73: We're coming to our door to smash the rankings! Number one has to be ours!

"Smashed?"

"Revered Master wants us... to go and smash the Tianji Pavilion's ranking?"

Inside the inn, the five Disciples looked at each other, and they all saw a hint of... excitement in each other's eyes!

That's right, excitement!

The gloom that had just arisen because of their rankings being too low was instantly washed away by Revered Master's overbearing and domineering decree.

Not happy?

Then smash it!

Was there any simpler, more crude, or more fitting solution for the style of their Hidden God Sect?

"I knew it! How could Revered Master possibly tolerate us being looked down upon!"

Shi Tian was the first to jump up. He threw the half-eaten roasted chicken in his hand onto the table, shouldered that seemingly ordinary hoe, and was full of Killing Intent.

"What kind of broken ranking is this? It actually dares to rank me twentieth? Who are they looking down on?"

"Let's go! Senior Brother! Let's go crash the party!"

"Exactly!" Ye Fan also weighed the myriad things mother qi cauldron in his hand, making a dull "thud-thud" sound. "It's just the right time to test the hardness of this brick and see if it's harder than the bones of the Tianji Pavilion."

Although Su Mo and Leng Yanran didn't speak, the eager demonic light in their eyes already said everything.

"Ahem."

As the Eldest Senior Brother, Xiao Chen was still relatively steady.

He cleared his throat, trying to suppress the excitement of his Junior Brothers and Junior Sister.

"Revered Master's intention is for us to go and reason with them."

"Smashing the ranking is just a means, not the end."

"Our core demand is for the Tianji Pavilion to re-rank us and give us justice."

"So, when we get there in a moment, everyone must stay calm and follow my lead. Don't be impulsive..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

Shi Tian had already rushed out of the inn with his hoe on his shoulder.

"You old fogies of the Tianji Pavilion! Your Grandpa Shi has come to demand an explanation!!"

Xiao Chen: "..."

Fine.

Spoken in vain... Wanbao City, Tianji Pavilion Branch.

This was one of the grandest and most sacred buildings in the entire city.

A ninety-nine-story tower that reached into the clouds. The tower was shrouded in a faint Dao charm, giving off an inviolable sense of majesty.

And directly in front of the tower stood the heavenly dao stone tablet, which was regarded as the ultimate standard by countless Central Continent Cultivators.

It was said that this stone tablet was refined from a meteorite from beyond the heavens and was connected to the Heavenly Dao. The rankings on it were the manifestation of the Heavenly Dao's will, absolutely fair and just, beyond question.

At this moment.

In front of the stone tablet, there was still a sea of people.

Countless Cultivators were bowing down to the names on the ranking or talking loudly about them.

Just then.

"Move aside! Move aside!"

A crude shouting sound rang out.

A chubby boy carrying a hoe was seen squeezing a path through the crowd like a wild bull.

Behind him followed four youths, each with a different temperament, but all with equally unfriendly looks in their eyes.

It was the Hidden God Sect quintet.

"It's them! People from the Hidden God Sect!"

"What are they doing here? Could they be here to give thanks?"

"I think so. After all, the Tianji Pavilion gave them so much Face by putting all five of them on the list. If it were me, I'd have to come and kowtow too."

While everyone was discussing.

Xiao Chen walked up to the stone tablet.

An Elder of the Tianji Pavilion, wearing a Bagua Daoist robe and responsible for maintaining order, immediately came forward.

He stroked his beard, a professional smile on his Face, along with a hint of subtle arrogance.

"Young friends, have you come because of the ranking?"

"Correct." Xiao Chen nodded.

"Hehe, no need for formalities." The Elder waved his hand with an "I understand" expression. "Having just arrived in the Central Continent and being ranked in the top twenty of the heavenly prodigy ranking, you are indeed one-in-a-million Qilin talents. This is the recognition of the Heavenly Dao, not just the words of our Tianji Pavilion."

"That's exactly why I'm here."

Xiao Chen pointed to his name on the stone tablet, his brow furrowed.

"This ranking... is inaccurate."

The smile on the Elder's Face instantly froze.

"What did you say?"

"I said, there's a problem with this ranking." Xiao Chen repeated, his tone calm but firm. "I demand a re-ranking."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

All the discussions around them stopped.

One by one, they gaped, looking at Xiao Chen as if he were a madman.

What nonsense is this kid talking?

Questioning the Tianji Ranking?

And demanding a re-ranking?

Does he think the Tianji Pavilion is run by his family?!

That Elder's beard even curled up in anger.

In his three hundred years in the profession, this was the first time he had seen such an arrogant junior!

"Impudent!"

The Elder shouted angrily, and a pressure belonging to the Nascent Soul Stage instantly erupted, crushing down toward Xiao Chen.

"Ignorant brat, you don't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth!"

"The Tianji Ranking is the manifestation of the heavenly dao stone tablet, representing the will of the Heavenly Dao! How can you question it?"

"Who do you think you are? A Great Emperor?!"

"Heavenly secrets must not be revealed! The ranking is determined by heaven! If you dare to speak nonsense again, don't blame this old man for executing you on the spot as a warning to others!"

These words were spoken with righteous indignation and were full of unquestionable majesty.

If it were any other Genius of the Central Continent, they would have been scared into kneeling and begging for mercy by now.

However.

Xiao Chen just listened quietly.

After he finished speaking.

Xiao Chen slowly raised his head and looked at him as if he were a fool.

"Determined by heaven?"

He sneered.

Then, he turned his head and said indifferently to the chubby boy behind him, who had long been unable to restrain himself:

"Third Junior Brother."

"I'll leave it to you."

"Alright!"

Shi Tian had been waiting for these words!

Carrying that seemingly ordinary hoe, he gave a mischievous grin, revealing two rows of big white teeth.

"Old man, what did you just say?"

"Determined by heaven?"

Shi Tian walked to the front of the huge stone tablet, which was several times taller than him, and reached out to pat the cold body of the tablet, making a dull thud.

"I'm sorry."

"In my house, my Revered Master is the heaven!"

"If he says this ranking is inaccurate, then it's just a piece of crap!"

As he spoke.

Under everyone's terrified gazes.

Shi Tian raised that... hoe high with both hands!

"Stop! You dare!!"

That Tianji Pavilion Elder was scared to the point of his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and he was about to step in to stop him.

But it was already too late.

"Break... for me!!!"

Shi Tian roared, using every ounce of his strength.

That hoe, which looked like it was used for farming, drew a simple and unadorned arc in the air, yet it seemed to contain supreme power.

Fiercely.

It smashed onto the heavenly dao stone tablet, which was claimed to be connected to the Heavenly Dao and eternally indestructible!

"Bang—!!!"

A loud bang?

No.

There was no loud bang.

There was only a... extremely muffled... "puchi."

It was like a red-hot iron branding a piece of butter.

That hoe ignored all the defensive Formations and Dao charms on the stone tablet.

Effortlessly.

It sank into the body of the tablet.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Everyone's eyes widened, and they held their breath.

The next second.

"Crack... crack crack..."

A tooth-aching sound of cracking came from inside the stone tablet.

Starting from the point where the hoe landed, spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across the entire hundred-zhang-tall tablet!

Then.

"Boom—!!!"

A world-shaking explosion finally erupted!

That Tianji Ranking stone tablet, which symbolized the highest glory of the younger generation in the Central Continent and had stood for tens of thousands of years without falling.

Under the watchful eyes of the public.

It collapsed and exploded!

It shattered into dust that filled the sky!

Dust and smoke rose into the air, obscuring half the sky.

The entire scene was deathly silent.

Everyone was stunned.

They stared blankly at the chubby boy carrying the hoe with an innocent look on his Face.

Then they looked at the shattered stones all over the ground.

Only one thought remained in their minds.

"Smashed... it's smashed?"

"It's really... smashed?!"

"This... this is slapping the Tianji Pavilion in the Face!"

"It's more than just slapping their Faces, this is practically digging up the ancestral graves of the Tianji Pavilion!!"