Chapter 24: Number One
Not long after, the soldiers who had gone to tally the hunting results returned to the Royal Clan Martial Grounds.
A burly general clad in silver scale armor handed a scroll recording the results to the Cloudwu Commandery Prince.
The Cloudwu Commandery Prince took the scroll and glanced at it. Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to the name ranked first, and a hint of a smile tugged at his lips. He said, "Ge Qian, announce the results of this year's Royal Mountain Hunt for the young martial artists! The one ranked first shall be rewarded with the Heavy Profound Bow."
The young martial artists standing below were all stirred up upon hearing the words "Heavy Profound Bow."
It was said that the Heavy Profound Bow was a fourth-rank True Martial Treasure, worth tens of thousands of silver coins.
Of course, the Heavy Profound Bow also carried a deeper significance. When the Cloudwu Commandery Prince was young, he had participated in the Royal Mountain Hunt and won first place, and the reward he received was precisely the Heavy Profound Bow.
Who would be the first place in this Royal Mountain Hunt?
The general in silver scale armor held the scroll and glanced at the young martial artists standing below. He said, "A total of forty-three people participated in this Royal Mountain Hunt. Two died, nine failed to hunt, and thirty-two young martial artists successfully killed barbarian beasts."
"Ranked thirty-second, Situ Clan, Situ Hai, killed one first-rank lower-class barbarian beast, a Ghost Shadow Rabbit."
"Ranked thirty-first..."
...
"Ranked fourteenth, Sixth Prince, Zhang Mi, killed four first-rank lower-class barbarian beasts, three Wild Bulls, and one Ghost Shadow Rabbit."
Upon hearing his own result, the Sixth Prince frowned slightly. He had thought that with his achievement of killing four first-rank lower-class barbarian beasts, he would surely make it into the top ten.
"I didn't expect the competition to be so fierce this year!" The Sixth Prince's gaze shifted toward Zhang Ruochen, and the disappointment on his face vanished, replaced by a faint smile.
In his view, Zhang Ruochen should be one of those nine who had failed to hunt.
Thinking this, he felt much better—at least there was someone worse off than him.
The general in silver scale armor continued, "Ranked tenth, Lin Clan, Lin Tianwu, killed five first-rank lower-class barbarian beasts, four Wild Bulls, and one Ghost Shadow Rabbit."
Even among first-rank lower-class barbarian beasts, killing a Wild Bull versus a Ghost Shadow Rabbit naturally yielded different scores.
"Ranked ninth, Gu Clan, Gu Li, killed five Wild Bulls."
"Ranked eighth, Bai Clan, Bai Wanli, killed six Wild Bulls. Among them, five were shot with Thunderbolt Arrows, and the sixth was killed using the Bai Clan's human-grade mid-rank martial technique, 'Killing Might Fist.'"
"Ranked seventh, Lin Clan, Lin Ningshan, killed one first-rank mid-class barbarian beast and four first-rank lower-class barbarian beasts."
Hearing her own result, Lin Ningshan was naturally quite satisfied. After all, she was only fifteen and participating in the Royal Mountain Hunt for the first time. To achieve such a result was already quite impressive.
She straightened her chest slightly and glanced at Zhang Ruochen. He was also participating for the first time, yet he hadn't killed a single barbarian beast—that was the difference!
"Second Miss Lin is truly outstanding! At just fifteen, she can already kill a first-rank mid-class barbarian beast. Her future achievements will be limitless."
"In two more years, I doubt anyone will be able to compete with her in the year-end assessment."
Outside the martial grounds, waves of exclamations arose.
Of course, a few among the young martial artists showed disdain, such as the top genius of the Situ Clan, Situ Linjiang, as well as the Fifth Prince and Xue Kai.
These three were all at the Yellow Extreme Realm Great Extreme Position, the most powerful in cultivation, and were the hot favorites for first place.
"Ranked sixth, National Teacher's Mansion, Xue Hongqin, killed two first-rank mid-class barbarian beasts."
"Ranked fifth, Southern Pacification Marshal's Mansion, Luo Cheng, killed two first-rank mid-class barbarian beasts and one first-rank lower-class barbarian beast."
"Ranked fourth, National Teacher's Mansion, Xue Kai, killed three first-rank mid-class barbarian beasts and two first-rank lower-class barbarian beasts."
Hearing this result, Xue Kai's face darkened. He hadn't expected to not even make it into the top three.
He had thought that with his achievement, he would be either first or second.
"Damn it!" Xue Kai clenched his fists, his gaze icy cold.
The Fifth Prince and Situ Linjiang saw this and a mocking smile appeared on their faces. But their smiles quickly froze.
"Third place, Fifth Prince, Zhang Min, killed four first-rank mid-class barbarian beasts and one first-rank lower-class barbarian beast."
"Second place, Situ Clan, Situ Linjiang, killed five first-rank mid-class barbarian beasts."
"First place, Ninth Prince, Zhang Ruochen, killed one first-rank upper-class barbarian beast and two first-rank mid-class barbarian beasts."
After the top three names were announced, the entire Royal Clan Martial Grounds fell into stunned silence. Everyone's gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen.
Then, the entire Royal Clan Martial Grounds erupted.
"Heavens! The Ninth Prince killed a first-rank upper-class barbarian beast!"
"Every first-rank upper-class barbarian beast is comparable to a martial artist at the Yellow Extreme Realm Great Perfection. He's only at the Yellow Extreme Realm Small Extreme Position—how did he manage it?"
"Impossible! He's only been cultivating for three months and he already killed a first-rank upper-class barbarian beast? That's too monstrous!"
...
Countless people in the Royal Clan Martial Grounds were too shocked to speak.
In the last ten years of year-end assessments, only the Seventh Prince had successfully killed a first-rank upper-class barbarian beast. Now, the Ninth Prince had done it too.
The Cloudwu Commandery Prince was naturally very pleased. He said, "Ge Qian, fetch my Heavy Profound Bow. I want to personally present it to Ninth."
"Wait!"
Zhang Ruochen stepped out from the group of young martial artists and said, "Killing that first-rank upper-class barbarian beast was a joint effort between me and the Ninth Commandery Princess. The result shouldn't be credited entirely to me."
The Ninth Commandery Princess also stepped forward and said with a smile, "Father, in this Royal Mountain Hunt, it was thanks to Ninth Brother's rescue that I wasn't killed by the barbarian beast. And when we killed that first-rank upper-class barbarian beast, I didn't contribute much—I wasn't really any help."
"Haha! Ninth, who do you think the Heavy Profound Bow should go to?" The Cloudwu Commandery Prince was even more delighted to see Zhang Ruochen and the Ninth Commandery Princess deferring to each other.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I'm skilled with the sword, not the bow. Your Highness, please bestow the Heavy Profound Bow upon the Ninth Commandery Princess."
Zhang Ruochen stepped forward, took the Heavy Profound Bow, and handed it to the Ninth Commandery Princess.
"Ninth Brother, you..." The Ninth Commandery Princess looked flattered.
Although she desperately wanted the Heavy Profound Bow, she knew even more clearly that it wasn't hers to claim.
Zhang Ruochen said calmly, "You deserve it. Without your help, I couldn't have killed the Green Fire Deer. Besides, there's still the next round of arena combat. If I win in the arena, the rewards will be even greater."
"In that case, I won't be polite. When you fight in the arena, you must give it your all. With your strength, even if you don't get first, you have a good chance of making the top five." The Ninth Commandery Princess gladly accepted the Heavy Profound Bow, her slender jade hands gently stroking the black jade bow shaft, her joy indescribable.
Zhang Ruochen gave the Heavy Profound Bow to the Ninth Commandery Princess for two reasons. First, she had indeed helped him when they killed the Green Fire Deer.
Second, he wanted to build a good relationship with her, essentially gaining an ally. After all, in the royal palace, he and Consort Lin were isolated and without support. Even though he had now shown some strength, compared to the true martial arts masters, he was still far behind.
Having one more ally would make his and Consort Lin's situation much better.
The third round of assessment was arena combat.
Only the young martial artists who had killed barbarian beasts in the Royal Mountain Hunt could participate in the third round.
The top five in the third round would receive generous rewards, including the opportunity to enter the "Barbarian God Pool" for cultivation.
If one took first place, the rewards were even more lavish.
Therefore, everyone took the "arena combat" very seriously, rubbing their fists and preparing to unleash their full strength to compete for a top-five spot.
The Fifth Prince snorted coldly and said, "Ninth Brother, you've really been hiding your strength! Shall we settle this in the arena?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "If we really meet in the arena, then we'll have to fight."
Zhang Ruochen felt a pair of eyes on him and looked over to see Lin Ningshan standing in the distance.
Lin Ningshan was indeed very beautiful, with delicate features, crystal-clear red lips, a slender figure, and long legs. She stood out among the crowd like a crane among chickens.
Lin Ningshan truly hadn't expected Zhang Ruochen to grow so quickly, to the point of being able to kill a first-rank upper-class Green Fire Deer. It was simply unbelievable!
However, she had already reached the realm of "Sword Follows the Heart" and had mastered a spirit-grade lower-class sword technique. If they really met in the arena, she was confident she could defeat Zhang Ruochen.
The top ten of the Royal Mountain Hunt would skip the preliminaries and go directly to the finals.
The twenty-two who ranked lower would fight to determine six strong contenders. The finals would then have sixteen participants.
Two hours later, the preliminaries ended, and six strong contenders emerged.
The Sixth Prince and the Ninth Commandery Princess were among the six, joining the top ten young martial artists from the Royal Mountain Hunt in the finals.
"First match of the finals: Ninth Commandery Princess Zhang Yuxi versus Lin Clan's Lin Ningshan." The general in silver scale armor announced.
No one had expected the first match to be a showdown between the "Twin Beauties of the Royal City." A battle between beauties naturally had plenty of appeal, and everyone began to look forward to it.