Invincible Starts From Dao Fruit
Chapter 187 - 151 The New Issue of "Earthly List"! [Two-in-One - !]

Chapter 187: Chapter 151 The New Issue of "Earthly List"! [Two-in-One Chapter!]

One month later, May 13th.

Outside Xiyu City.

In the teahouse by the roadside, many Jianghu people rested, drinking tea in large bowls and gossiping loudly.

The two words mentioned most frequently were "Yangjiao Mountain" and "Northern Captain."

"Master, there are only 108 Earthly List experts across the seven states of Central Earth. On average, that’s only about fifteen or sixteen per state. Yangjiao Mountain is merely a gang of mountain bandits in Yulin County. How could they have four people on the ’Earthly List’?"

In the teahouse, a young man with a tender and naïve appearance, clearly new to the Jianghu, listened to the discussions around him and curiously asked.

Beside him.

An older, weathered man scolded him with a laugh, "You little rascal, I told you to study harder, and now you’re embarrassing yourself!"

"But it’s true!"

"On average, one state has around fifteen or sixteen Earthly List experts. Yuezhou has a total of fourteen counties, so Yulin County should only have about one Earthly List expert."

"But Yangjiao Mountain, just a small part of Yulin County, has four Earthly List experts. Wouldn’t they have already unified Yulin County and conquered Yuezhou by now?!"

"It doesn’t make sense!"

The young man was unconvinced and stubbornly stuck his neck out as he argued.

"You little brat, still talking back!"

The older man chuckled in exasperation, drank a bowl of cold tea, and decided to explain to the young man, "First of all, among the seven states of Central Earth, Yuezhou has the largest territory and population. This was mentioned in the books you’ve read before. If you have doubts about this, you can go back and revisit those books."

"According to what you said, if Earthly List experts were evenly distributed, based on population and land area, Yuezhou should at least have twenty or more Earthly List experts."

"Second, these Earthly List experts are living, breathing people. They have legs and can move around. Yuezhou is vast, and its factions are complicated. Especially in the three counties of Yulin, Shuofang, and Anhua, where loose cultivators from all over gather, there are naturally many experts. Yangjiao Mountain is just one of these middling factions—"

"Middling?"

The young man’s "even distribution" theory had been thoroughly debunked, but he cleverly avoided addressing that and instead pounced on what he perceived as a flaw in his master’s words, jumping up excitedly: "There are four Earthly List experts, and Yangjiao Mountain is still just a middling faction?!"

"Ha!"

"Yangjiao Mountain doesn’t just have four Earthly List experts; they should have five in total. But they aren’t native Earthly List experts from Yangjiao Mountain. They were already Earthly List experts who later gathered there, each setting up their own bandit camp within Yangjiao Mountain and forming an alliance to deal with external threats."

"This too was mentioned in the books you’ve read before. If you don’t remember, go back and check."

"Moreover."

"Your talk about four Earthly List experts sweeping through Yulin County or Yuezhou is pure fantasy!"

"The ’Earthly List’ records the 108 strongest Postnatal and dark strength experts in the world. But beyond Postnatal and dark strength, there are Innate and Transforming Strength Grandmasters. Take this Xiyu City, for instance: both the City Lord and Assistant General are notable Grandmasters. And the entire Taixu Sword Sect? Who knows how many Grandmasters they have."

"Even so, they only control one Pengshan County."

"Yangjiao Mountain may boast five Earthly List experts—an impressive claim—but in reality, just one Innate Grandmaster would be enough to knock them off their pedestal."

"Why do you think they joined forces?"

"It’s precisely to guard against Grandmasters!"

The older man shook his head and explained to the young man bit by bit.

The other Jianghu folks nearby perked up and listened closely, nodding in understanding as realization dawned: "No wonder Yangjiao Mountain has five Earthly List experts!"

Now it made sense.

Five experts who were already on the Earthly List had gathered at Yangjiao Mountain and joined forces. That wasn’t something unusual.

"I knew it."

"How could one place possibly produce five Earthly List experts all at once!"

"I meant ascending to the list, not gathering there."

The young man was still stubborn, refusing to admit he was wrong and continuing to make excuses for himself even after his blunder was exposed.

At this moment.

Someone nearby couldn’t stand it any longer and sneered, "Who says one place can’t produce five Earthly List experts simultaneously? Take the Northern Captain from Xiyu City’s north division. With just two thousand men, five of them made it onto the ’Earthly List’ within a single year!"

"..."

The young man turned red with embarrassment.

He sulked, lowered his head, and fell silent.

...

The teahouse was bustling.

People came and went, inside and out of the city.

At noon that day.

Outside the north gate of Xiyu City.

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

Over a hundred riders raised clouds of dust as they approached, like a sharp steel blade, their presence menacing.

Many bystanders, seeing the bloody banner they carried, cried out in alarm: "It’s the Northern Captain! The Northern Captain has returned!"

"The Northern Captain?"

"The ones who broke through Yangjiao Mountain last month?"

"It must be. I heard two hundred riders stormed into Yangjiao Mountain and annihilated all five strongholds and eighteen camps, totaling over seven thousand men."

"I thought those were two completely unrelated things..."

"Nonsense!"

...

The crowd became a flurry of murmurs and excitement.

A month ago, Zhu Biao, Wang Yan, and others led two hundred Northern Captain riders to kill four of Yangjiao Mountain’s leaders. The news spread like wildfire, reaching Xiyu City and creating a sensation.

For the entire month, storytellers in tea houses had been spinning tales of how formidable Yangjiao Mountain was and how fierce the Northern Captain was.

But what did they actually have to talk about?

Nonsense and fabrication!

So the stories spread through hearsay and exaggeration—

In reality, the Northern Captain had merely encountered three hundred horse bandits from Yangjiao Mountain in the wilderness, killed four of their leaders, and slain close to a hundred bandits.

But in the mouths of these storytellers, it turned into two hundred Northern Captain riders storming Yangjiao Mountain, fighting seven battles and ultimately wiping out all five strongholds and eighteen camps, totaling seven thousand men.

Absolutely absurd.

With the release of the new issue of the "Earthly List" on the fifth of May, those Jianghu individuals who could afford it finally learned the truth: