Chapter 436 - 276: Points Ranking (2)

If your Luck is bad, you won’t find enough to kill, making it impossible to break into the top one hundred on the leaderboard.

"JEH JEH JEH..."

"Finally, I’ve encountered a King-level variant!"

Kong Shuo, who had just lopped off the head of a King-level Tree-man, had an irrepressible smile in his eyes.

He considered his Luck to be quite good for this month’s exam.

After all, in the last few monthly exams, he often hunted until the very end without managing to find a single King-level creature.

Yet this month’s exam had only been underway for a few hours, and Kong Shuo had already eliminated over a hundred common specimens, five variants, and now, a King-level one.

"Brother Kong... save me... please, save me..."

"I’ve already held up my end of the bargain... I helped you lure out this King-level Tree-man... I’m begging you..."

Not far away, a "blood man," covered from head to toe in wounds and smeared with his own blood, pleaded incessantly.

Tree-men feast on fresh blood, so Kong Shuo had frequently snatched up this kind of "blood bait."

Only a Cultivator could lose so much blood and still be clinging to life; an ordinary person would have been long dead.

"Alright, I’ll save you... from all this suffering!"

Before he even finished speaking, a blade flashed. The wailing Outer Disciple’s cries ceased abruptly as his head was severed from his body.

As if he had merely crushed an insect, Kong Shuo didn’t give the man a second glance.

He then took out his Token to check his current points and his ranking within this Alternate Space.

Five hundred and three points. His current rank in the Endless Forest Sea was seventy-ninth.

"Tsk, only seventy-ninth?"

Kong Shuo had expected to be in the top fifty by now, not languishing at seventy-ninth.

The exam was far from over. This rank wasn’t safe at all; it didn’t guarantee he’d make the top one hundred and get the reward.

So, Kong Shuo decided to press his good Luck and continue hunting down King-level members of the Alien Race.

As for the commission from the Purple Cloud Association...

’There’s no hurry. I can take care of that easily enough once my ranking is stable.’

After all, besides the "Tai Sui Incense" the Purple Cloud Association had placed on Zou Feng, he had also been hit with another type of mark.

This second mark was also harmless, but it allowed Kong Shuo to pinpoint Zou Feng’s exact location within the Endless Forest Sea.

So he was in no hurry to find Zou Feng. First, he had to earn enough points for himself.

Besides, Kong Shuo was determined to break into the top hundred this time.

’So, anyone currently with more points than me but who is obviously weaker? If I run into them, I’ll just have to kill them.’

’Kill a few people with high scores, and my rank will naturally go up.’

Kong Shuo continued to check the leaderboard, which not only showed his own rank but also the names of everyone ranked above him.

"Heh, that loser Xu Zhu... what kind of bullshit Luck did he stumble into to rank fifty-third?"

"And Zhang Songbai? He can’t even take a single slash from me, and he’s at forty-sixth?"

Kong Shuo grumbled to himself as he scrolled through the names ranked ahead of him.

In reality, he was memorizing the names of those ranked higher, so he could kill them on sight.

Of course, the list also contained plenty of people Kong Shuo didn’t dare provoke or wasn’t fully confident he could kill, but he simply ignored all of them.

A moment later, Kong Shuo saw another familiar name in the seventeenth spot.

"Zou... Feng!?"

’That name... it’s the target the Purple Cloud Association hired me to take care of.’

’But wait, isn’t this guy a rookie who only joined the sect a little over a month ago? How the hell did he suddenly jump to seventeenth place?!’

’True, Luck is a huge factor in getting a good rank on the leaderboard.’

’But to reach seventeenth place... you need more than just Luck. You need some serious, undeniable strength...’

Kong Shuo paused, stunned. He wracked his brain, but among the current experts of the Outer Sect, there was definitely no one else named Zou Feng.

’So, this really is the target I’m supposed to eliminate.’

Frowning, Kong Shuo was forced to re-evaluate Zou Feng’s strength.

"Hmph, it’s no big deal. The exam has only just begun!"

"For this kid to get his current rank, he’s probably already on his last legs. There’s no way he can keep it up..."

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Zou Feng’s rank jumped up again.

It jumped two spots, in fact, landing him in fifteenth place.

This time, Kong Shuo’s expression couldn’t help but stiffen.

But it wasn’t long before he grinned, a vicious smile spreading across his face. "Interesting... It’s been a while since I’ve had such a challenging job."

"Making the top one hundred on the leaderboard? Who cares. This job is far more interesting!"

With this thought, Kong Shuo delayed no longer. He began to sense the mark on Zou Feng.

He quickly determined Zou Feng’s general location and, grinning viciously, shot off in that direction.

Meanwhile, Zou Feng, under the guidance of the seasoned veteran Qin Fengwu, had indeed found several Alien Race lairs.

He had already taken down three King-level variants.

Two of them, a pair of King-level Frogmen, had been lured out by Zou Feng using the Shaking Flower Hand.

The speed at which he could perform the Flower Hand went without saying.

The two King-level Frogmen, originally hidden deep within their lair, were utterly mesmerized by Zou Feng’s Flower Hand performance.

Their instincts ultimately overcame their reason, and they both shot out their tongues, revealing their hiding spots to Zou Feng.

By fighting these King-level variants, Zou Feng discovered that while their power could be considered close to the Spiritual Energy Realm...

...in reality, each of them had very distinct weaknesses.

For example, Frogmen were not only easily distracted by "rapid movements" but were also extremely vulnerable to Fire Element Daoist Arts.

Although Zou Feng hadn’t learned any Fire Element Daoist Arts, his old Fire Lotus Palm was enough for him to unleash a potent Fire Force, which greatly reduced the difficulty of killing the King-level Frogmen.

In fact, the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect intentionally designed things so that these members of the Alien Race had various flaws and weaknesses, encouraging disciples in the exam to discover and exploit them.

After all, many creatures from the Outer Realm were like this: they seemed formidable, but once you found their weakness, they could be defeated in a single blow, saving a great deal of trouble.

Of course, Qin Fengwu deserved much of the credit for being able to find so many Alien Race lairs one after another.

The female cultivator’s own strength wasn’t up to much, but she possessed a wealth of strange knowledge and a very flexible mind.

She had never teamed up with someone as powerful as Zou Feng before.

And she would never have dared to proactively search for Alien Race lairs on her own, so she’d never had a chance to put these skills of hers to use.

"Senior Sister Qin, you said there should still be a King-level Snake-man in this area?" Zou Feng asked, having just cleared out another nest of Snake People.

His point total had already surpassed sixteen hundred.

But he was still only ranked fifteenth, a fact Zou Feng was not satisfied with.

He wasn’t demanding a top-three finish, but he felt he should at least aim for the top ten. Only then would the point reward after the exam be substantial enough.

"I told you, you can just call me junior sister..." Qin Fengwu said, all while examining the tracks on the ground. "I should be right. This Snake People nest most likely still has a King-level Snake-man."

"It’s just that the Snake People are much better at the art of Concealment than the Frogmen. Finding it will be very difficult."

Hearing this, Zou Feng mused, "If I recall correctly, didn’t you say that Snake People have a thing for beautiful Female Cultivators?"

Qin Fengwu froze, her expression changing drastically. "Don’t even think about it... I’m not that beautiful, am I? I’m plain-looking, at best!"

"Besides... a King-level Snake-man won’t lose its senses that easily. Even if I stripped naked and danced right here, it wouldn’t fall for the trap..."

Zou Feng said, "Strip and dance? That won’t be necessary. That’s a crude method. With the Spiritual Wisdom of a King-level creature, it’s unlikely to fall for that."

Only then did Qin Fengwu let out a long sigh of relief.

’Actually, Zou Feng hadn’t made a single inappropriate move toward her the entire time.’

’When he killed members of the Alien Race, he would even leave a few wounded for her to finish off, letting her rack up points.’

’He even promised to give her a fair share of the ranking rewards after the exam was over.’

’Is it possible... he actually sees me as a teammate, and not just a tool?’