121: Ranked 37th in points

At some point, Su Ling had quietly come to stand at the edge of the square in the Bitao Faction's camp.

His ears were filled with the rising and falling discussions of Cultivators, but his Divine Sense had already landed on the formation light screen suspended in mid-air, slowly scanning through row after row of names.

"Luo Xuanxiao... as expected, you are still alive."

When that familiar name entered his Divine Sense, the corners of Su Ling's mouth curled up almost imperceptibly, and a flicker of understanding crossed his eyes.

Immediately after, the names of Wen Qingzhu, Fu Yongnian, and Qi Fei appeared one after another, allowing his hanging heart to finally settle slightly.

But as his Divine Sense searched further down, besides these four and the highly controversial 'Han Yu', not a single other person from that original small team could be found.

Su Ling's heart sank slightly.

In all probability, they had all perished in that carefully designed trap.

He let out a silent sigh, his fingertips curling slightly as he shifted his gaze toward a familiar name in the middle of the point rankings, his expression instantly softening.

"Lu Tao... I didn't expect Brother Lu to come to this National War battlefield as well."

Memories flooded back like a tide.

Sixty-three years ago, he had accidentally ended up in the Canglang Plane.

On the vast Yaoxing Sea, if Lu Tao and Wu Haiya hadn't happened to pass by and rescue his unconscious self onto their ship, he would likely have long since become a meal for the Yao Beasts in the sea.

Based on this life-saving grace alone, he had already etched it into his heart.

Not to mention that later, Wu Haiya had specifically treated him to a meal at the Drunken Immortal Tower.

It was also because of that meal that Zheng Cheng of the Treasure Pavilion would be exceptionally friendly to him in subsequent dealings.

Invisibly, it helped him smoothly reach Peak Foundation Establishment in Thousand Star City.

Su Ling had never forgotten this kindness.

Withdrawing his thoughts, he looked back at the list, and his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

The top ten Cultivators were all at the Nascent Soul Stage.

From the discussions of the surrounding Cultivators, it wasn't hard to hear that five of these ten were direct Disciples of the Bitao Sect, while the other four came from various major cultivation Families or small Sects.

Only one person was an obscure Loose Cultivator; to be able to occupy a place in the front ranks amidst a cluster of Nascent Souls, one could imagine their strength.

Counting further down, there were three more Nascent Soul Cultivators, including Lu Tao; the other two were from Families, while Lu Tao's ranking fell at twenty-eighth.

He saw that the points of the Cultivators behind were still constantly jumping and rising.

If Lu Tao continued to consolidate his cultivation, it probably wouldn't be long before his rank continued to drop.

As for Su Ling himself, he was currently ranked thirty-seventh.

Luo Xuanxiao was ranked forty-fifth with 71,000 points.

Wen Qingzhu was fifty-third with 64,000 points.

Qi Fei was sixty-eighth with 43,000 points.

Fu Yongnian fell to seventy-ninth with 35,000 points.

At first glance, these rankings didn't seem top-tier.

But if placed within the Bitao Faction of nearly 200,000 Cultivators, they were already properly among the best.

Roughly estimating based on an average value of over a thousand points per Core Formation Cultivator, even Fu Yongnian, who was ranked lowest, had killed at least twenty Core Formation Cultivators individually within half a year.

One must know that the points of most faction Cultivators were still hovering around three or four thousand, and most of those were slowly accumulated by hunting Demonic Beasts or cooperating to seize resource points.

After all, for many people, participating in the National War was not just about gambling for a future, but more about safely earning resources to improve their strength.

Those who could stand out and be noticed by the Seven Great Sects were, in the end, a minority.

Silently noting the names that needed attention, Su Ling didn't linger and turned to walk toward the west of the city.

His storage bracelet was already stuffed with various Magic Treasures and Spirit Stones, and he had accumulated over a hundred seized storage bracelets and Storage Pouches.

Returning this time was to exchange all these useless things for Medicinal Pills and Magic Treasures that could tangibly improve his strength.

As for the storage bracelet he was originally used to, it was also time to replace it with that Storage Ring seized from Pei Jianbai.

The space was larger, and it also came with a concealed spiritual light, making it more suitable for his current situation... "T-there are actually this many?!"

Inside the Logistics Hall in the western corner of the Bitao Faction's city.

The Bitao Sect Nascent Soul Steward in charge of resource exchange looked at the pile of storage artifacts Su Ling had casually placed on the desk, his pupils shrinking suddenly, and even his voice carried a hint of disbelief.

Those storage bracelets and Storage Pouches were piled together, reaching half the height of a person.

They emitted different spiritual lights, clearly coming from different Cultivators.

If this quantity wasn't the harvest of a collective team, but just the gains of this one Loose Cultivator before him, then it was extremely rare.

At least, other than those little fellows who had just ascended to Nascent Soul, he hadn't seen anyone who could harvest so much alone.

What was even rarer was that this person only had the strength of the Early Core Formation Stage!

"Han Yu..."

Taking Su Ling's identity jade tablet, the Nascent Soul Steward suddenly realized, "So it's you! Truly impressive."

Point ranking thirty-seventh.

In the entire Bitao Faction, let alone the top hundred, even in the top ten thousand, there wasn't a single person with strength lower than Late-stage Core Formation.

'Han Yu', at the Early Core Formation Stage, had broken into the top fifty.

This had long since attracted the attention of many people.

Su Ling only smiled shyly and didn't say much.

He couldn't exactly say that all of these were accumulated over half a year by relying on the ten thousand souls banner to ambush small teams in the territory of the three Sects' faction, could he?

God knows if he said that, if it would spread through the entire Bitao Faction in the blink of an eye and bring him unnecessary trouble.

However, he also knew that above the Nether Prison Plane, Soul Transformation and even Body Integration Stage inspectors from the Seven Great Sects were constantly suspended.

His actions couldn't possibly be hidden from the eyes of those big figures.

It was just that there was no need to point it out proactively.

The Nascent Soul Steward took a deep breath, spiritual light flickering at his fingertips as he quickly scanned those storage artifacts.

A moment later, he finally spoke, his tone still carrying a hint of amazement, "All these Magic Treasures and Magical Artifacts added together can be exchanged for resources equivalent to forty-nine million Low-Grade Spirit Stones... seeing as you've made quite a contribution this time, I can round it up for you within my authority. How about fifty million Low-Grade Spirit Stones?"

"Fifty million!"

Su Ling's heart jolted violently, and he took a deep breath before suppressing his surging emotions.

This sum of Spirit Stones was enough for him to Cultivate all the way to Peak Core Formation Stage, and even prepare the necessary resources for breaking through to Nascent Soul.

How could he not be moved?

"Alright, tell me, what do you want to exchange for?"

Seeing his expression, how could the Nascent Soul Steward not know he was extremely satisfied?

With a wave of his hand, a semi-transparent light screen appeared out of thin air in front of Su Ling.

On it were densely listed all kinds of exchangeable resources, from small items like Medicinal Pills and Talismans to large ones like Magic Treasures and Formation Plates; everything was there.

Even some of the war machines commonly used by the Seven Great Sects were on the exchange list.