Rewards Beyond Compare

The arena dissolved, and Lu Yuan found himself back where he had started — directly across from Ye Jing.

Looking at the lingering shock still etched on Ye Jing's face, he felt a flicker of awkwardness.

*Had he gone too hard on him?*

Ye Jing was Yeye's older brother, after all. Maybe he should have left the man a little more dignity.

In truth, though, Lu Yuan had already held back considerably. Earth Spirit Body, Black Steel Force, Heaven-Sundering Slash, Battle Disciple Emblem, Dark Harvest — he hadn't used a single one of those. All he had done was a single spatial teleport and one casual sword strike.

If that still wasn't enough to stop him, he couldn't really be faulted.

When Ye Jing saw Lu Yuan step down from the arena, he shook himself back to his senses and stared at him — wide-eyed, stunned, his expression darkening.

He opened his mouth. Closed it. He wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words.

From beside him, Yeye said, flatly, "Brother. You lost. You can leave."

At those words, something complicated shifted in Ye Jing's expression.

It finally dawned on him why Yeye had refused to let him choose death mode.

He had assumed she was protecting Lu Yuan. Now he understood — she had actually been looking out for him?

Ye Jing refused to believe Yeye hadn't known Lu Yuan's true strength. If they had fought in death mode, he would have been the one leaving the Land of Origin permanently.

The realization hit like cold water. He couldn't bring himself to meet Yeye's eyes. Instead, he fixed Lu Yuan with a long, hard stare, let out a cold snort, and turned to leave.

As he turned, he spotted Xia Zhi and the others watching from afar. His expression went pale, then greenish. Without approaching them, he summoned his black eagle and flew away.

At the same moment, the Prodigy Rankings updated.

Lu Yuan rose to rank 58. Ye Jing plummeted to 93.

Of course, someone of Ye Jing's caliber could climb back — it would just take time. Climbing higher than that would cost him even more. None of which was any concern of Lu Yuan's.

What occupied him now was the reward notification flooding his mind as the ranking settled.

His eyes lit up.

*Extraordinarily generous.*

Two Emperor Grade Gene Armaments of his choosing. Thirty Fourth-rank Origin Stones. Five Blood Spirit Fruits — a type of Rare Natural Material that could directly elevate one's base physical attributes. And a full one hundred and fifty Purple Heart Fruits.

That was just the reward for the ranking climb. The benefits had also been upgraded.

Shopping in Land of Origin cities like White Cloud City now came with an across-the-board fifteen-percent discount. Priority access in certain restricted zones. Training Hall fees reduced to thirty percent. The Auction House would charge only a five-percent commission on consigned items.

Both the rewards and the perks were lavish beyond expectation. Lu Yuan's heart surged with excitement.

The two Emperor Grade Gene Armaments were straightforward choices. Having previously received a weapon, he now selected armor for one slot. For the second, after a moment's thought, he chose an Emblem.

Emblem-type Gene Armaments imposed no stacking limit — as long as the body could bear them, you could layer as many as you wanted. Of all the options, Emblems were the hardest to waste.

The thirty Fourth-rank Origin Stones brought his running total to fifty.

*Fifty Origin Stones. That should be enough to break through the Gene Lock blocking advancement to Battle King Rank, shouldn't it?*

The Blood Spirit Fruits were a first for him — his initial acquisition of a Fourth-rank spirit fruit of this particular type. Consuming one could directly boost fundamental physical attributes: strength, speed, and constitution, all at once.

Rare Natural Materials like these were most potent on the first dose. Subsequent ones still offered some benefit, but with sharply diminishing returns.

He decided to keep one for himself. For the rest, he'd ask around — Sister Qinghe, his mentor, Si Tingxue, Rebecca, Amy. Any of them might want one.

As for the Purple Heart Fruits, he'd received some before and knew their value well. A hundred and fifty of them held Spirit Power equivalent to fifteen million Fourth-tier Spirit Crystals — or, converted to Sixth-tier, around a hundred and fifty thousand. A respectable cultivation resource by any measure.

A pity they still weren't enough for him. With Emperor Grade genes, his consumption operated on an entirely different scale. And since he already had Enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid in ample supply, there was no need to cultivate with Purple Heart Fruits. Better to sell them for Spirit Crystals.

He still had over a hundred million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals' worth of Spirit Power stored inside the Evolution Cube — but preparation never hurt.

After all, evolving his Transcendent Genes would demand an enormous amount of Spirit Power.

The perks were appealing in their own right. The various discounts would save him a tidy sum. As for the five-percent Auction House commission — already quite low — Lu Yuan still intended to wait until it dropped to nothing before consigning anything.

Before him, two glowing orange orbs materialized alongside a generous heap of spirit fruits and Origin Stones, appearing as though they had always been there.

The Land of Origin's gifts.

Across the plaza, scouts from every faction watched with naked envy at the pile accumulating before him.

Climbing more than thirty ranks in a single challenge was exceptionally rare. Naturally, the rewards reflected that — far richer than what a normal ranking advance would yield.

Nearly every scout present had never laid eyes on such abundance all at once.

Even Keli and Xia Zhi, watching from a distance, wore expressions of open admiration.

Lu Yuan collected everything with a perfectly calm expression.

Yeye tilted her head slightly. "You're climbing fast."

*Your brother made an excellent stepping stone...* The thought crossed his mind — but Ye Jing was still her older brother, and there was no need to pile on.

"Just luck," he said.

"Are you going to challenge again?"

"Of course."

Lu Yuan smiled and filed the next challenge.

His current rank was 58. The highest he could immediately target was rank 53.

The holder of rank 53 was a Six-Eyed Race warrior named Xiang Wu.

It was a race Lu Yuan knew little about — a humanoid species he had barely encountered before. White Cloud Continent was home to countless races, and many unfamiliar to him lived far from Great Qi Star. Even within the Land of Origin, they occupied distant regions of the continent that rarely intersected with humanity. His ignorance was hardly surprising.

He submitted the challenge. Before long, a reply came back: Xiang Wu would accept, but only in six days.

A flicker of disappointment passed through Lu Yuan, and he lowered his hand.

Yeye caught the moment and asked, "Postponed?"

"Six days from now."

She nodded. "That's completely normal."

It was, in fact, the default state of things on the Prodigy Rankings. Delays were expected.

Prodigies had cultivation schedules to keep and other matters pressing on their time. No one at the top of the leaderboard was simply waiting around, ready to accept the moment a challenge arrived and agree on the spot. They had full schedules — challengers had to wait their turn.

With that in mind, Lu Yuan let it go.

"The ranking's still moving up at a decent pace," he said with a smile. "Let me treat you two to something good — a little celebration."

Yeye's eyes brightened. She nodded with enthusiasm. "Mm."

From a distance, Xia Zhi watched Lu Yuan and Yeye leave together, something flickering in her gaze. Then a trace of weariness settled over her features.

"Gentlemen, I'm afraid I'm feeling rather fatigued. Today's tea party fell short of what you deserved, and for that I sincerely apologize. I'll arrange another one before long — I hope you'll grace it with your presence."

Keli pulled his gaze from the retreating Night Sky Fiend and smiled pleasantly. "Miss Xia Zhi, please don't worry about it. No one can predict a Prodigy Rankings challenge."

"Quite right. Rest well, Miss Xia Zhi — I'll certainly come to the next one."

"..."

With a regretful smile, Xia Zhi bid each of them farewell and departed with her Nightshade attendants.

The group of Nightshade women moved through the street, drawing sidelong glances from every Gene Warrior they passed. The Nightshade Race was renowned for their beauty, and Xia Zhi herself was nothing short of breathtaking.

Along the way, one of the Nightshade women spoke up. "Sister Xia Zhi, are we really just leaving? Aren't you going to find Lu Yuan?"

Another chimed in, eyes bright. "That Lu Yuan is something else. Prince Ye Jing is no weakling — and he was cut down in a single sword strike. A person like that must have an extraordinary future ahead of him, right?"

"His future?" someone else said. "He's already extraordinary right now."

A ripple of laughter.

"A talent like that — the rest of us wouldn't even dare dream. I suppose only Sister Xia Zhi herself could ever stand beside someone like him."

At that, the others turned curious eyes on Xia Zhi.

"Sister Xia Zhi, you're really not going to approach him?"

Xia Zhi smiled softly. "There's no rush. Time is on our side. With that Cat-kin princess in the picture right now, the timing isn't right yet."

The other Nightshade women gave quiet nods and said no more.

With the challenge pushed back six days, Lu Yuan celebrated briefly with Yeye and Small White, then returned to the Training Hall to cultivate.

While he trained, the scouts scattered across the plaza were steadily passing word along. His name spread through White Cloud City, gathering momentum with every passing hour.

This was different from before, when he had merely held rank 98. This time, Lu Yuan had leaped clean to rank 58 in one go — a dramatic climb. And there had been the extraordinary spectacle of a higher-ranked challenger descending on him, only to lose.

More and more people were putting the name Lu Yuan to memory.

Six days later, Lu Yuan returned to White Cloud City's central plaza, accompanied by Yeye and Small White.

The crowd was far larger than before.

Lu Yuan blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "There weren't nearly this many people last time. What happened?"

Small White's expression was unusually serious. "Word of Lord Lu Yuan's challenge today got out in advance. Naturally, people came to watch."

"They came because of me?"

He swept his gaze across the plaza — Gene Warriors packed in every direction, stretching as far as he could see. He couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his mouth.

*He was more famous than he'd thought.*

When the Night Sky Fiend descended, the warriors already waiting on the plaza perked up at once.

"Is that Princess Yeye's mount?"

"Isn't Lu Yuan traveling with Princess Yeye? Here they come!"

Amid a current of eager anticipation, the Night Sky Fiend touched down. The three of them made their way to the Prodigy Rankings stele and waited for the challenge time to arrive.

It wasn't long before golden light rippled across the Gene Battle Mark on Lu Yuan's hand.

The Prodigy Arena materialized on the plaza. Lu Yuan stepped onto it.

Across the stage, a Gene Warrior with three pairs of eyes appeared.

This was Lu Yuan's target: Xiang Wu of the Six-Eyed Race.

He was robed in crimson and carried a Staff.

During the preparation phase, Lu Yuan studied his opponent. Xiang Wu studied him in return.

A look of quiet gravity settled on Xiang Wu's face. "Lu Yuan. I've heard quite a bit about you these past few days. They say you cut down even Ye Jing in a single sword strike." He raised his Staff, flames already beginning to coil around him. "But I'm not Ye Jing. I won't be so easy to dispatch."

As he spoke, rings of fire bloomed into coiling life around him, and fire shields materialized in the air. Simultaneously, flame began spreading across the arena floor — without fuel, without cause — crawling outward in every direction as the temperature climbed sharply.

Lu Yuan smiled. "You won't be able to stop me."

"Hmph."

Xiang Wu said nothing more.

The moment the preparation phase ended, Lu Yuan vanished from his position and reappeared directly behind Xiang Wu. The entire arena was carpeted in flame, the heat fierce enough to shimmer the air — but Lu Yuan's defenses had long since grown formidable enough that even raging fire licking at him couldn't leave so much as a scratch.

His heavy sword swept toward Xiang Wu in a single motion.

The blade hadn't reached him before Xiang Wu's body dissolved — and rematerialized across the arena, reforming from a surge of flame dozens of meters away.

A genuine flicker of surprise went through Lu Yuan.

*Some kind of spatial movement through fire? He can reposition freely inside his own flame field?*

The corner of his mouth curved upward.

*Interesting.*

Xiang Wu had slipped the blow. His eyes went cold, and a sneer crossed his face. "Within my flames, my speed is nothing to scoff at. You can't catch me."

His Staff swept through wide arcs, sending curtains of fire surging toward Lu Yuan. His perception expanded outward, blanketing the entire sea of flame.

Then Lu Yuan disappeared again.

The instant he vanished, Xiang Wu vanished too — resurfacing hundreds of meters away in another section of the flame field.

He had barely solidified when he felt it: a lethal, razor-sharp presence closing in from directly behind him.

*What — how did he find me?!*

Ice shot down his spine. Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He tried to move again — but a flash of sword light split the dark, and Xiang Wu's consciousness extinguished.

Lu Yuan took the victory. His body returned to its starting position as the arena faded from existence.

Among those watching for the first time, astonishment was the dominant reaction. The opponent had been a nimble Elemental Type warrior with formidable evasion ability — and the entire fight had ended in a blink. It seemed almost impossible.

The scouts who had already seen Lu Yuan fight, by contrast, felt he'd taken just a touch longer than usual. It hadn't been a single strike.

"Well, that's Xiang Wu for you," one of them said.

The others nodded.

"Normally you'd have to drain Xiang Wu's Spirit Power completely dry before finishing him off. The fact that Lu Yuan managed to track him through a field of flame and end it this quickly..." another scout trailed off, shaking his head. "On the entire Prodigy Rankings right now, fewer than five people could pull that off."

Maintaining the flame across the full arena consumed Spirit Power at a far greater rate than most Gene Warriors burned through — it was the core of what made Xiang Wu so difficult to corner. The standard approach was simple attrition: outlast him, wait for him to run dry, then strike. What Lu Yuan had done — locking onto him through the flame field and delivering the kill at speed — was something very few at this level possessed.

While the crowd debated, Lu Yuan's ranking updated to 53rd place. The new reward notification appeared.

He read it. His expression stilled for a moment, a flicker of surprise breaking through his composure.

*A Transcendent Gene. As part of a Prodigy Rankings reward.*

Emperor Grade, at that. And from what he could see, a genuinely impressive type.

*An unexpected windfall.*