No one in the Piaomiao Immortal Peak knew what Chu Feng had experienced inside the Martial Emblem Realm. Everyone believed he was dead.
While Chu Feng's death pained some people, the majority didn't really care, because the other gate of the Martial Emblem Realm had opened — the entrance where Martial Emblems could be exchanged for martial arts techniques.
At that moment, many people had already entered one by one to exchange their emblems for techniques. Whenever someone stepped inside, a number would appear on the barrier gate — that number represented how many Martial Emblems the person had earned. As for what kind of technique they would receive, that wasn't displayed.
"Wow, seventy Martial Emblems! As expected of Murong Xun's younger sister — like brother, like sister!" When Murong Wan entered, the number seventy appeared, drawing gasps of astonishment from everyone on the peak, young and old alike.
Compared to the handful of emblems others had earned, seventy was an absolutely staggering number. Though it still fell well short of Zhan Feng's earlier ninety, for everyone present it was already incredibly impressive.
"Miss Murong, not bad at all — seventy Martial Emblems. Quite the haul! You must have exchanged for a pretty solid ninth-rank martial art, right?" Zhan Feng said smugly after Murong Wan emerged from the Martial Emblem Realm.
"Zhan Feng, don't be so full of yourself. If you hadn't swallowed your subordinates' shares, would you have managed to capture ninety Martial Emblems? Could you have gotten that many on your own?"
"My second brother never relied on anyone, and he certainly never stole from his partners. He captured a hundred and twenty Martial Emblems all by himself. Compared to him, you're nothing." Murong Wan said with cutting sarcasm.
At these words, Zhan Feng's expression darkened considerably. As Murong Wan had pointed out, his impressive result came from keeping the lion's share of emblems instead of distributing them evenly among his subordinates. Without that, there was no way he would have achieved such a score.
"So what? The winner takes all. This time, the number one in the Martial Emblem Realm is me, not you." Seeing that his methods had been exposed, Zhan Feng didn't bother denying it and simply admitted it outright. As one of the supreme geniuses of the Immortal Slaying Archipelago, he didn't fear Murong Wan in the slightest.
"Hmph. Shameless." Murong Wan snorted coldly and dropped the matter. Though they were both from the Immortal Slaying Archipelago, she had always despised certain aspects of Zhan Feng's behavior. While she too had taken emblems from her subordinates, she would never go as far as he had.
"Look at that — ninety-eight! Just two more and she'd have hit a hundred!"
"Incredible, truly incredible. Just two short and she could have exchanged for a Human Taboo martial art!"
"Ya Fei is Ya Fei. No wonder she's called the strongest genius in the Immortal Slaying Archipelago after Murong Xun. Seeing her today proves it's no exaggeration."
"Looks like this round's first place is definitely hers!!!"
But just then, another wave of exclamations erupted from the crowd — Ya Fei had captured ninety-eight Martial Emblems.
"Haha! Who was it just now that said she was number one?" Murong Wan burst into laughter. Though she didn't particularly like Ya Fei either, her dislike stemmed simply from the fact that Ya Fei was her second brother's fiancée — nothing compared to her contempt for Zhan Feng. Given the choice, she'd much rather Ya Fei take first than Zhan Feng.
"You—" Zhan Feng's face turned ashen. He had already made all his bold claims, and now Ya Fei had surpassed him. It was a public slap in the face, and he had nowhere to hide.
After that, others continued to enter the Martial Emblem Realm. Beyond the three supreme geniuses of the Immortal Slaying Archipelago, Xia Yu, Qiu Zhu, and Dong Xue also achieved respectable results.
Xia Yu and Dong Xue each captured thirty-five Martial Emblems. While these numbers couldn't compare to Ya Fei and the others, they were still quite good.
As for Qiu Zhu, she captured seventy. The reason she had more than Xia Yu and Dong Xue was that they had deliberately given her extra emblems so she wouldn't fall behind Ya Fei. In truth, the three of them had hunted emblems together with Qiu Zhu doing most of the work — more effort, more reward was only fair.
But in reality, Qiu Zhu's seventy emblems owed largely to what she had also earned inside the Birthing Sacred Hall. Even so, the gap between her and Ya Fei was still vast.
After all, Xia Yu and Dong Xue weren't as selfless as Ya Fei's subordinates, who had given all of their own emblems to her.
"Junior Sister Chun Wu, the dead cannot come back to life. I'm deeply saddened by Junior Brother Wuqing's death, but you have to stay strong." After emerging, Qiu Zhu couldn't help but try to comfort Chun Wu.
In truth, every eye on the peak had turned to Chun Wu. When she had believed Chu Feng was dead, she had been devastated — tears streaking her face, eyes swollen from crying. She had lost all interest in the most important part of the Martial Emblem Realm.
Now, everyone who had entered the realm had already exchanged their emblems for techniques. Chun Wu was the only one who hadn't gone in.
"Chun Wu, go." It was the Piaomiao Fairy who spoke.
Though Chun Wu said nothing, grief-stricken as she was, she walked step by step into the Martial Emblem Realm to exchange her emblems.
"Heavens, this—"
But the very moment Chun Wu stepped inside, every face in the crowd changed. Even the Piaomiao Fairy's expression showed a flash of surprise.
Because the number now displayed on the barrier gate was "One hundred and eight!!!"
"Heavens! A hundred and eight Martial Emblems — only twelve short of Murong Xun's record!"
"Amazing! I thought it was all settled, but who would have thought the most impressive one would be Miss Chun Wu! A hundred and eight — that's enough to exchange for a Human Taboo martial art, isn't it?!"
The peak, which had grown quiet, erupted once more. No one had expected Chun Wu to deliver such a surprise. A hundred and eight emblems was truly astonishing — especially considering that Chun Wu was an entire realm below Ya Fei, Zhan Feng, Murong Wan, and Qiu Zhu, only a fourth-stage Martial Lord.
Even Ya Fei and the others were struck with disbelief. They had never imagined that Qiu Zhu hadn't surpassed her, Zhan Feng had fallen short, and in the end she had been beaten by Chun Wu — a mere fourth-stage Martial Lord.
In truth, Xia Yu and Dong Xue were even more stunned than the rest. They had personally witnessed Chun Wu capture only about a dozen emblems inside the Birthing Sacred Hall. By all logic, she shouldn't have had anywhere near that many. How was this possible?