Third Place

Hearing the shout, everyone present turned their gazes toward the board.

Sure enough, they saw the name "Chen Changqing" had ascended to the top three of the Points Leaderboard.

"This?"

"What is going on? I remember this Chen Changqing was outside the top fifty just a moment ago."

"He surged to third place on the Points Leaderboard in such a short time?"

"Could he be cheating?"

"Impossible! The rules of the Void Realm are strict; who would dare to cheat?"

Just as the crowd hesitated, the disciples of the Seven Courtyards erupted into cheers upon seeing the result.

"Haha!"

"Is that Senior Brother Chen?"

"Truly impressive!"

"I knew it, he would definitely break into the top ten!"

"He's really brought honor to our Seven Courtyards!"

At the same time, the elders of the various outer sect courtyards also took notice of Chen Changqing.

"Since when did the Seven Courtyards produce such an outstanding disciple?"

"I've never heard of him before this!"

"To be ranked in the top three at this stage, as long as no accidents occur, he should easily rank within the top twenty by the end of the first round."

"I didn't expect that old fellow Elder Liu Mu to have kept Chen Changqing as a hidden ace."

The elders of the various courtyards whispered among themselves, finding the appearance of a Seven Courtyards disciple in the top three of the Points Leaderboard quite eye-opening.

Upon seeing the situation on the Points Leaderboard, Elder Liu Mu could not help but be shaken to his core.

"Chen Changqing?"

"Third place?"

He found it hard to believe and hurriedly rubbed his eyes, fearing he had misread it.

Although he had held high expectations for Chen Changqing before this, Chen Changqing surging to third place on the Points Leaderboard at this moment truly far exceeded his expectations.

"My judgment was correct!"

"I wonder if this kid can bring even greater surprises later on?"

Elder Liu Mu was stirred with excitement, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Meanwhile.

Inside the Void Realm, Chen Changqing was unaware that his points had reached third place on the Points Leaderboard.

He was even less aware of the commotion he had caused.

At this moment, he was focused entirely on his "great enterprise of robbery"!

"Boom!"

Suddenly, intense combat fluctuations erupted in the distance.

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Chen Changqing hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound. Even from a great distance, he could see Sword Qi crisscrossing and spiritual energy surging!

"Is someone fighting a Realm Beast?"

"Or is it disciples from the Seven Courtyards fighting over spoils?"

"Those fluctuations look quite significant!"

Chen Changqing muttered to himself, then raised an eyebrow and flew out on his sword.

To him, no matter who was fighting ahead, there was profit to be made.

If disciples were slaying a Realm Beast, he would seize their points.

If it were a conflict between disciples, he would seize their points as well!

As long as he encountered them, their points would become his.

Before long, Chen Changqing had flown his sword to the site of the battle.

"Hmm?"

Chen Changqing frowned as he cast his gaze forward.

"Senior Sister Liu?"

Not far away, Liu Ruyan was being besieged by a group of people.

The youth leading them wore an orange robe, and the terrifying aura emanating from his strikes revealed him to be at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

The others were all dressed in identical orange robes, and their strength was not to be underestimated, all being at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining.

At that moment, the leading youth forced back Liu Ruyan's attack with a single sword strike and sneered contemptuously:

"Junior Sister Liu, hand over your points obediently and spare yourself the physical pain!"

Blood trickled from the corner of Liu Ruyan's mouth; she was clearly injured. A longsword hovered before her, shimmering with a biting, icy light as she let out a cold huff:

"Hmph!"

"Dream on if you want my points!"

Hearing this, the leading youth's expression darkened abruptly, and he said with a vicious look:

"If you won't drink the toast, you'll be forced to drink the forfeit!"

"Form up!"

Following the youth's command, the disciples surrounding Liu Ruyan instantly formed a formation, their spiritual energy weaving into a net that suppressed her tightly.

Just as it seemed Liu Ruyan could no longer hold on, a voice suddenly rang out:

"Yo!"

"A bunch of grown men bullying a woman—aren't you ashamed?"

Hearing this, the youth and his companions were all startled and quickly turned to look toward the source of the voice.

They saw Chen Changqing walking over in a languid manner.

"Junior Brother Chen?"

Upon seeing Chen Changqing, Liu Ruyan's beautiful eyes lit up, and her heart filled with joy.

Having previously gone to Green Creek Village with Chen Changqing to carry out a mission, she had witnessed his strength with her own eyes.

So many Demon Sect cultivators had died at his hands.

But as a second thought crossed her mind, a look of worry appeared on her face.

This group before them belonged to the Second Courtyard.

Their leader, Cui Hao, had even reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Although she could not discern Chen Changqing's cultivation level, she was not certain if he could emerge victorious against a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Just as Liu Ruyan was lost in thought, Cui Hao's brows furrowed, and he narrowed his eyes to size Chen Changqing up.

"I wondered who it was; so it's just another one from the Seven Courtyards!"

"Only at the Qi Refining level, and you want to save your Senior Sister?"

As he spoke, Cui Hao smoothed his brow, his eyes filled with contempt and disdain as he looked at Chen Changqing.

In his view, as long as it wasn't Qingyang from the Seven Courtyards, there was nothing to fear from anyone else.

Chen Changqing paid no mind to Cui Hao's mockery.

Before this, he had never crossed swords with a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

It was the perfect opportunity to use this Cui Hao to practice.

At this moment, Cui Hao looked at a disciple beside him with a playful expression and said:

"Kong Ning, I'll leave this brat to you."

Kong Ning nodded and said:

"Don't worry, Senior Brother! I'll make him regret sticking his neck out!"

As he spoke, Kong Ning stepped forward, looked at Chen Changqing with a sinister grin, and said, "Brat, if you want to play the hero saving the beauty, you need the strength to back it up!"

"Noisy!"

Chen Changqing spoke coldly and indifferently, casting a casual glance at Kong Ning before making a highly provocative beckoning gesture with his finger.

"Grr..."

Seeing this, Kong Ning gnashed his teeth in anger.

"You're courting death!!"

With an angry roar, Kong Ning said no more. His aura surged violently, fully revealing his ninth-level Qi Refining cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a streak of light and charged straight toward Chen Changqing.

Chen Changqing stood his ground, his expression remaining completely calm and unruffled.

Seeing Kong Ning rushing toward him, Chen Changqing did not stand on ceremony, throwing a backhanded punch to meet the attack.

"Bang!"

A deafening explosion of force echoed through the air.

Looking closely, one could see Kong Ning's attack instantly disintegrate under the power of Chen Changqing's fist.

The vast force of the punch, its momentum undiminished, pierced straight through the gale and slammed solidly into Kong Ning's chest.

"Pfft!"

The next moment, Kong Ning spat out a large mouthful of blood, his body flying backward like a kite with a broken string.

Seeing this scene, everyone present was dumbstruck.

No one had expected that Kong Ning, with his ninth-level Qi Refining cultivation, would be sent flying by a single punch from Chen Changqing.

"This... how is this possible?"

"Did I see that right?"

"Senior Brother Kong was just... sent flying by a single punch from him?"

"What is going on?"

"What kind of strength does this kid have?"

The disciples of the Second Courtyard were stunned, their faces filled with disbelief.