Ranking settlement and news of a spirit realm!

Today was July 8, year 3214 of the Sin Abyss calendar.

The rankings were settled at the beginning of every month. They had already been settled eight days ago, but Lin An had been cultivating then and had not checked.

[Server-wide Realm Rankings]

[First place]: Lin An, realm: bronze seventh grade (can be hidden)

[Second place]: None

[Third place]: None

(Note: The rankings are settled once a month. Players ranked in the top 100 will receive additional rewards.)

Lin An opened the rankings. He was still the only player listed.

[Rankings settled. Congratulations to the player for taking first place in the server-wide realm rankings at bronze fifth grade. The player may freely choose a reward type: attribute points, cultivation techniques, weapons, or pills.]

This was the settlement notification from eight days ago, when Lin An had still been at bronze fifth grade.

The ranking rewards would improve as his realm at the time of settlement increased.

Looking at the available reward types, Lin An immediately ruled out cultivation techniques, weapons, and pills.

He had only been in the Bronze Realm at the time of settlement, so those three types of rewards would be bronze tier at best.

And he had no shortage whatsoever of bronze-tier cultivation techniques, weapons, or pills.

"I choose attribute points," Lin An said.

[The player has chosen attribute points as the reward. Congratulations to the player on receiving attribute points x500.]

[Attribute points]: 2815

Lin An was reasonably satisfied to see his attribute points increase by five hundred. After all, the reward had cost him nothing.

There are still more than twenty days until the next ranking settlement. I should already be at silver tier by then, and the settlement rewards will be even more generous.

As Lin An was thinking, he noticed that the activity around Lin Xiao had begun to subside.

A few breaths later, Lin Xiao opened his eyes, his face brimming with joy.

"Congratulations on reaching greater mastery in our family's cultivation technique, Father," Lin An said.

"Hahaha! It was all thanks to you, An'er. Without you, it would have taken me at least another year or two to reach greater mastery," Lin Xiao said with a hearty laugh.

Even a year or two was giving himself too much credit. Reaching greater mastery within five years would have been good enough.

"Although you've reached greater mastery in the technique now, Father, it's still not enough. Keep cultivating and strive to reach perfection as soon as possible," Lin An said with a smile.

Lin Xiao nodded. He, too, looked forward to perfecting his cultivation technique and using the opportunity to cleanse his marrow and meridians to break straight through to Platinum Rank.

Lin Xiao had originally thought he would need at least ten or even twenty years to break through to platinum, but now it seemed he might manage it within a year.

The father and son then left the quiet chamber, washed up first, and had a good meal to celebrate.

"Has anything unusual happened in the city today?"

Lin Xiao summoned the steward, Qian Yang, and the commander of his personal guards, Ji Yuan, to question them.

"Reporting to the City Lord, all has been well in Shenglin City during this time," Ji Yuan said with a bow.

Lin Xiao nodded. That made sense. If anything had happened in Shenglin City, they would have come to report it long ago.

"City Lord, all is well within the residence, but the heads of the three great families came to visit three days ago," Qian Yang said.

"Oh? What did they want?" Lin Xiao asked.

"According to them, several days ago, the three great families discovered a spirit realm three kilometers west of the city," Qian Yang said.

"A spirit realm?"

Lin Xiao's expression froze. Beside him, Lin An, who had been wolfing down food and drink, could not help raising his head.

Spirit realms were much like game dungeons.

However, game dungeons could be entered repeatedly, while spirit realms would only exist for a while before disappearing.

In his previous life, a spirit realm had also appeared near Shenglin City, but that had been a month after the servers opened, and it had only been a black iron-tier spirit realm.

Lin An had not expected that a spirit realm had already appeared near Shenglin City before the servers opened.

At that thought, Lin An could not help glancing at Lin Xiao.

He had previously read some of Shenglin City's records concerning spirit realms. A spirit realm had appeared in Shenglin City ten years ago.

And it had been a gold-tier spirit realm.

At the time, Lin Xiao, who had just reached the Gold Realm, had entered the spirit realm to explore it with the previous city lord-Lin An's grandfather.

But the spirit realm had proved extraordinarily dangerous, and Lin An's grandfather had fought to his death to get Lin Xiao out.

It had also been then that the Sin Beasts took advantage of Lin Xiao and his father's absence to attack Shenglin City, resulting in the death of Lin An's mother and causing Lin An to withdraw into himself.

"What is the situation with the spirit realm?" Lin Xiao asked solemnly, clearly also recalling the incident ten years ago.

"According to the three great families' investigations, this spirit realm should only be bronze tier. It will open in about half a month," Qian Yang said.

A bronze-tier spirit realm also meant that only those at bronze ninth grade or below could enter.

But having experienced a spirit realm once before, Lin Xiao knew very well that a bronze-tier spirit realm was highly likely to contain Silver Realm Sin Beasts.

After all, the gold-tier spirit realm ten years ago had contained Platinum Realm Sin Beasts.

"What did the three great families say?" Lin Xiao asked.

"The three great families said that if the City Lord's Residence is interested in this spirit realm, they are willing to follow its arrangements."

Qian Yang continued, "If the City Lord's Residence is not interested, they will assemble their own teams to explore it and give fifty percent of their gains to the Young City Lord."

Lin An was surprised. Not to the City Lord's Residence, but to him, the Young City Lord. Their meaning was already quite clear.

"They certainly are generous."

Fifty percent of the gains was no small amount, Lin Xiao remarked. It was practically equivalent to the three great families working for Lin An for free.

But Lin Xiao also understood why the three great families were being so generous.

It was no secret that Lin An had led a team out of the city to hunt Sin Beasts half a month ago. Many of the city's residents knew about it, let alone the three great families.

The three great families must also have learned that Lin An had gone from an ordinary person to black iron ninth grade in just over ten days.

Such monstrous talent surpassed even Lin Xiao's back then.

Together with the ability Lin An had revealed to see through possessing Sin Beasts, this made it clear to the three great families that Lin An would inevitably become Shenglin City's city lord in the future.

That was why they wanted to use this opportunity to build a good relationship with Lin An, the Young City Lord, laying the groundwork so they could continue developing securely in Shenglin City in the future.

"Since they're offering, accept it."

Lin Xiao was just about to nod and say this.

Lin An said nothing from the side, but he had already decided to enter this spirit realm and take a look.

Had he not encountered one, he would have let it be. Since a spirit realm had appeared before him, Lin An naturally did not want to miss it.

Moreover, the spirit realm would not open for another half month. By then, he would certainly have reached bronze ninth grade.

If he learned a few more silver-tier cultivation techniques then, he would be able to put up a fight even if there were silver-tier Sin Beasts inside.

The reason he said nothing now was that he knew Lin Xiao would definitely refuse.

He might as well wait a while and bring it up once he had enough strength. Then Lin Xiao would no longer stop him.

Next, Lin Xiao asked about some other matters, and Qian Yang and Ji Yuan both gave detailed reports.

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, the father and son entered the quiet chamber again and began cultivating.