Awakening of the Ancient: Rise of the Fallen

The 4 Gold Realm beasts ran towards the pillar to break it.

Without giving them the chance to make it difficult for him, Xu Ming used his 1st Strike of Heaven to take care of the beast in the south.

Not waiting any longer, he attacked the beast on the east with the same attack. Similarly, the 1st Strike of Heaven killed the beast in the North.

He looked towards the west. There was the pillar between him and the beast on the west that had gotten dangerously close to him.

Xu Ming used the Origin Energy Movement and passed through the pillar as he appeared on the other side of the pillar. 

The beast had jumped in the air, targeting the pillar when Xu Ming passed through the pillar and thrust his sword ahead. The sword penetrated the body of the beast, killing him instantly.

Without any break, more monsters came. This time the number was doubled.

The fight continued for a long time. Xu Ming kept killing, and the monsters kept increasing in numbers.

Xu Ming knew that it would have been a lot easier for him if he was faced with a single super powerful monster instead of hundreds of weaker ones as his skills were too powerful. Still, they were not versatile enough to handle multiple opponents.

It would still be manageable if the monsters were all coming from a single direction, but they were all spread out, which made it even more difficult.

"I should've learned Thunderstorm. That would make it so easier for me," Xu Ming muttered as he kept killing the beasts.

He was on the 30th wave, and the number of monsters was in the hundreds. He was struggling to keep up with them all, and ultimately, the pillar was destroyed by one of the monsters.

Xu Ming found himself back in the room; the formation had stopped working. The test was over.

"The place is indeed good for practice, but too chaotic," he muttered as he looked towards the formation.

He rested for a few minutes before he picked up his badge from the center of the formation and stood up. 

Xu Ming walked out of the room and went to the girl that was in charge of this place.

"The test is over? You took quite a long time in there. Did you fall asleep in the room? Anyway, it was your first time, right? Don't worry about your ranking. I'm sure your performance will instead with time, and one day, you'll get in the top 500," the girl comforted him.

Even though she didn't know Xu Ming's rank or about his performance, she gave a general reaction that she gave to all first-time performers as it was a given that it was impossible to enter in the top 500 in the first try.

"Where can I see my ranking?" Xu Ming asked her.

"Oh? Thanks," Xu Ming thanked her before he started observing his badge.

"Seventeen?" Xu Ming let out as he saw the number on the badge.

"Seventeen? Hahaha, You don't know how to read, do you? Show me," the girl chuckled as she extended her hands towards Xu Ming.

Xu Ming gave her the badge. The girl looked at his badge and was stunned as she saw the number on it.

"S-seventeen? How is that even possible?" She let out in shock.

"In your first try, you not only got in the top 500 but in the top 50? How?! Were you lying about this meeting your first time? That must be it! That's no way it was your first time. You should be in the top hundred last time. That's right, that makes more sense," the girl convinced herself.

"Seventeen? Fell slightly short of top 10; otherwise, I would be allowed to enter the Core sect once," Xu Ming muttered in disappointment.

"I'll try again," Xu Ming told the girl.

"You can't! You can only take this test once a month. If you want to rank higher, you can come next month, or you can challenge someone higher," the girl told him.

"Oh, alright. I'll challenge someone," Xu Ming said.

"Don't be in such a haste. The strength difference between a rank 17 and rank 16 is much bigger than the strength difference between rank 100 and rank 200. The higher you go, the wider the gap will become. I'd suggest you wait for a month and try the test again," the girl told him.

"Alright. I'll get the skills I need in the meantime," Xu Ming muttered.

"I'll take my leave then," Xu Ming told her as he turned back.

"Wait a minute," the girls called out as she stopped him.

Xu Ming stopped and turned back in curiosity.

"You can't go out like this. As you're in The top 50 ranked, you must wear the red robe to highlight your position. That's the rule of the sect," She told him as she brought out a red robe and gave him.

"Alright," Xu Ming said and changed his robes. He was now wearing a red robe.

"Also, I should inform you that your badge is credited with 2000 contribution points, which is the monthly allowance for the top 50 disciples. Your 200 Qi crystals will be sent to your courtyard," She informed him.

"Alright, thanks," Xu Ming said as he left.

He walked through the sect and attracted many gazes towards him.

His red robe was something that highlighted his position as one of the strongest disciples of the Inner Sect. Except for the fellow red-robed disciples, no one could even dare to offend him.

Xu Ming walked back to his room as it was already night by now. 

He cultivated for the night and stopped when it was morning.

He walked back to the Skill Hall of the Inner Sect.

His arrival shocked the Elder of the Skill Hall.

"A red robe? You're in the top 50 now? How is that possible?" The Elder exclaimed in shock.

"You can see my badge. I don't want you to doubt that I stole the robe," Xu Ming said as he showed his badge to the Elder.

He still remembered the day he was doubted for stealing the clothes of an Outer Sect disciple. If Elder Wu hadn't helped him, he would have been crippled. 

Xu Ming didn't want to go through the same misunderstanding once more. That's why he instantly showed his badge.

"It's true. That's incredible, Kid. Getting in the top 50 in your first try, I guess you do have the potential of getting ranked in the top 10 in the future. Since you're in the top 50, you're allowed to go to the 3rd floor. You can pick the skill you need and come back," The Elder told him.

"Is there a time limit?" Xu Ming asked the Elder.

"There is no time limit, and you can take as much time as you need, but do remember that there is a formation on the 3rd floor. If you read more than the short description of a skill book, you'll be thrown out of the first floor. This is done so that people don't spend their time up there to read all the books instead of leaving with one," the Elder told him.

"I'll keep that in mind," Xu Ming said as he went towards the stairs. He walked up to the 1st floor and then went higher under the jealous eyes of the other disciples.

He stopped on the 3rd floor.

There were many shelves there, but the quantity of the books was way smaller in comparison to the 1st floor.

There seemed to be only 100-200 books there, but the great thing was that these were all the strongest Gold Grade Skills in the Inner Sect.

Xu Ming walked up to the first book and read its description.

"Stone Crushing Finger? A finger related skill that makes the finger as strong as a treasured hammer?"

"I already have something like that. Also, close-range attacks are not what I need at the moment," Xu Ming muttered as he put the book back and picked up a different book.

"Fist of the Mighty Demon? A skill that was developed by the founder of the Mighty Demon Sect? Not good enough. It's Qi consumption is even higher than the Heavenly Vajra Finger, and its strength is lower. Also, it's a close-range skill," Xu Ming muttered before picking up a different skill.

"Soul Search? Now, this is something interesting. It uses the soul power to Search through opponents memories, but if the opponent's soul power is higher, the skill might backlash," 

"Not a fighting skill, but I'm intrigued by it," he muttered.

"If I don't find anything suitable, I'll take it," he said before he put the book back and picked up a different book.