I can only beat noobs.

Chapter 146 The List of Beauties

After entering the main hall, Chen Ming found it to be unexpectedly spacious, probably several thousand square meters, and perfectly square.

Inside the hall stand nine pillars that would take several people to encircle, with a staircase in the middle leading to the next floor.

The people who had come in earlier dispersed and gathered around the pillar, looking at something. When he came in, they only glanced at him and then ignored him.

"Congratulations, sir."

An elderly man with a white beard and dressed in gray stood by the gate and gave him a wooden plaque. "Come back in five days with this plaque to participate in the martial arts competition."

Chen Ming accepted it respectfully, "Thank you, senior."

They just give you a token without even asking your name. Aren't they worried I'll transfer it to someone else?
He shook his head inwardly; the event management was far too sloppy.

The old man in gray robes added, "Young master, please do not leave yet. Wait until the assessment is over before you go. You are welcome to tour the hall at your leisure."

"Yes."

Just as Chen Ming was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Can I go up to the second floor?"

The old man in gray had a half-smile in his eyes as he said, "Sure, as long as you can go up."

understood.

Chen Ming bowed and walked towards the pillar with the fewest people. Everyone was gathered around the pillar, so there must be something on it.

"So it's engraved with martial arts techniques."

He glanced at it and saw a sword technique carved on the pillar. It looked quite advanced, at least a second-rate sword technique.

The "Number One Restaurant Under Heaven" is quite generous, carving such martial arts techniques onto pillars for everyone to view. This should be considered a reward for completing the challenge.

You should know that for most low-level martial artists, a martial skill like this would be enough for them to fight tooth and nail for.

Those who managed to break in were all scions of noble families. Even they were gathered around the pillars, silently memorizing the martial arts techniques written on them, which shows the value of these techniques.

Chen Ming walked around and looked at all nine pillars. Each pillar was engraved with different martial arts techniques, including sword techniques, staff techniques, and spear techniques...

The pillar in front of the one with a movement technique engraved on it had the most people.

Chen Ming only glanced at it before losing interest.

He has mastered the Vermilion Bird Sword Technique and has also mastered a movement technique, so he doesn't need to learn any other martial arts for the time being.

For him, improving his swordsmanship relied on adding skill points; talk of drawing inferences from one instance to another or integrating the strengths of various schools was just something he said to others.

He wouldn't waste his time.

……

Besides the pillars, there are also words on the walls.

Chen Ming went over and took a look. It was indeed the list produced by the No.1 Restaurant under Heaven. Besides this year's list, there were also the previous year's, and the year before that...

He looked at it for a while, then lost interest and finally looked at the staircase in the middle that led to the second floor.

At this moment, another person seemed to take an interest in the stairs and walked up to them.

Chen Ming vaguely remembered that he had overheard people talking outside, and the person's surname seemed to be Tang.

This guy surnamed Tang was a real tiger; he just strode up the stairs.

Bang.

Before his feet even touched the stairs, he was thrown out and landed flat on his back.

The commotion drew the attention of many people, whose gazes clearly conveyed the insult, "Idiot."

Seeing his miserable state, Chen Ming thought to himself that it was fortunate he hadn't acted impulsively.

Forget it, let's look at the previous rankings instead.

Lists like the Divine Weapon Ranking, the Secret Treasure Ranking, and the Heavenly Treasure Ranking not only have textual descriptions but also illustrations, unlike the one he bought which had no pictures.

Looking at this can help pass the time.

After looking around, Chen Ming noticed that the number of people in the main hall was increasing, estimated to be over twenty. He was somewhat surprised; it was just Jiangzhou, yet there were so many young fifth-rank officials.

Including the top contenders in Jiangzhou City, there are now thirty or forty people in total.

If we consider the entire Great Jin Dynasty, how many people would that be?
There are still too many geniuses in this world.

Before we knew it, more than an hour had passed.

After the number of people in the main hall reached thirty, no new people broke in for a long time.

Chen Ming felt that those present, along with the seeded players, were the only ones qualified to compete for the Qingyun Ranking. Almost everyone who was supposed to be there had arrived.

There are probably forty-odd people, which is quite good.

Thinking this, Chen Ming walked to the area of ​​the beauty list, which contained lists of beauties from all dynasties. Unfortunately, there were no photos, so it was difficult to see how stunningly beautiful the beauties on the list were.

In a world where martial arts exist, the quality of beautiful women would definitely be higher than on Earth.

As he walked, he looked at the names on the list, and suddenly he caught sight of a familiar name on one of the lists.

Su Zhining?
Chen Ming thought he was seeing things, but after taking another look, it really was Su Zhining.

"Is it just someone with the same name?"

He thought to himself, then glanced at the introduction at the back: "The 26th generation disciple of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, 20 years old, with autumn water as her divine essence and jade as her bones, a fairy from Gushe who has trod the mortal world."

"..."

Chen Ming was in a panic; Su Zhining's name wasn't on the list he bought.

Did I buy a fake list?
He continued reading, but none of the names on the list matched the one in the book he had bought.

After a while, he finally figured it out. It turned out that the book he bought was outdated; it was from the previous year's bestseller list.

Good guy.

"No wonder she wears a veil all the time; her master constantly instilled in her the idea of ​​being wary of men. So that's why."

Although Chen Ming couldn't see her face, he guessed that she must be very beautiful.

But I never expected her to be so beautiful; she even made it onto the beauty list, ranking fifth.

This means that she, in terms of appearance, would rank among the top five in the Great Jin Dynasty.

How beautiful that would be!

Chen Ming's curiosity was piqued, and he decided he would definitely take a look when he had the chance.

"Brother, you also appreciate beautiful women?"

Suddenly, a pleasant voice rang out from behind.

Chen Ming turned his head and saw a handsome young man who looked unusually young, only about sixteen or seventeen years old.

He was a little surprised. At sixteen or seventeen, he was already a fifth-rank scholar. Was he really that monstrous?

Upon closer inspection, oh, it was actually a woman. Her slender figure and youthful appearance led him to mistake her for a boy.

If it's a woman, it's very difficult to determine her real age. She could be in her teens or her twenties.

In this era, young ladies from well-off families were generally judged by their clothing and makeup.

When they wear men's clothing, it becomes less easy to tell.

Chen Ming nodded slightly in response.

The woman must have just come in; she was quite outgoing and said, "Brother, do you know that in our Jiangzhou City, there is a stunning beauty who is listed on the beauty rankings?"

Of course I know, she's with me every day.

Chen Ming thought to himself, but quickly realized she wasn't referring to Su Zhining, and casually replied, "Oh?"

"Brother, you don't believe me?"

Seeing his indifferent reaction, the woman pointed to the list and said, "It's Yu Haitang, who's ranked third. She's currently in Jiangzhou City."

Before Chen Ming could answer, he heard another bang. Turning around, he saw yet another hothead trying to climb to the second floor, only to be thrown back down and unable to get up for a long time.

"Overestimating yourself," the woman mocked.

Chen Ming was quite curious about the second floor and asked, "Has anyone been up to the second floor?"

"Of course there are. Five years ago, Ji Baichuan went up to the second floor and reportedly received great benefits."

What's on the second floor?

"Some say there are more profound martial arts techniques up there. Others say there are rare treasures and divine weapons up there. Only those who have gone up there know what they are like."

"Thank you for clearing up my doubts, young master."

Chen Ming politely thanked him.

The woman smiled and said, "Brother Chen, there's no need to be so polite. Actually, I'm very happy to see you here."

Chen Ming looked at her with a bit of a puzzled expression. "Have we met before?"

“I have seen you before, but I was in the carriage and did not show myself.” The woman said, bowing deeply. “A few days ago, my brother was quite disrespectful to Brother Chen. I apologize to you on his behalf.”

Chen Ming guessed her identity and found it even stranger, "Jiang Shihua is your brother?"

"Exactly."

This brother and sister are quite interesting; one is arrogant and rude, looking down on everyone, while the other is generous, warm, and courteous.

He asked, "Are you also vying for the Azure Cloud Ranking?"

Jiang Yingxue said, "My brother is participating, so why can't I come?"

Does your brother know?

"He'll find out then."

She had indeed come without telling her family; otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to disguise herself as a man.

The Great Jin Dynasty had an open social atmosphere and few restrictions on women who practiced martial arts. There were seven or eight women inside this hall, roughly one-fifth of the room.

Chen Ming said, "If you and your brother can both make it onto the Qingyun Ranking, that would be a truly remarkable story."

Jiang Yingxue frowned and said, "Stop flattering me. With my abilities, it's impossible for me to win a spot on the Azure Cloud Ranking. I'll wait five years."

Judging from what she said, she's not even twenty years old yet.

The Jiang family truly lives up to its reputation as one of the three great families of Jiangzhou, and the oldest of the three. They have produced a remarkable number of talented individuals.

Jiang Shihua is a top contender, and his sister is already at the fifth rank before she's even twenty, with even more astonishing talent.

At this moment, Jiang Yingxue said again, "Brother Chen, actually I've known about you for a long time. When Sister Yan wrote to me, she mentioned you. I heard that you went from an ordinary person to a fifth-rank official in just four years. That's really amazing."

Her bright eyes seemed to be shining.

Chen Ming smelled a familiar scent on her, a sleazy, bitchy scent.
The tone of admiration, the shy yet affectionate expression—it's all so relatable.

He said casually, "You flatter me."

P.S.: It's the last day of the month, so let's round it up. We're just 300 votes away from 3,000 monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)