Round two had begun. And for the next few hours, the disciples kept challenging the top ten (except top three of course) though nothing eventful happened except for Zheng Xiang defeating the fifth-ranked disciple, Yang Chang, and surprising everyone.

To all the disciples present at the event, Zheng Xiang had now become the biggest dark horse of the Inner Court Entrance Hunt after Fang Chen after directly jumping from the last position to the fifth rank in just two swift battles. And the most surprising part was that his cultivation was not actually at the 6th Level of Qi Refining but at the 8th Level, making him one of the biggest contenders for the Rank 4 Cultivation Manual.

Zheng Xiang’s background wasn’t much known, and due to his thin and scrawny body structure, there weren’t many disciples who acknowledged him as a friend. He was one of the very low profile disciples on the Seventh Peak and didn’t really bother with others except for completing group missions from the Martial Mission Hall.

Martial Mission Hall, as its name suggests, was the place where new missions were given out to the disciples, mostly requested by clans or kingdoms surrounding the Gracious Sword Sect. This Hall was also the main source of growth among Outer Court Disciples as every mission gave them points and rewards which could then be exchanged for cultivation resources.

Though Zheng Xiang was very low profile, however, the missions he completed were no small feat. That was also the reason why the Elders present at the scene were not very surprised by his performance, in fact, in their hearts, they had expected such performance from him.

Except for Zheng Xiang, the only other disciple who was noteworthy was Qin Shunyuan. It was not because he had hidden his cultivation too, but because of his Pre Rank from Stage Two.

Qin Shunyuan was ranked at the 10th position in the Pre Rankings; this gave the disciples a notion in their mind that he would be the easiest target; this led to many disciples challenging him.

And since there wasn’t a rule like that in round one where the Top hundred disciple could only be challenged four times, this led to him being part of most of the battles.

His cultivation also played a role in this, with the cultivation of 6th Level of Qi Refining, he was just above the average cultivation level of the disciples participating in the Hunt. This made his challengers more confident, and as more and more challengers came at him, he started to tire out.

Seeing him getting slow and tired attracted even more disciples to challenge him. If not for the intervention of the Elders, he would have definitely lost his position among the Top 10.

Elder Mu barred the disciples from challenging him for some time and made him get some rest.

And when he stopped for some rest, the disciples who were left, instead of challenging any other disciples, waited for him to recover. This led to more than half an hour being wasted because no one challenged the other six until Zheng Xiang stood up and challenged Yang Chang and easily defeated him, securing his rank at the fifth position.

Seeing his battle encouraged some disciples to challenge other disciples instead of waiting for Qin Shunyuan, however, they were all defeated by the other top 10 ranked disciples.

And when Qin Shunyuan stood up for battle, they again started to challenge him. Then out of nowhere, he broke through the 7th Level of Qi Refining due to the constant pressure and battles, finally stabilizing his rank at the tenth spot.

After some time, the disciples were forced to stop challenging him since no one was able to find a way to bypass his defences, thus forcing them to challenge the other top tens.

Though the Inner Court Entrance Hunt was in the Underground Hall of the Seventh Peak, the disciples were able to sense that the end of the day was approaching as the final battle of round two came to an end, finalizing the Top Ten disciples of Outer Court of the Seventh Peak.

Though the Pre Rankings were based on the number of beast cores the disciples acquired by hunting down Qi Stealing Moles in Stage Two, the rankings were not affected by the amount of beast cores disciples got by defeating other disciples in Stage Three, this was also the reason why although now Qin Shunyuan had the most beast cores due to constant challenges, he was still ranked at the tenth spot.

…

Yuan Shuchun, who was eagerly waiting to go back to her cultivation abode, was now feeling impatient. It was not that she needed someone’s permission to head back, but because of the deed she had done by releasing the high tier Qi Stealing Mole, she waited for some time for the situation to calm down before heading back.

She wasn’t paying attention to the battles on the stage because for her, the fights were too childish and weren’t important even though the disciples fighting on the stage were more or less of her age. And the frequent side glances from the disciples inwardly disgusted her even more.

After the final top ten were decided, she raised and turned her head towards the elders as she said, “Elders, I would like to take my leave now and go to the Grand Elder to give him the whole report.”

“Yes, please Miss Yuan.” Elder Wu smiled at her as he said, “It was our pleasure having you here.”

Yuan Shuchun cupped her fists and said, “I would like to apologize to all three elders for the trouble I have caused you today, and would also like to thank you for not implicating me in the situation. Shuchun will always remember this favour.”

“It was not your fault, Miss Yuan.” Elder Mu, who had been silent, spoke up and said, “It was just an accident. Please don’t take a burden on your heart, and focus on cultivation.”

“I will. Thank you for your guidance, elders.” Yuan Shuchun got up and took her leave under the eyes of thousands of disciples, who were unaware of the conversation that took place between her and the elders.

After some time of her leave, Elder Lai Chang said, “I really can’t believe we had to bootlick that kid and took all the trouble on our head. If not for Grand Elder being at her side, she wouldn’t have been so carefree after all this.”

—*—

A/n: If you find any typos or errors, do comment on them and let me know. I will correct them as soon as I see your message.

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