Chapter Nine: The Three Rankings of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, and the Blacklist
“By the way, Master, where is our Scripture Pavilion?” Chen Xuan asked.
“Why do you want to go to the Scripture Pavilion? There are no secret manuals in there,” Qian Dacai replied, puzzled.
“Nothing much, I just want to go in and look at some books, get familiar with the acupoints and meridians,” Chen Xuan explained.
Qian Dacai nodded and pointed toward a narrow path in the distance. “Follow that path, you’ll see it after about half an incense stick’s time.”
Chen Xuan glanced that way, thanked him again, and headed toward the Scripture Pavilion.
He needed to quickly understand the background of this world.
He couldn’t keep asking Qian Dacai everything; otherwise, he might arouse suspicion.
As the saying goes, within books lie houses of gold, and within books lie beauties…
Watching Chen Xuan’s figure disappear down the path, Qian Dacai nodded to himself, feeling he had made a great profit this time.
“Damn it, this time I’ve really trained a talent. With this kid to back me up, which elder would dare look down on me again? I need to report to the leader—tomorrow, I’ll have this kid lead a small team.”
He turned and walked toward the Grand Hall of the Front Mountain.
Throughout the day, Chen Xuan’s battle caused quite a stir among the disciples of the Five Poisons Sect.
Chen Xuan became famous overnight!
He defeated Fang Dao with just two punches!
When the news spread, many disciples were incredulous.
“Senior Brother Fang Dao is dead? Killed by Chen Xuan?”
“But he already had a minor Iron Shirt technique. He just stood still, and Fang Dao couldn’t land a blow? What kind of joke is this?”
“Chen Xuan just recently joined, right? He was scared and hiding for four or five days before. How did he suddenly gain such power?”
“Could it be that the poison bug bite last time accidentally opened his Ren and Du meridians?”
Many were dumbfounded.
Rumors and discussions spread rapidly.
Chen Xuan’s name became widely known among all disciples for the first time.
Originally, Chen Xuan was browsing books about this world in the Scripture Pavilion when suddenly a flash of cyan light swiftly flew past.
Popularity +18.
His eyes brightened immediately, and he hurriedly opened his status panel to check.
He saw that both his popularity and luck had changed.
Popularity had jumped directly to “Unknown” (33/80).
Luck: 10.
“Has my popularity increased again?” Chen Xuan rejoiced inwardly.
Could it be that news of his killing Fang Dao had spread, thus boosting his popularity once more?
If so, he seemed to have found a way to rapidly increase his popularity.
If he kept challenging other disciples, would his popularity rise even faster?
Every 5 points of popularity increase grants 1 point of luck. At this rate, his luck might soon break 20, unlocking a big reward.
Chen Xuan’s anticipation grew.
He had coveted that reward for a long time.
No, he would start challenging other disciples tomorrow.
As for why not tonight, it was naturally due to the cyan infant.
Until the matter with the cyan infant was resolved, he wouldn’t dare go out easily at night.
Chen Xuan closed the panel and resumed reading the books.
He still didn’t know the name of this continent but understood that it was divided into two major regions: East and West, each subdivided into countless states.
He was located in the Yunzhou area in the southern part of the Eastern region’s Daqian Kingdom.
Yunzhou alone had dozens of large cities, covering at least ten thousand li. Within it, there were over a hundred martial arts schools and underworld forces. The most famous among them were the Five Poisons Sect, the Sword-Washing Sect, the Yunzhou Wang family, the Yunzhou Li family, and the Yunzhou Cui family.
The Five Poisons Sect needed no introduction; it was a notorious demonic sect practicing wicked arts, specializing in murder and arson.
The Sword-Washing Sect was a powerful orthodox sword faction. Its founder was a prominent disciple of the Compassionate Sword Sect but later established the Sword-Washing Sect in Yunzhou, feared by both righteous and evil paths alike. Although it broke away from the Compassionate Sword Sect, it still upheld chivalry and claimed to be a branch, with a history of over eight hundred years.
The Yunzhou Wang, Li, and Cui families were renowned orthodox clans in the region.
These three families were always preaching righteousness and justice, carrying out Heaven’s will, and had long-standing conflicts with the Five Poisons Sect, dating back hundreds of years at least.
Chen Xuan strongly suspected that the current joint assault on the Five Poisons Sect by these three families was the sudden eruption of accumulated grievances.
But no matter what kind of people the three families were or what fate awaited the Five Poisons Sect, he certainly did not want to stay here any longer. At the first opportunity, he would leave the Five Poisons Sect immediately.
Chen Xuan pondered and suddenly flipped to another book.
This one detailed the stages of martial cultivation.
They were called Qi Accumulation, Meridian Penetration, Mystery Opening, and Secret Concealment.
Qi Accumulation meant the internal energy was fully formed and filled the body.
Meridian Penetration meant internal energy had burst through the Ren and Du meridians, circulating automatically through the eight extraordinary meridians.
But what Mystery Opening and Secret Concealment meant, the book did not say.
Beyond these four stages, there was another called Awakening, said to be even rarer and only attainable by high-level experts listed on the Celestial Ranking.
But the book also did not explain what Awakening entailed.
Chen Xuan stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Currently, his physical strength was 420 jin, and his internal power had been cultivated for two years. What stage was this?
Was it Qi Accumulation?
He continued searching the book and soon found a record.
“Qi Accumulation Stage One corresponds to external strength of 300 jin or internal power cultivated for five years. After that, every additional 80 jin of strength equals an increase of one Qi Accumulation level; similarly, every additional two years of internal power equals an increase of one level.”
“Because cultivation is inherently defying the heavens, 300 jin of strength is already rare for ordinary people. Every further ten jin breakthrough is extremely difficult. Later generations force breakthroughs with secret methods, so 80 jin of strength or two years of internal power is used as a standard measure.”
Chen Xuan’s eyes sparkled.
“Three hundred jin equals Qi Accumulation Level One, so at 420 jin, I’m between Level Two and Three. With my two years of internal power, I’m solidly at Level Three, perhaps even approaching Level Four!”
This classification was quite reasonable, considering both internal and external cultivation.
Moreover, the harder it became to increase strength and internal power, the more they used 80 jin and two years as benchmarks.
He flipped on.
Besides the cultivation stages, the book also listed something that piqued his interest.
The martial experts in the Daqian Kingdom were generally ranked on four lists.
The Celestial Ranking, the Earthly Ranking, the Human Ranking, and the Black Ranking.
Those on the Celestial Ranking were called Land Immortals, moving invisibly with unfathomable strength. Only those at the Awakening stage or higher could enter this list. The number was always small—at least eleven and at most eighteen. Currently, there were only fifteen. Awakening was so difficult that even great masters spent their lives trying to reach it.
The Earthly Ranking listed fifty-four powerful grandmasters and heroes, each name enough to command respect across the land. This list had many more names, and those on it were the elite of the elite.
The Human Ranking was reserved for youthful prodigies, listing seventy-two individuals, all top geniuses under the age of thirty. Anyone over thirty was automatically removed.
The Black Ranking was a list outside the Celestial, Earthly, and Human rankings, listing one hundred individuals known as demonic villains. It was a special list of the Left Dao sect, ranked by bounty amounts issued by the Six Doors.
The higher the bounty, the higher the rank; the lower the bounty, the lower the rank.
Therefore, the strength of those on the Black Ranking was often difficult to judge. Sometimes, a person ranked in the seventies could be more terrifying than someone in the teens.
“I wonder if our Five Poisons Sect leader has any reputation on the Black Ranking?” Chen Xuan mused.
Others might not, but Liu Dashan probably did.
After all, that guy sold human meat buns.
As the sky outside gradually darkened, Chen Xuan closed the book, returned it to its place, and immediately ran outside.
Damn it, it’s almost night again.
Better to return early—that’s the way.