Hearing the elder’s words, everyone quickly shut up. They knew if they tried to argue anymore, they might just get kicked from the sect altogether. Seeing how everyone did quiet down, the elder finally revealed a smile as he began the rankings. “Alright, when I call your name, come up. Last place Sakaki Kenji!”

The elder did not care how embarrassing it might be to come in last or even the last ten. He called out each name loud and clear. Hearing Kenji’s name, Yuki’s lips curled up slightly before pressing back down into a straight line. She watched as Kenji walked with a strange gait in his step. Yuki mused that the young man was still getting used to being a girl. Ai, turned her eyes towards Yuki, who looked as stone faced as ever. She had a feeling that all of her brother’s injuries were from one person. She was not mad about this either. In fact, she was glad Yuki went out of her way to deal with him. But since he was still in the sect, he would probably end up trying something at a later date, but his current prospects were very low.

“Sakaki Kenji, because of your own actions, you got last place and get no contribution points. In fact, you will be punished to cleaning the outer sect for the next two years and are forbidden from cultivating.” The elder snorted before turning to everyone else. “Remember, you will gain nothing from trying to attack your own sect mates. I said it before, but you are all brothers and sisters of the same sect. You are now all family. Protect each other when you can. Solve grievances the best you can outside of death. If you make plots and get caught in your own schemes, the sect will not help you. Depending on what you had planned, you will end up like young Kenji here. Alright, everyone, give him a round of applause.”

Kenji’s face was hard to read due to it being wrapped in bandages. But his eyes were burning with hatred. Hatred towards the sect and hatred towards the bitch who made a fool out of him and scarred his face forever. When the elder finally let him go, he walked over to a tree and leaned against it. He was staring hard at Yuki’s back. He did not care about anything anymore. As long as he could ruin her, he would be satisfied.

Yuki could feel a set of eyes on her. She did not even need to look to know who it was. She leaned over and whispered in Nana’s ear, who nodded her head, agreeing to what Yuki had just said. 

“Tied for second place are Ami and Sakaki Ai.” The elder called out. Ami helped Ai, who was not fully healed yet, towards the front. All eyes were on them. “These two supported each other during a monster wave within the middle ring. They healed each other and returned to camp even though they were both injured. They will receive five hundred contribution points each and thirty free hours in the Dragon Tower.” 

Everyone’s eyes opened wide in shock. Those who were in the know knew that the dragon tower was the best cultivation spot within the entire sect. Just a single hour was like a day worth of cultivation. Being able to have thirty free hours was thirty days of cultivation! This was a huge boost to any cultivator. And this was if you cultivated only on the first floor.

The dragon tower had ten floors, and where the pressure and amount of spiritual qi was denser. The higher you went, the faster you would be able to cultivate. Just reaching the tenth floor was something those who were at the peak of the ninth fate star could accomplish. To even enter it beforehand was almost suicide, as you would be crushed by the pressure otherwise. Only geniuses would be able to go up there before reaching the recommended cultivation level. And it was not like the spiritual qi was the same in every spot on the floor. There were pockets of spiritual qi that was much denser than the others. This normally resulted in some fights between disciples within the tower.

The elder smiled at the two girls before passing them two tokens each. “You can get your contribution points from the mission pavilion with the green one, and the purple token is for your time in the tower.” 

“Thank you.” Ami and Ai both gave the elder their thanks before looking at each other with excited eyes. They had not expected to get a chance to go into the dragon tower! 

“And once more, we have a tie. This time for first place. Both girls are truly commendable. One stayed behind to block part of the demonic beast wave to allow her teammates to escape, while the other, after breaking through the encirclement, turned back around to try to save her comrade, who stayed behind. Both were on the brink of death, but by supporting each other, they were able to pull through. Even though they were stuck in the inner ring. Not only did they survive for months on end in a place where death was always right around the corner, they were able to come back alive.

“They both get one thousand contribution points, sixty days in the dragon tower, and each can choose one earth ranked technique from the treasure pavilion.”