There was only one meaning for the bell to ring — the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle was about to begin.
The Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle was held once every three months. Everyone could choose to participate or not. However, the rules clearly stated that it was best to participate in the first Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle. It didn't matter what ranking one obtained. What was important was that one could only use the sacred cultivation ground after participating in the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle.
After the bell rang, many students immediately left the Sword Tower and headed for the Small Sword Pagoda.
Chu Mu also brought two fake swords, one in his left hand and the other on his back. He walked out of the Sword Tower with Zhou Yi and Shen Tao, following the road signs toward the Small Sword Pagoda.
There were many people. All 1,800 or so new students would definitely be present. There were also more than 2,000 old students. Even if not all of them were present, at least half of them would be present.
As they walked toward the Small Sword Pagoda, they discussed all kinds of things.
"Senior Brother Chu, I wonder what the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle is like?" Zhou Yi asked curiously.
"Are you stupid? Senior Brother Chu is a new student like us. It's also his first time participating in the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle. How would he know?" Shen Tao said.
Chu Mu smiled but didn't answer. He had a simple understanding of the Small Sword Pagoda from Zhuge Ming, such as the origin of the Small Sword Pagoda and how the Ranking Battle was conducted.
According to Zhuge Ming, the Small Sword Pagoda was an imitation of the Heavenly Sword Pagoda by many experts of the royal family. Legend had it that the Heavenly Sword Pagoda was located in the central sword region of the Ancient Sword Continent. It had 99 floors and was extremely mystical. The Small Sword Pagoda only had less than one percent of the Heavenly Sword Pagoda's functions.
Even if it was an imitation, it was extremely difficult and required too many resources. As a result, only the Outer Mansion had the Small Sword Pagoda. The Inner Mansion and the King's Mansion didn't have any. Even with the Sword Mansion's ability, they couldn't support such an expenditure.
"Junior Brother." A pleasantly surprised voice came from the side.
"Senior Brother." Chu Mu looked back. It was Luo Yufeng.
"Junior Brother, your cultivation …" Luo Yufeng was slightly surprised.
"I just broke through," Chu Mu said with a smile.
"Good, Junior Brother has finally broken through to half-step Qi Transformation. I believe you'll be able to get a good ranking in the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle." Luo Yufeng was stunned for a moment before he smiled from the bottom of his heart.
Compared to a month ago, Luo Yufeng's aura had become purer and denser. It was evident that the effects of this month's cultivation were very obvious.
The others nearby also overheard the conversation between Chu Mu and Luo Yufeng. Immediately, they carefully inspected Chu Mu and found that Chu Mu's cultivation base had indeed broken through to the half-step Qi Condensation Stage. Immediately, they began discussing among themselves.
Not long after, a large group of people arrived at the Small Sword Pagoda.
The so-called Small Sword Pagoda was actually a tower-shaped building. It was dark red in color and took up an extremely large area. It was at least several hundred square meters and was twenty meters tall. It looked majestic and imposing, like a hill standing on the earth. However, this small sword pagoda only had one floor. The eight slanted corners made this small sword pagoda look like it was about to leap into the sky. The top of the pagoda was protruding, and the tip of the pagoda was like the tip of a sword pointing straight at the sky. It was as if it was about to pierce through the sky.
The Small Sword Pagoda didn't have a door. There were only black circles about ten meters above the ground. They were about one meter in diameter. Counting carefully, there were about a hundred of them, no more and no less.
Students continued to arrive from different directions. The number of students present had already exceeded two thousand.
Chu Mu sized up the Small Sword Pagoda. He was deeply shocked by the majestic and imposing aura it exuded.
"A replica that's not even one percent of the original is already so grand. How magnificent would the ninety-nine floors of the Heavenly Sword Pagoda be?" Chu Mu was inwardly shocked and yearned for it. Suddenly, he had a thought. No matter what, he had to go to the Central Sword Domain. Even if it wasn't for anything else, just to see the Heavenly Sword Pagoda, he had to go to the Central Sword Domain.
As soon as this thought appeared, it took root in Chu Mu's heart and began to germinate.
"My current strength is definitely not enough. I have to improve again and again. One day, when I'm strong enough, I can go to the Central Sword Domain. That's the center of the Ancient Sword Continent," Chu Mu said to himself with incomparable determination.
"Look, that's the so-called Iron Sword Ranking," someone suddenly said. Immediately, it attracted many gazes. Even Chu Mu looked over.
About ten meters away from the Small Sword Pagoda, there was a black iron sword stele. The sword stele was ten meters tall and densely packed with names. From top to bottom, there were a total of a hundred names.
The first name on the Iron Sword Ranking was Huangfu Shenglong. With one look, one could tell that this person was a descendant of the royal family. The second name was Qin Xi, and the third was Ouyang Chengye.
Chu Mu found that the names from the first to the tenth were all golden, while the names from the eleventh to the thirtieth were silver. The names from the thirty-first to the hundredth were red. One hundred names were very eye-catching.
Chu Mu was a little curious about the mystery behind the different colors of the names. Zhuge Ming did not mention this point.
More and more people arrived. There were already more than three thousand people.
The densely packed silhouettes were swaying as far as the eye could see. Various discussions rang out one after another, making it seem extremely noisy. It was like a market, but also like a swarm of bees flying around, buzzing incessantly.
"Look, it's Senior Brother Lei."
"Where, where?"
"I see, it's Senior Brother Lei. Senior Brother Lei got eighty-fifth place in the last round of the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle and left his name on the Iron Sword Ranking. I wonder if he can get a higher ranking this time?"
Chu Mu looked over and saw a young man in a purple robe striding over. His aura was so cold that it was frightening.
At this moment, a red figure shot through the air like an arrow. It tore through the air and made a shockingly sharp sound. The air surged with waves of muffled thunder.
The figure flew over the crowd and turned around near the Small Sword Pagoda before landing straight on the ground. Everyone felt their vision blur. A table appeared out of thin air in front of the red-robed man. The surrounding temperature began to rise.
It was hard to tell the age of the red-robed man. He seemed to be in his twenties or thirties. His face was expressionless as if he had facial paralysis.
He stroked the table with his hand and an incense burner suddenly appeared on the empty table. He then took out a one-meter-long incense stick that was as thick as a pinky finger and was divided into many sections and inserted it into the incense burner.
"That's the thyme. So this is what it looks like."
What Chu Mu noticed was that when the red-robed man stroked the table with his hand, a corner of his sleeve was revealed. It was a spatial bracelet. It was not black iron, but bronze.
"Black iron … bronze … Could it be that there are differences between spatial bracelets? If I have the chance to meet Senior Zhuge next time, I'll have to ask him. "Chu Mu thought to himself.
"The Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle is held every three months. New students can participate for free, but old students have to pay a hundred credits." The red-robed man spoke in a very stiff tone. It was harsh and uncomfortable to hear.
The new students frowned for a moment, but the old students were clearly used to it.
"Every time, a hundred people can enter the Small Sword Pagoda at the same time." The red-robed man completely ignored what the others were thinking and continued, "Now, those who want to participate in the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle, take out your identity sword token and place it on the Iron Sword Leaderboard."
After he finished speaking, an old student immediately walked towards the Iron Sword Leaderboard and took out his identity sword token to touch the leaderboard. After a breath of time, he withdrew his identity sword token. Under everyone's gaze, the one hundred names on the Iron Sword Leaderboard disappeared and turned blank. Then, a brand new name appeared.
When the old student saw the name appear, he smiled and walked to the side.
Soon, a second and third person, including Luo Yufeng, Chu Mu, and the others, put their identity sword tokens on the Iron Sword Leaderboard.
Finally, all three thousand people present put their identity sword tokens on the Iron Sword Leaderboard. Their names appeared on the Iron Sword Leaderboard.
Then, the names on the Iron Sword Leaderboard rapidly jumped. After three breaths, it stopped at a hundred names.
"Prepare to enter the pagoda." The red-robed man said stiffly.
There were old students and new students among the one hundred names. The new students were rookies, so they were clearly nervous. They watched the old students do the same thing.
The one hundred people surrounded the Small Sword Pagoda, which happened to correspond to the one meter diameter round hole ten meters above the Small Sword Pagoda.
"Enter the pagoda." The red-robed man shouted in a low voice. The one hundred students turned into arrows and shot into the Small Sword Pagoda through the one meter diameter hole. At the same time, the red-robed man stretched out a finger. Sword Qi surged and turned into a cluster of flames, igniting the thyme incense.
"Senior Brother, what is this thyme incense?" A new student didn't understand and asked the old student next to him in a low voice.
"Rookies will always be rookies." The old student first mocked and then explained, "The thyme incense is used as a judgment on the surface. The longer you can last in the Small Sword Pagoda, the higher your ranking will be. In order to determine the length of time you can last in the Small Sword Pagoda, each incense is divided into one hundred segments. There is a clear difference between each segment. "
Although this explanation wasn't detailed enough, the crowd wasn't stupid. They could understand it after thinking about it for a while.
However, Chu Mu knew that the thyme incense was only a judgment and not everything. The final ranking was based on the actual battles in the Small Sword Pagoda.
The thyme incense burned slowly. Not long after, the first segment finished burning.
"In the past, when the new students participated in the Small Sword Pagoda Ranking Battle for the first time, someone should be coming out now," the old student said in a low voice. A senior student said in a low voice. Just as he finished speaking, a figure flew out from a one-meter-wide hole and landed on the ground.
It was indeed a new student. This new student had a pale face and surging sword Qi. His eyes were sharp and he looked like he was facing a strong enemy. It seemed that he hadn't reacted yet. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian.com to vote for me. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
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