''No way! Su Shanyuan is way above miss Mingzhu in the rankings!''

''Shut up! If miss Mingzhu dares to challenge Su Shanyuan, then she must definitely have enough confidence in beating him!''

Yi Mingzhu, the third princess of the Dark elf race, had plenty of supporters in the crowd. Especially the male cultivators, who all went crazy for her.

Everyone watched the beautiful red-haired woman with looks of reverence in their eyes, as she slowly walked towards the Ranking Gate.

Shun Long watched the woman of the Dark elf race, as she came to a halt in front of the Ranking Gate's entrance.

She then turned her attention towards the entrance of the House, as if she was expecting for someone to come.

Few people paid attention to the Survival Gate's challenge in the floating light screen any longer, as they all watched the entrance of the House of Rankings with excitement.

''I wonder if senior Su will really come!''

''Su Shanyuan will definitely come.... if he was challenged! Let alone that he would lose his ranking to Yi Mingzhu since he hasn't fought in the Ranking Gate this month, so he can't refuse the first challenge, why would he be afraid of Yi Mingzhu to begin with? Su Shanyuan is already ranked 147th, while Yi Mingzhu is almost at the bottom.''

Once people heard this, they stopped asking whether Su Shanyuan would come or not anymore, as they all silently waited for his arrival.

Shun Long however wasn't looking at the entrance, as he examined the cultivation of the people around him.

More than half of the people inside the building, were actually cultivators at the rank 4 of the Spirit realm or higher.

Although Shun Long had absolute confidence of crushing cultivators at the same level as him, fighting against someone who was 6 minor realms higher in cultivation would be close to suicide.

After he looked at the people around him, he then sighed inwardly as he thought to himself

''Although Jin Wenling wanted to help me, the problem was that she assumed that I was a peak rank 9 Spirit realm cultivator. As a peak rank 7 Heaven grade cultivator, how could I fight against these people. As for making connections, I will still have to wait until word of my pills spread. I should return to this place, once my cultivation had at least entered the Spirit realm. By then, I would probably be able to fight against, even early rank 4 Spirit realm cultivators.''

After he made his decision, Shun Long didn't choose to leave the House of Rankings right away.

Since a fight between the top 300 looked like it was going to take place, it was a good opportunity to get a sense, of how strong the younger generation of the Heaven's Dome city really is.

Almost half an hour later, a handsome young man dressed in blue robes entered through the entrance of the House of Rankings, making the people around him immediately walk away even further away from him.

The man had long black hair that reached his back, as well as a white colored sword strapped on his waist.

His eyes were like the eyes of a hawk, as they stared at the people around him, almost as if he was a magic beast looking at his prey, while a black-colored badge with the word 'S' was pinned on his chest.

This man was actually an S-ranked mercenary in the 'Mercenaries' Association', which meant, that his cultivation had reached at least the early rank 1 in the Nascent Soul stage.

The man looked at Yi Mingzhu without a single change on his face.

Unlike the people around him, his eyes didn't hold the slightest trace of respect or lust for the woman in front of him. Rather, it was like he was looking at a skeleton.

Yi Mingzhu looked at the blue-robed man who was walking towards her with a cold look in her eyes, as she then spoke in a frigid tone, almost as if she was ordering around a slave

''Su Shanyuan, come with me!''

The blue-robed Su Shanyuan ignored the Dark elf race princess, as he walked first towards the Ranking Gate.

The red-haired Yi Mingzhu harrumphed first, before she too entered inside the large gate.

...As soon as the 2 high-level rankers had entered inside the Ranking Gate, the crowd exploded in excitement, as everyone started to gather around a large, floating screen of light.

The screen was pitch-black, not emitting any light at all, but it seemed that the people around it were already certain that it would soon light up.

Indeed, less than a minute later, the blue-robed Su Shanyuan, was standing opposite to Yi Mingzhu, in what seemed to be the hall of an ancient palace.

Yi Mingzhu looked at the man in front of her, before she waved her hand, as a pair of small blood-colored daggers appeared in front of her.

Seeing the daggers that were floating in the air, although Shun Long couldn't sense Yi Mingzhu's aura, he was certain that this woman had comprehended the 'Dao of Wind'!

Yi Mingzhu had a serious look in her eyes, as she coldly stared at the young man in front of her.

Looking at the young man and young woman who were facing off in the screen of light, some people in the crowd couldn't keep silent any more, as someone among the crowd asked curiously

''Do you know why Yi Mingzhu and senior Shanyuan are fighting with each other? I heard that they had a very good relationship.''

A man next to him who heard this, then chuckled mockingly as he answered

''Good relationship? I heard that Su Shanyuan asked miss Mingzhu to marry him 1 month ago, during a banquet of the Dark elf race. Miss Mingzhu however declined, making Su Shanyuan furious. Su Shanyuan then called miss Mingzhu a slut who was playing with his feelings. Angry, the 3rd princess then said that she would personally challenge Su Shanyuan one month later, and make him pay for his words.''

The man who spoke just now, looked at the crowd around him with a proud look in his eyes, almost as if he was flaunting his knowledge.

When a young woman heard this, a look of confusion filled her eyes, and looking at the proud man who had spoken just now she asked

''But isn't miss Mingzhu's cultivation at the early rank 1 in the Nascent Soul stage? I have heard that Su Shanyuan has already broken through to the middle of rank 1 in the Nascent Soul stage long ago.''

The proud young man who had spoken before nodded his head in response, but before he could speak, a sudden change had appeared in the screen of light in front of them.

Yi Mingzhu's flying daggers shot at Su Shanyuan at lightning speed.

The blue-robed Su Shanyuan instantly unsheathed his white sword, while a layer of frost quickly appeared on it. Su Shanyuan seemed as if he was infusing his qi inside his sword, before he hacked at the air 3 times in rapid succession.

A sudden blizzard appeared in the palace hall, as a hailstorm attacked Yi Mingzhu in response.

As Shun Long watched the fight, he understood, that both of these people had given up defending, almost as if they were daring the other person to step back first. However, it was obvious that the person who turned to defend first, would completely lose the momentum of their attack.

The 2 blood-colored daggers tore through the hailstorm, as they approached closer to Su Shanyuan, but at the same time, the hailstorm was also close to engulfing the dark elf princess.

The people in the crowd watched with bated breaths, as the hailstorm was the first to reach Yi Mingzhu.

A cold smile appeared on Su Shanyuan's face, as he saw the hailstorm completely swallowing Yi Mingzhu.

However, less than a breath of time later, one of the daggers had already arrived in front of Su Shanyuan.

The blue-robed man snorted at Yi Mingzhu's desperate struggle, as his sword easily parried the flying dagger, when a sense of danger suddenly filled his heart.

Su Shanyuan quickly tried to dodge to the side, but his speed simply wasn't far enough.

A spurt of blood painted the floor of the palace hall red, as the second blood-colored dagger had plunged itself on his back.

Su Shanyuan was furious while his feet had started to stumble, when Yi Mingzhu's voice resounded throughout the palace hall, as she said disappointed

''I quit.''

----------