At this very moment above the Lunaette, on the mountain, everyone’s attention was drawn towards the golden Divine Gate on the summit.
Suddenly, they discovered that the black fog surrounding the gates had vanished all at once.
In the same manner as before, more than ten stairways were revealed.
On the fourth stairway, however, stood more than thirty people.
Every step of the stairway was incredibly wide, at least much wider than “Mount Tai’s 18 hairpin bends”. Not to say more than thirty, it was wide enough for more than three hundred, even three thousand people to stand on it all together at once.
At this moment, the two words “thank goodness” rang through every one of these people’s minds.
Being able to complete the mission by only sacrificing two divine bull totems that could be revived in the future was well worth it.
As for the scheming that went on behind, many of them were not in the clear, and the ones who were in the clear would never speak of it.
The only one who was truly aware of the events that went on was the Fang Ning, who had relied on Sir System’s capabilities.
In the System Space.
“Axiom Daddy really knows how to pick a place, the difficulty’s just right, and we even have an inside guy assisting us. Compared to Sir System, he may be young but he possesses great wisdom. You, on the other hand, are young in age, and even younger in wisdom…” Fang Ning sighed.
“Is that so?” No rebuttal came from Sir System, which surprised Fang Ning a little.
Then, when he looked down to see the ink droplet he had received earlier, it had disappeared.
“That ink droplet contains the soul of Death and the Order of Death, that’s supposed to be handed over to the Heavenly Axiom. You didn’t keep it for yourself, did you?” Fang Ning said worriedly.
“I’d love to do so, but is that possible? If we don’t hand it over to the Heavenly Axiom, the Divine Gate won’t end and we won’t be able to leave. We’re the meat on the chopping block right now.” Sir System said bitterly.
System Notification: [The System has presented the Order of Death. The System has received 10,000 Heavenly Merit Points.]
“Another IOU, how clever of him.” Sir System said indignantly.
“Don’t bother about that, you handed over the Order of Death, but where’s Death’s Soul?” asked Fang Ning.
“I’ve put it in the System Hotel, didn’t he say ten years of guaranteed safety? Then let him stay in the hotel. That place’s as safe as it gets, plus there’s a Culinary God to keep him company.” Sir System said dismissively.
“Then I’ll go check on him and ask some questions.” Fang Ning said as he took long strides in the direction headed towards the System Hotel.
…
Meanwhile on the stairway, after the black fog had dissipated, as everyone was relieving the fact that they had survived, out jumped the green-skinned frog.
“You’ve all completed the objective, the current Divine Gate has ended, the Divine List has been decided.”
Along with the sound of the green-skinned frog’s voice, the golden Divine Gate slowly dissipated, and everyone suddenly fell from the stairway to the solid rocks atop the mountain summit.
A violet stone monument appeared on the mountain top, with two lines engraved on it.
Everyone put away their thoughts of relief and looked over.
On the left of the Divine Monument wrote, “Current Ascension Progress:”
“First place: Humans, Ascension Progress —— 123.
Second place: Demons, Ascension Progress —— 45.
Third place: Spirits, Ascension Progress —— 38.
Fourth place: Spiritual Insects Clan, Ascension Progress —— 20.
Fifth place: Devils, Ascension Progress —— 10.
…
The rewards are as follows: Those in first place receive 3,000 Heavenly Merit Points, those in second 1,000 Heavenly Merit Points, in third, 500 Heavenly Merit Points, those in fourth and fifth place both receive 200 Heavenly Merit Points, the rest of the top ten will receive 50 Heavenly Merit Points respectively. No points will be awarded to those who have not participated.”
Written on the right of the monument was, “Clans Leaderboard”
“1st: Humans. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Advanced.
2nd: Demons. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Intermediate.
3rd: Protoss. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Master-level.
4th: Spirits. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Beginner.
5th: Devils. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Low.
6th: Spiritual Insects Clan. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Low.
…”
“Eh, the mysterious race in third has finally been revealed, it’s the Protoss?”
Some of the ones who saw this immediately recalled the incident of the last Divine List. At the time, the first, second, and fourth places were listed, but there had been no mention of the race that ranked third, which resulted in mass speculation.
Now, the third race had finally emerged. It turned out to be the inscrutable Protosses, and they wondered which of the powerhouses could be classified into this race by the Heavenly Axiom.
‘Looks like the Earth’s Heavenly Axiom has started accepting the Gods and Saints from the Upper Realm.’ Some of the prominent figures thought to themselves.
Naturally, the ones who were qualified to make such inferences came from the members of the peanut gallery observing from outside, which included prestigious figures such as the River God of the Sky River, the Bodhisavatta Spirit King, and the Tianjing Fawang.
Previously, they were not eligible to enter the Divine Gate, but based on this new leaderboard, they would be able to do so in its next opening.
As for the participants from over thirty clans, especially the onlookers, expressions of delight hung over their faces as they read the list.
There was no need to reiterate how important Heavenly Merit Points were.
Before, when disaster struck the Azure Mountain, the only reason he had been spared was that the God of Plagues had been wary of his merits and had not wanted to cause unnecessary trouble.
The merit points that he would be able to receive after playing bystander along with the others here were all extra perks.
As for the damage, well it really was not that much, he only lost two supposedly divine bulls.
For a while, many expressed their gratitude to Ren Ruofeng in the crowd.
“You are indeed a great wise man of China, you possess the wisdom of Taigong and the astuteness of Kong Ming. It is thanks to your meticulous planning that we were able to successfully complete the task.” Such words of praise and flatter were uttered countless times to his ears.
Ren Ruofeng forced a smile as he fist-saluted the others without explaining himself further.
He understood in his heart that he had just gotten lucky.
In the end, he had little to do with the completion of the task.
It was true that it had been terrifying because the world could have been destroyed at any given moment. What’s more, at the time he had been completely besieged and fell in a desperate situation. Had it not been for the fact that he had gotten lucky had decisively divided the troops, they would have all been annihilated.
Fortunately, the force had been on his side, the one in control of the other world had also wanted to leave this world and had only used them as their crossing raft.
Until now, although Ren Ruofeng might not have known the complete specifics, he could at least understand the major facts.
The divine creatures that had driven them into the corner were surely set in place by the God who controlled the other world.
They had left immediately after killing the two bulls, clearly, the other had needed the power of the two bulls to help him escape. Of course, if they had all been killed, that would have been even better, that was the terrifying part.
As for the place they had left for after escaping, that would of course be the Earth.
After arriving on Earth, the Heavenly Axiom would easily capture them and the task would be cleared.
This was all of Ren Ruofeng’s deductions, although it was still a ways off from the real truth, this was the best he could have thought of.
“This Heavenly Axiom sure has it easy, with only an IOU, he’s managed to get all these idiots cheering and rejoicing…” Sir System said enviously.
“Hey, why are you envying the other for? You could actually make a system currency yourself, as long as you can be sure of your ability to pay it forward. For example, providing accommodation services in the System Hotel, guaranteeing the safety of their souls after death, surely there’ll be someone willing to accept your IOU in the future…” Fang Ning who had just arrived at the System Hotel suddenly had a spark of inspiration.
“Hey, Big Billionaire Host, you’re not bad at all, but it might sound too crude to call it a System Currency, let’s call it Justice Points.” Sir System said thoughtfully.
[The System is evaluating…]
Well, a simple idea had led this guy to enter a rare state of thought, he just hoped he would not overreach himself.
Fang Ning thought to himself as he walked into the System Hotel.
Upon entrance, he spotted Black Pot currently conversing with a bottle of black ink in the reception hall on the first floor of the hotel.
Putting the two together really made them seem like they complimented each other well, seeing as they were both equally dark.
“Death is most fortunate indeed, even a supreme high deity like you who rules over a world so big has been able to escape from death. This has far exceeded my expectations, I’m afraid not even the other great gods would have been able to foresee this.” Although the body of the black pot appeared large, its use of words and tone of voice towards the ink droplet was very respectful.
“Oh, everything is but only fate.” The ink droplet said nonchalantly.
Hearing this, Fang Ning had a feeling and quietly whispered to Sir System, “Uh-oh, hearing what they said, it sounds like we’ve cut a bad deal with this Death.”
“Eh, how could this be? We just brought this guy up and let him stay in the hotel for ten years for free, I don’t see how we could’ve lost that much?” Sir System suddenly grew anxious, he could never stand to hear the two words “suffer losses”.
“Calm down, let me ask the Culinary God first.” Fang Ning reassured him.
Then, Fang Ning discreetly sent a telepathic message to Black Pot, explaining the whole thing before he asked, “Elder Culinary God, you seem surprised when you learned that Death had actually managed to survive?”
“Yes, the strings that entangle him and the World of Deadly Souls go way back, even if it were to be severed completely, it would still be immensely difficult for him to break free. Seeing as his life has been utterly intertwined with that world, crossing over to this world would be a task as difficult as traveling across the sea with a mountain on his back. He was supposedly destined to fall.” The Culinary God spoke matter-of-factly.
“I see, after I had brought it into this dimension, I discovered that the world over there was briskly collapsing, I wonder if there are any connections between these two?” Fang Ning continued to ask.
“I was just about to say this. The wonders of this dimension space is far beyond my expectations, you bringing him here has unsheathed the great mountain from him, and freed him of his burden. Otherwise, even a Saint would not be able to save him from the pits of despair.” The Culinary God marveled.
“Oh f*ck…” Fang Ning suddenly fell into gloom, “This guy’s a crafty one alright, can’t believe he played us just like that. He deliberately proposed two conditions, get him out, and guaranteed himself ten years of safety in our world. Letting us believe that the latter was more important, when in fact, the most important one was the former, because there’s no one else besides us who can get him out. We could’ve bargained for so much more.”
“Damn it, I blame you, you agreed to it too soon. I should’ve known, you’ve always been lazy to haggle, as long as you’re not losing anything you won’t bargain for more. I got screwed over by you…” Sir System grumbled.
Fang Ning had nothing to say in his defense, Sir System had punched him straight in the gutter with his words, and he could only try to appease him, “Rest assured, he may have won this round, but as long as he’s here with us, we’ll be able to get him back.”
“That’s true, I’ll leave this matter aside first, while I focus on the issue of implementing my System Currency.” Sir System said resentfully.
At this very moment above the Lunaette, on the mountain, everyone’s attention was drawn towards the golden Divine Gate on the summit.
Suddenly, they discovered that the black fog surrounding the gates had vanished all at once.
In the same manner as before, more than ten stairways were revealed.
On the fourth stairway, however, stood more than thirty people.
Every step of the stairway was incredibly wide, at least much wider than “Mount Tai’s 18 hairpin bends”. Not to say more than thirty, it was wide enough for more than three hundred, even three thousand people to stand on it all together at once.
At this moment, the two words “thank goodness” rang through every one of these people’s minds.
Being able to complete the mission by only sacrificing two divine bull totems that could be revived in the future was well worth it.
As for the scheming that went on behind, many of them were not in the clear, and the ones who were in the clear would never speak of it.
The only one who was truly aware of the events that went on was the Fang Ning, who had relied on Sir System’s capabilities.
In the System Space.
“Axiom Daddy really knows how to pick a place, the difficulty’s just right, and we even have an inside guy assisting us. Compared to Sir System, he may be young but he possesses great wisdom. You, on the other hand, are young in age, and even younger in wisdom…” Fang Ning sighed.
“Is that so?” No rebuttal came from Sir System, which surprised Fang Ning a little.
Then, when he looked down to see the ink droplet he had received earlier, it had disappeared.
“That ink droplet contains the soul of Death and the Order of Death, that’s supposed to be handed over to the Heavenly Axiom. You didn’t keep it for yourself, did you?” Fang Ning said worriedly.
“I’d love to do so, but is that possible? If we don’t hand it over to the Heavenly Axiom, the Divine Gate won’t end and we won’t be able to leave. We’re the meat on the chopping block right now.” Sir System said bitterly.
System Notification: [The System has presented the Order of Death. The System has received 10,000 Heavenly Merit Points.]
“Another IOU, how clever of him.” Sir System said indignantly.
“Don’t bother about that, you handed over the Order of Death, but where’s Death’s Soul?” asked Fang Ning.
“I’ve put it in the System Hotel, didn’t he say ten years of guaranteed safety? Then let him stay in the hotel. That place’s as safe as it gets, plus there’s a Culinary God to keep him company.” Sir System said dismissively.
“Then I’ll go check on him and ask some questions.” Fang Ning said as he took long strides in the direction headed towards the System Hotel.
…
Meanwhile on the stairway, after the black fog had dissipated, as everyone was relieving the fact that they had survived, out jumped the green-skinned frog.
“You’ve all completed the objective, the current Divine Gate has ended, the Divine List has been decided.”
Along with the sound of the green-skinned frog’s voice, the golden Divine Gate slowly dissipated, and everyone suddenly fell from the stairway to the solid rocks atop the mountain summit.
A violet stone monument appeared on the mountain top, with two lines engraved on it.
Everyone put away their thoughts of relief and looked over.
On the left of the Divine Monument wrote, “Current Ascension Progress:”
“First place: Humans, Ascension Progress —— 123.
Second place: Demons, Ascension Progress —— 45.
Third place: Spirits, Ascension Progress —— 38.
Fourth place: Spiritual Insects Clan, Ascension Progress —— 20.
Fifth place: Devils, Ascension Progress —— 10.
…
The rewards are as follows: Those in first place receive 3,000 Heavenly Merit Points, those in second 1,000 Heavenly Merit Points, in third, 500 Heavenly Merit Points, those in fourth and fifth place both receive 200 Heavenly Merit Points, the rest of the top ten will receive 50 Heavenly Merit Points respectively. No points will be awarded to those who have not participated.”
Written on the right of the monument was, “Clans Leaderboard”
“1st: Humans. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Advanced.
2nd: Demons. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Intermediate.
3rd: Protoss. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Master-level.
4th: Spirits. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Beginner.
5th: Devils. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Low.
6th: Spiritual Insects Clan. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Low.
…”
“Eh, the mysterious race in third has finally been revealed, it’s the Protoss?”
Some of the ones who saw this immediately recalled the incident of the last Divine List. At the time, the first, second, and fourth places were listed, but there had been no mention of the race that ranked third, which resulted in mass speculation.
Now, the third race had finally emerged. It turned out to be the inscrutable Protosses, and they wondered which of the powerhouses could be classified into this race by the Heavenly Axiom.
‘Looks like the Earth’s Heavenly Axiom has started accepting the Gods and Saints from the Upper Realm.’ Some of the prominent figures thought to themselves.
Naturally, the ones who were qualified to make such inferences came from the members of the peanut gallery observing from outside, which included prestigious figures such as the River God of the Sky River, the Bodhisavatta Spirit King, and the Tianjing Fawang.
Previously, they were not eligible to enter the Divine Gate, but based on this new leaderboard, they would be able to do so in its next opening.
As for the participants from over thirty clans, especially the onlookers, expressions of delight hung over their faces as they read the list.
There was no need to reiterate how important Heavenly Merit Points were.
Before, when disaster struck the Azure Mountain, the only reason he had been spared was that the God of Plagues had been wary of his merits and had not wanted to cause unnecessary trouble.
The merit points that he would be able to receive after playing bystander along with the others here were all extra perks.
As for the damage, well it really was not that much, he only lost two supposedly divine bulls.
For a while, many expressed their gratitude to Ren Ruofeng in the crowd.
“You are indeed a great wise man of China, you possess the wisdom of Taigong and the astuteness of Kong Ming. It is thanks to your meticulous planning that we were able to successfully complete the task.” Such words of praise and flatter were uttered countless times to his ears.
Ren Ruofeng forced a smile as he fist-saluted the others without explaining himself further.
He understood in his heart that he had just gotten lucky.
In the end, he had little to do with the completion of the task.
It was true that it had been terrifying because the world could have been destroyed at any given moment. What’s more, at the time he had been completely besieged and fell in a desperate situation. Had it not been for the fact that he had gotten lucky had decisively divided the troops, they would have all been annihilated.
Fortunately, the force had been on his side, the one in control of the other world had also wanted to leave this world and had only used them as their crossing raft.
Until now, although Ren Ruofeng might not have known the complete specifics, he could at least understand the major facts.
The divine creatures that had driven them into the corner were surely set in place by the God who controlled the other world.
They had left immediately after killing the two bulls, clearly, the other had needed the power of the two bulls to help him escape. Of course, if they had all been killed, that would have been even better, that was the terrifying part.
As for the place they had left for after escaping, that would of course be the Earth.
After arriving on Earth, the Heavenly Axiom would easily capture them and the task would be cleared.
This was all of Ren Ruofeng’s deductions, although it was still a ways off from the real truth, this was the best he could have thought of.
“This Heavenly Axiom sure has it easy, with only an IOU, he’s managed to get all these idiots cheering and rejoicing…” Sir System said enviously.
“Hey, why are you envying the other for? You could actually make a system currency yourself, as long as you can be sure of your ability to pay it forward. For example, providing accommodation services in the System Hotel, guaranteeing the safety of their souls after death, surely there’ll be someone willing to accept your IOU in the future…” Fang Ning who had just arrived at the System Hotel suddenly had a spark of inspiration.
“Hey, Big Billionaire Host, you’re not bad at all, but it might sound too crude to call it a System Currency, let’s call it Justice Points.” Sir System said thoughtfully.
[The System is evaluating…]
Well, a simple idea had led this guy to enter a rare state of thought, he just hoped he would not overreach himself.
Fang Ning thought to himself as he walked into the System Hotel.
Upon entrance, he spotted Black Pot currently conversing with a bottle of black ink in the reception hall on the first floor of the hotel.
Putting the two together really made them seem like they complimented each other well, seeing as they were both equally dark.
“Death is most fortunate indeed, even a supreme high deity like you who rules over a world so big has been able to escape from death. This has far exceeded my expectations, I’m afraid not even the other great gods would have been able to foresee this.” Although the body of the black pot appeared large, its use of words and tone of voice towards the ink droplet was very respectful.
“Oh, everything is but only fate.” The ink droplet said nonchalantly.
Hearing this, Fang Ning had a feeling and quietly whispered to Sir System, “Uh-oh, hearing what they said, it sounds like we’ve cut a bad deal with this Death.”
“Eh, how could this be? We just brought this guy up and let him stay in the hotel for ten years for free, I don’t see how we could’ve lost that much?” Sir System suddenly grew anxious, he could never stand to hear the two words “suffer losses”.
“Calm down, let me ask the Culinary God first.” Fang Ning reassured him.
Then, Fang Ning discreetly sent a telepathic message to Black Pot, explaining the whole thing before he asked, “Elder Culinary God, you seem surprised when you learned that Death had actually managed to survive?”
“Yes, the strings that entangle him and the World of Deadly Souls go way back, even if it were to be severed completely, it would still be immensely difficult for him to break free. Seeing as his life has been utterly intertwined with that world, crossing over to this world would be a task as difficult as traveling across the sea with a mountain on his back. He was supposedly destined to fall.” The Culinary God spoke matter-of-factly.
“I see, after I had brought it into this dimension, I discovered that the world over there was briskly collapsing, I wonder if there are any connections between these two?” Fang Ning continued to ask.
“I was just about to say this. The wonders of this dimension space is far beyond my expectations, you bringing him here has unsheathed the great mountain from him, and freed him of his burden. Otherwise, even a Saint would not be able to save him from the pits of despair.” The Culinary God marveled.
“Oh f*ck…” Fang Ning suddenly fell into gloom, “This guy’s a crafty one alright, can’t believe he played us just like that. He deliberately proposed two conditions, get him out, and guaranteed himself ten years of safety in our world. Letting us believe that the latter was more important, when in fact, the most important one was the former, because there’s no one else besides us who can get him out. We could’ve bargained for so much more.”
“Damn it, I blame you, you agreed to it too soon. I should’ve known, you’ve always been lazy to haggle, as long as you’re not losing anything you won’t bargain for more. I got screwed over by you…” Sir System grumbled.
Fang Ning had nothing to say in his defense, Sir System had punched him straight in the gutter with his words, and he could only try to appease him, “Rest assured, he may have won this round, but as long as he’s here with us, we’ll be able to get him back.”
“That’s true, I’ll leave this matter aside first, while I focus on the issue of implementing my System Currency.” Sir System said resentfully.
