Chapter 88: Second Place on the Leaderboard

Having reached the early stage of Innate Realm, the capacity of his qi sea expanded by half compared to the peak of Qi Refinement. At first glance, the difference seemed slight, but the power wielded by the two realms was fundamentally distinct. The same amount of true qi could unleash far greater might than primal energy. If one were to put it in metaphor, it was the difference between a sharp kitchen knife and a rotten, blunt blade.

Qingxi executed the Black Iron-level martial art, “Soaring Sword Qi,” sending a cicada-wing-thin blade of energy slicing through the air, effortlessly cleaving a two-meter-tall boulder ten meters away.

“Not bad at all!” Qingxi grinned.

“Host, it appears that was the artificial mountain personally crafted by Ouyang Changfeng,” the system reminded him.

“What!” Qingxi staggered, focusing his gaze—only to discover that the bisected stone was indeed the ornamental rockery in the fish pond within the residence. Looking at the goldfish crushed beneath the fallen stones, he slapped his forehead, full of regret.

“Ding! Host’s cultivation has reached the early Innate Realm. A new active function, ‘Forge and Refine,’ has been unlocked. Please open the panel to view details.”

“Another new feature?” Qingxi hurriedly opened the system panel.

[New Feature: Forge and Refine]
[Note: By spending a certain amount of primordial or vital energy, you can forge weapons and refine pills. As long as your primordial essence suffices, even Heaven-tier spirit weapons and pills can be produced.]

After reading Peepizhu’s message, Qingxi narrowed his eyes. “Can’t you provide a function that doesn’t consume Five Elements Primordial Essence?”

“Ding! Upon reaching the late stage of the Innate Realm, the next passive feature will unlock, requiring no essence expenditure.”

“You…” Qingxi was speechless. For now, he had little interest in features that consumed primordial essence. After tidying up, he left the Dragon Horse and the Little Golden Vajra Ape at the residence and set off alone for the Mission Hall.

Elbowing through the crowd, he saw the points leaderboard hadn’t updated yet, so he went straight to the nearby Points Hall and found the young senior sister with peach-blossom cheeks whom he’d met previously.

“Well, if it isn’t my junior again! Here to redeem more points?” Xu Yun beamed, dimples appearing on her oval face. Every time someone spent points here, she received a small commission—naturally, she hoped Qingxi would visit often.

“Senior Sister, do you have any Profound-tier spirit weapons?” Now possessing over twenty thousand redeemable points and flush with resources, coupled with his recent advancement, Qingxi found that Human-tier weapons no longer met his needs.

“Of course, but Profound-tier spirit weapons are expensive!” Xu Yun said, though she quickly opened a cabinet and retrieved a sword emanating a chilling aura from a long, wooden box.

The spirit weapons forged by the Spirit Origin Sect’s smiths were mostly Frost Swords. Xu Yun introduced, “This Frost Sword before you is a low-grade Profound-tier weapon, forged from Deep Sea Coldiron. Even without infusing energy, it exudes a chill. If your cultivation is insufficient, you’d best not wield it.”

“Low-grade Profound-tier is too weak. Do you have anything stronger?” Qingxi was not satisfied. Though it seemed impressive, considering the formidable outer-realm fiends he would soon face, he needed truly robust weapons.

Xu Yun clicked her tongue. “The highest grade in the Points Hall is low-grade Profound-tier. For anything higher, you’ll need to commission a smith, and that takes at least half a month.”

The system assistant interjected, “Host, the system already has a forging function. Why not use it? If you want to grow stronger, you have to spend resources! Without investment, how will you progress?”

Ignoring the assistant’s remark, Qingxi presented his disciple token and spent 8,500 redeemable points to purchase the Frost Sword and five storage bracelets. Were there more bracelets, he would have bought even more—anything that enhanced spatial capacity was worth the points in his eyes.

After receiving his purchases, he turned and left.

“This junior is truly wealthy!” Xu Yun gazed after him, utterly entranced, as though she might write “admiration” across her face.

“Hey, that’s Qingxi!” Just as he stepped out of the Points Hall, Qingxi heard someone call his name. He turned, puzzled, toward the sound.

Several figures approached, all exuding the aura of peak Qi Refinement. Qingxi recognized one—it was Wan Hu, whom he’d seen at the Heroes Gathering.

“So that’s Qingxi? He looks so young!” The other peak Qi Refinement disciples sized him up, eyes brimming with fighting spirit.

With a single glance, Qingxi knew who they were. Like Wan Hu, they were among the Spirit Origin Sect’s top ten inner disciples.

“So it’s you, senior brothers. Is there something you need?” Qingxi ignored the challenge in their eyes. Their strength was on par with Wan Hu’s, and he felt not the slightest urge to fight. Now that he had advanced to the Innate Realm, his power had soared—he could handle all ten top disciples at once.

“We heard you took first place at the Heroes Gathering and have extraordinary combat strength. We’d like to spar with you.”

“That’s right, we want to know how wide the gap is between ourselves and a quasi-heaven’s-pride talent.”

The top ten inner disciples each spoke their mind. Qingxi understood immediately—they had come to challenge him, just as he had expected.

But to his surprise, one of them said, “However, we’re all in the midst of transforming our energy into true qi, not at our peak. We heard you’re also at the peak of Qi Refinement. Why don’t we wait until we all reach the Innate Realm and then have our match?”

Qingxi was taken aback, then nodded. “Very well, I’ll wait for you.”

Hearing this, Wan Hu and the others exchanged glances, thinking Qingxi was truly arrogant, as if he would be the first to reach the Innate Realm. Among them, aside from Wan Hu, the rest had already begun transforming their energy; some were more than halfway done. In their eyes, they would surely advance before him.

After a few more pleasantries, Wan Hu and his companions headed for the points leaderboard.

Qingxi glanced toward the Mission Hall as the leaderboard’s display began to shift—at last, the rankings were updating.

“Look, the points leaderboard is changing!”

“I wonder how Senior Sister’s points are looking now?”

“We’ll know in a moment.”

Everyone crowded around the leaderboard, starting from the top line.

First place: Qiu Yingying, forty thousand points.

Everyone froze. “Strange, Senior Sister’s points haven’t changed.”

“Maybe she hasn’t taken any missions recently.”

With that, they looked to second place. Someone began, “Second should still be Senior Brother Li Kantian, I wonder—” But before he could finish, his mouth hung open, eyes wide in disbelief, speechless for a long moment.

Those nearby, seeing the second-place ranking, were stunned as well.

Wan Hu and the other top disciples pushed through the dazed crowd to the leaderboard. They looked up, eyes landing on the second line, and were equally stupefied, as if their souls had left them.

Wan Hu swallowed hard, wondering if his eyes deceived him. But no matter how much he rubbed them, the result was the same.

The name Li Kantian, once securely in second place, was gone. In its stead was a name Wan Hu thought shouldn’t be there.

Second place: Qingxi, twenty-three thousand points.

“Are my eyes playing tricks on me?” someone finally asked aloud.

Then, the crowd erupted into chaos.