Newcomer Rankings

After Yi Yun broke the record, his life remained peaceful. He continued to go to Gengzi Medicine Mountain to collect herbs and cultivate the Tai'a Sacred Law there.

During this time, Yi Yun celebrated his thirteenth birthday. Although his face still looked somewhat childish, his physique had gradually matured due to his long years of martial arts training, and he had completely grown into a handsome young man.

Ten days until the rookie rankings!

Yi Yun's Radiant Sun True Qi was now under his complete control, and the first level of the <Tai'a Sacred Law> was also completely stabilized.

"Yi Yun, the rankings for the rookie competition are out!"

While Yi Yun was having dinner, Song Zijun, Zhou Kui, and others found Yi Yun.

Song Zijun, Zhou Kui, and the others were considered fellow disciples of Yi Yun. They had all followed Qin the Bald from Jingzhou and several nearby states to Tai'a Divine City. Although there had been conflicts and competition between Zhou Kui Yi Yun, that was all in the past. Especially after facing Yi Yun at the Hong Dao Society, Zhou Kui always felt somewhat guilty towards Yi Yun. Moreover, during the rookie ranking competition, they were from the same company, so their relationship was naturally closer, and it was normal for them to help each other.

"Oh? What ranking are you talking about?" Yi Yun looked up, not quite understanding.

"Regarding the rankings in the rookie tournament, before the tournament begins, all of us rookies will be assigned a rough ranking. The matches will be played according to these rankings. Those ranked lower can challenge those ranked higher, and those ranked higher cannot refuse. Of course, both sides will have to pay a wager."

"Conversely, those ranked higher can challenge those ranked lower, but the challenger can refuse, and there's no benefit to it, so this situation generally doesn't happen."

Zhou Kui explained. He had been paying attention to the newcomer rankings for a long time, and he always wanted to know where he would be ranked. Although the rankings were only made by the stewards of Tai'a Divine City according to the rules and could not fully reflect strength, they could still show a person's potential and were also related to face.

Everyone wants to be ranked higher, although in reality, being ranked higher only means being attacked by more people.

"Oh, so that's the ranking. What's my ranking?"

Yi Yun continued eating meat, clearly not caring much about the rankings.

Song Zijun and Zhou Kui were speechless when they saw Yi Yun's attitude. This Yi Yun was too carefree. He didn't know how many people were watching him!

"You're number 10,030 in line," Zhou Kui said, looking at Yi Yun with pity.

"Ten thousand and three? What does that mean?" Yi Yun didn't understand for a moment.

"Actually, it just means third place. According to the usual rules, the ranking for the newcomer competition starts from 10,000th on the Earth Ranking. The first place is 10,001st, the second place is 10,002nd, and you are third!"

The training of the Divine Kingdom's prodigies in Tai'a Divine City can last for six years, with about two thousand people in each session. The total number of people in the first five sessions usually exceeds ten thousand. The first place among the newcomers starts from ten thousand. Some veterans who are ranked beyond ten thousand will be interspersed among those ranked after ten thousand.

For veterans, being placed among new recruits is actually a very shameful thing.

"Third... this ranking is pretty good." Yi Yun was quite satisfied, but he also knew that according to the ranking rules for newcomers in Tai'a Divine City, the amount of Dragon Scale Rune earned accounted for a significant proportion. The Dragon Scale Rune he earned were definitely the highest among newcomers in Tai'a Divine City, so ranking third was reasonable.

But after hearing Yi Yun's words, Song Zijun, Zhou Kui, and the others were speechless. Ranked third, and that's considered "pretty good"?

Furthermore, does Yi Yun even realize what kind of situation he's facing? The fire is practically in front of him, and he's still happily eating meat!

Zhou Kui said, "Yi Yun, do you know where I rank?"

"Oh? How much?" Yi Yun asked casually.

"11,523! That's the overall ranking. If I were to say I'm ranked around 1,100 among the 2,000+ newcomers, the extra 400 people in the overall ranking are veterans who didn't make it into the top 10,000."

"I've put in my all during these three months of new recruit trials, and I've only managed to barely make it into the middle tier. Brother Zi Jun, and the other Black Tortoise Legion brothers who are with me, are ranked even lower."

"Many of those ranked in the top 1,000 come from Central Plains, the Imperial City, or reclusive Lineage. Many of them are very famous and exceptionally powerful, yet they are ranked behind you!"

Zhou Kui explained the significance of ranking third to Yi Yun.

Leaving aside the reclusive Lineage whose heritage rivals that of royalty to some extent, the powerful Lineage in the capital alone far surpass those in Jingzhou.

As the saying goes, you don't know how small an official's position is until you go to the capital. Those nobles in the imperial city of the divine kingdom, who are in charge of a small office and whose fiefdom is no bigger than the palm of a hand, can govern a medium-sized city when they go to the provinces!

Local Lineage can't compete with those in the capital in terms of resources and bloodlines.

Those Lineage with strong bloodlines and a truly solid foundation will all gravitate towards the capital. Not to mention the resources of the capital, if their descendants can marry into powerful Lineage in the capital, their Lineage bloodline will become increasingly excellent.

"Brother Yi, you've really messed up this time. I know a guy whose father is a marquis, so he's considered quite good in his Lineage, but he's only ranked around 200th among the new recruits. There are also the two grandsons of the marshal of the Black Tortoise Legion, who are in our cohort, and they're only ranked around 300th. Now you know what it means to be third..."

"So that's how it is..." Yi Yun wiped the oil from his lips, which did sound rather exaggerated.

There are simply too many powerful families in the Tai'a Divine Kingdom, and each of these families has a large number of descendants!

It seems that let alone climbing the overall rankings in Tai'a Divine City, even ranking high among these two thousand newcomers is not an easy task.

"That's why! A lot of people are watching you! And the two ahead of you are Qiu Niu Chu Xiaoran! One has superhuman strength, and the other has extraordinary comprehension! You don't know, while many of us were doing menial tasks, Qiu Niu and Chu Xiaoran had already gone to the Divine Wilderness to hunt wild beasts. They are already ranked on the Heaven Ranking! That's why they are ranked first and second!"

"This time, Qiu Niu and Chu Xiaoran are both aiming for a higher ranking on the Earthly Ranking. I wonder how high they can go; maybe they can reach three or four thousand!"

After the rankings of the newcomers are determined, those ranked higher, such as Qiu Niu and Chu Xiaoran, will be challenged by those ranked lower. However, they also have the right to challenge the more experienced trial participants who are ranked higher on the leaderboard.

Of course, challenges come with risks; how far they can go depends on their individual abilities.

As Qin the Bald had said before, if a newcomer could reach the top 1,000 on the Heaven Ranking or Earthly Ranking within a year, it would be enough to attract the attention of the major powers in the Tai'a Divine Kingdom.

Now, Yi Yun and his batch of newcomers have been in Tai'a Divine City for three months. If they want to break into the top 1,000 within a year, then reaching 3,000 or 4,000 is not an exaggeration!

"Qiu Niu, Chu Xiaoran ..." Yi Yun pondered for a moment. These two people were capable of hunting wild beasts in the Divine Wilderness while others were doing menial tasks. They were indeed quite skilled, so it was no wonder that they were ranked first and second.

I just don't know how high I can climb on the rankings this time.

"Brother Yi, no one dares to touch Qiu Niu and Chu Xiaoran. Everyone's watching you now. You've become famous in the newcomer circle of Tai'a Divine City! Everyone knows you're incredibly rich, and according to the rules, you ranked third this time, which actually has little to do with your strength, but entirely because you earned so many Dragon Scale Rune. You found a Primordial Relic Medicine and even broke the herb-gathering record because of it. Countless people are jealous of you!"

"Many people are dissatisfied with your high ranking, and many are also eyeing your wealth. Everyone wants to take a bite out of you, and it's not just the people from the Hong Dao Society!"

"However, the Hong Dao Society has already made it clear that anyone who challenges you without their permission is stealing their business, and Hong Dao Society accounts with them later. So this has deterred some people from having any ideas. In a way, it's a blessing in disguise..."

Song Zijun said with a wry smile, the phrase "a blessing in disguise" was clearly sarcastic.

Upon hearing this, Yi Yun stroked his chin. "Stealing business? That's the way they're using the term. They're treating me like a fish on a chopping board."

Zhou Kui said, "Brother Yi, the registration for the first round of the ranking competition is about to begin. On the first day, there are only twelve battles. Your badge has already been eyed by many people, who are just waiting for it to start so they can grab it. You'll probably be able to play all twelve battles every day for the next three days!"

"You don't know, the Hong Dao Society has already started betting on how many matches you can last. Right now, I estimate that your first few opponents are the Four Little Tyrants of the Hong Dao Society. They are all ranked in the hundreds among the newcomers. I've met one or two of them when I was working as a blacksmith. They have some reputation in the capital and are indeed stronger than me."

"The Four Little Tyrants?"

Yi Yun recalled the bizarre group of people of all shapes and sizes he had encountered at the pawnshop. These immature teenagers were actually quite kind, pawning their entire fortune to gamble with him.

"Brother Yi, I bet you can play more than ten games."

Song Zijun patted Yi Yun on the shoulder to show his support.

In fact, Song Zijun, Zhou Kui, and the other teenagers who came from Jingzhou all knew that Yi Yun was very powerful. Even without the Dragon Scale Rune, Yi Yun could rank very high based on his strength alone.

The key issue is that they can't withstand a relentless barrage of attacks.

Moreover, Yi Yun's current third-place ranking is a bit exaggerated. Those who rank in the top 50 among the newcomers are all formidable individuals!

Some of them might even climb to within the top four thousand on the overall ranking.

"Thanks!" Yi Yun cupped his hands in greeting. "Where is the registration area? I'd like to go take a look when registration officially starts."

The number of battles he can fight each day is also limited. He can't just send any Tom, Dick, or Harry. At least the battles have to be of some quality. Well... that means he has to be able to produce enough Dragon Scale Rune.

Otherwise, wouldn't Bare-handed Combat? (To be continued~^~)