Striking the Divine Soul Ranking (Bonus Chapter for Tips)

After picking and choosing, Liu Bai selected several things he needed most based on his current situation.

He definitely needed a Cultivation Method, but he could only set his sights on a Spirit-grade Mid-tier one. The best choice was naturally the "Golden Crow Blazing Flame Art," which could seamlessly replace his Blazing Sun Art and would also be compatible with the Ancient Golden Crow Spirit Core in the future.

Next was a Third-grade Array Diagram, the "Hundred Spirit Sword Array."

Once this array was deployed, it could condense a hundred streams of sword qi within its boundaries. Every stream possessed the power of a Heaven Fusion Realm Middle Stage cultivator. With a hundred swords unleashed at once, even Heaven Transformation Realm experts would not dare underestimate it.

Of course, Liu Bai had taken a liking to this array despite its steep price of thirty thousand Spirit Value not merely because of its great power. Another reason was that he had spotted a fifth-grade array in the catalog called the "Thousand Spirit Sword Array," an advanced version of the Hundred Spirit Sword Array, worth a full two million Spirit Value.

Although Liu Bai definitely could not exchange for that array anytime soon, it gave him an idea. If he could directly set up ten Hundred Spirit Sword Arrays, would that not amount to creating a Thousand Spirit Sword Array?

Of course, there were still many problems involved.

Setting aside its power, simply figuring out how to combine ten Third-Grade Spirit Arrays was troublesome. Moreover, one Hundred Spirit Sword Array required eighty Spirit Seals to sustain it. To deploy ten at once, Liu Bai would need the ability to condense at least five hundred Spirit Seals.

Liu Bai could already manage that, but he lacked sufficient spiritual energy. Thus, this idea would have to wait until after he advanced to the Heaven Fusion Realm.

Beyond that, Liu Bai found a copy of the "Basic Essentials of Spirit Artifact Forging" and the "Basic Essentials of Spirit Pill Refining." With them, he could become a Spirit Artifact Forger and a Spirit Pill Master...

Even if he could only forge low-grade Spiritual Artifacts and refine low-level spirit pills, he could still earn quite a bit of Spirit Value by taking them to the Spirit Value Hall. This was also one of the methods Liu Bai had thought of for obtaining large amounts of Spirit Value in the shortest possible time.

Of course, all of that depended on Liu Bai having enough Spirit Value to exchange for these things.

The Hundred Spirit Sword Array cost thirty thousand, while the Golden Crow Blazing Flame Art cost nineteen thousand. Those figures alone were enough to intimidate all new students.

Fortunately, the remaining two were merely foundational items and were not expensive. Together, they cost only two thousand Spirit Value.

Tsk, tsk. Two thousand Spirit Value was enough for a new student to cultivate in the A-grade Area for a month. If others learned that Liu Bai actually thought this was cheap, they would probably die of envy.

He arrived at the very top of the pavilion, where he could see the azure sky. Looking farther into the distance, a corner of the Northern Azure Spirit Academy came into view.

Liu Bai looked toward the most eye-catching Divine Bird Giant Mountain within the Northern Azure Spirit Academy. More precisely, he was looking at the giant stone monument carved with the Divine Soul Ranking on the mountain's left wing.

"Whether I can get everything I have my eye on next depends on whether you can deliver!"

In the original story, Mu Chen had charged into third place on the Divine Soul Ranking. Not only had he received a daily reward of one thousand Spirit Value, but he had also gained a direct ranking reward of twenty thousand Spirit Value.

If Liu Bai could also break into the top three, then perhaps he would only need ten or twenty days to obtain all these things!

As for whether doing so would provoke the dissatisfaction of those older students on the ranking, just as in the original story, Liu Bai did not consider that at all.

Had he not forcibly suppressed his breakthrough in cultivation precisely for this moment? So what if those older students had all reached the Divine Soul Realm? Not to mention that he could raise his cultivation at any time, even if he could not, Liu Bai was confident that he could defeat those fellows who only dared to cling to the Divine Soul Ranking for petty benefits.

At that thought, Liu Bai chuckled softly. Then he slowly clenched his hand, and his Spirit Value Token floated before him, radiating a faint glow.

Staring at the Spirit Value Token, Liu Bai's gaze gradually focused. His hand slowly tightened, and waves of majestic spiritual energy surged from his body like tides, causing the surrounding air to ripple.

Within his Sea of Qi, the enormous spiritual energy Light Wheel flashed rapidly. The Divine Soul seated atop it also erupted with rays of light, pushing the spiritual energy in his body to its limit.

That was not all. Within the Spleen Aperture space, atop a thousand-zhang mountain peak, a giant beast with three ferocious dragon heads seemed to awaken. Its six enormous dragon eyes abruptly opened, and its massive body clung directly to the mountainside. The three dragon heads stretched high into the sky and suddenly released an earthshaking dragon roar.

Boom!

Along with the dragon roar, the Earth Element Spirit Wheel erupted instantly, pouring forth endless spiritual energy.

Likewise, the ninth layer of the Blazing Sun Art provided Liu Bai with spiritual energy fully comparable to that of a Divine Soul Realm Middle Stage cultivator. Under the rapid rotation of the Fire Element Spirit Wheel, it also surged out from within his Heart Aperture.

At this moment, Liu Bai had completely mobilized the vast spiritual energy within his body. Even the air across several hundred meters around the entire pavilion began to tremble.

Not far away, the lake, which had originally been as smooth as a mirror, suddenly exploded before boiling like water in a pot.

This disturbance naturally drew the attention of the new students living on both sides. On the left, Guo Xiong emerged with his two lackeys. On the right, Li Jing and An Ran also could not help leaving their rooms, curiously looking toward the source of the spiritual energy disturbance.

"What's Boss Liu Bai doing? Cultivating?" Zhang Heng, one of Guo Xiong's two lackeys, scratched his head and could not help asking.

But the moment his words fell, the other lackey, Shao Rui, slapped him across the head.

"Idiot! How could cultivation create such a huge disturbance? Unless Boss Liu Bai is breaking through to the Heaven Fusion Realm..."

But that was impossible. Liu Bai was only at the Divine Soul Realm Late Stage. Even with Boss's talent, breaking through to the Heaven Fusion Realm would take two months... no, one month!

As Shao Rui imagined it, he even nodded to himself.

Guo Xiong glanced at the two of them and deeply regretted taking such a pair of clowns as his lackeys.

This kind of disturbance clearly could not have been caused by a cultivation breakthrough or by cultivating spiritual energy. If he had to guess, Guo Xiong thought Liu Bai was most likely challenging the Divine Soul Ranking!

Thinking of what the Mentor had said before, one merely needed to pour all one's spiritual energy into the Spirit Value Token to challenge the Divine Soul Ranking. If one truly made the ranking, one could also receive Spirit Value rewards.

At that thought, Guo Xiong suddenly felt eager to try as well. Should he challenge it too?

Guo Xiong was not the only one who saw through Liu Bai's actions. Li Jing and An Ran on the other side did as well.

At that moment, the two women had similar thoughts. Li Jing in particular had already reached the limit of the Divine Soul Realm and could break through at any moment, so she could imitate those older students and earn herself some Spirit Value as well.

"Big Sister Li Jing, what rank do you think he can reach?" An Ran raised her head to look at the towering Divine Bird Giant Mountain and suddenly asked.

Li Jing thought for a moment before saying, "Although Liu Bai is only at the Divine Soul Realm Late Stage, I can sense extremely terrifyingly abundant spiritual energy within him. Since he has chosen to challenge the Divine Soul Ranking, he must be very confident. At the very least, he should be able to enter the top ten."

"The top ten of the Divine Soul Ranking?" An Ran was somewhat surprised.

According to what those older students had said before, the top ten on the Divine Soul Ranking were all occupied through trickery by older students who were about to break through to the Heaven Fusion Realm. In other words, their spiritual energy had all reached the limit of the Divine Soul Realm, and some were even half a step into the Heaven Fusion Realm. Taking their ranks would not be easy.

With that in mind, An Ran looked toward Liu Bai with anticipation. Then she saw a beam of light suddenly shoot into the sky, streak across the heavens, and rush toward the giant stone monument that symbolized the Northern Azure Spirit Academy's glory!

Buzz!

The instant the beam entered the stone monument, all the new students of the Northern Azure Spirit Academy who had been alerted could clearly see dazzling light erupt from the Divine Soul Ranking...

A streak of golden light rose through the rankings at an astonishing speed.

In just a few breaths, the golden light had charged into the top ten.

An uproar immediately spread through the Northern Azure Spirit Academy.

Although the Divine Soul Ranking was only the most basic ranking within the Northern Azure Spirit Academy, the top ten positions were usually difficult to shake. Everyone knew that those fellows bore the name of the Divine Soul Ranking, but possessed genuine Heaven Fusion Realm strength.

Not only did new students resent this practice, even some older students greatly disdained it.

"I wonder which one is pulling this stunt again while breaking through to the Heaven Fusion Realm." An older student, long accustomed to such things, curled his lip.

"Hmph, these people are really awful. They always do this and never leave us new students a path forward." The speaker was naturally one of this year's new students.

"Hehe, we went through the same thing back then. New students are all arrogant and full of themselves. They need to be tempered." This person had clearly been bullied by older students in the past. Now that he had become an older student himself, he immediately began bullying new students to vent his resentment.

"Tch, there are always people like that. If they really have the ability, they should go compete on the Heavenly Ranking. What is there to show off about on the Divine Soul Ranking? Aren't those people clinging to the top ten ashamed of themselves..."

Different people naturally had different opinions on the matter.

But Liu Bai paid no attention to them. He continued mobilizing all the spiritual energy in his body to challenge the ranking...

Under countless gazes, that golden light continued rising.

Ninth...

Seventh...

Fifth...

When the golden light reached fourth place, quite a few people finally began to feel astonished.

Although the Divine Soul Ranking was only the most basic ranking in the Northern Azure Spirit Academy, no one would believe that someone who had occupied it for so long lacked real ability.

Especially the top three of the Divine Soul Ranking!

Those three fellows were now somewhat famous even among all Heaven Fusion Realm cultivators in the Northern Azure Spirit Academy. Over the past half year, their places on the Divine Soul Ranking had been nearly impossible to shake.

"He can actually challenge the top three. Who exactly is this?"

Countless people had the same question in their hearts.

At this point, Li Jing and the others who witnessed the scene were already dumbfounded.

They had seen very clearly that this golden light had flown out from Liu Bai's location. Otherwise, they might even have suspected that some older student was also challenging the ranking at the same time.

Third!

When the golden light reached this position, many people began to marvel. Was another genius about to rise?

Second!

Li Jing, An Ran, Guo Xiong, and the others were too shocked to speak.

First!

At that moment, not only the new students, but even many older students watching the scene fell silent.

First place on the Divine Soul Ranking had actually changed hands!

"Gasp, I remember that Huo Yun, who held first place on the Divine Soul Ranking, is already qualified to enter the Heavenly Ranking, right?" Someone sucked in a sharp breath and said.

"Yeah. I heard he has now broken through to the peak of the Heaven Fusion Realm Middle Stage and is preparing to challenge the Heavenly Ranking..."

"Hehe, this is going to be entertaining. Huo Yun has occupied first place on the Divine Soul Ranking for over half a year. Originally, as long as he succeeded in challenging the Heavenly Ranking, he would naturally leave the Divine Soul Ranking. Who would have expected this to happen at the end? That guy is probably going to be furious..."

What should have been a graceful retirement had now turned into being directly driven off the ranking...

Since Huo Yun had long since reached the Heaven Fusion Realm, after someone squeezed him out of his rank, he would not drop one place according to the usual rules. Instead, he would disappear directly from the Divine Soul Ranking. It was practically the same as pressing Huo Yun's face to the ground and stomping on it twice.

Thus, even if Huo Yun no longer cared about his Divine Soul Ranking position, he would have to step forward at a time like this. Otherwise, he would lose face throughout the Northern Azure Spirit Academy. Even if he entered the Heavenly Ranking, he would likely still be looked down upon.

Quite a few people were already looking forward to an exciting battle...

At the same time, the light on the ranking slowly began to fade, finally transforming into a name in golden light.

First place on the Divine Soul Ranking: Liu Bai. Cultivating at the Northern Azure Spirit Academy for one day.

The atmosphere of the Northern Azure Spirit Academy seemed to fall silent in that instant.

Cultivating at the Northern Azure Spirit Academy for one day?

Was that not a new student who had only arrived at the Northern Azure Spirit Academy today?

A new student had actually driven the older students entrenched on the Divine Soul Ranking off the list? And taken first place at that?

But this silence lasted only an instant before it erupted explosively, like oil thrown into boiling water...

A new student had arrived on his first day and trampled every older student on the Divine Soul Ranking beneath his feet. How many years had it been since something like this happened at the Northern Azure Spirit Academy?

At this moment, countless new students were also excited. Who could have imagined that new students would have such a day!

Although the person at the top of the Divine Soul Ranking was not themselves, countless new students felt honored nonetheless.

Of course, there were also envious gazes, with some people muttering inwardly, "If people like Li Xuantong, Shen Cangsheng, Su Xuan, and Zhou Fan had not broken through to the Heaven Fusion Realm, how would an insignificant nobody like you have the chance to lord it over everyone here..."

Whether they were new students or older students, whether they envied him, resented him, or even took pleasure in his misfortune, Liu Bai did not care in the slightest. At present, he was simply looking at the number on his Spirit Value Token with a silent smile.

Thanks to reader 20200810133558132 for the continued tips, and thanks to Listening to the Purple Wind Chimes, Pipi Likes Drinking Orange Juice, and Emperor of the Heavenly Hall for their tips. I have had quite a few social engagements these past few days, so I can still only maintain one chapter per day.