Chapter 136: Hero Ranking
Xie Lianzhen kept his promise. The name-list was sent to Lu Mingshu the next day.
The journey to the Jade West Mountain Forest was one of the conditions to cooperate with Nine Jade Palace. Not many disciples went – less than thirty.
The name-list that Xie Lianzhen sent had the personal details of every disciple.
Name, sex, age, place of birth, experience... it like a résumé. A name-list that told the life stories of the disciples who went.
After studying the name-list in detail, there was no one whose information seemed out of place.
The name-list was perfectly normal. Even family history was written down, and there was nothing that seemed suspicious.
Since the name-list couldn’t help much, she could only investigate it herself.
If Lu Mingshu could have a chance to talk to the disciples in-person, she might find some clues. However, Xie Lianzhen would never agree to that because it would be an invasion of the Seventh Truth Platform’s privacy.
Xie Lianzhen gave her the pendant because he wanted to lend her a helping hand, not because he owed her anything. He could reject any request that was too unreasonable.
Let me figure it out myself. If I owe him too many favours, I’ll have to return them all later.
“Junior Niece Lu,” Tan Yubing knocked on her door, “We have to get going.”
“Okay,” Lu Mingshu folded the name-list and put it in her mustard seed pouch.
The Qilin Festival started tomorrow, and the participants had to gather at the meeting place.
The Qilin Festival wasn’t held at Tianyun City, but to the north of Tianyun City, on the Greatest Morning Mountain – where the Seventh Truth Platform was located.
They left the hotel together. On the way, people were all staring at them and whispering.
Tan Yubing chuckled, “Junior Niece Lu, you’re famous after your battles. All of them are looking at you!”
Her competing at the arenas every day wasn’t a secret, and Lu Mingshu had no intention of hiding it from Tan Yubing anyway.
However, Lu Mingshu didn’t look pleased with what she saw; “It’s hard to tell if they’re praising me or criticizing me.”
Tan Yubing burst out laughing.
Indeed. Some were admiring her while some were talking nonsense about her. “A person who is full of knowledge is generally quiet, but one who only has partial knowledge makes a lot of unnecessary noise,” or “A genuine successor disciple came here just to battle with commoners?” or “Can’t she have some moderation? Let’s see how she competes during the Qilin Festival.”
She rarely even left the hotel, and yet word got around so quickly that even Yin Hong sent some people over to yell at Lu Mingshu.
Lu Mingshu was too lazy to give a damn. Whether she would be sold or not and for how much was out of Yin Hong’s control anyway. Lu Mingshu still hadn’t met the person who had the final say.
When they arrived at the plaza, both of them were shocked.
“So many people!” Tan Yubing gasped in surprise.
With the Kowloon Stage in the middle, this was the biggest plaza in Tianyun City. It could surely hold more than a million people.
The corner of the plaza was filled with different vehicles. There were ships that were as tall as ten people, shining golden ships, and pavilions on the backs of the spirit beasts.
Disciples from different sects could be seen going around making new friends, and servants were all busy helping settle the luggage.
“There should be around a thousand people here, right?” Tan Yubing muttered.
Lu Mingshu scanned around the plaza and did some mental calculation, “Our group has thirty-four people and based on the vehicles, at least twenty clans are here for the festival. It’s no doubt there are more than a thousand people.”
The Qilin Festival was also known as the gathering of the best martial artists in China. If there wasn’t at least a thousand people, then it wouldn’t live up to its name.
“Hurry and follow!” somebody shouted.
Both of them got on the vehicle of their clan. When everyone boarded, the vehicle soared up to the sky.
More than ten vehicles soared up to the sky at the same time, making such a big bustle that the Tianyun City citizens rushed out to have a look at this marvellous scenery that only happened once in a blue moon.
The Seventh Truth Platform and Tianyun City were interdependent, and they each formed one side; thus, the venue for the Qilin Festival was at the Greatest Morning Mountain, where the Seventh Truth Platform was located.
The Greatest Morning Mountain stretched several hundreds of kilometres. It was mighty and gigantic, and one of its peaks was named Qilin Peak.
A few hundred years back, the king of Zhongzhou built a palace on Qilin Peak and invited the best of the different sects to a pageant. This became a tradition, known now as the Qilin Festival.
“Look! That’s the Flying Immortal Palace!” Tan Yubing stood on the veranda, sighing in admiration as she pointed to the palace below them. “It’s such a marvellous creation!”
Where Qilin Peak was located, there was a large river twisting around the peak, intertwining all around the mountain.
This type of terrain was strange. Near the top, the river formed a ring, and it continued spiralling down the mountain, cutting it into different sections, as if it was a man-made pathway around the peak. To make it even more beautiful, in between the ring at the top, there was a lone bit of mountain in the center.
And that’s where the Flying Immortal Palace was located. Its steps were made out of white jade, and the roof was made of glazed ceramic. It was surrounded by trees as if it was a heavenly temple.
The lone peak was slightly trimmed into a sort of rooftop. On the rooftop, there was a stone tablet standing tall and mighty, and names were carved on the stone tablet.
The Hero Ranking!
The Hero Ranking that had such a famous reputation in China.
Only the top ten of every Qilin Festival could leave their name on it.
The top ten stood for the top ten of the Spirit Realm.
The original Qilin Festival only allowed martial artists in the Spirit Realm to participate. As time passed, in order to encourage the younger generation, they allowed Harmonization Realm disciples to take part too. The Spirit Realms would be ranked in the Hero Ranking, while the Harmonization Realms were ranked in the New Generation Ranking. Members of the New Generation Ranking couldn’t carve their names on the stone tablet, but they would still become famous.
“What about the Sky Ranking? Where’s the Sky Ranking?” somebody asked excitedly.
The Sky Ranking, which was also known as the Grandmaster List, wasn’t something from a competition.
As long as a Grandmaster emerged anywhere in China, their name would be carved on the Sky Ranking.
Lu Mingshu could remember clearly that, years ago when Zhou Yinru sent the divorce letter, her servant girl Rui Xiang said that, if Fu Shangqing hadn’t been held back by her family, he would’ve been on the Sky Ranking already. What a joke. She sneered since she knew the truth.
Even though Fu Shangqing had some talent, it was impossible for him to be a Grandmaster. He probably couldn’t even make the Hero Ranking, let alone the Sky Ranking. So what if he cultivated a bit quickly? Did he have any actual ability?
“There!”
Everyone looked over to where the guy was pointing. The disciples all sighed in awe at what they saw.
A cliff was right beside the peak, and it had been cut to be as flat and as shiny as a mirror. It had flamboyant calligraphy on it, and each name belonged to someone well-known.
Lu Mingshu saw a familiar name on the cliff: Xiang Hongfei.
The pride of Nine Jade Palace. As long as one of their disciple’s names was still engraved here, the Nine Jade Palace would never fall.
It was a pity that my master’s name couldn’t be here. Lu Mingshu still remembered that her master became crippled shortly after he entered the Spirit Realm. There was no doubt that his name would be carved on the Hero Ranking if he hadn’t been crippled.
The vehicle descended toward the peak and stopped outside the palace.
This palace could hold so many that, even with a thousand people inside, there was still enough room to spare.
As Lu Mingshu settled down in her room, she heard a knock on her door; “Junior Sister Lu.”
“Senior Brother Shao?”
It had been a long time since they met. Lu Mingshu was busy battling at the arenas while Shao Zhengyang was busy socializing. They were both caught up with their own things, so they couldn’t meet each other.
Shao Zhengyang smiled warmly at her, “We’re having a gathering, do you want to come?”
“Gathering?” Lu Mingshu furrowed her eyebrows.
Shao Zhengyang chuckled, “With the best genuine successor disciples of all the clans. They are interested in meeting you.”
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