Another Pitiful Character
Arriving at the meeting location, Xue Bai first took a moment to catch his breath. He had been running nonstop for almost 3 hours, and not only did his Spiritual Qi almost run dry but his physical strength had also been depleted.
Thankfully after swallowing some Qi Replenishing Pills, Xue Bai's face quickly regained some of its normal rosy color.
"Xue Bai, you're the last one. Hurry and get onto the airship." Luo Ye yelled out with a smile.
Xue Bai was the last person to arrive, and the 8 PM time limit was just about to end. And adding onto the fact that Luo Ye wanted to go back to the sect as soon as possible, he ended the trial at the sight of Xue Bai.
"But Senior Brother Luo Ye, what about the Wang Clan members, Shi Tian and Ye Xuan. Their clans won't let this matter drop if we leave without them." Another Inner Disciple remarked.
Which was something to be concerned about, as not to mention the powerful Ye and Shi subordinate clans, the Wang Clan was something to be scared off.
If they had to go over to the Wang Clan and break the news to Wang Yichen that their four most talented juniors in his clan had died in a simple entrance trial, there would be hell to pay.
"It's 8 PM right now, so since they're not here, that means they've failed the second trial. So even if their clans make a fuss, our Soaring Sword Sect is no soft persimmon either." Luo Ye waved his hand as he spoke.
Not knowing how to respond to Luo Ye's arrogant dismissal, the Inner Disciple could only nod his head and lower the airship to let Xue Bai on.
Jumping onto the airship once again, Xue Bai went over to Luo Ye.
"Senior Brother Luo Ye, where will we tally the score we accumulated during this trial?" Xue Bai asked.
"We will do so at the city square back at Soaring Sword City. After that, we will announce the third and final trial." Luo Ye answered with a smile showing a completely different attitude than what he showed with the other participant.
Unlike the other participant whom Luo Ye merely spoke to perfunctorily, Xue Bai was the real connection Luo Ye hoped to build during this year.
While that other participant was certainly talented for a Southern Continent youth, Xue Bai was on an entirely different level. Not only was Xue Bai the top talent in the Southern Continent, but even Soaring Sword Sect's main branch in the Central Continent, where geniuses were a dime a dozen, Xue Bai would still prosper as one of the best.
If Luo Ye managed to build a connection with Xue Bai, now before the child's rise, his future would be immeasurable!
When Xue Bai eventually advanced to the Xiantian Great Realm, and possibly even in the Late stages of it, as long as he favored relationships, even a tiny word or promise now would hold limitless value should Luo Ye hold it for the future.
Thinking about this, Luo Ye's smile became deeper and deeper, to the point where it somewhat scared Xue Bai off, making him back up a few steps.
"Senior Brother, I will be taking my leave. The run back has exhausted both my physical body and made my Dantian run dry." Then, cupping his fists respectfully, Xue Bai quickly backed away from Luo Ye.
'That smile was creepy. It was like I was a naked beauty in front of a pervert.' Xue Bai shivered as he walked away as fast as he could.
After spending a few years in this body, Xue Bai had very astute senses when it came to perverts, and this Luo Ye was turning on a few alarms in Xue Bai's mind.
Mentally noting down not to interact with that odd Senior Brother anymore, Xue Bai quickly found himself a room that was unoccupied and began to meditate.
While he regained his breath and some Spiritual Qi, Xue Bai was still running on fumes currently. And while he wanted to just hit the pillow and go to sleep, he knew the airship ride wouldn't take long. So instead of sleeping, he planned to meditate and regain some energy before attending the final count when they arrived back at Soaring Sword City.
After swallowing a few more Qi Replenishing pills, Xue Bai continued to meditate. The trip back would only last a few hours, and Xue Bai wanted to make the best out of them.
Deep in meditation and without a sense of time, Xue Bai focused on regaining his Spiritual Qi peacefully until his spatial ring buzzed out of nowhere.
Opening his eyes to the sudden disturbance, Xue Bai went to look at the message that awakened him. Checking it, Xue Bai noticed that Xiao'er had messaged him after she noticed that he hadn't gotten off the ship yet.
Putting on an awkward smile that explained his thoughts profoundly, Xue Bai stood up to leave, albeit reluctantly.
After Xue Bai left the room before making it back to the deck of the ship, he easily found the rest of the participants exiting the airship that had landed.
"Young Duke Xue, the ranking ceremony will be held in the square. Please make your way off the airship." An Inner Disciple gently reminded, seeing Xue Bai look slightly confused.
Thanking the man, Xue Bai quickly made his way off of the airship, where he saw a huge stage set up in the middle of the once-emptied-out city square.
There, on top of the stage, was a huge screen, resembling the mega screens at sporting events, that listed the top 1000 scores for the second trial.
The lowest score, place 1000, was currently only 600. However, that was mainly because less than a quarter of the participants had their scores tallied.
Xue Bai estimated that the 1000th place would have around 1000 points, so this 600 wouldn't last long.
The first was somewhat eye-catching, though, as instead of showing a point total, it showed 'Killed three Qi Sea Realm demonic beasts.' This was extremely surprising, as the strongest person attending was the Peak of the Organ Tempering Realm.
And while many geniuses could cross stages to fight, crossing Realms was much harder, especially with the Qi Sea Realm being the largest gulf in power one would gain advancing past a Realm.
The difference between a peak stage Organ Tempering Realm cultivator and a 1st stage Qi Sea Realm was almost the difference between a teenager and an adult.
A Qi Sea Realm cultivator had access to long-range attacks, Martial and Movement Techniques, and so many other things that could make a huge difference in the upcoming fight.
And the difference in power didn't lower between a demonic beast and a human either. As when a demonic beast finally advanced to the Qi Sea Realm, they finally inherit their bloodline memories, allowing them to gain bloodline abilities no less powerful than some Martial Techniques humans used.
So for a youth to kill a demonic beast in the Qi Sea Realm was surprising for Xue Bai. However, once he saw the person's name, something clicked in him.
"Ye Rou? Isn't that the Sect Leader's second disciple?" Xue Bai remembered the girl's name.
While she couldn't be called cannon fodder due to her strength in the game, she basically was. Wang Yu lusted after the girl during his stay at the Soaring Sword Sect, and 9 times out of 10, he would usually end up kidnapping her before abandoning the sect.
There after being kidnapped would have a slave seal branded onto her soul, turning herself into one of Wang Yu's many sword slaves.
Overall a tragic ending for such a beautiful and talented woman, so after remembering her name, Xue Bai felt pity for her.
However, only so much. He wouldn't go out of his way to save every character with a tragic ending, even if they were a sky-toppling beauty.
Huo Chen was the only exception as he was a loyal subordinate to his father and deserved the rescue, but this Ye Rou was a random girl he had never even so much seen before. So how could he go out of his way and save her?
Shaking his head in dismissal, Xue Bai made his way to the stage.
It was time to show off again!