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The Palace Examination!

The Ranking of Thirty-Three Individuals!

A single stone stirred up a thousand ripples.

At the same time, the cultivators who received this information were almost all stunned.

Zhu Xuanji’s heart trembled, “Palace Examination?!”

His first thought was: “By passing the Palace Examination, will one be able to obtain the position of Palace Lord?”

He was a Divine Constable, renowned throughout the land, and possessed a meticulous mind. Given any key information, he could deduce many things.

“The mechanism of the Molten Immortal Palace has one rule: the standard for selecting a successor fluctuates with the state of the Immortal Palace.”

“Now, the Immortal Palace is heavily damaged, this mechanism has activated, thus initiating the Palace Examination!”

“This Palace Examination is highly likely to select the next Palace Lord.”

“The information is very clear – the list of Palace Examination candidates consists of thirty-three people! This means my main opponents are the other thirty-two.”

Zhu Xuanji began to carefully study the list.

He first saw his own name.

He was not surprised by being ranked first. This was because after he repaired the Mechanical Demon General, seeing that he had no hope of recovering the True Demonic Scripture in a short period, he submitted it.

He thus obtained a huge amount of merit points.

This was also why he took out the Golden Phoenix Mirror and gave it to Ning Xiaohui not long ago.

“The second is Scholar Jun.”

“All-Books Pavilion…”

Zhu Xuanji’s gaze was profound. This neutral major sect had quietly progressed to this point.

If not for this ranking, Zhu Xuanji would not have known that Scholar Jun was so well disguised and had made such significant progress, yet everyone seemed to have forgotten about him.

The third is Zheng Danlian.

“Zheng Danlian had entered and exited the Molten Immortal Palace early on, so his accumulation of merit points began a long time ago.”

“Not only does he have an old foundation, but he also has an added killing weapon in his hand now.”

“His Night Rain Demonic Weapon is very unusual and has helped him recently slay the most Core Formation level Blazing Fiend Beasts, thus earning a large sum of merit points.”

“Ranking third is understandable.”

Zhu Xuanji then looked at the fourth, fifth, and sixth positions.

These three positions were also occupied by Core Formation cultivators, but their names were quite unfamiliar.

Zhu Xuanji scoffed, knowing clearly in his heart: These three, including the several after them, were all reinforcements brought in by the Meng family.

Despite their seemingly unconnected names, origins, and cultivation techniques, Zhu Xuanji had already determined their allegiance based on their actions and performance.

Their names were irrelevant; in Zhu Xuanji’s mind, they had automatically transformed into Meng Family Core Formation A, Meng Family Core Formation B, Meng Family Core Formation C, D, E…

After this, Zhu Xuanji saw Zheng Shuanggu, Zhou Nongying, several Core Formation rogue cultivators A, B, C, and Ning Jiufan.

“Ning Jiufan’s ranking is lower, indicating that he has not been in the Molten Immortal Palace for long.”

He also saw the Purple Heaven Pavilion’s Core Formation true disciple, Zhu Zhen, and Song Fuli.

It was not surprising that the Purple Heaven Pavilion’s Core Formation true disciple was on the list.

Zhu Zhen himself possessed mechanical prowess and was absolutely giving his all to support Zhu Xuanji. Thus, he also obtained a lot of merit points. This could be seen from this ranking.

The reason he was ranked lower was simply because he had not been here for long and did not have the old accumulations of the other Core Formation cultivators.

The same applied to Song Fuli; he suffered from the lack of old accumulations, hence his lower ranking.

Zhu Xuanji noticed that among this group of Cloud Merchants, not only Song Fuli but also two others were selected for the Core Formation realm.

These two names were also automatically replaced by Zhu Xuanji with: Cloud Merchant Core Formation A and Cloud Merchant Core Formation B.

The last of the Core Formation cultivators was Yang Chan Yu.

Seeing this name, Zhu Xuanji snorted in his heart, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

“Empty Sect, Yang Chan Yu, I will do my utmost to bring you to justice!”

He looked down further.

“Ning Zhuo?”

Ning Zhuo’s ranking was right next to Yang Chan Yu.

“I didn’t expect this kid to become the top student among the trial disciples. Where is Meng Chong?”

Zhu Xuanji smiled slightly.

Although he was somewhat surprised, he was not entirely unexpected. After all, he had previously deeply understood Ning Zhuo’s mechanical prowess.

This junior Ning Zhuo was recognized by Li Leifeng in his childhood. He had an astonishing talent for mechanical arts from a young age!

Zhu Xuanji looked down and found that there were several people between Meng Chong and Ning Zhuo.

These individuals were all Foundation Establishment cultivators, some relatively well-known mechanical cultivators in Fire Persimmon Immortal City.

It is worth mentioning that many of these people were on the screening list that Zhu Xuanji had previously set up.

“Overall, the Core Formation cultivators firmly occupy the forefront of the entire ranking, closely clustered together, with no Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining cultivators in between.”

Cultivation level was still the primary factor.

“Secondly, the main force of the second tier is the members of the Four Directions Reform Team. The identity of a trial disciple is still very useful.”

“Finally, there are some Foundation Establishment mechanical cultivators, some of whom are members of the four major forces in Fire Persimmon Immortal City, and some are rogue cultivators. These people are the fewest in number, and most of them have old accumulations.”

“If the Palace Examination had appeared a little later, their rankings would have been squeezed out by the trial disciples.”

“Hmm?”

Finally, Zhu Xuanji’s gaze fixed on the “Entry Standard.”

His face gradually turned ugly.

In another location.

A burly young man was staring with his tiger eyes: “What’s going on with this ranking list?!”

“Among all the trial disciples, I’m actually not first!”

Meng Chong was very surprised.

“Ning Zhuo?”

“This guy’s ranking is actually higher than mine, interesting. I’ll find an opportunity to meet him!”

Since leaving the trial stage and entering the Immortal Palace, Meng Chong had been advancing bravely and diligently, with his merit points steadily rising.

He possessed innate immortal aptitude, formidable strength, and the strong support of the entire City Lord’s mansion. He was originally full of confidence in his progress, but the release of the ranking thoroughly slapped his face.

While surprised, he quickly accepted the reality and developed a strong competitive spirit towards Ning Zhuo.

Finally.

Meng Chong saw the “Entry Standard.”

“Why is there an ‘Entry Standard’ here too?” Meng Chong’s mouth twitched, just about to laugh.

But the next moment, his smile froze on his face.

He was stunned, then carefully counted the names on the list, finding a total of thirty-three people on the ranking, with thirty-two people besides “Entry Standard.”

In other words, this “Entry Standard” was actually a person’s name?!

“If the Palace Examination ranking is like this, then what about the ranking list in the trial stage?”

As soon as he thought of this, Meng Chong immediately put the previous thought about Ning Zhuo out of his mind.

His breathing quickly became heavy, his chest puffed out, his breathing intensified, and his eyes became bloodshot.

“I’ve been played!”

“I’ve been played!!”

“So, on the line of my soul entering the Immortal Palace, from beginning to end, I was always second?!”

“The first place is this damned ‘Entry Standard’!”

Since he was a child, Meng Chong had never suffered such humiliation.

Thinking of how he had been smug many times in the past, satisfied with his “first” ranking, he felt a strong sense of shame and anger.

“What a good ‘Entry Standard,’ I want to fight this person.”

“How despicable, how sinister! Are you treating me like a monkey?!”

“Don’t let me catch you, don’t let me catch you!!” Meng Chong clenched his fists, his entire face scarlet, like an enraged bull.

Ning Zhuo’s ranking was higher than Meng Chong’s, but this situation quickly became less noticeable.

Zhou Zhu and Zhou Zeshen were also discussing.

“Unexpectedly, it was Ning Zhuo after all who became the first among our Qi Refining cultivators. This result is both surprising and not surprising to me,” Zhou Zeshen sighed.

Zhou Zhu grunted in agreement: “For others to be first, I wouldn’t accept it. But Ning Zhuo is indeed formidable, helping many people.”

“People from the Zhou family and Zheng family were all promoted by him and quickly got positions.”

“He is this.”

Saying this, Zhou Zhu gave a thumbs up.

Because of his full effort in managing things, Ning Zhuo’s reputation among the three families’ reform teams had reached a certain peak!

Zhou Zeshen’s face immediately darkened: “The current problem is, is this last ‘Entry Standard’ the same one we saw on the five stone pillars in the trial room!”

Zhou Zhu thought for a moment, then slowly nodded, his face and mood equally heavy.

Zhou Zeshen gritted his teeth: “I think the same as you. This means that our three families, along with the City Lord’s mansion, have all been played by this ‘Entry Standard’!”

“He should be Sun Lingtong.”

“Hmph, almost certainly!”

“The Empty Sect has been deeply entrenched for many years, I didn’t expect their penetration of the Molten Immortal Palace to be this deep!”

“To be able to change their name like this, this is completely cheating, truly cunning. Too cunning!!” Zhou Zeshen stomped his foot in hatred.

Anyone who discovered they had been deceived so badly would not feel good.

And the real “Entry Standard,” Ning Zhuo, breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing this ranking list, he was also scared into a cold sweat.

Ning Zhuo’s own ranking just barely made it to the last spot.

“My Buddha’s Heart Demon Imprint represents one-third of the power of the Molten Immortal Palace and will definitely be heavily rewarded with merit points.”

“But I didn’t expect that after submitting it, my merit points would still be ranked behind people like Zhou Zhu.”

“This shows how big the pit was that I dug before by triggering the fiend beast tide and destroying the historical pavilion!”

“Furthermore, the deaths of Ning Xiaohui and Zheng Jian are also a key factor. If they were alive, I would likely be squeezed out of this list.”

Ning Zhuo was very fortunate that he eliminated some competitors in advance.

This was not his original intention for acting.

It was purely due to fate.

“Perhaps, this is also because I planted the thread of human life on them early, and fortune is on my side.”

Fortunately, the ring’s reminder was timely, otherwise Ning Zhuo would have truly missed this only opportunity!

“Brother Zheng Jian, thank you,” Ning Zhuo secretly thanked.

“Looking at it this way, even if I submitted my Buddha’s Heart Demon Imprint, the name change has become a fact, so the name hasn’t changed.”

For Ning Zhuo, this was undoubtedly a relatively good piece of news.

The one using his name “Ning Zhuo” was Sun Lingtong.

This was a setup Ning Zhuo had made before.

“Will the public’s misunderstanding of this be beneficial to my upcoming Palace Examination?”

“An extra layer of concealment doesn’t seem like a bad thing!”

On the other side.

Yang Chan Yu stared at Sun Lingtong: “So, the Entry Standard is you?”

“How exactly did you change your name?”

Sun Lingtong chuckled: “That’s my secret. Now you know why I’m confident in contending for the Molten Immortal Palace, right?”

Yang Chan Yu shook her head: “All I know is that you’ve made a fool of the higher-ups of the entire Fire Persimmon Immortal City. You’re in trouble, they must hate you to the core. Afterwards, you must not be caught by them.”

Sun Lingtong’s smile couldn’t help but stiffen.