King of Creation
Chapter 350 - 346: Ye Zhen’s Opponent

Chapter 350: Chapter 346: Ye Zhen’s Opponent

Because after Ye Zhen’s breakthrough into the Spirit Transformation Realm, he used the alias Zheng Fuyun, so his reputation among the younger generation of martial artists in the Spirit Transformation Realm was not prominent.

When Ye Zhen easily passed through the Heavenly Destiny Bridge and appeared on the other side, those martial artists who were still hesitating were immediately filled with increased confidence.

If an unknown person could easily cross the Heavenly Destiny Bridge, then their attempt to cross it should not be difficult.

Under this indescribable sense of superiority, the number of martial artists who gave up waiting and actively attempted to cross the Heavenly Destiny Bridge increased.

However, they only saw Ye Zhen’s success, but did not see the effort Ye Zhen had put in while crossing the bridge; he was, at that time, literally risking his life.

For example, the martial artist who stepped onto the Heavenly Destiny Bridge with a face full of confidence, in the Spirit Transformation Realm Fourth Stage.

His confidence turned into immense fear the moment he set foot on the bridge.

It could be said that his luck was a little better than Ye Zhen’s since he could still stand on the bridge made of rosy light, but then, a thunderbolt as thick as an arm descended from the sky, directly blasting him off the bridge and plunging him into the boundless black fog below, thereby miserably eliminating him.

Not until this moment did Ye Zhen notice something strange.

He was actually able to see through the rosy light of the Heavenly Destiny Bridge and clearly observe every martial artist’s experience on the bridge.

Normally, others, whether they were waiting to cross the bridge or had already crossed it, and even the temporary stewards watching everything from high above, no matter how high their cultivation was, could not see what the martial artists were encountering on the bridge.

"Could it be because I defied fate and fought for my life on the bridge?"

Unable to figure it out, Ye Zhen simply stopped thinking about it.

His feet, which Caiyi had covered with a green medicinal paste, were now starting to itch, like hundreds of thousands of tiny insects crawling on them.

Ye Zhen knew that this was the effect of the medicine beginning to work, and the superior healing ability of a Spirit Transformation Realm martial artist was starting to take effect; moreover, compared to an average martial artist in the Spirit Transformation Realm with an Acquired Spiritual Body, the healing ability of Ye Zhen’s Red Jade Spirit Body was even stronger, even though the Red Jade Spirit Body had not yet reached Great Accomplishment.

Ye Zhen estimated that in less than a day, perhaps just a night’s time, the deep, bone-visible wounds on his soles would heal and would not affect the upcoming competition on the Black Dragon Ranking.

Ye Zhen found that the situations on the Heavenly Destiny Bridge were indeed strange and varied.

Some people crawled over, others fought their way across, and a few walked over at a leisurely pace; there were many who passed, and there were also many who fell off the bridge.

For a while, the elimination rate on the bridge even exceeded fifty percent.

Ye Zhen also noticed that the disciples of famous Great Sects or those from noble families had a higher chance of crossing the bridge successfully compared to loose cultivators.

For example, among the Phantom Divine Sect’s disciples, eight out of ten could pass, whereas those obviously unaffiliated loose cultivators, out of ten challengers, sometimes fewer than four would make it through.

This should be the so-called power of luck, elusive but omnipresent.

Suddenly, Ye Zhen’s pupils abruptly contracted.

On the Heavenly Destiny Bridge, as soon as the barefoot young man Yem Yuan stepped onto it, he fell through it just like Ye Zhen had, plummeting downward. At the moment of his fall, thunder and lightning flickered in the sky, and a thunderbolt as thick as an arm struck directly on Yem Yuan’s head, causing Yem Yuan’s hair to stand on end.

"Aoouuuu....!"

Yem Yuan let out a roar similar to that of a wild beast; surrounded by a burst of earthy yellow brilliance, a silver light appeared within it.

The sizzling silver light scattered chaotically, forcing the approaching black fog to scatter in all directions. Yem Yuan’s body suddenly gained a mysterious upward force.

Yem Yuan’s body floated upward slowly, his face flush with exertion, his forehead veins popping out as if he were using all his strength.

In this way, Yem Yuan moved inch by inch onto the bright Heavenly Destiny Bridge, and like Ye Zhen before, he became extremely cautious and dared not step on the bridge again.

Desperately activating the silver brilliance, he floated slowly towards the exit of the Heavenly Destiny Bridge.

Hu hu hu!

As soon as he rushed out of the bridge, Yem Yuan collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, completely drained as if he had been pulled out of the water.

"Another defier of fate!"

However, Yem Yuan did not stay at the exit of the bridge for long. After catching his breath for a few moments, he crawled to a corner like a wild beast and started to recover on his own.

"Chu Jun?"

When Chu Jun from the Lishui Sect set foot on the Heavenly Destiny Bridge, Ye Zhen’s gaze held some expectation.

Although Ye Zhen and Chu Jun did not get along, Ye Zhen still hoped that Chu Jun could cross the bridge.

Not many from the Black Water Kingdom had crossed the bridge. Including Ye Zhen, there were only six, one of whom was a loose cultivator. Moreover, with Chu Jun’s Fifth Stage cultivation in the Spirit Transformation Realm, he should easily secure a spot on the Black Dragon Ranking.

But sometimes, the more you hope for something, the less likely it is to happen.

A thunderclap-like Sword Light suddenly descended from the sky, blasting Chu Jun off the bridge just as he had stepped onto it. The rolling black fog below surged up like venomous snakes, dragging Chu Jun into the tumultous black fog.

"How could this be?"

Chu Jun was the son of the Lishui Sect Leader, how could he have sunk so swiftly and decisively?

Ye Zhen was astonished.

Four hours later, when the last martial artist fell into the surging black mist while crossing Heavenly Destiny Bridge, the glow above the bridge and the black mist below vanished simultaneously in a single breath, disappearing as if they had never existed.

Where the Heavenly Destiny Bridge had stood, there was now just a flat meadow.

This scene gave the crowd of martial artists the sensation of having been in a dream.

A stark contrast was the significantly reduced number of people.

During the bone age test at the city gate, three thousand individuals had crammed together, creating a bustling, crowded mass.

But now, only about nine hundred people stood there, the three trials of the selection process having eliminated more than sixty percent of them.

Out of the nine True Disciples from Qiyun Sect, nearly half were eliminated. Counting Ye Zhen and Caiyi, only five managed to fight their way into the competition for ranks on the Black Dragon Ranking. Lishui Sect fared even worse: of the ten True Disciples, only four made it to the final stage.

The unexpected elimination of Chu Jun, in particular, caused an immense shock among the Lishui Sect’s ranks.

However, despite the astonishment, all martial artists who had successfully passed the three trials of the preliminary selection, especially the last, were exceedingly excited, particularly those with a sect or family background.

The reason was simple: passing the third trial of the preliminary selection confirmed their potential to a certain degree. Broadly speaking, those who managed to pass it were considered martial artists with good fortune.

No matter what their final ranking on the Black Dragon List might be, they were sure to receive focused attention and possibly training from their sect or family upon their return. For most, clearing the three trials of the preliminary selection was already a significant achievement.

"The preliminary selection has ended. Tonight, you may rest and gather your strength. Tomorrow, the group stage for the Black Dragon Ranking will commence."

As Grand Deacon Qingyi announced the end of the trials, twelve beams of light shot out from the twelve Black Dragon Tokens, flying in all directions over the Black Dragon Ancient Land.

In an instant, the various aerial and ground restrictions that shrouded Black Dragon Ancient Land were lifted, including the sole gateway of glowing light, fully opening the area.

The Sect Elders and family Tributors who had been waiting outside, along with the eliminated martial artists, surged in.

Mostly, it was the martial artists from distant lands who had come to watch the event. There were those from the Spirit Summoning Realm, as well as older martial artists from the Spirit Transformation Realm, awaiting the lifting of the restrictions on Black Dragon Ancient Land.

Elders from various families and sects were filled with mixed emotions as they saw their disciples who had made it through the preliminary selection. They quickly began to impart crucial details about the group stage, with some already starting to gather intelligence on potential adversaries.

Qiyun Sect’s Second Elder Jis Che and Seventh Elder Zhongli Jing were no exception.

"Come, let’s take a look at your Passing Jade Tokens first!"

"Number one and..."

When Zhongli Jing saw the Passing Jade Tokens of Caiyi and Ye Zhen, his eyes widened in an instant.

Second Elder Jis Che, almost snatching the Sky-reaching Jade Token from Zhongli Jing, wore a stunned expression.

"Seed players, actually two seed players! Our Qiyun Sect..."

In their amazement, the voices of Zhongli Jing and Jis Che even choked up a bit, their eyes slightly reddening.

This turn of events surprised Ye Zhen, Caiyi, and the other True Disciples.

The reason for the elders’ reactions lay in the rules of the Black Dragon Ranking’s group stage.

After the three preliminary trials, the final contenders for the Black Dragon Ranking typically ranged from six to seven hundred, sometimes even a thousand.

However, there were only seventy-two spots available in the Black Dragon Ranking, so a large number of martial artists still needed to be eliminated.

The group stage divided the martial artists into twelve groups, drawing lots for matches within each group. In the end, the top twelve scoring martial artists advanced to the final competition.

The basis for dividing the twelve groups was the ranking on the martial artists’ Passing Jade Tokens upon clearing the third trial of the preliminary selection. They were grouped in twelves, creating twelve different groups.

The martial artists ranked in the top twelve were called seed players. Due to the rules, these twelve would not face each other in the group stage.

Typically, seed players from previous events managed to secure a spot among the seventy-two ranks on the Black Dragon List, with few exceptions.

In other words, with Ye Zhen and Caiyi becoming seed players, they had essentially secured a place on the Black Dragon Ranking. Having a disciple on that list was beneficial not only for the individual martial artist but also for their sect and even their family.

This concept seemed mysterious, but years of history had validated it.

Whenever martial artists managed to advance into the Black Dragon Ranking, their sects, families, and even they themselves would experience slightly better luck or fortune over the following five years.

This benefit was greater the higher the ranking achieved.

Of course, what shocked Jis Che and Zhongli Jing the most were Ye Zhen and Caiyi’s rankings: one was first, and the other was second.

These rankings immediately sparked wild thoughts in the minds of Jis Che and Zhongli Jing.

If fortune favored them, it was possible that the next cycle of temporary stewards for the Black Dragon Ancient Land could include a member from Qiyun Sect.

"Rest well, Ye Zhen, heal your injuries quickly. Don’t concern yourself with other matters. Leave the task of learning about our competitors to us! The future of our sect rests on your shoulders!" Naturally, as savvy elders, they did not forget to comfort the other True Disciples like Mei Yuanju.

"Group stage, huh?"

Ye Zhen’s gaze shifted, moving past numerous figures, and settled on Huaa Wushuang, Bu Changtian, Mo Xinsui, and others who stood with their hands behind their backs.

Those were Ye Zhen’s opponents!

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit qidian.com to vote and support it. Your encouragement is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to continue reading.)