Watching his disciple's name slowly grow dimmer on the ranking list, Qin Yi yelled in fury, denial, and apprehension, "N-no, no, impossible, don't—!!!"
But, even as he screamed, Xiang Minghi's name continued to dim, and finally exploded like fireworks in the air, completely erased from the ranking list.
The higher a disciple's ranking was, the louder and more dazzling the fireworks were when they died. Thus, when Xiang Mingzhi's name disappeared from the ranking list, bright fireworks exploded loudly in high air, sounding like a thunderclap. Bright lights spread out wave after wave like rippling water. Not only those on the Aeon Square, but even the people in the streets and shops saw the bright lights clearly.
"67th place, Xiang Mingzhi! I wonder where this disciple comes from. To die in the tournament, what a pity!"
"All these disciples ranked in the top one thousand are great geniuses, and disciples within the top hundred are all geniuses amongst geniuses. This kind of disciple will definitely become a super hegemon in the galaxy once they grow up!"
Exclamations of pity and shock could be heard all over the place.
The Wangu Clan Elders were also astonished watching Xiang Mingzhi's name disappear from the ranking list.
Although there were quite a number of changes in the top three thousand after four months into the tournament, most of them occurred outside the top one thousand. There had yet to be any disciple within the top one hundred who lost their life until now.
"67th place." A low sigh sounded from Wangu Shuo in pity, "This kind of talent, even among our Wangu Clan disciples, is more than enough to enter our clan's top ten disciples."
"How did this Xiang Mingzhi die? Was it a lightning beast, or was he killed by another participating disciple?" Wangu Changqing asked in a solemn voice.
"Only those in the top twenty should be capable of killing this Xiang Mingzhi, however, there are no changes in the points and ranking of those top twenty disciples. Therefore, it can only be a lightning beast!" Another Wangu Clan Elder, Wangu Zhi, concluded as he looked at the top twenty names on the ranking list.
Other present Wangu Clan Elders nodded in agreement toward this conclusion.
However, right at this moment, a brilliant light shone at the 93rd place where Huang Xiaolong's name appeared.
More than four months into the tournament, the top one hundred places were more or less stable, without many drastic shifts up or down. Hence, Huang Xiaolong's sudden emergence at the 93rd place immediately attracted many eyes.
"Huang Xiaolong?! Which galaxy and family does he come from? His name wasn't in the top two hundred before, right? What rank did he jump up from into the top one hundred?"
"I don't think I've seen this Huang Xiaolong's name before this!"
More and more families' and sect's masters noticed Huang Xiaolong's name appearing in the top one hundred. All of a sudden, the square was abuzz with sounds of people talking.
Many of these talks also entered the Wangu Clan Elders' ears and they turned to look at the 93rd position on the ranking list.
"Go find out what this Huang Xiaolong's ranking was before this." Elder Wangu Yuan suddenly instructed the two high-ranked stewards beside him.
The two attendants respectfully complied and went off to their task.
The Wangu Clan disciples would make a copy of the ranking list every one hour, and if Huang Xiaolong was amongst the top three thousand before this, the Wangu Clan attendants would be able to find out his prior ranking.
It didn't take long for the two attendants to return, however, the report they brought back made the twelve Wangu Clan Elders' jaws drop.
"What? An hour before, this Huang Xiaolong was in the 921st place?!" All the Elders almost blurted out the same sentence.
The two high-level attendants nodded their heads and affirmed the result.
The Wangu Clan Elders silently exchanged looks between themselves.
A sudden great leap from 921st to 93rd place!
There was only one possibility that could explain it—Huang Xiaolong killed a disciple of with a very high ranking on the list and received half of that disciple's points. Only this could explain his abrupt entry into the top one hundred.
Among the top one hundred disciples, only Xiang Mingzhi who was ranked 67th had fallen.
Xiang Mingzhi was killed by Huang Xiaolong!
"This Huang Xiaolong, why does his name sound so familiar?" Wangu Changqing wondered out loud.
"Huang Xiaolong? Could it be that little guy we made a bet on some time ago? That little guy's name is also Huang Xiaolong." Wangu Shuo's eyes glimmered.
"Bet?" Wangu Zhi looked at Wangu Changqing and Wangu Shuo with curiosity.
This matter wasn't a secret that needed to be concealed, hence Wangu Shuo briefly told everyone about the bet he made with Wangu Changqing during the registration.
When the other ten Elders heard that Huang Xiaolong's bone-age was only two hundred and fifty-eight, and he defeated a late-First Order Highgod Realm with a cultivation of perfection stage late-Tenth Order God Realm, their astonished expressions mirrored each other.
"A bone-age of 258, defeating a late-First Order Highgod Realm master while being a perfection stage late-Tenth Order God Realm cultivator, this talent is indeed monstrous even among top geniuses! Still, saying that a God Realm kid killed that Xiang Mingzhi who was ranked 67th, I cannot believe it. It's impossible!" Wangu Zhi stated, shaking his head.
"The fact that Xiang Mingzhi could reach the 67th place proves that he has the strength of a late-Third Order Highgod Realm at the very least, only disciples in the top twenty could have killed him. As for that Huang Xiaolong, a small God Realm brat, how could he have strength equivalent to the disciples in the top twenty? I agree, this is ridiculous!" Wangu Yuan also shook his head, refuting the possibility of that happening, "So, that brat you two made a bet on definitely cannot be the same as this Huang Xiaolong."
"I think so too, they most likely have the same name." Wangu Changqing nodded.
Participating disciples having the same name was not uncommon.
Feng Yang's group also saw Huang Xiaolong's great leap to the top one hundred. So did Qin Yi and others from the Azure Dragon Institute.
Although it was extremely hard for Qin Yi to believe that his personal disciple was killed by Huang Xiaolong, there was a voice telling him that there was a ninety percent chance it was Huang Xiaolong who did it!
Qin Yi was filled with grief, his scarlet eyes filled with fury and hatred were glaring at Feng Yang's group. Still, he controlled himself not to act recklessly here.
If it weren't for the fact there was a rule stating that fighting in the Aeon Square wasn't allowed, he would have thrown caution to the wind and lunged at Feng Yang, tearing him apart.
Feng Yang acted as if he did not notice Qin Yi's killing intent, looking at Huang Xiaolong's name on the ranking list with astonishment, joy, and excitement.
Was this really his personal disciple, Huang Xiaolong? There was a surreal feeling in his heart, as if he was walking in a dream. Never ever did he dare to imagine, to hope, that Huang Xiaolong could enter the top one hundred. In the beginning, he already felt overwhelmed by good fortune when Huang Xiaolong made it into the top one thousand.
At this time, in a certain valley in the Overflowing Lightning World, Huang Xiaolong looked at Xiang Mingzhi's corpse on the ground and extended a finger. A sliver of Black Tortoise Divine Fire flew out and fell on Xiang Mingzhi's corpse, burning it away from this world.
Huang Xiaolong collected Xiang Mingzhi's spatial ring, godhead, and that Hallowed Nine-Colored Flower into his Asura Ring before turning his attention onto the Azure Dragon Divine Fire.
After Xiang Mingzhi's death, the Azure Dragon Divine Fire became ownerless, making it easy for Huang Xiaolong to trap it in the air with the Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger Divine Fires.
He lifted his hand and a powerful force pulled all four divine fires down to the Heavenly God's mansion.
"I can finally condense my godhead and step into the Highgod Realm!" Huang Xiaolong sat cross-legged in the main mansion, excitement bubbling in his heart looking at the four divine fires.
Huang Xiaolong activated the central formation, causing every formation and array on the Heavenly Mountain to come to life. He then took a deep breath, sucking all four divine fires into his body.