Early winter. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had its first snow. It had been ten months since Yi Yun left the Tai Ah Divine City.
The batch of cultivators that entered the Tai Ah Divine City with Yi Yun had already become second year soldiers.
As for the new batch of Tai Ah Divine City cultivators, they had entered the Tai Ah Divine City three months ago. They had completed their chores at the very beginning.
Now, it was time for these rookies to participate in the rookie ranking competition.
The rewards for this batch of rookie ranking competition were double that of the previous batch!
This was mainly because the Tai Ah Divine City's City Lord's birthday was approaching!
For a person of the Tai Ah Divine City's City Lord's level, he would usually hold a birthday banquet every hundred years. And on the day of the birthday banquet, he might be in reclusive training, or out exploring ruins, etc. Hence, he could not hold a birthday banquet.
Actually, the current Tai Ah Divine City's City Lord was somewhat mysterious. In the past few centuries, he rarely appeared, much less hold such a formal birthday banquet.
The specific matters of the Tai Ah Divine City were handled by the two Elders, Jian Ge and Cang Yan.
His sudden announcement of a birthday banquet surprised many people. Some people guessed that there was a special reason for this.
Of course, this was something only the upper echelons had to consider. To the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators, this was definitely a joyous occasion.
To be able to participate in such a legendary figure's birthday banquet and witness such a grand event was a blessing of three lifetimes.
And during the birthday banquet, the Tai Ah Divine City's various resources would be sold at a discount. At the same time, the corresponding rewards would increase. This was the most practical benefit!
Of course, the rookies who ranked near the top of the rookie ranking competition were the biggest beneficiaries of the City Lord's birthday banquet.
In order to fight for first place amongst the rookies, the rookies used all their strength and brought out their best skills.
This competition was the fight for the rookie champion!
The two sides of the competition were a boy and a girl.
The boy's name was Lu Jie. He did not come from an illustrious background and could only be considered an upper-middle noble. As for the girl, Wen Yu. She came from a family and was truly a proud daughter of Heaven.
Both of them were thirteen years old. Their battle was the center of attention. Many veteran cultivators came to watch.
Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were among them.
When they walked to the center of the arena, people immediately recognized them.
Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran had entered the top 1000 of the Heaven and Earth roll within a year!
Especially Chu Xiaoran, when the first year of the trial ended. Her ranking on the Earth Roll had already reached the 890th place. The Heaven Roll was even more exaggerated, reaching the 860th place!
For a Tai Ah Divine City rookie to enter the top 1000 of the Heaven and Earth roll of honor in their first year was already impressive. It was enough to stir up a storm in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.
Chu Xiaoran being in the top 900 of the Double Roll was even more shocking!
To this batch of Tai Ah Divine City freshmen, their senior sister, Chu Xiaoran, was definitely a legendary figure. Chu Xiaoran had successfully condensed an Aspect Totem before the Yuan foundation realm, and her nomological insights far exceeded warriors of the same age. With so many halos added onto Chu Xiaoran, these rookies all became loyal fans of Chu Xiaoran.
Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu's arrival caused quite a stir. The rookies quickly made way for them.
Even Lu Jie and Wen Yu, who were about to go on stage, were full of admiration for the two of them. Although the two of them were also geniuses, they knew very well that they were not weak. Compared to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, there was still a gap.
They had also heard that the previous rookie ranking competition's champion was not Chu Xiaoran, but a youth named Yi Yun. However, Yi Yun was young and frivolous. He entered the forbidden ground of Meteorite Abyss, Fallen Star Gate, alone to train.
After that, he disappeared. It was said that the Tai Ah Divine City's Elder Cang Yan had gone to Fallen Star Gate to find Yi Yun. However, he found nothing.
Up to now, Yi Yun had been missing for more than ten months.
Originally, a cultivator's identity token not only recorded everyone's identity information, dragon scale runes, as well as the accumulated points from killing desolate beasts, it also had a positioning function.
But even with this positioning function, they could not find Yi Yun.
From the looks of it, it was possible that Yi Yun's identity token had been destroyed in Fallen Star Gate.
This identity token was just an ordinary magical item. It was not very strong, so in a chaotic environment like Fallen Star Gate, it was not surprising for it to be destroyed by the pure Yang flames.
As such, Yi Yun's situation was not optimistic.
Some people believed that Yi Yun had died. According to the Tai Ah Divine City's rules, a person who disappeared for a year was considered dead.
In history, there were some extremely ruthless people who went into the Divine wilderness to train for nearly a year.
There were even people who were considered dead, but they returned safely.
However, such incidents were extremely rare.
Even if there were, they would not be like Yi Yun.
According to the news brought back by Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu, Yi Yun had gone to Fallen Star Gate to train. No matter how powerful a ruthless person was, they would not dare to train there for so long!
Hence, many people felt that the odds were against Yi Yun.
In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, only geniuses who had matured would receive attention. As for those geniuses who disappeared or died, they were quickly forgotten.
Only the second year cultivators, who were in the same batch as Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu, had a deep impression of Yi Yun's past glory.
As for the new batch of cultivators, they did not know much about Yi Yun's name. Even if they heard of him, they would only treat it as a novel story.
At this moment, the competition began.
Wen Yu and Lu Jie used their own techniques and fought brilliantly.
The two of them had already charged into the top 4000 of the Earth roll. This battle was their final battle. It would decide who the rookie champion would be.
The competition quickly entered its climax. In the audience stands, Chu Xiaoran was daydreaming. Her mind was clearly not on the competition.
"What's the matter, Xiaoran? Did you think of Yi Yun?" Qiuniu asked beside Chu Xiaoran.
"Yes …" Chu Xiaoran nodded. She came to watch the rookie ranking competition, not to pay attention to Wen Yu and Lu Jie. The two of them would not be a threat to Chu Xiaoran in the future.
Chu Xiaoran came to the competition to reminisce about the battle with Yi Yun last year. Although she had lost that battle, it was the battle that left the deepest impression in her life. It left a deep impression on her.
"Back when we were training in Meteorite Abyss, if not for Yi Yun, we would have died when we were blocked by the Blue Blood Ape in the valley, and when we were surrounded by the strange fish in the deep pool. Yi Yun had saved us twice. "
"Who would have thought. In the end, we all returned safely. Only Yi Yun went missing. Even Elder Cang Yan felt that something might have happened to Yi Yun, but I still think so. Yi Yun won't die so easily. It's just that for some reason, he did not return … "Chu Xiaoran said faintly.
Qiuniu nodded and said, "Yi Yun is a person blessed by providence. He should not die so easily. But … now that we have lost contact with his identity token, it is worrying. We can only pray for the spirits of our ancestors to bless him … "
…
A hundred miles away from the Tai Ah Divine City, in a swamp.
This swamp was not the Blackwater Swamp. As it was very close to the Tai Ah Divine City, the desolate beasts in this swamp were very weak. Typically, only rookies would come here for training.
Although it was called a training, it was actually just to broaden their horizons and familiarize themselves with the team's cooperation in killing desolate beasts. It was to build a foundation for them to truly travel the Divine wilderness in the future.
At this moment, there was a rookie team hunting swamp desolate beasts in the swamp.
As this was their first time out of the city, even if they were within a hundred miles of the Tai Ah Divine City, they were all tense, as if they were facing a great enemy.
"Leader, look over there. There's someone!"
A team member who was in charge of keeping watch saw the end of the swamp. A youth walked over with a saber in his hand.
This youth's attire was really special.
He had a slender figure, but his clothes were clearly a size smaller. It was obviously one size smaller, and it was so badly worn that it could be described as ragged.
His hair seemed to have not been combed for a long time. It hung down to his shoulders like a mess of grass.
The saber in his hand was half a saber. Furthermore, it was only half of it. It looked as if it had gone through a great disaster and then been robbed by someone.
The team members were not even sure if this person was a cultivator from the Tai Ah Divine City. Could he be a Divine wilderness savage?
When the youth approached, the team went on high alert.
"Who is it?"
Seven or eight people asked with weapons in their hands.
The youth grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.
After so long, he had finally met someone!
Loneliness was an emotion that could not be ignored. Even Yi Yun felt extremely lonely after cultivating alone for such a long period of time.
Now that he suddenly saw someone of his own kind, he felt a sense of familiarity.
"Hello, I would like to ask, what year and year is it now?"
Hearing Yi Yun's question, the youths were stunned. Was he really a savage? To ask the year and year the moment he opened his mouth …
"It's the 68th year of Qingfeng, 7th of the Winter Month."
Qingfeng was the reign title of the current Divine Emperor. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom used reign titles to record the years. Usually, only the last two would be mentioned. The first two were too long, so they were ignored.
"7th of the Winter Month, which is also the 7th of the November. I have been cultivating in the Pure Yang Sword Palace for so long …"
Yi Yun sighed. Cultivation really knew no time.
"Hey, you haven't told us who you are?"
The team leader asked again.
"Me?" Yi Yun smiled. Looking at the youths who seemed younger than him, he said, "I am also a cultivator from the Tai Ah Divine City."
"Trial-Takers?" The few trial-takers were taken aback. The way they looked at Yi Yun turned odd.
This guy was also a cultivator? He sure was miserable!
As rookies, they were considered to be in a rather tragic situation. Looking at this youth now, they could not bear to look at him. He was no different from a beggar.
"Bro, did you get beaten up by desolate beasts? Your saber is broken and your clothes are torn … Hurry back to the city. Be more prepared next time. Bring more disk arrays, array charms, lightning beads, etc. These one-time use items may seem wasteful, but they can save your life at critical moments. You can't skimp on these dragon scale runes! "
The rookie team leader looked very enthusiastic. He used the experience he had recently learned to exhort Yi Yun.
Yi Yun laughed and did not mind. He said, "Thanks! I really have to return to the city. See you later! "
Yi Yun was in a good mood as he was about to return to the Tai Ah Divine City.
He had been in reclusive training in the Pure Yang Sword Palace for nearly ten months. On the way back to the Tai Ah Divine City, he had hunted desolate beasts to consolidate his Aspect Totem.
Now, Yi Yun's cultivation level had entered the peak of the Purple Blood realm.
The next step was to condense his Yuan foundation.
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