Su Ping stepped out of the all-class monument moments after; there was sweat on his cheeks, but he wasn’t as exhausted as everybody expected.
Everybody was stunned. Why did he come out so quickly? Did he fail the challenge on the 99th floor?
The score monument was then refreshed. Once the golden light disappeared… the floor number underneath Su Ping’s ranking changed from 98 to 99!
Everybody in front of the score monument fell silent right then.
After only two updates, in just twenty minutes, Su Ping passed three floors and reached the 99th floor!
He had undoubtedly evinced the potential of the Ascendant State!
Everybody looked at the young man. A horrifying idea suddenly occurred to them: since the battle was over so quickly, did the guy not try his best, at all?
The thought made the young swordsman and Dragon Emperor look awful. They had planned to compete with Su Ping; after all, all of them were Fate State warriors and unparalleled geniuses. How strong could he be? But they ended up devastated.
They clearly weren’t on the same level; the height of 99 floor was beyond their imagination.
Still, someone else had already achieved what they couldn’t even dream about. So, all that remained was despair.
Su Ping took a deep breath. He was lost for words when everybody gazed at him. He wasn’t an idiot; he knew the significance of reaching the 99th floor. He could tell its difficulty from the performance of the top students of the five academies.
He didn’t want to maintain such a high profile, but he needed the points.
Just as I expected, the last three floors gave the most points. The points from each of those floors are as many as those I made with forty or so floors down below!
Su Ping was satisfied as he looked at the record on the monument. He only needed to talk to the Star Lord manager and exchange the points for resources.
The wind in the realm was suddenly frozen when he was about to move out, then a glimmering man stepped out of the void.
He seemed to be the center of the entire world.
The frozen currents began to circulate again.
The troubled Star Lords narrowed their eyes upon seeing the stranger. The two managing the mysterious realm quickly flew over and said respectfully, “Master.”
The Star Lords from the five academies quickly followed suit and paid their respects. They were quite shocked; some looked at Su Ping in the distance; he was the only reason why Huan Lieshen had arrived.
The young swordsman, Dragon Emperor, the Thousand Leaves Holy Lady and the others in front of the score monument were equally stunned.
All of them were top geniuses; it wasn’t the first time they had seen an Ascendant State expert. However, they would still feel awe every time they saw one.
That was the pressure of the Ascendant State; even extraordinary beings such as the Star Lords would inevitably feel scared.
“Little guy, I’m the owner of this mysterious realm. Are you interested in learning after me as my disciple?” said Huan Lieshen with a smile, as he sent out an invitation.
He was reluctant to give away such a promising student.
It would be idiotic for him not to try and claim him.
Would it be demeaning for him to show up and invite the young man? He didn’t think so.
Would anyone present dare to think such action was demeaning? No. Being an Ascendant, he could pretty much do anything he wanted without caring about how others felt.
“Well…”
Su Ping was stunned for a moment. He found a strong similarity between the vibe of the newcomer and Green Lady’s, as well as that of the three Ascendant State experts he had seen in the divine residence.
He’s as strong as Joanna’s original self…
An idea flashed in Su Ping’s head. He asked, “What can I get as your disciple?”
“!!”
The seven Star Lords were so shocked that they almost bit their tongues off. They thought that something had gone wrong with their ears.
The young man with a wooden sword, Dragon Emperor and the other students looked at Su Ping in shock, too. After being invited by an Ascendant, instead of being grateful, the man was asking what he could get?
The silver-robed Huan Lieshen, was slightly surprised too. But then he laughed and said, “Interesting, very interesting. You can get a lot of things. For example, you may train here for as long as you wish. You’ve shown great potential; with enough luck, you can reach the Ascendant State too.
“Apart from training here, I will be teaching you personally. You’ll become my seventh personal disciple!
“Your combat ability will definitely be further improved with my training!”
Huan Lieshen added in earnest, “Think about it. You’ll be my personal disciple, not just a regular student.”
Su Ping instantly hesitated, not because he wondered if he should accept the invitation, but because he didn’t know how to refuse it.
Huan Lieshen’s promise was obviously unsatisfactory to him.
Training in this mysterious realm? He could always train himself in the cultivation sites!
Further improve my combat ability? That was just an empty promise. Besides, he could make good progress too as long as he obtained materials for the Solar Bulwark, and he would not need the guy, at all.
The only appealing thing the guy could offer was his identity as an Ascendant State expert.
He would have swaggering rights if he had an Ascendant State master.
But there was also a down side. He would inevitably expose his secrets if he became his disciple and he couldn’t explain away Green Lady’s existence.
Su Ping believed that Green Lady was more reliable than him in terms of guidance.
“Sorry, senior, but I need more time to consider,” said Su Ping, to subtly avoid giving a straight no. He also couldn’t find an excuse to refuse him, unless he claimed he already had an Ascendant State master. However, he would lose the chance to study under a Celestial master if he played that card, if one did show interest in him.
Why did Su Ping think that a Celestial State would show interest?
The reason was simple. How could anyone not be interested in a guy as handsome as him?
Huan Lieshen frowned upon hearing Su Ping’s reply. Is this an indirect no? Unwilling to let him go that easily, he asked, “Do you have a master already? Or do you need to ask the opinion of seniors in your family?”
Su Ping wasn’t a natural born genius as he saw it; he must have been taught by an expert. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was part of an Ascendant State family.
It was just that he had never heard of any Ascendant State peers having such a distinguished descendant.
If they did, they would have shown him off long before.
The seven Star Lords and the students were stupefied. Su Ping turned down the invitation? Countless people dreamed of such an opportunity!
The Thousand Leaves Holy Lady, Oasis Dragon King and Dragon Emperor seemed just as envious.
Queen of the Seas, Sword Maniac, and Dragon Devil were obviously jealous, too. They would rarely have a chance to meet an Ascendant State expert. Still, Su Ping needed time to consider the precious opportunity of learning under him?
“Both…” Su Ping hesitated and said, not being too direct.
After staring at Su Ping for a moment, Huan Lieshen said, “That’s fine. Just think about it. You’re welcome in my place anytime. Until then, here’s a little something to show my sincerity.”
He raised his hand and pointed his finger. Golden light appeared and spun in midair, which then formed a golden sphere.
“This is a battle pattern that I’ve drawn with Ascendant State power,” said Huan Lieshen, “I was planning to rebuild and cleanse your body, but your body seems very pure to me. Someone must have done this for you in the past.”
The Heavenly Tribulations did, thought Su Ping.
He looked at the battle pattern curiously; he wasn’t going to turn it down.
Su Ping was still clueless about the Ascendant State power. Although he had met similar and even stronger creatures in the cultivation sites, he had only observed their appearances; he didn’t know how they utilized their power. He only knew that it was something beyond laws and worlds!
“Thank you, sir.”
Huan Lieshen smiled after seeing that Su Ping was willing to accept it; the golden battle pattern was pushed into his body.
Su Ping instantly felt a special power that felt like a thin mist permeating his body. There seemed to be abundant energy that could burst out of the special battle pattern at any time.
All the onlookers showed envious eyes, as it wasn’t usual to receive power from an Ascendant State expert.
The young man who carried a wooden sword narrowed his eyes after seeing this happen.
Once his gift was received, Huan Lieshen said his goodbyes to Su Ping and left.
Although he thought highly of Su Ping and was willing to take him in, he would not go further and beg. After all, the potential to break through to the Ascendant State was still just that, pure potential!
It was just a reference, until it translated into real power; the future was always unpredictable. Some people with great potential had died young and nobody remembered them.
It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence in the universe.
Su Ping then returned to the hilltop to continue his training.
Su Ping occasionally went to the 99th floor of the monument in the following days, all to test the power of the Ascendant State battle pattern.
Su Ping was able to find that it was a power that was attached to himself. It didn’t seem to merely be pure astral power or some sort of energy; it was something which felt beyond the Star State, like the power of faith.
He had originally been able to pass the 99th floor by merging with the Inferno Dragon, but then he could achieve this by merging with Little White after activating the battle pattern!
If I have this battle pattern, geniuses under other Ascendants will probably have something like this…
Su Ping wasn’t happy. Instead, his heart was quite heavy; he was rather scared after personally experiencing the power.
Soon enough, the training in the mysterious realm had ended.
One day, someone went there to report that the screening tests of the Universe Geniuses’ Contest had also concluded and the galactic matches were about to begin. Su Ping and the others who had received recommendations would then leave the mysterious realm to participate.
Those who won the matches would fight other star zones as representatives of the Golden Star Zone; the top 100 of every star zone would enter the finals.
“We have to go now?”
“I don’t think I’m ready yet. Damn it, I thought I was fully prepared, but then I realized I’m still far from the limits of the Fate State after seeing all these monsters!”
“It shouldn’t be a problem for the Dragon Tomb Academy to enter the Golden Star Zone, should it?”
“Sword God’s heir is truly incredible. He managed to suppress Dragon Emperor.”
All the students were reluctant to leave, but they were excited about the upcoming battles too.
They complied with the Star Lords’ summons from each academy, boarding on their respective spaceships bound for the arenas.
Huan Lieshen appeared again before Su Ping left. He said, “I’ll be there to watch your battles. Keep it up.”
Everybody was shocked and envious to see Huan Lieshen seeing Su Ping off; even if Su Ping was eliminated, he could always come back to Huan Lieshen and learn from him.
“Thank you, sir,” replied Su Ping with a proper show of courtesy.
Su Ping suddenly remembered Green Lady after he boarded the spaceship; she must have been waiting for him with a planet outside the mysterious realm…
It seemed that she would have to travel once again while dragging a planet.
Su Ping thought for a moment… There were no Celestials in Silvy; only Ascendants would watch the competitions. They would probably avoid offending her as long as she wasn’t too outrageous.
“Let’s just go to the arena,” said the instructor on the spaceship and urged the pilot to set off.
The spaceships of the five academies took off one after the other; their engines emanated dazzling rays of light before they blasted away.
Su Ping was finally able to see Rhea when they left the mysterious realm. Green Lady had indeed tagged along with a planet.
“Where is this planet from?”
“It’s probably Lord Huan Lieshen’s work.”
“Are we going to the old arena?”
“Amir is going to become famous!”
On the spaceship—everybody was excited, looking forward to the upcoming battles.
“This time, a battlefield has been constructed in the void. It’s very spacious; you won’t feel restricted in the slightest. But don’t be careless, even if you’re strong. Remember that there’s always someone stronger out there,” said their instructor solemnly.
Everybody unconsciously looked at Su Ping.
That guy was undoubtedly ‘the stronger person out there.’