Chapter 159: Top of the Rankings

"He ran away! You guys leave first, I'll be right behind."

After kicking the young man into the fog, Jiang Li left behind this sentence before his feet followed into the fog.

"Senior Brother Jiang, be careful!"

Shenshan Qiuhua also wanted to chase after them to help, but due to the two injured people in her hands, she could only put them back to the ground before riding her flying sword into the fog.

However, with Jiang Li's speed, she could no longer see where he was after a few seconds of delay.

...

At this moment, Jiang Li had already entered the coffin space.

Inside, the young man who had been kicked in was beaten up by eleven sect disciples as soon as he entered.

He was already heavily injured and his spiritual qi was exhausted. How could he be a match for these elites?

Not long after, he lay on the ground with a bloody nose and a swollen face. All his artifacts had been stripped off. In order to prevent him from hiding any more treasures, he was not even left with a pair of underpants. Then, he was tied up by the spiritual root clone with vines.

When Jiang Li entered, he saw a tied-up man who was being judged by eleven cultivators.

He looked frightened and somewhat in shock. It seemed that he had never expected to be treated like this.

He still spat out some threatening words, trying to use the influence of the faction behind him to scare others.

"How is it, friend? Who is regretting it now?"

The spiritual root clone and Jiang Li's minds were connected, and it immediately sent the young man to Jiang Li's feet as the latter stepped ruthlessly.

Needless to say, it was purely humiliation.

Where did this guy get his courage from? From the beginning to the end, he looked at them with disdain, as if he was superior to them.

When facing Jiang Li's two fellow disciples, he did not hold back at all and attacked with his killer moves.

Jiang Li felt that this guy had to learn the reality of the world.

The youth looked at the foot that stepped on his body, his expression contorting in shock as he felt intense anger and humiliation.

However, he was at the mercy of someone after all. He no longer had any ability to resist, so he could only forcefully calm down and speak to Jiang Li.

However, it was still not begging for mercy, but offering a deal.

"Take your filthy foot off me! Let me go!"

"I am from the Immortal Ascension Pavilion's headquarters. If you kill me, you will suffer endless retribution."

"Believe me, your sect won't offend us for a mere Qi Refinement realm disciple like you."

Jiang Li looked at the person under his feet in surprise.

Although his voice was trembling as he spoke, under such circumstances, it was already quite difficult for him to clearly analyze the consequences.

He did not refute the guy. Why would the Immortal Ascension Pavilion attack the Scripture Storage Valley for a Qi Refinement realm cultivator? From this guy's artifacts, it could be seen that his identity was definitely not ordinary.

Jiang Li did not reply and gestured for the other party to continue.

When this young man saw Jiang Li's reaction, he thought that his threat had succeeded, and he immediately became excited while his tone became much more smooth.

"Let me go. As compensation, I can give you all the artifacts in my possession. That's five Profound-rank artifacts and a storage artifact. They're priceless! It'll absolutely satisfy you!"

"Moreover, don't worry. I can guarantee that this is a fair trade. After this, I definitely won't take revenge on you."

The youth knew that he did not have much of a chance to bargain. Since the artifacts had already been snatched away, it was impossible for this guy to return them. It was already a blessing if he could use such a guarantee to exchange for a way out.

As long as he could leave this place alive, with the Immortal Ascension Pavilion backing him, he would be able to take back everything.

In his mind, he was already planning how to continue bargaining after Jiang Li rejected him. As long as Jiang Li became greedy and took the initiative to ask for the ransom from the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, he was confident that he could be sent back to the elder.

"Oh, really? Since you plan to give me these things, introduce them to me first."

However, Jiang Li was unexpectedly easy-going. After hearing his suggestion, he did not show any interest, but he did not refuse either.

After removing the foot that was stepping on the guy, he inspected the row of artifacts on the ground under the young man's introduction.

After being robbed, he still had to explain the stolen items. This feeling made him feel a little strange.

However, he had no choice but to bow his head. As long as he could return alive! As long as he could return alive!

This time, Jiang Li's spoils of war were extraordinarily abundant. When he was fighting with his opponent, he specially avoided these artifacts and allowed them to be preserved intact. At most, they would be slightly out of spiritual qi.

The two Dark Red Walnut Redwood Beads were a low-grade Profound-Rank wood attribute long-ranged artifact.

The emerald green short staff, Tiger Staff, was a medium-grade Profound-rank wood attribute main combat artifact.

The pair of sapphire earrings were both low-grade Profound-rank water attribute healing and defensive artifacts.

The Pure Spiritual Jade Token was a medium-grade Profound-rank spiritual qi support artifact without any attribute.

In the end, he even had a spatial pouch that was two cubic meters in size.

Each of these items was a treasure, and all of them were top-tier among items of the same grade. Even Jiang Li could not help but feel a little tempted when he saw them.

These artifacts would be of great help to him.

"Your Immortal Ascension Pavilion is really rich. You're actually willing to put all these artifacts on a Qi Refinement realm cultivator. Aren't you afraid that others will snatch them away?"

"Or is it that after taking your things, we will suffer some terrifying revenge, so you're not afraid of being targeted?"

Jiang Li picked up the tiger staff and waved it twice in his hand. It was rather refreshing. Speaking of which, he was a Yin-Wood attribute cultivator, but he had never used an artifact that matched his attribute. It was quite strange.

The young man instantly panicked when he heard Jiang Li's words, and he hurriedly explained.

"Our Immortal Ascension Pavilion has always valued honesty. Even under such circumstances, we will never go back on our words. You can rest assured about this. If you don't believe me, we can sign the contract…"

After all, his life was still in someone else's hands. If the other party was afraid of revenge and directly killed him, then how regretful would he be?

This youth did everything he could to stabilize Jiang Li and make him believe the words so that he could live.

However, contracts were only useful to low-level cultivators without strength or background.

There were more than one way to break the contract for high-level cultivators and sects. His words were actually not very convincing.

"Sign a contract? No, no, no, there's no need to go through so much trouble. I believe in you. You definitely won't betray me…"

"You just need to eat this."

The spiritual root clone stretched out a vine. On it hung a spiritual root seed without any skin or flesh.

Jiang Li removed the seed, then very kindly brought the seed to the other party's mouth, indicating that he should eat it directly.

"What's this? You don't have to do this. I really won't take revenge."

The young man did not really want to eat such strange things, but Jiang Li just smiled at him and completely ignored what he said.

Obviously, even if it was poison, he had to eat it.

"Then… alright."

The youth put the seed into his mouth, still thinking of hiding it in his mouth to try to bluff his way out.

Furthermore, even if he was discovered, he could just eat it. With the standards of the Immortal Ascension Pavilion's medical cultivators and alchemists, they could resolve any slow-acting poison.

Trying to use poison to control him was laughable.

The youth had a good plan. Since the other party had even taken out poison, it was obvious that he did not want to kill him. Otherwise, there would be no need for so much trouble.

Therefore, he did not resist much and put the seed into his mouth.

However, as soon as the seed entered his mouth, an extremely tempting and sweet taste surged forth. He could not help but grunt as he swallowed it.

'Eh? I clearly didn't want to swallow it.'

Once the spiritual root seed entered his stomach, it was already too late to spit it out.

The seed disappeared without warning in his stomach. Immediately, the youth's consciousness became more and more blurry, and he slowly closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, the fear in them had completely disappeared. The spiritual root clone controlled the vines to release him. The young man turned around and knelt on one knee in front of Jiang Li.

The other eleven disciples knelt down and shouted in unison.

"Master!"

Jiang Li nodded in satisfaction. Through his spiritual root clone, he could clearly sense their loyalty. He then picked up the few artifacts on the ground.

"Oh right, what's your name again?" Jiang Li asked the youth.

"Master, my name is Huangfu Tai."

The disciple from the Immortal Ascension Pavilion headquarters hurriedly replied.

The parasitism of the spiritual root seed was like the ant queen to the worker ants, making the parasitic cultivator obey unconditionally. However, it could not read memories together like a Parallel Mind. Therefore, there were still some things that needed to be asked.

"Hmm, Huangfu Tai, remove all the markings on these artifacts."

Jiang Li gave an extremely overbearing order, but there was not the slightest hint of displeasure on the face of this Huangfu Tai.

"Yes, master."

He was even grateful for his usefulness. With that, he shut his eyes and obeyed.

A moment later, Huangfu Tai's pale face became even paler. He knelt on the ground and was about to collapse.

It was the spiritual root clone who extended a vine and pierced into his navel. After instilling quite a bit of vitality and spiritual qi into him, he did not faint on the spot.

It was normal for him to receive injuries after severing so many deeply related artifacts.

Although Huangfu Tai was already his subordinate, others did not and could not know about it.

Jiang Li had his own plans for the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, so he naturally had to put on a show.

In addition, Jiang Li was indeed quite interested in these artifacts.

He mobilized his spiritual qi with all his might, and dense Wood-Yin spiritual qi wrapped around a few artifacts. Under the condition that he did not care about the expenditure of his spiritual qi, he quickly completed the initial refinement.

But then he stopped.

If he increased the degree of refinement, he could control the artifacts more freely and make their power higher. However, these few artifacts were not worth it.

Jiang Li hung the Pure Spiritual Jade Token on his chest and forcefully pierced two holes in his ears, wearing the pair of sapphire earrings.

A large amount of pure high-grade spiritual qi surged into the jade pendant and the sapphire earrings.

The three artifacts that had consumed a lot of spiritual qi were soon filled with energy again and emitted a gentle and warm glow.

"Then, let's see if the temporary amplification effect of an artifact is considered a status."

Jiang Li formed hand seals and forcefully utilized the three artifacts. He used a method that would damage the artifacts themselves to release their power at maximum output.

Immediately, two blue lights and a white light appeared on his body.

[Activated the effect of the Pure Spiritual Jade Token. Added Status: Spirit Nourishment]

[Spirit Nourishment: Spiritual qi strength below the Core Formation realm will be increased by 100%. The upper limit of spiritual qi will be temporarily increased by 8,000 points. Duration: 300 seconds] (− +)

[Activated the effect of the Lake Heart Earrings (Right) Artifact. Added Status: Lake Heart Protection.]

[Lake Heart Protection: Water attribute spiritual qi defense will be formed on the surface of the body to spread out the effect of attacks and reduce lethality. The upper limit of this defensive layer is against the Late-stage Foundation Establishment realm. Duration: 300 seconds] (− +)

[Activated the effect of the Lake Heart Earrings (Left) Artifact. Added Status: Lake Heart Healing]

[Lake Heart Healing: …] (− +)

Jiang Li's guess was correct. This method could be established.

If he simply let the artifact augment his body, then it would definitely be unable to form a status effect.

However, if he were to stimulate the effect of the artifact and use it on himself, it would form an amplification status that would gradually dissipate with time. In this way, it would be within the scope of his cheat.

Jiang Li casually removed the earrings and jade token. These three artifacts were already useless to him.

The effects of these three artifacts were indeed not bad.

It was impossible for a normal cultivator at the late-stage Qi Refinement realm to withstand three strikes from Jiang Li and survive.

This showed how powerful the artifacts were.

First of all, the healing effect of the Lake Heart Healing status was naturally inferior to the entire set of recovery statuses on Jiang Li's body. However, it could also serve as an icing on the cake. It was not a bad addition.

The other two statuses were more important.

Lake Heart Protection had a special ability to disperse attacks. This meant that if Jiang Li was attacked by flying swords again, the piercing effect would be greatly weakened against him, which would greatly reduce the pressure on his defense.

This water attribute protective layer could also withstand attacks of Foundation Establishment realm strength several times. It practically doubled Jiang Li's defense when he did not use the Overlord Body Art.

He had grown tankier.

As expected of a medium-grade Profound-rank artifact, the final [Spirit Nourishment] status not only doubled the strength of his spiritual qi, but it also increased the upper limit of Jiang Li's current spiritual qi storage.

Just this effect was enough to make his spell technique's effect not inferior to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In short, these three statuses did not cause a qualitative change in Jiang Li's strength. It only allowed his strength to double once more. Yes… it was merely better than nothing.

Jiang Li walked out of the coffin space with a smile. Behind him, twelve figures followed suit.

"Remember, be yourself. Do what you must."

"Especially you, Huangfu Tai. Since I robbed you, don't forget to bring people to take revenge on me."

After he gave the last order, everyone suddenly changed their expressions like they did not know each other at all. They each found a direction and quickly left.

Jiang Li also put away the coffin and walked towards the direction he came from.

...

As expected, the two fellow disciples and Shenshan Qiuhua did not leave him behind. Instead, they waited on the spot.

Jiang Li threw a token that appeared in his hand over, and it was caught by Mu Luo who hurriedly stood up.

"Senior Brother Mu, Senior Sister Iron Thorn, I'll return this token to its original owner."

"Junior Sister Qiuhua, you've waited long. Let's go out together."

When the three of them saw Jiang Li return, they all revealed happy expressions. Mu Luo and Lady Iron Thorn were so grateful that they did not know what to say.

After some pleasantries, the four of them walked towards the finish line.

There was no need to consider the maze or the poisonous fog. They simply walked straight through the layers of the fog wall. It only took them half a day to complete the final distance and step out of the Misty Mountain Range.

Jiang Li and Shenshan Qiuhua walked at the front, chatting and laughing. The little princess of the Shenshan Clan, who had never had much social experience, was curious about everything. She spoke with Jiang Li very easily, and their relationship became much closer. It was as if they had been good friends for many years.

Mu Luo and Lady Iron Thorn walked behind them. As they only had one token, they could only use their fingers to tie the token in the middle.

They did not speak much along the way, but it seemed to have developed into a rather ambiguous atmosphere.

However, if these two people became Dao Companions, with this senior sister's personality and that Iron Thorn Whip, Mu Luo, this sword practitioner, would probably have a difficult time in the future.

After walking out of the four mountains, the temporary destination was not far away.

From afar, one could see a jade list standing there. There was not a single name on it.

There were only two cultivators standing guard below the jade board. When they saw Jiang Li and the others coming out, they did not react for a long time.

It was obvious that they had not expected anyone to reach the end so quickly.

"You are participating cultivators? So fast?"

"Gasp! They even obtained three tokens… this… they are truly disciples of Shu Mountain and Scripture Storage Valley!"

The two Foundation Establishment Cultivators were shocked before one of the older cultivators recalled the important matter.

"Cough cough, congratulations on passing the first round of the test!"

"Please leave your names on this jade board. Which of you is first on the list?"

The ranking on the jade board originally did not have any substantial benefits.

However, this was the Great Mountain Cultivator Competition, and it could be said to be a major event that made one famous throughout the world. As long as one could ascend to the jade board, their name would be talked about enthusiastically, let alone be ranked at the top.

That could bring about a huge reputation that ordinary people could not imagine, especially in the righteous path. Sometimes, reputation and strength were just as useful.

However, faced with such tempting honor, the other three did not have the slightest intention of fighting for it. They all looked directly at Jiang Li.

Jiang Li smiled and didn't act modestly as he walked forward and reported his name.

The registered cultivator looked at Jiang Li in surprise.

After all, he was still very young. Although Shenshan Qiuhua looked younger than Jiang Li, the reputation of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak was there. It was very easy to accept her as the number one.

However, no one expected Jiang Li to be unanimously acknowledged by the others as the top of the rankings. It was not the two older cultivators nor was it the Shu Mountain disciple, but the seemingly ordinary and slightly burly Jiang Li.

Outsiders did not know what it represented, but the Scripture Storage Valley's Jiang Li's name was on the jade board for the first round of the Qi Refinement realm competition just like that.

After him, the second place was the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak's disciple, Shenshan Qiuhua.

The third and fourth were Mu Luo and Lady Iron Thorn.

Out of the top four positions on the jade board, the Scripture Storage Valley directly occupied three this time. It would probably make the other sects red-eyed.