"Made the rankings?"
Chen Qingyu raised an eyebrow and whistled.
"Not bad."
He remembered very clearly:
On [Divine Capital Changluo]'s War God Rankings, only seven people had cleared the seventh floor, and only two hundred or so had cleared the sixth.
And he had ranked two hundred and seventy-second.
That was enough to show that, among all the Blood Sea Realm martial artists who had cleared the fifth floor of the War God Tower, his performance was among the very best.
Hum!
A faint screen of light appeared before Chen Qingyu.
As the screen rose, a cold, mechanical voice also rang out beside his ear:
"Please fill in your public information!"
Chen Qingyu looked closely. Numerous blank boxes were listed on the screen, with only the race field already filled in as Human Race.
"Hmm..."
He pondered for a moment, then quickly made up his mind:
My age definitely has to stay secret, and I'll still use an alias for my name. As for my background, there's no need to hide that.
With that thought, he willed the blank boxes on the screen before him to fill in.
One breath later:
The screen trembled slightly, all its fields now filled:
[Divine Capital Changluo] War God Rankings, rank 272, Chen Shaojun, Human Race, age ??, from the Chen Clan of Changluo, cleared the fifth floor of the War God Tower!
"Not bad!"
Chen Qingyu smiled in satisfaction.
The next instant, the screen before him vanished, and the cold, mechanical voice rang out beside his ear:
"Your public ranking information has been confirmed!"
"Would you like to leave the War God Tower or continue the challenge?"
"Bring it on. Let's continue!"
Blazing fighting spirit shone in Chen Qingyu's eyes as he said:
"I want to continue challenging the [War God Tower]."
His words had barely fallen when:
A pillar of white light descended from above, enveloping his body and instantly carrying him up to the sixth floor of the War God Tower.
The sixth floor:
As far as the eye could see, the vast space stretched a full thousand zhang, with the sky several dozen zhang above the ground.
"Welcome to the sixth floor of the War God Tower!"
"Your opponents will appear shortly. Challenger, please prepare yourself!"
The instant the cold, mechanical voice fell silent:
Dense flashes of white light appeared in every direction, and figures coalesced one after another, each with a powerful presence.
"A hundred opponents...?"
Chen Qingyu's expression changed.
"The difficulty's rising a little fast."
"One against a hundred. Now that's exciting!"
Time rewound to half a quarter-hour earlier.
Outside the War God Tower in [Divine Capital Changluo].
Chen Qingjie was waiting for Chen Qingyu to come out when he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"Cousin Qingjie!"
He turned to see a youth dressed in blue squeezing through the crowd toward him.
"Cousin Qingjie, did you bring another newcomer over? Waiting here to collect your money?"
The blue-robed youth chuckled.
"Don't tell me you've gambled away all your Great Void Points for this month again?"
Hearing this, Chen Qingjie smiled helplessly.
"That's right. Lost them all again. I can only do a little business like this to earn some spending money."
The blue-robed youth pursed his lips at that.
"I told you ages ago to stop."
"Trying to dig up ancient treasures by buying outdated information-isn't that like fishing a needle out of the sea?"
The smile vanished from Chen Qingjie's face, and he said gravely:
"Cousin Qingquan, of course I understand that."
"But my parents died young, leaving me with no one to rely on. I'm twenty-four this year, yet I'm still only in the Blood Sea Realm."
"If this goes on, the clan will most likely send me off to some city to hold a minor official post, and I'll spend my entire life stuck within the Four Physical Body Realms."
He looked at the blue-robed youth, his gaze deep.
"A life whose end I can see at a glance, a future like a pool of stagnant water-that is absolutely not what I, Chen Qingjie, want."
"Even if it means gambling on luck, I have to take my chances!"
The blue-robed youth sighed helplessly.
"Forget it. I knew I couldn't talk you out of it."
He changed the subject, asking casually:
"How good is the newcomer you brought this time? How many floors do you reckon he can clear?"
Chen Qingjie smiled at that.
"How good could he be? Probably average."
"Clearing the first three floors shouldn't be a problem, but whether he can clear the fourth is hard to say."
In Divine Capital Changluo, there was no need to even mention the highly esteemed direct descendants.
Even the somewhat valued talents of collateral and branch lineages received earnest instructions from their elders about the various rules of the Supreme Void Dao Realm before entering, and had guides arranged for them beforehand.
A complete newcomer like this was clearly someone who received little attention, so naturally, he could not be all that strong.
"Heh, just as expected..."
The blue-robed youth shrugged.
As the two chatted, a sudden clamor erupted outside the War God Tower:
"Quick, look at the War God Rankings!"
"Someone else has made it onto [Divine Capital Changluo]'s War God Rankings?"
"Holy shit, his rank is rising so fast..."
Chen Qingjie and the blue-robed youth instinctively looked up, their eyes immediately widening.
On the War God Sub-Rankings hanging down from the sky to their left:
A streak of golden light suddenly appeared at the bottom, then climbed wildly upward, moving too fast for the eye to follow.
After just one breath:
That streak of golden light had overtaken the vast majority of names, placing near the very top of the War God Rankings.
War God Rankings, rank 272, Chen Shaojun, Human Race, age ??, from the Chen Clan of Changluo, cleared the fifth floor of the War God Tower!
An uproar immediately swept through the crowd outside the War God Tower!
"He shot straight up to rank two hundred and seventy-two on his first appearance?"
"Isn't that way too strong? He must be one of the Chen Clan's direct descendants!"
"Who is this Chen Shaojun? Has anyone heard of him?"
"He's incredible! Ranking that high on his first appearance-doesn't that mean he has a chance of clearing the sixth floor?"
The crowd buzzed with excited discussion, all manner of noisy voices rising into a din.
"Th-this..."
Chen Qingjie stood rooted to the spot, shock and bewilderment still lingering in his eyes.
"This guy is way too strong!"
The blue-robed youth exclaimed in wonder, then turned and noticed Chen Qingjie standing there in a daze.
"Cousin Qingjie... Cousin Qingjie?!"
He waved a hand in front of Chen Qingjie's face, looking utterly puzzled.
"Are you all right?"
Startled back to his senses, Chen Qingjie drew a deep breath and said hoarsely:
"Cousin Qingquan... this Chen Shaojun is the newcomer I brought here!"
"What?"
The blue-robed youth stared, dumbstruck.
"Are you serious?"
Seemingly finding it hard to accept, he turned to glance at the name high above on the rankings and murmured:
"He's most likely from the direct bloodline!"
"How could a prodigy like that enter the Supreme Void Dao Realm without anyone to receive him?"
Chen Qingjie shook his head.
"I'm not too sure either..."
At that moment, his feelings were extraordinarily complicated.
He had never imagined that the seemingly ordinary newcomer he had brought here would turn out to be such an extraordinary prodigy.
On his very first appearance in the rankings, he had soared straight to the heavens, surpassing the vast majority of the Chen Clan's geniuses.
Just then:
"Come on, let's all go watch!"
"Right! He made the rankings after clearing the fifth floor of the War God Tower, so he must still be challenging the sixth."
"Hurry! Before he comes out..."
Shouting excitedly, the crowd swarmed through the War God Tower's entrance, their figures swiftly disappearing.
"Right! Watch the battle!"
Chen Qingjie also came to his senses. Grabbing the blue-robed youth, he squeezed forward.
"Let's hurry and watch!"