The Growth of a Titan-Chapter 439- A Footprint?

Bang!

Woo-seong’s fist slammed against the stone stele and caused a shockwave that sent out intense winds in all directions that made Sol’s robes and tied hair to flap widely. If not for the fact that the golden runes extended from the stone stele to cover the ground beneath Woo-seong’s feet, massive fissures would have been made in the ground as a result of this strike.

This explosion of energy brought Sol out of his shock from seeing the familiar runes.

Woo-seong took a few steps back while the runes beneath him disappeared and those on the stone stele rearranged back into the rankings.

Woo-seong’s name was radiating a golden glow as it started to rise from its 912th position. It eventually stopped at the 813th position with the force of his arm being one hundred and seven thousand kilograms.

"Haha! I gained two thousand kilograms worth of force and directly improved my ranking by a hundred! If I continue like this, it might not be impossible to reach the top five hundred when I enter the peak of Earth Expanse Realm."

Woo-seong was extremely proud after seeing that his training wasn’t in vain.

"Congrats."

Sol congratulated as he walked over.

"Brother Sol, do you plan on testing your strength now?"

"Hm, wait a moment, I want to see the top rankings."

Sol’s gaze steadily lifted to the top of the stone stele. On the way there he was pleasantly surprised to see a few familiar names.

’Mar-Du, 92nd position with a force of one hundred and fifty kilograms.

’Mar-Tala, 63rd position with a force of one hundred and fifty-eight kilograms.

’Mar-Dule, 19th position with a force of one hundred and sixty kilograms of force.’

As Sol read these familiar names, his heart was moved. Three generations of the Bloodline Tribe of the Eternal Desert were in the top one hundred. Not only that, but Sol realized that the top hundred rankings were filled with people from the Barbarian Race, it wasn’t just those with the name ’Mar’ from the Bloodline Tribe.

"Hm?"

Sol’s gaze finally made it to the top of the rankings, and he was slightly dumbfounded by the person who was in the number one spot.

Lan Hong-so, 1st place with a force of two hundred ninety kilograms!

Sol was shocked by this person named Lan Hong-so because the person in second place hadn’t even reached one hundred and seventy thousand kilograms in terms of strength!

"With strength like this..."

Sol started to say but stopped and suddenly stepped away from this side of the stone stele to look at the other rankings.

Mar-Dule’s rank hadn’t changed much in the Sky Expanse Realm Rankings. Sol looked up at first place and sure enough, he saw the name Lan Hong-so there.

He moved once again, Woo-seong silently following behind him. Woo-seong and many others had reacted exactly the same as Sol currently.

Soon enough Sol came around to the Heaven Expanse Realm Ranking and saw Lan Hong-so’s name at the top. For the Sky Expanse Realm and the Heaven Expanse Realm as well, this Lan Hong-so’s strength was two times higher than second place.

"Lan Hong-so? How strong was this person to leave his name at the top of the rankings for all three Realms? However, why does it feel like I’ve heard his name before?"

Sol said with a pondering expression on his face before he turned to Woo-seong who explained.

"Brother Sol, senior brother Hong-so was one of the individuals who climbed the Heavenly Staircase, along with the Huashan Sect’s Patriarch and the Academy Leader."

Sol’s eyes brightened at that, and he now remembered reading about that fact in the General Library when he found out how rare climbing the Heavenly Staircase was.

Sol didn’t follow up on finding out who this person was, but now he was extremely curious. However, he found something strange.

Why was there no news of this person? He was so outstanding but not a single person Sol met in Jianghu had mentioned him before.

Before Sol could ask Woo-seong who Lan Hong-so was and what happened to him, Woo-seong beat him to it.

"Brother Sol, senior brother Hong-so died five hundred years ago."

"He died?"

Sol slightly taken aback, a genius like this was actually killed?

"Ah, well, in truth, no one knows if he’s dead or not. After he reached the peak of the Spiritual Realm and was only a step away from entering the legendary Heavenly Realm, he vanished all of a sudden and no one has seen him for the past five hundred years."

Hearing that, Sol immediately felt that this matter was suspicious.

"Did the Sect or Clan behind him not search for him?"

"Senior brother Hong-so was from the Lan Clan, a Top Clan that was only second in power and influence to the Five Great Clans. However, they could do nothing about senior brother Hong-so’s disappearance since right after he disappeared so did the Lan Clan, and it happened overnight."

"Eh?"

Sol was surprised when he heard that, and he stared at Woo-seong with skepticism. He increasingly grew suspicious that a conspiracy occurred.

A Clan like that was destroyed in the blink of an eye right after losing their top genius?

"Could it be the work of one of the Great Clans?"

Sol asked.

"I’ve only read it in books, but I’ve also asked Father about this when I first came to the Academy and saw his name here. Father said that rumors were going around at the time that said the Shadow Sect was the cause of everything."

"The Shadow Sect? Perhaps that’s true, but would they act on their own? It would be more likely that someone hired them."

Woo-seong nodded while looking at Hong-so’s name on the rankings with admiration and regret. However, he was suddenly reminded of something and he said.

"That’s right Brother Sol, senior brother Hong-so was also rumored to possess a 9th Tier Innate Dharma, and it was a Divine Qilin Beast!"

Sol paused when he heard that.

"Is that really true?"

Sol turned away from the rankings to look at Woo-seong.

Woo-seong shook his head.

"It was only a rumor, and it was never proven since no one was able to force senior brother Hong-so to bring out his Innate Dharma back then. Follow me!"

Woo-seong suddenly grabbed Sol’s arm and dragged him to the fourth and final rankings on the stone stele.

"What ranking is this for?"

Sol asked skeptically; could there be a fourth cultivation stage in the Spiritual Realm he didn’t know about?

"Brother Sol, this is the Quasi-Heavenly Realm Ranking."

"Oh."

Sol said in realization, his gaze shifting to the top of the rankings to see Hong-so’s name.

"This way Brother Sol."

Sol almost fell flat on his face as he was suddenly pulled by Woo-seong once more.

"What is it that you want to show me?"

"Down here."

Woo-seong pulled Sol towards the side of the stone stele and pointed at something that was towards the bottom.

"Look carefully brother Sol, or better yet touch that area."

Sol frowned but did as Woo-seong said and bent down to touch that area.

Immediately as his fingers moved across this area of the stone stele, Sol’s pupils constricted when he felt a slight indentation.

"Do you feel it?"

Woo-seong asked with glowing eyes when he saw Sol’s reaction.

"This is... a footprint?!"