The Ascension Rankings could be described as a grand even in the southern territory. It wasn’t just the six great powers that would be participating, even those large clans, small clans, and some reclusive clans would participate as well.

Under such circumstances, it was obvious how people would stream into the Imperial Capital, so the streets of the capital could simply be described as being filled with an ocean of people. Besides Profounder, a group of guards that wore silver armor would walk by the streets every 15 minutes. The eyes of all the Profounders on the streets would reveal fear when they saw these guards because these groups of guards were formed by King Realm and First Heaven Realm experts!

During this month of time, the guards possessed the authority to act first and report later. In other words, if a Profounder dared to cause trouble in the Imperial Capital, then the guards could kill that Profounder first before reporting the matter to their superiors.

It wasn’t that the Grand Qin Empire was acting in an overbearing manner, it was authorized by all six great powers and the empire itself. Because if they didn’t provide such authorization, then trouble would probably arise within the Imperial Capital.

Under the effect of the deterrence from these groups of guards, even though the number of people within the Imperial Capital was multiplying, no trouble had appeared.

A Measurement Pillar resided at the entrance to the Imperial Capital. The pillar was 3m tall, 1m wide, and a thin piece of crystal was stuck to the lower half of the stone pillar. It was deeply embedded into the stone pillar, and there were 10 rows of quartz on it. Moreover, every single row had 10 quartz stones.

This pillar was utilized to measure the strengths of Profounders. So long as a Profounder launched an attack against this pillar, then the quartz stones on it would light up. The more quartz stones that lit up, the greater that Profounder’s strength was. Profounders that came to the Imperial Capital would usually measure their strengths because it was also an opportunity to attain fame.

At this moment, countless Profounders were gathered at the entrance of the capital, and there was an entire 10,000 plus of them. None of them attacked the Measurement Pillar, and they were looking at an enormous teleportation platform outside the entrance instead. It was as if they were waiting for something.

The six great powers were prohibited from establishing teleportation platforms within the Imperial Capital, so they’d established them outside the capital instead.

“Which bastard said that the six great powers would arrive today? The sun is already about to set, so why is there no sign of them yet?” A boorish man spat towards the ground and spoke with slight displeasure.

“Wait a while longer. They ought to be here soon!” said a handsome young man by the boorish man’s side.

“I’ve been waiting from the morning because I wanted to witness the strengths of these disciples from the six great sects. If I knew they would be so slow, I would have fucking gone to Moon Indulgence Pavilion to enjoy myself!” The boorish man continued speaking with displeasure.

“Doesn’t every single person gathered here desire to witness their strengths?” The handsome young man said, “It’s said that the disciples of the sects are monstrous geniuses. Even I want to witness exactly how monstrous these disciples of the sects are.”

“Monstrous geniuses?” A wisp of disdain arose on the corners of the boorish man’s mouth. He said, “I, Lao Niu, will steam the limelight from these disciples of the sects and allow them to realize that we independent cultivators are the true monstrous geniuses!”

The handsome young man smiled when he heard this, and he didn’t speak further.

“Pretty boy, do you not believe me?” The boorish man was slightly infuriated when he saw the handsome young man merely smiled and said nothing.

The handsome young man pointed at the Measurement Pillar and said, “Brother, you can measure your strength with this pillar first. The members of the six great powers will definitely do the same once they arrive here. So, we’ll know exactly who’s more formidable in a while. What do you think?”

“Why not!?” The boorish man grunted coldly, and then he walked over to the pillar.

He took a deep breath and stretched his hand out horizontally. After that, he raised his hand slowly while the image of a mountain slowly formed on his hand. At a certain moment in time, the boorish man shouted loudly before his right hand slapped swiftly at the pillar.

“Mountain Palm!” His palm descended yet the pillar didn’t move at all, and then 71 quartz stones lit up on it.

The young man shook his head when he saw 71 quartz stones light up. The boorish man was at the seventh rank of the First Heaven Realm, so being able to light up this amount of quartz stones was really good when it was amongst independent cultivators. However, if such an achievement were to be compared with the disciples of the six great powers, then the boorish man would undoubtedly be asking for insult.

The other spectators in the surroundings revealed expressions of admiration, but most revealed disdain. 71 quarts stones could be considered as being at an intermediate level at most, and when the disciples of the six great powers arrived, then 71 quartz stones could only be considered as third-rate or trash.

In the crowd, a woman with a hot and sexy figure spoke with disdain. “Big Brother, he merely lit 71 stones up, yet he dared to boast about going against the disciples of the sects. The ignorant are truly fearless!”

“Qing Hong, are you making a comparison with Brother Yang again?” A man with a robust figure stood by the woman’s side, and he said in a slightly speechless manner, “Can you not compare them with an ordinary person? Brother Yang isn’t ordinary at all. Don’t you know that?”

The woman was none other than Qing Hong, and the robust man was Qing Hong’s older brother, Man’zi. The young man that remained silent by Man’zi’s side was Xiao Hei.

The three of them naturally refused to miss such a grand event!

Qing Hong puckered her lips, and then she looked at the teleportation platform and said, “Big Brother, do you think Yang Ye will come?”

Man’zi shrugged and said, “How would I know? But I think that he probably wouldn’t. Even though Brother Yang’s strength is extremely formidable, it should be insufficient to participate in the Ascension Rankings. Even if he wanted to participate, the Sword Sect would probably not allow it. After all, if one didn’t possess sufficient strength during the Ascension Rankings, then it would lead to death!”

“But I feel that he will come!” Qing Hong spoke in a firm tone.

Man’zi shook his head. She feels he will come? Can feelings like this be trusted? In any case, he didn’t believe such feelings.

“They’re here, they’re here. It’s... it’s the disciples of the Sword Sect. The Sword Sect has arrived!” Right at this moment, someone roared loudly.

Everyone shot their gazes over upon hearing this. A bright light flashed on the teleportation formation, and then over 10 people appeared there.

“It’s Yang Ye. Big Brother, it’s Yang Ye!” Qing Hong instantly found Yang Ye’s figure, and her beautiful eyes flickered with happiness and excitement.

Man’zi smiled as well when he saw Yang Ye. He had a very good impression of Yang Ye, or it should be said that he’d sincerely taken Yang Ye to be his friend. So, wasn’t it normal to be happy when one saw a friend?

......

Yang Ye hadn’t noticed Qing Hong, Man’zi, and Xiao Hei. Presently, he was very surprised just like the others by his side. He was surprised that there were actually so many people in the surroundings.

“Sword Commanding Elder, have all these people come to welcome us?” asked Qin Feng.

The others looked at Yu Heng as well and desired the answer to this question.

Yu Heng smiled bitterly and said, “Such wishful thinking. See that pillar? That’s the Measurement Pillar, and it measures one’s strength. They’d come to witness the strengths of the disciples from the various sects. So, don’t let me down and strive to light up 90 quartz stones at least to bring honor to our Sword Sect!”

The others nodded when they heard this.

“Do all of you know how many quartz stones Elder Su lit up all those years ago?” Right at this moment, the man by Su Qingshi’s side suddenly smiled as he asked this question.

Everyone gazed at Su Qingshi and that inner court elder with curious expressions.

Yang Ye’s eyes revealed curiosity as well. Su Qingshi had ascended the Ascension Rankings all those years ago, so her results would probably be extremely good.

“93!” The man smiled and said, “Your Elder Su lit 93 quartz stones up all those years ago, and she reigned supreme over the geniuses from the Ghost Sect that had come to participate in the Ascension Rankings at that time! Perhaps all of you think that 93 quartz stones aren’t really great, but you won’t think like that once you’ve tried measuring your strengths with that pillar.”

“How many did the Origin School light up at that time?” Yang Ye suddenly asked this question.

Since the Origin School had obtained the first position at that time, then the disciples of the Origin School had presumably lit up even more quartz stones, and he was very curious about it. Because only by understanding the strength of the Origin School would he be able to accurately evaluate his own strength.

The others revealed curious gazes when they heard Yang Ye. They wondered exactly how formidable were the monstrous geniuses that came from the true colossus of the southern territory, the Origin School!

The man by Su Qingshi’s side revealed slight displeasure in his eyes. He’d mentioned this topic merely for the sake of making Su Qingshi happy. However, this disciple before him had actually been so insensible and mentioned a question that might cause Su Qingshi to feel embarrassed.

Right when he was about to berate Yang Ye, Su Qingshi said, “97. It was a genius of the Origin School that lit the most quartz stones up at that time, and he was ranked at the first position on the Ascension Rankings as well. Even though the difference between our results was only four quartz stones, the gap between us was actually extremely huge. Because it’s extremely difficult to light up every single quartz stone after the 90th. All of you will understand in a while.”

When he saw Su Qingshi had actually spoken to provide an explanation, a wisp of surprise flashed in the man’s eyes. He glanced at Su Qingshi, and then glanced at Yang Ye before he fell silent.

Exactly how huge was the gap between 97 and 93 quartz? One could only understand it after giving the Measurement Pillar a try!

All of them arrived at the entrance to the city under Yu Heng’s lead, and then Yu Heng swept his gaze past Yang Ye and the others before it descended onto Situ Rong. He said, “Situ Rong, you give it a try first!”

Situ Rong revealed a delighted expression, and a feeling of superiority instantly arose and swept through his heart. The Sword Commanding Elder had asked him to be the first, so what did that represent? It represented that the Sword Commanding Elder thought very highly of him and felt that he could make a good start for the Sword Sect here!