Chapter Forty-Four: Announcement of the Rules (Part Two)

No one would have imagined that the mysterious rules of the Divine Selection would actually be announced by a scatterbrained girl.

The story begins with Jiang Yue falling into a pit. At the time, Jiang Yue was knocked unconscious by the splash damage of Ling Xiao’s ultimate technique. When she awoke, she frantically searched for someone, and in her panic, she failed to notice that a scroll had appeared on her arm.

Of course, this was hardly her fault. The scroll had no physical form; it was sealed directly onto her left forearm, appearing as a faint tattoo. With her careless nature, Jiang Yue didn't sense its presence at all.

Perhaps the scroll itself grew impatient, for it actively transmitted the rules of the Divine Selection into Jiang Yue’s mind, thus giving her grounds to show off.

But her boasting was met with a storm of rebuke from everyone. Pressured by the crowd, she relented and activated the scroll.

A phantom image of the scroll was projected above the city of Vengeance, where all could see its contents clearly.

Rules of the Divine Selection:

1. The Divine Selection is an event initiated by the Profound Sky World to choose the master of the Sacred Artifact.

2. Participants must be under one hundred years of age and not above the Nascent Soul stage. Any contestant who advances to the Nascent Soul stage during the Divine Selection will be immediately transported away.

3. The selection takes place in the ruins of a world devastated by war. Only contestants are allowed in this realm; no other cultivators are present.

4. There are three trials in the Divine Selection: the Ruins Battlefield, the Drawn Boundary, and the Test of Worthiness.

Contestants must survive five years in the Ruins Battlefield and achieve at least one significant breakthrough in cultivation during that time. Those who fail to meet both criteria will be sent out of the ruins and lose eligibility.

During survival, contestants may hunt ferocious beasts and collect treasures to exchange for resources in the Divine Selection Ranking. Contestants may plunder from each other or compete in duels to determine ownership of resources.

The Ranking will periodically issue tasks. Those who complete them will receive rewards, and the Ranking will evaluate and rank contestants according to their performance. The top five hundred will advance to the additional trials.

Details of the Drawn Boundary and Test of Worthiness will be announced after the Ruins Battlefield trial.

5. Contestants are forbidden from killing other participants. Violators will be immediately expelled.

6. The Ranking will materialize at the location with the greatest concentration of participants. No one may damage the Ranking; violators will be annihilated.

7. When the Divine Selection concludes, the Ranking will descend upon the Profound Sky World as the Prodigy Roll, recording the top one hundred cultivators under one hundred years of age. The names of the top one hundred contestants will remain on the Prodigy Roll for three years.

With the emergence of the Ranking, the Divine Selection officially begins.

As the projection in the sky faded, an enormous azure stele—ten fathoms high and three wide—suddenly appeared in the heart of Vengeance City.

On the left, three archaic characters spelled out “Divine Selection Ranking.” The right side was divided into upper and lower sections: the upper half glowed red, displaying a thousand names and their sects; the lower half, in silver script, listed the tasks issued by the Ranking.

Everyone in Vengeance City turned their gaze to the Ranking.

In truth, the rules of the Divine Selection were not so different from the elite recruitments held by various sects—a test of survival, cultivation, and combat ability. The only real difference was that the Divine Selection involved real mortal danger, whereas ordinary sect recruitments did not.

Thus, once everyone had familiarized themselves with the rules, they felt somewhat reassured.

So long as there are rules, there is order; and with order, as long as one does not court disaster, at worst one will simply be eliminated—there didn’t seem to be too much risk.

What intrigued everyone more was the ranking itself.

The Profound Sky World had its so-called Genius Rolls and Expert Rolls, but those were mostly pastimes for the bored, lacking real authority. The Divine Selection Ranking, however, was established by the world itself—or so people believed. Even if some suspected the organizers of creating a mysterious façade, at the very least, the Ranking was more credible than those random lists outside.

Wang Li cared little for the rankings. After glancing over and not finding his name, he turned his attention to the tasks below.

“Tier Three Task: Collect one thousand Tier Two Earth Howler pelts in exchange for twenty Foundation Establishment Pills.”

“Tier One Task: Hunt a Tier Three Earth Howler alone, reward: one Minor Bone Refining Pill.”

“Tier One Task: Find five Cloud Mist Herbs, reward: ten low-grade spirit stones.”

“Tier Three Task: Hunt a Tier Five Earth Howler leader alone, reward: one original manual of the Mind-Calming Chant, a low-grade profound-level spirit technique.”

Wang Li thought, “It seems these tasks are graded by difficulty; the harder the task, the higher the reward. Tier Three tasks already offer profound-level techniques. I wonder what rewards the higher-tier tasks have.”

He continued searching through the task list.

Perhaps because it was the first time, the Divine Selection Ranking issued over two hundred tasks at once, ranging from Tier One to Tier Four, each with generous rewards.

From the variety of tasks, it was clear that the Ranking had considered the needs of all participants.

There were tasks as simple as gathering herbs and as dangerous as slaying powerful monsters. Even body-refining disciples could attempt one or two simple tasks, and the rewards would suffice not only to feed themselves but also to support their cultivation. The rewards for Tier Three and Four tasks were enough to tempt even Nascent Soul cultivators.

If not for the fact that more than a hundred people had died at the very start, Wang Li might have thought this selection was more about nurturing talent than a test of elimination.

Many others shared his thoughts.

Luo Heng, glancing over the tasks, remarked, “Some of these tasks look difficult, but the rewards are truly generous. If there were no time limits and I could focus solely on these tasks, I’m confident I could reach the Nascent Soul stage within ten years.”

“Who wouldn’t agree?” replied Zou Ping from the Boundless Mountain Domain. “I don’t even need to tackle the hardest tasks. As long as I get enough Essence Ice Elixir, I could form my Golden Core within two years.”

“Aren’t you being a bit too optimistic?” objected Hu Xian’er of the East Sea Sect, pointing uneasily to the bottom of the task list. “Look, that’s the only Tier Five task. Do you really think our situation is as simple as your discussion suggests?”

Wang Li looked at the task she indicated.

“Tier Five Task: Slay the Tier Six Earth Howler leader. Solo reward: one Minor Lightning Tribulation Pill. Team hunts limited to five people, each rewarded with one Lightningfire Gold Crystal.”

“A Tier Six Earth Howler leader!”

Wang Li could hardly believe his eyes.

Wasn’t it said that the strongest Earth Howler leader in the city was only at Tier Five?

Where had a Tier Six Earth Howler come from?

He glanced at Qing Yu, who looked equally stunned.

Qing Yu’s expression was grim, and she muttered, “Impossible, how could a Tier Six Earth Howler leader exist? It can’t be—there must be a mistake in the Divine Selection Ranking.”