Shennong Dao Master
Chapter 209 - 15: Thunder Magic Hunting, Ranked Ninth! (Third Update)_3

Chapter 209: Chapter 15: Thunder Magic Hunting, Ranked Ninth! (Third Update)_3

""Offer him a position at mid-tier type A; if he wants to choose it, he can, if not, no pressure."

"Hmm."

Having discussed Feng Qiu, the four people turned their attention to the next name.

"Zhuang Ziqing, skilled in Earth Advantage Sect Magic, is likely eyeing the Geography Institute. But his wind, cloud, and thunder spells are also not bad, all of them top-notch. Should we try to compete for him?"

"We can’t compete with those guys at the Earth Advantage Institute, plus Zhuang Ziqing is Marquis Meng’s direct grandson. They’ve already reached out to the ’Marquis Tian’ of the Earth Advantage Institute; it’s unlikely he’ll choose the Heavenly Time Institute."

"Let’s skip him and see about Hua Zhilin and Guan Junyang from the Xuanjia Army."

"As it stands, we can only offer them a lower position within type A, as there’s nothing particularly outstanding about them. We’ll have to see if they can show something special in the next round."

.....

The four observers from the Heavenly Time Institute were evaluating a batch of outstanding individuals; in reality, for the division assessments, the Heavenly Time Institute only considered results from four rounds.

The Geography Institute focused on the middle two rounds, while the Pinghuai and Taicang Institutes looked at the performance in the last two rounds.

Once the challengers got past the fourth round, there was no longer any elimination; everyone would have the opportunity to participate in the following four rounds of tests and vie for resources for cultivation based on their performance!

It wasn’t long before the few people’s gazes landed on the name Zhao Xing.

"His cloud spell is first-class, and his thunder spells aren’t bad either; I’ve already seen that he has three thunder spells above seventh circle."

"But his wind spell, it’s merely the fourth circle Little Nine Heavenly Gang Wind Skill; considering his current performance, he can only be offered a position at upper-tier type B." Someone shared their opinion.

"That’s not right. Lu Bang once told me that Zhao Xing has a Yin Wind Skill at ninth circle, and it might even be perfected. That’s how Li Feng got tricked by him, so his talent in wind spells is actually not weak." Another person said.

"Oh? I didn’t know that. Then maybe we should offer him a mid-tier type A position?"

"He’s transitioning from a clerk to an official role and is still as malleable as a blank sheet of paper; he has a lot of room for improvement. I think we can give him a top-tier type A resource allocation."

"That’s not suitable. Precisely because he doesn’t have much official experience, a mid-tier type A position should suffice."

The three people’s opinions diverged, but soon the fourth person said, "Let’s just watch his performance in the fourth round; it’s coming up soon anyway."

"Hmm."

...

Time flew by, and soon four hours had passed.

When the time reached the Mao Hour on the following day, the [Ten Thousand Beasts Garden] assessment was over, and everyone boarded the ship.

Zuo Zizhi also used the Earth Mirror Instrument to send out the hunting rankings of this Ten Thousand Beasts Garden challenge to all the participants.

[First Place: Shi Yong]

[Second Place: Zhuang Ziqing]

[Third Place: Guan Junyang]

[Fourth Place: Lei Meng]

...

[Ninth Place: Zhao Xing]

[Tenth Place: Jiang Tianming]

...

[One Hundred Eighty-Eighth Place: He Zheng]

The rankings shifted dramatically.

Many people gasped in surprise when they saw their scores.

"I killed so many beasts, and I only ranked three hundred eighty-fifth? Damn, the ones ahead are too strong!"

"Shi Yong is still in first place; how can he be so powerful?"

"Zhuang Ziqing is also impressive, firmly holding second place. It seems that the top two from the initial reporting tests surpass the rest by a lot."

"Guan Junyang has also risen to third place."

"Those three have secured their places, but there’s been a complete turnover in the top ten, and the rest have fallen back."

"Sigh, I’ve fallen to the seven hundredth place, now out of reach of the four institutes."

"It’s so annoying, I know two thunder spells, each at the seventh circle, and I still slid back to the two hundreds."

"There are too many geniuses; they’re all Ninth Grade, how can others be so strong..."

Zhao Xing also silently perused the rankings.

"Ninth place, better than I expected."

He knew four thunder spells: [Summoning Thunder], [Thunderbolt Chains], [Thunder Palm], [Rolling Earth Mine].

Among these, Rolling Earth Mine was at fourth circle, Summoning Thunder was perfected, Thunderbolt Noose at ninth circle, Thunder Palm at eighth circle!

Knowing many thunder spells, with diverse means of attack, naturally led to higher efficiency in killing monsters.

After all, Ten Thousand Beasts Garden had many types of beasts, and a single spell might not be efficient against all situations.

Using a combination of thunder spells, ranging from yang thunder, yin thunder, long-range, single-target, to area-of-effect, meant not getting stuck too long on any particular beast type.

As a result, Zhao Xing’s killing efficiency was quite high.

He surged to ninth place in the rankings!

"Compared to the eight people ahead, my gap is small, only the first and second places have a bigger lead."

The Earth Mirror showed that Shi Yong slew 1534 beasts!

Zhuang Ziqing took down 1325 beasts!

Both of them broke a thousand, with Guan Junyang starting from third place with just 921.

Going down the list to Zhao Xing.

His kill count was 825.

"The landing spot, the beasts encountered, these factors can be chalked up to luck, and just a bit of difference in luck can lead to a ranking gap."

"My luck can’t be bad, which means there is still some tangible gap in strength compared to the ones ahead. This gap possibly manifests in my lack of studying the classical tomes of the three major schools, and my Gathering Essence only at the fifteenth stage." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

Gathering Essence at the fifteenth stage was rather low; most others were already at the nineteenth stage of Gathering Essence, just one step from the twentieth stage, which in the old system is Ninth Grade Perfection, or in the Great Zhou System, it’s solid Ninth Grade upper level.

Secondly, there’s a difference between having studied the classical secret scriptures of the major schools and not having studied them.

For example, mastering ’Yin Yang Self Scripture’ enhances the Inner Five Elements, speeding up elemental energy recovery and increasing its capacity. The difference becomes evident in high-intensity combat.

Zhao Xing felt fortunate to have ranked ninth, thinking it was due to good luck and encountering beasts that were relatively easy to kill.

"He actually made it to ninth place?" Jiang Hai and Jiang He, seeing Zhao Xing’s ranking, were a bit surprised; the two brothers had ranked beyond twentieth place this time. "He’s a strong contender!"

"Zhao Xing of the Divine Might Army, who would have thought his thunder spells were so effective in combat." Zhuo Li noticed Zhao Xing while checking the rankings, "I’m only at fifty-ninth place, originally thought I could overtake him but didn’t expect him to reach ninth."

"Interesting, worthy of the one who beat Li Feng." Hua Zhilin glanced at Zhao Xing, a hint of intrigue in her eyes.

Right at that moment, Zuo Zizhi stepped out of the pavilion, interrupting everyone’s discussions.

"The top five hundred have been decided; those eliminated may choose to go to other divisions."

"The remaining five hundred will commence the fourth challenge."

"Only two hundred will remain after the fourth challenge."

"However, once they pass this test, there will be no more eliminations in subsequent challenges, and they will be able to select a division. Based on their performance, they will also receive varying levels of training opportunities..."