Chapter 668: Ranking

Yueyin, Fifth Ring Domain.

"What are you looking at?"

A piece of toast in her mouth, Lin Xiaoran sat on the sofa and watched Zhao Dongchuan, who was sitting beside her in his pajamas, scrolling through his phone.

"A ranking list,"

Zhao Dongchuan said with a smile.

"A list? What kind of list?"

Lin Xiaoran tilted her head and leaned close to Zhao Dongchuan's phone screen.

"This one."

Zhao Dongchuan deliberately tilted the screen toward her.

"Deity Ascension Roll."

Seeing the name, Lin Xiaoran's instincts as a veteran reporter were instantly piqued.

She took the phone from Zhao Dongchuan and began to examine it carefully.

Whoever built this page had designed it exquisitely. It featured not just a custom background and a navigation bar, but detailed character profiles, combat records, and ability predictions.

Every character even had two illustrations: a hand-drawn background and a photograph.

Although the list was called the Deity Ascension Roll, it was actually a combination of several different rankings.

Tapping into the main list revealed the sub-categories below.

Domain Roll

Divine Combat Roll

Heaven Transformation Roll

Combat Power Ranking

Divine Throne Roll

Strength Roll

Speed Roll

...

It had absolutely everything.

The Day of Godhood had only just begun, still in its initial phase of Weird Energy awakening and the merging of the two worlds.

The Domain Revelation, the Divine Revelation, and the Heaven Revelation had yet to officially begin.

The first three lists were all greyed out.

Lin Xiaoran checked the popularity indicators beside the links. The Combat Power Ranking had a five-flame icon next to it, making it the most active list of them all.

Tapping into it brought up a series of beautiful character portraits.

{Combat Power Ranking:

Predicts and ranks combat power based on currently known battle results.

Note: This ranking is a speculative deduction based on gathered information, not an absolute measure of actual combat strength. Please refer to actual events for the truth.}

Lin Xiaoran looked at the first-place entry.

It featured a man in a gray trench coat, dressed in the modern style of the Surface World, with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Behind him loomed a massive, hand-drawn phantom projection, and beyond the phantom lay a void shattered like a spiderweb.

His expression was cold, his sharp features exuding a distant, unapproachable aura. A vortex seemed to churn deep within his eyes.

{Combat Power Ranking No. 1: Mo Qian}

{Character Profile:

On the first day of the Day of Godhood, the hidden Mo Family revealed itself to the world. According to current information, the Mo Family has at least three entities at the Demigod Realm, two of whom act as Mo Qian's Dao Protectors.

After Mo Qian appeared, he successively defeated three Heavenly Prodigies of the same Pathway.

This includes the Phantom King, a sixth-generation Inner World entity who had defeated [Delusion Walker], one of the Ten Monsters; the generation-transcending Heavenly Prodigy Xu Sui; and Feng Xingtian, the Heavenly Prodigy of the Feng Family, an ancient noble house that dominated the Central Region four centuries ago.

Records show a total of two Demigods acted as his Dao Protectors. After Mo Qian defeated the Phantom King, the Phantom King used a mid-tier Deity's Divine Throne to step into the Demigod Realm, attempting to suppress Mo Qian and force him to also enter the Demigod Realm using a mid-tier Divine Throne.

But Mo Qian went all out, holding his ground against the Demigod-level Phantom King for half an hour with no clear victor. Ultimately, one of his two Dao Protectors stepped in, crushed the opponent, and executed him on the spot.

Similarly, after Mo Qian defeated Feng Xingtian, one of Feng Xingtian's Dao Protectors brazenly attacked to suppress Mo Qian. That protector was ultimately slain by Mo Qian's two Dao Protectors, while Feng Xingtian fled into Wanli and barely managed to escape.

In the end, Mo Qian secured the Divine Throne of an upper-tier Deity from the [Delusion] Pathway and stepped into the Demigod Realm.}

{Ability Introduction: Before stepping into the Demigod Realm, Mo Qian displayed three abilities worthy of attention.

1. [Turning Reality into Illusion]

During the final moments of their duel, the Phantom King unleashed his trump card. The void shook, and a terrifying pressure descended, twisting the very sky.

But Mo Qian simply reached out his hand, and everything returned to calm. The Phantom King was ultimately defeated.

2. [Turning Illusion into Reality]

In all three battles, Mo Qian used an ability akin to turning illusions into reality. His thoughts materialized into solid existence, like creation out of thin air.

3. [Seeing Becomes Reality]

In his battle against Xu Sui, Mo Qian channeled the power of the void, summoning the phantoms of several past opponents he had faced, ultimately solidifying their figures.

Gathering the strength of all these opponents, he defeated Xu Sui, forcing Xu Sui to step into the Demigod Realm with merely a lower-tier Divine Throne.

}

{Author's Note: Among all the Heavenly Prodigies, Mo Qian is one of the rare few who has already defeated three geniuses of the same Pathway. Aside from his slightly difficult duel with Xu Sui, he handled both the Phantom King and Feng Xingtian with effortless ease.

Furthermore, the Phantom King had already defeated the [Void Walker], one of the ten strongest entities in the modern Surface World, proving his own strength. By comparison, Mo Qian, who defeated him easily, appears even more formidable.}

PS: All the abilities listed above were named by the author of this post and are not their actual names.}

After reading the introduction for the number one rank, Lin Xiaoran carefully went through the profiles of the other top-ten Heavenly Prodigies, reading with great relish.

"I wonder who made this website."

Lin Xiaoran's eyes widened. The layout was incredibly professional, definitely not the work of an amateur.

At the same time, it didn't feel like a sterile, mass-produced product created by a corporate team.

The sheer uniformity across the text, illustrations, and the author's notes showed that, at most, there were only two or three people behind the site.

To gather detailed information on so many people and pair it with actual photographs, the sheer power of the individuals behind it had to be unimaginable.

At a critical juncture like this, would someone that strong really have the free time to build a website instead of fighting for a Divine Throne? She highly doubted it.

With this thought in mind, she scrolled down, briefly skimming past the Heavenly Prodigies to see if there was anyone she recognized.

"Ten Monsters' [Myriad Dao], ranked 21st."

This was the highest rank among the Ten Monsters, and the only one to break into the top thirty.

"Ten Monsters' [Zen], ranked 34th."

"Ten Monsters' [Flood], ranked 39th."

"Ten Monsters' [Dream Demon], ranked 59th."

...

Six of the Ten Monsters came from the six organizations bearing Deity legacies.

But currently, only four of them were in the top hundred.

Lin Xiaoran frowned in confusion. She quickly scrolled down and found another one.

"Ten Monsters' [Alien Blood], ranked 269th."

That low...?

Lin Xiaoran clicked into the profile, did a quick scan, and found the reason.

[Alien Blood], representing the legacy of Artificial Land—one of the six major Deity legacy organizations—was completely crushed in a head-on clash with the Blood Sun King, forcing him to enter the Demigod Realm using a lower-tier Deity's Divine Throne.

Lin Xiaoran grew curious about this Blood Sun King. She scrolled back up and quickly found him not too far above.

"Blood Sun King, ranked 208th."

"That's not very high either..." Lin Xiaoran muttered.

"What happened here?"

She clicked open the Blood Sun King Fan Li's profile, and her pupils contracted.

It wasn't because of Fan Li's combat record or abilities.

It was because she had spotted an extremely familiar name in his profile.

"After defeating [Alien Blood], Fan Li was ultimately defeated by Yan Jing."

Staring at Yan Jing's name, Lin Xiaoran immediately started searching.

"Ten Monsters' [Victory Chaser], ranked 176th."

"Ten Monsters' [Fist], ranked 158th."

"Ten Monsters' [Flower Burial Envoy], ranked 147th."

...

After scrolling past a series of familiar names, Lin Xiaoran finally found the name she was looking for.

"Yan Jing, ranked 104th."

Domain Lord Yan was ranked right around 100th!

Thrilled, Lin Xiaoran quickly called Zhao Dongchuan over to look.

Zhao Dongchuan, however, remained calm.

"I already saw it just now."

"And you didn't tell me?"

Lin Xiaoran glared at him, her eyes wide.

"You looked so absorbed in reading about the others, I figured you'd spot Domain Lord Yan sooner or later, so I didn't say anything," Zhao Dongchuan said with a chuckle, standing up to pour some water.

"You should take a good look at Domain Lord Yan's profile. It's quite interesting."

Hearing this, Lin Xiaoran immediately pulled her attention back to the screen in front of her.

She opened Yan Jing's profile. As she skimmed the text, her expression gradually turned strange.

"What... what is this?"

Lin Xiaoran looked at Zhao Dongchuan as he returned with the water, her small face filled with astonishment.

Zhao Dongchuan handed her the glass and offered a helpless smile.

"I don't know either."

Lin Xiaoran's reaction was exactly the same as his had been.

It was because on Yan Jing's page, under the ability description section, there were only a scant few words.

{This person is suspected of possessing immense physical strength. The two opponents he has defeated so far were both crushed using sheer force.}

As for his combat record, aside from defeating the Blood Sun King that Lin Xiaoran had just read about, Yan Jing had also defeated a first-generation Inner World entity known as the Heaven-Breaking King.

The Heaven-Breaking King walked the rare [Strength] Pathway. It seemed that after learning how Yan Jing had defeated the Blood Sun King, he suspected Yan Jing was also on a [Strength]-related Pathway and proactively sought him out.

And then... he was directly and completely crushed head-on by Yan Jing.

It was an absolute defeat. According to the website's description, it was a pure, overwhelming disparity in raw stats.

Because of this, Yan Jing's ranking surged.

Bringing him to his current spot.

But... while this might justify Yan Jing's ranking, it completely contradicted what Lin Xiaoran and Zhao Dongchuan knew of him.

In their impression, Yan Jing's physical strength was merely one of his methods, but absolutely not his strongest one.

What truly gave his opponents headaches were his thousands of bizarre, unpredictable abilities.

"Why do I get the feeling Domain Lord Yan is still holding back..."

Lin Xiaoran looked at Zhao Dongchuan.

"His actual ranking might be much higher than this."

Zhao Dongchuan took a sip of water.

"That's not even the most critical part. I suspect..."

He pointed at the screen.

Specifically at the word "easily" in the phrase "easily defeated the Heaven-Breaking King".

"I suspect Domain Lord Yan hasn't even pushed his sheer physical strength to its limit yet."

As soon as Zhao Dongchuan said this, Lin Xiaoran's head snapped up.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you saying Domain Lord Yan could actually rank first?!"

Lin Xiaoran stared at Zhao Dongchuan's handsome face, her eyes wide as a squirrel's.

"I never said that," Zhao Dongchuan shrugged.

"I just feel like Domain Lord Yan's actual rank should be far higher than this."

Lin Xiaoran took a deep breath.

"We haven't seen him in a while. What level is Domain Lord Yan at now?"

Zhao Dongchuan shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but it must be absolutely terrifying."

"However, Domain Lord Yan is probably going to be in trouble soon."

"Why?"

Lin Xiaoran looked confused.

Zhao Dongchuan pointed at the web page.

"Look, both times Domain Lord Yan crushed his opponents, he forced them to step into the Demigod Realm. But... he hasn't reached the Demigod Realm himself yet."

"Holy shit!"

Lin Xiaoran's eyes went wide.

"You're right! The only reason those guys could break through to Demigod at the last second was either because they were old monsters or because they had the backing of a major clan, meaning they already had Divine Thrones ready. Does Domain Lord Yan have a Divine Throne?"

Zhao Dongchuan shook his head.

"I don't know, but... it's probably going to be difficult."

"I've been looking into the power systems of the Central Region lately. According to what they say, Domain Lord Yan is on a Miscellaneous Path. It will be extremely difficult for him to obtain a Divine Throne."

With that, Zhao Dongchuan gave Lin Xiaoran a detailed explanation of the Miscellaneous Path concept.

Lin Xiaoran furrowed her brows.

"But more and more people are going to break through to Demigod... Domain Lord Yan has made so many enemies. If those people reach the Demigod Realm, they'll definitely want to crush him outright."

"Doesn't that mean that for every day Domain Lord Yan fails to enter the Demigod Realm, he's in that much more danger?"

Zhao Dongchuan's expression was just as grim. He finally nodded.

"We can only hope Domain Lord Yan has his own backup plan."

...

...

"Ten Monsters' [Fist]. I seek your guidance."

The woman, her hands wrapped in bandages, looked across at Yan Jing and clasped her fists in a martial salute.

Yan Jing gazed at the woman, his expression perfectly calm.

He knew of her abilities. She walked a [Strength]-related Pathway and had always used massive mountains as her training punching bags.

The Fear Seed buried deep underground had already relayed everything it sensed to him.

"I have no interest in you."

He turned around and began to walk away.

Compared to opponents he already understood, he preferred dealing with unknown entities.

Furthermore...

He also didn't want the people coming after him to always be from the [Strength] Pathway.

Instead of dealing with them, he had come here this time to find The Tower, a Deity of the Victory Pathway.

But even as he turned away, the woman showed no intention of giving up.

BOOM!!!

Yan Jing could hear the roar of a Weird Energy pillar erupting behind him. The woman must have fully unleashed her Weird Energy.

It felt as if with every step she took, the world behind him was collapsing, and that destructive force was catching up to him at a terrifying speed.

Whoosh—

At the very last moment, Yan Jing turned his head. A Fear Thorn sank straight into the woman's chest.

His timing was incredibly precise.

Precise to the point that while the woman's fist was still a distance away from him, the Fear Thorn had already pierced her heart.

The kinetic force of her punch had actually already reached his body.

But...

It only left a faint, scorching sensation on his skin.

A second later, the woman opposite him began to convulse violently.

Then...

The pillar of light from a Divine Throne erupted.

Watching his opponent step into the Demigod Realm, Yan Jing's figure vanished from the spot.

He was here to find The Tower.

As long as he found The Tower, only the final two—Decayed Soul and The Immortal—would remain.

Once he found them all, he could begin coalescing his own Divine Throne.

Soon, he arrived at a Domain that resembled the ends of the earth.

It was a desolate wasteland. A single glance revealed nothing but flat, pitch-black soil where not a single blade of grass grew.

Scattered across the black earth were stone towers of varying heights.

They came in all sizes; the tall ones reached two or three meters, while the short ones were merely half a meter high.

The craftsmanship was extremely crude, looking as if a child had haphazardly stacked stones on top of one another.

According to his clues, Yan Jing needed to find the tallest one among the hundreds of thousands of stone towers.

Just as he began his search, two figures landed beside the Divine Throne light pillar belonging to [Fist].

Divinity shimmered radiantly around them both. They appeared to be Demigods.