Chapter 89: The Thunder Dragon's Edict

When the crowd saw the name in second place on the points leaderboard, most people were filled with confusion.

Who was Qingxi?

Why had he risen to second place?

How on earth had he managed to amass 23,000 points?

As for the few who did know of Qingxi, they exchanged bewildered glances, finding it all incredible.

Among the throng, Zhou Yuanlong stared, dumbfounded, at Qingxi’s name in second place.

Over twenty thousand points—something even the most advanced inner disciples found hard to achieve.

How could someone at the peak of the Qi Refinement stage possibly accomplish this?

Wan Hu and a few others from the top ten inner disciples were equally stunned.

They had just encountered Qingxi earlier, and had assumed he might, at best, break into the top fifty. None of them could have anticipated he would leap directly to second place.

The shock of such a dramatic reversal gripped their hearts like an iron fist, leaving them deeply unsettled.

Recalling Qingxi’s earlier words, Wan Hu suddenly exclaimed, “Could it be he’s already broken through to Innate Realm? But even if his talent defies the heavens, how did he earn over twenty thousand points in so short a time?”

Wan Hu was utterly baffled.

Qingxi, meanwhile, paid no heed to the astonishment around him and slipped quietly away.

In the distance—

Dressed in white, Li Kantian, as usual, arrived at the edge of a distant forest.

Leisurely leaning against an old tree, he cast a glance at the leaderboard. “This time I ventured deep into the Shadowlands and slew three villainous Xuan-rank beasts. Surely this will help me close the gap with Senior Sister.”

“Hm? Senior Sister still has forty thousand points, no change. Excellent.”

Li Kantian narrowed his eyes, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

But when he saw the 23,000 points beside the name in second place, he froze. “Wait, didn’t I only have 17,000 points? How did it turn into 23,000… No, that’s not me—it’s Qingxi!”

His eyes flew wide open; surging energy exploded from his body, shattering the ancient tree he’d been leaning against.

“Who is Qingxi?”

“How did he get to second place?”

“Twenty-three thousand points… this can’t be real!”

Li Kantian was left reeling.

At that moment—

Wang Miao, having just emerged from seclusion, took a deep breath and walked toward the Mission Hall.

After a period of bitter cultivation, he had reached the twenty-first stage of Qi Refinement.

Had he known his cultivation had surpassed Lin Feng, he would have been overjoyed.

Today, feeling that endless training was not the answer, and having practiced several martial arts techniques, he decided to take on a mission and temper himself.

But when he looked up and saw Qingxi’s name in second place on the leaderboard, he was so startled he fell flat on his backside.

“Heavens above, it’s him again!”

Wang Miao slapped his forehead, blinked several times, and, when he realized he’d read it right, was so shocked that everything went black and he fainted on the spot.

As the leaderboard updated, chaos broke out among the disciples.

Who was Qingxi?

This question haunted not only the minds of most disciples, but even many of the reclusive elders wore looks of utter disbelief.

Steward Xu Shan was stunned when he heard Qingxi had risen to second on the leaderboard.

He could never have imagined that the young man who had only recently joined the sect would now stand at such heights.

“Truly, heroes are born of youth,” Steward Xu Shan sighed softly.

In the outer sect—

Tu Yongsheng, upon hearing the news, couldn’t help but take a deep breath. “No wonder I had my eye on that boy—he’s extraordinary indeed. Elder Ouyang has really lucked out!”

…

Qingxi himself had no idea how much of a stir he’d caused.

Even if he had known, he’d have simply shrugged it off as standard practice—nothing special.

He now sat on a blue stone outside Ouyang Changfeng’s residence, examining the Xuan-rank, low-grade Frostlight Sword in his hand. He asked his assistant, “Pipi Assistant, how do I use the forging function?”

“Host actually wants to spend his own essence proactively? The sun must be rising in the west,” the assistant replied with professional diligence. “There are two forging options: enhancement and crafting.”

Just from the names, Qingxi had a general idea. “Enhancement must mean consuming elemental essence to directly boost a spiritual weapon’s power, right?”

“Host is sharp as ever. That’s exactly what enhancement does. As for crafting, it creates a brand new spiritual weapon from raw materials, but it also requires a blueprint.”

“That sounds troublesome.”

Since he had neither blueprint nor materials, Qingxi gave up on forging a new spiritual weapon for now, focusing his attention on the Frostlight Sword. “If I enhance this, how much will its power increase?”

“Every spiritual weapon has a limit to how many times it can be enhanced. This Xuan-rank, low-grade Frostlight Sword can be enhanced ten times, each time consuming a hundred threads of water essence. With each enhancement, its power increases by ten percent.”

“Why water essence?”

The assistant explained, “Because the Frostlight Sword’s primary features are sharpness and cold, so it requires water essence. In contrast, a sword from the Red Flame Sect would require fire essence for enhancement.”

“I see. If I don’t want the Frostlight Sword after enhancing it, can I reclaim the essence I put in?”

“You can—it’s a full refund.”

“Really?”

Qingxi’s eyes lit up. He quickly brought up his interface, saw that he had 12,345 threads of water essence, and immediately spent a thousand to push the Frostlight Sword to its limit.

He could distinctly feel the sword’s chill intensify. With a gentle sweep, a wave of sword energy shot out, freezing the pond not far away.

“Amazing!” Qingxi laughed heartily.

But then he suddenly realized—that was Ouyang Changfeng’s fish pond. He leapt up and rushed over, only to find all the fish inside frozen stiff.

“What do I do now?”

He ruffled his hair, then suddenly had an idea.

“Blazing Palm!”

Qingxi activated the martial technique, his palm erupting in flames as he tried to thaw the ice in the pond.

Unfortunately, he overdid it. The ice vaporized in a flash, sending billowing steam skyward.

Once the mist cleared, Qingxi saw that the dozen or so goldfish in the pond had all been cooked. His lips twitched in dismay.

“Oh well, next time I go out, I’ll catch a few swordfish for Master—call it a change in menu…” Covering his forehead with a hand, Qingxi could only sigh.

In the central domain of Cloudriver Prefecture—

Atop a towering mountain, eternally wreathed in thunder, at the summit shrouded in storm clouds, a colossal blue, four-clawed dragon awoke, its dark golden eyes opening.

Before it sat a small altar.

As blue, white, and red lights shimmered, a decree bearing the totem of a thunder dragon appeared.

“Ugh, another decree!”

The thunder dragon’s voice boomed like a great bell, and it impatiently received the decree.

A moment later, it snorted. “So, it’s those brats from the Realm of Kunxu causing trouble again. Very well—let this be a trial for the youngsters of Cloudriver Prefecture.”

With a wave of its claw, three bolts of lightning shot from the decree, streaking across the heavens to three distant places.

In each of those places sat a mighty cultivator, their auras vast as the sea. Each, in the midst of cultivation, suddenly sensed the summons and reached out to catch a bolt of lightning.

The lightning soon exploded, and through the void, the thunder dragon’s imperious voice resounded:

“Demons from beyond are invading, threatening nine prefectures in the southeast of the continent. All cultivators of Cloudriver Prefecture, heed my command: slay the invading demons and restore peace to our land!”

Hearing this, the three mighty cultivators all wore grave expressions.