Just how crazy talented do you have to be in order to leap straight up to first place on the very last day of the tournament?

The thing was, despite Nozawa being originally in the first place, his energy points were roughly half of what Gu Xiqiao had as of now. Not only did this girl surpass him by such a significant margin, her points were still rising up at a consistent rate.

Just how many mythical beasts had she slain in the past day? No doubt, it was downright genocide for those monsters in Bahuang Forest.

Countless international representatives held their breath as they watched the digit on the screen rise. Then, they simultaneously shifted their gaze over to Jiang Shuxuan, who was standing not far away from the scoreboard. His ink-dark eyes were glued onto the scoreboard, ignoring everything that was happening around him.

Some of these men started whispering to each other upon seeing that look in Jiang Shuxuan’s eyes.

“The ancient martial arts world has produced yet another batch of prodigies. This year’s selection competition is indeed exciting. I would venture to say that it is on par with the one held during your time.”

“Congratulations, Young Master Jiang.” The representative for the Japanese was noticeably frustrated when he said that.

Here he was, thinking that the first place was firmly in Nozawa’s grip. How could he have ever possibly foreseen that Gu Xiqiao would swoop in for the kill at the very last day? He had no idea who she was after all. He looked at her name on the scoreboard. The digits indicating the energy points she had accrued was still changing. The only thing that remained constant was her position at the very top of the board.

In the previous competition, Jiang Shuxuan outshone every other participant.

Seems like Gu Xiqiao was picking up where had he left off. It was nothing but pure bad luck for the other talents to be born into the same generation as these two prodigies.

The final scoreboard update had just been released.

Nozawa remained in second place, but what was most surprising was that out of the remaining eight participants in top ten, five were from China!

Expanding the list to top twenty, there were eight participants who were from China!

This was arguably the best their nation had ever achieved in this tournament. The international representatives were all in a state of disbelief, especially the one from Japan. The impact Gu Xiqiao had made on him was already more than what he had prepared for but the fact that the remaining two Japanese participants were thrown aside by these ten Chinese participants dealt the final blow against his morale.

Apart from Nozawa, the fact that two of his countrymen managed to make it in the top 100 list was already something worth celebrating. Too bad they were denied of that chance by these dreaded participants!

“I don’t buy it! They must be cheating in some way!” The representative of Japan shouted.

Jiang Shuxuan glanced at him but he remained silent.

The representative’s expression grew darker by the second. Perhaps he had mistaken Jiang Shuxuan’s actions as nervously averting his gaze, which explains why he grew increasingly confident.

That’s right. Who on earth could possibly reach the first place over the course of one single day? Despite knowing that the obsidian scoreboard had zero faults, Jiang Shuxuan was a sketchy character no matter how you looked at it. He could easily alter the rankings with just the snap of his fingers. That man could never be trusted.

The representative started convincing himself that this was the truth. However, he did not expect to receive a slap from one of his countrymen who had been eliminated from the competition.

“No, they’re not cheating! They’ve got to be the mythical beast reapers! It’s them!”

“They are incredibly strong. Judging by how powerful they are, I can attest that they are in no way cheating!”

“I knew it! I knew they’d make it into the top 100!”

“…”

This was the first time such a phenomenon happened in the arena. Ten people appeared out of thin air and not only were they not suspected of cheating by the ex-participants, nearly half of them had been transformed into obsessive fans? It was almost as if these people would be happier to see this weird ‘mythical beast reapers’ team win than themselves win.

The representatives all looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

***

The scene outside of Bahuang Forest was similar to this situation.

The ancient martial arts forum had officially gone haywire.

Anon no.15562: … first place?

The entire thread turned eerily silent for a moment before hell let loose in the next second, where the server was pushed to its limits.

Anon no.18888: First place! She got first place!

Anon no.20000: I’m going insane!

Anon no.25555: She really crushed Nozawa under her heel! Miss Gu! Only one word can describe her as of now! Powerful!

Anon no.27222: Heavens!

Anon no.31177: Miss Gu! Ancient Martial Arts World!

As the selection competition drew to an end, the name of Gu Xiqiao had now spread all around the globe. Following Jiang Shuxuan’s emergence, the ancient martial arts world had just produced yet another multi-talented figure, someone who even the Japanese had failed to produce after pouring in blood, sweat, and funds.

It was at the same time that the number of searches on the internet for Gu Xiqiao spiked.

“Master, it seems that there isn’t any information about her on the internet.”

“Sir, a search in our files yields nothing about this person.”

“Grandmaster, we were met with a blank page on the internet when searching for this individual.”

“…”

Despite how well-established their data was, these countries failed to come up with substantial information on Gu Xiqiao. They only knew that she was a Chinese national, currently studying in University A. She had interests in acting and painting but not a single strand of information could be found about her interactions with the ancient martial arts world.

***

“Beauty Qiao, don’t you think this move of yours is pretty low? No matter how I look at it, Yu Ning’s a much more tolerable fellow,” said Jiji who was holding onto the man-eating flower while shaking its head in disappointment.

The selection process had come to an end. Gu Xiqiao and the rest of the participants were transported out of the space together. It was raining cats and dogs outside and more than eighty thousand people were standing there, drenched from head-to-toe.

Gu Xiqiao held up the massive umbrella that Jiji passed over to her, which was sufficient to keep her nine other comrades dry.

“I never thought that I’d be able to climb up to the twelfth place.” Betty was still in a state of shock upon learning of her ranking. “And Master Cecil had just talked to me just now…”

Hans nodded in response to her statement. He too, never could have foreseen that he’d be able to make it into the top twenty list. It all seemed like a dream to him.

“I’m in the 18th spot damn it!” Wu Hongwen made a pained expression when he looked at Yin Shaoyuan. “Why were you guys able to make it into top ten while I’m here at bottom?”

A squad was walking past him when he said that. They all heaved as they suppressed the urge to vomit blood in response to Wu Hongwen’s unintentional humble brag.

Eighteenth place? And you’re still complaining? Do you know that you’re in the top eighteenth worldwide?! If you’re gonna complain about it, might as well give me that ranking of yours!

The squad left their faces devoid of emotion. Despite this, their hearts were writhing in pain.

Yin Shaoyuan glanced at the squad before returning to Wu Hongwen. He snorted at him. “Every time we train, all you do is push around those weaker than you. It’s not a surprise that you got eighteenth in this. Look at Xiao Yun, she’s eleventh place for crying out loud.”

“Wrong.” Xiao Yun added. “The one you should be comparing him to is Baili Wen, who has not even the most basic combat abilities.”

These words further fanned the flames of guilt in Wu Hongwen’s heart. Out of their ten-man team, his ranking was the lowest. Even Xiao Yun, who started out weaker than him got eleventh place in the competition. Tightening his fist, he swore to heaven, “I will lock myself up and train for a whole month when we get back!”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Yin Shaoyuan squinted at Wu Hongwen with eyes full of skepticism. Why did this boy have to pick up Qiao Qiao’s laid-back attitude?!

Wu Hongwen bowed his head out of embarrassment when he noticed the look in Yin Shaoyuan’s eyes.

Gu Xiqiao flashed a smile at Yin Shaoyuan. “Big Brother Yin, you make sure he does that when we get home. If he doesn’t do that, well…” She pinched her fingers together, which made her knuckles pop loudly.

Yin Shaoyuan patted her head. “Alright.”

Wu Hongwen peered up at her pretty face. His entire body shuddered when he heard Yin Shaoyuan’s reply. As much as he wanted to cry, not a single tear rolled down his cheeks. “Sigh, why don’t we talk about this. A whole month’s time may be a tad bit too long. I still have classes to attend…”

Xiao Yun casually glanced at him and replied, “Didn’t you say that you’ve completed the syllabus for your current semester after studying intensely for two months?”

Wu Hongwen went silent.

In the end, he crumbled under the hands of his own teammate.

“Miss Gu, where are you heading towards?” The rain was still coming down hard and Shi Qin was standing at the very edge of the umbrella. Owing to the size of the umbrella though, he remained largely dry. Gu Xiqiao stood under the umbrella’s center point, while being flanked by Yin Shaoyuan, Yao Jiamu and the rest. He asked the question from quite a distance away but her ears were still able to pick it up quite clearly.

Gu Xiqiao turned around and directed a smile at him, which was accompanied by a reply.

“Back to the capital.”

“The capital…” murmured Shi Qin to himself.

Yao Jiamu was reminded of Shi Qin’s presence when he asked that question. “Shi Qin, I’ve been in the ancient martial arts world for so long and yet I’ve never heard about you before. I assume that you’re not a part of them? If you’re interested, why not become a part of our Peace Manor…”

“Peace Manor?” Shi Qi was startled by the sudden mention of that place. He unconsciously stole a glance at Gu Xiqiao to find that she wasn’t looking over at him. Instead, she was staring at the teleportation array.

Before anything further could be said, a white flash filled their vision and out came a group of men.

At the forefront of the team was a tall figure.

In his hand was a black umbrella. He opened up the contraption as soon as he emerged from the teleportation array. Then, as the downpour continued, he approached their team. A thick layer of fog made it impossible to make out his face clearly but his presence noticeably brightened up the atmosphere.

Gu Xiqiao did not wait for him to approach her. She jogged over when he was only a few steps away from her.

She entered the cover of his umbrella before waving her team goodbye. Her smile was partially blocked by the heavy downpour and the scene seemed slightly unreal.

Still, it was rather obvious that she was feeling quite happy at the moment.

Jiang Shuxuan slowly looked up at the team, who he nodded towards as a greeting. He stared at Shi Qin for a couple of seconds before leaving with Gu Xiqiao clinging to his arm.

He had always maintained a policy of indifference towards others. Yao Jiamu and co had long grown used to this side of his. However, being on the receiving end of a greeting shocked Betty and Hans. “He just nodded at us! Did you see that?!” Betty proceeded to squeal like a fangirl at a concert.

Jiji glanced at Betty before he emotionlessly passed the giant umbrella over to Yin Shaoyuan. I mean, how much emotion would you expect from a robot in the first place? It then produced a cute little umbrella of its own before catching up with its master.

It’s mouth was still blabbering away as it did so. “I can’t believe you place more importance on your lover than your pet! A mountain can only hold one treasure, not two! Mark my words, Jiang Shuxuan. One day, I’ll… ah how can I possibly do that? Young Master Jiang, you have earned my respect!”

It’s sudden change in attitude was probably because of Jiang Shuxuan turning around. Jiji hid out of fear when he did so.

“I see Jiji has it rough too huh?” Yao Jiamu sighed.

Nearly everyone burst out into laughter after he said that.

Yao Jiamu turned over to Shi Qin. “So, have you made up your mind yet?”

Shi Qin slowly nodded his head at Yao JIamu. To be honest, there wasn’t much contemplation required as that offer was exactly what he had been hoping for all this while.

“Well then, welcome to Peace Manor!” Both Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun welcomed Shi Qin warmly. The former was miles ahead in terms of enthusiasm though. He was proudly introducing the place to Shi Qin when he was suddenly led away by Yin Shaoyuan. “He still needs to bring the good news back home. Don’t you interfere with that process.”

Wu Hongwen then turned around and yelled, “I’ll be waiting for you in the ancient martial arts world!”

“Alright, it’s also time for me to return to the ancient martial arts world as well.” Tang Qinghong waved his teammates goodbye. “We’ll meet again in the ranking tournament!”

As soon as he spun around, the Tang family standing beyond the teleportation array came into view. They stared at Tang Qinghong and Baili Wen with their faces full of shock. These people were all originally under Tang Qinghong, and yet when a dispute arose between him and Tang Wu, they chose to go with the latter. Only Yin Shaoyuan and Baili Wen foolishly stuck with Tang Qinghong. At this moment, a sense of regret swelled up in their hearts.

It had never crossed their minds back then that these three stooges would get into the top ten list!

They all saw the scoreboard the moment their team left Bahuang Forest. Tang Qinghong came in third, while Yin Shaoyuan came in two places behind him. Even Baili Wen, who did not possess any fighting skills was able to get the tenth place.

There were also the rumors about the notorious mythical beast reapers. To their surprise, the leader of that team was none other than Gu Xiqiao!

The feeling of regret was piling up in their hearts. If only they had stuck with Tang Qinghong from the beginning, perhaps they could have been a member of the mythical beast reapers? I mean, even Baili Wen whose strength was not enough to hold down a chicken was able to land a spot in the top ten list!

Resentment against Tang Wu started taking hold. Their faith in Tang Wu had been utterly and mercilessly crushed by Gu Xiqiao.

Tang Qinghong glanced nonchalantly at this group of men before leaving. Yao Jiamu’s words were still echoing through his mind. He shook his head and laughed. Peace Manor? After having witnessed their temperament firsthand, it seems increasingly likely that things are about to get lively for the ancient martial arts world.