Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  Ling Jiu became desperate. He quickly performed Sea of Hundred Rivers to absorb the rich Gene Arcana within a thousand-meter radius of him.

  But to his horror, no matter how much Gene Arcana he absorbed into his body, it would not stay longer than three seconds before disappearing.

  Absorbed then disappeared, absorbed then disappeared……

  It was as if there was a big hole on his body. He tried the same thing for almost half a day and yet his meridians were still empty.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  He got a little mad. With his microcomputer, he looked up the information about the Ten Thousandfold Gene Arcana, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

  He breathed a long sigh of relief. “Eff! It scared the hell out of me just now!”

  Ling Jiu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Now he knew why his Gene Arcana had disappeared—it was the fault of the cells.

  Apparently, ordinary arcanists stored their Gene Arcana in the meridians, not in the cells. But those who possessed Ten Thousandfold Gene Arcana had very unique cells. Their Gene Arcana were not stored only in the meridians, but also the cells. Specifically, cells became their main ‘warehouse’ to store Gene Arcana.

  ‘How many cells a human body contain?’

  So the amount of Gene Arcana the cells could hold far surpassed that of the meridians.

  Because of this, arcanists of Ten Thousandfold Gene Arcana had such a large storage capacity for Gene Arcana.

  “I got it now.”

  He exhaled, feeling relieved. At first, he suspected that something had gone wrong with his body. But that was not the case. It was his body cells that had ‘eaten’ his internal strength.

  It was just a false alarm.

  He continued to capture Gene Arcana from his surroundings. The Gene Arcana were immediately gobbled up by the cells after entering his body. But Ling Jiu no longer panicked.

  Absorbed then divided, absorbed then divided……

  He greedily captured the Gene Arcana within a thousand-meter radius of him, much like a black hole sucking in all matters. But no matter how much he took in, his meridians were still empty.

  It was Sunday afternoon when Shi Gang awoke Ling Jiu. “It is five fifty, Ling Jiu. The leaderboard will be updated soon. Let’s get down there!”

  Ling Jiu opened his eyes, looking miserable. He had been busy absorbing Gene Arcana without eating or drinking for a day, yet his meridians were still empty. He did not know what to make of it.

  \r \r \r

  ‘Forget it. I might as well go to take a walk. If every goes well, I would make it to the top of the list. By then, I can fill up my meridians while inside the Twelve Underground Chambers.’

  He got up, his stomach growling in protest. So he took out a pack of dried meat and took a quick bite before following Shi Gang downstairs.

  Most of the trainees had gathered there. Ai Yuhe and Yang Ling-er had also arrived, walking toward him.

  “Long time no see!”

  Ling Jiu said hello. He ran a quick calculation in his mind, realizing that he had not seen these two pretty lasses for a week since he had returned from the wilderness last Saturday.

  “Long time no see!” The two girls replied with a nod.

  “How were things going this week?” Ling Jiu smiled at them.

  “A little better than last time,” Ai Yuhe said. “How about you?”

  “A little better than last time!” Ling Jiu replied.

  “While you all are better than last time, I am worse this time around!” Shi Gang pulled a face.

  “Here we go!”

  “The leaderboard has been updated!”

  There was an uproar instantly.

  “The leaderboard has been updated!”

  Ling Jiu looked up at the leaderboard, so did Ai Yuhe, Yang Ling-er and Shi Gang.

  No. 1: Zhou Ji, 1,690,000.

  No. 2: Christopher Adam, 1,550,000.

  No. 3: Ling Jiu, 1,540,000.

  “Third place!” Ling Jiu nodded. “Just like what I expected.”

  He perfectly knew how many Direbeasts he had killed: 72 Class-6 Direbeasts on Thursday, 2 on Friday, and 80 on Saturday after stretching himself to the limit.

  He had hunted 154 Class-6 Direbeasts in three days, making his score 1,540,000.

  This was 40,000 points higher than Zhou Ji’s result of last week. But apparently, Zhou Ji was not standing still either, his score had increased by 190,000.

  So, Zhou Ji was in first place again.

  “But this will be his last!” Ling Jiu clenched his fists. “I will be Top 1 next time!”

  “Ling Jiu has made it to third place!”

  “You only got 615,000 points last time, but this time, you got 1.54 million points. So you had concealed your true strength while we were in a team, eh?” Ai Yuhe sounded surprised.

  Ling Jiu let out an awkward smile and quickly steered away the conversation. “How about you this time?”

  “Ninth place.”

  Ai Yuhe broke out in a smile. Ninth place was no way near third place, but she was happy to get access to the Twelve Underground Chambers for self-cultivation.

  Ling Jiu moved his eyes to ninth place on the leaderboard. There, he saw Ai Yuhe’s name. Her score was 890,000 points, a 50 percent jump from her previous score.

  It was Yang Ling-er’s score that surprised him. She had got 920,000 points, higher than what Ai Yuhe got, which was incredible.

  As badass as Yang Ling-er’s ability was, she was wheelchair bound. The fact that she had hunted Direbeasts alone and got this result was absolutely impressive.

  “You three are in third, eighth, and ninth place while I have dropped below the hundred mark. No one else beats me in terms of performance decline.”

  Shi Gang was almost tearful.

  Ling Jiu was in consternation and could not help look up at the leaderboard. It took him a while before he found Shi Gang’s name on the list at 139th place.

  No. 139: Shi Gang, 389,000.

  The drop in ranking was indeed huge.

  The difference was too big!

  Ling Jiu wanted to say some words of comfort, but did not know how. Besides, he did not want to appear to be showing off, and so he thought the better of it.

  “How about we have dinner together?” Ling Jiu said.

  “Sure!”

  Ai Yuhe and Yang Ling-er nodded.

  “Let’s eat!”

  Ling Jiu came to the Twelve Underground Chambers on time at night, when everyone had also arrived.

  “Climbing from ninth to third place is a vast improvement, Ling Jiu!” Zhou Ji initiated the conversation.

  “Nothing beats you; two-time champion!” Ling Jiu gave a smile. “I heard that the reward for a three-consecutive first place is damn handsome!”

  “Not consecutive but cumulative!” Zhou Ji’s eyes flashed. “Anyone who tops the list for thrice will get some fat reward: a secret manual of the Ultimate Gene Arcana worth one-thousand contribution points, an Ultimate Treasure of Heaven and Earth worth one-thousand contribution points, and an Ultimate Gene Arcana potion worth one-thousand contribution points.

  “Cool!”

  Ling Jiu was wide-eyed.

  “This is not all. The reward will be even crazier for anyone who accumulates six-time, or even nine-time first place!”