"I know. He's rank 10," Xu Ming told the boy before he left.

"That's not all he is, you Idiot!" the boy muttered, but Xu Ming had already left by now. ​​

Xu Ming was walking back to his courtyard, but this time he made a mistake. As he was talking to the boy, Sui Ru was coming towards him from behind. She had managed to see him, and she sneakily followed Xu Ming.

Xu Ming sensed something. He felt as if he was being followed, but when he looked back, there was no one there. He didn't know that Sui Ru had hidden behind a tree when she saw him stop.

Xu Ming turned back and started walking again, but this time, he used his Divine Sense on his surroundings, and he saw Sui Ru coming out of her hiding.

"Sigh, She did find me. I should've been more careful,' Xu Ming though as he walked to a random courtyard.

He used his Origin Energy as he passed through the walls of one of the courtyards. Sui Ru stopped outside. She thought that this courtyard belonged to Xu Ming, but she didn't know that just like Xu Ming entered the courtyard, he left from the other side.

This was how Xu Ming lost Sui Ru from his trail as he walked inside his real courtyard far away from this place.

Xu Ming entered his courtyard. As he entered, he saw more challenge letters there. Apparently, people thought that he was scared of accepting the challenges of people. Thus even the lower-ranked cultivators started thinking that he was weak. That's why he started getting even more challenges.

Xu Ming ignored the letters and walked back to his room. He spent the rest of his day cultivating and trying to increase his strength.

Just like that, another day passed away.

Xu Ming stopped his cultivation the next morning and left his courtyard as he walked to the Ranking Pavilion.

It was the date of his battle with Sun Zhen.

As he got to the ranking hall, he found out that it was filled with disciples. It was as if everyone had found out that there was going to be a battle here today.

Even a few disciples from the top 10 came here to watch the battle. Sun Zhen was standing with a few of them and talking when he saw Xu Ming.

"You're here. You made me wait for quite some time," Sun Zhen told Xu Ming.

"So he's the guy. He doesn't look like an idiot like I expected. I'd say that he looks even better than you," a girl that stood beside Sun Zhen chuckled as she teased Sun Zhen.

"I agree that he's not bad looking, but there's no need to compare, is there?" another boy said.

Xu Ming walked up to Sun Zhen and asked him, "Let's start the battle. I don't want to stay here longer than I need to."

His words stunned others. It took them all a while to process it before they started laughing.

"Oh, Sun Zhen, it looks like you have no respect in the sect. First, your brother didn't come to watch your fight, and now a kid talked to you like that," the girl said as she laughed. She was Rank 6 in the Inner Sect ranking, and she was stronger than Sun Zhen.

"It's not just me. You know that my brother isn't interested in watching fights. He just wants to pass the Core Sect trial. He's not interested in anything else," Sun Zhen said.

"I know. It's so unfortunate that despite holding the 1st Rank for three years, he's not able to complete the core sect trial,"

"Yeah, I want him to leave the Inner Sect so that we can have a chance at the 1st Rank. But if he's not able to complete the Inner Sect trial, then that just goes on to say about the toughness of the Inner Sect trials,"

Once the topic started, quite a few red-robed disciples began talking about it.

"Are you fighting or not?" Xu Ming once again asked.

"Alright, alright. Let's fight then," Sun Zhen said as he stepped towards Xu Ming.

"Guys, please move back. Free the arena for our battle," Sun Zhen told everyone. They all stepped back.

"Alright. Since you're lower-ranked, I'll allow you to have the first ten moves. Go on ahead. I won't do anything but defend," Sun Zhen told Xu Ming.

"Alright," Xu Ming muttered as he brought his sword out.

"Isn't that a mortal grade sword? Despite being an Inner sect disciple, you use such a trash sword?" Sun Zhen exclaimed in surprise as he saw Xu Ming's sword, but the next moment, his expressions changed as he saw Xu Ming's attack coming towards him.

Xu Ming had used the 1st Strike of Heaven as his first attack, and he was so fast that he didn't even give Sun Zhen the time to get ready.

Sun Zhen pulled his sword out in a hurry and tried to block the attack, but the attack was more powerful.

He was tossed back like a broken kite, landing far away from his original position.

"That was unexpected," Sun Zhen said as he stood up. He wasn't seriously harmed, but he was somewhat injured, even though only lightly. His clothes were dirty as well.

He was just talking, when another attack came towards him. Xu Ming had once again used the 1st Strike of Heaven without even letting him finish his words.

The same thing repeated once more as Sun Zhen was tossed back. He landed even further.

Every other disciple in that place just watched it blankly. They weren't sure what was happening at the moment. It was as if Sun Zhen was a toy, and Xu Ming was playing with it.

*ahu ahu*

"At Least let me finish before attacking me!" Sun Zhen once more stood up after coughing excessively. His face has turned red, but his eyes opened wide as he saw another attack coming towards him.

His tragedy continued, and not just once. He was tossed back around nine times already.

Sun Zhen clearly looked like he was in bad condition, but he was still not seriously harmed. He has managed to protect his body from Xu Ming's attack as much as he could.

"That was the 9th attack. Once more and your ten attacks will be finished. Then I'll show you what a true attack is like! Go on, kid! Attack me one last time before you're defeated. It's going to be the same attack, isn't it?" Sun Zhen said to Xu Ming, but Xu Ming didn't respond.

Xu Ming raised his hand towards Sun Zhen and pointed his finger at him.

Sun Zhen was visibly confused, and so was everyone else.

"What are you..." He started asking a question.

"Heavenly Vajra Finger," Xu Ming muttered without waiting for him to finish his question.

A golden finger made from his Origin Energy took shape in front of him that attacked Sun Zhen.

Sun Zhen could feel the terrifying power of the finger, and he sensed that he wouldn't be able to protect himself if he just defended, and he allowed the attack to get to him. With his victory on the line, he broke his promise as he attacked proactively with his strongest skill.

"Heavenly Mountain Cutting Strike!" Sun Zhen roared as he used all the strength he had to attack.

A powerful arc of light left his Gold Grade Sword and clashed with the golden finger.

Sun Zhen's attack was destroyed instantly, but it managed to weaken Xu Ming's attack as well; still, Xu Ming's attack didn't stop moving towards Sun Zhen.

Sun Zhen again used his sword to protect his body, but the attack was too powerful.

He was once more tossed back, but this time his whole body was bleeding. Most of his bones were broken. He fell on the ground and didn't move even a little.

The other disciples that were close to him ran up to him as they checked his body.

"His condition is bad, but he's still alive. He's just unconscious, but we need to get him treated," one of them said.

They all picked him up and left the Ranking Arena.

Xu Ming looked at the back of his badge and saw that the number had changed. The number that was shown as seventeen had changed to ten now.

Xu Ming left the Ranking Arena and walked back to his courtyard. The disciples in the top 10 had left with Sun Zhen, and the ones that were left didn't bother to disturb Xu Ming as they were all frightened by his performance today.

Xu Ming entered his courtyard and began cultivating. In today's battle, most of his Origin Energy was depleted, and he was tired as well.

Xu Ming cultivated for the whole night, and he also achieved a breakthrough in his cultivation.

He kept cultivating in and maintained the momentum of his cultivation.