Chapter 163: Chapter 158: An Elusive Pattern
Inside the Tower of Calamity, Mu Chen was sitting cross-legged on the spot. Rapidly clearing the second through fifth floors had allowed his Martial Artist Realm to skyrocket from a One-Ring Grand Martial Master to a Sixth-Ring Grand Martial Master. Such a rate of advancent was simply unbelievable. It would be considered a miracle in any empire or any region on the entire Extre Martial Continent. It wasn’t unheard of, but Martial Artists who advanced so rapidly either had a fortuitous encounter, received a powerful inheritance, or challenged Ancient Ruins like Mu Chen. But how many people ever had a fortuitous encounter? Where could one even find an inheritance these days? And as for challenging Ancient Ruins, how many could possibly et the requirents to clear them?
There weren’t many Martial Artists on the entire Extre Martial Continent capable of Tier Jumping like Mu Chen. As for a Martial Artist who could jump an entire Great Tier, he was the only one on the continent!
Slowly opening his eyes, Mu Chen cald his racing heart. After clearing five floors, his Martial Artist Realm had jumped all the way to the Sixth Ring. This would be a thrilling achievent for anyone, but Mu Chen knew this was not the ti to celebrate. His mission was not yet complete.
However, fighting his way from the first floor to the fifth, Mu Chen noticed sothing. The realms of the Guardian Illusions in the Tower of Calamity didn’t increase in a fixed progression. For example, across the five floors he’d cleared, the Martial Artist Realm of the Guardian Illusions had already shifted three tis.
On the first floor, the Guardian Illusion’s Martial Artist Realm was only one Small Realm higher than the challenger’s. But after Mu Chen achieved a perfect clear, the Guardian Illusion on the second floor was two Small Realms higher. The one on the third floor was three Small Realms higher, as was the one on the fourth. The fifth floor’s guardian was also three Small Realms higher.
When he had just cleared the fourth floor, his Martial Artist Realm had soared to that of a Fourth-Ring Grand Martial Master, and the illusion on the fifth floor was at the level of a Seventh-Ring Grand Martial Master. From this alone, Mu Chen could deduce that the difficulty he faced was on a completely different level from that of the Holy Hall Students outside.
After composing himself, Mu Chen slowly stepped into the Teleportation Array leading to the sixth floor of the Tower of Calamity. The Array whirled, and with a WHOOSH, his figure vanished from the fifth-floor challenge area.
...
When he reappeared, the scenery of the challenge area was the sa as the previous floors. Mu Chen had given up on the Tower of Calamity showing any creativity. All he wanted to know now was how much the difficulty would increase on this floor.
SWOOSH!
A whistling sound echoed from high above. Before Mu Chen could even extend his Spiritual Power to scan the area, a white figure descended from the sky and landed steadily before him, just a dozen ters away. Mu Chen paid no mind to its arrival; his eyes were fixed on what the white figure had just done—Walking on Air.
’So it’s already a Martial Spirit?’ Mu Chen frowned, his gaze slowly drifting downward. At the Guardian Illusion’s feet, two green Martial Rings shimred peacefully.
’A Two-Ring Martial Spirit... The Tower of Calamity really flatters . A direct jump of five Small Realms this ti.’
Mu Chen silently reduced the weight of the Profound Jade Fan on his back to zero. The suppressed Primordial Power within him instantly surged. He felt boundless energy flooding his body, as if he could tear his opponent to shreds the mont he unleashed it.
’So powerful!’
He hadn’t felt the full impact of breaking through seven consecutive Small Realms until he’d lifted the Profound Jade Fan’s weight. Clenching his fist, Mu Chen’s lips curved into a smirk. With power like this, the Two-Ring Martial Spirit before him seed no different than an ant.
He took a single step, activating his Mist Step. Thunder Light flared under his feet. The light suddenly surged, and Mu Chen’s figure transford into a bolt of lightning, distorting the very space he passed through.
"Blast Fist!"
With a low shout, Mu Chen’s arm was instantly enveloped in crimson flas. Guided by his Primordial Power, the fire spun into a Fla Vortex, flooding the space with searing energy. The Martial Spirit opposite him remained as impassive as ever, devoid of consciousness or emotion. Like a walking corpse, it t Mu Chen’s punch head-on, clenching its own left fist as a Fla Vortex identical to Mu Chen’s materialized over its knuckles.
Mu Chen was taken aback for a second, but the power in his strike didn’t diminish in the slightest. The two fists collided, and a dazzling, searing ball of red light engulfed them both.
BOOM!!!
A terrifyingly loud explosion erupted from within the Tower of Calamity, startling even the crowd gathered outside. In the wake of the blast, the very space around the tower’s sixth floor began to warp violently. Di Cang watched with concern, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. "He has to be okay," he muttered.
But just as the words left his lips, a cold, emotionless voice echoed from the Tower of Calamity.
"Mu Chen. Sixth Floor. Challenge successful. Clear rating: Perfect. Clear ti: Five seconds."
An uproar swept through the crowd. All the students from the Demon Castle erupted in cheers. Mu Chen had achieved another perfect clear, and once again, a pillar of golden light shot into the heavens.
TAP. TAP.
Two soft taps sounded next to Di Cang. He turned his head to find that the newcors were none other than Wu Changqing and Xuan Yin, who had just hurried over from the Imperial Palace. Di Cang smiled slightly. "Emperor Xuan Yin, Old Wu, what brings you here?"
Wu Changqing pouted, retorting irritably, "Your Imperial Academy is causing such a massive commotion. Did you expect us to just pretend nothing was happening?"
Di Cang chuckled. "Fair enough."
Xuan Yin, however, had a flushed and excited face. He asked impatiently, "Dean Di, may I ask which student is challenging the Tower of Calamity right now?"
Di Cang gestured with his chin toward the nearby Calamity Stele. Xuan Yin quickly turned to look. A line of golden text floated at its very top: "Mu Chen. Clear Record: Sixth Floor. Clear Rating: Perfect. Clear Ti: Five seconds."
Xuan Yin glanced back at the Tower of Calamity, which was now lit up on the sixth floor, and instantly understood. "It’s him!" he exclaid.
...
Back on the sixth floor of the Tower of Calamity, the flas from Blast Fist raged for a full two minutes. When they finally subsided, Mu Chen’s figure was revealed. He was shielded by a curved, ice-blue wall of ice that had protected him completely. In that exchange, Mu Chen hadn’t suffered a single scratch.
The Guardian Illusion could indeed copy its opponent’s appearance and Combat Skills, but it could not replicate their unique Primordial Power or external weapons. The Extre Ice Attribute Elental Power Mu Chen had just used, for instance, was sothing beyond the Tower of Calamity’s copying ability. Therefore, this Two-Ring Martial Spirit only possessed the strength of an ordinary one—or perhaps slightly stronger, since Mu Chen’s Combat Skills were all Profound Tier or above and exceptionally powerful.
As the ice wall before him lted away, Mu Chen let out a soft breath and smiled. ’My Extre Ice Attribute is getting stronger along with ,’ he thought. ’I never expected the Defense Power of an ice wall from Elental Power Materialization to be so incredible.’ He even had a hunch that the wall could have taken a direct hit from the Guardian Illusion’s punch without suffering any damage at all.
’Looks like I still underestimated my own strength.’
With a soft sigh, Mu Chen t the golden light that rushed toward him. His Martial Artist Realm leaped up another level. ’This feeling of getting stronger... it’s incredible...’
Before anyone realized it, more than an hour had passed since Mu Chen entered the Tower of Calamity. The students outside showed no signs of leaving. Even the Holy Hall Students had long since abandoned their initial derision, and were now eagerly waiting to see just what Mu Chen’s limit was.
At the back of the crowd of Holy Hall Students, a stunningly beautiful young woman dressed in a flowing, wide-sleeved, light-blue gown slowly ca to a stop. She tilted her head up slightly, her eyes filled with pride as she gazed at the golden glow on the sixth floor of the Tower of Calamity. This was none other than the late-arriving Mu Bingling. Judging from the unstable fluctuations of Primordial Power around her, she must have just had a breakthrough in her Martial Artist Realm.
From then on, Mu Chen began to take the Tower of Calamity more seriously. Starting from the seventh floor, the Guardian Illusion on each level was several ranks higher than him. The guardian on the seventh floor was a Four-Ring Martial Spirit, a full six ranks higher than Mu Chen. This ti, he used a combination of his Mist Step and Extre Ice Attribute, kiting the illusion for several seconds before successfully killing it and earning another perfect clear.
The Guardian Illusion on the eighth floor was even stronger, a Sixth-Ring Martial Spirit—a full seven ranks higher than Mu Chen. This ti, he didn’t hold back. With a clench of his fist, the Profound Jade Fan shot out of the Profound Jade Box. It circled him once before snapping open, and Mu Chen caught its handle with a crisp clap, holding it level before him with an air of complete calm.
If Lingyun were here, he would have been astonished, because this was the exact stance he had taught Mu Chen for his basic attacks. After a month of intense training, Mu Chen had gained a much deeper understanding of the Slicing Technique. ’I wonder,’ he thought, ’just how many tis can I execute my Extre Slash?’
The Guardian Illusion opposite him clearly possessed little intelligence. It used Rapid Step to appear before Mu Chen in an instant, throwing a punch that contained the full power of a Sixth-Ring Martial Spirit. An ordinary person—even another Sixth-Ring Martial Spirit—would not have dared to face such a blow head-on. But Mu Chen didn’t retreat. When the guardian was just a ter away, his left hand blurred for a split second, then returned to normal in the blink of an eye.
The world fell silent. The Guardian Illusion’s body froze mid-motion. With a flick of his wrist, Mu Chen snapped the Profound Jade Fan shut. He turned, slung the Profound Jade Box onto his back, and muttered, "Only fifteen tis. Looks like I still need more training."
The mont the words left his mouth, the frozen Guardian Illusion tilted to one side, its entire body separating into countless pieces along fifteen perfectly clean slices. There was no blood and gore; the instant the illusion died, the pieces dissolved into a white mist and vanished from the eighth floor.
"Mu Chen. Eighth Floor. Challenge successful. Clear rating: Perfect. Clear ti: Two seconds."
The cold voice once again struck a nerve with every student. Outside, the cheers were already deafening...
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