A person sacrifices himself to become a saint in a chaotic world of martial arts.

"Please have a seat, young master." The servant led Su Bai to sit down in a grand chair, then quickly walked to a bookshelf on the side, took out three thin booklets, and handed them to Su Bai with both hands.

"These are the three superior lightness skill techniques currently in our Treasure Pavilion's collection; they're all here."

Su Bai took the booklet and opened the first one.

The cover has three words written on it: Chasing Clouds and Shadows.

The following text, in smaller print, reads: "Superior lightness skill, 20,000 taels."

Su Bai's brow twitched slightly as he continued flipping through the pages.

The second book: Nine Appearances of the Cloud Dragon, Superior Lightness Skill, 32,000 taels.

The third book: Fleeting Shadows and Floating Light, Superior Lightness Skill, 48,000 taels.

Su Bai was stunned.

He glanced down at the prices in the catalog, then looked up at the servant's smiling face, and then looked down at the prices again—

"This..." He opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Twenty thousand taels.

Thirty-two thousand taels.

Forty-eight thousand taels.

He thought that having 25,000 taels was a lot, enough for him to squander for a long time.

The results of it?

The cheapest Chasing Cloud Shadow costs 20,000 taels.

After buying it, only five thousand taels were left.

He also planned to buy gold essence and exchange it for one hundred taels of gold—this was required for the system's sacrifice.

"What the hell..." Su Bai cursed inwardly, "I was planning to save some money to buy things for the sacrifice! What the hell?!"

He maintained a calm expression, but inside he was on the verge of tears.

The servant, observing Su Bai's unusual expression, cautiously asked, "Young master... is the price unsuitable? Perhaps you could consider the mid-range options? They're much cheaper, and include several decent light-body techniques..."

"No need." Su Bai waved his hand, took a deep breath, and suppressed the heartache in his heart.

Come here.

Lightness skill is a must-buy, and so is gold essence.

He looked up at the servant and changed the subject: "Um... does your Treasure Pavilion have any Golden Essence?"

"Golden Essence?" The servant was slightly taken aback, then nodded repeatedly. "Young master, do you want Golden Essence? Our Treasure Pavilion certainly has it."

He paused, then added, "But this gold essence is a precious material for forging divine weapons, and it's very expensive—only five thousand taels for one tael."

"Five thousand taels?"

Su Bai was truly shocked this time.

One tael equals five thousand taels.

He wanted to exchange 100 taels of gold, which was a considerable sum. Add to that the gold essence…

He quickly did some mental calculations:

Chasing the cloud shadows, twenty thousand taels.

One tael of gold essence is worth five thousand taels.

One hundred taels of gold—that's for the system's sacrifice, so we need to have some on hand.

A total of 26,000 taels!

After calculating, I realized I was still short a thousand taels!

Su Bai fell silent.

He looked at the booklet in his hand, then at the servant's eager face, and then at the prices on the booklet. His expression was incredibly interesting.

The servant stood cautiously to the side, not daring to utter a sound.

a long time.

Su Bai let out a long breath, as if he had made a major decision.

"Forget it. Let's buy the Golden Essence and the Cloud Chaser first. As for the remaining thousand taels... we'll think of something else."

Considering that these were all things he desperately needed—lightness skill was essential for survival and killing enemies, and the Golden Essence was of paramount importance.

Su Bai pinched his nose and admitted it.

"Just these two." He raised his head, looked at the servant, his eyes showing a hint of pain, yet also decisiveness. "Chasing Cloud Shadow, plus one ounce of Golden Essence."

The servant's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly, "Excellent! Young master, you have excellent taste! The 'Chasing Cloud Shadow' lightness skill emphasizes moving like flowing clouds, as light as a shadow, which is perfect for a young master like you!"

As he spoke, he led Su Bai toward the counter.

Su Bai followed behind him, silently calculating the costs in her mind—

Twenty thousand taels plus five thousand taels, totaling twenty-five thousand taels.

I've spent it all.

Not a single penny left.

He watched the servant's cheerful figure disappear into the distance and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Get rich overnight.

Impoverished overnight.

The ancients are not deceived by me.

Just as Su Bai was about to leave, he suddenly heard a conversation between two young people that caught his attention.

"You know, the Hidden Dragon Ranking is about to begin. I wonder how many people from our Fengshan County will make it onto the list this time?"

The young man opposite shook his head: "I think it's probably still only Young Master Li. He ranked eighty-ninth on the Zhangzhou Hidden Dragon List last time, and I heard that he received guidance from the Prefect this time. I estimate he can move up a few more places."

"I heard that the eldest daughter of the Ning family has also broken through to the True Qi Realm," the elder said in a lower voice, leaning forward. "With her strength, she might be able to secure a spot."

The young man laughed and waved his hand, "Impossible. Although Miss Ning is a genius, she has just broken through and is still too young. I feel she needs to train for another two years. The Hidden Dragon Ranking only selects the top 100 geniuses from each continent. It's already quite good that our county has a Young Master Li."

"That's true," the elder nodded thoughtfully. "There aren't many people who can reach the True Qi Realm before the age of thirty, but it's extremely difficult to make it onto the list."

Su Bai stopped in his tracks, which had already taken a step.

The words "Miss Ning" that the two people had just mentioned had drawn his attention away.

If I'm not mistaken, I'm referring to Ning Yuechan.

Su Bai tilted his head slightly, lost in thought.

According to those two people, Ning Yuechan was already a genius among geniuses in his eyes—breaking through to the True Qi Realm at the young age of twenty, which was simply unbelievable to him—but she still couldn't get on that so-called Hidden Dragon Ranking?

Only one young master Li in the entire prefecture could get in, and he was ranked eighty-ninth.

"Do you have some kind of Hidden Dragon Ranking here?" Su Bai turned his head and looked at the servant standing behind him in the Treasure Pavilion.

Upon hearing this, the servant immediately bowed slightly and said, "Of course, if you are interested, young master, we can send you a copy of the list free of charge!"

As he spoke, he quickly retrieved a list from a short distance away, handed it over with both hands, and put on a fawning smile, "The latest issue, it was just delivered to the county a few days ago."

Su Bai took the scroll, but didn't open it immediately. He simply nodded as a thank you and tucked it into his sleeve.

He then turned and walked towards the direction of the Southern Garrison Command.

It was already afternoon when I returned to my room.

Su Bai sat down behind the table, neither looking at the manual of lightness skills nor continuing to ponder where to get the required one hundred taels of gold.

He paused for a moment, then pulled the rolled-up paper from his sleeve and unfolded it on the table.

The paper was slightly yellowed, with the edges curled up slightly, and densely printed with tiny characters.

The Hidden Dragon List of Zhangzhou.

Five words immediately caught the eye.

Su Bai's gaze lingered on those words for a moment before continuing to read.

The list is preceded by a brief preface, which states that Zhangzhou has seventy-six prefectures under its jurisdiction, each prefecture administers more than ten counties, and each county has many towns and villages, covering an area of ​​thousands of miles.

On this vast land, countless martial arts prodigies have emerged.

The Hidden Dragon Ranking is a list that ranks young, talented martial artists under the age of thirty.

It is updated slightly every three months, mainly based on the latest achievements of the top players on the list.