"Is Yu Xiaogang's inability to break through Level 30 really a secret?"
"Everyone knows that."
Douluo Continent.
Atop a towering mountain peak stood a small courtyard.
Li Xuan sat in a rocking chair in the yard, gazing at the screen before him as he casually swiped a finger across it.
The screen rippled, and lines of text appeared.
[Heavenly Curtain Ranking—Douluo Secret Ranking]
"Not bad. The first ranking is complete."
Li Xuan turned to look at the system fluttering beside his ear. It didn't seem very bright. He asked:
"System, where's my reward?"
The system's mismatched eyes spun. Drooling, it replied, "The host has not yet released the ranking, so no reward can be obtained. Please release the ranking."
Li Xuan tapped its little head. "It's already smoking. Can it still function normally? Are its underlying programs kicking in?"
"System, can releasing the ranking really make me a god?"
"The system is beyond question!"
Question it?
Li Xuan looked up at the boundless sky and the churning sea of clouds, humming a little tune. He had doubted this thing from the moment it appeared.
After all, Li Xuan was already a Level 95 Title Douluo.
He still remembered:
Forty years ago, he had crossed over to Douluo Continent. At the time, prodigies were everywhere, with figures like Tang Hao, Chen Xin, and Yu Yuanzhen. Relying on the strength of his soul from two lifetimes, Li Xuan had awakened the God-Slaying Spear as his martial soul and possessed Innate Full Soul Power. He, too, had made a name for himself.
But Li Xuan knew that without godhood, everyone was still an ant.
So he had followed Tang Chen's example, searching for traces of the gods and a Godhood Opportunity.
He had searched for ten years.
And found nothing.
Even with memories of the future, obtaining a god's inheritance wasn't easy. Besides extraordinary talent, one also needed a martial soul with the right attributes.
The God-Slaying Spear martial soul seemed incompatible with Douluo's laws.
As a result, no deity had taken notice of him.
Just as he was about to give up, the smoke-belching system had suddenly appeared.
The system's function was simple: create Heavenly Curtain Rankings and complete the trials for a self-created divine position. Each ranking corresponded to one divine trial.
The first trial ranking released by the system was the Secret Ranking.
Its specific subject was the secrets and hidden tales of Douluo Continent.
Secrets?
Li Xuan didn't know many. Some didn't meet the system's requirements, so he had racked his brains to come up with a dozen or so that did.
Only then had he created the first ranking.
"Never mind. A dozen should be enough."
Li Xuan swiped his finger. A force swept up the virtual ranking before him and sent it flying into the sky.
Rumble—!
In an instant, the heavens trembled and strange phenomena appeared.
The Sky Screen blazed like a second sun, driving away the boundless clouds and illuminating the world.
Its radiance enveloped the entire world. Wherever it shone, it dispelled illness, warded off misfortune, suppressed evil, and drove away harm... Along with it, a profound voice reached everyone's ears.
[The Heavenly Ranking appears; the secrets of heaven are revealed.]
[The Douluo Secret Ranking reveals the secrets of the present age. Fortune and misfortune are intertwined; the mysteries revealed by the ranking can influence a region and change the course of the age.]
[The Secret Ranking contains more than ten secrets!]
[When the ranking has been fully revealed, the next ranking will begin: the Douluo Powerhouse Ranking!]
The voice echoed in everyone's ears, leaving countless Soul Masters in an uproar.
Bathed in golden light, everyone felt refreshed and cried out in astonishment.
"What is this power? It actually healed my old injuries?!"
"A miracle! An absolute miracle! I can feel the bottleneck I've been unable to break through for years beginning to loosen!"
"The Ten Great Secrets? Could one of them be the Mystery of Becoming a God?"
"No matter what, such a miracle has appeared in the world. Turmoil is coming, but this is an opportunity—the perfect moment for dragons and serpents to rise!"
Spirit Hall.
Golden light poured down, echoing with the Angel Statue and shining even more brightly.
Qian Daoliu and the other Enshrined looked up at the changing Sky Screen, their faces thoughtful.
"Big brother, what kind of power does this miracle require? Even I can barely glimpse it."
Golden Crocodile Douluo stared at the golden ranking, uneasy.
After all, he was a Level 98 Title Douluo. Apart from his big brother Qian Daoliu, no one in this age had ever given him cause for concern.
Yet the light from the screen alone placed him under immense pressure.
"Impossible to fathom..." Qian Daoliu shook his head.
"This golden ranking feels like the might of the Creation God. He cherishes all his people. Even I gained several decades of life when the golden light shone down just now!"
The other Enshrined nodded one after another.
They, too, had benefited greatly from bathing in the golden light. Their bottlenecks had loosened, their Soul Power had grown more refined, and their understanding had deepened... This was enough to prove the might of the Heavenly Ranking.
"I wonder if this so-called Secret Ranking includes a Godhood Opportunity."
"Perhaps it does."
Qian Daoliu narrowed his eyes slightly and looked toward the Pope's Palace.
"The Secret Ranking... I wonder if that matter counts as a secret."
Bathed in the golden light, he saw a certain place in Spirit Hall still shrouded in a forest-like evil aura that made it difficult to approach. Within that mass of sinister energy sat a crowned woman.
"A secret?"
Bibi Dong gazed at the Sky Screen. As her thoughts turned, her eyes darkened.
"It seems that matter will soon be made public."
At the thought, her face grew increasingly grim, and her body trembled like a sieve.
Damn it!
Heaven Dou Empire.
Ning Fengzhi and the others were talking with the Crown Prince, Xue Qinghe.
The golden ranking's sudden appearance hadn't interrupted their conversation. Instead, it had become their new topic.
"Teacher, what do you think of this Heavenly Ranking?"
Xue Qinghe picked up a chess piece and placed it on the board.
Ning Fengzhi shook his head. "I've read my fair share of books, but there are no records of this Heavenly Ranking. It may be an opportunity, or it may be a disaster... But with fortune and misfortune intertwined, upheaval across the land is inevitable. Uncle Jian has traveled the continent. Have you come across any secrets?"
With that, he placed a chess piece.
Beside him, Sword Douluo sipped his tea and gently shook his head.
"We don't know the criteria for the so-called Secret Ranking. As for the secrets I know, whether they'll make the list probably depends on how much influence they have."
Chen Xin was a clever man.
When the Sky Screen appeared, he had more or less guessed what it meant.
The secrets on the ranking would have an impact on the continent at the very least, and might even reshape the rules of the age.
So even though he knew a few secrets, he couldn't say whether any of them would make the list.
"Hopefully, it won't affect us too much."
Star Dou Great Forest.
At the edge of the Core Region.
As golden light poured down, waves rippled across the lake.
A pair of ox horns slowly emerged from the water, followed by a towering hundred-zhang figure rising to its feet.
"This golden light is incredible. It directly raised my cultivation by a whole level."
The Sky Azure Bull Python stared at the sky. Under the radiance, a faint mist of Soul Power shimmered around its body. Lowering its gaze, it saw a mountain-sized giant ape crouching on the shore.
"D-Daming, my cultivation level broke through!"
The Titan Giant Ape spoke.
Its face was full of shock. "I broke through my limits. I've now reached a cultivation base of one hundred and fifty thousand years!"
"Even you broke through?"
The Sky Azure Bull Python nodded, carefully sensing the auras of the surrounding Soul Beasts. It discovered that every kind of Soul Beast had either broken through or had its old injuries healed.
This golden light truly blessed all living beings!
"Could this golden light have such an effect because..."
The Sky Azure Bull Python turned its gaze toward the true Core Region of the Star Dou Great Forest. A trace of apprehension and excitement flashed in its eyes.
Everyone thought the two of them, both Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, were the overlords of the Star Dou Great Forest.
But only they knew that the place where they lived was merely the threshold of the forest's Core Region, and they were no more than its gatekeepers.
At that moment.
The supreme power brought by the Heavenly Ranking had completely transformed the world.
Some had broken through in cultivation.
Some had their old injuries healed.
For a time, Title Douluos across the Soul Master World broke through one after another.
In the Soul Beast World, Soul Beasts that should have had to survive tribulations to reach the Hundred-Thousand-Year mark now attained that age with ease.
Everyone realized that the Heavenly Ranking had ushered Douluo Continent into an age where powerful figures would emerge in great numbers.
Rumble—!
Just as everyone was marveling at the divine might, the Heavenly Ranking changed.
[Number Ten on the Douluo Secret Ranking: Death of the Pope!]
Before you continue