"Your Majesty," King Jin arrived next to the platform a few seconds after Alex arrived outside. "You came out?"
"Yes," Alex said. "I must say I made some mistake not preparing more."
"No, you did great your majesty," King Jin said. "For a first timer, you did amazing. Look, you are in the top 100."
Alex turned around to where the King was pointing and saw that he had arrived somewhere around 78th rank. He had stayed inside for 3 weeks at most, and that had resulted in him coming as high as 78.
"Oh, I actually did do well," he couldn't help but say. Had he actually tried, he would have most likely beaten the entire thing. But, Alex didn't worry about that.
In fact, it was better to not keep the attention on himself during these moments. The more lowkey he could remain in events such as this, the more he could move around without alerting the others.
"78 is not bad, right?" he asked.
"It's a respectable rank, especially when you consider that you were up against folks that had plenty of experience before you," the King said.
Alex nodded. "Where are the rest?" he asked.
"Waiting back at the building," the King said. "Let us leave."
Alex walked away with the King, quickly going over to where the other elders were waiting for him. He accepted their words of consolation, some saying that he could try again next year.
Alex accepted what they said and sat by them to wait for the remainder of the matches to finish.
He spoke about his experience inside the abyss with his two elders, explaining how everything was. He went through his journey there which was quite monotonous for the most part.
The surrounding individuals who could hear him were quite perplexed at the description as they remembered being very nervous and easily startled inside the abyss.
They had to be alert at every moment to make sure someone didn't sneak up on them. Given how weak their spiritual sense was when compared to the rest of the people that were in there the first time around, that could only be the experience everyone felt.
Most couldn't help but wonder if Alex was trying to show off and appear nonchalant while hiding what he had actually gone through.
Talia came out from the abyss a while later, ranking around 65. She arrived where the group was under King Jin's calling, and started talking about what had happened.
"I had a necklace!" she shouted. "But I ran out of spiritual stones in the end and my formation stopped working."
She sounded quite bitter. "I should have taken more out right here, but I thought 20 would be enough. I was wrong," she said.
"Is 65 not better than what you reached last year though?" the King asked.
"It is, your majesty, but I wanted more. Ugh, I should have taken 25 with me. Next year, I'll wear a robe with a lot of pockets to keep them on me," she said.
The group chuckled at her words.
"You did better than me, congratulations," Alex said in the end.
"I saw your rank, your Majesty. You did extremely well considering you had no idea what the Abyss even was just a year ago," she said. "For a first-timer, this sort of rank is beyond amazing."
"So everyone says," Alex smiled.
"Well, there's no point in you trying to win this anyway," the King said. "It's not like you need something that the winner gets, do you?"
"Fame, was that it?" Alex asked. "The entire continent finds out that it was your sect that stood victorious in the Abyss. There is no better advertisement for your sect than that, is there?"
"Yes," King Jin nodded. "Well, I also allow the top 100 free entry to the Hundred Blossom Valley as another piece of reward, but that doesn't matter much according to the ranking. Not that many accept either."
"They don't?" Alex was a little surprised.
"Not many know about plants, so they find it unnecessary to go there. They wouldn't benefit from going there, so they don't," the King said.
"Of course," Alex nodded.
The group continued waiting for more and more people to come out until only 5 remained.
Xue Xiulan of the Beast Supremacy Sect.
Luo Bohan of the Spears Peak sect.
Cui Qiaopan of the True Gold Palace.
Su Railin of the Ice Mist Palace.
And finally, Fang Yimu of the Cloud Iron sect.
Once these 5 remained, the crowd waited in anticipation as each person sent out meant another one would get that much closer to winning it all.
25 days had passed since the entire thing began and it was the day the first of the 5 were sent out.
Cui Qiaopan, a tiny but older woman came out from the Abyss. Everyone saw her disappointment, which she tried to hide by quickly leaving the platform.
A day later, another person came out.
Luo Bohan, a young man from the Spears Peak sect arrived on the platform and quickly turned around to look back at the ranking that hung in the air. Realizing that he was 4th, he cursed loudly before walking away.
Only 3 remained, and for 2 days no one came out. Then, Su Railan was sent out. The girl from the Ice Mist Palace looked at her ranking, clicked her tongue, and left.
Now, only two remained.
The crowd watched expectantly, wondering who the next person to win would be. Would it be Xue Xiulan? Or would last year's champion, Fang Yimu remain victorious yet again?
Everyone was on the edge of their seat as the last result was ready to come out. Time passed slowly for the expectant ones, especially those from the Cloud Iron sect and the Beast Supremacy sect.
A month had already passed, but neither came out still. And yet, no one had lost their enthusiasm to see the victor.
Then, at once, two people arrived on the platform at the same time. Xue Xiulan and Fang Yimu had both arrived.
One a victor, another not.
The only way to tell was to look at the rankings.
Everyone's eyes turned to the rankings as they updated at once. Xue Xiulan, the young man from the Beast Supremacy sect looked to his left and saw Fang Yimu.
Seeing her, his eyes unfocused for a second out of confusion before reality hit him. He turned his head toward the ranking and then he saw it.
His name was in the second place.
Fang Yimu looked around, a little fearful for a moment, but she had experienced coming out at once before. She quickly turned toward the ranking as a smile formed on her face.
She raised her fists to the sky and screamed in celebration. "WOOHOO!" She had returned victorious from the Abyss yet again.
She immediately ran to where the Cloud Iron sect was gathered to celebrate with them her victory.
The older man from the Royal family arrived once everyone was out.
"The Endless Shadow Abyss shall now be closed again. You may all leave now," he said. "I will see you all next year."
With that, the secret realm was closed for another year, and everyone readied themselves to go back to where they came from.
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