The Eighth Person

"Ha ha ha! I finally broke through!"

Somewhere in the residential area, Wei Xiao's wild laughter suddenly rang out. His face glowed red with excitement, and he was bursting with high spirits. "Yang Chen! Your temporary lead was nothing but an illusion. Now that I've broken through before you, I've leapt into the top ten in one bound. I wonder what you'll think when you see this ranking?"

"And Xue Cang, what's there to be arrogant about being tenth on the list? From now on, I'll stand above both of you!"

During this period, Wei Xiao had been under immense pressure, the greatest source of which was Yang Chen. At the end of every month, that fellow gave people a hair-raising feeling, because his progress was truly too fast.

Wei Xiao considered himself a genius and lacked no spirit crystals, yet he could only watch helplessly as Yang Chen surpassed him step by step. He had seen it with his own eyes and burned with anxiety in his heart. Now that he had broken through first, he could finally hold his head high for once!

Not only had he suppressed Yang Chen, but he had also firmly crushed that arrogant Xue Cang beneath him.

"When I checked this morning, only the first seven had broken through to the Blood Martial Realm. Now I'm definitely eighth on the Rankings Board!"

Wei Xiao was riding high on the spring breeze. After fantasizing for a moment, he could no longer sit still. He opened the door and headed toward the square. He wanted his name to charge into the top ten at once and show everyone who the true genius was.

Yet just as he hurried toward the Cultivation Ranking, Xue Cang, having finished cultivating, had already headed there ahead of him.

His expression did not look very good. He had originally thought that this time, he would certainly break through, but unexpectedly, he was still just short of the heat.

Compared to the others, his position was rather awkward. With the slightest carelessness, someone could take his place, and the anxiety in his heart was easy to imagine.

"When I checked earlier, only seven people had broken through to the Blood Martial Realm. I'll definitely break through tomorrow. Holding onto the top ten won't be difficult, and I may even have a sliver of a chance to rise another rank!"

Thinking this, Xue Cang quickened his pace toward the square. Before he could even get close, he heard countless incredulous cries of alarm.

"Not good!"

Xue Cang's heart sank. He guessed that someone else had likely broken through again. Cursing under his breath, he accelerated once more. After nearing the square, he raised his head to look, and his entire body was instantly struck as if by lightning!

"That's impossible!"

Xue Cang let out a furious, exasperated cry. Eighth on the Rankings Board had somehow become Yang Chen! And he himself had become eleventh!

Moreover, the number of people who had broken through to the Blood Martial Realm was no longer seven, but nine! He simply could not believe it was real.

"It's Senior Brother Xue!"

"Even someone as formidable as Senior Brother Xue has fallen out of the top ten. This is truly terrifying."

"Who would have thought Senior Brother Yang would be so fierce? He actually broke through to the Blood Martial Realm ahead of everyone else, shooting straight from eleventh to eighth."

"Too incredible! Aside from Senior Brother Huang, he's the highest-ranked person from our area!"

Listening to the discussions around him, Xue Cang's face burned with pain.

He had held onto a place in the Cultivation Ranking's top ten for a full ten months, only to be kicked out today. This was simply the greatest humiliation of his life!

"Qingqing, just watch. This time, I'll definitely take eighth place!"

Not far away, Wei Xiao arrived side by side with Xu Qingqing.

"Huh, why are there so many people here today?"

While chatting idly, Wei Xiao saw the dense crowd in the square and could not help finding it strange.

Apart from the end of the month, there were usually only ten or twenty people beneath the Cultivation Ranking. Yet with one glance now, there were at least a hundred.

Xu Qingqing was also somewhat puzzled. The two quickened their steps and arrived outside the square, almost simultaneously noticing the changes on the Cultivation Ranking.

"What!"

Wei Xiao's eyes widened round, and no matter what, he could not believe that Yang Chen had broken through to the Blood Martial Realm before him!

But the facts lay before his eyes. Not only had Yang Chen broken through, he was now ranked eighth. Every calculation Wei Xiao had made had fallen through, and he felt miserable beyond measure.

He looked toward Xu Qingqing and saw an unusual glint flash through her eyes. His heart immediately twisted like a knife. He liked Xu Qingqing, and quite a few people knew it, but they were too familiar with each other—so familiar that Xu Qingqing had always regarded him as an older brother. There was simply no romantic affection between them.

Yet even if he had no chance, he did not want Xu Qingqing to take a liking to anyone else, especially that fellow Yang Chen!

"How exactly does he cultivate?"

At this moment, Xu Qingqing felt curious about Yang Chen for the first time. She believed she cultivated diligently enough and had no shortage of resources, yet her rate of progress still could not compare to Yang Chen's.

She needed at least another four or five days before she might break through. That meant he had already left her behind.

"Move aside! Move aside!"

Wei Xiao was overcome by emotion. He directly shouted the crowd apart and rushed before the Testing Stele, then slammed a fist into it.

The next instant, a number appeared on the Testing Stele—18,506 kilograms!

Seeing this number, many people around him cried out again. "Senior Brother Wei has broken through to the Blood Martial Realm too!"

Many gazes were drawn over, and heated discussions rose once more.

But Wei Xiao had no time to listen to those flattering words. He could only look weakly toward the Cultivation Ranking.

The Cultivation Ranking had changed. He had risen from twelfth to tenth!

Yet he could not feel happy at all. The joy of breaking through to the Blood Martial Realm was torn to shreds the instant he saw Yang Chen's name.

He was unhappy, but someone else was even more unhappy than he was.

"He broke through too! Damn it, damn it!"

After seeing that Wei Xiao had also broken through to the Blood Martial Realm, Xue Cang's face darkened as though water could drip from it. He stared fixedly at the rankings, no longer having the face to remain there, and nearly fled away in disgrace.

At this point, ten people on the Cultivation Ranking had already broken through to the Blood Martial Realm.

For many people, the Blood Martial Realm was an extremely distant prospect. Among disciples who had entered the sect in the same batch as Yang Chen and the others, there were even still people at the Qi Martial Third Level.

Several people stood amid the crowd, their eyes filled with desolation.

They had entered the sect at the same time. Some now shone like the sun and moon, their radiance reaching ten thousand zhang, while they themselves were like faint dust in the mortal world, unnoticed by anyone.

News of the Rankings Board changes spread swiftly on wings, and even some older disciples received word.

Some sighed in admiration, some raged with jealousy, and some even cursed loudly, berating Heaven and Earth for being unjust.

All these developments were delivered one by one onto the desks of the ten stewards. Lin Chuan expressionlessly read the information gathered below and snorted coldly. "A pack of ungrateful wretches. If Uncle-Master Du Ling did not extend equal love to the lower-class disciples, how would you be allowed to wag your tongues?"

People did not fear scarcity; they feared inequality. This was especially obvious within the Sun Moon Sword Sect.

Resources were limited. The sect's first priority was to cultivate those who stood out at every stage. The Cultivation Ranking was everyone's opportunity. If you could not climb it, what right did you have to harbor resentment?

If it were up to him, every troublemaker would be severely punished without exception.

Unfortunately, he did not have that authority, nor did he dare act so. The base of lower-class disciples was enormous, and when the base was sufficiently large, there would always be some who could eventually rise above the rest.

To prevent such people from bearing resentment toward the sect or their fellow disciples, the upper echelons had always adopted a conciliatory attitude toward lower-class disciples.

Therefore, while cultivating outstanding disciples, they could not neglect the feelings of lower-class disciples either. They had to show concern from time to time—for example, occasionally distributing a few spirit crystals to soothe people's hearts, letting them know that the sect cared about them.

Take the Hemp-Clad Society, for example. Why did they turn a blind eye to it? It was because the upper echelons pursued conciliation, giving those disciples born into poverty a few opportunities. Otherwise, anyone who dared set their sights on the spirit fields, even an Inner Sect Disciple, would certainly die without burial.

Lin Chuan set down the intelligence report and looked toward the Cultivation Ranking in his hand. Only then did his mood improve somewhat.

"It seems that under my leadership, Area 8 still has some outstanding disciples."

Nineteen Peaks was divided into ten areas, and the Rankings Board covered all of Nineteen Peaks. Three of the current top ten were from Area 8, claiming nearly half the land. Who could say that was not his achievement?