Chapter 421 - 243: Abnormal Leaderboard

Chapter 421: Chapter 243: Abnormal Leaderboard

"Ah Zhi, I heard a rumor that your sister has already contracted eight Guardian Beasts. Is that true?"

Cui Zhi’s expression flickered at the words. After a long moment, she nodded resentfully.

Cui Zhi hailed from the Soul Killing Race, a people with exceptionally high Soul Talent who specialized in fighting by manifesting their Soul Power into various weapons.

If not for their small population and the disunity among their various tribes, the Soul Killing Race could have definitely pooled their resources to nurture a Child of Ecology within the Wisdom Eye Ecosystem.

Cui Zhi had always been a prominent genius of the Soul Killing Race’s younger generation, holding a special status within the clan since she was a child.

Her sister, who was a few years older, had been endlessly ridiculed within the clan because her soul could never manifest into a weapon.

Back then, Cui Zhi had always done her best to protect her.

But five years ago, her sister suffered a severe illness. When she awoke, her soul had mutated.

She could now unexpectedly contract Guardian Beasts, becoming a Guardian Beast Master.

It was important to note that while the members of the Soul Killing Race possessed extremely high Soul Talent, they had never produced a single Guardian Beast Master before because their souls were considered too aggressive.

Because the Soul Killing Race was very powerful overall and had few members in its younger generation,

they had always been willing to invest heavily in their outstanding youths, despite their internal disunity.

At first, her sister didn’t receive much attention from the clan’s Elders.

That was until her sister contracted her sixth Guardian Beast, shocking the clan’s Elder Council.

From then on, she began to receive the full, dedicated support of the entire Soul Killing Race!

After becoming the undisputed number one prodigy of the Soul Killing Race, her sister treated her the same as always.

She didn’t become arrogant just because she was the new star of the younger generation.

But the little light that shone on Cui Zhi grew exceptionally dim because of her sister’s rise.

Not only did the Soul Killing Race invest more resources in her sister,

but all the attention from their parents and the clan’s seniors also fell upon her.

This left Cui Zhi feeling completely at a loss.

Seeing Cui Zhi nod, Qiao Shuyu’s eyes filled with shock.

’She really contracted an eighth Guardian Beast?’

’Such Soul Talent is simply astounding!’

As a Guardian Beast Master’s Tier increased, their soul was enhanced, and in turn, the Soul Strength of their Contracted Guardian Beasts would increase in sync.

An ordinary Guardian Beast Master who could contract three or four Guardian Beasts was already considered to have outstanding Soul Talent.

’It looks like the Soul Killing Race is about to produce a Child of Ecology.’

At that point, the Soul Killing Race would naturally become a part of the Wisdom Eye Ecosystem’s ecological sequence.

Qiao Shuyu could sense that Cui Zhi had never liked talking about her sister.

When she brought her up just now, Cui Zhi’s reaction had been extremely awkward.

Cui Zhi considered her a friend and was always sincere with her.

Qiao Shuyu wouldn’t do anything to hurt Cui Zhi, but she did want to find an opportunity to get acquainted with her sister sooner rather than later.

"Ah Zhi, I remember you mentioned before that your sister was participating in the Soul Fighting Ranking Competition."

"Has she become a Zhenxing C Level Talent yet?"

Cui Zhi pouted at Qiao Shuyu.

"Sister Shuyu, why do you keep bringing up Cui Mo?"

"Her strength is at the Second Level, same as mine. The clan Elders favor her, so they’re definitely pushing for her to become a Zhenxing C Level Talent."

"She already passed the fifth promotion match last month."

"Sister Shuyu, if you mention her again, I won’t be your friend anymore!"

With that, an agitated Cui Zhi began using her Soul Power to manifest all sorts of oddly shaped weapons at her fingertips.

She looked just like a sulking little leopard!

Qiao Shuyu was a little surprised that there was such a huge conflict between Cui Zhi and her sister.

However, when Cui Zhi had just spoken, there was no killing intent in her eyes.

Instead, Cui Zhi’s intense emotions were tinged with thick jealousy and a hint of mournful resentment.

Qiao Shuyu was very sensitive to this kind of emotion; she felt it was somehow familiar.

Seeing Cui Zhi trapped in her negative emotions, Qiao Shuyu didn’t try to speak with her again.

Instead, she habitually lowered her head and glanced at the point rankings on her Soul Fighting Bracelet.

In a Secret Realm like this, the point rankings on the Soul Fighting Bracelet could reveal a lot.

Qiao Shuyu suddenly discovered that at some point, her rank had dropped from third to fourth place.

The points of the person in third place were increasing at an extremely fast rate.

This meant the person who’d knocked her down to fourth place was continuously reaping the remaining contestants in the Secret Realm, of which there were fewer than 500.

Qiao Shuyu pursed her lips and watched the points change, discovering that the third-place contestant’s score would increase by a small amount every few minutes.

’Could this person be killing an opponent every few minutes?’

Qiao Shuyu knew who was in second place.

Although the person ranked second wasn’t as shameless as Gong Lei, he was still someone who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

Given the third-place contestant’s current rate of point growth, it wouldn’t be long before he surpassed the person in second.

Compared to the second-place contestant she knew well, Jin Zhan from the Dragon Abyss Ecosystem,

this third-place person with rapidly increasing points gave Qiao Shuyu a sudden sense of unease.

It wasn’t just Qiao Shuyu who noticed this; Cui Zhi, who was beside her, had also seen the change on the leaderboard.

"Sister Shuyu, there’s something strange about this third-place contestant!"

"The news about the great treasure is spreading like wildfire, and almost everyone wants to obtain it before the Secret Realm collapses."

"His points have shot up so much. Could it be that he’s already obtained the great treasure?"

Qiao Shuyu shook her head with certainty upon hearing this.

She had watched with her own eyes as the points of the person who’d surpassed her rose bit by bit.

There were no sudden, massive jumps in score.

Besides, even if this person had really obtained the great treasure, the enormous reward would have immediately made them a public target.

Even she herself would be no exception.

Suddenly, a thought struck Qiao Shuyu, and she called two people from nearby over to her.

"The news about the great treasure came from you two."

"This information concerns our final reward from this Secret Realm exploration."

"Can you be certain that this information is true?"

The two people Qiao Shuyu called over reacted differently.

Upon hearing Qiao Shuyu’s question, one of them began to think carefully.

The other, however, spoke up immediately.

"Of course, it’s true! I heard it with my own two ears."

"It’s not just me; many people have heard this rumor."

"Gong Lei’s source must be different from mine."

"If I’d run into Gong Lei earlier, I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet up with you, Sister Shuyu."

Hearing this, Qiao Shuyu’s brow remained furrowed as she scrutinized the man before her.

Poison Vine Tower and her own faction had been allies for tens of thousands of years.

’The people chosen by Poison Vine Tower presumably wouldn’t lie to me.’

’It’s just... he sounds a little too certain.’

’It doesn’t sound like he just heard about it; it sounds like he saw it himself.’

While Qiao Shuyu was pondering, the other man spoke.

"Sister Shuyu, I think the news is real. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many people rushing over here."

"If someone wanted to set a trap to make everyone fight over the great treasure,"

"the treasure would have to exist in the first place. People won’t fight if they can’t even see it."

"Setting a trap like that would be pointless!"

"And if a team set this trap, they couldn’t possibly intend to eliminate everyone competing for the treasure."

"We want to get points, so we have to kill other contestants anyway."

"Even if we come here and don’t get the great treasure in the end, we’re bound to gain a lot of points."

"We’ve killed all the lone contestants we’ve met along the way."

"Have you noticed? The closer we get to the great treasure’s location, the more frequently we run into other contestants."

This man’s words were largely consistent with Qiao Shuyu’s own thoughts.

They were still an hour or two away from the location where the great treasure was supposedly buried.

It was inconvenient to scout for information from such a great distance.

There were some Guardian Beast Masters in the team, but they would certainly be unwilling to send their Guardian Beasts out to investigate.