Chapter 64 – Evaluation

If Feng Ye’s supposition was true, and the black-robed man was the culprit behind his recurring dream, why had he come to the Floating Island Secret Realm? 

He most likely had the same idea as me, and wanted to find out if there was another Jianmu seed, Feng Ye thought.

But unfortunately, a second seed didn’t exist, and both he and the black-robed man came back from their trip empty-handed.

It was just that…..he had made such a commotion in the Floating Island Secret Realm. These cultivators who were at Foundation Establishment at most might not realize what had happened, but the same could not be said for the black-robed man who had escaped right under his and Hao Chen’s noses.

When Feng Ye had looked at that person, he noticed that his cultivation was at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. Among the cultivators who had entered the secret realm, he could just barely be ranked among the top, but in the outside world, his strength was far from sufficient. 

Of course, his cultivation level must be a ruse. On the surface, Feng Ye himself was a junior disciple still at the third level of Qi Refining, and Hao Chen was only at the fourth.

That the other party was able to escape right in front of both of them meant that his strength should not be underestimated. And…..it was quite a coincidence that the black-robed man met me at the exit…..or was it?

Feng Ye didn’t believe in coincidences. They were nothing more than perceived luck, and luck was a thing he really didn’t have. He should have realized this when drawing an illusion array led to trapping Hao Chen in a monster lair, which in turn triggered a series of misfortunes.

The fact that he could break mountains and split the seas with his sword had been revealed in front of the person he least wanted to expose it to. The reason the other party approached him was perhaps to provoke him, or perhaps to sound him out.

But ultimately, the other party had noticed him.

The balance was broken. Feng Ye had been exposed, but he had no idea who the other person was.

Feng Ye couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh at the thought of this. 

Although the situation wasn’t good, he had no regrets. He would never regret any choice he made. Even had he known this would be the result, he would still have saved that person again.

“Fellow Daoist Feng Ye, what’s the matter?” Hao Chen asked.

He hadn’t seen anyone come out between him and Feng Ye, but he had still asked such a question, with an expression so serious that he couldn’t be joking. Something must have happened in the short moment he walked through the water curtain before Feng Ye.

Feng Ye raised his eyes toward Hao Chen when he heard this. There was pure confusion on his face, and it didn’t seem feigned.

In fact, there was a flaw in his previous speculation. His analysis was based on the assumption that Hao Chen hadn’t lied.

Perhaps the opponent hadn’t been powerful enough to escape under Hao Chen’s nose, but instead, Hao Chen had covered for him because they were working together. 

It was unlikely, but still a possibility. Feng Ye had never truly trusted Hao Chen, and Hao Chen was also not worthy of his trust. Hao Chen probably thought of him the same way. 

How could two people who refused to reveal their true identities be trustworthy?

Therefore, Feng Ye had no intention of telling Hao Chen about the encounter. He smiled and replied perfunctorily: “It’s nothing. I was just joking around.”

Hao Chen looked at Feng Ye with a frown, thinking, I’m the fish, but Feng Ye is even slipperier than me. Joking around? He clearly just doesn’t want to tell me what happened.

But he couldn’t pry open Feng Ye’s mouth, so he could only give up.

The two went back to Fang Yang and Cao Zirui. Fang Yang didn’t ask what they had been talking about. Useless Shixiong and Hao-dage were always having secret conversations. He just said: “Shixiong, it’s time to assemble!”

Although Feng Ye and Hao Chen had come to the Floating Island Secret Realm with ulterior motives, most people had come to hunt for treasure and bring glory to their sects.

The final gains of each sect needed to be totaled in order to determine the rankings of the top ten sects.

Therefore, nobody dispersed after exiting the secret realm or returned to their sects to reunite with their teachers. Instead, they gathered together with their respective sects to await the judges’ evaluation.

In order to ensure impartiality, the judging panel was composed of a number of people from each sect, as well as the Independent Cultivator Alliance.

As everyone left the Floating Island Secret Realm, the large ships from various factions that were originally hovering over the sea also moved one after another and arrived at the exit location.

Feng Ye and his group easily located Lingxiao Sword Sect based on the color of their robes. Hao Chen in his white daoist robes also tried to blend in unobtrusively with the others, but before Feng Ye could drive him away, he was discovered by members of his own sect.

Although the members of Tiangong Pavilion were unfamiliar with Hao Chen, they knew he was one of them upon spotting his clothes. Thus, they enthusiastically pulled Hao Chen off the wrong path and back to the Tiangong Pavilion camp.

Hao Chen didn’t want to leave, but he couldn’t come up with an excuse to stay, so he could only allow himself to be helplessly dragged away.

Feng Ye’s joy didn’t last long. The smile on his face froze when he saw the people from Tiangong Pavilion making their way back.

Every member of Tiangong Pavilion was as strong as a bear, just like their sect leader, Wu Wenbo. Refining equipment was indeed a strenuous job that required much hammering and banging, so when Tiangong Pavilion recruited disciples, they looked not only at their spiritual roots, but at their physiques as well. Hao Chen, this handsome young master, actually looked petite among them.

Because of this, Feng Ye saw Hao Chen mixed in with them at a glance.

The man who had pulled Hao Chen away just now walked in front of the Tiangong Pavilion contingent. He seemed to be of higher seniority among the group, and was also the tallest.

He walked straight toward the disciples of Lingxiao Sword Sect, straightforwardly clasped his fist, and said to them in a very familiar manner: “Our two sects have always been closely ranked. We’ll probably be in the same group again when we go up for the evaluation in a while, so how about we stand together?”

In order to speed up the evaluation process, two groups were evaluated at the same time, with the order determined by the previous sect rankings.

During the trip to the Floating Island Secret Realm ten years ago, Lingxiao Sword Sect had ranked tenth, with Tiangong Pavilion slightly higher, ranking ninth. Being at the bottom of the rankings for the past few decades was one of the many reasons why the two sects had such a good relationship.

Tiangong Pavilion’s proposal didn’t encounter any opposition, and the Lingxiao Sword Sect disciples readily made room for them. After all, the most important thing to a sword cultivator was a suitable spiritual sword. If they wanted strong spiritual swords, they must build good relationships with the weapon refiners.

The two sects stood close together. They should have put a distance between them like the other sects, their ranks clearly defined, but these two sects were like sesame rice dumplings, with black and white mixed together.

Hao Chen drew closer with a smile, but Feng Ye maintained a blank expression.

Cao Zirui and Fang Yang stood together. If Fang Yang hadn’t been there, Cao Zirui would have likely stood alone like he usually did, seen by others as aloof and unapproachable.

Although he was indeed aloof, he wasn’t as difficult to approach as others assumed. He just didn’t take the initiative to get close to anyone.

But the current situation was no longer the same as before. Fang Yang talked to him incessantly, sometimes telling him about his collection with gusto and sometimes sighing in despair.

Fang Yang touched his storage bag and said despondently: “I didn’t have time to properly hunt for treasures.” He’d spent most of his time on the run and then resting. 

Cao Zirui heard this and was about to comfort him, but Fang Yang recovered on his own. He happily took out the ice grass and said: “Luckily, we picked this up.”

Ice Grass combined with the Blazing Sun Flower was a magical elixir that could purify and strengthen the body. The Blazing Sun Flower was everywhere, but Ice Grass was very rare. Its value was even higher than that of an ordinary earth-grade magic weapon, and purchasing one often required nearly ten thousand spirit stones.

Even aside from the bag of Yuanling Grass worth one spirit stone each, this harvest of Ice Grass was already better than what most people had.

Fang Yang was elated, but he suddenly remembered: “Come to think of it, if I didn’t have much time to hunt for treasure, you probably had even less. Did you pick any spiritual plants? How about I give you the Ice Grass when we’re evaluated and you can take the score.”

This way, he wouldn’t be empty-handed. That would be too unsightly.

Cao Zirui declined with a wave of his hand: “No need. Before Lu Chengye attacked me, I also collected a few spiritual plants.”

He was afraid Fang Yang wouldn’t believe him, so he took them out to show him.

Fang Yang stretched out his neck to look. Although he didn’t recognize the varieties, judging from the spiritual energy emanating from the plants, their value couldn’t be low. He exclaimed: “How much are these worth, ah?”

Cao Zirui considered this and gave him an estimate: “About four to five thousand spirit stones.”

Fang Yang was so shocked that he couldn’t close his gaping mouth.

Cao Zirui had been hunted down, yet still had such luck that most people would envy him enough to bite their handkerchiefs in frustration. The time he had to search was very limited, yet he obtained such a haul in just half a day. No wonder Sect Leader Ji had such high hopes for him.

When Sect Leader Ji arrived, Fang Yang tugged Cao Zirui’s sleeve and motioned for him to look up.

Cao Zirui did so and saw that the large ships of various sects had finally arrived, and his master was standing below the Lingxiao Sword Sect ship, looking at him with a smile.

All at once, Cao Zirui’s emotions surged and he almost couldn’t maintain his usual icy face. Ji Chengyue truly doted on him without reservation, caring for him like both a teacher and a father.

He was almost unable to see his master ever again, so Cao Zirui’s emotions inevitably fluctuated. 

However, he held himself back, bowing toward Ji Chengyue from a distance. When Ji Chengyue saw this, his smile deepened.

Xue Ren standing next to him wore an expression on his face that could only be described as panic.

Luckily, Ji Chengyue didn’t notice his change of expression, and Xue Ren quickly lowered his head to hide his emotions.

Cao Zirui lowered his hands after paying his respects, and didn’t rush to tell his master about being hunted. Lu Chengye hadn’t come out, so he was likely dead. There was no need to rush this matter. It wouldn’t be too late to discuss it after the evaluation was over and the dust had settled.

Thus, he turned and followed Fang Yang to queue up and wait for their sect’s turn to be evaluated.

The scoring process was very simple. Disciples from each sect would hand over their harvests one by one, receive scores based on market value, and then their total score would determine the sect’s rank. 

There was no need to worry about someone smuggling in plants from elsewhere to tilt the scores, because the plants from the Floating Island Secret Realm, even if they were picked directly upon entering, had only been harvested for a day.

The difference between the vitality of fresh plants and those that had been stored for a long time was obvious, so it was impossible to cheat.

Wending Sect, which had ranked first in the previous session, was the first up. As cultivators who mainly practiced alchemy, they actually had a considerable advantage. Naturally, medicine was made from herbs and plants. Every disciple of Wending Sect was an expert on them, and knew the growth preferences and characteristics of various herbs. Therefore, they were able to achieve twice the results with half the effort while searching the Floating Island Secret Realm.

This time, they maintained the same rank as previous years. The final score reached over 100,000 points, a number that the other sects couldn’t hope to match.

When the final score was announced, it unsurprisingly caused a surge of exclamations among the other sects: 

“What a high score, ah!”

“Looks like Wending sect is locked in for first again this year.”

The sect leader of Wending Sect, Xiao Ding, raised his chin proudly. Faced with the admiration of the other sects, he accepted it all. 

Wu Wenbo was displeased by his arrogant appearance, so while the others marveled, he sneered in contempt.

He was standing with Ji Chengyue again, and Tiangong Pavilion’s ship was also parked next to Lingxiao Sword Sect’s.

The two sect leaders stood side by side at the bow, watching the scoring below. Xue Ren, who was supposed to stand behind Ji Chengyue, abruptly said that he was feeling unwell and would go back to the ship cabin to rest. Ji Chengyue let him go with a wave of his hand.

When Wu Wenbo was done sneering, he turned to his calm and composed friend and said suspiciously: “Why do you look so strange? Do you have some sort of trump card?”

In the past, Ji Chengyue would always moan and groan over the scoring session. He had the hardest time of it, due to the fact that his sect had gone from first to tenth place.

But instead of despairing, Ji Chengyue seemed anticipatory, as confident as if he had an advantage up his sleeve.

Wu Wenbo was very concerned about this matter, because if Lingxiao Sword Sect didn’t take last place, then their Tiangong Pavilion would. Even though the two sects were on good terms, they still had to compete when it mattered.

Upon hearing this, Ji Chengyue raised his eyes and smiled mysteriously, but didn’t answer.

Of course he had a trump card – his beloved disciple, Cao Zirui. He firmly believed that his disciple with a top-grade single spiritual root would become the next Ling Yun and lead the declining Lingxiao Sword Sect back to the top.

This Floating Island Secret Realm competition marked the beginning of a turning point.

However, Cao Zirui was destined to disappoint him.

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Chapter 63 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 65