Chapter 106: The Chief

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Ma Yi seemed to be leading this war, relentlessly pursuing the wounded great monster. Witnessing the monster’s miserable state, almost all the creatures, as if they had lost their core, retreated frantically. After all, Ma Yi’s overwhelming strength had deeply imprinted itself in the hearts of all the monsters.

At an ancient training ground, amid a wave of spatial fluctuations, a dazzling spatial portal reopened. The elders seated around the training ground all shuddered. They had participated in this trial before and understood its difficulty well. This trial was somewhat like a genuine coming-of-age ceremony, subjecting every living human to a baptism of blood and fire. After all, this trial only opened once every ten years.

Yet no one expected the portal to open again after just a month—truly the fastest occurrence in thousands of years.

The first to appear from the portal were Di Xi and a group of servants from the Di family and their allied forces, bringing great joy to the elders of the Di family present.

“Excellent, excellent. Not a single son of the Di family is missing. Very good,” one elder said, his face flushed with excitement, a stark contrast to Di Xi’s ashen expression.

“Greetings, Great Ancestor,” Di Xi said ashen-faced, bowing deeply.

“Xiao Xi, you’ve done well. Not one of our sons is missing this time,” the elder said cheerfully, patting Di Xi’s shoulder, which only deepened Di Xi’s grim expression.

“What’s wrong? You don’t look well. Why such a pale face?” the elder asked, puzzled, as this was unlike Di Xi’s usual character and this restrained behavior was strange.

Before Di Xi could respond, a second group emerged from the portal—consisting of members from smaller families or wandering cultivators. They were greeted by their mentors and elders, though some remained behind, their mentors wearing grim expressions.

Following the wandering cultivators, the third group appeared: servants and affiliated forces from the Huang, Zhou, and Qin families, along with some other major powers. They greeted each other with laughter and bows before heading toward their respective clan elders. Although the scene initially seemed chaotic, once they reached their clan patriarchs, their formation was clear and filled with renewed vigor.

The patriarchs present cast sharp gazes. It was evident that the third group was stronger than the second, and even those who were relatively weaker before had now greatly improved.

“Finally back,” Huang Fei stepped forward first, scanning the surroundings excitedly. Spotting his family’s position, he smiled and stood before the portal in anticipation.

Everyone understood from Huang Fei’s demeanor that his brother must be among those following. This young man’s strength had already reached mid-level Tier 10. Could his brother have broken through to the Extraordinary Realm? No, the trial ground didn’t allow surpassing the entry-level realm.

Still, it was clear that the later someone appeared, the stronger they were. Why then did the Di family appear first? Di Xi was at least a peak Tier 10 existence, wasn’t he?

“Here comes Huang Du,” indeed, after Huang Fei came Huang Du. Though also a peak Tier 10, his aura was much stronger than Di Xi’s, as if one were a child and the other in his prime.

“Huang Du stopped as well,” people whispered.

“Here’s Zhou Wen. No surprise—such a genius also reached peak Tier 10. When he entered, he was only early Tier 10,” another said.

“Isn’t there Qin Tian? Oh, Zhou Wen stopped too. Could Qin Tian be the strongest? The Qin family truly is among the pinnacle clans. Qin Tian lives up to his reputation as a genius,” the Qin family patriarch overheard the murmurs and smiled broadly.

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“Indeed, Qin Tian, the genius of the Qin family, has reached peak Tier 10. He must be the strongest among this trial’s participants.”

“Huh? Why is Qin Tian standing there?”

“Another one is coming out—late Tier 10? How can it be a late Tier 10 youth? Who is this? Which family does he belong to?” The elders looked curiously at the last young man emerging from the portal. None seemed to recall him.

“Brother Ma, thank you so much this time. Don’t worry, if anything happens to the Di family, rest assured, our three clans will never let them off easy,” Qin Tian said with a smile.

“Yes, Brother Ma, don’t worry. I, Zhou Wen, always keep my word,” Zhou Wen added.

“Our Huang family will also do our best,” Huang Du hurriedly declared.

After expressing their intentions, the men returned to their respective camps.

At this moment, an elder with white hair yet youthful features stepped up onto the training ground’s platform. With a wave of his hand, wooden green tokens shot from the clothes, pockets, and space pouches of everyone present, flying into the sky above the training ground.

“Five hundred young participants set off for the trial. We now recall three hundred and nineteen green wooden tokens,” the elder announced, casting a shadow over the crowd.

None had expected that even with such a smooth trial, one hundred eighty-one had perished.

“This trial can be said to be a feat in a thousand years—completed in the shortest time and with the most survivors,” the elder with white hair and a youthful face smiled.

“Even in ten thousand years, this ranks among the top three in terms of survivors. This is very gratifying. Moreover, it took only slightly over a month—the fastest in thousands or even tens of thousands of years. This is truly unprecedented. Now, I will begin calculating the rankings.”

“Oh right, the Butcher mentioned something about top ten rankings. I completely forgot. How is the ranking calculated? I have no faction or anything—is that a disqualification?” Ma Yi suddenly recalled an important matter, growing anxious even though he knew Yue Ji stood at a certain position. Still, he was uneasy.

“Let’s look from the bottom up,” the white-haired elder waved his sleeve. The green wooden tokens parted to create a large space. Several tokens descended from the chaotic swarm, stopping in the center of the training ground. A green beam projected from each token, displaying an image and a number.

“This…” The crowd erupted, finally understanding why Di Xi’s group emerged so early.

The images projected on the tokens were of Di Xi and his servants. Beside many of them was a large zero, while the image of You Sun bore a seven, and Di Xi only had a three.

“Next!” The elder waved his hand again, more tokens dropping from the chaotic swarm to join those above, forming a picture wall. Viewing the numbers beside them, most were no higher than nineteen. These were mostly servants. Although Di Xi’s number was only three, several of his bodyguards were among this row.

“More!” The elder continued. The tokens in the air steadily diminished, while the picture wall grew taller. Everyone knew the higher the position, the higher the rank.

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As the token picture wall rose, the number of tokens decreased. Peak Tier 10 elites like Huang Fei had numbers reaching six or seven hundred.

Huang Du had nine hundred ninety-seven, nearly reaching four digits.

Zhou Wen had one thousand eight hundred eighty-five, nearly double Huang Du.

Qin Tian had one thousand nine hundred thirty-four.

When Qin Tian’s token appeared, only a few tokens remained flying in the air. All eyes turned to Ma Yi standing there. At the elder’s wave, the last token landed atop the picture wall. Upon seeing the image displayed, all silently acknowledged the truth.

This token belonged to Ma Yi, and the number beside it shocked everyone.

Sixteen thousand three hundred twelve—a number recognized instantly by the elders. Though some hadn’t entered due to age or strength limits, they all knew what this number signified.

“Begin,” the white-haired elder waved his hand, and the tokens shifted shape, dividing into two groups. Observant eyes saw one group for Tier 9 and above, and another for Tier 10.

The elder’s hand emitted a golden light striking the tokens. Many began moving, tokens clashing with each other in battle. Some tokens, like Zhou Wen’s and Qin Tian’s, remained unmoved. At the very top, Ma Yi’s token was the most attacked, nearly every Tier 10 token having struck it. Yet, despite the onslaught—even ganged-up attacks—this token remained firmly at the summit.

Defeated tokens continued to battle each other until the losers dropped to the ground, collected by the elder into his sleeve.

“Results are in.” In just over ten minutes, over three hundred tokens descended chaotically, leaving only ten tokens spinning freely in the sky.

Qin Tian and Zhou Wen understood that the green wooden tokens recorded their very first move, determining superiority instantly. They focused on their tokens and Ma Yi’s. Unexpectedly, when their tokens jointly attacked Ma Yi’s, their combined strikes were repelled upon contact.

The two had sparred with Ma Yi in the trial ground, each holding back. Both believed they could defeat Ma Yi if they unleashed their full strength. After all, Ma Yi was only late Tier 10, while they were peak Tier 10. Zhou Wen was confident he could fight mid-Extraordinary Realm opponents undefeated. Yet they never imagined Ma Yi’s ultimate move was stronger, absorbing their strongest attacks without the token stirring.

No wonder so many peak Tier 10 tokens united in attack could not budge Ma Yi’s token even slightly.