Chapter 22: Potential Rankings Zhao Wumian

  Here is the translation:

  "Let me tell you about the update time, which is 8:30 am and 10:30 pm every day. I'm going to be surpassed by my fellow authors soon, please give me some motivation! At the same time, thank you to Yanzhi Chengshi and Shadow Dancer for their generous rewards, thanks!"

  Under the leadership of Qian Ming, everyone came to the office one after another, hung up the team name and member names, and were recorded by the door faction. After that, they were assigned a Soul Devouring Beast as a mount for their journey.

  It's thousands of miles to Huangshi Town, if you go on foot, it will take at least a few months. By that time, Huangshi Town is likely to have been slaughtered by unknown creatures.

  On the second day, hundreds of people gathered on the square in front of the mountain gate of Yunjian Sword Sect.

  Most of them wore the attire of outer disciples of the Xuanyun Sword Sect, and there were over a dozen who wore the attire of inner disciples. They were divided into about thirty teams, ignoring each other, standing proudly one by one.

  "The Dinosaur Squad" is one of these thirty squads, and at this moment, Gan Ming, Yue Ling, You Jian, Xu Jinming, Zhou Qianlong, Lian Shang and others have all arrived, wearing the "Dinosaur Squad" badge on their chest, indicating which team they belong to.

  "Look, Shao Chen has arrived." However, amidst the idle chatter of the crowd, Yue Ling's sharp eyes suddenly spotted Shao Chen emerging from the sea of people.

  Xiao Chen sat on the mount provided by the Men's Gate, a Soul-Devouring Beast, and saw Yue Ling and others in the distance. He urged the beast to speed up and run towards them.

  "Xiao Chen, you're here." Yue Ling rushed forward and said: "You Jian, Qian Ming Shixiong and others have been waiting for us, even Zhao Wumian Shixiong from the inner door is getting impatient."

  Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen's gaze swept the area and indeed found Qian Ming and the others present. However, there was also a man he didn't recognize standing beside Qian Ming, gazing into the distance with an air of confidence. He wore a long robe as red as fire and carried a massive seven-foot sword on his back. His physique was sturdy and imposing, like an iron tower.

  "Zhao Shixiong, our team's last person has arrived, we can set off now." However, at this moment, Qianming respectfully spoke to that person.

  "This is Zhao Wumian, the top ten inner door potential list, Brother Zhao." Yue Ling whispered to Xiao Chen: "Qianming brother spent 500 Huang Xuan Dan to hire him."

  Huang Xuan Dan is to warriors what silver coins are to ordinary people, a basic dan medicine used primarily for rapid recovery of true energy and nourishment of momentum, also serving as a common currency in transactions between warriors.

  At these words, Xiao Chen nodded secretly. The first time he saw this person, he had some guesses. At this moment, hearing Yue Ling's words, Xiao Chen couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

  He's actually a disciple of the Inner Gate Potential Ranking!

  The inner disciples of the Ichimonjiken Sect have six to seven thousand people, each with an extraordinary talent, at least with the cultivation of Ling Jue Jing, only those with the cultivation of Ling Jue Jing can have the qualification to enter the inner sect.

  Moreover, each sect will equip its inner disciples with magical instruments, making their combat power extremely strong.

  Inner disciples and outer disciples alike hold a grand competition every year, and those inner disciples who enter the top ten in the competition can go on the Potential List.

  Outer sect disciples who enter the top ten in the Grand Competition can ascend to the Heroic Rankings, and all disciples on the rankings will receive rich rewards from the sect, including spiritual pills, magical tools, and even spiritual artifacts.

  It can be said that all of Danfan's disciples who made it onto the list are people with extremely strong innate talent, super strong luck and extremely powerful fighting strength.

  "Are you Xiao Chen?" But at this moment, Zhao Wumian suddenly turned around and looked over, his sharp eyes staring at Xiao Chen like a knife.

  "It is." Xiao Chen replied, and at the same time, Xingchen felt a sharp spiritual power like a needle piercing towards him.

  "This is terrible! That damned Zhao Shixiong actually wants to harm my spiritual soul!"

  Xiao Chen instantly felt a sharp pain in his divine soul, and he immediately activated the 99th Soul Refining Mantra to resist it, which made his divine soul feel slightly more comfortable.

  "Huh?" Zhao Wumian's eyebrows furrowed, and Xiao Chen's performance made him slightly surprised. He had just used his divine soul to attack, wanting to teach Xiao Chen a lesson, but although he hadn't used his full strength, Xiao Chen had somehow dissolved the attack without making a sound, leaving Zhao Wumian quite astonished.

  "Hmph!" Zhao Wumian coldly snorted, staring at Xiao Chen with a gaze that seemed to pierce through his soul. In his heart, he thought: "No wonder Zhong Chongshan gave me 300 Huang Xuan Dan to kill him, this little brat is indeed worth the price."

  Zhao Wumian cleared his throat and said, "Before we set off, I want to tell you all that my cultivation is the highest in this group. You must all listen to me, otherwise if you die outside, don't blame me!"

  "Yes, Brother Zhao is right. We will all listen to you, Brother Zhao." Qian Ming hastily stepped forward and said this in order to avoid offending the inner sect's senior brother.

  Although it was obtained by spending 500 Yellow Profound Dan, the inner disciples were extremely powerful and being a bit arrogant was only to be expected.

  "Let's set off." Zhao Wumian nodded after seeing no one objecting and waved his hand.

  As Zhao Wumian swung his arm, in an instant, the nine members of the "Terror Dragon Squad" sat on their Soul-Devouring Beasts, which were like water buffaloes with sharp teeth and fierce eyes. The beasts exerted their strength, kicking their four hooves, and charged out from the Yunfeng Peak like a group of fierce tigers.

  At the same time, several teams also set off, and the remaining teams seemed to be waiting for members who had not yet arrived and had not departed.

  Boom! Boom!

  The Soul-Devouring Beast's body was majestic and powerful, its head as big as a bucket, with fur like a lion's mane. Its thick paws stomped on the ground, producing a sound like drums beating. At that moment, on the mountain path below Yunfeng Peak, it seemed like war drums were thundering, several teams set off, one after another, in long lines, frantically running.

  The Soul-Devouring Beast is extremely fast, traveling 3,000 miles during the day and 1,800 at night. It also has a brief ability to defy gravity, with immense physical strength that allows it to run continuously for an entire day and night without rest, making it even more formidable than the legendary thousand-mile horse of the mortal world.

  In just a moment, the thirty or so people disappeared into the mountain path of Izumo Peak, entered the plain, raised rolling dust and smoke, and gradually moved further away.

  Xiao Chen was riding a demon beast for the first time, and all he could feel was the rush of wind in his ears. The trees on both sides of the road were rapidly retreating backwards, and the ground was filled with flying sand and rolling stones, with yellow dust swirling everywhere.

  "This Soul Devouring Beast can't even compare to a Yao soldier, yet its speed is so fast. Ling Shixiong's Azure Water Golden Eyed Beast is far superior to this Soul Devouring Beast, I wonder how much faster it is!" Xiao Chen rode on the Soul Devouring Beast, thinking of Ling Shuiyan's mount, that majestic and extraordinary Azure Water Golden Eyed Beast, his heart couldn't help but yearn for a mount of his own.

  Izumo Sword Sect is thousands of miles away from Huangshi Town, which is the southernmost part of Izumo Sword Sect's sphere of influence, on the edge of Nan Yun Black Forest.

  The bright moon rises, the red sun sets in the west.

  The red sun rises, the remaining moon is in the west.

  One day and one night, after a long journey, I finally arrived at this southernmost edge of the clouds, Huangshi Town!

  Xiao Chen and his team slowed down their pace, heading towards Huangshi Town.

  "This place is really eerie!" Yu Jian rode on the Soul Devouring Beast, looking around and saying, his eyes filled with the desolate grasslands and the dark, oppressive primeval forest, as if he had entered a devil's domain.

  Xiao Chen was also sizing up the place, Huangshi Town was much larger than the towns in the Central Plains region, almost comparable to a city. The city walls were majestic and towering, thick and heavy like mountains, all made of huge stone blocks, on which a sense of vicissitudes and ancient atmosphere emanated, the city walls were covered with terrifying scars and bloodstains.

  It can be imagined that this Huangshi Town is not as simple as an ordinary small town. It's more like a military stronghold, which should be an important hub for resisting the demon beasts in the southern Yun Black Forest. Otherwise, why would the Out Cloud Sword Sect mobilize such a large force to issue tasks for an unimportant border town?

  And the reward for this task is still so high!

  In the distance, Xiao Chen glanced at Nanyun Black Forest, which seemed to be a dark cloud pressing down on the ground. A mysterious and terrifying aura suddenly struck him, and in that instant, Nanyun Black Forest appeared to have transformed into a gigantic and terrifying mouth that was devouring him.

  "This Nanyun Black Forest..." Xiao Chen's divine soul shook, and when he looked again at the forest, it was still a forest. That terrifying aura that seemed to swallow people had disappeared.

  "What's wrong, Xiao Chen?" Yue Ling noticed that Xiao Chen's face was somewhat unnatural and asked with concern.

  "Oh, nothing." Xiao Chen smiled and said, but in his heart he was wondering how such a terrifying aura had burst out of the forest just now, while others seemed to be completely unaware.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  The team slowly moved forward. The gatekeeper of Huangshi Town saw that they were disciples of Yuxian Sword Sect and immediately opened the gate to let them pass. 'Terror Dragon Battle Team' entered with nine people.

  Many Iwato Sword Sect disciples have gathered in the city. It seems that before the "Dinosaur Battle Team" set out, many other teams had already departed.

  There are also some wounded warriors who were attacked by unknown creatures in the city and are being treated.

  Xiao Chen and the others walked on the roads in the city, looking at all this. The native warriors of Huangshi Town were no longer seen, either heavily injured or dead being carried away. The disciples of Yunjian Sword Sect were sharpening their knives one by one, as if preparing for a battle.

  Each face was filled with a murderous aura, and seeing Xiao Chen and the others having no intention of coming over to chat, they gave them a faint glance before ignoring them.

  "These disciples are really strange, don't they even exchange greetings when meeting fellow students?" Xiao Chen felt a little surprised, this camaraderie was too thin.

  "This time's task reward is generous, not only with spiritual pills and divine weapons, but also the qualification to enter the inner gate can be obtained, and it's limited to the top five, so the competition will naturally be extremely fierce. Who would tell others what they know?" Yue Ling said.

  Xiao Chen nodded upon hearing this and had already understood that in this world, benefits were supreme, strength was supreme, and everything else was nonsense.

  "Follow me and find the town head, ask about the situation here." Zhao Wumian said.

  "Oh no! Oh no!"

  But at this moment, the city gate suddenly opened again, and a disciple of Yunjian Sword Sect covered in blood, his original face already unrecognizable, rolled and crawled in.

  Along with this disciple's fearful shout, many disciples stood up, a burst of weapon scraping sounds, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

  Xiao Chen and others also turned to look at the newcomer, only to see that disciple opening his mouth to say: "Ten miles outside the city, a mysterious creature has appeared, all fellow disciples hurry over..."

  Bang!

  The disciple hadn't finished speaking when his head suddenly burst open, and purple-black blood accompanied by brain matter sprayed everywhere. Mixed in with the blood were also thumb-sized black unidentifiable objects.

  "What is this?" One of the black things happened to burst right under Xiao Chen's feet, and just as he was about to pick it up to take a look.

  "Don't move it!" Qian Ming shouted immediately.