Qian Fu brought He Qing and Xiang Beifei to an elegantly ancient room, specifically designed to host the youth talents of the Heaven and Earth Rankings. Situated atop the Dao Palace’s tower, it offered a clear view of the scenes below.
He took out a palm-sized bag and handed it to He Qing, saying, "This is the resource of breath soil for the Earth Ranking’s 188th place. The Dao Palace has allocated 13 zhang of soil for you. Please keep it safe, retrieve it promptly when you return, be cautious of the void tides, and avoid inconvenience from the spatial pouch breaking."
The Edge Corner Airspace also has storage tools, but they’re generally not recommended due to the unpredictable appearance of void tides that might destroy spatial items.
He Qing opened the bag, confirmed the amount of soil, and then carefully secured it.
"I won’t disturb you further. Later, I’ll provide information about the challenges, Miss He Qing can rest here in the meantime." The source of this content ɪs NovᴇlFɪre.ɴet
Qian Fu smiled slightly, glanced at Xiang Beifei, who was sipping green tea with both hands, and didn’t inquire further, just nodded slightly, assuming he was a junior accompanying the crane race, and then left.
"The 188th place on the Earth Ranking, does the Dao Palace only reward 13 zhang of soil per year?" Xiang Beifei asked.
"It’s ten years," He Qing replied.
"What? Only 13 zhang over ten years! So stingy."
"You know nothing. Every inch of soil is valuable, and getting 13 zhang in ten years is already quite a lot." He Qing cautiously put away the breath soil.
Xiang Beifei casually asked, "How exactly do they allocate the land?"
"According to the ranking, 200 minus your rank, plus one, is the land reward for ten years. If you’re first, it means you can receive a reward of 200 zhang of land over ten years, if you’re the 200th, you only get one zhang."
He Qing mentioned this while contemplating the soil, and sighed slightly, "The first place receives 200 zhang of land."
She clearly yearned for it.
A zhang is three meters long, so 200 zhang of land is 600 meters in length. Receiving such a large piece for free over ten years would allow the crane race’s land to expand a bit, alleviating their cramped living conditions.
However, it’s well-known how challenging it is to reach first place on the Earth Ranking!
He Qing’s reason for safeguarding the ranking here is to acquire more land resources for her crane race.
"Have you thought about kicking others off the ranking? Knock down those above you?" Xiang Beifei asked.
He Qing silently pondered, saying, "Difficult."
She uttered only one word, but it was enough to express the situation clearly.
Over the last decade, she’s focused intently on the Earth Ranking experts ahead of her, considering their strengths and weaknesses, strategizing how to surpass them, and exhausting herself in closed cultivation to narrow the gap and defeat her rivals.
She is now the only hope for the crane race, needing to elevate her ranking to secure more land for them.
But how could the experts on the Earth Ranking be mediocre?
Especially the first place, the gap between them is an insurmountable chasm, causing immense pressure on her.
"The leader of the Earth Ranking, is at the Inquiry Dao Realm! Entering the Inquiry Dao Realm at such a young age is truly terrifying." He Qing frowned involuntarily.
Thinking about it was disheartening, the age limit for the Earth Ranking is under a thousand years, which means he achieved Inquiry Dao Realm mastery within a thousand years!
"A thousand years seems ancient to me, how is that young?" Xiang Beifei mumbled.
He Qing was slightly provoked, visibly irritated, turning her eyes to Xiang Beifei.
But then she hesitated.
Maybe, this brat... might have a chance to get onto the Earth Ranking in the future?
After all, he’s a prodigy who reached the Immortal Realm at 23. With proper nurturing, ensuring his survival, given time, he will surely soar to incredible heights!
He Qing couldn’t help but ponder deeply.
How long would it take for this brat to step into the Inquiry Dao Realm?
Five hundred years? Or six hundred?
She remembered the first place on the Earth Ranking took nine hundred thirteen years to reach the Inquiry Dao Realm!
Although Xiang Beifei’s words are annoying, his talent is undeniably genuine, definitely exceeding the prowess of the current Earth Ranking leader, maybe needing only five or six hundred years!
Yet she suddenly recalled Xiang Beifei’s identity, quietly feeling sorry.
What a pity, he’s from the Human Race.
Ranking on the Heaven and Earth Ranking equates to exposing his identity, attracting the threat of assassination!
Still, He Qing didn’t say much, as in her view, Xiang Beifei is merely a youthful beginner in the Immortal Realm; not to mention facing her, he can’t even defeat the 200th rank on the Earth Ranking.
It’s practically impossible for him to rank.
So there’s no need to worry aimlessly about this issue.
He Qing sat resting in the Dao Palace tower’s pavilion, while Xiang Beifei stood idly by the railings, watching the bustling crowd below.
More and more people gathered on the Dao Palace’s plaza, and the formations around the Dao Palace had already been activated, forming seats out of thin air, with many people finding a good spot to sit.
They were all eagerly awaiting today’s event of He Qing defending the ranking, witnessing a showdown between the children of Heaven, an extremely rare opportunity not to be missed.
Those who haven’t reached the Immortal Realm came to appreciate the duel between experts, and many young individuals who have reached the Immortal Realm yet haven’t ranked wouldn’t miss this learning opportunity either.
Even those elderly ones whose age has exceeded the conditions for the Heaven and Earth Ranking would come, for witnessing these confrontations could lead to enormous insights, maybe even an epiphany?
Of course, there were also many geniuses from the Earth Ranking present, ranked below the 188th.
They mainly came to investigate, first understanding He Qing’s progress over the past ten years, then deciding whether to challenge her.
There are rules for ranking challenges, if an Earth Ranking genius at the 200th place defeats He Qing, their ranks will swap. Meaning, He Qing won’t just drop to the 189th but directly to the 200th, requiring her to climb up all over again to improve her ranking.
If someone who isn’t on the ranking defeats someone who is, they directly take the other’s ranking. In other words, if you weren’t ranked before but win against the first place, you can become the first place.
The experts behind He Qing, if they find they can defeat her, will naturally want to come up and take that 188th rank!
"All twelve floors behind you have arrived!"
Xiang Beifei leisurely sipped his green tea.
"How do you know they’ve all come? You haven’t seen them."
He Qing sat cross-legged, eyes closed, resting her mind, preparing for what’s next.
"The names are all written here, aren’t they?" Xiang Beifei said calmly.
Earlier, he’d obtained a copy of the Earth Ranking list from the room.
The Dao Palace tends to prioritize those defending their rankings, so it provided He Qing with lots of useful information, including changes to the list recently, and notable new talents appearing on the Earth Ranking—it was all clearly detailed.
Xiang Beifei just needed a simple comparison to understand. After all, in his eyes, above all these Immortal Realm individuals were system interfaces, clear and obvious.
He Qing frowned, thinking this guy was babbling again, and said nothing more, continuing to operate her Cultivation Technique, keeping herself in optimal condition.
"Huh? Why is he here?"
At that moment, Xiang Beifei suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the crowd’s corner.
He Qing abruptly opened her eyes, a glint of sharpness flashing in them.
She stood up, walked to Xiang Beifei’s side, followed his gaze but didn’t see anyone.
"He’s disguised himself, and quite well."
Xiang Beifei pointed out Ying Changhong’s location to He Qing.
Ying Changhong sat in the furthest corner, fully disguised. It was a very special ability, likely purchased from some Transforming Clan member’s tool, virtually indistinguishable to others.
"How do you know that’s Ying Changhong?"
"He’s ugly, remarkably so," Xiang Beifei replied offhandedly.
She couldn’t help but look at Xiang Beifei again.
Is this guy for real?
However, she had to admit, even though Xiang Beifei always seemed nonchalant, he was nonetheless at the early Immortal stage, so perhaps the Human Race had some special abilities?
In any case, better remember what Ying Changhong looks like disguised.
"Huh? He’s here too?" Xiang Beifei exclaimed again in surprise.
"Who have you spotted this time?"
He Qing felt very puzzled.
Clearly, she was supposed to be the main focus today, yet somehow the newcomer Xiang Beifei seemed to understand the situation better than herself?
"This Avian Clan member, Tang Yingxin, you don’t recognize him?"
Xiang Beifei pointed to a young man next to Ying Changhong and showed him to He Qing.
He Qing saw the guy but didn’t care much and said, "Doesn’t matter if he’s here; his ranking is higher than mine, so he won’t challenge my ranking."
"His rank has long fallen, below yours now."
"Isn’t it written clearly on the Earth Ranking?"
Xiang Beifei presented the Earth Ranking list to He Qing again and said, "Look here, the introduction says Tang Yingxin ranks 199th on the Earth Ranking."
"That’s incorrect! How is he only 199th? I remember his rank was 150th!"
He Qing took the list, read it carefully, and was slightly startled.
"The information you collected is outdated. The Dao Palace’s data is the latest. Look at the introduction here: Tang Yingxin was originally 150th, but ten days ago, lost in Sail Battle City to Qu Shiyang, who was originally 199th, so they swapped rankings!"
This is the ranking challenge rule; the genius rankings on two lists simply swap, disregarding other factors if one loses.
"Qu Shiyang defeated Tang Yingxin?"
He Qing seemed very shocked. She knew the Earth Ranking experts well; Qu Shiyang, previously ranked 199th, defeated the former 150th Tang Yingxin?
To know that this Qu Shiyang couldn’t even defeat herself before!
How did his abilities suddenly advance so swiftly?
Did he have some encounter?
"What you should be worried about isn’t Qu Shiyang but Tang Yingxin. His ranking fell from 150 to 199; he won’t be resigned to that. He’s undoubtedly aiming at your rank today."
Xiang Beifei, leaning an elbow on the railing and resting his chin, yawned.
After a while, he reluctantly said, "You probably won’t beat him."