Choice

Within Book Mountain Basin.

A massive number of martial artists had gathered here, their numbers already exceeding several hundred thousand.

After hearing about the "Literary Rank allocation," many had given up searching the Sea of Learning and chosen to return to Book Mountain Basin to wait.

Although everyone's circumstances differed, there was one shared belief: if the Martial Arts Department truly came to distribute these Literary Ranks, they would certainly prioritize martial artists without one.

Since no amount of searching in the Sea of Learning was likely to yield a Literary Rank above four stars, they might as well wait for the allocation. Shen Qian had said that even the worst ones would be four-star ranks... a level that many geniuses had once only dared dream of pursuing.

Yet after their initial excitement faded, many people stared worriedly at the enormous pitch-black cave.

Shen Qian had been inside for quite some time, but no sign of activity had emerged yet.

Still, even more people did not take it seriously. In their view, the outside Wang Hou must have already learned that contact with the Sea of Learning had been lost and would surely do everything possible to reopen the passage.

To many, Wang Hou were synonymous with omnipotence.

Although that belief had inevitably been shaken after Shen Qian single-handedly destroyed six Wang Hou avatars, an idea ingrained over countless years could not possibly collapse entirely in a single day.

No one knew how long passed before Tantai Qin, who had been sitting cross-legged at the cave entrance, suddenly opened her eyes. She rose to her feet and pulled the longsword from the ground.

Following her movement, many martial artists who had been watching this direction realized something and turned their gazes toward the dark, unfathomable cave entrance.

Before long, the