Chapter 41 – Fifth Floor of the Exquisite Pagoda
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“Half an hour!” A Seven Profound Martial House elder said with surprise as he looked at the hour glass.
“These two have already been in the fourth floor for a period of time.”
Outside of the Exquisite Pagoda, the once glowing runes of the first three floors had already been extinguished. Only the fourth floor was left shining with a brilliant light; this was the proof that two people were still challenging the fourth floor.
“This is getting more and more interesting. I had thought only Wang Yanfeng would have this result, but even this Lin Ming can insist for such a long time. It really makes one not believe that he is a mere grade-three talent at the Second Stage of Body Transformation. Even with inborn divine strength, reaching the fourth floor with just this strength is not simple.” An elder said as he stroked his long white beard. Lin Ming’s battle prowess was peculiar; he could not find a reasonable explanation for it.
By now Muyi opened his mouth and said slowly, “Sometimes, Sir Sun, a person’s battle prowess cannot be explained nor extrapolated by mere common sense. The earlier trials cannot measure a person’s battle talent and perception.”
Muyi did not explain that Lin Ming had an ancient master behind him. The workings of a Xiantian level expert and their legacy skill manuals were far too complicated for him to comprehend.
“Mmm, what Mister Muyi said is not wrong; his fighting talent is truly extraordinary. But his cultivation is shallow and the skill manual he uses is ordinary. He can actually rely on his superior fighting skill and intuition to face a superior enemy, but in this kind of battle, skill and intuition have their eventual limits. As they say, strength can break ten thousand skills, but with just skill alone, the most that can happen is their combat ability is raised a level. The end result will not be good.”
Muyi smiled slyly and said, “Sir Sun, please have a good look.”
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As these elders discussed, Wang Yanfeng was struggling mightily on the fourth floor. His cultivation was at the early Third Stage, but his true strength and battle ability rivaled someone at the peak of the Third Stage. However, what he faced now was two Iron Armor Bears who were also at the peak of the Third Stage.
Although the Iron Armor Bears appeared a bit cute and clumsy, their attack method and strategies were coordinated, and their terrifying strength and near flawless defense were nothing but an incomparable headache.
Even if he were to only be scratched, his fate would be for his muscles to be torn to shreds and his bones to break.
As soon Wang Yanfeng used a secret family skill three times, he finally managed to bring down an Iron Armor Bear. However, his body’s true essence had also almost reached its limit, and the remaining Iron Armor Bear’s resisting defense was able to block his family’s secret skill.
Seeing the last Iron Armor Bear rushing towards him, Wang Yanfeng let out a roar and jumped upwards. His hand grasped his sword and with a thrust he maliciously jabbed it into the bear’s gaping maw!
The Iron Armor Bear’s entire body was covered with hard iron plates; the only two weaknesses he could see were the eyes and mouth.
Wang Yanfeng’s sword pierced the bear’s throat, but at the same time his wrist was snapped by the bear’s bite.
“Pah!” The Iron Armor Bear angrily struck Wang Yanfeng in the chest with his paw. It felt as if he was struck by a sledgehammer, and his internal organs shook.
Wang Yanfeng was thrown backwards like a falling chicken and slammed against the floor. He was covered in dirt and only barely managed to prop himself up. His entire body was covered in blood, and this blood was mixed with meat. This meat was actually parts of his internal organs.
“Even though I’m at the Viscera Training stage, and my organs are protected by true essence, this single blow was fatal…”
Although Wang Yanfeng was severely injured and on the verge of death, the Iron Armor Bear was not much better off. Its throat was crushed and its life was ebbing; it was only a matter of how long it could last before it died. But it could still kill Wang Yanfeng!
Wang Yanfeng spat a mouthful of blood. “I have to break through this fourth floor… even though I’m number one with my results, if I pass the fourth floor my status within the family will definitely rise. Even if I’m not the eldest son I still have a chance to be the future head of the household. I can also shut up those old codgers and their stupid mouths and they’ll stop bothering father to take my resources…”
As Wang Yanfeng thought of these things, his face became grim with a hideous color.
However even as Wang Yanfeng was desperately going all out, he did not know that Lin Ming was using bloodletting tactics and tricks to fight and had already pierced the second Iron Armor Bear’s brains.
Fourth floor, passed!
Lin Ming took a deep breath. He had finally reached the fifth floor. This was also the final floor that Qin Xingxuan had reached! The floor that middle-aged examiner had said was impossible to pass…
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“I did not think that Lin Ming could go this far…” Outside the Exquisite Pagoda, Qin Xingxuan looked upwards as the runes of the fourth floor glowed, and felt surprise in her heart.
She had guessed that Lin Ming would at most reach the third floor, and that had already been a high appraisal of him. But she didn’t actually think that Lin Ming would stay at the fourth floor for such a long time. At this rate, it might even be possible to pass the fourth floor…
“When I first challenged the Exquisite Pagoda, my cultivation had already reached the Fourth Stage of Body Transformation. With cultivation at the Fourth Stage it is naturally not difficult to defeat the inferior beasts of the fourth floor, but with cultivation at the peak of the Second Stage it is impossible to last such a long time at the fourth floor.
Qin Xingxuan secretly compared herself and her achievements with Lin Ming. She had relied on her deep cultivation base to rise to the fifth floor. If she was at the same cultivation he was, she would not be his match.
“It’s already been half an hour…” Qin Xingxuan said as she looked to her side at the hourglass.
But as Qin Xingxuan looked at the time, the fifth floor of the Exquisite Pagoda suddenly lit up, and the runes and symbols began to activate one at a time. Heavy and trembling true essence immediately fluctuated in all directions.
Seeing this, Elder Sun’s teacup almost fell out of his hands. “The fifth floor!”
“Wang Yanfeng is really so fierce? He’s been there less than half an hour. Did Yuelu City’s Wang Family finally produce a peerless talent?”
“For the last ten years this result is only matched by lady Xingxuan.” The middle-aged man spoke as he looked at Qin Xingxuan. He saw Qin Xingxuan’s eyes widen but did not know what it meant.
“Absolutely incredible. This child is not a fish in a small pool. With superior fourth grade talent in addition to the Wang Family’s backing, it would be outstanding even within the Seven Profound Martial House and would easily qualify to receive superior martial arts manuals and one day become a Martial House core disciple. Even entering the Seven Profound Valley is a possibility! This Wang Yanfeng, is truly a heaven gifted talent!”
As the elder said this, the rune lights of the Exquisite Pagoda’s fourth floor began to tremble with a sudden burst of vibration. A figure was bounced out like a sack.
As soon as Elder Sun saw this, he immediately issued an order, “Lin Ming came out, quickly catch him and don’t let him injure himself falling.”
It had been less than half an hour. The martial arts catchers of the Exquisite Pagoda were inevitably tired and someone distracted, therefore Elder Sun had spoken a reminder. The Exquisite Pagoda’s death was only in the dream realm. If a candidate failed and died, he would be shunted out of the dreamland and out of the pagoda and at that moment that person would have lost their consciousness. Each floor of the Exquisite Pagoda was thirty feet. The fourth floor was ninety feet high. In those conditions, if an unconscious person fell to the ground, even a Pulse Condensation expert would not be able to withstand the impact.
The men responsible for catching the ejected candidates firmly caught the falling figure. They saw that the man had a pale, contorted face covered with cold sweat.
Because the appearance was so twisted, it took a moment for the elders outside the Exquisite Pagoda to identify him. In that instant, they were all dumbfounded.
This… this person was probably…Wang Yanfeng?
Several elders’ jaws dropped as they looked up and saw the shining runes of the fifth floor. This… was the one who entered the fifth floor Lin Ming?
The Seven Profound Martial House elders were shaken. They had already felt that Muyi’s previous praise of Lin Ming was incredible. Lin Ming’s cultivation was only at the peak of the Second Stage; it was worse than Wang Yanfeng! But now he was the only to have reached the fifth floor, and had already stayed there for several dozen breaths of time.
Qin Xingxuan looked at the fifth floor of the Exquisite Pagoda. Her eyes changed with various emotions. Wonder, awe, respect… Lin Ming had surprised her yet again. Would he even slowly overtake her in martial arts cultivation?
At this time, in a corner of the Exquisite Pagoda’s mountain valley, Lan Yunyue was shaken as she looked at the glowing fifth floor. She appeared lost and in a daze. “Lin Ming…he entered the fifth floor?”
In the history of the Seven Profound Martial House and the opening of the Exquisite Pagoda, only Qin Xingxuan had successfully passed. There had been those who entered the fifth floor, and this would happen every couple of years. Each one who did was a monstrous talent of their generation, and in the future, their path to reaching the Pulse Condensation Period was only a matter of time.
“Lin Ming…” A thought popped into Lan Yunyue’s mind. Even if compared with Zhu Yan, Lin Ming was no worse. Although he did not have a great family supporting him, as long as he reached the Pulse Condensation Period in the future, he as be given a rank and title.
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At this time, on the fifth floor of the Exquisite Pagoda, Lin Ming looked at the radical scene in front of him and could only force a smile. The fifth floor unexpectedly had two second-level vicious beasts!
Although they were only the weak species of vicious beast, their strength was equal to a martial artist at the Fourth Stage of Body Transformation. Not only that, but these two vicious beasts had eight beastly little brothers surrounding them that were equal to the peak of the Third Stage.
Ten vicious beasts stood in front of him. They had hideous looking bone armor, bright red beastly pupils, and their sharp nails and teeth were stained red with blood. All of this caused a surge of evil presence to soar to the heavens. A martial artist at his cultivation would normally look at this scene and imagine himself being torn to thousands of pieces and lose any will to fight.