A Modest Reputation

The guardian puppet of the seventh trial had the strength of the late Zhen Qi Realm.

For those ranked within the top two hundred, this strength was nothing at all, because most of them were in the late Zhen Qi Realm.

Even a few geniuses in the mid Zhen Qi Realm could deal with it easily.

Only those whose strength was a notch weaker would find it somewhat difficult.

There were only three stone passageways here, so the more than four hundred people were divided into three groups.

Naturally, the first to enter were still the disciples in the inner sect's top ten. They defeated the puppets with ease as before, revealing very little of their strength.

Thus, if anyone wanted to learn their true abilities in advance, they could forget about it.

The groups advanced quickly. More than fifty people had already entered the three stone passages, and so far, no one had been eliminated.

That was until a late Zhen Qi Realm disciple somehow reacted half a beat too slowly and nearly took a hit from the puppet.

If the elder had not intervened in time, he might have died on the spot.

"That's Yuan Heng, ranked ninety-eighth. He's been in the late Zhen Qi Realm for so long. How could he fail to defeat even one puppet this time?"

"I heard he was injured on his last mission. Could he still not have recovered?"

"What happened to you?"

The elder in charge was furious at him for failing to live up to expectations.

Yuan Heng lowered his head, his face flushed red. "Reporting to Elder, I was careless."

"Ugh, go back for now."

The elder knew he had difficulties he could not speak of, so he did not press him further.

As Yuan Heng quickly left, the interlude came to an end, and the trials continued.

Before long, they had passed the two-hundred mark. More and more people were eliminated, and several more late Zhen Qi Realm disciples appeared.

There were even more mid-stage disciples. As for the few early Zhen Qi Realm disciples who had made it in, they ultimately could not continue.

The elders still gave them high praise, however.

When it was Chu Yunxiao's turn, his talent seemed astonishing as well. Combining his fists and sword, he also made it through.

Lu Ming naturally had even less trouble. He had not even used a fraction of his strength.

After all, a puppet was still a puppet. It could not compare with a human in agility, and its weaknesses could be seized with ease.

Lu Ming just happened to be the type of fighter with high perception and high speed.

"How incredible! This person is only in the mid Zhen Qi Realm, yet he defeated a late Zhen Qi Realm puppet so easily."

Perhaps the people before him had struggled somewhat when they attacked. Seeing Lu Ming pass the trial so effortlessly, the speaker's eyes lit up.

Soon, everyone had finished the seventh trial, leaving a total of three hundred and sixteen people.

There were no more trials after that, and the sixteen extra people would be easy enough to select.

During the trials, their performances had all been recorded, including how long they had taken to defeat the puppets and so on.

Based on these factors, sixteen people were ultimately eliminated.

Thus, the three hundred candidates for the arena battle a month later were finally confirmed.

There were two hundred and seven late Zhen Qi Realm disciples and ninety-three mid Zhen Qi Realm disciples.

Lu Ming, Zhu Ningyun, and Chu Yunxiao were all among them.

As for everyone else, they would be divided into several tiers according to their performance. Over the following month, they would compete in smaller matches to determine their precise rankings within the inner sect.

In short, this was a great reshuffling of the rankings.

Therefore, the next few days would not fall silent just because the preliminaries had ended. On the contrary, they would become even livelier.

After leaving the plaza, Lu Ming found that dusk was approaching. Before he knew it, an entire day had passed.

After parting ways with Zhu Ningyun and Chu Yunxiao, Lu Ming headed toward his courtyard, but he was stopped halfway.

"Is something wrong?"

Lu Ming was not too surprised to see Li Biehe.

Li Biehe narrowed his eyes. "To be honest, I'm surprised you managed to enter the top three hundred. But I'm even more looking forward to meeting you in the arena battle."

"I can't say I'm looking forward to it." Lu Ming shook his head.

To be honest, he was not being arrogant. With his current strength, he was confident that only a handful of people at the top of the inner sect could be his true opponents.

As for the man before him, he was not enough.

"Are you afraid?" Li Biehe misunderstood him.

"We'll know when the time comes." Lu Ming could not be bothered to speak with him any longer and left directly.

"Very well. When the time comes, you'll learn that a late Zhen Qi Realm genius and a late Zhen Qi Realm puppet cannot be mentioned in the same breath."

Li Biehe finally understood Lu Ming's meaning and thought him so arrogant that he did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.

He probably thought defeating a late Zhen Qi Realm puppet had given him such confidence.

Over the next few days, amid the bustle, the inner sect finally settled the rankings below the top three hundred.

Compared with the original ranking list, this time it had been completely transformed.

Some people had higher cultivation realms but were pushed toward the back.

Others had lower cultivation realms but had risen like unexpected troops, climbing many ranks forward.

Those who stood out naturally received rewards, while those who had fallen too far were expelled from the inner sect.

Take Cui Bai, for example. He had risen to seven hundred and sixty-fourth place and was rewarded with a bottle of healing pills and one hundred Contribution Points.

Then there was Yuan Heng, originally ranked ninety-eighth. Because he failed the final trial, he had been pushed beyond the three-hundred mark.

On top of that, for some other unknown reason, he was expelled from the inner sect.

In short, some rejoiced while others grieved.

Before long, however, their attention was drawn to another ranking list.

That was right. Although the top three hundred had not yet been ranked, the names had all been announced beside the original Jade Tablet ranking.

When everyone compared them, those who had originally ranked high were nothing special, but those who had ranked low stood out tremendously.

"Chu Yunxiao was originally ranked six hundred and seventh, but now he's entered the top three hundred."

"There's also Zhou Ji. He was originally ranked five hundred and sixty-third, but he's entered the top three hundred too."

"Those are nothing. Look at this Lu Ming. His previous rank was even lower, only nine hundred and sixty-ninth, yet he's also in the top three hundred."

"What? Let me see."

"Damn, it's true. This ranking probably means he only entered the inner sect recently. Where did this fierce newcomer come from?"

"Who knows? In any case, I'd never heard of him before."

To most people, Lu Ming was a completely unexpected dark horse—the kind that shone with an inky brilliance, completely eclipsing the other rising stars.

Take Zhu Ningyun, for example. Although she was also eye-catching, she had already made a name for herself. The inner sect disciples basically all knew of her existence.

Therefore, the shock she caused could not compare with Lu Ming's.

"What do you think? How high will this fierce newcomer ultimately rank?"

"It says he's in the mid Zhen Qi Realm, while there are two hundred and seven people in the rankings who have reached the late Zhen Qi Realm. I don't think he can enter the top two hundred."

"What's so difficult about being in the mid-stage? Aren't there still plenty of mid Zhen Qi Realm cultivators in the top one hundred?" someone immediately retorted.

The man smiled confidently. "That's true. But look at his previous ranking. It's obvious that he only entered the inner sect recently. In such a short time, how far could he have cultivated his Human-grade, high-stage martial arts?"

"His foundation is clearly inferior to everyone else's. Even if he can fight above his level, how far can he really go?"

"That makes sense."

Everyone nodded in agreement, then turned the topic toward the candidates for the inner sect's top ten.

Compared with guessing Lu Ming's ranking, speculating about the top ten candidates was far more enticing.

"These people are definitely going to be stunned when the time comes."

Cui Bai had come to check his own ranking and happened to overhear everyone's discussion of Lu Ming. He could not help shaking his head.

Although he did not know the full extent of Lu Ming's martial arts mastery, he understood some of it.

It was definitely not low.

For one thing, he had been in the inner sect for less than a year, yet he had already completed many missions.

If it had been someone else, they would probably still have been within their protection period.

That was why he felt these people would be left dumbfounded when the time came. Forget the top two hundred—Lu Ming might even enter the top fifty.

He did not linger and left directly.