Contribution Rankings, Where the Stars Shone Bright!

Whoosh!

The dust gradually settled, revealing everything on the ground.

Lin Yuan and the others hurriedly looked over, only to suck in a breath of cold air.

"That was too brutal..."

He could not help but sigh.

The others did not look much better either. All of them stared in astonishment, as though they were looking at a monster.

A massive crater had appeared in the ground, torn apart by the force of both sides.

At the center of the crater lay the Earth Desolate Bull Beast's corpse, nearly ripped into countless pieces... No, calling them chunks of flesh would have been more appropriate.

The power of Gu Yiyi's strike had truly been terrifying.

Not only had it shattered the Earth Tremor Force unleashed by the Earth Desolate Bull Beast at full power, it had retained its momentum and pierced straight through the beast's body, tearing it into pieces.

"Phew..."

The girl took a deep breath and planted her spear against the ground. Her right hand gripped the weapon tightly as she barely kept herself from collapsing.

She had clearly exhausted a tremendous amount of energy as well.

"It was still too much of a strain to use the Thunder-Origin Dragon Spear..."

She sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat drained.

After all, she had only just awakened the Thunder-Origin Immortal Body. Both her body and Stellar Force were still in their earliest stages, and forcibly activating that move carried enormous risks.

But...

"I don't want you to leave me too far behind either."

The girl pursed her lips, her eyes carrying a stubbornness unique to her.

Lin Yuan's earlier sword strike had shocked her greatly—perhaps even more than it had the other members of the Goddess Luo Squad.

After all, she and Lin Yuan had been classmates for three years. She knew better than anyone what his performance in school had been like.

Yet only a few months later, Lin Yuan had actually surpassed her. Not only had he broken through to become a Starry-Sky Warrior as well, but even she had found that sword strike astonishing.

He was improving far too quickly!

I was the Martial Prodigy all this time, wasn't I?

How could she fall behind someone else?

Especially the person she liked...

The girl's pride had made her go all out.

The result had indeed shocked even Lin Yuan, making him silently marvel at how overpowered Special Constitutions were—

This move clearly belonged to the Innate Secret Art that came with Gu Yiyi's Special Constitution. It was not a conventional Stellar Force Secret Art that could be learned.

Yet its power was outrageously immense.

One strike had blasted the Earth Desolate Bull Beast to death!

It was almost on par with Lin Yuan's Heaven-Sundering Sword Draw.

Its power could rival a Sky-grade Stellar Force Secret Art, yet it required no effort to learn. It was like an instinct, something she could use naturally.

How were ordinary Starry-Sky Warriors supposed to compete with that?

It was simply unfair...

"Still, I'm not bad myself."

Lin Yuan glanced at the densely packed Talent Traits within him: "Swordsmanship Mastery," "Martial Prodigy," "Transcendent Comprehension"...

Well, then there was nothing to worry about.

"You two were both very impressive."

Gu Shuangshuang smiled.

There was also a hint of pride in the way she looked at the girl.

Lin Yuan was certainly an unexpected delight, but our Yiyi was no slouch either!

The Thunder-Origin Immortal Body...

It was one of the most powerful innate physiques.

Among the nine King-Sealing Realm experts of human civilization, there was an ultimate powerhouse known as the Thunderblade King who possessed the Thunder-Origin Immortal Body!

Because of this, countless people had long witnessed the terrifying power of this innate physique, and naturally held great expectations for Gu Yiyi.

Fortunately, the girl had not disappointed those who cared for her. Having only just begun awakening, she could already use the Thunder-Origin Dragon Spear...

"Hehe."

The girl recovered her vigor and smiled once more.

She skipped back to Lin Yuan's side. The trembling snowy-white curves above her slender waist swayed beautifully with her movements, making Lin Yuan's heart race.

She had quite the assets and boundless potential!

In any case, this rookie trial belonging to Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi had come to a Perfection Stage conclusion.

Neither of them was an ordinary newly advanced warrior. Not only had they secured their first kills, but both had killed their opponents in a single strike. The women of the Goddess Luo Squad were happy for them, yet also deeply dejected.

"The difference between people really is greater than the difference between people and pigs..."

Hu Meiniang let out a mournful sigh that conveyed all her bitterness.

Their talent was already quite good compared to ordinary people. Otherwise, they could not have stepped onto the Stellar Martial Path at such young ages.

Once upon a time, they too had been full of confidence and believed they were inferior to no one.

Stellar Behemoths were all powerful, but they had killed hundreds of them and could be considered battle-hardened veterans.

But what about Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi?

Those two rookies had surpassed their hundreds of life-and-death battles in their very first fight...

It was truly difficult not to feel depressed.

"Even among geniuses, there are differences."

"The two of them are true Star-Martial Prodigies. They were never comparable to ordinary geniuses, much less people like us."

As the captain and strongest member of the Goddess Luo Squad, Gu Shuangshuang had long been mentally prepared for this.

Seeing the women looking somewhat dispirited, she could not help but comfort them.

Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi exchanged a glance but said nothing.

If they tried to comfort them at this moment, it would only make things worse.

So they simply remained silent.

Fortunately, everyone was merely lamenting for a moment and soon pulled themselves together.

"It's open! The Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings!"

Gu Yiyi suddenly became excited.

Lin Yuan lowered his head and looked at his Stellar Communicator. He entered the Star Warrior Forum and indeed discovered that a new ranking list had been opened—

The Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings!

This was a special ranking list specifically opened for newly advanced Starry-Sky Warriors who had registered for this year's Star-Martial Prodigy Talent Development Program.

As long as they killed a Star Beast and earned Contribution Points, they could enter the rankings and compete for placement.

The rankings would only remain open for one year. After a year, they would close and stop recording results. The top one hundred and sixty participants from each regional ranking would advance to the preliminary selection.

"Let's look at the Azure River Regional Rankings..."

Lin Yuan was rather curious as well.

The rankings had actually been open for three months already.

He wondered how many Star Beasts the newly advanced warriors of Azure River Satellite City had killed by now.

Probably not that many, right? Star Beasts were not so easy to kill. Even with his own foundations, he had to go all out to kill one in a single strike...

The members of the Goddess Luo Squad were also curious. Would this year's Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings produce any dark horses?

Thinking this, Gu Shuangshuang did not stop them. Instead, she found a safe area and looked through it with everyone.

"Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings!"

"Azure River Regional Rankings—"

"First place: Qin Tianyi, 135 Contribution Points!"

"Second place: Mo Qingqing, 130 Contribution Points!"

"Third place: Luo Yifeng, 126 Contribution Points!"

"..."

"Tenth place: Chen Fan, 100 Contribution Points!"

"..."

"One hundred sixtieth place: Ling Shi, 66 Contribution Points!"

"..."

"Six thousand six hundred sixty-sixth place: Lin Yuan, 1 Contribution Point!"

"Six thousand six hundred sixty-eighth place: Gu Yiyi, 1 Contribution Point!"

"..."

The members of the Goddess Luo Squad looked at one another without speaking.

Yet the shock in their eyes was unmistakable.

Only three months had passed, yet the Azure River Regional Rankings were already this fiercely competitive?

What kind of monsters were the top ten? Every one of them had over a hundred Contribution Points?

Were these really rookies?

Even many veteran Starry-Sky Warriors in the Mortal Transcendence Realm would not dare to be this insane, would they?

After all, Star Beasts were different from ferocious beasts. Every one of them possessed an innate talent, and the power of any such talent was comparable to a Stellar Force Secret Art. It was as though they came with Stellar Force Secret Arts of their own.

How could ordinary Starry-Sky Warriors master Stellar Force Secret Arts so quickly after breaking through?

They could only clash using raw Stellar Force and rely on numbers to secure a difficult victory.

As a result, hunting Star Beasts was actually very inefficient.

And that was precisely the norm.

People like Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi were ultimately a rare minority.

The members of the Goddess Luo Squad had originally thought so as well, but after seeing this ranking list, they realized that they had still underestimated the world!

"This generation of rookies... is a little ridiculous."

Gu Shuangshuang shook her head slightly as well.

Still, it was ultimately a good thing. The more geniuses there were, the easier it would be for powerhouses to emerge, and the deeper human civilization's foundations would become.

But Lin Yuan's gaze settled on one place in the rankings—

"One hundred sixtieth place: Ling Shi, 66 Contribution Points!"

Even the person ranked one hundred sixtieth had a full sixty-six Contribution Points.

In other words, one had to kill at least sixty or so Star Beasts to qualify for the Azure River Preliminary Selection seven months later.

Only then could one qualify for the final Starflow Pulp reward...

"The rookies on the rankings will definitely hunt Star Beasts like mad during this time, competing against one another, so..."

"To be safe, I'll need at least a hundred kills to have any hope of breaking into the top one hundred and sixty and obtaining a preliminary selection slot."

Lin Yuan's gaze darkened slightly.

Being three months behind really put him at a disadvantage.

It seemed he had to speed things up...