The Illusory Sword Demon Breaking Finger that Yan Qingdao had unleashed also struck out a finger sword qi that was somewhat similar to the Ten Veins Sword Wave.
However, while the Ten Veins Sword Wave focused more on penetration and explosive power, the Illusory Sword Breaking Finger focused more on speed and illusion.
In just an instant, the overwhelming sword Qi was like a rainfall, surging towards Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen stepped on his feet as if he was moving in and out of the sword Qi.
“Puff!”
One of the sword Qi, broke through Zhang Ruochen’s body shield and passed through Zhang Ruochen’s armpit, fortunately, he dodged in time, otherwise his body would have been pierced by the sword Qi.
Zhang Ruochen retreated while observing Yan Qingdao’s fingering, looking for a break.
The Illusory Sword Demon Breaking Finger executed by Yan Qingdao was surprisingly flawless and had already reached the realm of pure perfection, forcing Zhang Ruochen to keep retreating.
Since there were no breaks, one could only use force to break the method.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was about to retreat to the stone wall, all of a sudden, Zhang Ruochen sunk his legs, steadied his footsteps, and struck out with a palm.
“Elephant Power Nine Stacks!”
Seven palm seals were struck in a row, erupting with seven times the power.
“Devil Suppressing Finger!”
Yan Qingdao’s right hand only revealed her index and little fingers as a wave of cold and ice true qi surged out from her fingertips, striking Zhang Ruochen’s palm.
With a collision of strikes, the two separated once again.
Yan Qingdao’s power was surprisingly powerful, only slightly weaker than Zhang Ruochen.
In fact, it was not surprising, Yan Qingdao’s overall strength was originally above Zhang Ruochen.
Her speed, which was a great deal faster than Zhang Ruochen’s, reached two hundred and sixty-six metres per second. Her strongest strength was also only a little weaker than Zhang Ruochen’s, reaching the strength of thirty-one and a half Barbarian Elephants.
The battle between the two was indistinguishable, with neither being able to help anyone.
An hour passed, and the two exchanged more than two thousand three hundred moves, but surprisingly, they were still unable to distinguish a winner from a loser.
If the two continued to fight, as long as there were no mistakes, even if they fought for three days and three nights, it would be very difficult to distinguish a winner from a loser.
In the end, the instrumental spirit doppelganger of the Earth Ranking intervened and sent out a voice: “According to the Earth Ranking’s testing rules, within one hour, if no winner can be distinguished, the strength of the two will be assessed by the Earth Ranking and the two will be judged as winners or losers.”
“According to your information, the Artifact Spirit of the Earth Ranking has ruled that Zhang Ruochen is better and has successfully challenged Yan Qingdao.”
Yan Qingdao was somewhat unconvinced and asked, “Why? Obviously, I am stronger than him, and if the battle continued, I would have gradually gained the upper hand just by virtue of having a deeper true qi than him.”
“You are right! However, Zhang Ruochen didn’t use his full strength when he fought you.”
The Artifact Spirit of The Earth Ranking continued, “After your sword was destroyed, Zhang Ruochen was the one who took the initiative to give up his sword and use his fists and feet to fight you. You need to know that Zhang Ruochen’s Sword Dao realm has already reached Sword Mind Tongming. If he had used the Sword Mind Realm, within a thousand moves, you would have lost to him.”
Earlier, Zhang Ruochen had fought Wei Wuhen and used the Realm of Sword Heart Passage, which had already been included inside the information by the Artifact Spirit of the Earth Ranking.
“Sword Heart Tongming?”
Yan Qingdao stared Avray at Zhang Ruochen and said, “So that’s how it is, I’m convinced of my defeat. Zhang Ruochen, I will remember your name, and when my strength improves again, I will definitely fight you again in the Earth Ranking.”
After saying this, Yan Qingdao’s Spiritual Void Body dissipated, turning into a wisp of aura.
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the testing chamber and found that Luo Shuihan had already completed the three practical tests and was waiting outside.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Senior sister, how was your test result?”
“Won two and lost one.” Luo Shuihan said.
The silver-robed elder standing on the side looked at Luo Shuihan in great awe and said, “Luo Shuihan defeated the three thousand seven hundredth and three thousand three hundredth martial artists on the Earth Ranking, and ultimately lost to the one in the three thousandth position by a single move. There are only seventy-eight martial artists in total who are less than twenty years old and have entered the top ten thousand positions of the Earth Ranking, and she is one of them.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “Congratulations Senior Sister.”
Luo Shuihan appeared bashful, instead giving Zhang Ruochen a meaningful look and said, “I’m afraid that my ranking, compared to yours, is a long way off.”
That one silver-robed elder was slightly startled, Luo Shuihan’s ranking was far worse than Zhang Ruochen’s?
The two most powerful heavenly prides of the Heavenly Demon Ridge, “Si Xingkong” and “Zhang Tiangui”, only ranked around 5,000 on the Earth Ranking, which was a long way behind Luo Shuihan.
Even if Zhang Ruochen was more powerful, how powerful could he be?
After all, Zhang Ruochen was no older than twenty.
Lei Jing, who was standing at the side, asked with some impatience, “Zhang Ruochen, did you succeed in your challenge for the second practical test?”
Lei Jing was the only person who knew that Zhang Ruochen was going to challenge the one hundredth rank in the Earth Ranking List, and knew the importance of this battle.
If he succeeded in the challenge, Zhang Ruochen would be considered to have entered the top one hundred of the 《Earth Ranking》, qualifying him to appear in the next issue of the 《East Region Wind and Cloud Newspaper》, becoming the leader of the young generation of the East Region, and completely entering the vision of all the major powers.
Zhang Ruochen did not move and nodded.
Lei Jing laughed loudly, one could say that he was ecstatic, and with a wave of his big sleeve, he said, “Elder XI, Luo Shuihan, you guys retreat first, I have something to discuss with Zhang Ruochen alone.”
“To be able to make Pavilion Master Lei, who was nearly a hundred years old, lose his temper like this, Zhang Ruochen’s challenge for the ranking of the Earth Ranking must be quite high, and might have already entered the top 1,000 of the Earth Ranking.” That one silver-robed elder’s heart guessed so.
He bowed to Lei Jing and exited the 《Earth Ranking》 Test Palace.
Luo Shuihan also retreated.
Lei Jing said, ”Zhang Ruochen, I really wasn’t wrong about you, it’s also a blessing for the Heavenly Demon Ridge to be able to give birth to a young hero like you. The Heavenly Demon Ridge used to be overrun by savage beasts and ruled by the ‘Four-Winged Earth Dragon’ Earth Dragon, belonging to a primitive and reckless wilderness. Truly counting, humans have only been in this land for five hundred years.”
“Five hundred years may seem like a long time, but, compared to the history of humanity in the entire Kunlun Realm, it can simply only be considered as short as a split second. Therefore, in the eyes of others, the Heavenly Demon Ridge is still a barren land, a small remote place, a bullet point that is not worth mentioning.”
Zhang Ruochen didn’t know why Lei Jing, was talking about this, but he still listened attentively, and then said, “Even though the Heavenly Demon Ridge only has a short history of five hundred years, it has still given birth to countless great masters, and there are even people who were able to become saints. For example, Senior Luo Xu.”
“That’s right.”
Lei Sightings nodded, a few moments of yearning appearing in his eyes as he said, “Elder Luo Xu, is the only Saint in the history of the Heavenly Demon Ridge, and the strongest person to come out of the Heavenly Demon Ridge. If it wasn’t for his influence, I’m afraid that many people wouldn’t know that there is such a place as the Heavenly Demon Ridge until now.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Pavilion Master is also a native cultivator of the Heavenly Demon Ridge?”
Lei Jing said, “Sort of! Back then, I was just an orphan who was spotted by an elder of the Martial City Chambers and brought to the Martial City Academy to cultivate, and because of my outstanding talent, not only did I enter the Inner Palace Academy, but later on, I even entered the Sacred Academy.”
“It’s just a pity that the competition in the Holy Academy is too great, and there are too many geniuses. I’m just a pauper from a small place, so how can I be a match for the heirs of those half-saint families and saintly sects?”
“After only staying in the Holy Academy for a year, I was severely injured and thrown out of the Holy Academy by the other party because I offended an heir of a Saint Sect. Haha!”
Speaking of this, Lei Jing couldn’t help but laugh bitterly, saying, “It’s really ridiculous to say that, in the beginning, the old man was actually thrown out of the Sacred Courtyard by someone else. Honestly speaking, after so many years, this is the first time that old me has spoken out about this matter to outsiders, it’s really too suffocating! It can’t be helped, at that time, compared to strength, strength couldn’t compare to others. Compared to family history, family history couldn’t compare to others. So, one can only take a beating!”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “What happened afterwards?”
“After offending the heir of the Sage Sect, naturally, it was impossible to stay in the Sacred Academy. Besides, having been beaten like a dog in the first place, one would not have the face to stay in the Sacred Courtyard. After leaving the Sacred Academy, I entered the Martial Market Money Bank to do my job, and I didn’t expect that I would later accidentally break through the Fourth Realm of the Martial Dao and break through to the Fish Dragon Realm, reaching the ranks of the top masters.”
Although Lei Jing spoke easily, Zhang Ruochen knew how difficult it was to break through the Fish Dragon Realm, even he had not broken through that realm in his previous life.
Lei Jing also didn’t know how much effort he had put in, how much sweat and blood he had shed, and how much he had grown and fought through humiliation before breaking through that realm and becoming a true human being.
Lei Jing laughed, ”When I broke through to the Fish Dragon Realm, the heir to that one Saint Clan that threw me out of the Sacred Courtyard in the first place was still trapped in the Heavenly Extreme Realm. Heh heh! Since his strength has greatly improved, it’s only natural to fight back, right? So old me, on a dark and windy night, I beat that one Sage Clan’s heir severely, beat him black and blue, stripped him of his clothes and trousers, and hung him on the gate of the Sacred Courtyard. Haha!”
Zhang Ruochen laughed and said, “The Pavilion Master has finally taken out a breath of bad anger and avenged his original revenge.”
Lei Jing income laughter and rolled his eyes, saying, “The anger is out and back, but he has completely offended that one Saint Sect. At first, if it wasn’t for the old man’s master, I’m afraid that the old man would have already been killed by that Saint Sect. Even so, I was driven out of the Holy Academy once again, driven out of the Eastern Divine Lands, and whisked back to the Heavenly Demon Ridge. In a flash, fifty years have already passed!”
“Back then, when I was driven out of the Sacred Courtyard for the second time, I swore an oath. Even if I return to the Heavenly Demon Ridge, I will cultivate a supreme heavenly pride of the Heavenly Demon Ridge to enter the Sacred Courtyard, to completely break the situation where the heirs of the Sacred Sect’s clans dominate the Sacred Courtyard, and to let them know that even a humble family can produce a noble son.”
Zhang Ruochen understood Lei Jing’s feelings, in the Kunlun Realm, the children of the Cold Sect and the heirs of the Saints’ Clan had always been in a confrontational situation. Because of the cultivation resources, cultivation conditions, and other reasons, the Sage Sect’s heirs had always held an absolute advantage, suppressing the children of the Cold Sect, who couldn’t raise their heads at all.
Taking the Heavenly Demon Ridge as an example, the vast majority of the strongest members of the younger generation were the princes and county lords of the various counties, or else they were the heirs of the great clans, and very few children from the humble sects had become the top strongest members.
Therefore, no matter how the world changed, those who ruled the Kunlun Realm would always be the heirs of those great families.
For a martial artist with no background or power to be strong and become a saint, it was definitely as difficult as climbing up to heaven.
In fact, in the eyes of the heirs of those half-saint families and saintly sects, these princes and county lords of the thirty-six county kingdoms of the Heavenly Demon Ridge were like countryside dirt riches, and no different from the paupers.
What could a humble disciple do?
The great world was such that they could only swim against the current.
