Chapter 309 : Ascending to the Summit of the Yuxu Rankings

Chapter 309: Ascending to the Summit of the Yuxu Rankings

Yuqing Immortal Sect, main peak plaza. Clouds spread across the ground like a sea, and immortal cranes gathered in flight.

At the center of the plaza stood a towering jade wall that pierced the heavens and connected to the sea of clouds.

The entire jade wall was warm and lustrous, forged from an unknown supreme jade, radiating a faint seven-colored glow. It was the famed Yuxu Rankings, renowned throughout the Immortal Alliance, inscribed with the illustrious names of countless prodigies of the Yuqing Immortal Sect.

From top to bottom, the Yuxu Rankings were engraved with shining names.

It was no exaggeration to say that anyone whose name was inscribed upon the Yuxu Rankings was without exception a renowned prodigy and powerhouse of the Yuqing Immortal Sect.

Yet even among prodigies, there were distinctions of superiority and inferiority.

The lower the name appeared on the Yuxu Rankings, the dimmer its radiance, and its ranking frequently fluctuated.

Conversely, the higher the name, the more blazing and dazzling its brilliance.

Especially the top three names—radiant like a great sun suspended in the sky—had remained unchanged for a long time. They represented the undisputed pinnacle among this generation’s prodigy disciples of the Yuqing Immortal Sect.

Yuxu Rankings First: Shen Lingxing, Golden Core Consummation

Yuxu Rankings Second: Yu Zhaohua, Mid Golden Core Stage

Yuxu Rankings Third: Mo Qingshuang, Late Golden Core Stage

Yuxu Rankings Fourth: Xue Tianyi, Golden Core Peak

Yuxu Rankings Fourth: Ye Xinya, Late Golden Core Stage

…

Every time cultivators saw the names ranked within the top ten of the Yuxu Rankings, most Immortal Students passing through the main peak plaza could not help but stop and indulge in fantasies.

“Quick, look! Senior Sister Ye’s name is glowing again—she’s stabilized at fifth now!” a Sect Student whose cultivation had not exceeded Qi Refining exclaimed excitedly.

Several Sect Students immediately gathered around, longing in their eyes.

Only one beautiful female cultivator wore a complicated expression. Her gaze remained fixed on Ye Xinya’s name, and her heart was filled with envy.

For cultivators of the Immortal Alliance, the importance of a Companion Beast was self-evident. A suitable Companion Beast could be even more important than one’s innate Spiritual Root aptitude.

Ye Xinya was a typical example.

Fourteen years ago, she had only been at the Mid Golden Core Stage and ranked seventy-ninth on the Yuxu Rankings.

But her fortune had been extraordinary. After entering the Yuqing Mountain Range, she gained the recognition of a Heavenly-Gang Mystic Beast. Now she was a renowned prodigy of the Yuqing Immortal Sect and a Late Golden Core Stage cultivator.

At that moment, the three great characters at the very top of the Yuxu Rankings, which shone the brightest, suddenly dimmed and fell to second place.

Another name ascended with the bearing of one who ruled all under heaven, rapidly climbing to the summit and stabilizing at the very top of the Yuxu Rankings, releasing boundless radiance.

In an instant, the murmuring discussions came to an abrupt halt. The entire main peak plaza fell into silence.

All eyes were fixed upon the suddenly appeared name that towered above all other prodigies.

[Yuxu Rankings First: Chen Beiwu, Late Golden Core Stage]

“Hiss—”

One Sect Student came to his senses and subconsciously sucked in a cold breath, completely shattering the silence of the plaza.

“What’s going on? Did Senior Brother Shen lose?” a cultivator exclaimed in shock.

“No, impossible! How could Senior Brother Shen possibly lose!”

As the Sect Chief and long-standing first place on the Yuxu Rankings, Shen Lingxing naturally had many supporters.

Hearing such a bold claim, they immediately refuted it: “Even if Chen Beiwu forged a Yuanshi Golden Core, he only just entered the Golden Core Stage. Senior Brother Shen is—”

Another Immortal Student shook his head and cut in sharply: “How could there be an undefeated prodigy in this world? If Senior Brother Shen didn’t lose, how do you explain his drop in ranking?”

“This…”

Some Immortal Students who were indignant on Shen Lingxing’s behalf suddenly found themselves speechless.

Everyone knew that the ranking rules of the Yuxu Rankings never erred.

“Actually, if you think about it carefully, Senior Brother Shen’s defeat might not be a bad thing.”

At these words, several Immortal Students nearby looked stunned and turned toward the one who had spoken.

If they remembered correctly, this pink-robed female cultivator had always regarded Senior Brother Shen as her goal to chase. She was practically a diehard admirer.

Sensing their gazes, the pink-robed female cultivator smiled bitterly. “Think about it—Senior Brother Chen formed the legendary Yuanshi Golden Core!”

“Throughout history, how many Golden Core prodigies were even qualified to battle someone who formed a Yuanshi Golden Core? And how many were worthy of being defeated by one?”

Her words were like the tolling of a great bell at dawn, jolting some of the indignant Immortal Students into stunned silence as they sank into thought.

Indeed, the Yuanshi Golden Core could not be measured by common standards. Losing to such a prodigy did not seem shameful.

Even the Immortal Student who had insisted that Senior Brother Shen could not possibly lose calmed down, feeling that her words held some truth.

Even if Senior Brother Shen lost to a Yuanshi Golden Core, it was still a defeat with dignity.

After all, even an Innate Dao Body had failed to shake Senior Brother Shen’s position as Sect Chief and could only rank second on the Yuxu Rankings—now reduced to third.

For a time, an eerie silence enveloped the entire main peak plaza.

Unlike the veteran Immortal Students, the vast majority of Sect Students had eyes shining brightly as they stared at Chen Beiwu’s name.

If he could do it, so could they.

Chen Beiwu had entered the sect for only seventeen years before forming a Yuanshi Golden Core and defeating the current Sect Chief to claim first on the Yuxu Rankings.

Perhaps in the future, they too could emulate Chen Beiwu and accomplish such a feat!

Noticing the expressions of the Sect Students present, several Immortal Students exchanged glances and sighed inwardly.

Youth was truly wonderful. Having never endured the comprehensive crushing from top-tier prodigies—in talent, aptitude, combat power, and comprehension—these young ones simply did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.

Shaking their heads, they took out their phones and aimed them at the Yuxu Rankings.

A change in the top position was rare. Failing to take a photo and post it to Q Friends Circle or upload it to the Immortal Sect Official Website would be a waste.

…

Qiyun Residence, a mountain cave dwelling.

A breathtakingly beautiful female cultivator clad in flowing flame-colored robes sat cross-legged atop a crimson jade lotus platform.

“Buzz!”

Suddenly, the phone at her waist vibrated, and a message entered her sea of consciousness.

Yu Zhaohua, who had been in secluded cultivation, opened her eyes. The flame Dao patterns in her pupils slowly faded.

“Has Shen Lingxing lost?” she murmured softly, her expression complicated.

She was not surprised by this outcome.

Shen Lingxing, as the Sect Chief of the Immortal Sect, had long harbored the intention of relinquishing the position and entering seclusion to break through toward Nascent Soul True Monarch. If he encountered a suitable successor, he would even deliberately hold back and intentionally yield the position.

In that battle years ago, although Yu Zhaohua had won, it had only been a narrow victory against a Five Qi Avatar. It could not truly be considered a defeat of the Immortal Sect Chief. Thus, she had tactfully declined Shen Lingxing’s suggestion to build momentum for her and his invitation to take over.

Now that the top ranking of the Yuxu Rankings had suddenly changed, there were only two possibilities.

First, Chen Beiwu had won fair and square, earning Shen Lingxing’s recognition through absolute strength.

Second, Shen Lingxing had deliberately held back, believing Chen Beiwu to be a heaven-defying talent worthy of inheriting the position at the top of the Yuxu Rankings, and had chosen to step down and yield.

At this thought, Yu Zhaohua’s gaze sharpened slightly, and her flowing flame robes stirred without wind.

To obsess over the process and speculate on the reasons was a sign of an unsteady will—and also the mark of the weak.

To her, neither possibility mattered. The only thing that mattered was strength.

Though the Yuanshi Golden Core forged by Chen Beiwu was peerless, the titled Golden Core she forged with her Fire Radiance Dao Body was not so weak that she lacked even the power to fight.

‘Soon.’

Yu Zhaohua slowly closed her eyes. The light within the cave dwelling was instantly devoured by her and the Flintrock Coiled Dragon.

When this seclusion ended, she would break through in the most perfect state and advance to the Late Golden Core Stage.

Then she would challenge Chen Beiwu, seize first place on the Yuxu Rankings, and take the position of Leading Representative!

…

The clustered peaks of Yuqing—on a secluded cliff.

Heaven-and-earth gang winds sliced like blades across jagged rocks, yet before a white-robed sword cultivator, they vanished soundlessly.

“Clang!”

With a ring, the sword returned to its sheath. Mo Qingshuang turned to look behind him and pointed forward with his right hand.

The raging gang winds at the cliff edge instantly gathered at his fingertip, forming an extremely sharp thread of sword energy.

Facing this sword thread, Shen Lingxing neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the Earth-Overturning Earth Dragon coiled upon his shoulder to block it.

“You lost to Chen Beiwu?” Mo Qingshuang asked coldly.

“I indeed lost.” Shen Lingxing smiled calmly. “This generation’s Yuqing Immortal Sect Leading Representative—Chen Beiwu deserves it.”

Hearing this, Mo Qingshuang no longer looked at Shen Lingxing. He slowly closed his eyes, and the Profound Sword Intent resonating between his body and heaven and earth became ever more condensed and pure.

“So what if you lost? I may not lose. Who holds the position of Leading Representative remains uncertain.”

Mo Qingshuang spoke as though stating a simple fact.

Shen Lingxing was not surprised.

In the great contention of the Dao, how could there be certainty?

A peerless sword cultivator like Mo Qingshuang would never lose confidence before battle merely because another had been defeated.

Perhaps in Mo Qingshuang’s eyes, both he and Chen Beiwu were nothing more than whetstones for his sword.

“Chen Beiwu intends to open the hall to teach the law soon and expound upon the Path of the Golden Core. Are you interested?” Shen Lingxing asked with a smile.

“My Dao lies in the sword in my hand, not in another’s law.”

Mo Qingshuang shook his head and turned away, leaving behind only those words.

Watching his figure gradually disappear, Shen Lingxing revealed a knowing smile.

The rumors were indeed true—nine out of ten sword prodigies were obsessively devoted to the sword.

Even now, though Mo Qingshuang cultivated the Companion Beast Sword Path, he would not allow another’s Dao to shake his own heart.

But Shen Lingxing did not entirely agree.

The great Dao had three thousand paths; different roads led to the same destination.

In Shen Lingxing’s view, drawing upon the strengths of others was not a betrayal of one’s own Dao, but a means of understanding it more deeply and walking further along the path of cultivation.

‘A Core Formation Marvelous Method created by integrating the Yuanshi Pill Canon may help me comprehend the profundity of the Nascent Soul and condense the opportunity of Pure Yang.’

A gleam flashed in Shen Lingxing’s eyes as his figure vanished.

…

Qingming Peak, Danxia Residence.

While the Yuqing Immortal Sect buzzed over Chen Beiwu’s ascent to the top of the Yuxu Rankings and his upcoming Opening the Hall to Teach the Law, Chen Beiwu was drinking tea with his fellow senior brothers and sisters.

But tea eventually ran dry. After bidding farewell to Senior Brother Jiang Chuan and the others, Chen Beiwu returned to Water-Evolution Residence.

Taking out the Evergreen Formation Nexus, the Heart-Cleansing Pill, and the Yuan-Execution True Talisman, Chen Beiwu moved his thoughts and entered the Chaos World.

“Buzz!”

Seeing that the three treasures showed no fluctuations of spiritual light, Chen Beiwu nodded in satisfaction.

It was not that he judged a gentleman with a petty mind, but that he carried secrets and could not afford carelessness.

“Na?”

The Five Qi Vine curiously looked at Chen Beiwu’s now-empty hands.

Even with its keen divine sense, it had not detected when he used his storage ring to put the items away.

The next moment, the Evergreen Formation Nexus reappeared in Chen Beiwu’s hand as he prepared to set up the formation.

Although the Immortal Alliance’s formation path had not developed Luminous Formation Disks like those of the Southern Wastes, it had produced many plug-and-play special formation nexuses, such as the Evergreen Formation Nexus.

This formation nexus was extraordinarily mysterious. Even though Chen Beiwu lacked the ability to set up a Fourth-Tier Profound Formation, he could still rely on the formation groundwork laid in advance by his senior brother to easily install the Evergreen Formation Nexus.

For an ordinary cultivator to achieve this, the first requirement would be having a senior brother who was a Fourth-Tier High-Grade Profound Formation Master.

“Buzz!”

As the Evergreen Formation Nexus settled into place, the heaven-and-earth spiritual mechanism within Water-Evolution Residence rose at a visible speed, ultimately stabilizing at the level of a Fourth-Tier High-Grade spirit vein—infinitely close to Fifth-Tier, yet never crossing that threshold.

Yes, precisely Fourth-Tier High-Grade spirit vein level.

Though Water-Evolution Residence was located upon the Fifth-Tier spirit peak Qingming Peak, the heaven-and-earth spiritual mechanism within the cave dwelling had never truly reached Fifth-Tier, remaining only at Fourth-Tier Mid-Grade.

This was not the Yuqing Immortal Sect deliberately targeting Chen Beiwu. Qingming Peak needed to supply Qingming Grotto-Heaven and could not constantly maintain Fifth-Tier spiritual mechanism, hence the mismatch between spirit vein grade and actual concentration.

Another reason was that excessively high spiritual concentration over long periods could create invisible pressure, interfering with Golden Core cultivators’ Companion Cultivation and even placing unnecessary strain upon a Purple Mansion that had yet to condense a Nascent Soul, which would be detrimental to tempering one’s foundation.

The Evergreen Formation Nexus gifted by his senior brother addressed precisely this issue, gathering the spiritual mechanism of Qingming Peak while perfectly resolving the adverse effects of excessive concentration.

“Not bad.”

Chen Beiwu circulated the Yuanshi Dongzhen Qinghua Commanding Myriad Tribulations and Myriad Spirits Immortal Law and nodded in satisfaction.

Though his time in comprehension had been brief and he had not yet entered the threshold of this Immortal Law, he had gained considerable insight. He now understood how to transform the Heaven Book of the Divine Tree into the Myriad Tribulations and Myriad Spirits Immortal Law.

The dense Fourth-Tier High-Grade spiritual mechanism within Water-Evolution Residence would save him significant time in converting cultivation methods.

“Should I take the Heart-Cleansing Pill?”

Chen Beiwu lifted the jade bottle, a thought stirring in his mind.

Pills that enhanced comprehension were exceedingly rare. Each pill consumed meant one fewer remaining.

Just because Senior Sister Su had gifted him a bottle did not mean he could afford one himself.

On the auction list of the Ten Thousand Treasures Assembly, the Heart-Cleansing Pill was a Third-Tier High-Grade Treasure Pill. One bottle contained three pills and was priced at fifty High-Grade Spirit Stones—equivalent to five hundred thousand Spirit Yuan—worth far more than a Tribulation-Breaking Golden Core and comparable to half of an Earthly-Sha Treasure Beast.

Of course, the two were not directly comparable.

The Tribulation-Breaking Golden Core had a price but no market.

Though its listed price on the Immortal Alliance Official Website was not high, it was not a treasure that ordinary cultivators were qualified to purchase.

Even a Golden Core Family, using connections, would have to pay a premium exceeding one hundred thousand Spirit Yuan to obtain a single pill.

‘Forget it. This pill is too precious. Using it merely to save a dozen days of comprehension would be wasteful. Better to reserve it for a later breakthrough or deeper insight.’

After pondering for a moment, Chen Beiwu stored the jade bottle away.

After forging the Yuanshi Golden Core, inheriting Divine Powers from Nine-Breath Chaos, and undergoing the Three Meridians transformation of his Companion Beast, even Chen Beiwu himself did not know how terrifying his comprehension had become.

But one thing he was certain of: while ordinary prodigies might spend decades—or even a century—without progress in comprehending the Yuanshi Dongzhen Qinghua Commanding Myriad Tribulations and Myriad Spirits Immortal Law, he would not require even a month to successfully enter its threshold.

“Buzz!”

At that moment, a message popped up in the Ten Thousand Treasures Assembly group chat, drawing Chen Beiwu’s interest.