Chapter 421: The Seven Emperors, and the Wildly Rising Rankings (I)

As the night fell, flames flickered and danced on the hillside.

Opposite Chen Chu, a young girl clad in azure battle armor retrieved a large stone slab, a stone stool, and a set of stone grill seasonings from her Sumeru Bracelet. She then procured a hundred-catty slab of fresh, mutated beast meat and a sharp, finely tempered transcendent knife.

The set of stone slabs she took out was the same one that Chen Chu had asked An Fuqing to carve at the cliffside before.

However, what truly caught his attention was that despite the limited space in her Sumeru Bracelet, she had used it to store such mundane, unnecessary items.

"An Fuqing, should you really keep those in your Sumeru Bracelet?" Chen Chu asked.

An Fuqing looked at him quizzically. "Isn't it meant for storing things?"

"I mean, besides storing swords, armor, and some basic supplies, shouldn't the remaining space be reserved for more valuable items?"

"I don't own anything particularly valuable. Right now, all I have are my armor and sword, so I just use the remaining space to hold this grilling stone slab and several hundred kilograms of mutated beast meat."

Chen Chu had forgotten that An Fuqing was completely focused on cultivation. She never even bothered to hunt mutated beasts for contribution points, which she could use to exchange for resources. No, it would be more accurate to say that she simply didn't need conventional cultivation resources.

"I'm treating you to some grilled meat today,” An Fuqing enthusiastically said. “I've been studying stone-grilling techniques, and I’ve also carefully prepared these seasonings. They taste really good."

Chen Chu smiled. "Alright, let's see how much your cooking skills have improved.”

Chen Chu watched the young girl skillfully slice the meat into pieces of varying thickness, brush them with oil, sprinkle them with salt, and add some chopped onions, cumin, and pepper powder into the mix.

Soon, the meat sizzled on the hot stone, filling the air with a rich aroma.

Then came An Fuqing’s special blend of seasonings: Sichuan pepper powder and chili powder.

Just as Chen Chu thought it was almost done, the girl pulled out some freshly washed scallions, still glistening with water droplets, from her Sumeru space. She chopped them into fine bits and scattered them over the meat.

Whoosh!

The rich aroma of the grilled meat wafted through the air, making Chen Chu involuntarily swallow. Compared to his method of indiscriminately dousing everything in spices and sauces—which smelled great but tasted a bit off—An Fuqing’s approach was far more refined and professional.

Still, isn't it a bit unusual to use the Sumeru Bracelet’s function like this?

An Fuqing divided the grilled meat in half and used a small spatula to push a portion toward Chen Chu. "Here. Try it and tell me how it tastes."

She had a hint of expectation in her eyes. Ever since she had eaten Chen Chu’s stone-grilled meat, she had been thinking about returning the favor one day.

Before An Fuqing’s expectant gaze, Chen Chu picked up a large piece of grilled meat and put it in his mouth. After a couple of chews, his eyes lit up. He gave her a thumbs up.

"As expected of you, An Fuqing. You pick up new skills so quickly. This grilled meat is amazing." Chen Chu wasn’t exaggerating; it truly was delicious.

The meat was tender and juicy, retaining its moisture despite being grilled. Combined with its spicy yet savory flavors, it was easily the best grilled meat he had ever tasted.

An Fuqing lit up and smiled in satisfaction.

After eating over ten pounds of meat, Chen Chu finally stopped and looked at the girl across from him, who was still grilling and munching down the meat with gusto, her mouth greasy from the feast.

Sensing his eyes on her, An Fuqing looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Aren't you going to eat more?"

"I’m already full." He then curiously added, "An Fuqing, how did you manage to condense four types of sword will?"

Chen Chu knew just how challenging it was to cultivate such wills. He had to fight his way through the southern battlefield, sweeping through hundreds of geniuses of the same level, before finding the opportunity to condense his own. Moreover, although he had encountered many geniuses who had condensed their own sword will or fist will, they had all mastered only one type.

Unlike them, An Fuqing had already condensed four types of sword will—clear evidence of how monstrous she was.

After thinking about it for a moment, An Fuqing replied, "I’m not sure either. At the time, I just felt that the power was special and strong, so I condensed it into sword will."

"Why does that sound so familiar?" Chen Chu wondered aloud.

At that moment, he recalled that he had once said something similar to Li Hao and the others when they also asked how he managed to cultivate so quickly. Back then, he simply told them that he didn’t know; he just kept cultivating and somehow grew stronger.

Chen Chu was well aware of the reasons behind his strength, but An Fuqing was different. She could have genuinely just found it easy; she wanted to condense sword will, so she did.

"Four sword wills are probably my limit, though."

"Limit?" Chen Chu asked.

"Yes. After comprehending my fourth sword will, I sensed the connection with heaven and earth multiple times, but I kept failing to condense a new sword will. It seems my soul can’t bear more sword wills. Every time I try to condense a new one, I feel an intense tearing sensation deep within me."

Chen Chu was stunned.

She sensed a connection with heaven and earth multiple times? Her talent for comprehension is far more terrifying than my epiphany state.

Amid their conversation, their wristbands began to glow.

"The sub-eye channel is open."

"Finally. Let’s check the rankings."

To avoid distractions, Xie Chen disabled the sub-eye’s communication function during the day. Hence, as soon as it opened, nearly a thousand people immediately logged in.

The ruins were vast. Even with over a thousand people scattered all over it, it was almost impossible to see another person all day, let alone share their findings.

East Xia, Ji Wuji: Hahaha... As expected, I got the top rank.

On top of a hundred-meter-tall stone peak stood Ji Wuji, a burly and rugged figure dressed in a white robe. The man laughed triumphantly. Today, he had secured the top spot on the Purple Spirit rankings with 9,512 points. He was over 2,000 points ahead of the second-place Gabriella, which thrilled him to no end.

However, he had ventured too deep into the ruins today and encountered a terrifying Eighth Heavenly Realm void monster. He sustained minor injuries as a result, leaving him somewhat weakened.

But that was just a minor setback for him.

"Life at the top is so lonely," Ji Wuji mused. With his hands behind his back, he looked down at the pitch-black earth from the stone peak.

Then, with a proud expression, he added, "Gabriella, Beast King Bardas—I suppressed them all in just one day. So what if that Seventh Heavenly Realm first-year freak is talented? He can't even see my back now.

Hahaha

!"

Baihu, Rong Hongqing: So strong... His Purple Spirit points have almost reached ten thousand. I killed over a hundred contaminated monsters in the past two days, yet I barely got four hundred points.

West Meng, Frank: East Xia truly has hidden talents.

No one was surprised that Ji Wuji had claimed the top spot. After all, he trailed Gabriella by only a hundred points yesterday. All he had to do was kill a few more level 6 void monsters.

The ruins had drawn top-level geniuses from various countries. Although they were proud, they weren’t arrogant. They even sent messages of goodwill in response to Ji Wuji’s rise to the top.

The compliments only made Ji Wuji feel even better.

Hahaha! I am truly the strongest.

However, a message soon popped up that displeased Ji Wuji.

East Xia, Li Daoyi: You’re missing the point, idiot. Did we come here to kill monsters?

On the plains, Li Daoyi looked disdainfully at Ji Wuji's name on the projection rankings. As he had said, Ji Wuji was definitely an idiot.

Hadn’t he noticed that everyone else's Purple Spirit points hadn’t increased much compared to yesterday?

Even the points of the fourth-placer Bredos only rose from four thousand to just over six thousand, indicating that he hadn’t spent the day specifically hunting void monsters.

Similarly, the others in the top thirty showed only about a fifty percent increase in their Purple Spirit points today.

The reason, of course, was that they were out searching for relics.

The ruins contained many ancient, broken buildings and relics. With some luck, one could find an inheritance left behind by a powerful figure or stumble upon an item imbued with will power.

For some geniuses, an inheritance was even more valuable than the world’s origin. After all, not everyone had the potential to become a king. To those people, the presence or absence of the world’s origin didn’t matter much.

Rather, an ancient inheritance that could help them reach the Ninth Heavenly Realm was far more precious. Even though the current cultivation system differed from ancient times, for as long as the core principles remained the same, such inheritance could still illuminate their path.

Only a fool like Ji Wuji would waste all his time hunting in the ruins, which spanned millions of square kilometers and were filled with countless void monsters.

How many did he even think he could possibly kill? If he were to encounter a late-stage Eigth Heavenly Realm monster, he wouldn’t even have time to run.

Chen Chu must be thinking the same way,

Li Daoyi thought as his gaze fell on Chen Chu's name, which had already dropped to below seventy on the rankings. The freshman’s Purple Spirit points remained the same as yesterday, which could only mean that he had spent the day searching for relics instead of killing monsters.

"Looks like everyone’s working hard,” Li Daoyi said as he looked at the compass-like item floating before him.

At the core of the compass, a radiant bolt of lightning flashed, and powerful thunderbolt energy crackled, emitting invisible electromagnetic waves in all directions.

"Hmph!

Just you wait, Ji Wuji. Once I find thunderbolt law fragments, you’ll all see the might of an Innate Awakener."

Li Daoyi had come prepared this time; he was no longer acting on a whim.

When he learned about the path to divinity, he immediately researched ancient civilizations. The old man who raised him, the commander of the northern battlefield, had entered the ruins decades ago and acquired some books.

The books mentioned that on this continent of inheritances, thirty-six monarchs and seven emperors left behind inheritances. One of them was known as the Thunderbolt Monarch.

As a thunder-based Innate Awakener, if he could obtain a law fragment related to thunderbolts, then he’d be able to enhance his innate thunderbolts. Once he entered the path to divinity, he’d have a high probability of getting the Thunderbolt Monarch’s inheritance.

According to the inheritance data obtained from the Federation, the thirty-six monarchs and seven emperors were the strongest individuals during the peak of ancient civilization.

However, something unknown happened at that time. Together will all king-level powerhouses and above, the emperors and monarchs tore through space-time and launched an expedition.

Before they left, the powerhouses each left behind inheritances. Some of them were on this Void Continent, including one emperor’s inheritance.

The records also mentioned that a year after these powerhouses departed, the sky suddenly collapsed, unleashing endless monsters.

It was unclear how many tens of thousands of years had passed since then, where the monsters had gone, and what had become of the ancient civilization. After all, too much time had passed, and the information they managed to preserve was limited.