"Master, are you really letting Junior Brother Lin compete for the top thirty spots on Martial Arts Mountain?"
In the courtyard, only Du Xiaofeng and Liang Hanyang remained.
"Do you think I am joking?"
"No, I thought you gave Junior Brother a high goal on purpose, but the real requirement is just to reach the top hundred."
Liang Hanyang expressed his thoughts. The top thirty was too difficult to achieve.
When he was not yet twenty, he also entered the Innate realm, ambitiously wanting a good rank on Martial Arts Mountain, but ultimately failed to break into the top thirty, settling at forty-fifth place.
But it’s not that he could only reach this rank; if it were based on true strength, he could still hold the thirty-first spot, but he chose to give up in the end.
Many martial artists only know that the top thirty on Martial Arts Mountain are Innate Martial Artists, while those ranked lower are not.
According to this situation, it seems that as long as one is an Innate Martial Artist, even if weaker, they could be in the thirty-first place.
But the reality is not so simple; in the entire Flame Dynasty, how many under twenty have stepped into Innate? Far more than thirty!
Take their Canglan Sect for example; every year, there were always two or three disciples who stepped into the Innate realm before turning twenty.
In his year and in Senior Brother’s year, this was equally true.
The Flame Dynasty has twenty-four sects, so counting it this way, Innate martial artists under twenty nearly a hundred.
The reason only thirty Innate martial artists are on Martial Arts Mountain is that the Mountain gives special attention to them.
When Martial Arts Mountain detects a martial artist breaking through to Innate, regardless of the rank, they have one chance to challenge someone at the same realm.
If the challenge is successful, they can replace the other’s rank.
If the challenge fails, they can only challenge in ranking order subsequently.
To break through to Innate before twenty, these are all super geniuses of each sect, proud individuals who, once they break through, will not challenge those below Innate. That would be bullying the weak, which holds no meaning for these geniuses.
They will all choose to challenge the nearest Innate martial artist, meaning the one ranked thirtieth.
If they fail, they will voluntarily leave Martial Arts Mountain, relinquishing their rank.
This unwritten rule, no one knows when it started but when Liang Hanyang broke through to Innate, a senior brother informed him that all sect genius disciples follow this unwritten rule.
Of course, Martial Arts Mountain doesn’t force anyone, and if someone fails the challenge but won’t leave, they can stay. However, if other sect disciples discover an Innate martial artist who hasn’t entered the top thirty staying there, it will inevitably be publicized.
Certain sect’s Innate disciple stepped into the realm, challenged the top thirty, failed, but still clings to the Mountain...
Is that sect all sore losers?
Even if there truly are thick-skinned Innates who don’t care about ridicule, they can’t withstand whispers and discussions from their own sect, especially when other sects will undoubtedly spread the news broadly, potentially affecting their reputation among younger martial artists.
This pressure and responsibility, a single disciple can’t bear.
In Liang Hanyang’s view, since Junior Brother Lin just broke through, the best plan is not to rush into a challenge. As long as he hasn’t challenged the thirtieth rank, it’s not considered a failure and he can remain on the Mountain, and other sects won’t say much.
After training for a period and feeling confident, he can go to challenge for the top thirty or even higher.
He asked Junior Brother Lin, who won’t turn nineteen until the end of this year, while there are still more than two months until then, so Junior Brother Lin has fourteen months. He can easily wait ten months before challenging.
"Do you know what Lin Chen’s rank on Martial Arts Mountain is now?"
"Top five hundred, I guess."
"Six thousandth."
Liang Hanyang: ...
He never expected that Junior Brother Lin, until now, ranks only over six thousand. With Junior Brother Lin’s strength, even before entering Innate, getting into the top five hundred should have been easy.
"Wait!"
Liang Hanyang suddenly thought of something, remembering Senior Brother Gao told him Junior Brother’s win streaks on the Mountain were absolute and continuous.
"Master, don’t tell me Junior Brother’s win streak is climbed one rank at a time, with over ninety thousand continuous wins?"
"Since Lin Chen set foot on Martial Arts Mountain, he has achieved over ninety thousand consecutive victories from the hundred thousandth rank to now."
Liang Hanyang was rendered speechless, Junior Brother really had the time.
Over ninety thousand battles...
How does Junior Brother maintain such a high intensity of combat and still improve his skills so quickly?
"The Canglan Secret Realm is about to open; the Sect Leader did promise Lin Chen a spot, but the number of Innate disciples in the sect meeting the conditions is not small, I’m afraid there will be dissent."
Du Xiaofeng remarked insightfully. Liang Hanyang was startled; the Sect Leader actually gave Junior Brother a spot in the Canglan Secret Realm?
If it were him, he would also be unconvinced.
Why?
But since it’s their Junior Brother, there’s nothing to say.
"Master, I’ll stay in the sect for the time being, so if anyone dares to object, let them weigh their words."
Their master, being an Elder, naturally can’t take action against disciples, but he and Senior Brother both don’t mind these matters; any sarcasm will be met with direct action.
"You can only win over their words, not their hearts. However, if Lin Chen can get into the top thirty on Martial Arts Mountain, it will be for the sect’s glory, gaining a spot, and none of the other disciples can say anything."
If Lin Chen were like his other two disciples, he as the master wouldn’t care what thoughts the other disciples had about Lin Chen.
But since Lin Chen comprehended the Heart of Canglan, his potential far exceeds an ordinary Sect Elder. Only by making the sect’s Innate disciples concede, allowing the sect to grant him special treatment, will opposition cease.
In this Super Sect like Canglan, stability sometimes trumps everything.
This is also why, even though Lin Chen grasped the Heart of Canglan, the Supreme Elders have not made any moves.
Liang Hanyang was stunned, wondering when his master cared about winning others’ hearts.
If it were Senior Brother saying this, it would seem normal.
Why does it feel so off when my master says this?
Among the many elders, my master’s reputation is not very good.
...
...
Lin Chen bid farewell to the Third Senior Brother and returned to his courtyard.
He immediately took out the Martial Arts Seal. Since he had broken through to the Innate, he decided not to delay and entered the top thousand in one go.
...
...
Five days later.
Lin Chen stepped into the top thousand of Martial Arts Mountain.
In the thousands of matches, he defeated his opponents with a single move. Towards the end, he didn’t even bother to look at the names or sects of his opponents.
To put it in one sentence, he was killing like crazy.
After all, he was aiming for consecutive victories, regardless of who his opponents were, even if they were from the same sect, he wouldn’t hold back.
...
...
On the morning of the seventh day, Lin Chen once again stepped into Martial Arts Mountain.
Martial Arts Mountain.
When Lin Chen entered the Battle Plain and the opponent appeared.
Before Lin Chen could speak, the man who appeared just glanced at him, the arrogance on his face completely vanished, replaced by a look of disbelief.
It was as if he had seen something incredible, and he subconsciously rubbed his eyes.
Innate Martial Artist?
I’m ranked three hundred, not thirty.
Tong Hai was stunned. The unique oppressive aura of an Innate Martial Artist emanating from the opponent was unmistakable. His senior brother was an Innate Powerhouse, and he had felt this aura many times from him.
How could there be an Innate Martial Artist ranked so low?
No way.
Even if there were few challenges usually on Martial Arts Mountain, and the ranking was not in line with his strength, now that he had broken through to Innate, according to the unspoken rules of each sect, shouldn’t he challenge the thirtieth rank?
It’s well-known among disciples that Innate Martial Artists directly challenge the thirtieth rank.
As a disciple of the super sect Eight Desolates Sect, Tong Hai knew of these unspoken rules from his senior brother.
Could it be that this person challenged the thirtieth rank and failed, yet did not leave Martial Arts Mountain according to the rules?
"Senior Brother, according to the rules, Innate Martial Artists cha—"
Boom!
Before he could finish speaking, Tong Hai felt intense pain all over his body, and the next moment he was out of Martial Arts Mountain.
"How shameless!"
Anger was evident on Tong Hai’s face. Being an Innate Martial Artist, he challenged the thirtieth rank and failed, and didn’t even let himself speak. He couldn’t swallow this grievance.
"I must find out who this person is."
Tong Hai immediately re-entered Martial Arts Mountain, chose a challenge target, saw the list of the top ten martial artists, and memorized the unfamiliar name ranking fourth.
He had been in the three hundredth rank for a while, and he was familiar with the names of the ten people ahead of him. Now there was a new name at the two hundred ninety-fourth rank, which had to be that shameless Innate Martial Artist.
"Lin Chen from Canglan Sect!"
After noting down the sect and name, Tong Hai immediately left his courtyard to find his senior brother.
This matter couldn’t be taken to the master, as Martial Arts Mountain had no rule requiring Innate Martial Artists to withdraw after failing in a challenge – it was just a rule that they had all voluntarily adhered to.
In his view, Lin Chen must have failed the thirtieth rank challenge, and in his fury, he took it out on them.
The master wouldn’t care about this, but the senior brother could spread the news. He couldn’t believe that once all the sects knew about this, Lin Chen would still have the gall to remain on Martial Arts Mountain.
Such a scene wasn’t only happening to Tong Hai.
Those who could enter the top three hundred were all outstanding disciples from super sects. After being defeated by Lin Chen, they also began to spread the news.
Meanwhile, Lin Chen, fully engrossed in the challenges on Martial Arts Mountain, remained unaware of all this and continued his challenge journey.
Rank two hundred forty.
The opponent facing Lin Chen, upon seeing him, had his pupils contract slightly.
"Senior Brother Lin?"
But before he could speak, the next moment, he was out of Martial Arts Mountain.
"What does Senior Brother Lin mean by this?"
Anger was visible on Liu Yang’s face. Lin Chen disregarded the camaraderie between fellow disciples and went ahead to challenge his fellow senior and junior brothers. It was one thing, but in that moment, he sensed the Innate Martial Artist aura from Lin Chen.
As an Innate Martial Artist, why not challenge the top thirty?
"So what if you’ve broken through to Innate? You were wrong first; don’t blame me."
Although he was just an Inner Sect Disciple, Lin Chen had gone too far, and he couldn’t swallow this grievance either.
He planned to spread this matter throughout the sect.