Chapter 165 - 121: Super Blowout, the Leaderboard Officially Ends

Chapter 165: Chapter 121: Super Blowout, the Leaderboard Officially Ends

Lachlan stared at Shen Xing’s score of over twenty thousand points on the Points Ranking, his eyes filled with disbelief and deep despair.

He knew full well that if the gap had only been a few hundred points, he could have struggled to catch up.

But now, the difference was nearly four thousand points!

He couldn’t possibly earn four thousand points even if he grinded here for an entire day.

He completely deflated.

...

...

At this moment, Pioneers all over the world noticed the stunning change on the Points Ranking.

Shen Xing, in first place, had suddenly shot up by more than three thousand points. Even the top ten powerhouses probably couldn’t gain that many points after a full day of effort.

On the overseas forums, a fierce discussion was currently raging.

"Oh my God! Can someone tell me what happened? Why did this Shen Xing’s points increase by so much all of a sudden?"

"666, a sudden spike of over 3,000 points. Is he fucking cheating? Or did some big shot send him a heavily wounded monster to finish off?"

"Forget it. That’s impossible. People have tried that kind of cheat a long time ago."

"That’s right. You don’t get points unless the monster is killed solely by the Lord or their soldiers."

"Then what in the world is going on?"

The crowd was in a heated debate, thoroughly baffled.

Of course, some people guessed that Shen Xing must have used some kind of powerful item to kill a powerful monster, causing his points to skyrocket.

But logically, such items usually have extremely high level requirements.

Take high-tier Scrolls, for example. Some are even powerful enough to instantly kill Expert Level creatures.

But their usage requirement is also Level 20 or higher, which Novice Lords are completely unable to use.

Shen Xing had indeed been quite lucky this time.

Elder Wang had specially prepared a trump card for him that could be used in the novice stage.

Originally, this ring also had a level requirement, but because it was shattered and had lost its original power, only the Dragon Soul sealed within could still be barely used.

Therefore, it came in handy at just the right moment.

...

...

「Meanwhile, in the Lava Cave.」

Shen Xing closed the Points Ranking interface, satisfied.

’Not bad, my points are over twenty thousand.’

’There’s a little over an hour until midnight. Unless Lachlan manages to kill two Tier Three monsters right now, he has no hope of catching up.’

He turned his gaze back to the battlefield before him.

By now, the entire Lava Cave was completely unrecognizable.

The ground was covered in a crisscrossing network of fissures. Lava poured into these cracks, looking as if the earth had been shattered into countless fragments.

Of course, that wasn’t the most important thing.

The most important thing was the few items floating on the surface of the boiling lava pool.

A greatsword wreathed in flames, a scorching hot heart, and other glowing items.

Some of them had dropped from killing the Tier Three Demon.

The rest came from destroying the Hell Teleportation Gate.

Shen Xing took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement, and ordered, "Hellish Roar, go collect all the loot."

"Yes!"

The Bald Beastman beat his wings and swiftly flew over the lava, collecting every single item.

Then, he flew back to Shen Xing’s side and presented them respectfully.

[Acquired: Dusk Purgatory (Orange)]

[Acquired: Heart of the War Demon General (Orange)]

[Acquired: Tier Two Lord’s Heart (Gold)]

[Acquired: Hell War Chariot Blueprint (Gold)]

[Acquired: Hellfire Nest (Elite Three-Star)]

[Acquired: Large Soul Stone x12]

...

At that moment, Shen Xing was a little dazed.

Staring at the long list of loot notifications, he rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be seeing things.

Two Orange items, two Gold items, and an Elite Three-Star Unit Nest.

Now *this* was a jackpot, a true jackpot in every sense of the word!

’This is insane, absolutely insane!’

’I never thought killing a single Tier Three Demon could drop so much treasure.’

Shen Xing gasped.

He seemed to recall seeing a theory on the forums before.

When a Lord killed an enemy of a higher tier than themselves, they would receive an extra drop rate bonus.

’The fact that I got so many items this time must be partly due to that factor.’

Shen Xing stored the treasures in his backpack and said in a low voice, "Clean up the battlefield. We’re leaving."

At the Lord’s command, the several hundred combatants in the cave all sprang into action.

They carefully swept the surrounding corners, collecting all the loot from the ground and making sure not a single Soul Stone was missed.

Then, the three-hundred-strong combat force withdrew from the cave in a great procession.

Of course, Shen Xing didn’t return to his territory right away.

Instead, he led his soldiers to continue clearing out the Fog.

After all, there was still an hour left before the Points Ranking ended.

Although he was ahead of second place by three or four thousand points and his opponent’s chances of catching up were slim...

...what if?

To be safe, he had to make use of this last hour to get more points.

SCREECH—

Zha-ji beat its wings, streaking through the rain-filled sky like a bolt of light.

Shen Xing, for his part, took out the [Monocular Telescope] and surveyed the surroundings.

Through the Magic Lens, he quickly spotted several groups of wild monsters wandering in the Fog.

"Hellish Roar, lead a small team about one kilometer to the rear right. There’s a group of Lost Ones there, about thirty of them."

"Hei, head about two kilometers southwest. There are a few wandering Abominations there. Be careful."

"Black Arrow, you and Blood Roar will..."

Grand Lord Shen circled above the troops, issuing one order after another.

The top commanders of his territory immediately sprang into action.

Before long, they were engaged in battle with the monsters in the Fog, and his points continued to climb.

Although the efficiency was slightly lower than grinding monsters in the Lava Cave, it was still very good.

At the very least, it was more than enough to crush some of the top ten players.

Time slowly passed.

In the final hour, Lachlan seemed to want to struggle a bit more.

But alas, the point gap between him and Shen Xing was just too large.

After an hour of hard work, he only managed to narrow the nearly 4,000-point gap to 3,900 points.

When the time reached 00:00, the dust settled.

[DING!]

A grand system announcement, like the tolling of a great bell, resounded in the ears of every Lord.

[Attention all Pioneers, the ’Points Ranking’ event has officially concluded. The rankings have been locked.]

[The system will calculate the results and distribute the rewards within one minute.]

[In 24 hours, the Rain God Avatar challenge will begin.]

[A Teleportation Gate will appear in the center of the territory of every Pioneer who ranked in the top one hundred. You can enter the Rain God Illusion Realm through the Teleportation Gate to participate in the challenge.]

[The specific rules will be explained after you officially enter the Rain God Illusion Realm.]

...

When the announcement ended, the entire world seemed to fall into a brief silence.

The fierce, seven-day competition had finally come to a close.

Compared to previous Points Rankings, this one seemed far more brilliant and full of twists and turns.

The top three spots weren’t decided until the final hour of the ranking.

And no one had expected that the person to take first place this time would be a Lord from the Celestial Star Country who had never shown his face before.

He had suppressed a whole crowd of clan prodigies, Second Generation Lords, and pay-to-win whales.

And he had seized first place with an overwhelming advantage.

A flood of comments also appeared on the Celestial Star Country’s Pioneer forum.

"It’s over. This big shot Shen Xing—no, God Shen—is a real beast! He actually took first place."

"For real, so awesome. I thought there’d be some last-minute drama, but it just ended in a complete stomp."

"This is great! It’s been twenty years! Someone from the Celestial Star Country finally made it into the top three, and it’s first place!"

"Shen Xing is badass! The Celestial Star Country is badass!"

"..."

The comment section was in an uproar, with everyone marveling at Shen Xing’s rank.

Then, they started getting emotional.

"This ranking was so hard. I didn’t even dare to sleep. I grinded for three or four days straight, felt like I was about to have a mental breakdown."

"What’s that? I haven’t slept for a fucking week. But the effort paid off in the end. I managed to break into the top one thousand at the last minute."

"Fuck! A top one thousand big shot! Which city are you in? Please carry me!"

"Master, did you see? I made it into the top one hundred! I’m in the top one hundred! I didn’t bring you shame, hahaha!"

"Another one’s gone crazy. How pitiful..."

"Fuck! I’m rank 1001, just a dozen points short of the guy above me. Who’s got it worse than me!?"

"Bros, stop hanging out on the forum! Check the notifications, the rewards are here!"

Hearing this, everyone closed the forums and went into the game to check.

...

...

At that moment, Shen Xing was circling high in the sky on his Horned Eagle.

When the announcement ended, a series of system notifications scrolled past his eyes.

[DING! Congratulations on achieving the excellent result of 1st place in this Points Ranking!]

[You have received the following ranking rewards:

Large Soul Stone x50

Kingdom Gold Coins x50

Glowing Leader-level Soul x1

Unit Nest Reinforcement Stone x3

Self-Selected Golden Gemstones x3

Hero’s Certificate x1]

...

’As expected of the first-place rewards.’

’Counting the items from the Tier Three Demon I killed and the ones that dropped from destroying the Teleportation Gate, this haul is truly bountiful.’

Shen Xing looked at the dazzling array of treasures in his backpack, already impatient to return to his territory and inspect them one by one.

He took a deep breath and shouted down in a low voice, "Everyone, return to the city!"

The soldiers immediately moved out.

Led by their respective captains, they moved through the rain, heading back toward the territory.

Meanwhile, Shen Xing steered Zha-ji, speeding through the sky.

As the fastest creature in the territory, and a Flying Species to boot, they quickly reached the vicinity of the territory.

From a distance, he could see an orange-red glow burning within the dense Fog.

The moment they entered the range of the light, a wave of warmth washed over them, dispelling the chill from their rain-soaked bodies.

WHOOSH—

Zha-ji beat its wings and landed steadily in an open area within the Inner City District.

Shen Xing took out his wheelchair and slowly slid down from its back. "You’ve worked hard. Go get some rest."

"Kree~"

The Horned Eagle nodded, shook its soaked wings, and trotted toward a corner of the territory on its sturdy legs.

It was worth mentioning that Shen Xing had built a residence at the base of the city wall.

He had emptied the furniture, enlarged the doorway, and converted it into a small nest for Zha-ji.

It quite liked the place. On normal days, aside from going out to fight, it would spend the rest of its time curled up in its little nest, sound asleep.

Next, Shen Xing took a tour around the territory and found that nothing had changed since he left.

Reina was practicing her sword skills in an open area, and a squad of skeletons was patrolling on the second city wall.

’Next, it’s time to take a good look at this haul of loot.’

Shen Xing opened his backpack interface, his heart starting to race with excitement again.

After all, he had obtained so many good things this time.

Any single item he took out would be enough to drive some Novice Lords, and even Extraordinary Lords, into a frenzy!

’Let’s go through them one by one.’

After a moment of contemplation, he decided to check the Points Ranking rewards first.