Published: February 11, 2025
Facing the thirteen steps that resembled a geomantic ridge, Ye Zhongming proposed two completely different methods.
One was to quietly escape the small town with two ordinary people.
It was truly quiet; not a single mutated life was disturbed, and there was no battle. They just slipped away right under the noses of these mutated beings.
The second method was more direct. Ye Zhongming chose to mobilize and fragment the battlefield. With his outstanding strength, he systematically eliminated the mutated lives in the town, achieving a complete annihilation, and then grandly left the town with the two ordinary people.
The second method was essentially a small-scale war. Ye Zhongming's abilities were remarkable, and it took some time, so by the time he passed the thirteenth step, his ranking had dropped again.
Ye Zhongming was unaware of this ranking, and even if he did know, he wouldn’t be anxious. He continued walking along the heavenly stele path.
…………………………………………………………
Li Qiang reluctantly withdrew, and like others, he tried to re-enter with great reluctance, but he was bound to fail, only to exit in despair.
He had failed at the eighteenth step.
At the level of a five-star evolver, those who could persist to the eighteenth step were few and far between. Li Qiang could almost be considered the first among the five stars, while many not-so-powerful six-star evolvers had been eliminated early on.
When Li Qiang saw the crowd gathered together and noticed the high-ranking leaderboard, he was equally attracted. He found his name, currently ranked sixteenth, which was a quite high position, at least in Li Qiang's eyes.
He knew well that the people present were all leaders of major forces with formidable strengths. As a half-hearted five-star evolver, he really didn't count for much. Achieving his current rank was already quite impressive.
Of course, Li Qiang also understood that this was not the final ranking. Looking at the names that had dimmed, it indicated those who had already been eliminated. Even if they were still ahead, they would inevitably be surpassed.
With just a glance, Li Qiang had already made a rough prediction about his final position.
However, when his gaze fell on the three characters "Ye Zhongming," he couldn't help but be shocked.
The boss was actually ranked lower than himself? In disbelief, he looked again and saw Gao Yi and Zhao Xiangxue, both of whom were ranked higher than Ye Zhongming, with the attack-oriented Zhao Xiangxue even at a high sixth position.
What was wrong with the boss? Was he not adapting to this test?
But in an instant, Li Qiang dismissed this worry. Anyone who had made a name for themselves in the apocalypse had walked out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. How could they fear this sort of test? Simply put, this was a test of survival skills in the apocalypse; who wouldn’t want to survive and thrive?
Yet…
Looking at Ye Zhongming's ranking, Li Qiang furrowed his brows.
At that moment, with a loud crash, Gao Yi, wielding the Door Shield Sword, was kicked out of the heavenly stele path. When he emerged, he swung his sword against a nearby Crystal Pillar, creating a shower of sparks.
Gao Yi was panting heavily, and after realizing something, he raised his sword to check, finding no damage, he felt relieved.
He quickly saw Li Qiang waving at him, and as Gao Yi approached, he too saw the high leaderboard.
"Xiaoxue did well!"
Seeing Zhao Xiangxue ranked sixth, Gao Yi happily patted Li Qiang's shoulder, making the marksman grimace.
However, before Gao Yi could enjoy the moment for two seconds, he noticed Ye Zhongming's position. His hand on Li Qiang's shoulder switched from a pat to a painful squeeze, causing Li Qiang to nearly choke.
Clearly, Ye Zhongming's position shocked Gao Yi.
In his heart, no matter what he did, Ye Zhongming was one of the most powerful individuals, even the strongest.
Gao Yi's first reaction to this ranking was that the five rings society had cheated.