Chapter 1563

The first battle of the 653 cities started in Hu Ping City.

One force fought against four forces, and the battle ended in just 75 breaths.

Hu Ping City, which should have been defeated, won completely.

The entire Shuntian Prefecture was shocked by this result.

Standing on the high platform, Mo Ling, who had been watching this battle, smiled and murmured, "That's what a hot-blooded man should do."

He had never praised battles that were more powerful. After all, which powerhouse didn't crawl out of a pile of corpses?

This was because only a battle of life and death could stimulate a cultivator's potential to the greatest extent.

The higher the realm, the greater the responsibility. In such a battle of life and death, what was the point of competing?

For example, in this battle, Hu Ping City's five people would definitely lose if it was a pure battle.

However, in a battle of life and death, the five of them won completely.

There were too many problems to consider.

Although they won completely, Zi Chen's group also paid a big price and hid in their own domain to heal their injuries.

Some of the other forces in the small world obeyed the gentlemen's agreement, while others, like the four forces, chose to fight after seeing the diamond-shaped crystals successfully assembled.

Zi Chen, who was seriously injured, took a full seven days to recover, and the other four gradually recovered from their injuries.

Zi Chen's group reappeared in the small world. When the cultivators of Shuntian Prefecture and Hu Ping City saw them, they cheered loudly.

Zi Chen took out five diamond-shaped crystals. After they were assembled, they slowly floated in the air and emitted a gorgeous light. A complete road map gradually appeared.

Memorizing the route, Zi Chen put away the crystals, and the five of them went to the place indicated by the road map.

The place they were going to was hundreds of miles away from here, and they couldn't find it without the road map.

When they arrived at the destination, Zi Chen took out the assembled crystals and disappeared from everyone's sight in a flash.

Everyone in the outside world was curious about what was inside, but so far, no one had seen it because no one had forcibly opened those restrictions. Even if someone broke the restrictions and destroyed the array later, it would become empty.

However, judging from the expressions of the others, it should be something not inferior to the source of power.

"Boom!"

Energy surged and the restrictions were broken, and Zi Chen's figure appeared.

As their gazes swept past Zi Chen, the four of them saw some crystalline fragments in front of them.

Those were solidified sources of power, and their value was much greater than the previous sources of power.

Although the people in the outside world already had their guesses, when they saw so many fragments of the solidified source of power, they couldn't help but gasp.

Looking at the scene before them, the four of them were very puzzled. "There are no corpses, so how can there be so many solidified energy sources?"

Zi Chen said faintly, "The previous array formation was connected to this place and became a transition, but …"

Wu Xie looked at the solidified source of power, then looked at Zi Chen and asked, "But what?"

Zi Chen said, "Each of these solidified sources of power contains traces of the power of thunder." Zi Chen said.

Man Shi picked up a fragment and did not sense anything strange. He then asked, "Is there the power of thunder?"

Zi Chen said, "The power of thunder is very weak. Only the people of the Thunder Clan can sense it."

"There is nothing strange about that. Perhaps there were people of the Thunder Clan among the cultivators who died earlier."

Man Shi obviously did not care about the power of thunder. Instead, he looked at the solidified sources of power and said, "These are good things. Quickly divide and refine them. Who knows, you might be able to make a breakthrough in your strength."

Zi Chen nodded and said, "Okay, divide them immediately and refine them to make a breakthrough."

In fact, Zi Chen's group of five was not weak at all. However, they had to face four forces in the first battle. This gave them the illusion that their cultivation level was low and their combat strength was weak. That was why Man Shi was anxious to make a breakthrough.

There was a pool full of fragments of the source of power. Zi Chen waved his hand and divided the source of power into five parts.

Without a doubt, he took the least.

Before the others could look at him in confusion, Zi Chen said, "I am already close to a breakthrough. It would be a waste to take more."

The other four did not say anything. They just silently collected the fragments of power.

In the outside world, when the people heard this, they exclaimed, "Hu Pingcheng is a good leader."

After collecting the fragments of the source of power, Zi Chen wielded his saber again and destroyed the formation.

Because they had spent several days recovering from their injuries, and now they had to go into seclusion to make a breakthrough, Zi Chen and the others' progress was undoubtedly slower than the others.

While they were in seclusion, the other forces had already begun to explore deeper.

In the outside world, a small screen of light suddenly appeared next to the Shuntian Prefecture's giant screen. On the screen, a message about points appeared.

"Destiny City, 65,520 points."

The words appeared at the top of the list, meaning that Destiny City was currently ranked first.

Only Destiny City was on the list, which made the others feel very strange.

But then, Hidden Fog City's name appeared. With eleven thousand points, the five of them squeezed out the first place of Destiny City.

Destiny City was ranked second, and Hidden Fog City was temporarily ranked first.

Now that there were two cities on the list, people couldn't help but wonder if the five of them had a total of more than ten thousand points to be on the list.

Soon after, Darkness City, with more than ten thousand points, appeared in third place.

They were still fighting, and the numbers on the screen were still jumping from one hundred to the next. The number of people on the list was also changing.

The fourth city to appear was Shuntian City. As expected of the number one city, they squeezed out the other two cities at the rate of almost a thousand points to take second place.

Then, with a gap of six hundred points, they followed closely behind Destiny City. If the five from Destiny City were to give up even a little, Shuntian City would immediately catch up.

Then, Goldleaf City, Blueflame City, and some other cities with higher rankings appeared on the list.

Everyone's total points reached ten thousand, and they were on the list one after another. However, the top ten spots were firmly occupied by the top ten cities.

From another perspective, it was enough to see how powerful the top ten teams were.

A number would appear next to the screen of each city on the list. It represented the city's ranking.

For example, Destiny City's number was one.

Shuntian City's number was two.

As for the cities that weren't on the list, there were no numbers next to the screen.

For example, Huping City with less than ten thousand points, and the cities that had already been disqualified.

As time passed, Zi Chen's group of five were still in closed door cultivation. Apart from the ten eliminated factions, ninety-seven of the ninety-eight cities had already made it on the list.

Huping City, which the other cultivators of Shuntian Prefecture had high hopes for, had less than ten thousand points.

Destiny City, which had the highest number, had more than thirty thousand points.

Zi Chen was already at peak fourth level, only one step away from fifth level. It could be said that the fragments of the source of power had only allowed Zi Chen to break through ahead of time, but it had still taken Zi Chen a full ten days.

Zi Chen emerged from closed door cultivation ten days later, a powerful aura of fifth level surging around him.

He'd used up all of his source of power and fragments for this breakthrough, as well as many fragments of his realm. This had nearly doubled the size of his realm.

As his realm grew, so did the strength of Zi Chen's soul and physical body.

From the peak of the Fourth Level to the early stage of the Fifth Level, it might seem like a small breakthrough, but Zi Chen's battle strength had increased tenfold.

Now, if Zi Chen were to encounter the four forces again, it would not be too difficult for him to deal with them.

Zi Chen could exhaust them to death with his extreme speed alone, to say nothing of anything else.

Zi Chen's Extreme Speed World was also very different from those on the same level.

After emerging from closed door cultivation, Zi Chen calmed his mind and sensed his new combat strength. At the same time, he waited for the others to emerge. He didn't advance immediately.

In this area, the leading factions were advancing in a straight line. The deeper they went, the higher the level of the exotic beasts they encountered. Of course, the contribution points they earned increased as well.

Along with opportunities and gains, the chances of the two forces meeting each other also increased. After meeting each other, some would back off out of fear, but some would not care at all. They would immediately start fighting and snatch each other's treasures.

Thus, two more factions were expelled while Zi Chen was waiting. There were ninety-six factions left, but ninety-seven were still ranked. Hu Ping City still hadn't made it onto the list.

As for the factions that had been disqualified, their rankings were still there, and their points weren't invalidated. However, those who'd been expelled would still have a tenth of their points.

In other words, if Destiny City, which had thirty thousand points, was expelled, the faction that expelled them would gain an additional three thousand points.

That was ten times less than when they hadn't made it onto the list.

If another faction expelled Zi Chen and the others, then all of their points would belong to that faction. Zi Chen's group of five would belong to that faction.

After waiting patiently for a few days, Man Shi and the others emerged from closed door cultivation one after another.

Some of the source of power and the fragments here had allowed each of them to advance by a minor level.

To be able to advance by a minor level in just half a month after entering this place was undoubtedly a great gain for them.

The cultivators in Shuntian Manor were also quite envious.

Without the right opportunity, they might not be able to break through a minor level even after a hundred years.

The five of them continued forward in the minor world, encountering some powerful exotic beasts along the way. The luck points gained from killing them were quite abundant.

Two days later, Hu Ping City, which had already accumulated quite a bit of luck points, finally made it onto the list.

It was at ninety-eighth place, currently at the bottom.

When the ranking numbers appeared in the sky above Hu Ping City, everyone was deeply worried. They didn't know if Zi Chen and the others would be able to catch up with the rankings before the minor world closed.

They didn't have extravagant hopes for a high ranking, but they just wanted to maintain their original sixty-third place.

That way, Hu Ping City's ranking wouldn't fall.

Another three days passed, and Zi Chen and the others made another discovery. This time, it was an even larger pool filled with crystalline fragments of power.

These fragments glowed with multicolored light and were quite beautiful.

However, Zi Chen still sensed the power of thunder from these fragments. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the crystallization of the source of power seemed to be due to the power of thunder.

"Crystallized from the source of power. It seems that we're quite lucky."