulously, "How can this be!"

Chen Changsheng did not have much of an understanding of these geniuses in the Proclamation of Azure Sky's top ten, so his reaction was not as intense. However, when Tang Thirty-Six thought of how respectful and obedient Luoluo acted in front of Chen Changsheng on that night in the Orthodox Academy, he truly found the situation difficult to accept. Such a cute and charming little girl had actually surpa.s.sed that cold-blooded wolf cub in the north who made a living by hunting down solitary demon soldiers!

The moment had finally come.

The crowd had already waited a long time in order to hear this name. At the very beginning, presumably no one had expected that such a long time would be required.

"Baidi Luoheng, Orthodox Academy, second on the Azure Sky."

The silent Divine Avenue was still silent, but cries of surprise exploded from the halls of the Li Palace. Even the quiet guest courtyard where the southern diplomatic mission was staying showed signs of activity.

The entire capital, even the entire continent, had presumably sunk into a state of shock.

Baidi Luoheng, Princess of the Demi-humans, had in the past been ranked ninth on the Proclamation of Azure Sky. In the short span of a few months, she entered the top three, ultimately ending up at second!

Everyone understood that in the Proclamation of Azure Sky where advancement grew more challenging with each step, to go from ninth to second was far more inconceivable than going from the very last to the top ten!

Just how terrifying was this progression speed!

In the history of the Proclamation of Azure Sky, this sort of situation very rarely occurred. In the last ten-some years, the only similar cases were when Qiushan Jun and Xu Yourong first entered the rankings!

Could it be that in the eyes of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, Luoluo was almost at the level of Qiushan Jun and Xu Yourong?

Many people were thinking of this question, especially when they thought about her performance during the Ivy Festival. Although Luoluo had shown herself to be powerful, she could not be said to have far surpa.s.sed her peers. At the very least, it was not enough to convince the common people that she was better than the wolf cub of the north.

As they wanted to know the answer, the crowd would not miss out on the routine commentary from the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets.

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets's a.s.sessment of Luoluo was still simple and concise, and also tyrannical and direct, very in keeping with the style of the White Emperor clan. It directly stated that since she had now overcome the demi-humans' barrier to cultivating human techniques, with her incomparably tyrannical bloodline and talent, no one but Qiushan Jun or Xu Yourong could be a match for her!

Such a tyrannical commentary made the crowd somewhat despondent, so much so that many people missed the final part of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets's commentary, that all this had come to pa.s.s because she had met a wise teacher.

Some people heard these words, such as Su Moyu and Tang Thirty-Six.

Su Moyu turned to Chen Changsheng, his feelings extremely complex.

Tang Thirty-Six looked at him, feeling a deep admiration.

Even if Chen Changsheng's personality were even quieter, he would still feel rather happy and proud at this moment.

Xuanyuan Po's injuries would be cured by him, Luoluo's cultivation problems had been resolved by him, and three students of the Orthodox Academy had ranked on the Proclamation of Azure Sky; these were all things that he could be proud of.

However, he swiftly calmed back down—a true calm—as the voice from the Hall of Announcements was still speaking. There was still one last name to appear on the Proclamation of Azure Sky.

Before this name, those things that made him proud were not powerful enough.

At the moment, everyone now knew that the reason for the Proclamation of Azure Sky's impromptu change was because Princess Luoluo's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds, so few seemed interested at this final name.

It was not because they dared to show no respect for this name, nor was it because the number one rank of the Proclamation of Azure Sky was not important. Instead, it was because starting from two years ago, over three revisions of the rankings, that name had always been at the very top, so there was nothing new about it.

No one believed that another name would ever appear at the top of the Proclamation of Azure Sky, unless she herself willed it.

"Xu Yourong, South Stream Temple, first on the Azure Sky."