Chapter 458: Chapter 250: Dark Horse

On Tianquan Peak of the Purple Sun Sect, the crowd waited with bated breath.

"The Sect Leader has arrived!"

As the announcement rang out, everyone rose to their feet, turning to look in the direction it came from.

Zhang Jingyuan appeared, dressed in a purple robe with his hair tied back by a Jade Hairpin. With a calm and elegant expression, he ascended step by step to the highest point of the viewing platform.

"Thank you all for waiting."

He cupped his fist in his hand and bowed to the Elders, Peak Masters, and guests from the various peaks below, a kind smile on his face.

"You’re too kind, Sect Leader." Everyone cupped their fists in return.

Zhang Jingyuan nodded, his gaze sweeping over the crowd as he announced in a clear voice, "The Ten Heroes Disciples have always been the pillars of our Purple Sun Sect.

The Ten Heroes Ranking Challenge serves two purposes: first, to test the mettle of our current prodigies, and second, to discover any hidden gems among you.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t made the list before. If you can defeat a disciple on the Ten Heroes List, you will take their place, becoming one of the new Ten Heroes and receiving the Sect’s focused resources and training.

Some of the current Ten Heroes Disciples may have gotten on the list through sheer dumb luck. Today, we will see whether they are true dragons or mere snakes.

I hereby announce that the Purple Sun Sect Ten Heroes Ranking Challenge... begins now."

Without any further ado, he declared the ranking challenge had begun.

As his words faded, Yang Yuanzhou, one of the four great Elders of Tianquan Peak, floated onto the arena stage. He boomed, "I shall be presiding over this ranking challenge! All Ten Heroes Disciples, to the stage and prepare to be challenged!"

The Ten Heroes Ranking Challenge had well and truly begun.

Instantly, a thunderous roar erupted from the Martial Arts Arena. The clash of prodigies that everyone had been anticipating was finally about to begin.

"Li Chuyang is here! If you want to challenge me, just bring it on."

Silver Gang Mang erupted from Li Chuyang’s body. He landed like a streak of light behind Yang Yuanzhou, unleashing his domineering and wild aura without restraint.

"I’d love to rip that mouth right off his face." Jiang Fan looked on with disgust as he stepped down from the viewing platform and walked toward the arena, one step at a time.

At the same time, Qi Xuancheng, Ye Qiuling, Zhang Hanzhou, and Xu Yang—all Ten Heroes Disciples—also rose to their feet.

As the only woman on the Ten Heroes List, Ye Qiuling was naturally the center of attention; hardly anyone was paying attention to Xu Yang and the other male disciples.

Soon, everyone had taken the stage, but there were only nine of them. Yan Guiyun had still not appeared. Yang Yuanzhou had no choice but to look toward Zhang Jingyuan, seated in the highest position.

Zhang Jingyuan sighed. As much as he hated to believe it, his disciple Yan Guiyun had likely perished in the Yunling Mountain Range. He turned his gaze to Li Songhe, signaling for him to pick someone to fill the tenth spot on the Ten Heroes List.

"Let’s go with Xiong Kun," Li Songhe said without hesitation, choosing the disciple who had been on the list in the very beginning.

"Is Xiong Kun present?" Yang Yuanzhou called out.

"I am!" Xiong Kun’s excited voice rang out.

"To the stage," Yang Yuanzhou said.

"Yes, Elder!"

Xiong Kun was ecstatic, his voice trembling slightly. He never imagined that he would so easily return to the Ten Heroes List.

In truth, although he was determined to fight his way onto the Ten Heroes List, he wasn’t very confident. Han Feng had defeated him many times. And while Lu Ren had lost to him in the past, the Lu Ren of today was a far cry from the Outer Disciple he once was; Xiong Kun was no longer certain of victory against him.

"Brother Xiong, congratulations!"

As Xiong Kun landed on the arena stage, Han Feng and Lu Ren, both of whom knew him, congratulated him. They hadn’t expected Xiong Kun to get so lucky and reclaim his title as one of the Ten Heroes so easily.

"Just a stroke of luck," Xiong Kun said with a smile, cupping his fist.

Just then, Yang Yuanzhou’s gaze swept across the entire arena, passing over the faces of all the Inner Sect Disciples. He announced loudly, "Anyone under the age of twenty-six who believes they are stronger than one of the disciples on this stage may now come forth to issue a challenge. If you win, you will become one of the new Top Ten and also receive a reward from the Sect."

In the first round of the ranking challenge, unranked disciples would challenge those already on the list.

Of course, there was an age requirement.

At these words, the expressions of Lu Ren, Han Feng, and Xiong Kun faltered. Among their own cohort of Dragon Ascending Disciples, only Xie Zhan had reached Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement and was qualified to challenge them. No one else posed a threat.

However, the cohort of disciples senior to them had quite a few who had reached Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement. Since the three of them had the lowest cultivation, they feared they would become the primary targets for those challengers.

"Xiong Kun, do you dare to fight?"

The next moment, seven or eight voices rang out simultaneously, all of them calling out by name to challenge the lowest-ranked member, Xiong Kun.

Xiong Kun’s face turned sickly pale. So many people... how many matches would he have to fight? Most of them were senior disciples, some of whom had already been at Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement for a year or two.

Yang Yuanzhou stood with his hands clasped behind his back and continued, "Those who wish to challenge Xiong Kun, step forward. Does anyone wish to challenge the others?"

Just when everyone assumed there would be no other challengers, a voice rang out: "I wish to challenge Han Feng."

Someone was actually challenging the ninth-ranked Han Feng instead of the last-ranked Xiong Kun. Everyone turned toward the source of the voice and saw it was an unknown disciple; more than ninety percent of the people present had no idea who he was.

"A dark horse has appeared!"

"So there really was a hidden prodigy. And he’s going straight for Han Feng."

"Who is this guy?"

"I don’t know his name, but I think I remember him being close with Xu Yang."

...

The surrounding area was in an uproar as everyone stared curiously at the man who had declared his challenge to Han Feng.

"Senior Brother Sun?"

On the arena stage, Xu Yang and Lu Ren’s eyes widened. The one challenging Han Feng was none other than Sun Tao.

They never would have imagined it would be Sun Tao.

"What’s with Senior Brother Sun?" Lu Ren frowned, looking at Xu Yang.

To dare challenge Han Feng, Sun Tao’s cultivation had to be at least at the Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement stage. ’But how is that possible?’ Lu Ren thought. ’Sun Tao only broke through to Marrow Cleansing a few months ago. How could he possibly reach Minor Achievement so quickly? It would mean his talent is even greater than mine.’

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