Shui Zi watched as the sea of magical beasts quickly closed their distance, and once they were only half a mile away, Shui Zi could no longer keep calm and shouted, "I give up! I give up! Get me out of here!"
The Great One coldly snorted after seeing Shui Zi surrender the challenge, "Not even going to attempt the challenge? You're a much bigger coward than I'd anticipated. Get lost. You do not qualify to even be in my presence!"
The Great One's eyes flickered with a golden light, and before Shui Zi realized it, he was back on the first floor of the tower.
Meanwhile, outside the tower, Long Yijun and the other Sect Masters just witnessed the lights on all 99 floors turn off, signaling Shui Zi's failure.
"What?!"
The Sect Masters there were speechless by this, as they'd truly expedited Shui Zi to defeat the tower.
A few moments later, Shui Zi left the tower with a dazed look on his face, looking empty, almost like he was dead inside.
"Shui Zi! What happened in there?! You were so close!" His Sect Master quickly approached him.
"I… I… can't do it. No human being can pass the 100th floor. It's impossible." Shui Zi responded in a voice of disbelief.
The Sect Masters there immediately frowned, and one of them asked, "What do you mean by that? What was on the 100th floor?"
"It… It was a dragon— a real dragon. I had to defeat a dragon." Shui Zi spoke, and his body trembled upon recalling the Great One's intimidating aura.
"What! A dragon?! Don't tell me you had to fight this dragon!" The Sect Masters there were shocked.
Even Long Yijun and the high-ranking sect elders were surprised by this since they didn't hear anything about a dragon from Yuan!
Shui Zi nodded and said, "It was a golden dragon, and it had the cultivation of a Spirit Master."
After taking a deep breath, he continued, "However, that's not even the worst part, since there was another challenge on the 100th floor, which involves defeating 100,000 Spirit Warrior magical beasts with only 24 hours to rest."
"100,000 Spirit Warrior magical beasts?! How is that even possible?!" The Sect Masters there repeated in a shocked voice, their expressions filled with disbelief. Even if they challenged this tower themselves, they would not dare to claim that they can defeat 100,000 magical beasts.
Shui Zi nodded again and said, "Furthermore, the dragon claimed that someone had managed to clear that challenge by defeating all 100,000 magical beasts."
'That's the challenge Disciple Yuan told us about…' Elder Xuan thought to himself after hearing Shui Zi's words.
At that moment, the Sect Masters there turned to look at Long Yijun who was casually sitting there with a smug look on his face.
"What are you looking at? You still have two more disciples. Hurry up, the Mystic Realm is coming up and I need to finish preparing for that." Long Yijun said to them.
However, the Sect Masters did not send another disciple inside the tower, and they remained standing there while staring at Long Yijun with deep frowns on their faces.
If what Shui Zi said was true— that they had to either defeat a Spirit Master dragon or fight 100,000 Spirit Warrior magical beasts, there was simply no way the remaining two disciples would be able to defeat this tower.
In other words, they are destined to lose their bet!
"Sect Master Long, you tricked us! You knew it was impossible to beat this tower, so you made the bet with the Dragon Slaying Saber as bait!"
One of the Sect Masters suddenly pointed at Long Yijun and blamed him for tricking them.
However, Long Yijun remained calm and said, "No shit, you idiot. Why else would I dare to gamble the Dragon Slaying Saber? With that being said, you are wrong about one thing— that the tower is impossible to defeat. If it's really impossible, how did my disciple defeat it?"
"Bullshit! I bet your disciple had an entirely different challenge and the tower is merely screwing with us because we're not disciples of this sect! Or you manipulated the tower to give us an impossible challenge!" The Sect Masters said.
Long Yijun shook his head and said, "As if I have the power to manipulate the tower. In the history of the sect, nobody— and I mean not a single person before 'that' disciple had managed to clear all 100 floors, and even the Founder was defeated on the 100th floor!"
The Sect Masters' faces dropped after hearing such words. Not even their Ancestor who was known as the number one genius during his era could beat the 100th floor? Then what kind of monster does it take to defeat the tower? Just who is this disciple the Dragon Essence Temple is trying so hard to hide?
"I know what you're thinking, but I won't say anything. If you wish to meet this disciple, you'll see him at the Mystic Realm." Long Yijun laughed out loud.
"Che!"
The Sect Masters there snickered coldly.
"Anyways, are you going to continue or not? If not, you can forfeit the bet and your treasures as well." Long Yijun held his hand out in a lazy manner.
The Sect Masters gritted their teeth in frustration.
Even though they knew it was impossible for the remaining disciples to defeat the tower, they couldn't just hand their treasures to Long Yijun without even trying, as that would simply make things even more embarrassing for them!
"I will challenge the tower!" One of the remaining two disciples suddenly stepped forward and said.
"Chances are I will not be able to defeat the dragon or 100,000 magical beasts, but I will definitely try!"
The disciple's Sect Master nodded and said, "Well said! We have not lost just yet!"
Thus, the next disciple went inside the tower and began climbing it.
'Go ahead, keep struggling. The results will remain the same, anyways.' Long Yijun laughed inwardly at their futile efforts.