Chapter 539 - 333: The End, Overall Ranking (Part 2)

Chapter 539: Chapter 333: The End, Overall Ranking (Part 2)

The place had long since become a sea of joy, the atmosphere relaxed and fervent.

On the giant light screen, Li Wen’s staggering lead in points and the "World #13 Points Ranking: 1st Place" identifier filled them with a sense of security.

They leisurely critiqued the other contestants’ last-ditch struggles, discussing among themselves with proud smiles:

"Haha, look at that guy in 100th place! He’s scared pale!"

"Brandon’s still pretending to be a rock. He must be scared to death of our Prince Li Wen!"

"The outcome is a foregone conclusion! Prince Li Wen is sitting pretty, just waiting to see which unlucky soul gets knocked off at the end."

"Let’s celebrate Prince Li Wen’s advancement early!"

These last few nerve-wracking hours, filled with the prayers, curses, despair, and ecstasy of countless people, had finally come to an end.

[BEEP—!]

[Alka District, Preliminary Round - Phase One has officially ended!]

[All surviving contestants will now be teleported back to the assembly area!]

[The list of the top one hundred advancing contestants has been locked!]

The cold, mechanical voice of the broadcast resounded throughout the entire world, as well as every viewing space.

Hiding deep underground, the moment Brandon and Caroline heard the broadcast, their taut nerves suddenly went slack. Immense fatigue and the relief of having survived the ordeal instantly washed over them.

Brandon leaned against the rock, gasping for air.

Caroline clutched her chest and wept with joy, her tears mingling with sweat as they streamed down her face.

In a flash of light, Li Wen and all the other surviving contestants were teleported back to the vast assembly plaza where the preliminaries had begun.

A tide of clamor instantly flooded the entire assembly area, deafeningly loud.

Unlike the chaos that reigned when they had first left their respective worlds, the space now held a palpable sense of solemnity and focus, as if guided by an unseen force.

And the source of this force was the massive, holographic leaderboard that had suddenly materialized, stretching across the sky above them all.

Light flowed across the leaderboard. Each name seemed to be forged from starlight, radiating an undeniable aura of majesty.

[Cosmic Peak Genius Battle — Alka District (Phase One Total Points Ranking)]

1. ’Blood Slaughter’ Barton (Source Net Internal*, Murphy Empire); Points: 1,515,482,645

2. ’Demon Hand’ Hua Sha (Source Net Internal*, Demon Pigeon Empire); Points: 1,354,658,157

3. ’Killing God’ Li Wen (Source Net Internal*, Lain Empire); Points: 1,213,468,278

...

7. Saphis Yingge (Source Net Internal*, Alka Star); Points: 987,548,167

...

From top to bottom, the leaderboard clearly listed the names of the top one thousand prodigies from the Alka District’s Phase One point rankings.

Every single person standing here was a top-tier figure who had fought their way through more than eight trillion applicants. The weakest among them was at the Saint Realm.

’Third?’ Li Wen looked up, his profound gaze locked on the third line of the leaderboard.

The three words, "Killing God Li Wen," stirred an indescribable sense of pride within his heart.

He subconsciously glanced upward, burning the two names ranked above him into his mind: ’Blood Slaughter Barton... Demon Hand Hua Sha...’

These two were widely acknowledged as monster-class existences in the district.

As Li Wen stared at the leaderboard, hundreds of thousands of gazes throughout the assembly area were similarly focused upon it.

In a corner of the crowd.

A man, not exceptionally tall but wreathed in a tangible, viscous aura of bloodlust, stood as if he had just walked out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

He was none other than the man at the top of the leaderboard, ’Blood Slaughter’ Barton.

His gaze, filled with an air of self-assurance, went straight to the very top of the list.

When he saw his name firmly occupying the position that symbolized the strongest in the district, not a single ripple disturbed his eyes, as if this outcome was only natural.

His gaze then slowly moved down, sweeping over the second name. ’Demon Hand Hua Sha. As expected, it’s still you.’

He wasn’t at all surprised to see this old rival, this old acquaintance, right behind him.

However, when the name "Killing God Li Wen" and the "3rd" rank came into view, Barton’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

The name was unfamiliar to him.

’Li Wen? A member of the Source Net’s inner circle?’ A faint flicker of doubt crossed his mind, but it vanished in an instant.

His target had never been his peers in the Alka District; his journey was aimed at that small handful of people at the very peak of the entire cosmos.

This small interlude didn’t linger in his thoughts for more than three seconds.

His gaze continued to scan downward, as if he were merely reviewing an insignificant list.

...

Billions of gazes converged, and every name on the leaderboard was being analyzed and discussed.

Blood Slaughter Barton and Demon Hand Hua Sha—these two names were like two towering mountains.

They were already well-known to countless geniuses in the Alka District, and no one questioned their rankings.

However, the dark horse "Killing God Li Wen" caused an unprecedented uproar.

Aside from the survivors of World #13, the Giantwood World, the title "Killing God Li Wen" was completely unknown to the vast majority of geniuses from the other 999 sub-worlds.

An unknown nobody had actually surpassed numerous long-famous prodigies from the imperial star to break into the top three of the overall rankings?

The news sent the crowd into an immediate uproar.

"Li Wen? Who’s Li Wen? How could a backwater place like the Lain Empire produce someone in the top three of the overall rankings?"

"Killing God? What an arrogant title! Which world was he in? Number 13? Tsk. I bet that world didn’t have any heavy hitters, so he got lucky and just farmed points by killing weaklings."

"I doubt it! To rank third with over 1.2 billion points, he must have some real skill! Don’t forget, he’s also one of the Source Net’s internal members!"

"So what if he’s an internal member? Lord Saphis is an internal member too, and he’s only seventh, isn’t he? I bet this Li Wen either has heaven-defying luck or used some kind of special trick..."

"Hmph, just a show-off. Once the phase two free-for-all begins, we’ll see if he’s the real deal or not!"

A tsunami of discussion swept through the space, filled with doubt, curiosity, jealousy, and scrutiny.

At another end of the crowd, Saphis Yingge, clad in a magnificent, dark-patterned robe, was staring intently at the glittering number "3" on the leaderboard and the name "Li Wen" that followed.

The muscles on his handsome yet effeminate face twitched, and the jealousy in his eyes grew so frenzied it threatened to erupt.

’Li Wen... Li Wen!’ The name was like a red-hot branding iron searing his heart.

’On what grounds? How dare some brat from a Barbaric Planet stand above me, Saphis Yingge?’

"He just got absurdly lucky and was assigned to a world of pushovers!" Saphis hissed through clenched teeth, his voice dripping with disdain.

"If I hadn’t felt that slaughtering those ants was beneath my dignity and decided to find a place for quiet cultivation early on, how could that third-place spot have possibly gone to him?!"

He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. The hatred for Li Wen in his heart, and his resolve to eliminate him, reached an unprecedented peak.

Several vassals of the Yingge Clan around him quickly chimed in, belittling Li Wen and praising Saphis.

Of course, not everyone was filled with doubt and jealousy.

When Isabel’s gaze fell upon the familiar name on the third line of the leaderboard, her eyes instantly lit up.

A breathtakingly captivating smile blossomed on her gorgeous face.

She knew this achievement was no fluke.

Li Wen’s gaze also quickly found familiar names near the top of the leaderboard.

Isabel was ranked somewhere in the five hundreds. She had clearly been holding back and hadn’t gone all out for points.

Ares Titan’s name, on the other hand, was ranked among the top one hundred.

There was a significant gap between their rankings, but this was more a difference in intention than a difference in strength.

For this group of geniuses, the weakest of whom were at the Saint Realm, the information on the leaderboard was clear at a glance.

Li Wen quickly retracted his gaze, scanning the surging sea of people around him.

Soon, a few familiar figures came into view.

Not far away, Ares Titan, built like a small mountain, was striding toward him with a wide grin. He moved with a powerful, confident gait, exuding an aura of boldness and excitement.

Near him, Isabel, whose aloof temperament was as cool and distant as the moon, glided over with a light, serene smile.

Naraku, Raymond, and several other geniuses from the Source Net’s core district quickly began to gather around them as well.