Echo stated a number, and Seraphine nodded with satisfaction.

Other cultivators were also asking each other about fragment counts, either directly or subtly.

Meng Xiangfei, who’d been rebuffed by Seraphine and Echo, played with her hair and looked curiously at Ink-Trace Venerable on the high platform. She raised her eyebrows and called out loudly, “Meng Xiangfei of Mysterious Yin Sect greets Ink-Trace Venerable.”

Jingxing looked down and said gently, “What do you need?”

Meng Xiangfei flashed her most touching smile and asked in the quiet arena, “Venerable, since rankings haven’t been revealed yet, may we purchase fragments from other disciples?”

The surrounding cultivators froze, their faces showing both hope and hesitation.

Hope because if purchasing was allowed, they’d gladly spend their entire fortunes for a chance at the top five hundred.

Hesitation because others surely had the same idea, and no one knew how many fragments the five hundredth place holder had.

If they sold fragments thinking they’d failed, only to discover those fragments would have put them in the top five hundred, they’d likely develop heart demons and damage their Dao hearts.

—Though the two fragments given to Fellow Daoist Xi were fine, since everyone had paid!

When everyone paid, it was like no one paid!

Siyi looked around at the restless crowd and smiled. “Don’t even think about it. I’m sure the Venerable won’t agree to her proposal.”

Sure enough, under the anxious gazes of all the cultivators, Jingxing shook his head. “No.”

“You were allowed to trade earlier because you made agreements within the Secret Realm. Now that the dust has settled and the trial has officially ended, rankings will be determined by your current fragment count.”

After speaking, Jingxing called Lanzhi forward.

Lanzhi held a scroll and said warmly to everyone, “Please come forward in order and use your spiritual power to consolidate your fragments before placing them in the scroll.”

She threw the scroll into the air, and the white scroll with blue borders unrolled, cascading down from the high platform like a white carpet dividing the cultivators.

“Please proceed.” Lanzhi said.

The most crucial moment of the second trial had arrived. The spectators who’d been watching the confusing fragment collection process from the stands grew excited, staring down eagerly as if they were participants themselves, waiting for results with anticipation and nervousness.

In the arena, cultivators wore expressions ranging from calm to grave as they opened their storage rings. When everyone consolidated their fragments with spiritual power as Lanzhi instructed, the fragments transformed into golden orbs of light in their hands.

Echo examined her light orb with pleasant surprise.

Round and golden—like the Main System’s subsystem cores!

Seraphine held her orb and compared it with Echo’s and Siyi’s, saying boredly, “Can’t tell any difference.”

After scanning them, Echo nodded. “Everyone’s orbs are the same size. This is what humans call the tense moment before revealing results.” She just hadn’t expected the cultivation world to have such moments too. Had Sunset Glow City’s lord been placing advertisements?

She looked curiously toward Zhao Qingcheng on the high platform.

Zhao Qingcheng was smiling broadly while serving tea to Jingxing and laying out a full banquet.

Oh, apparently not.

“Tsk.” Seraphine casually tossed her orb into the scroll and patted Echo’s arm. “What are you waiting for?”

Echo quickly threw her orb in, making Siyi shake her head helplessly.

Of course, people who’d collected fragments from nearly three thousand participants and already secured their spots at Insight Academy Palace could be so casual. Meanwhile, every other cultivator approached the scroll with solemn expressions, carefully and hopefully placing their orbs inside.

In the stands, spectators watched the elite disciples submit their orbs while discussing excitedly. “I heard someone in the city set up underground betting on the trial champion, with Zhao Hangyi, young master of Sunset Glow City, as the heavy favorite!”

“Looks like that’s out the window now—we just watched everyone line up to hand fragments to that Luanyang Palace disciple!”

Someone nearby quickly corrected, “That’s not a Luanyang Palace disciple, but a Lingshan Sect disciple! I heard that in the Eastern Continent, she killed a late Nascent Soul cultivator while only at mid Nascent Soul herself, and was exempted from the first trial by the Insight Academy Palace supervisors.”

“Cross-realm combat isn’t uncommon, but what earned her the exemption was that she was only twenty-six years old! Now, a year later, she’s still under thirty!”

Under thirty years old at mid Nascent Soul stage!

Such extraordinary talent left everyone stunned as they stared at that bright silver head in the crowd, their feelings complex.

“Terrifying……”

“Even in dreams, I wouldn’t dare imagine reaching mid Nascent Soul by thirty.” Someone shook their head and sighed.

Some looked around at all the people in the arena and once again contemplated the vast differences between individuals.

The cultivation world’s current generation of leaders are probably all gathered right here!

“Pity, I actually bet on Fairy Meng Xiangfei……” someone lamented their spirit stones.

Everyone laughed, with one person sighing, “Come to think of it, we’d never heard of Lingshan Sect before. What if this is all City Lord Zhao’s conspiracy? Secretly nurturing such a genius, quietly sending her to the Eastern Continent, then having her carve a bloody path to claim the championship while the house takes all bets!”

After a moment of silence, everyone burst into laughter, thinking whoever came up with such a plot must have been seriously cheated by Sunset Glow City! But as the laughing crowd looked up at City Lord Zhao, who was still diligently serving tea to Ink-Trace Venerable, their laughter suddenly died……

Come to think of it, a few days ago Sunset Glow City’s auction house sold an unremarkable chess set for an astronomical price, simply because it was guaranteed by the city lord to have been used by Ink-Trace Venerable.

The spectators: “……”

Hiss…… suddenly this seems terrifying.

As the conversation took increasingly strange turns, the last cultivator placed their orb into the scroll. Lanzhi’s slender fingers grasped the scroll and lifted gently.

The scroll spread across the ground began glowing with pure white light, whooshing back to its origin and rolling up in Lanzhi’s hands.

The scroll spun nimbly in Lanzhi’s palm. Echo watched with wide eyes and tried spinning Nine Heavens twice in imitation. Nine Heavens hit the ground with a “thunk.”

“Huh?” She quickly picked up Nine Heavens and patted it clean, then curiously opened her palm to examine it.

Apparently pattern recognition didn’t apply to her hands.

Seraphine’s smile flickered as she mercilessly slapped Echo’s palm.

On the platform, Lanzhi announced, “The trial results are complete. I will now announce the fragment counts for all 2,990 cultivators present. This trial is the final round—the top five hundred will enter the Insight Academy Palace.”

Three thousand participants, with ten having withdrawn from the second trial.

The previously lively atmosphere turned serious and tense. Another white-robed disciple stepped forward beside Lanzhiand threw a water mirror into the air.

Lanzhi unrolled the scroll and called out loudly, “Ten Extremes Sect, Hua Weiyin, five hundred sixty fragments.”

The water mirror immediately displayed the name and fragment count. The first cultivator called looked stiff with surprise and doubt in her eyes, only relaxing after hearing the next person had fewer fragments.

The names in Lanzhi’s scroll weren’t arranged by quantity, but the names in the water mirror automatically ranked by placement. When Qiu Shuangshuang with her 732 fragments was announced, her name shot to the top of all the others like a dark horse.

“Junior Sister!” Wei Yutong excitedly gripped Qiu Shuangshuang’s shoulders. “You’re amazing!”

“I was just lucky,” Qiu Shuangshuang grinned. “Master gave me lots of fragments in the realm, and later I encountered a Stone Giant that wasn’t very tough—it dropped two hundred fragments when it died.”

Fate and fortune combined.

Everyone in the arena watched the water mirror with bated breath. Some already showed disappointed expressions while others remained hopeful. Seraphine naturally stood relaxed with arms crossed, though sheraised an eyebrow in surprise when she heard “Sunset Glow City, Zhao Hangyi, five thousand three hundred ninety fragments.”

Zhao Hangyi’s fellow Sunset Glow City disciples congratulated him, and he replied graciously, “Congratulations to us all.” Besides him, the other Sunset Glow City disciples also had impressive fragment counts.

On the water mirror, the previous first place Meng Xiangfei bit her tongue and shot a resentful glance toward the Sunset Glow City disciples. “More cunning than me, hmph.”

In the stands, seeing that astronomical number far ahead of everyone else, anticipation surged again. Five thousand three hundred—maybe that would be the champion!

Everyone in the arena marveled at the number, especially since they’d all contributed to it in some way, leaving them with mixed feelings.

Siyi looked away and said to Seraphine, “During my visits to Golden Jade Tower, I noticed they kept all earned fragments in jade boxes behind the counter. The fragment counts announced probably only reflect what the Sunset Glow City disciples personally carry—they’ve been operating in the realm for quite a while and must have collected considerably more.”

Seraphine clicked her tongue and nodded, then looked toward a certain someone who was concentrating intently on spinning the sword hilt around and around.

As for Nine Heavens itself—the long sword lay abandoned nearby with a large empty space around it, its heart already cold and not wanting its body to freeze too.

“……Is that fun?” Seraphine asked kindly.

Echo had managed to get the hilt spinning multiple circles in her palm and nodded excitedly. “Very fun.”

She’d never played with things like this as a system. Being human was really interesting!

Fine then.

Seraphine pulled a green jade flute from her storage ring, rescuing Nine Heavens from its misery.

“Play with this instead,” she said lazily.

Echo’s eyes lit up as she took the jade flute, examining it from all angles. Her fingers loosened and Nine Heavens’s hilt hit the ground with a “thunk,” striking the blade and causing frost to leap and cover the ground with another layer of icy white.

Seraphine: “……”

On the high platform, Lanzhi glanced down and announced quietly, “Lingshan Sect, Xi Lingren, seven thousand six hundred ninety fragments.”

A silence colder than frost spread through the arena, including the spectators who’d desperately hoped to salvage their spirit stone bets.

Ink-Trace Venerable also looked down, and when Lanzhi announced “Luanyang Palace, Seraphine Velka, seven thousand six hundred ninety fragments,” he gazed toward the two figures standing side by side in blue and red, smiling warmly.

Eyes from all directions focused on them. Seraphine stood calmly, but her expression suddenly changed when she glanced at Echo.

The jade flute she’d given Echo to play with was now properly held in her hands, fingers positioned correctly on the sound holes, pink lips pressed against the mouthpiece, eyelashes lowered with the silver-white outer edges glowing beautifully, looking ethereal and otherworldly—if not for the fact that Echo had puffed out her cheeks.

“Don’t….…” Seraphine gasped and reached out.

“Pffft pffft pffft—”

The sound of air leaking echoed endlessly.

[Author’s Note]:

Echo (shaking the flute in confusion): This isn’t what she imagined.

Seraphine (veins popping): Heh.

This cultivation world is way too serious. Luckily, I’m here to fix that. Curious what new trouble I’m about to cause? Find out 20 chapters ahead at Pxtreon➡️LoveisLove520!