Genius Ranking

Eighty percent of these Storage Bags were empty!

He immediately glared at them. "Scram!"

"You!"

The men instantly flew into a rage and were about to attack when the two Disciplinary Disciples beside them tightened their grips on their long sabers and stepped forward.

"He has already accepted a challenge today. Sect rules state that anyone who has accepted a challenge may refuse a second one on the same day."

The five men forcibly swallowed their anger.

Chun Xiaobai ignored them, pulled Bai Jin'er along, opened the Cave Abode's defensive array, and stepped inside.

"Dammit, every stray cat and dog thinks they can challenge this Great King?"

He turned straight to Bai Jin'er beside him and asked, "Third Boss, didn't you tell them? This Great King only accepts challenges from the big shots on the ranking!"

Bai Jin'er froze at the title "Third Boss."

Then she stammered, "I... I told them, but they wouldn't leave. They insisted on challenging you."

Chun Xiaobai looked at the young girl's meek, earnest demeanor. At a glance, she was clearly the sort people bullied.

Still, he was a little curious. With her looks, she was definitely among the prettiest in the Outer Sect, so how had no one harassed her?

And then there was that fatty. Everywhere he went, people greeted him and bowed, as though he were some big shot.

But Chun Xiaobai was far too irritated to ask about any of that now.

If he had to deal with challenges from these stray cats and dogs every day, forget cultivating-the running back and forth alone would wear him to death.

Besides, he had thought plenty of big shots on the ranking would come challenge him today, but his wait had come to nothing. Maybe he had scared them off.

He had deliberately pretended to be weak earlier precisely because he didn't want to reveal too much strength and frighten them away.

But no matter how he looked at it, collecting Storage Bags one at a time was still too slow!

This didn't fit this Great King's strategic policy of "getting rich through hard work and building a fortune fast" at all.

And with only one Storage Bag coming in each day, especially from a broke bastard with barely any fat to skim, how many monkey years and horse months would it take to save enough to recruit men, buy horses, seize a mountain, and return to his old trade?

Chun Xiaobai returned to the cultivation room, immediately took out the "Outer Sect Genius Ranking" Fang Yuan had given him, and began studying the entries one by one.

He discovered that every single person in the top ten had a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivation level!

Those below the top ten were also mostly at the pinnacle of Qi Refining.

He suddenly understood why everyone who had come to challenge him earlier had been a sword cultivator.

In the Cultivation World, competition was fiercest between cultivators in the same field.

For example, in the Dao of Alchemy, if a sect produced two alchemy geniuses at the same time, neither would accept the other's superiority. They would insist on settling who was better.

The Dao of the Sword was no different.

Thus, those who came to challenge a "sword cultivator" like him were naturally sword cultivators themselves. Cultivators of other paths couldn't be bothered to come spar with him for no reason.

"Huh, wait a second..."

Chun Xiaobai frowned at a name on the list.

"Isn't this Shi Lei from Sunset Glow Peak? Why did he come to my Green Bamboo Peak to challenge me for my Cave Abode?"

List in hand, he walked out of the cultivation room in puzzlement and found Bai Jin'er sitting alone in the pavilion, her head bent over the cultivation manuals he had given her.

"Ahem!" He deliberately cleared his throat twice.

Hearing him, Bai Jin'er glanced back and saw that Chun Xiaobai had somehow already appeared behind her.

Her pretty face reddened. Like a startled little rabbit, she quickly turned around, instinctively shielding the manuals on the table with her body as she stammered.

"Chun... G-Great King, what are your orders?"

This young girl had hesitated when he offered her treasures, yet once she had them in hand, she couldn't get enough.

Chun Xiaobai glanced at her attempt to hide them-a sign proclaiming there were no three hundred taels of silver buried here-but didn't expose her. Instead, he asked directly.

"Third Boss, tell me, aren't Cave Abode challenges supposed to be between disciples of the same peak? Why are people from other peaks coming to challenge me for mine?"

"Well... Great King!"

Bai Jin'er still felt uncomfortable all over whenever she said "Great King." No matter how she said it, it was awkward.

She was a proper disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, yet here she was calling someone Great King inside the sect, as though she had joined a mountain bandit stronghold.

She explained quietly.

"It's our peak master... she never involves herself in our disciples' affairs."

"So anyone from another peak who wants to come can freely challenge for Cave Abodes on our Green Bamboo Peak."

"Actually... at least several thousand disciples on Green Bamboo Peak weren't originally from our peak."

"Dammit! Doesn't that make this place a public toilet anyone can come trample through?"

Chun Xiaobai nearly jumped up in anger. "That peak master squats over the latrine without taking a shit, and just lets people bully the disciples under her however they please?"

Chun Xiaobai inwardly ranted about Peak Master Yun Huoyue.

Then he asked, "Can I go challenge people on other peaks?"

Bai Jin'er shook her head. "No. The other peaks strictly forbid disciples from outside their peaks from entering, let alone going in to issue challenges."

At that, Chun Xiaobai's face turned black as ink. He plopped down on the pavilion's stone stool, seething with anger.

"So staying here means we can only let others bully us?"

That wasn't even the main problem. The main problem was... damn it, his source of income had been cut off!

Almost none of the big shots on the ranking were disciples of Green Bamboo Peak. How was he supposed to farm them for money?

Looking at his disgruntled expression, Bai Jin'er instantly understood what he was thinking.

This fellow was definitely thinking about getting people to bring him money again.

Suddenly, something occurred to her. Her eyes lit up, and she spoke quietly.

"Great King, actually... if you want to challenge others, you can go straight to the Martial Practice Platform and challenge the senior brothers on the Genius Ranking."

"What the hell???"

Startled, Chun Xiaobai shot to his feet. "You mean that Genius Ranking thing lets you challenge people across peaks however you like?"

"Yes!"

Bai Jin'er nodded. "But the higher you go on the Heavenly Prodigy Ranking, the tougher the challenges get. Many of the senior brothers on it can fight above their cultivation stage."

That didn't surprise Chun Xiaobai. If those who stood out among over a hundred thousand Outer Sect disciples and made the top hundred couldn't fight above their level, the Azure Cloud Sect would be far too watered-down.

"Are there any requirements for issuing a challenge?"

"There aren't any requirements, but only someone ranked lower can challenge someone ranked higher."

"And the senior brother being challenged must happen to be inside the sect."

"Oh, right. Every senior brother on the ranking is required to accept one challenge unconditionally each month. Once that opportunity has been used, he can freely refuse any further challenges without being punished by the sect."

"That's easy enough!"

"Dammit! If I'd known there was such a great money-farming platform, would I have needed to work my ass off waiting for guests in my Cave Abode?"

"Good! Excellent!" Chun Xiaobai nodded emphatically, his spirits soaring, and habitually reached out to clap Bai Jin'er on the shoulder.

With a muffled thump, he sent her frail little body staggering, leaving her on the verge of falling.

He quickly caught her with sharp eyes and swift hands, feeling only astonishing softness and warmth beneath his touch.