"D-Disciple Min! Are you going to challenge the Carp Leaping Over Dragon's Gate Tower today?" The sect elder sitting in the small pavilion showed a surprised face and asked her in a slightly excited voice.
"Yes, I am." Min Li nodded and handed her disciple identification token to him.
"Very well! I have recorded your name, Disciple Min! Good luck!" The sect elder said to her.
After Min Li left the pavilion, Yuan approached the place and said to the sect elder, "I'd like to challenge the tower too."
"Let me see your identification token," the sect elder spoke in an uninterested tone, his attitude towards Yuan being completely different from Min Li which was expected.
"Here you go," Yuan handed his bronze identification token to the sect elder.
"You have been a disciple at the sect for only two days? And you want to challenge the tower? You must be full of yourself…" The sect elder shook his head at Yuan.
"Eh? But Disciple Min is the same as me…" Yuan said with a dumbfounded look.
"The same as you?! Outrageous! How dare you compare yourself to a genius from one of the Seven Legacy Families?! Who do you think you are?!"
Yuan was speechless. Why is he being scolded? Did he say something wrong?
The sect elder then quickly recorded his name down before tossing the identification token back at him in a disrespectful manner.
"..."
Yuan stared at the sect elder with a frown on his face after catching the identification token.
"What are you looking at? You got something to say?" The sect elder frowned back.
"No…" Yuan decided that he didn't want to waste his energy on this sect elder and turned around and walked away, not to mention that he'd already argued with another sect elder not long ago.
A few minutes after returning to the tower, Yuan noticed a red light coming from the 52nd floor.
"Aiya! Ming Yong failed!"
"52 floors is still an incredible achievement since he'd managed to reach the top 200 in the Tower Ranking. Give him a few more years and he'll definitely reach 75 floors and become a Core disciple!"
A few more minutes later, the entrance to the tower opened, and a handsome young man walked out with a messy and bloodied appearance, looking like he'd been beaten and robbed by a group of bandits.
Seeing this, Min Li turned to look at Yuan and said to him before approaching the tower, "I won't lose to you this time, Disciple Yuan!"
Min Li then retrieved her Heaven-grade sword and entered the tower.
"Look! Fairy Min's going to challenge the tower next!"
The disciples there watched her enter the tower with admiration in their gazes, and even Ming Yong bowed to her despite being injured himself, "Good luck, Fairy Min."
"What floor do you think Fairy Min will reach?"
"Definitely over 60 floors!"
"I am willing to bet that she'll achieve over 75 floors!"
Meanwhile, Yuan stared at the Heaven-grade sword in Min Li's grasp.
"Xiao Hua, didn't you tell me before that one must have a sufficient cultivation level before they can wield a powerful treasure or their body will explode? How come she can wield a Heaven-grade treasure while being a Spirit Apprentice?" Yuan asked Xiao Hua in a low voice.
"In most cases, Cultivators are only allowed to wield treasures at their level. However, like most situations in the world, there are special cases where people can wield treasures much stronger than themselves. For example, that girl might have a powerful bloodline that allows her to achieve such a feat, or it could be explained by a mythical cultivation technique their family owns, as these kinds of techniques are quite common in the upper heavens, especially for the powerful families," Xiao Hua explained to him.
"Young Master, it could also be the weapon itself that's allowing that young lady to wield it despite her lacking cultivation base. After witnessing her strength yesterday, I can confidently say that was not the Heaven-grade's full potential. I have seen many spiritual treasures in my life, and there exist unique spiritual treasures that have such an ability." Feng Yixiao also gave her two cents.
And she continued, "However, regardless of how she's able to wield it, that young lady will not be able to display that spiritual treasure's full strength until she increases her own cultivation base."
"I see… thank you for the explanation." Yuan nodded.
Once Min Li entered the Carp Leaping Over Dragon's Gate Tower, the door closed behind her, and the first floor lightened with a greyish light.
A mere minute later, the greyish light on the first floor turned golden, signaling that Min Li had passed the first floor.
"Wow! As expected of Fairy Min! She's already cleared the first floor!"
"How incredibly fast! Most disciples take nearly 5 minutes on average to finish the first floor!"
Another minute later, a golden light appeared on the second floor and Min Li ascended to the third floor.
After spending ten minutes inside the tower, Min Li ascended a total of 9 floors, shocking the disciples watching outside.
Furthermore, more and more disciples gathered at the tower to witness Min Li's spectacle after they learned that she was participating in the tower.
On the tenth floor, Min Li took a little over five minutes to pass that floor, as she'd to fight two magical beasts instead of one on the 10th floor.
Because the difficulty increased with each floor, especially every ten floors, Min Li needed more and more time to pass each floor as she ascended to the top, and by the time she reached the 19th floor, over 20 minutes had passed.
As for the 20th floor, it took her nearly 10 minutes to defeat.
Half an hour later, Min Li arrived at the 29th floor, and the 30th floor took her 15 minutes to defeat.
'This… this is taking much longer than I'd expected…' Yuan thought to himself after realizing how long it took to climb this tower. 'Guess I'll go get something to eat while she's inside.'
And with that in mind, Yuan left the scene to look for some food, as he didn't like the idea of just standing around and doing nothing.