Tenth place, Huang Xiaolong!
Looking at the name that suddenly burst into the top ten ranks, everyone in the square was sent into a daze.
Due to Huang Xiaolong's low ranking at the beginning, his existence was inconspicuous. Despite his later efforts, his ranking climbed at a gradual pace over time, escaping everyone's attention, even when he finally inched his way up to the twelfth place. Thus, when Huang Xiaolong's name suddenly burst into the top ten ranks, it was an abrupt shock for everyone.
"Who is this Huang Xiaolong?" Some amongst the crowd questioned. A small disturbance waved through the square. The majority present had never heard of the name, yet there were individuals aware of Huang Xiaolong.
"During the talent test, his strength seemed to exceed 2200 points." Someone in the crowd said. This little piece of information instantly passed through the square like a hurricane. Movements in the top ten rankings were like rocking the boat.
In one area of the square, members of the Zhu Family were staring intently at the scoreboard as their family's disciple, Zhu Haixiang, fell out of the top ten rankings. This unexpected turn greatly upset them.
"Strength exceeding 2200 points? Who knows if he just ran into some dogshit luck! How can this level of strength enter the top ten?" One of the Zhu Family disciples scoffed with disdain.
"That's right, it's just a fluke that he managed to squeeze into the top ten. In my opinion, he can stay there for even a few minutes, he'll be kicked down by our Big Bro Zhu Haixing very soon!" Another Zhu Family disciple arrogantly clamored.
"But, being able to stay a few minutes there and catch a few minutes of the limelight is worth several generations of his ancestors' good karma." Another Zhu Family disciple chimed in, snickering. His words made the group of Zhu Family disciples burst out in wanton laughter.
Toward Huang Xiaolong's sudden breakout into the top ten, the many experts watching had differing opinions. However, the majority felt it was just a stroke of luck, that he won't be able to remain long in the ranks and would very soon be kicked down by Zhu Haixiang.
After all, Zhu Haixiang's strength during the aptitude test scored higher than Huang Xiaolong's.
Deep in the void, Li Zhiqun was dazed for a moment at the sudden emergence of Huang Xiaolong's name in the top ten ranks. He turned toward Su Haodong asking, "This Huang Xiaolong, what do you think?"
Su Haodong shook his head, "What can I think? He would only last a brief moment there, Zhu Haixiang will catch up quickly, kicking him down. However, this Huang Xiaolong actually managed to enter the top ten, it seems he held back a little during the aptitude test."
Li Zhiqun nodded in agreement, "We assumed earlier that this Huang Xiaolong could enter the top thirty, now it seems he could be in the top twenty."
An unknown character from a little-known family of a small world surface, being able to enter the top twenty ranks could be considered quite excellent. One must know, the number of talented geniuses that registered for the assessment this time around reached a staggering eighty million people.
Being one of the top twenty from a mass of eighty million disciples, or even top one hundred, passing the Black Warrior Institute's assessment was already a genius amongst geniuses.
Of course, Gudu Leng and the others on the Deepwood Star also noticed the shift in the top ten rankings. Toward the sudden appearance of an unknown Huang Xiaolong, they too were slightly surprised, for none of them had ever heard of this name prior to this.
Gudu Leng was merely a little surprised in passing and did not put the matter in his mind as he continued hunting. He didn't even put characters like Jiang Shaoze or Wang Biaoyuan in his eyes, what's to say about an unknown disciple of a nameless family?
Jiang Shaoze, Wang Biaoyuan, and the others also did not pay much attention to this small ripple.
However, one hour later, Huang Xiaolong's name remained on the top ten list and wasn't kicked out of the top ten by Zhu Haixiang in a matter of minutes, like everyone expected. Not only did Huang Xiaolong not drop out of the tenth place, the score gap between him and Zhu Haixiang grew increasingly bigger. When he first surpassed Zhu Haixiang, the difference between their scores was a mere 60,000 points, but now, as the first hour passed, Huang Xiaolong had pulled away by more than 10 million points.
On the Hall of Heroes square, the Zhu Family disciples that had been clamoring about the fact that Huang Xiaolong entering the top ten rankings was a fluke, having some dogshit luck, and it was only going to last a few minutes until 'Big Bro Zhu Haixiang' kicked him down, had long swallowed their words. Huang Xiaolong's glittering name on the scoreboard's top ten was the biggest slap on their faces.
The two words 'Huang Xiaolong' were so glaring in their eyes.
"It's just some ten millions points, there are more than five days left, Big Bro Zhu Haixiang can absolutely snatch the spot back from Huang Xiaolong!" A Zhu Family disciple said, but even so, his words faltered at the end, losing confidence.
Two more hours passed, and the points between Huang Xiaolong and Zhu Haixiang widened further to 22.32 million points. The Zhu Family disciples had gone totally quiet. Experts who did not look favorably on Huang Xiaolong's chances were dumbfounded.
Huang Xiaolong actually held firm to the tenth place!
Moreover, his progress was dogging on the heels of the ninth place, Su Meiyi, with just a little over 7 million points difference.
High up in the deep void, both Su Haodong and Li Zhiqun were just as astonished. Both of them could obviously see their shock mirrored on each other's face, neither of them expected Huang Xiaolong to able to hold on to the tenth place for so long. This time, both men reserved their opinions.
In a valley on the Deepwood Star, a young man clad in a striking red brocade robe was waving the sharp sword in his hand. A torrent of sword energy flew out, piercing into the cliff wall in front of him, instantly followed by the screeching wail of a demonic beast.
This young man was none other than that Zhu Family's disciple, Zhu Haixiang.
An intense murderous aura shrouded Zhu Haixiang, and his eyes glinted with danger. He was actually kicked out of the top ten out by an unknown brat named Huang Xiaolong! On top of that, more than two hours had passed, and not only had he failed to recapture his spot, the points difference between them grew wider still.
"Huang Xiaolong!!" He spat the name coldly, the sharp sword in his hand hummed with bloodthirst, "Pray that you don't run into me."
If they did, Huang Xiaolong would be a dead man! He refused to believe that a disciple from an unknown family was stronger than him. He, who was recognized as the Zhu Family's rare genius in a hundred thousand years.
The institute's assessment scoring was based on the number of demonic beasts, monsters, and demons killed to determine their ranks. Therefore, a high ranking was not equivalent to higher strength. However, the Deepwood Star was a very big planet, even if they stayed here for a hundred years, he and Huang Xiaolong might not run into each other.
Zhu Haixiang leaped into the air, the sharp sword in his hand changed into a fire phoenix, hovering around his body. Moments later, he disappeared from the valley in a flicker.
At the same time, on a stretch of plains, an alluring young woman dressed in an open collar gown was frowning. On the scoreboard, Huang Xiaolong's points were getting closer to hers, raising a strong sense of danger in her.
"Mmm, looks like I need to use my ultimate skill." Su Meiyi muttered to herself. In the next moment, the two colorful jade bangles on her wrist suddenly shot out. All the demonic beasts in their path exploded to their deaths.
The jade bangles made a curve in the air, falling back onto her wrist.
But it made her gloomier still; even after using her biggest skill, Huang Xiaolong continued to narrow the gap between their points.
Two hours later, Huang Xiaolong overtook her. Thoroughly overtaking her position!
When the second day ended, Huang Xiaolong had left her behind by 10 million points, firmly sitting onto the ninth place.
The silence of the night was occasionally broken by demonic beast roars.
Huang Xiaolong shuttled under the night sky, leaving the stone forest area and arriving at a different mountain range. For the third day, Huang Xiaolong aimed to move up two ranks, just two ranks were sufficient.