Hidden Dragon Ranking

Pang Yue took out an elixir and swallowed it. His aura fluctuated as his spiritual power gradually recovered.

He looked at Gao Chong and asked, “Shall we proceed to the third round?”

Two out of three would decide the outcome. This time, it was clear the demonic side held the upper hand.

Gao Chong’s expression was gloomy. He glanced at Gao Yan, who stood not far away, and was about to speak.

Suddenly, Xi Yueming flashed onto the field with a streak of light.

“I will take the third round,” she declared.

This woman, with her graceful bearing and quiet beauty like an orchid in a secluded valley, now radiated boldness and a fierce, unyielding spirit, ready to die before she would bend.

Having already wagered her life, she might as well seize this final chance and fight with everything she had left.

Pang Yue regarded her with elegant composure. “Please, Daoist Xi.”

Without another word, Xi Yueming flicked her slender wrist, and a long, slender silver whip appeared in her hand. With a sweep, the whip transformed into countless dazzling shadows lashing toward Pang Yue.

The silver whip stretched a hundred feet in length, entirely forged of pure silver, etched with intricate patterns, and crackling with thunderous energy—its might was extraordinary.

This was the Second-Grade Treasure, the Silver Radiance Thunderlash!

In an instant, the area within a mile became a sea of silver lightning. The dense thunderbolts seemed almost tangible as they surged at Pang Yue.

He stepped lightly atop the Bridge of Forgetfulness, slipping through the void to evade the whip’s range.

A white bone ring flew from his hand, swelling in the wind into a gigantic skull. Its jaws opened wide, spitting a jet of ghostly blue flame toward Xi Yueming.

This was the Netherflame Bone Ring—another of the Bone Demon Sect’s ancestral treasures.

The netherflame was notorious for burning the very souls of cultivators. Once touched, it was indestructible and inextinguishable—a truly sinister force.

Xi Yueming’s wrist flickered, the thunderlash casting a myriad of shadowy strikes, dispersing the blue flame.

Amidst the whip’s shadows, a glimmer of pale sword light flickered—dancing, weaving, and in a blink, it appeared before Xi Yueming!

The sword light narrowed to a single filament, as fine as a hair, exuding a chilling, murderous intent. Before Xi Yueming could react, it looped around her fair, slender neck.

In the next instant, her delicate head slipped from her shoulders.

The four great Golden Core elders of the Path could not bear to look, their faces marked with grief.

A faint light shimmered from Xi Yueming’s headless body as a golden core shot forth, bursting into a blinding radiance before detonating in a violent explosion.

She had foreseen her defeat and chose to self-destruct her own golden core!

The blast was earth-shattering. Golden light replaced the blazing sun, so that between heaven and earth, only this searing, brilliant glow remained.

The terrifying shockwave swept outward, obliterating all in its path—Pang Yue bore the brunt.

He formed seals with both hands, and dazzling glassy light shimmered around him. The Divine Light of Sorrow formed a protective ring about his body.

Once more, the Bridge of Forgetfulness trembled, piercing the void to appear hundreds of feet away!

The bridge flickered again and again, carrying him from the heart of the explosion.

At length, all was calm.

Collecting his distant Book of Sorrow, Pang Yue returned to the Bone Demon Palace. His voice floated back, cool and dispassionate: “Out of regard for my former ties to the Path, let us end matters here. Should we meet along the road another day, do not blame me if I show no mercy!”

…

A day later, news spread like wildfire that the Lord of Seven Slaughters had fought alone against three Golden Core elders of the Path.

Elder Xi Yueming of Mount Azurecloud had been struck down by the sword, and even in her dying moment, her self-destruction failed to harm her foe—a cause for much lament.

Henceforth, only four Golden Core elders remained at Mount Azurecloud.

Since the disastrous Demon Core Banquet five years ago, in which the demonic sects had suffered grievously, the balance of power had shifted again.

Half a year later, the Lord of Seven Slaughters personally escorted the newly ascended Elder Gao Yan of the Bone Demon Sect to the Yellow Springs Demon Sect to call upon the renowned Golden Core cultivator, Ruan Lengshuang.

Gao Yan challenged and defeated Ruan Lengshuang, the sect’s sole Golden Core master.

On that day, the Yellow Springs Demon Sect announced its merger into the Bone Demon Sect.

Ruan Lengshuang also became one of the Bone Demon Sect’s elders.

Five years passed.

Xiong Ying of the Bone Demon Sect refined her natal artifact, the Bone-Heaven Shuttle, into a First-Grade Treasure, promptly advancing to the Golden Core stage and becoming the sect’s sixth Golden Core.

The Lord of Seven Slaughters hosted a grand ceremony in her honor.

During the ceremony, both the Blood Demon Sect and Sword Demon Sect declared their desire to merge into the Bone Demon Sect.

The Golden Core Elder Bloodsea presented his sect’s heritage to Master Xiong Ying as a gift.

The Sword Demon Sect’s Golden Core masters, Wu Gaonian and Ma Tianyi, relocated their entire sect to the Bone Demon Palace.

In a single night, the power of the Bone Demon Sect soared!

Nine Golden Core elders, seven hundred Foundation disciples, and over ten thousand Qi-absorbing disciples—they had become the preeminent sect of the Xuanyuan continent.

Behind this series of events stood one inescapable figure.

It was said the Lord of Seven Slaughters was now hailed as the greatest demonic cultivator alive.

The Book of Sorrow had become the greatest treasure of the demonic path.

These titles were all earned through battle.

The Bone Demon Sect dominated the southern reaches of Xuanyuan, while the Path’s cultivators withdrew to the north.

Friction between north and south grew ever more intense. Foundation and Qi-absorbing disciples of the Path and the demonic sects clashed endlessly, with bloodshed mounting.

In the end, matters only escalated further.

Cao Hongxiu, Golden Core elder of the Valley of Ten Thousand Blossoms, joined forces with Elder Peng Haoyuan of the Tempered Refinement Sect to slay Elder Shen Lun of the Bone Demon Sect.

The Lord of Seven Slaughters was enraged and personally pursued the pair, cutting down Peng Haoyuan with his sword.

Though Cao Hongxiu escaped back to the Valley of Ten Thousand Blossoms, she found herself besieged at her sect’s very gates.

The Divine Light of Sorrow rose like a celestial dome, encircling the valley for an entire year.

For three years, the valley exhausted every means to break through the barrier, yet failed—losing another Golden Core elder and dozens of Foundation disciples in the process.

The Golden Core masters of the Heavencloud Sect, Azurecloud Mountain, Tempered Refinement Sect, and the Monastery of Earth Treasury all came to aid, but were repelled by the Lord of Seven Slaughters.

At last, Cao Hongxiu left the valley, clad in penitence and bearing a cane.

Outside the Valley of Ten Thousand Blossoms, the Lord of Seven Slaughters erected a lavish palace, and within its halls, for seven days and nights, he drained the vitality of the beautiful and alluring Cao Hongxiu.

When he finally departed, Cao Hongxiu’s cultivation had fallen below the Golden Core level, only barely maintaining her Foundation—her future ruined.

Shortly thereafter, the Lord of Seven Slaughters quietly broke through to the mid-Golden Core stage.

Thereafter, the five great sects of the Path had no choice but to form an anti-demon alliance, pooling their arts, opening their resources, and striving to produce new Golden Core cultivators to stem the demonic tide.

…

The years flowed by like song.

A hundred years passed in a flash.

A century—merely the length of a single Golden Core’s secluded meditation—yet enough to see several new generations rise in the cultivation world.

The legend of the Lord of Seven Slaughters had faded into myth.

In today’s cultivation world, the most renowned figures were not the reclusive Golden Core masters, but those Foundation disciples listed on the Hidden Dragon Roll!

Ten years ago, a mysterious sect called Unspoken Sect appeared. Its disciples excelled at concealment, moving among the world’s markets and communities, gathering news from every corner.

Every three years, the Unspoken Sect would publish a new Hidden Dragon Roll.

The list featured one hundred names—each the mightiest among Foundation cultivators.

Of these, the top ten were acclaimed as the Ten Great Foundations.

It was said that each of the top ten possessed the potential to form a Golden Core.

In the current roll, three seats belonged to disciples of the Bone Demon Sect.

Three were held by members of the Anti-Demon Alliance.

Two came from the overseas demon tribes.

One belonged to a great cultivation family.

One was a wandering cultivator.

At the head of the Ten Great Foundations was an unrivaled beauty—a woman of extraordinary grace…