The Submerging Dragon Ranking battle stage was located at the top of the Submerging Dragon Peak. Huang Xiaolong walked up at his own pace, neither fast nor slow, taking half an hour to reach the peak. By the time he reached his destination, the peak was already packed with people.
“Huang Xiaolong! Huang Xiaolong is here!”
When Huang Xiaolong reached the peak, his appearance raised a commotion among the crowd of disciples.
Five days ago, the incident where he sent Jiang Yi flying with a palm strike circulated among a small group of disciples, boosting his fame in the outer disciples’ circle.
“Huang Xiaolong? Who’s this Huang Xiaolong?” Asked a confused disciple.
Even though Huang Xiaolong had a small reputation, there were still a lot of disciples hearing his name for the first time.
“You don’t know who Huang Xiaolong is? He’s one of the new outer disciples, ranked second in the recruitment assessment. The catch is, his talent is only high enough to condense a top rank eighth godhead. Many of the disciples from the same batch claimed he cheated in the assessment, but a few days ago, this Huang Xiaolong had a little conflict with the fourth ranked Jiang Yi, surprisingly giving that perfection stage late-Tenth Order Highgod Realm Jiang Yi heavy injuries with just a single palm strike!” A disciple generously explained.
“Heavily injured a perfection stage late-Tenth Order Highgod Realm with just a single palm strike!” Many other disciples exclaimed hearing what that person said.
“There’s more. After the new disciple recruitment ended, this Huang Xiaolong challenged Zhu Wanchen in the Submerging Dragon Ranking battle, saying he was going to defeat Zhu Wanchen in one move!” The same disciple added.
“What? He wants to defeat Zhu Wanchen in one move?! Is this Huang Xiaolong a fool or an idiot? Zhu Wanchen has a top rank ten godhead, the Zhu Family’s greatest genius yet!”
“Now that Zhu Wanchen has broken through to the Heavenly God Realm, I wonder if this Huang Xiaolong still has the guts to challenge him. As powerful as he can be, if he still hasn’t advanced to the Heavenly God Realm, he’s probably dead before Zhu Wanchen’s attack even reaches him!”
“Even if he did become a Heavenly God, it’s still impossible for him to battle Zhu Wanchen; the rank gap between godheads determines one’s battle abilities, especially in the same cultivation realm.”
Everyone was trying to put forward their opinion.
Huang Xiaolong walked on as if he hadn’t heard any of these words, looking calm, until he reached the battle stage, and looked toward the other end.
There was a small raised platform on that side, with ten people currently standing on top. These ten were the last Submerging Dragon Ranking battle’s top ten disciples.
Huang Xiaolong’s gaze swept over the person standing at the frontmost of the group, a brawny middle-aged man close to two meters tall. He was the champion of last term’s Submerging Dragon Ranking, Jiang Zheng.
This Jiang Zheng had been the champion of the Submerging Dragon Ranking for three consecutive years.
Although the rank of the godhead this Jiang Zhen condensed wasn’t very high, a low grade rank nine godhead, he was strong, hailed as the strongest person in the Barbarian God Sect below the Heavenly God Realm.
It was said that this Jiang Zheng was suppressing his strength, delaying his breakthrough to the Heavenly God Realm just to cultivate a technique called Virtue of Unequalled Immortality.
In fact, the Submerging Dragon Ranking battle was extremely simple. The disciples who registered would go up and challenge any one of the last term’s top ten. As long as he or she succeeded in the challenge, they would replace their predecessor in the ranking.
In other words, if Huang Xiaolong challenged and defeated Jiang Zhen, he would replace him as the first place title-holder. It goes without saying that after Huang Xiaolong defeated Jiang Zhen, he would have to accept challenges from other disciples, maintaining an undefeated record until the end.
While Huang Xiaolong was observing Jiang Zhen, a loud voice shouted: “Zhu Wanchen has arrived!”
The crowd stirred with excitement.
Huang Xiaolong looked over his shoulder. In the distance, Zhu Wanchen was walking on the air toward the Submerging Dragon Peak. The edge of his robe fluttered in the breeze, looking serene and charming, adding a slight confident arch of his mouth.
“As expected, Zhu Wanchen has broken through to the Heavenly God Realm! Looks like the rumors were true!”
Watching Zhu Wanchen walking on the air toward the battle stage, the crowd of disciples broke into another wave of exclamations.
The female outer disciples’ eyes resembled sparkling stars as they fixed on Zhu Wanchen’s figure.
A charming, confident, and otherworldly young man, with a good family background as well as talent like Zhu Wanchen was the ideal cultivation companion in the eyes of these female disciples.
Upon arriving at the peak, Zhu Wanchen gracefully, and slowly descended to the ground.
“Big brother Zhu!” From the crowd, Jiang Yi and several others approached Zhu Wanchen, wearing ingratiating smiles on their faces as they called out in a familiar manner.
Zhu Wanchen stood with his hands behind his back, chest upright. Giving Jiang Yi’s group a slight nod, he asked, “That Huang Xiaolong, is he here yet?”
Cui Zifan rushed to answer, “He’s here!” He then pointed in the direction where Huang Xiaolong was standing.
Zhu Wanchen turned to look in Huang Xiaolong’s direction, causing their gazes to collide in the air. Upon seeing Huang Xiaolong’s figure, Zhu Wanchen’s mouth curved into a charming smile as he approached.
Cui Zifan, Jiang Yi, and the others followed closely behind Zhu Wanchen.
Stopping in front of Huang Xiaolong, he spoke mildly, “Huang Xiaolong, come here. Kneel down and apologize to Jiang Yi.” Though mild, the command in his voice was unmistakable.
Huang Xiaolong inwardly shook his head with speechlessness, ‘Does this Zhu Wanchen thinks he’s already the future Barbarian God Sect Chief?’
Huang Xiaolong gave a sympathetic yet disdainful glance to Zhu Wanchen, then completely ignored him, turning his attention back to the battle stage.
Zhu Wanchen did not expect Huang Xiaolong would actually dare to ignore him. His body stiffened, then his face turned green and red, murder spewing out from his eyes.
“Very good, Huang Xiaolong. I wanted to give you a chance, but since you do not know how to appreciate my good intentions, then I won’t show mercy on the stage. I will cripple you, completely!” Zhu Wanchen castigated Huang Xiaolong, then he left with Cui Zifan and Jiang Yi’s group in tow.
Huang Xiaolong harrumphed coldly in response.
The surrounding disciples saw that Huang Xiaolong dared to ignore Zhu Wanchen and were flabbergasted. Some shook their heads in pity, while some hurled insults and ridicule, naturally, there would quite a few gloating at others’ misfortune.
Hidden in the void above, the Barbarian God Sect Chief Gu Ling witnessed what took place and inquired from Elder Huang Xiaoming beside him, “Who is that child?” His gaze indicated Huang Xiaolong.
Huang Xiaoming hurried to answer, “He’s a newly recruited outer disciple who placed second in the assessment, named Huang Xiaolong, but his talent is only average. After the assessment ended, he challenged Zhu Wanchen, claiming he would defeat him with one move.”
Grand Elder Lin Shen scoffed, “Just a top rank eight godhead wastrel, but he actually dared to say he wants to challenge Zhu Wanchen, in one move at that! Truly the ignorant do not know the immensity of the sky!”
Hearing Huang Xiaoming and Lin Shen’s explanation, the Barbarian God Sect Chief Gu Ling also shook his head, feeling that Huang Xiaolong was too arrogant.
A while later, Elder Jiang Yan appeared on the stage as the overseer of the ranking battle. After briefly going through the rules and the top ten rewards, she announced the beginning of the battle.
Instantly, a figure leaped flamboyantly onto the battle stage.
When everyone got a good look of that person, the crowd was whispering excitedly. The first person who went up was Zhu Wanchen.
Basking in the attention of the crowd, Zhu Wanchen pointed at the Submerging Dragon Ranking number one person, Jiang Zheng: “Jiang Zheng, please enlighten me!”
Seeing that Zhu Wanchen really challenged Jiang Zheng, the crowd’s excitement went up another degree.
Jiang Zheng’s brows creased slightly, but he leaped onto the battle stage.
“The battle has only just begun and Zhu Wanchen already challenged Jiang Zheng, this is really the battle of giants ah! Can Zhu Wanchen defeat Jiang Zheng?”
“Jiang Zheng has been the Submerging Dragon Ranking battle’s champion for three consecutive years. Even though he’s hailed as the number one person below the Heavenly God Realm, he’s not a match for Zhu Wanchen!”
“That may not be the case, rumors say that Senior Brother Jiang Zheng came across some fortuitous adventure some time back, and his strength now rivals an early Heavenly God Realm. Zhu Wanchen had just broken through not long ago, it’s hard to say who has the upper hand!”
Below the stage, the disciples were discussing heatedly.
On the battle stage, both Jiang Zheng and Zhu Wanchen’s momentum kept rising, their robes fluttering without wind.