Chapter 227: Ranking

In the luxurious car owned exclusively by a Dragon Prince, Li Pin made his way up Dragon Gate Mountain.

The Dragon Gate Mountain had once been an ordinary, barren hill. There were no scenic views or even a decent road to the top.

However, with the Dragon Gate Hall having established itself here for decades, the mountain had long been transformed into a lush landscape. Adorned with attics and palaces, it was now filled with numerous man-made features. Although it had lost some of its ancient charm, it was still distinctive in its own way.

At the very least, the transportation and public facilities were complete.

The stretch from the base to halfway up the mountain, in particular, had essentially become Dragon Gate City's largest park. Every evening, the area lit up brightly, with countless residents and Dragon Gate Hall members strolling through, admiring the illuminated flowers.

As the vehicle neared the mountaintop, gates appeared one after another, with guards patrolling them.

Of course, because this vehicle belonged to a Dragon Prince, all gates opened automatically from afar, allowing it to drive freely on the mountain.

Upon nearing the peak, the buildings became noticeably more concentrated.

There were countless palaces and houses across the sub-thousand-meter mountain range, accommodating around forty to fifty thousand people.

Li Pin's residence was in a large mansion district near the mountaintop.

The area featured around thirty mansions, each tucked away amidst lush greenery, offering natural privacy. Each mansion occupied over a thousand square meters, not including the surrounding yards and gardens.

About seven hundred square meters of this space were dedicated to various styled cultivation areas, leaving around three hundred square meters for living quarters. However, mansions typically had two to three floors. Thus, accommodating a dozen or so people shouldn't be an issue.

When Zhang Yuesheng brought Li Pin to the mansion, it was already staffed by a driver, chef, and housekeeper, all hired by Dragon Gate Hall. The three of them were waiting at the door to welcome Li Pin.

Once inside the mansion, Su Mai didn’t stay for long before leaving. The reason he had made the trip to the Dragon Gate Hall with Li Pin was to escort him and ensure his safety along the way. Now that he was here, the multiple Top-Tier and Master Astral Cultivators residing at Dragon Gate Hall would be the ones to ensure he remained safe and sound.

After Su Mai left, Zhang Yuesheng stepped into his role. "I noticed you have the latest model of the communication bracelet, Dragon Prince. Dragon Gate Hall has a special internal software designed exclusively for martial artists. You can download it through the wristband. This software will help you quickly adapt to life here. Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me, or I can take care of things directly for you."

Li Pin heard what he said and downloaded the software with Su Feiyu's help.

As he projected the map, it quickly showed his location along with the clearly marked positions of various Dragon Gate Hall facilities.

"Some places are quite far, so you can take a car there," Zhang Yuesheng said.

"Alright," Li Pin responded, his eyes lingering on the library project.

"I didn't expect that ninety percent of the books in the library could be accessed directly through the software," Li Pin remarked with a smile.

He had assumed he would have to dive into the library like a university student.

"As the Dragon Prince, you hold the highest level of access among the Dragon Gate Hall members. Naturally, all facilities, including the software, are at your service," Zhang Yuesheng said, pointing to a reservation feature on the software. "You can directly reserve all cultivation techniques, martial arts, and subjects. The Dragon Prince has the highest course reservation priority, so even if classes are fully booked, you can still cut the line and listen to Martial Saints share their insights on these methods."

"Good," Li Pin nodded. "Do private reservations... require spending points?"

"At the Martial Saint stage, to receive adequate training, one must prove their worth. Neither Dragon Gate Hall nor Tianyuan Royal Academy wants to nurture Martial Saints who only know cultivation and nothing else. That would be meaningless."

Zhang Yuesheng paused briefly. "Of course, for true prodigies, like Martial Saints focused solely on refining qi into Spirit, striving Extreme Transcendence to embark on the path of Astral Cultivators, we offer substantial benefits. The Hall Master believes their precious time should not be spent earning points through tasks at the Martial Saint stage. As for how these benefits are awarded...."

The steward smiled slightly. "They must prove themselves on the Hidden Dragon List or the Transformative Dragon List."

"The Hidden Dragon List and Transformative Dragon List?"

"These are two internal rankings of Dragon Gate Hall, updated quarterly. The one who tops the Hidden Dragon List earns two hundred thousand points, while the top spot on the Transformative Dragon List earns five hundred thousand points. In other words, if someone could claim the top spot on both lists in a quarter, they would earn the necessary points for one use of the legendary astral equipment in less than six months!"

Su Feiyu smiled and chimed in, "Song Wuya is currently ranked eighth on the Hidden Dragon List, but unless you're in the top three, the rewards are just a drop in the bucket. Only the top three receive two hundred thousand, one hundred thousand, and fifty thousand points respectively.

"Positions four through ten only earn ten thousand points, which is hardly worth mentioning. The honor is worth more than the actual reward."

Li Pin glanced at the descriptions of the two lists.

The Hidden Dragon List emphasized potential and typically featured younger individuals, with an average age of just thirty-three.

The Transformative Dragon List had no age limit.

In other words...

"If someone is both at the top of the Hidden Dragon List and the Transformative Dragon List, they would earn seven hundred thousand points in a single quarter!?"

"Of course, throughout history, two individuals have claimed the top spot on the Transformative Dragon List at the age of thirty-six. One was Li Xuanzang, and the other... Ye Chengyuan. Two years ago, he left the Hidden Dragon List and now stands at the pinnacle of the Transformative Dragon List.

"He's a peerless Martial Saint, meticulously groomed by our Dragon Gate Hall, and is expected to compete for the title of King of the Century alongside Wang Liancheng."

Zhang Yuesheng glanced at Li Pin with eyes full of admiration. "But I believe that once Ye Chengyuan and Wang Liancheng go to compete in this year's King of the Century Competition, you stand a high chance of taking over the top spots on both lists, Dragon Prince. When that happens, we'll be raking in 2,800,000 points each year, allowing us to fully enjoy the legendary astral equipment."

Li Pin took note of this name.

Ye Chengyuan.

Every top-tier faction would nurture Extreme Martial Saints for the King of the Century Competition. The Tianyuan Federation was no exception. Among them, the most famous was, of course, Wang Liancheng, who showcased extraordinary talent as early as the Core Formation stage.

Following closely behind were Dragon Gate Hall's Ye Chengyuan, Bai Liying of Xiya, Prince Ying Zhen of the Blackbird Kingdom, and the unparalleled Martial Saint from the Central Dynasty, known as White Emperor, who once used his own strength and some traps to slay high-tier ferocious beasts!

These were all seeds for the King of the Century, second only to Wang Liancheng. Each could be categorized as a fifth-tier Martial Saint.

Zhang Yuesheng went on to discuss a few more points of note, with Su Feiyu chiming in with her insights as a core member.

However, unlike Li Pin, she did not reside in a mansion.

She lived in a two-hundred-square-meter loft, with half of it designated as her training area. Yet, even with a hundred-square-meter training room, it often proved inadequate. For more extensive practice, she had to go to the public training zones.

At least core members had private training rooms; regular members lived in studio-like apartments ranging from fifty to sixty square meters, with no dedicated training space.

Moreover, each of them had to pay an exorbitant tuition fee for the privilege.

Despite this, not everyone was qualified to enter Dragon Gate Hall. This was evident when considering the vast population of the Tianyuan Federation, yet the hall's members totaled only ten to twenty thousand.

Su Feiyu stayed at Li Pin's mansion for over two hours. As dusk began to fall and noticing that Li Pin had no intention of inviting her for dinner, she had no choice but to take her leave.

After she left, Li Pin immediately began searching through the "library" for various classic manuals.

It had to be said that the Dragon Gate Hall's software was remarkably well-designed, greatly optimizing the efficiency of the members' study process.

Moreover, all techniques, martial skills, and secret arts were available in three modes. Online learning, offline training, and private instruction.

Li Pin spent the entire night browsing through these techniques, selecting thirty-six volumes for in-depth study. He didn't intend to practice these techniques but instead sought to deepen his understanding of the Martial Saint realm.

After choosing the manuals, he spent nearly all his time outside his daily training comprehending these volumes.

The Dragon Gate Hall's collection was incredibly vast, far surpassing even the Taibai Royal Family's martial arts library.

As Li Pin flipped through these books, he continuously found inspiration, with various ideas constantly emerging and being sorted out.

While he was engrossed in studying these manuals, word began to spread that the intermediate category world champion had finally arrived at Dragon Gate Hall, more than a month after his victory.

Many openly criticized Li Pin for disrespecting Dragon Gate Hall and disregarding the valuable opportunity for further training.

Others felt that winning the intermediate category championship and claiming the title of world champion had gone to Li Pin’s head, making him look down on the world. They firmly believed that if not for various reasons that caused them to be unable to participate, Li Pin wouldn't have stood a chance of winning the world champion title.

But, aside from those, most people were curious about Li Pin.

A twenty-three-year-old Martial Saint! The same Martial Saint who had triumphed over the Great Sun Chosen One, Zhao Yushi, and Song Wuya to claim this year's intermediate category championship...

In the wake of Song Wuya's direct rise to the Hidden Dragon List's ninth position, many speculated how high Li Pin would rank.

The Dragon Gate Hall was not shy of drama.

Though the Hidden and Transformative Dragon List were updated every quarter, the rankings were adjusted every month.

As Li Pin immersed himself in studying the manuals, a new wave of changes emerged.

Li Pin... made a direct leap onto the Hidden Dragon List! Not just anywhere, he landed in second place!

When the new ranking was announced, the Dragon Gate Hall's members immediately erupted in shock.