The Third Elder’s lips twitched: “Cut it off quickly. No amount of soft lighting effects can save this footage!”

Adding soft lighting effects was an old trick of theirs.

When the top ten female cultivator’ fan numbers were established, their Huitong Building would sell recordings of the cultivator.

If the cultivator’s “performance” wasn’t great, they would add soft lighting spells to make the immortal look better and more divine.

It wasn’t that Huitong Building cared too much about maintaining the cultivator’s image, but a lack of beauty could affect their sales.

So, to the audience, it looked like Qin Ruqing had successfully passed the grueling test.

The water mirror gave a close-up shot: Although Fairy Ruqing’s face was on the ground, her expression remained determined and high-spirited!

She looked disheveled but had a kind of sacred, resolute beauty!

The Third Elder kept this shot because he noticed Qin’s ability to manage her expression effectively at times.

Moreover, due to her resilient appearance, the shot strangely produced a delicate beauty.

It might evoke a protective instinct in her fans.

Sure enough, some viewers, seeing Fairy Ruqing on the ground, were intensely moved, while others felt heartbroken and cried.

Third Elder: sigh

The experienced Third Elder understood why these two types of viewers had such different reactions.

The former usually imagined the female immortals as their partners, while the latter saw them as their daughters.

Finally, the exciting scoring moment arrived.

As viewers saw the camera switch to the examiner handling the golden ring, they knew the scores were coming. They eagerly started checking the rankings.

Then collectively: !!!

Hui Cui Tower had four floors, all of which were packed with people, and now, the place erupted in chaos.

“What? Forty points? The full score is only thirty, where did the forty points come from?”

“Could it be that the examiner made a mistake? But the full score is thirty. Even if the examiner was sleepy, they wouldn’t make such a basic error!”

“I heard the examiner is from the Fifth Family. Could it be that the Fifth Family, to recruit such a promising talent early, is secretly manipulating things?”

“It shouldn’t be. That would be too blatant. People from prestigious immortal families wouldn’t use such stupid methods to recruit.”

“Then what about Director Feng’s direct recruitment before?”

“Uh…”

Hearing the noisy discussions in Hui Cui Tower, the Third Elder sighed, walked to his old storytelling spot, and sat down. He said:

“It’s not that the examiner made a mistake in scoring. Qin Ruqing didn’t choose the normal difficulty mode. If I’m not wrong, she chose a level even higher than the highest standard!”

Higher than the highest standard?!

There’s a level above the highest?!

But no one dared to doubt the Third Elder’s words.

They were all regulars at Hui Cui Tower and knew the place had inside information.

Plus, the Third Elder, despite his hobby of storytelling, was a genuine elder from a prestigious family with insights far beyond ordinary people!

“So, the extra ten points were awarded because Ruqing Fairy passed the highest difficulty test?”

“Has anyone ever passed this level of test before?”

“Forget passing, who even knew there was a level above the highest? No one ever asked the examiner about it! It just shows Qin Ruqing is truly extraordinary, thinking differently from others!”

“So, this is why she looked so disheveled in the illusion cave? I was wondering, with Ruqing Fairy’s talents, even a difficult test shouldn’t have made her look so bad. Unless the difficulty was unimaginably high!”

“I feel even more admiration for Ruqing Fairy now!”

The spectators at Hui Cui Tower discussed Qin Ruqing’s unprecedented achievement of clearing the nightmare difficulty.

Suddenly, someone noticed something strange and shouted, “Is there something wrong with the Qin family’s total score on the Hundred Families Ranking?”

Huh?

They had been so focused on Qin Ruqing that they hadn’t paid much attention to the ranking.

Since the Qin family was always first, with a huge lead over the second, no other family posed a threat to their position. So, people didn’t watch it closely.

Now, with this exclamation, everyone finally looked at the Hundred Families Ranking and noticed something off.

“What? When did the Qin family’s total score become 148? Even with Ruqing Fairy’s new 40 points, it shouldn’t be that high!”

“Let me calculate… Ruqing Fairy got full marks in the first test, her brother got 28, then adding Ruqing Fairy’s 40 points from the second test, it should be… Oh, it’s really off, there’s an extra 50 points!”

“Could there be a mistake in the rankings?”

Someone finally found Lu Wei’s name on the Heavenly Talents Ranking.

Her rank had climbed to 13, and next to her name was: 50 points!

“She’s the only normal person in the Qin family!”

“She passed the alchemy test and got the full 50 points!”

…..

On Sun and Moon Island, Dan Qing had just finished his second test and was now on the island, looking for the examiner.

Suddenly, he sensed a change in his jade slip. When he checked it, his expression became serious.

The expression of the Sword Sect’s top swordmaster wasn’t easy to understand, but he stared at the jade slip for a while before muttering, “Why was an extra 40 points added? The second test’s full score is marked as 30…”

Dan Qing wasn’t foolish enough to think the ranking or examiner made a mistake.

He decided to ask the examiner himself.

The examiner on Sun and Moon Island was now too scared to sleep—mainly because he feared snoring and being heard by the younger generation.

Just hearing about this young lady’s name was enough to give him a headache.

After paying his respects to the examiner, Dan Qing didn’t mention his own test but asked, “How did Ruqing manage to get forty points when the total score is supposed to be only thirty?”

At the mention of Qin Ruqing, the examiner’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

He lazily found a more comfortable spot for his old bones and nonchalantly replied:

“She chose the most difficult level in the history of the competition, a level above the highest…” The examiner paused, suddenly remembering the girl shouting in the cave—“First kill of the nightmare difficulty dungeon!”

He didn’t fully understand the latter part, but the term “nightmare difficulty” was surprisingly fitting!

With a calm expression, the examiner continued, “The level above the highest is called ‘nightmare’!”

“Qin Ruqing you mentioned achieved the full score first kill on this nightmare difficulty level!” The examiner started using the new term he just learned.

Dan Qing furrowed his brow and muttered, “Nightmare…”

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as if he had an epiphany.

So that’s how it was.

Indeed, the pursuit of the highest peak was something he couldn’t reach.

Without Ruqing demonstration today, he might have simply chosen the hardest challenge without much thought.

Breaking conventions, that’s the way!

So, Dan Qing firmly said, “Examiner, I also want to choose the nightmare difficulty!”

The third person to arrive at Sun and Moon Island was Ming Ying.

Unlike Dan Qing, who was confused, she knew exactly what she wanted.

The first thing she said upon finding the examiner was:

“Examiner, please also open that level above the highest…”

The examiner smoothly interjected, “Nightmare difficulty?”

Ming Ying’s eyes widened in realization, “Yes! The nightmare difficulty that gave Ruqing the extra ten points!”

As for how she knew about this, it was simple: half of her twenty-eight suitors had told her about it.

Ming Ying then realized there was a level above the highest.

No way was she going to lose to anyone!

If she was going to test, it had to be the highest difficulty—mainly because Qin Ruqing did it and got full marks.

If she only did a mediocre highest level, wouldn’t she be lagging far behind Qin Ruqing?

Most importantly, her rank among the top ten female immortals of the Four Regions might drop out of the top ten!

For the beautiful Ming Ying, this was her real nightmare!

Seeing the fiery determination in Ming Ying’s eyes, the examiner thought to himself, “I really can’t understand the young people of today.”

The last to arrive was Fang Zhiming.

He didn’t look good at all, and to be honest, his troubled expression only made his already limited attractiveness worse.

His bad mood wasn’t just because Qin Ruqing got full marks and an extra ten points in the second test; nor was it because some unknown girl named Lu Wei suddenly emerged and also got full marks in the alchemy competition…

No, the thing that infuriated him the most was that his sister, Fang Yuqing, had scored zero points!

Zero points!

She had tearfully explained afterward that Qin family’s Lu Wei had knocked her out, drugged her, and buried her, leaving her asleep until the test ended!

So, forget about full marks; she didn’t even show up for the test according to the rules!

When handing over the wrongly identified spirit plant, not only did she get no points, but she was also directly eliminated!

Now, with the competition not even halfway through, one of the three members from the Fang family had already been eliminated. With this, forget about challenging Qin Ruqing; it would be hard just to maintain the Fang family’s current ranking!

Fang Zhiming, full of worries, approached the examiner.

The examiner frowned upon seeing him, not out of dislike, but simply because Fang Zhiming’s expression was so unpleasant to look at.

Not wanting to look directly at him, the examiner averted his eyes, crossed his legs, and without waiting for Fang Zhiming to speak, said:

“Are you also choosing the nightmare mode?”

Fang Zhiming was stunned.

What nightmare mode?

But the examiner assumed his silence was a yes.

Strange, why were all the geniuses this time so keen on challenging themselves?

Of course, as someone who was just here to enjoy his retirement as an examiner, he didn’t bother with such trivial matters. He directly said, “Alright, the mode is set. Once chosen, it cannot be undone. Enter!”

At this point, Fang Zhiming, who had been daydreaming, realized what nightmare mode meant—it must be the same mode that gave Qin Ruqing extra points.

He hesitated for a moment, but then thought, if someone from a small place like the Qin family could do it, there was no way he couldn’t.

More importantly, the Fang family’s score on the Hundred Clans Leaderboard was about to drop out of the top ten!

Now, there was no choice but to fight. Fang Zhiming steeled his resolve and stepped into the cave.

About an hour later…

Dan Qing, leaning against the wall and walking as if he were limping, slowly emerged from the cave. Using his sword would have been faster, but of course, he couldn’t use his precious sword as a crutch.

Seeing the daylight outside the cave, Dan Qing squinted. This first swordman of the Sword Sect had never looked so weak.

“This is nightmare mode! Truly terrifying!”

“I caught 3,150 balls, which was my limit… but I only got full marks and didn’t receive the extra ten points…”

“How many did Ruqing Fairy catch, my high peak…”

After Dan Qing left, another half an hour passed before Ming Ying slowly crawled out of the cave.

She first poked her head out, then propped herself up on her arms and fully emerged from the cave.

The look in the beauty’s eyes was no longer vibrant.

She muttered to herself in a daze:

“998… So this is the world of the strong! It’s much easier to rely on beauty and suitors.”

Another hour passed.

At the cave entrance, no one else emerged.

It seemed someone couldn’t come out…

In the secret chamber, the directors watched as the geniuses crazily competed against each other, falling silent.

After a while, the bald director from the Western Region said, “Does she know the impact she’s caused?”

Director Feng adjusted the surveillance, and an image of Qin Ruqing flying over the sea appeared on the sphere above.

The directors chatted casually while saying, “Her next stop should be there, one of the hardest places in this competition.”

Their expressions grew serious.

Qin Ruqing’s next test point was, in a sense, a man-made “Void Realm.”

Because of Qin Ruqing’s outstanding performance so far, the directors couldn’t help but have high hopes for her.

However, after watching for a while, they saw Qin Ruqing flying from north to south, then from south to north, circling over the sea for half a day before returning to her starting point.

“What is she doing?”

The big-footed director from the Southern Region frowned for a while before suddenly saying:

“Could she be… lost?”