At that moment.
The Heavenly Ranking once again rang with astonishing peals of bells.
This heralded...
The appearance of first place on the Heavenly Ranking!
Throughout heaven and earth.
The Azure Dragon Clan, the Azure Luan Clan, the Azure Cloud Holy Land, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, Guixu...
One faction after another, countless pairs of eyes, all focused on the scroll of the Heavenly Ranking high in the sky!
The general populace was even more curious.
If even the Immaculate Body could not be called the strongest physique of the age, what other heaven-defying existence could there be?!!
Golden light bathed the earth. Underground, on the surface, or in midair, everyone reined in their presence, wanting to see just who could stand above so many prodigies and claim first place!
The Heavenly Ranking shifted unpredictably, and people's emotions rose and fell with it.
A thunderous boom rang out!
The golden ranking finally stabilized.
The first-place entry, watched by all, was revealed to the world!
And yet...
"What's going on?"
"Why has the sky gone dark?!"
"Has the Heavenly Ranking malfunctioned? Where's first place? I want to see first place on the Heavenly Ranking!"
"Could someone have secretly used some means to interfere by force?"
"Who would dare interfere with the Great Dao Heavenly Ranking?!"...
The unveiling of first place stirred towering waves, an unprecedented shock like steam rising from a boiling sea.
The Heavenly Ranking was pitch-black!
Then the ranking's video appeared, and it was still dark!
Even the sky had darkened!
It was as though eternal night had descended over everyone's heads.
The already shocked crowd now felt even more bewildered, uneasy, terrified... because this first-place entry was far too mysterious! The unknown was the most frightening thing of all!
Rumble-
Amid the uproar, a deafening crash suddenly rang out. High in the firmament, a stretch of sky actually collapsed!!
Floodwaters swept across the land, and a clamor of ghostly wails and wolfish howls instantly erupted.
Heavenly Continent.
Ten thousand miles up in the sky, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
Tap, tap...
The woman with gray gauze covering her eyes, a bronze Fate Cauldron in her hands, and a flowing, misty-gray dress took two slight steps backward. Heaven and earth instantly shifted, and a stretch of sky collapsed and fell!
The land became an ocean!
She was sixth on the Heavenly Ranking, Qi Wuyan of the Numinous Heavenly Calculation!
Two female disciples hurried forward to support the startled female heavenly diviner.
A purple-robed man, Heavenly Master Qi, asked gravely, "Wuyan, what happened?!"
Qi Wuyan tightly gripped the exquisite Fate Cauldron in her hands and raised her face toward the golden Heavenly Ranking. Though blind in both eyes, she possessed the Numinous Heavenly Calculation physique and could calculate the Great Dao's causes and effects with a flex of her fingers!
Without using her eyes, she could comprehend the boundless world within her heart.
"First place on the Heavenly Ranking has appeared!"
"It is utter darkness. I actually cannot divine it!"
"But I saw it!"
"What?"
"I sensed extraordinarily terrifying Great Dao Luck circling above the Heavenly Ranking! Looking a hundred thousand years into the past or a hundred thousand years into the future, such flourishing heavenly luck will never appear again!"
"Y-you mean..."
"He bears tremendous luck and is shrouded in divine mysteries. Though I cannot see his figure clearly, I can deduce that he will be this era's foremost figure, unrivaled across the ages! This person is the future Supreme of our age!"
Qi Wuyan's voice trembled.
Her brows knitted tightly. Having probed too deeply into the heavenly mysteries of the Great Dao, her frail body was struggling to bear the strain!
Divining heavenly luck already consumed the soul's strength, let alone the divine mysteries of the Great Dao!
Heavenly Master Qi fell silent.
His daughter, Qi Wuyan, was the most outstanding member of the heavenly diviners' clan. She could calculate all things past and present, so her words had to be fact!
The Azure Dragon Clan.
Xuan Tugu's face alternated between ashen and deathly pale. Matters had already far exceeded her expectations, and the mystery surrounding first place on the Heavenly Ranking left her deeply uneasy!
The Aptitude Ranking's entire top ten had been announced. Qu Jiangxuan had gone from his initial arrogance, defiance, and jealousy to being like an eggplant struck by frost, utterly wilted!
He still refused to accept it, but he had no choice. One after another, the Numinous Heavenly Calculation, the Human Emperor Physique, and even the Immaculate Body of an ancient Immortal's descendant had appeared!
What sort of monster could surpass the Immaculate Body and cause darkness to appear on the Heavenly Ranking?!
He would not be satisfied until he knew this person's name!
The Azure Cloud Holy Land.
Dusk fell over the long road, red maples hazy in the fading light. Clad in yellow, Ye Yuan lightly tapped a game piece, light flickering bright and dim in his Double Pupils as he murmured:
"Oh, are you so mysterious?
"You truly have succeeded in whetting my appetite..."
Sacred Continent.
Aboard a small boat, Chu Shanjun sat cross-legged, holding a fishing rod, seemingly lost in thought.
Yan Fei tilted his head to glance at him and laughed with a snort. "Stop letting out silent, foul farts. Say whatever you want to say. Forget it, I'm used to that personality of yours. I'll just keep an eye on where the Heavenly Ranking's reward lands for you, so you can rush over to make a new friend!"
Chu Shanjun smiled. "Just now, when I carefully sensed the Heavenly Ranking, I faintly detected an extremely dangerous presence emanating from that boundless darkness. That presence made me unable to contain my excitement!"
Yan Fei said, "The feeling of meeting your match must certainly be good!"
Yuan Continent.
Inside the tea stall, after eating and drinking her fill, Sushang took the initiative to tell Xie Feng about her background.
She had been born in the Heavenly Sword Holy Land and had depended on her mother since childhood. Her mother had protected her very well, but a few days ago, her mother had died of illness. After burying her mother in utter grief, she had begun a wandering life. Weak and ignorant of worldly affairs, she had muddled her way here.
Xie Feng told Sushang that there was a restriction within her body. Once it was lifted, her future cultivation would surely soar straight upward as though borne on an east wind.
However, this required the aid of pills.
Xie Feng was a mid-level seventh-grade Alchemist. In this world, Alchemists were ranked as follows:
From first to tenth grade, with each successive grade stronger than the last, and each realm divided into four levels: early, middle, high, and great perfection.
Among Alchemists, those above sixth grade were exceedingly rare and precious!
Xie Feng sensed that the person who had branded the restriction into Sushang's body was also an Alchemist, and one who had reached the eighth grade!
A White Tiger Physique, an eighth-grade Alchemist, a sealing technique... some unknown secrets had to lie buried behind this girl. Xie Feng's eyes shifted slightly, but the most pressing matter now was to break the restriction first.
He carefully searched his memory. There were quite a few pills in the world capable of breaking seals and dissolving restrictions, but to undo the shackles of an eighth-grade Alchemist, he would need a pill of the eighth grade or even higher.
That would be...
The Nine Luminaries Restriction-Dissolving Pill!
Pills were ranked from first to tenth grade, followed by God Grade, Immortal Grade, and Saint Grade! Each realm was divided into three levels: early, middle, and high.
However, pills above the tenth grade existed almost solely in legend!
The Nine Luminaries Restriction-Dissolving Pill, at eighth-grade great perfection, could sweep through soul seals like crushing rotten wood. If refined perfectly, it could even ascend to the ninth grade!
Refining this pill required a hundred or so medicinal ingredients, but Xie Feng was not worried. His master had once opened a medicinal garden on the rear mountain and had always enjoyed collecting strange and curious things. Even rarer medicinal ingredients could probably be found in the garden.
"Sushang, let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"The Xuanji Sect."
"Wow~ We can go home!"
The little girl tilted her head and clapped happily, her rosy cheeks as round and plump as an apple. She was very cute.
This girl was truly so innocent. They had known each other for less than half a quarter of an hour, yet she was already this carefree. If someone abducted her in the future, she would probably follow them cheerfully!
Shaking his head with a sigh, Xie Feng rose to leave when heaven and earth suddenly turned pitch-black, as though night had fallen early.
"What's happening? It's gone dark!"
"First place on the Heavenly Ranking has been announced! But it's very strange. There's no name at the top!"
"Heavens, it's that mysterious?!"
The startled customers burst into discussion.
Xie Feng gazed at the Heavenly Ranking, a slight ripple stirring in his eyes, because he knew that first place on the Heavenly Ranking was him! But because he was a transmigrator, he had affected this world's energy to some extent, which was why that mysterious darkness had appeared!
Still, this was good too. He could avoid exposure for now and still had time to break the restriction!
For now, refining the pill was more important!
With that thought, Xie Feng took Sushang back to the Xuanji Sect.
The first-place reward began to be distributed!
The Heavenly Ranking remained dark, without any specific text appearing. Only a white rainbow streaked across it!
The white rainbow descended from the nine heavens, countless gazes both open and hidden following it closely. They wanted to see where the reward landed, for only then could they glimpse the whereabouts of first place on the Heavenly Ranking.
That mysterious fellow!
But what left the powerful figures deeply alarmed was that, although their Divine Sense had followed the reward all along and they had watched the white rainbow fly into the mortal world, it vanished without a trace, like a clay ox entering the sea!
No matter how they urged their Divine Sense onward, it seemed to meet an invisible obstruction, leaving them unable to determine the precise location!