—
Give up and forfeit?
“Guess I’ll have to try this.”
Lin Yun immediately pulled the point orb from his chest, flung it hard in another direction.
After tossing the point orb, Lin Yun sped off in the opposite direction, fleeing at full speed.
“Point orb!”
Li Shi glanced at the orb flying away, then at Lin Yun escaping in the other direction.
“I’ll let you off this time!”
Li Shi bolted toward the direction of the point orb, charging full speed!
Clearly, his choice was to secure the orb first, for him, aiming for first place was the top priority right now!
“Finally shook him off!”
Seeing Li Shi vanish behind him, Lin Yun let out a long sigh of relief.
The point orb, tucked in his chest, kept emitting light, so even if Lin Yun escaped, Li Shi could track him by following the glaring beam.
To lose him, he had to ditch the orb.
After shaking off Li Shi, Lin Yun didn’t dare slack off, kept fleeing the area, just in case Li Shi grabbed the orb and came back for more.
Only after seven or eight minutes of full-speed running, did Lin Yun stop.
“With just over ten minutes left in the match, forget it, I’ll focus on recovering for now.”
Saying this, Lin Yun found a random hidden spot, restored his condition, waited for the round to end.
Ten-odd minutes, even hunting demon beasts wouldn’t make a real difference, top hundred was already a lock, no way he’d jump to the top ranks in that time.
While Lin Yun hid and recovered, the barrier space buzzed with activity.
In the prior four and a half hours, there hadn’t been large-scale fights among contestants in the barrier, most just hunted demon beasts, but the point orbs’ arrival sparked fierce battles instantly.
Because of this, the top hundred on the Ten Thousand Flowers Leaderboard shifted noticeably again.
Fifteen minutes later.
While still hiding and recovering, Lin Yun suddenly felt a repelling force around him.
When he opened his eyes, he’d been transported to the central plaza of the Ten Thousand Flowers Banquet.
Lin Yun looked up, the giant Ten Thousand Flowers Leaderboard hung in the air.
First: Jiang Fengyu.
Second: Li Shi.
Third: Lu Ju.
…
Sixteenth: Gao Yuan.
Twenty-fifth: Jiang Cheng.
…
Fifty-fourth: Lin Yun.
…
Eighty-ninth: Mo Qing.
…
Ninety-ninth: Zhi Jin.
…
The point orbs’ arrival nearly knocked Zhi Jin out of the top hundred.
As for the other Heavenly Sword Sect contestant, Daniel, since Lin Yun never ran into him or helped him, his final rank was 668.
“Not bad,” Lin Yun nodded, fairly satisfied with the outcome.
Of course, a result like Lin Yun’s wouldn’t stir much fuss at the scene.
Right now, the whole crowd was abuzz, mostly discussing the top ten, top twenty contestants on the leaderboard.
The disciples with standout results, their masters and clansmen, were naturally thrilled.
Up front.
“Commander Zhu, do you know this Li Shi’s background?” Emperor Xingwu turned to the imperial guard commander beside him.
The top ten on the list, Emperor Xingwu knew their identities and details, except for this Li Shi, he knew nothing about him.
“Your subordinate doesn’t know, this man’s quite mysterious, like he popped up from nowhere, but with our Xingwu Empire’s nearly two trillion people, some unknown prodigies emerging is normal,” the commander said.
“Send someone to dig into his info,” Emperor Xingwu waved a hand.
Though such cases weren’t rare, an unheard-of prodigy hitting second was exceptional.
“Yes, sir!” the commander replied.
Emperor Xingwu looked up, his gaze landing on the fifty-fourth spot, the name beside it was Lin Yun.
“Fifty-fourth, that’s about it.”
Muttering casually, Emperor Xingwu shifted his gaze away.
Central plaza.
Zhi Jin and Mo Qing both approached Lin Yun.
“Lin Yun, good to see you’re alright,” Mo Qing said, her worried heart finally easing.
When Li Shi chased Lin Yun earlier, she’d lost track of him, didn’t know if he’d escaped.
“Big Brother Lin Yun, the guy who went after you, he’s second place! No wonder he’s so strong!” Zhi Jin exclaimed, staring at the leaderboard.
“He’s tough alright, if I face him in later rounds, beating him will be damn hard!” Lin Yun’s expression grew complicated.
In their earlier clash, even holding his own was tough, let alone winning.
Just as Lin Yun spoke, Li Shi walked over.
“Lin Yun, you got lucky escaping fast last time, survived by a fluke, you’d better pray you don’t face me in later rounds, or you’ll lose bad!” Li Shi smirked, his grin dripping with disdain.
As second place, Li Shi naturally drew plenty of eyes, his harsh words to Lin Yun caught a lot of attention.
“Looks like Li Shi and this Blood Calamity guy clashed in the arena?”
With that, Li Shi turned and left.
“Big Brother Lin Yun, this… this…” Zhi Jin’s face darkened.
“No worries, let him be as strong as he wants, a breeze brushes the hills, let him strut, the moon lights the river,” Lin Yun said with a laugh.
Just then, the imperial guard commander’s voice rang out.
“Top hundred, step forward, receive the Emperor’s bestowed wine!”
At those words, the top hundred from the leaderboard, buzzing with excitement, moved ahead.
The hundred walked straight to the open space below the throne, just dozens of metres from Emperor Xingwu and the immortals.
For many present, it was their first time so close to Emperor Xingwu.
The top ten, top twenty from this round, naturally stood closest up front.
“Congrats, rising above countless talents proves you’re prodigies among geniuses, you’re the empire’s future,” Emperor Xingwu’s voice wasn’t loud, yet carried immense presence.
“Bestow the wine!” Emperor Xingwu waved a hand.
Maidservants brought out celestial brew, served it to the hundred.
“Thanks, Emperor.”
Everyone took their cups, downed them in one go.
“Here’s your reward, catch.”
Emperor Xingwu waved again, a hundred thousand-year spirit fruits flew to the hundred below.
They caught the fruits, thanked him again.
The commander stepped forward, “Those advancing to the top hundred, besides the spirit fruit, get a chance to join the empire’s ‘Genius Training Camp’, receive top-tier imperial support, serve the empire later, whether you join is up to you.”
“Genius Training Camp?”
Some murmured, puzzled about what it was.
“You’ll see.”
The commander waved, a hundred scrolls flew to each person present.
They raised their hands, caught the scrolls.
Lin Yun opened his, it was an imperial enlistment agreement.
Per the terms, joining the ‘Genius Training Camp’ meant getting premium imperial resources and training, but at a cost, you’d pledge yourself to the empire, serve it going forward.
“You’ve got three months to decide, so take your time, no rush,” the commander said.
