A Chaotic World

"Hahaha! From the looks of it, the results are slightly different from what most people have expected!" City Lord Nanlan laughed heartily, breaking the awkward silence in the Grand Mirror Courtyard. "Is it all right for me to pass my gift to the top ranker now?"

"The results are indeed quite unexpected this time," Sect Master Nanhui nodded calmly in response, before raising his voice to address the sect members standing below. "Top ranker Nanlu Tianzi, step forward to receive your reward."

Even though he spoke seemingly as per normal, the Sect Master's voice contained a strange power within it.

As his voice spread out across the courtyard, it finally broke everyone out their trance.

Only then did the members of the Nine Suns Sect finally fully register that they now had a new rising star among their midst!

After today, no one would ever dare to underestimate the young man named Nanlu Tianzi!

"Yes, Sect Master!" Lu Tianzi yelled out all the way from the back of the Grand Mirror Courtyard before making his way forward.

Lu Tianzi's heart was beating extremely fast now, filled with excitement from triumphing over every other sect member.

Even though he had believed that he would not be getting a low rank, Lu Tianzi had not dared to bear too much hope about getting ranked first.

After all, he knew next to nothing about the Inner Sect members and was unsure about their capabilities.

He understood that the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

But when he saw the words Nanlu Tianzi at the top rank, Lu Tianzi even had to consciously refrain from shouting out in joy!

And now, it was finally time to receive his rewards.

To be honest, Lu Tianzi was still unclear of what rewards the sect had in store for the top ranker.

But no matter what, just the mid ranked beast core promised by the City Lord was already good enough. With that in hand, he should finally be able to attack the Primary Essence Condensation realm of the Slaughter Essence system!

At this moment, City Lord Nanlan flew out from his seat and gently landed in front of the Grand Mirror, waiting patiently for Lu Tianzi with his arms behind his back.

Despite the sheer size of the Grand Mirror Courtyard, Lu Tianzi did not make him wait for long, quickly arriving before him.

"Junior Nanlu Tianzi greets the City Lord!" Lu Tianzi clasped his fist towards him respectfully.

"Well done, Nanlu Tianzi. Looks like Qianxue has not been wrong about you!" City Lord Nanlan remarked with a smile.

"Junior thanks the City Lord for your kind words," Lu Tianzi answered, not daring to show the slightest bit of disrespect under the close watch of the entire Nine Suns Sect.

"Hahaha! You don't have to be this nervous around me. It is okay to just treat me as a friend of yours," City Lord Nanlan laughed.

As he finished, the City Lord opened his palm facing up to reveal a small pinkish pearl.

When Lu Tianzi saw this pinkish pearl, he immediately understood what it was.

This must be the mid ranked beast core!

At this moment, the mid ranked beast core floated up from within City Lord Nanlan's palm and towards Lu Tianzi.

Under the envious looks of his fellow sect members, Lu Tianzi reached out to receive the mid ranked beast core and stored it in his spatial ring.

"Junior thanks the City Lord for the generosity!" Lu Tianzi clasped his fist once more.

"You earned it with your own strength," City Lord Nanlan smiled before returning to his seat.

No matter how much the City Lord wanted to bring Lu Tianzi over to his side, he still needed to take note of the time and place. Rather than now, there were definitely better occasions for such matters.

In any case, the Nine Suns Sect was located within his Bluenight City. There was no need to worry about not being able to see Lu Tianzi in the future.

This time, Elder Diansheng stepped forward to address the sect members, his voice thundering across the Grand Mirror Courtyard.

"Good job everyone. With this, this year's Nine Suns Trial has ended. Top five rankers, head to the Pagoda of Treasures and wait at the entrance for Elder Jingren to hand you your rewards. The rest of you may retire for the time being. You will be receiving your rewards separately."

"Yes, Elder Diansheng!"

The sect members answered in unison with a resounding roar before they started to clear out from the courtyard.

"Damn it, Brother Nanlu! Just how many surprises do you still have hidden in your bag?" Nanqing Haowen playfully slapped Lu Tianzi on the back.

"Hahaha," Lu Tianzi could only laugh in response. "I simply got lucky."

"Sometimes, too much humility becomes a little unbearable for the people around you," Nanqing Haowen sighed as he saw Nanlan Qianxue approaching as well. "Looks like I still have a ways to go before I can catch up to you monsters."

"Not bad, Inscription Master Nanlu!" Nanlan Qianxue remarked cheerfully as she stopped in front of them.

"Thank you, Miss Nanlan," Lu Tianzi replied with a smile.

"What's wrong with you? What happened to the cold Nanlan Qianxue? And why are you so happy when he just snatched your place as the top ranker?" Nanqing Haowen questioned.

Hearing his words, Nanlan Qianxue shot him a cold glance, "When is it your turn to interfere in my matters?"

"Hah, I guess you are still the same," Nanqing Haowen let out a dry laugh.

"All right, enough chatter."

All three of them turned to see Nanhuang Jiansheng walking up to them with Nancheng Shu following behind him.

"Let us head over to the Pagoda of Treasures," Nanhuang Jiansheng said.

His voice was calm and soothing. Just from listening to his voice, one would think that Nanhuang Jiansheng was a talented scholar instead of a martial artist.

After saying his piece, Nanhuang Jiansheng turned to leave towards the Pagoda of Treasures.

But Nancheng Shu who was behind him did not just walk past them like how Nanhuang Jiansheng had done.

Nancheng Shu paused for a moment to give Lu Tianzi a good lookover before letting out a condescending scoff. After which, he turned to follow behind Nanhuang Jiansheng without saying a word.

Treated with such blatant disregard, Lu Tianzi could not help but frown in displeasure.

"Don't mind him," Nanqing Haowen gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Nancheng Shu must be feeling pissed at dropping out of the top three."

Lu Tianzi nodded in understanding, but still made a mental note to watch out for this Nancheng Shu.

Even though they were fellow sect members, Lu Tianzi knew better than to simply ignore this Nancheng Shu's blatant animosity.

Wait… Nancheng Shu?

"Could it be that Nancheng Shu is related to Nancheng Wei in any manner?" Lu Tianzi asked.

"Oh, come to think of it, his older brother Nancheng Wei is the one who challenged you to the Iron Soldiers Combat Array the other day," Nanqing Haowen answered in realisation. "Congratulations! You actually managed to get both of the brothers to dislike you!"

Lu Tianzi felt the corners of his lips twitch wildly as he held back from punching this guy who was obviously gloating at his misfortune. And all these while, Nanlan Qianxue was just watching with amusement from the side.

After that, the trio quickly caught up to Nanhuang Jiansheng and Nancheng Shu as they made their way to the Pagoda of Treasures.

The Pagoda of Treasures was, as its name suggested, the main treasury of the Nine Suns Sect. Thus, it was naturally located within the Inner Sect Grounds.

Since this was the first time Lu Tianzi had entered the Inner Sect Grounds, he could not help but look around curiously.

When he did, Lu Tianzi could not help but feel envy in his heart.

Compared to the Outer Sect Grounds, the Inner Sect Grounds had almost double the density of World Origin Energy. This was due to a large scale energy gathering formation that constantly regulated the World Origin Energy within.

Being in an environment that had a higher density of World Origin Energy meant that one's rate of cultivation would naturally be higher than that of others.

Inner Sect members were the core of the Nine Suns Sect, and this was just one of the many advantages that they enjoyed over their Outer Sect counterparts.

The Pagoda of Treasures was a towering nine storey structure that was protected by multiple defensive formations. Even as an Inner Sect member, one would not be able to enter the Pagoda of Treasures without an Elder acting as a guide.

Thus, the group had no choice but to wait at the entrance for Elder Jingren to arrive.

"Greetings, Elder Jingren!" the five of them greeted in unison when he finally arrived.

"Follow me in," Elder Jingren did not bother wasting time with words. He immediately stepped forward to temporarily deactivate the defensive formations and led them in.

After passing through the door, Lu Tianzi was greeted with a magnificent sight.

Rows and rows of shelves stretched on seemingly without end. On these shelves were a myriad of different items, from weapons to armours, scrolls to pills. There were even jade slips that contained who knew what within them.

In any case, this was a complete heaven for treasure lovers!

"Impressive, isn't it?" Nanqing Haowen remarked upon seeing the bright glint in Lu Tianzi's eyes. "And this is just the first storey! As you go higher, the treasures there will also become more valuable!"

At this moment, Elder Jingren suddenly turned around to look at the group.

"All of you will be allowed to take one treasure and one jade slip," Elder Jingren explained. "The top ranker will be given the priority to choose, and can select any treasure from the first five storeys. The second ranker will be second to choose, and can select any treasure from the first four storeys, and so on. Understood?"

"Yes, Elder Jingren!" the five of them answered in unison.

"Good. Top ranker, Nanlu Tianzi," Elder Jingren called out.

"Here!" Lu Tianzi stepped forward.

Elder Jingren looked at the young man before him with mixed feelings in his heart.

This was usually the best part of the Nine Suns Trial for Elder Jingren. After all, rewarding juniors for their efforts always felt good.

However, looking at the young man before him, Elder Jingren simply could not bring himself to smile.

This was the very same person who had arrogantly refused to select any cultivation techniques from the Pagoda of Knowledge because he believed that none of them met his standards.

Just how did such an arrogant young man manage to clinch the top rank?

Nevertheless, Elder Jingren knew better than to openly show his bias against him. After all, the other party was still a talented young junior of his sect.

In a way, everything worked out for the young man this time.

Not having selected a cultivation technique from the Pagoda of Knowledge actually saved him some precious time. Now, he could just choose a high level cultivation technique from here instead.

Such fortune was truly heaven defying!

"Go ahead and choose wisely," Elder Jingren handed him a small token. "With this, you will be able to bypass the defensive mechanisms that are in place to protect each item."

With how valuable these treasures were, there would naturally be multiple layers of protection to prevent theft.

"Understood!" Lu Tianzi received the token from Elder Jingren before directly making his way up to the fifth storey.

According to Nanqing Haowen, the higher the storey, the more valuable the treasures were.

If that was the case, then it only made sense to start from the fifth storey before slowly making his way down!

The variety of items stored here was truly dazzling. Lu Tianzi did not rush into a decision, taking his time to slowly examine each and every item available.

Each item had its name and a short description written on a tag hanging above it, which was especially usefully for the jade slips since Lu Tianzi was unable to perceive the information stored within them without breaking past the defensive mechanisms.

And the moment he broke past the defensive mechanism of a jade slip, it would mean that he had selected it as his choice.

This meant that the tags were all he could rely on for reference.

There were different types of jade slips, most of them being cultivation, movement, or combat techniques.

Lu Tianzi was definitely curious about them. But without being allowed to peruse the contents within, he simply could not find the motivation to select one. After all, he was not exactly lacking in techniques at the moment.

As for treasures, Lu Tianzi was indeed sorely lacking in them. Thinking about this, he could not help but sigh in regret.

After obtaining Hu Yuanbo's spatial ring, Lu Tianzi thought that he had struck it rich.

However, there were no beast cores within it, which meant Lu Tianzi was still a pauper in the society of demons.

As if that was not enough, after Lu Tianzi became an inscription master and widened his knowledge on items, he eventually discovered that other than the Sword of Ivory Rock, every other item within the spatial ring had not even reached Primary Essence Condensation rank!

Such poverty was simply unbecoming of the lord of a city!

Then again, Ivory Rock City could be considered as an insignificant village in comparison to Bluenight City, and was grossly limited in terms of resources.

In that sense, it was already quite impressive for Hu Yuanbo to have gotten his hands on a single Peak Essence Condensation rank weapon.

But this also meant that in terms of treasures, other than his two weapons, Lu Tianzi was basically as poor as one could get.

Thus, Lu Tianzi definitely had to make full use of this opportunity to obtain a treasure that would be utmost use for him!