After cultivating for all night long, Xu Ming had broken through to the second stage of Gold Core Realm.

He had already finished the battle, and he didn't have to fight anyone else. ​​

For the next four months, Xu Ming rarely left his courtyard and spent all his time inside, cultivating and only went out when it was time to battle.

He had four more battles in the last four months and fought Rank 8, Rank 6, Rank 4 and Rank 3 in the Inner Sect rankings.

Although he was allowed to enter the Cleansing Pond in the Core Sect for one day, because of him being ranked in the top 10, he didn't select it as he knew that it was not the best way.

He was confident that he would be able to get the 1st Rank and get to enter the Core Sect for seven days. He didn't want to select the smaller advantage and lose the chance of the bigger one.

There was a rule that an Inner Sect disciple could enter the Cleansing Pond only once, which he found out later. If he had chosen to enter now, he wouldn't be able to enter after getting the first rank.

He was waiting to increase his rank, and he had realized that defeating the higher rank opponents was much easier for him than getting the 1st Rank using 8-trigram battle formation.

He had already sent a challenge to both rank two and rank 1, but none of them had selected the challenge yet.

Xu Ming achieved two more breakthroughs in the last four months and managed to become a 4th stage Gold Core Realm cultivator. His strength kept increasing day by day.

It was the 5th month, and Xu Ming was still cultivating inside his courtyard when he heard the knock on the door.

Xu Ming stood up and walked to the door.

As he opened the door, he saw a dark-haired man standing on the other side of the door.

Before Xu Ming could even ask anything, the man started talking.

"Senior Brother Wang sent me. He asked me to tell you that he has accepted your challenge. The battle will be in the Ranking Pavillion after seven days," the man informed Xu Ming before he left.

Xu Ming walked inside his courtyard.

"That would be the second rank. After this fight, I should be able to target the first rank and get the opportunity to enter the Core Sect. It won't be long, Mother," Xu Ming muttered as he walked inside his room.

He resumed his cultivation. Xu Ming cultivated for six more days before he stopped and left the courtyard.

The Inner Sect has a place where people sold medicines and artifacts. It was said that one could find everything they needed in the sect.

As Xu Ming entered the place, his red robe attracted everyone's attention.

After all this time, everyone had recognized who Xu Ming was. They knew that Xu Ming was a person that never lost a fight and only challenged stronger people.

Those who saw his battles only talked about how his battles were one-sided and that he never seemed as if he was in difficulty.

Six months ago, none of these people would have even imagined that a completely new person who never held a rank would be able to get in the top 3 and that too so easily.

Xu Ming walked through the marketplace and saw many sellers. Some were selling medicines; some were selling accessories, some even sold clothes.

After walking for over 15 minutes, he saw what he was looking for. There was a small stall that sold weapons.

Xu Ming walked up to the stall and picked up one of the swords.

"Is it a gold grade sword?" Xu Ming asked the red-haired guy.

"Yeah, it's a peak Gold Grade Sword. I can promise you that you won't find one like this in this whole place, Senior Brother," The red-haired guy replied.

Xu Ming started observing it and realized that it was indeed quite good.

"How much are you charging for this sword?" Xu Ming asked the man.

"I-i can give it to Senior Brother for only 1000 contribution points, or a 100 Qi Crystals," the man answered Xu Ming. He didn't want to give a false price as he knew Xu Ming, and he was intimidated by him.

"Alright, here are 100 Qi Crystal," Xu Ming muttered as he gave 100 Qi Crystals to the man.

He had been getting quite a lot of Qi Crystals as his allowance after his rise in rankings, but unfortunately, he didn't have a use for them. That's why he had quite a lot of Qi Crystals in his storage.

Xu Ming got the Sword and left the place.

He got back to his courtyard.

He had three swords in his storage ring now. The first one was a Mortal Grade Sword that he had been using in all his battles now. The second was a God Grade Sword of his Father that he didn't want to use unless absolutely necessary, and the 3rd one was the Gold Grade Sword that he had just bought.

His mortal grade sword was almost unusable after all these battles, and it was close to getting broken.

Xu Ming spent the rest of the day cultivating.

It was the day of the battle when he stopped cultivating and left his courtyard. He walked to the Ranking Pavilion and saw Wang Lanjiang standing there. There was also the dark-haired man there, but there was no one else other than them.

In the previous fights, the Ranking Pavillion was almost always filled with people, but not today.

"Are you going to stand there or come here so that we can start the fight?" Wang Lanjiang said to Xu Ming.

Xu Ming stepped forth as he stood in front of Wang Lanjiang. He brought his sword out and got ready to fight.

"Interesting. I was told that you always use a mortal grade sword. It looks like you finally decided to upgrade. Good decision," Wang Lanjiang told Xu Ming while he took his sword out as well.

"I've heard that your finger attack is frightening and defeats your opponents in your first try? Let's try a simple battle. I will use my strongest skill, and you use your strongest skill. Let's finish it with one attack!" Wang Lanjiang said to Xu Ming.

'Hah, he would be naive to think that he can defeat me with that attack. I wasn't accepting his challenge as I was trying to master a skill—the strongest skill of our Inner Sect that was given to me by my master. Even in the Core Sect, this skill would be the most sought after. After all this time, I finally comprehended it. It's the right time to test its power,' he thought.

"Alright," Xu Ming agreed.

Wang Lanjiang got in his attacking stance and got ready to attack.

"Buddha Enlightening Palm!" he let out as he attacked.

A Giant Yellow palm appeared in front of him, which was made from the natural Qi of the atmosphere and reinforced by its strength.

"Heavenly Vajra Finger!" Xu Ming muttered as a giant golden finger appeared in front of him, which seemed even bigger than last time. As his cultivation was increased, he was also able to utilize more of the strength of the Heavenly Vajra Finger.

The Golden Finger and the Yellow Palm clashed with each other.

The Golden Finger broke the yellow palm and passed through it as it flew towards Wang Lanjiang.

Wang Lanjiang was scared as he saw his attack being destroyed. He had never expected that his strongest attack would be so utterly destroyed.

"Shield of Nature!" Wang Lanjiang let out as he used his defensive skill.

His whole body was covered by a semi-transparent greenish barrier, but as soon as the finger touched it, the barrier broke like shattered glass.

The finger struck Wang Lanjiang, making him fly away like a broken kite.

He crashed on the wall at the other end of the hall as he coughed out a mouthful of blood. His chest bones were broken, and he had lost consciousness.

"Senior Brother!" the dark-haired man screamed as he ran towards Wang Lanjiang. He picked him up and left the Ranking Pavillion.

Xu Ming looked at his badge and saw the number that was being shown on it. He was now the 2nd strongest person amongst the Inner Sect Disciples.

Xu Ming left the Ranking Pavillion and walked back to his courtyard. What happened to Wang Lanjiang was none of his concern now.

Xu Ming entered his courtyard and again got busy in his cultivation as he waited for the 1st rank to accept his challenge.

Everyone in the sect knew about Xu Ming's rise to the second rank, and they were all wondering if the 1st ranked disciple was going to accept his challenge. They had never expected that such a big change would occur in the sect.