Chapter 485: Top Ten

"What are you doing here? You're not here for revenge, are you?"

Li Hao frowned, feeling somewhat confused. He wondered if he had become such enemies with her that she would risk her life to come and kill him.

Besides, this is the human border. How did she even get in?

"It just so happened that I was leaving this place, and I ran into you before leaving, so I thought I'd drop by and say hello."

Mi Xueyao smiled casually, twirling a strand of hair by her shoulder with her fingers, and said:

"I didn't get a chance to ask you earlier, but you knew my identity all along. Were you planning to bring me in and then expose me?"

Her question seemed casual, but her eyes slightly narrowed. Li Hao sensed a hint of danger. If he didn't answer correctly, she might attack in anger.

"I did have that intention initially. You know, I'm human, and the hatred between our races is irreconcilable!"

Li Hao said.

A hint of coldness flashed in Mi Xueyao's eyes, and the corner of her mouth curled into a cold arc. She said, "Then you even revealed your special ability yourself – that you can eat ancient demon flesh to enhance your primordial spirit. If this power were to be exposed, not only would the ancient demon race see you as their number one target, but even among humans, there would be many who would be jealous and try to assassinate you, right?"

"What's more, if the Emperor-level experts among humans knew about it, they might also investigate your secrets and imprison you!"

"Anyway, you won't betray me, and this matter is only known to you and me."

Li Hao said.

Mi Xueyao was slightly stunned. Her eyes flickered as she gazed at Li Hao and asked, "How do you know I won't leak this secret? Do you trust me that much?"

"I suppose so."

Li Hao said expressionlessly.

Trust me… How is that possible?

Just as she said, if this matter were to be exposed, it would make the ancient demon race wary and bring unnecessary trouble to the human race. All of this stems from human nature. Similarly, her not leaking the secret also stems from the greed and desire for exclusive possession in human nature. If he were in her shoes, he wouldn't publicize such a thing either.

Hearing Li Hao's reply, Mi Xueyao raised an eyebrow slightly, but a hint of gentleness appeared deep within her eyes. She chuckled lightly and said:

"You're quite bold, knowing I'm an ancient demon and still daring to feed me ancient demon flesh, and even revealing your own secret."

"As a chef, I never refuse any customer."

Li Hao said calmly.

"You're not a chef."

"Then what am I?"

"Anyway, no chef wields a sword."

Mi Xueyao chuckled lightly, her mood seeming to brighten a bit. She said calmly, "I'll remember you. If I have the chance, I'll seek you out again to properly taste your cooking. And don't you even think about exposing me, unless your human Emperor Monarch takes action, otherwise, no one can track me down."

As she spoke, immortal energy surged around her body, and her toes lifted off the ground.

She glanced at Li Hao and said, "I've already found out your identity. I'll be looking for you."

With that, accompanied by a burst of silvery laughter, her figure gracefully flashed, dissipating like mist before Li Hao's eyes, teleporting away.

Li Hao was stunned. Through his subtle control of the Dao of Space origin, he could sense her tearing open a spatial channel in an instant, teleporting tens of thousands of miles away, her aura rapidly fading.

"To actually come and go freely…"

Li Hao's expression turned serious. This border city is riddled with secret array defenses everywhere. Yet, the other party, being a member of the ancient demon race, could actually move freely in and out of this place. It's simply terrifying.

With her Immortal Lord realm cultivation, it's absolutely impossible to achieve this. Even those in the King realm couldn't do it.

Unless she possesses some kind of incredible supreme treasure.

Li Hao immediately thought of something she had shown earlier when she left, attracting that Wheel-Turning royal clan ancient demon.

During the two years he'd been eating and drinking here, he had asked Gu Changming about it. Gu Changming had once told him with a solemn face that it was some kind of supreme treasure from the True World, a Fragment of Reincarnation.

That thing had only been seen in the hands of Immortal Emperors. Both the ancient demon race and the Immortal Emperors are pursuing and vying for it. It's said to possess incredible abilities, and it can even allow people to truly enter reincarnation, or even reverse it!

Gu Changming couldn't explain its exact wondrous uses in detail, but he only knew that this item had significant implications. Once there were any clues, it had to be reported to the Immortal Emperor. And he had already reported it to the Yan Chu imperial family, to be passed on to that Supreme being in the Heavenly Palace.

"Could it be that she's using that thing?"

Li Hao frowned deeply, staring in the direction she had left. He initially thought about turning back to inform Gu Changming about this situation.

But thinking about how she dared to appear before him, clearly not worried about exposing her identity, he realized that informing Gu Changming would be pointless.

"This woman… I hope she doesn't cause trouble for the human race. I must improve my strength as quickly as possible and strive to capture her next time she appears in front of me."

Li Hao thought to himself.

After all, for an ancient demon in the Immortal Lord realm to freely travel through human territory and yet be untraceable, it's just too terrifying.

If she were to go on a feeding frenzy, she could quickly drain city after city dry, causing unimaginable casualties.

Although she had treated him reasonably well, Li Hao didn't believe for a second that she would be so polite if he were of no use to her.

After pondering for a moment, Li Hao turned and left the alley, temporarily pushing this little interlude to the back of his mind and heading towards the border region teleportation array.

He presented his identity token, and under the stunned gaze of the guards manning the teleportation array, he stepped into the array and vanished.

…

Yan Chu Immortal Capital Royal City.

Above the vast plaza, a colossal, collapsing-like channel hung in the sky, leading to the Ancient Immortal Realm.

The ground below was barren and scorching, filled with ancient and primitive气息 [qì xī] (aura).

A towering black monument stood tall, seemingly piercing the sky. Countless golden numbers rapidly jumped across it, like lightning or golden flying insects, darting up and down the immortal stele, vying for position.

"I'm going to try again!"

In the area designated for disciples of the Great Dream Nine Abyss Sect, Yuexi gazed at her identity number, currently at 829th place on the immortal stele. Just in the past two hours, she had been overtaken by three golden light numbers, dropping three ranks!

With less than five days remaining until the end, if this pace continued, she might even be pushed out of the rankings by then.

"There's no need. Unless you can break through the tenth desolate domain, even if you spend all five days inside, you won't surpass your previous score."

Lei Tiemu shook his head, stopping her, and said, "Calm down!"

Yuexi's expression was unpleasant, but she knew Lei Tiemu was right. Her previous best was lasting six days. She was already at ease in the tenth desolate domain, but as her immortal energy depleted, she gradually couldn't withstand it.

"That's right, someone just suddenly emerged. Don't worry, with your strength and current ranking, if you still can't hold your position, then this competition is becoming quite exaggerated."

Murong Qingwu comforted her softly.

After three years of arduous cultivation, they had returned again, and their strength had undergone qualitative leaps. From originally being ranked outside of 2000, they had directly surged into the top 1000. Gu Yan, in particular, had already climbed to over 300th place. This rate of improvement was simply monstrous!

With this ranking, they were almost guaranteed to remain within the top 1000 for the next five days, avoiding elimination.

And this was just Gu Yan's improvement and changes in three years. There were still seven years until the true Southern Domain War, more than double the time. Who knew what level this monstrous individual could reach in the next seven years?

Yuexi fell into a brief silence. She was now at the ninth level of the True Immortal Realm, and she could gradually barely control the power of the Disaster Clan. Even when facing someone at the tenth level of the True Immortal Realm, she could completely suppress them.

However, she hadn't expected that in this Yan Chu Immortal Dynasty, her impressive performance only ranked her in the 800s.

She looked up, her gaze landing on the top thirty positions.

The number that had been ranked 19th three years ago was now squeezed down to 25th.

Even so, it was still an incredibly formidable achievement.

After all, that young man had achieved that ranking when he was only at the third level of the True Immortal Realm.

Both were at the True Immortal Realm, how could there be such a huge gap?

"There are less than five days left. Why hasn't Haotian arrived yet?"

Murong Qingwu noticed Yuexi's gaze and couldn't help but ask Lei Tiemu.

Lei Tiemu also looked helpless, spreading his hands and saying, "You're asking me? Who should I ask? That kid only joined the sect recently and doesn't listen to instructions at all. Thinking back to when that brat hadn't become my disciple yet, he even swindled me out of a drink…"

Thinking of this, he immediately crossed his arms and huffed.

Murong Qingwu was speechless, rolling her eyes slightly. "That's no way for a master to act."

Lei Tiemu's eyes widened, raising his hand as if to strike. Murong Qingwu stuck out her tongue and jumped behind Yuexi to hide, saying:

"He's not really going to wait until the last day to come, is he?"

"That kid probably will. He was the last one to arrive at帝剑山 [Dì Jiàn Shān] (Emperor Sword Mountain) last time too. He just likes making a grand entrance at the very end, hmph!"

Lei Tiemu grumbled in annoyance.

Gu Yan and Yuexi remained silent, though a hint of disappointment and regret flickered in their eyes. If that were the case, time would be too tight, and they wouldn't have a chance to speak with that guy.

"I heard that Senior Brother Ye Chen from Spear Abyss broke through to the Immortal Lord realm! Look, he's already surged to 17th place!"

Just then, a Sword Abyss disciple exclaimed in surprise beside them.

Everyone looked up and saw an identity number climbing upwards, reaching 17th place.

Surrounded by royal identity numbers in the 0-100 range, a four-digit number was particularly conspicuous.

"Thankfully, our sect has also produced a prodigy who can barely contend with Xinglan from Star Hall and Tian Hongyi from Myriad Mountains Sword Tower."

Seeing the ranking, Lei Tiemu's eyes lit up with joy, devoid of jealousy, filled instead with delight.

Gu Yan and Yuexi and the others looked up, their gazes fixed. They had all heard of Senior Brother Ye Chen. He was already over two thousand years old, much older than them. They weren't surprised by his performance and didn't entertain any thoughts of competing with him.

Deep down, they subconsciously believed that when they reached the same age, their achievements would definitely not be lower than his.

"The top thirty are indeed dominated by Immortal Lords. Bo Yaxue from Bamboo Rain Pavilion is the most outrageous, actually making it to second place!"

"Xinglan from Star Hall has also surged to ninth, and Tian Hongyi from Myriad Mountains Sword Tower is also in seventh place. Senior Brother Ye Chen's breakthrough time is too short, he's only at the first level of the Immortal Lord realm, still unable to compare with them."

"I heard that the top ten will receive mysterious rewards. I wonder what they are. It's a pity we have no hope of getting them."

Before the immortal stele, hushed discussions and whispers filled the air.

Although the top-ranked identity numbers were mysterious, they were still being investigated, and the people they corresponded to were also being revealed.

"The Seven Great Immortal Dynasties, just our Yan Chu Immortal Dynasty has so many prodigies. When the prodigies from all Seven Great Immortal Dynasties and Heavenly Palace gather, I wonder how spectacular it will be!"

"I'm really looking forward to it. I hope we can see that day soon."

"I thought I was already good enough, but here, I couldn't even squeeze into the top ten thousand. It's too difficult!"

Amidst the numerous discussions, Gu Yan frowned slightly. The self-deprecating and boastful voices around him made him feel disdainful. He turned his head, wanting to see the situation of the other great sects.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a figure flying rapidly towards them from afar.

"Hmm?"

Gu Yan, who had only glanced casually, abruptly turned his head to look again.

At the same moment, Lei Tiemu also sensed something, turning his head to look. When he saw who it was, a delighted smile instantly appeared on his face, and he went to greet him, saying:

"Good kid, you've finally deigned to come. I almost thought you were going to wait until the last day to make your entrance with His Majesty!"

Li Hao grimaced in pain from the pat on his shoulder, chuckling wryly. He then scanned his surroundings, seeing Yuexi, Gu Yan, and the others present, their auras clearly much stronger than they had been three years ago.

His gaze then swept towards the Myriad Mountains Sword Tower area, and at the edge of the sword tower, he immediately spotted a figure in green robes, a pair of worried yet bright eyes fixed on this spot. Their gazes met in an instant.

The worry in those clear eyes instantly dissipated, replaced by surprise, like dark clouds scattering, sunshine illuminating spring snow.

Li Hao couldn't help but smile, raising his hand to wave. Then, he followed Lei Tiemu and landed among the disciples of the Great Dream Nine Abyss Sect.

"Haotian!"

"You're back."

Yuexi and Murong Qingwu also saw Li Hao at this moment, their eyes lighting up.

Lin Mingrong, standing beside the old woman, also noticed Li Hao, pausing slightly before fixing her gaze on the young man.

Three years had passed, and although he hadn't cultivated in the Langya Painting Realm, his cultivation had greatly improved, actually reaching the ninth level of the True Immortal Realm!

This rate of improvement was no less impressive than cultivation in the Langya Painting Realm. He must have been cultivating in another top-tier secret realm sacred ground.

"Everyone's here."

Li Hao approached, smiling and greeting them, "How is it? Have you all challenged the desolate domains? How were your scores?"

"Everyone went in."

Lei Tiemu grinned from ear to ear, his eyes narrowed into slits, saying, "You four are all credit to the sect."

Li Hao was slightly surprised, but then noticed their cultivation was comparable to his own, with Murong Qingwu even at the tenth level of the True Immortal Realm. He immediately understood.

"That's good."

He looked up, scanning the immortal stele, and saw his ranking had slipped to 25th.

Although he had dropped a few places, Li Hao didn't mind. There wasn't much difference between 19th and 25th.

"Your ranking dropped."

Gu Yan stared at Li Hao, saying, "Three years have passed. Your cultivation has reached the ninth level of the True Immortal Realm, and your immortal energy has increased fifty to sixty times. You should be able to climb to a higher rank, right?"

"Yeah."

Li Hao nodded readily.

"Go try it out, see if you can break into the top ten. According to my prediction, entering the twelfth desolate domain should give you a chance to crack the top ten!"

Lei Tiemu said with anticipation.

Li Hao was taken aback, saying speechlessly, "Isn't it pointless to waste energy on that? It's not the Southern Domain War yet, this ranking is just for selection."

"You brat, are you trying to be lazy again? Then what did you come here for?" Lei Tiemu glared.

"To watch the fun."

"…"

Lei Tiemu, Yuexi, Gu Yan, and the others were all silent.

After a long while, Lei Tiemu took a deep breath and said, "Breaking into the top ten has benefits."

(End of Chapter)