Chapter 181 - The Scum Is Far-sighted

"It's almost dusk." Zheng Yi said as they looked at the sun that's descending the sky.

"How are the ranking list?" Jing Cheng asked.

"Cheng Sheng is in the first place." Zheng Yi answered.

He's really strong. They thought. Cheng Sheng was in the lower ranks before and was lazy. However, he suddenly started counterattacking. Of course, who wouldn't want to win? They thought and grinned.

Seeing their relaxed expression, Zheng Yi was relieved. "Chen Han and Sun Yi are in the second place." He continued. "Jing Cheng, Xi Ming and Yu Sheng are in the third place. Wu Xi, Fei Yin and Tang Zhe are in the fourth place." He said.

They were surprised. "Tang Zhe's place dropped?" they said.

"There were disagreement between the Huakai Sect and Kang Ce, and they were fighting amongst themselves." Zheng Yi explained and grimaced when they saw Tang Zhe's place dropped again. "Jing Bai, Jing Hei, Tang Zhe, Gong Xian and Shan Lu are in fifth place." He said. "Qian Lin, Jing Kang, Xi Xing and Feng Mo are in the sixth place. Li Tian, Kang Ce, Tang Yun and Xiao Le are in the seventh place. Xiong Si and Guo Cheng are in the eight place. Fu An…" he continued.

Outside the secret realm, everyone was aghast. "So many are competing in one place!" they said.

Seeing and hearing everyone's reaction, Zheng Fu Gong smiled. "This is the essence of the competition." He said.

The Alliance's elders and the sect leaders nodded in agreement. "Cheng Sheng is so fierce. He can still remain in the first place!" a sect leader can't help but speak.

"He even pushed down Chen Han and Sun Yi to second place!" another one said.

"That's a sword cultivator and a mage for you." Qian Shan said as he evaluates Cheng Sheng who was both using his talismans and spells, as well as his sword. "His swordsmanship isn't even lagging behind his alchemic skills." He added when they saw Cheng Sheng made a graceful turn and the next second, all the corpses around him dropped to the ground.

"Beautiful…" they muttered as they watched Cheng Sheng paralyzed the incoming walking corpses with his talismans.

"His sword isn't overshadowed by his alchemic skills." Fei Huang said as they watched Cheng Sheng slaughtered all the paralyzed walking corpses.

"It seems like the first place will be his." A sect leader said. Jing Rui just remained silent while Fei Huang just smiled. Tang Teng covered his face with his hand when he saw the Huakai Sect is slowly dropping out of the top ten. Li Nanzi clicked his tongue when he saw Kang Ce was held back by the Huakai Sect.

Xie Lan and Wu Yuan finally relaxed. Among all of the contestants, Cheng Sheng deserved to be in the first place the most.

Or, so they thought when they finally saw the results and all the contestants were forced out to teleport from the secret realm.

Everyone who saw Cheng Sheng is in the third place. "..." What the hell? They thought. Wasn't he first place earlier? And the gap of their scores are too big! How can Chen Han place first? They were puzzled as they looked at the final result of the third stage.

Sun Yi and Jing Cheng are in the second place. Cheng Sheng is in the third place. Xi Ming and Fei Yin are in the fourth place. Tang Zhe and Yu Sheng are in the fifth place. Jing Bai, Wu Xi and Gong Xian are in the sixth place. Jing Hei, Feng Mo and Xi Xing are in the seventh place. Jing Kang and Shan Lu are in the eight place. Qian Lin and Li Tian are in the ninth place. Guo Cheng and Xiao Le are in the tenth place. Tang Yun and Kang Ce are in the eleventh place. Xiong Si and Fu An, as well as the Huakai Sect disciples are in twelfth place to fifteenth place.

What surprised them the most is Kang Ce and Tang Yun! How far have they fallen?! "What the hell happened…?" they asked in confusion. Cheng Sheng has fallen to third place while Jing Cheng rose to the second place. "What's going on?" they added.

Zheng Yi who was holding his Cleansing Stone almost dropped it in surprise. "No. Wait…" he said as he walked to the big Cleansing Stone the moment they returned from the secret realm and stared hard at the ranking list. "This is - !" he exclaimed as his eyes widened. Jing Cheng, Jing Bai, Jing Hei, Jing Kang and Qian Lin were following behind him. He thought he was just mistaking things earlier, but now he confirmed what he saw.

It's real – the scores of Cheng Sheng's groups are changing before the dusk arrived!

Xi Ming and his group also looked at the Cleansing Stone to see their results. They didn't have the chance to see the final results earlier since they had to immediately leave the secret realm or it'll close and they'll be trapped inside. "This…" he muttered when he saw the ranking list.

Tang Zhe avoided Tang Teng's gaze as he brought his fellow disciples to see the ranking list. He was ashamed to see only he, Shan Lu and Guo Cheng made it into the top ten while Tang Yun and their fellow disciples weren't included.

The last but not the least is Cheng Sheng's group. The moment they reached the Cleansing Stone, everyone's gaze is on them. "We made it!" Cheng Sheng exclaimed when they saw the ranking list.

As if waking them from their stupor, what Cheng Sheng gave them an epiphany. "That's right!" someone exclaimed. "The Xinfaxian Sect disciples are all in the top ten!" he said.

"Not only that… but all of his teammates are in the top ten!" someone added.

They were all in an uproar. Zheng Yi was stunned. He did notice the change in their team's scores, but he didn't know for what reason it did. "I'm sorry…" he told the Zunjingde Sect and Qian Lin.

"What are you sorry for?" Jing Bai asked.

"I – " he said.

Jing Bai noticed the worry in his eyes. He smiled. "It's because of us. We didn't do well enough." He said and looked at Jing Rui sitting silently with the sect leaders.

"If only I paid more attention to the scores…" Zheng Yi said.

"You don't need to. It isn't included on your task." Jing Bai told him and patted his head. "Actually, I'm glad you didn't, since maybe you'd get yourself into trouble…" he said.

The Alliance's disciples' task is to only record the scores, show them the map as a navigation guide, and do some menial tasks. The third one is voluntary. However, to interfere with the team's decision is a violation. Also, transferring of points should be done by the Alliance's disciple only under the team leader's authority. Thus, Shu Mu could transfer the points of Cheng Sheng's team within their members since Cheng Sheng permitted him. This also should be done with trust between them. 

And so, under Cheng Sheng's instructions, Shu Mu evenly distributed their points. However, Zheng Yi couldn't since he has no authority nor Jing Cheng told him to aside from paying Cheng Sheng with the foods and magic pills and potions. Thus, the Xinfaxian Sect disciples managed to be all included in the top ten.

"First place – Chen Han of Youxiwang Sect!" Zheng Fu Gong announced the winners. "Second place – Sun Yi of Youxiwang Sect, and Jing Cheng of Zunjingde Sect!" he said. "This place – Cheng Sheng of Xinfaxian Sect!" he looked at the four people come up in front.

A round of applause was heard as the top three places were awarded. "Cheng Sheng is really amazing, ne? He pushed Xi Ming and Tang Zhe out the top three!" the audience whispered.

Xi Ming and Tang Zhe who heard it as they passed by after their name was called. "…" it's really hard to be a cultivator. You can hear everything including the things you don't want to hear. They thought as they received their reward. They could see Cheng Sheng's eyes are shining brightly even though he got third place.

The others also come up the stage to receive their respective reward.

"Huh?" Cheng Sheng said when he opened his reward.

Everyone looked at him in confusion. Who would open their reward in front of the person who gave it to them? They thought.

Cheng Sheng who's oblivious to their gaze and saw there are only high-quality magic pills inside included a piece of the Cleansing Stone. "..." Can I get a refund? He thought and his face darkened as he endured not to curse.

Zheng Fu Gong noticed the atmosphere changed and he cleared his throat. "Ehem. For the teams' rewards…" he said and opened two chests. When he saw Cheng Sheng's eyes gleamed and his expression turned brighter, he secretly sighed in relief. "Cheng Sheng's team and Jing Cheng's team!" he called.

"WOOOOH!!!" the audience cheered. Only Cheng Sheng and Jing Cheng had managed to get their teammates into the top ten.

"Sorry…" Fu An said to Xi Ming while Xiong Si lowered his head in shame.

Xi Ming smiled. "It's alright. As long as everyone is alive." He told them.

"Xi Ming…" they called, their eyes tearful as he looked at him. He's too pure! Too pure! They thought.

Meanwhile, Tang Zhe who saw Kang Ce and Tang Yun are still glaring at each other. Guo Cheng's face is slightly pale and Shan Lu's face is vacant. "…" please tell me it's too late to regret to have them as my fellow disciples. He thought and face-palmed.