Xu Ming cultivated for 3 hours on top of the mountain, and after he recovered his Origin Energy, he again used Thunderstorm.

The sky was covered by the roaring dark clouds once again. Thunderbolts started falling around Xu Ming. It seemed as if it was raining thunder. ​​

Far away from the mountain, there existed a small town. The town people managed to see the beautiful thunderstorm on the mountain. They couldn't help but bow down as they faced towards the hill. They thought that it was a godly phenomenon that was happening for the first time. There was only a single man that didn't bow down and stayed standing.

It was a man that didn't belong to this place. The man saw the phenomenon as well and started frowning.

'What's happening? Is there a heavenly treasure appearing there?' he thought as he stared towards the mountain.

Xu Ming was again depleted as he used all his energy. He could feel that the second time, the casting was much faster. Even though the Origin Energy consumption was the same, the faster performance of the skill proved that his control over the skill had somewhat improved.

He wanted to perform the skill as many times as it took for him to improve his control even further. He knew that it would take a lot of time, but he was ready.

Xu Ming cultivated more and restored his Origin Energy reserve.

He also noticed that the Origin Energy he could store was getting bigger and bigger each time he depleted all his Origin Energy and restored it.

Xu Ming kept repeating it until he had performed thunderstorm five times already. He could feel his improvement slowing down by the 5th time. He felt like his control would reach its limit the next time he tried it.

Xu Ming was restoring his energy when a man stepped on top of the mountain.

He was the same red hair man that had misunderstood the lighting as the phenomenon that appears at the birth of the heavenly treasure.

After climbing the mountain for a long time, he had reached the peak. He didn't even rest as he was worried that someone else would reach there and take the treasure before him.

As he stepped on the peak of the mountain, he saw Xu Ming sitting there, cultivating.

He looked around but saw no treasure there.

"Hey, boy! Where is my treasure!" he called out as he pointed his finger towards Xu Ming.

Xu Ming stopped his cultivation and slowly opened his eyes as he looked at the red-haired man.

"What treasure?" Xu Ming asked.

"Don't act ignorant! I'm talking about the treasure that took birth on top of this mountain! You can't fool me as I saw the lighting myself! Hurry up and take the treasure out! A kid like you shouldn't keep something so precious," the man said to Xu Ming.

"There is no treasure here. The lightning wasn't because of a treasure, either. A cultivator was using his skill here," Xu Ming responded.

"Do you think that I'm stupid? A cultivator was using his skill here? No cultivator can control the heavenly thunder like that! Hurry up and tell where you hid the treasure before I'm forced to kill you!" the man warned Xu Ming.

"You can look for yourself if you doubt me," Xu Ming casually said as he stood up. He had already restored his Origin Energy by now.

"You're not going to understand with words, I think. Let me teach you what I meant by force then!" the man told Xu Ming as he pointed his sword towards him.

The man started running towards Xu Ming with his sword.

"Thunderstorm!" Xu Ming didn't move and simply used his skill.

The skill activated instantly. In less than 2 seconds, the clear sky was again covered in clouds before the rain of thunder started.

Thunderbolts fell everywhere on the ground. Some of them even landed on the man who was running towards Xu Ming.

The man was struck by four thunderbolts that managed to burn his flesh off. One of the thunderbolts fell on top of his head, killing him instantly.

The red-haired man's charred body was lying on the ground, lifeless by the time the thunderstorm ended.

"I told you that there were no treasures," Xu Ming muttered before he kicked the body away. The body went down the mountain.

Xu Ming again sat down and began cultivating.

It was already midnight by the time he finished his cultivation. His Origin Energy was fully restored, and he decided to go back to the sect.

Xu Ming brought the Wild Eagle Beast out of his storage ring and got on top of it.

The beast started flying back towards the Sect.

By afternoon, Xu Ming managed to reach the Sect. He was flying towards the Inner Sect when he saw Elder Wu on the ground. He seemed to be talking to a 19-20-year-old girl. He didn't disturb him and entered the inner sect.

He walked back to his courtyard. He just wanted to sleep as he got inside his courtyard, but what he saw stunned him.

There were too many letters lying on the other side of his doorsteps.

Xu Ming picked up one of the letters and read them.

"A ranking challenge?" Xu Ming muttered.

He picked up another letter and read it, but it had similar content.

One by one, Xu Ming read all the letters and found similar content in all of them. They were all challenge letters written by various disciples that wanted to challenge Xu Ming to the ranking battle.

The letters came from every disciple that ranked below him. Except for the top 16 ranked disciples, everyone in the Top 100 had sent a challenge to Xu Ming.

In others' eyes, Xu Ming was a new Disciple that had miraculously managed to enter the top 100 on his first try.

They all felt that fighting Xu Ming would be an easier feat, and they might even be able to get his 17th rank.

There was a rule in the sect that a disciple had to accept a challenge or challenge someone higher than them if they managed to get on the top 500 rankings.

Because of that rule, Xu Ming had to fight at least once this month. He could accept a challenger from the ones that sent him the letter or challenge someone higher.

"If it's like this, I might as well challenge the 10th rank right now. I should be allowed to enter the Cleansing Pond of the core sect for one day when I win," Xu Ming muttered as he threw the letters on the ground and walked back to his room.

He had decided that he will challenge someone in the top 10 tomorrow, but for now, he wanted to rest.

Xu Ming fell down to his bed and fell asleep.

The rest of the day passed away, and even the night passed away as the morning arrived.

Xu Ming stretched his arms as he slowly opened his eyes.

He sat up and got ready. He picked up a paper and wrote a challenge letter. He didn't mention the name of the opponent, though, as he himself didn't know the name of the ranked ones.

After he finished writing the letter, he left his courtyard with the letter in his hand.

He asked around and found the courtyard of Sun Zhen, who was ranked 10th in the Inner Sect rankings.

Xu Ming walked to Sun Zhen's courtyard and knocked on his door.

Sun Zhen opened the door and looked at Xu Ming with curiosity.

"Red Robe and a new face, you must be the new guy that's caused so much disturbance in the sect by barging in the rankings. What are you doing here?" Sun Zhen asked Xu Ming.

"I'm here to challenge you for a ranking battle," Xu Ming said as he gave the letter to Sun Zhen.

"Oh? You want to challenge me? Alright, I would also love to see how a person managed to get so highly ranked in such a short time. We can fight tomorrow," Sun Zhen told Xu Ming as he accepted the letter and the challenge.

"You can meet me at the Ranking Pavilion. Our battle will be there," Sun Zhen added.

Xu Ming agreed as well before he left the place and walked back to his courtyard.

As he was walking back, he met another red-robed disciple.

"You must be Xu Ming. Did you get my challenge letter? When are we fighting?" the boy asked Xu Ming.

"I'm fighting someone else," Xu Ming replied.

"Why? You're rank 17; I'm rank 18, are you really going to accept the challenge of someone lower ranked? Or are you scared of fighting me?" the boy asked Xu Ming.

"I'm fighting Sun Zhen tomorrow," Xu Ming replied.

"S-sun Zhen? You're fighting him? Do you not know who he is?" the boy exclaimed in surprise.