Book 1 - Chapter 150: Rankings

Chapter 150: Rankings

After forcing Ji Hanyan to retreat, the exam became like a walk in the park.

The three-man team wandered through the exam grounds at their leisure, walking through the different regions and cleaning up any other exam candidates they encountered.

They crushed everyone they encountered; no one was able to put up any kind of resistance against them.

They did run into the more powerful candidates, but next to Ji Hanyan, they weren’t all that strong. Their self-confidence rose to new heights as they beat candidates left and right.

On that day, the three of them reaped the most points since entering the exam grounds.

During this time, Su Chen wanted to find Li Qingyun and Bai Li, but no sign of them was found. It was unknown whether or not they even made it to the first region.

The first rays of the sun streaked over the horizon, and a loud whistle sounded out, signalling the end of the Hidden Dragon Institute’s three-day exam.

The exam candidates were beamed out of the exam grounds, once again appearing on the large plaza.

They lifted their heads up to look at the massive screens of light, which revealed how many points each exam candidate had obtained and their corresponding ranking.

After three full days of battle, the fruit of their efforts was now manifested. The exam candidates that had endured to the very end searched for their names on the ranking list.

From time to time, people would yell out things like, “I made the top six! I’ve got a spot in the Institute!” or “Dammit! Three points! I could’ve beaten him with just three more points!”

Joy, vexation, excitement, and anger could be heard in the students’ voices.

Of course, 99 out of a 100 were eliminated by the Hidden Dragon Institute’s cruel entrance standards. Most people were sorrowful and disappointed. Only a few showed excitement, and they were very jarring compared to their surroundings.

Most people were only focused on whether or not they got in, but some were aiming higher.

Jin Ling’er nervously searched for her name on the rankings list.

She started at the top and before long she found her name. She was placed tenth!

Jin Ling’er, 722 points.

“Whew! Made it,” Jin Ling’er sighed in relief.

Because Su Chen had taken a large handful of her points, Jin Ling’er had far fewer points than she would’ve liked. Although she furiously fought to recover the gap, in the end, she was only barely able to reach tenth place.

Even so, Jin Ling’er was satisfied.

In reality, the top three were considered to be on a different level than the rest of the top ten, but the differences weren’t too great. To Jin Ling’er, as long as she could enter the top ten, she could accept any other loss.

She scanned back up and found Su Chen’s name written next to the fifth place marker.

Su Chen, 814 points.

“Hey, congratulations,” Jin Ling’er said to Su Chen. “You’re in the top five.”

“Not much difference between that and tenth place,” Su Chen replied nonchalantly.

He spoke the truth. Fifth and tenth place weren’t very different from each other.

“Hey, at least you guys are in the top ten. What a pity, I only reached sixteenth place,” Fatty Wang sighed. He had fallen too far behind in the beginning, making it impossible for him to catch up.

“That’s not bad either. You should still be considered a seedling of the institute, albeit probably with a lower ranking,” Jin Ling’er comforted.

The three of them glanced at the leaderboard again. Ji Hanyan was the person with the most points. Even though she had lost to the three of them, it didn’t seem to affect her very much; she continued to furiously earn points the entire way through.

She possessed a frightening 1345 points, 500 more than Su Chen. Even the second-place candidate, Blood Demon Zhong Ding, was more than 400 points behind her.

On the leaderboard, Ji Hanyan existed in a league of her own. She was at the top of the rankings list with a point total that simply made others feel helpless. Aside from her, the rest of the top 10 had similar amounts of points.

Despite this, Su Chen’s name was still very eye-catching in this top 10.

This was because he was the only one without a bloodline attached to his name.

Although he was only fifth, the attention he drew was no less than Ji Hanyan’s.

“Su Chen? Who’s that? How can someone without a bloodline enter the top five?”

“I know him. I don’t know how he did it, but he somehow teamed up with Jin Ling’er, taking advantage of her in order to obtain so many points.”

“That’s because he defeated her and teamed up with her afterwards.” An exam candidate who was eliminated early on had watched it happen on the big screen.

“Rubbish, how could he defeat Jin Ling’er? I think it’s because he’s handsome, so Jin Ling’er was willing to submit to him.”

Discussions were ongoing in the plaza. All kinds of ideas were being thrown around. There were those who had been “mesmerized” by him, while others were beaten by him and were now slandering him. Many who knew about different parts of what had happened believed themselves to know the whole truth, and there was no lack of embellishment when they spoke about what had happened.

In any case, all kinds of ideas about what tactics Su Chen had used were being thrown around.

But no matter what they thought of him, the name “Su Chen” instantly spread far and wide.

Many people knew a new genius had appeared during this exam period. He had no bloodline, yet he had dominated this region’s competition.

Su Chen, however, was not particularly interested in the conversations going on around him. He was focused on the ranking list, trying to find Li Qingyun and Bai Li.

He found them pretty quickly.

Li Qingyun held onto 88th place with 236 points, while Bai Li was only one rank and two points behind him with 234 points. They were the second and third-ranked individuals from the Northface City region, and were both in the top 100, something which was quite rare.

Su Chen later discovered that the two of them had reached the fifth region.

But that was their limit. Not long after arriving there, they were forced to retreat after encountering some powerful exam candidates. They returned shortly afterwards.

Su Chen was still in the Spirit Burying Terrace at the time, so he never ran into them.

Those two also knew Su Chen was Demon Face. They were rendered speechless upon discovering he had even forced Ji Hanyan to retreat. They did not know of Su Chen’s plan to borrow their strength to progress forwards. Rather, they were counting their lucky stars that they hadn’t fought; otherwise, they would’ve been the ones to lose. If they had been eliminated, it would’ve been all over.

They actually felt quite grateful towards Su Chen.

The fourth-ranked person from Northface City was Lin Jingxuan, who took rank 178 with 115 points. Lin Shuyue was three points behind him. She was not fated to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute.

This was not particularly surprising. Su Chen had given Lin Jingxuan many Explosive Medicines with him. Naturally, since Su Chen had forced Lin Jingxuan into submission, he would bring him into the Hidden Dragon Institute and continue to use him.

These results were outstanding for Northface City

Su Chen’s placing in the top ten gave Northface City a lot of face, and would bring them a lot of benefits.

By latching themselves onto Su Chen’s coattails, the next Hidden Dragon Institute battle would occur five years earlier, and they could obtain at least five or six ranking spots.

Because of this, the Lord of Northface City, Yue Weixiong, was beaming with joy. He received congratulations from many of those present.

To him, this was a great political achievement of his, despite the fact he hadn’t lifted so much as a finger.

Even so, bureaucracy was exactly like that. If someone under your jurisdiction achieved success, that was also your success. If someone under your jurisdiction made a mistake, that was on you as well.

Such a great achievement would definitely be recorded in the official books, and would be included in all future official ratings. Yue Weixiong had earned this achievement without paying a penny, and no matter how he looked at Su Chen, he liked him.

He was heading towards the Su Clan to congratulate them.

However, an official registrar on the side saved him the trouble. He secretly said to Yue Weixiong, “Su Chen has no affection for the Su Clan. Half a year ago, he personally ruined his father’s Fourth Aunt, Yan Wushuang, angering his father to the point where he tried to kill Su Chen. Apparently, the two of them have not seen eye to eye for a long time, and Su Chen allegedly doesn’t even acknowledge Su Cheng’an as his father anymore.”

“How did something like that happen?” Yue Weixiong was startled for a moment, then lowered his head and muttered in thought, “If that’s the case, there’s no need to get too close to the Su Clan. Su Chen is now a seedling of the Hidden Dragon Institute, and his future potential is boundless. Since he’s not on good terms with the Su Clan, see if you can rope him in. Do you think we should offer our help to him to deal with the Su Clan?”

The official registrar said, “This little one understands Su Chen’s personality; he is someone who is very clear about his grudges. Judging from his actions, it seems that although he’s split apart from the Su Clan, he has no intention of dealing with them either. Perhaps he he decided they would simply walk different paths in life. There’s no need for you, sir, to deal with the Su Clan. Otherwise…… well, you know how it is. Families always argue with one another. If we meddle too much, who knows what will happen?”

“Oh, that makes sense too.” Yue Weixiong repeatedly nodded his head.

The official registrar said, “In addition, Su Chen has offended the Pan Clan. Although there are large clans that hold him in high regard, based on his personality I don’t think he would be willing to become someone else’s subordinate. We still don’t know how that situation will pan 1 out. Sir, don’t be too short-sighted.”

Yue Weixiong stroked his beard and said, “You’re not wrong, but Su Chen entered the top ten and lifted up my Northface City along with him. As the lord of the city, it would be callous of me to not express my gratitude. What do you think I should do?”

“Send them some gifts, but maintain your distance.”

Yue Weixiong pondered for a moment, then nodded his head and said, “Then it’s decided.”

1. Blame my editor if you want to blame someone.