novelraw Chapter 292 : Ranked Third!
Chapter 292 : Ranked Third!
Chapter 292: Ranked Third!
In the distance, within an extremely hidden grand canyon.
Senior Brother and Nan Xuanrou had brought the other four here, then used the canyon’s natural barrier to avoid the shockwave that had swept through behind them.
Afterward, they took out Healing Sacred Medicine and various treasures, beginning to treat and recover from their injuries.
Among He Qing’s group of four, the most seriously injured was Young Master Qingxia, followed by Cangtian.
The two had almost been killed outright. If not for the fact that their spoils of war in this period included plenty of treasures, they might have already been done for.
Although He Qing and Xia Yanhua were also heavily injured, they could still barely move.
As for Senior Brother and Nan Xuanrou, since they were both Celestial Heart Realm cultivators, their strength was much greater. Apart from Senior Brother having severed one of his own arms to break free, neither of them had any particularly severe injuries.
Nan Xuanrou, in particular, had fully recovered her physical injuries after taking just a few pills, though her energy consumption was still enormous.
While absorbing the life force from a pill to regrow his arm, Senior Brother felt the lingering aftershocks of the explosion and couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart.
“Junior Brother Gu Fan can actually use such a terrifying attack… It’s simply unbelievable…”
Nan Xuanrou nodded, gazing at the leveled hillside outside, and sighed:
“It’s just a pity there are too many limitations. Otherwise, with this one method alone, he could slaughter all the disciples in the top three ranks.”
“Don’t forget, Junior Brother Gu Fan is only at the Solar Radiance Realm. With such strength, he can already look down on every opponent of the same generation. No wonder you’ve taken a liking to him.”
Nan Xuanrou’s face flushed slightly at his words, but she quickly returned to her usual expression.
She said worriedly:
“With such power… I remember that his attack doesn’t differentiate between friend and foe. I wonder if he managed to escape safely…”
“Not sure. But with that kind of power, even if it wasn’t a direct hit—if I were just caught in the shockwave—I still wouldn’t be able to withstand it!”
A moment of silence followed those words.
After a while, Senior Brother’s expression shifted slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone’s approaching. Get ready—we don’t know if they’re friend or foe!”
Nan Xuanrou immediately tensed up, staring intently at the approaching figure in the distance.
Right now, the only ones here with intact combat strength were her and Senior Brother.
If it was just one person, it would be fine. But if it was a fully intact team of sect disciples, that would be trouble!
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn’t happen. As the figure drew closer, the two recognized Gu Fan’s aura.
After confirming it, both of them let out a sigh of relief.
In their current condition, they were in no shape to continue fighting.
They needed at least some time to recuperate.
When Gu Fan entered the canyon and saw the group healing, he tossed them a storage pouch.
“There are healing medicines from Black Emperor Manor inside. They might be useful to you.”
Senior Brother opened it, and his eyes widened in surprise.
“Black Dragon Pills! These are excellent stuff.”
Nan Xuanrou took one for herself, then handed one to each of the other four.
After swallowing the pill, Senior Brother looked at Gu Fan and asked:
“How did things go afterward?”
“All six dead. With this kind of power, surviving would be hard.”
“Indeed. I bet they never imagined that Junior Brother Gu Fan had such a terrifying trump card.”
In truth, it still came down to the people from Black Emperor Manor being careless.
The moment they arrived, they subconsciously dismissed Gu Fan, who only had mid-stage Solar Radiance Realm cultivation.
After all, who would believe that a so-called weakling of the Solar Radiance Realm could be the hidden trump card against a group with multiple Half-step Celestial Heart cultivators—and even two full Celestial Heart experts?
Unfortunately, by the time they realized it, it was already too late.
Once Gu Fan’s ultimate weapon took shape and was thrown out, it meant everyone within range was doomed.
Holding a few storage pouches, Gu Fan smiled and said:
"Everyone should take this time to rest and recover well—don’t go out for now."
"This commotion was far too great. I suspect that for quite a while, everyone will act more cautiously."
Hearing this, everyone nodded.
Being able to escape after being caught this time was already considered lucky; otherwise, losing one or two people would have been perfectly normal.
At that moment, Gu Fan looked toward Senior Brother and said:
"Senior Brother, could you check our current ranking?"
Senior Brother immediately took out his token, glanced at it, and gave a wry smile.
"Well, we’re famous now. We’re ranked third."
When they heard this, everyone revealed helpless smiles. While making it into the top three was good news, the noise they had caused this time was far too big.
Their original plan had been to accumulate small gains until they reached a qualitative change—they had never intended to take down Black Emperor Manor outright.
And now…
Gu Fan rubbed his chin as he looked at the ranking on the token.
"Let’s not think too much about it for now. These people aren’t fools—if we’re in the top three and Black Emperor Manor suddenly disappears from the rankings, they’ll all know we were the ones who took them out."
Recovering from his injuries, He Qing spoke slowly:
"Doesn’t that also have its advantages? At least others will be wary of us."
"That’s true," Gu Fan nodded, "but there are pros and cons."
"Those without enough strength will naturally fear us, but once a conflict breaks out, we could end up being besieged by everyone!"
Hearing this, He Qing paused and didn’t speak further.
"Right now, we’re only one or two sects’ worth of Elimination Points away from the rank above us. The fourth place is still more than a dozen sects behind us, so there’s no need to show ourselves just yet."
After silently doing some calculations, Gu Fan continued:
"If nothing unexpected happens, this trial should last at least another seven days. By then, more than half of all disciples will have been eliminated. If the sects keep eliminating people after that, the losses will be too great for them to bear."
"So for the first six days, we don’t need to go out. We’ll wait until the last day. As long as we’re still in the top three, we’ll just lie low until it ends. But if we drop out of the top three, then we’ll fight our way back."
Senior Brother nodded in agreement.
"I think that’s fine—there’s no need to take unnecessary risks. For these next few days, we’ll recover here and head out on the seventh day."
Nan Xuanrou also nodded and said:
"Who knows, maybe on the seventh day we’ll still be in third place. If so, we can just wait it out until the end."
After hearing this, everyone nodded in approval.
That was the benefit of scoring big in one go. Without this warm “gift” from Black Emperor Manor, they would have needed to use fake relic sites to ambush and kill at least two more waves of people to even have a chance at breaking into the top three.
But because Black Emperor Manor had come straight to deliver themselves, and their points had transferred to the Xian’ai Sect…
They could now ride the trial out until the very end.
With the strategy set, the group spread defensive and warning-type formations all around the canyon to prevent sneak attacks.
They then took turns keeping watch while the rest focused fully on recovery.
With their abundant resources, He Qing’s group of four saw their injuries improve day by day.
By the third day, everyone had basically recovered completely. Cangya even broke through another level in his domain control, increasing his combat strength.
Gu Fan and Senior Brother cultivated while keeping an eye on the rankings displayed on the token.
"Right now, the fourth place is only ten sects’ worth of Elimination Points behind us. Feels a bit dangerous."
Gu Fan, however, only smiled casually.
"No rush—the further we go, the stronger the remaining sects will be. It’ll be even harder for the fourth place to overtake us."
"True. Then we’ll wait a bit longer…"
And so, time passed slowly—until the seventh day arrived!