Chapter 47 – Shock
When they saw the character ‘十二’ appearing on the pagoda, Cao Huo and the other elders immediately beamed with smiled because since someone was able to arrive at the 12th level, it represented that this person’s strength was completely solid and far exceeded Profounders with the same cultivation. After all, the Sword Servants at the 10th level and above didn’t just execute some sword techniques from the Sword Technique, they even possessed extremely high combat instinct. Thus, the fact that someone was able to arrive at the 12th level was sufficient to prove that person’s strength.
A black robed young man that was eliminated from the pagoda muttered. “Someone was actually able to ascend to the 12th level. How formidable! There really always is someone stronger!”
A yellow robed young man by his side continued. “Yeah, I was reputed as a genius in my city, yet only now do I realize that I’m really very ordinary. Earlier, if I didn’t possess a Profound Rank armor, then I would have been eliminated at the 6th level, whereas, this person was actually able to ascend to the 12th level. What a terrifying strength.”
“It’s probably that Jiang Yuan, right?” The black robed young man said, “I heard that he’s reputed as the most outstanding genius in Snow River City for the last 100 years, and based on his strength, this rumor is probably true.”
When he heard this, the yellow robed young man cupped his fists to the black robed young man and said, “Brother, where there are people, there will be competition. We’ve both just arrived at the Sword Sect, and our strengths are only ordinary. If we don’t find someone to rely on, then we’ll probably be bullied in the future. What do you think of Jiang Yuan?”
The black robed young man frowned slightly, and he went silent for a long time before he said, “Brother, you’re saying that we should seek protection from Jiang Yuan?”
“Make friends with him!” The yellow robed young man said, “I believe that there definitely are small groups in the Sword Sect. So why don’t we form one as well? Moreover, it’s the best time for that now. Look at all these youths in the surroundings, they’d already become outer court disciples, and now’s precisely the moment they’re confused about the future. If we go try to make friends with them, they’ll definitely be willing to see it happen as well!”
The black robed young man glanced towards the surroundings. Sure enough, even though the youth that exited the pagoda had already passed the exam, there wasn’t much happiness on their faces, and faint worry was written on many of their faces instead.
He thought for a moment before the black robed young man cupped his fists to the yellow robed young man and said, “I’m Chen Liu, what’s your name Brother?”
“I’m Huang Ren!”
“Brother Huang, please take good care of me once we enter the outer court!”
“Not at all, not at all. Brother Chen was only a level lower than me. If we truly compare our strengths, then you’re probably superior to me.”
“Brother Huang, you must be kidding. I’m clearly aware of my own strength, and since Brother Huang was able to ascend to the 6th level, it’s sufficient to prove that no matter if it’s cultivation or combat strength, Brother Huang is superior to me!”
“Alright Brother Chen, let’s not continue talking about all of this. Look, two more people have come out, let’s quickly go over and make friends with them, otherwise, if we’re too late, then it’ll be them who are forming a group.”
“Alright….”
At the illusory realm on the 12th level, Yang Ye held his sword in hand as he ceaselessly attacked the Sword Servant. Under Yang Ye’s storm of attacks, the Sword Servant was obviously in a disadvantageous position, and it could only resist and defend itself. Yang Ye didn’t give the Sword Servant a chance to launch a counterattack, and he swung his sword with increasing speed and strength.
Clang!
in the end, Yang Ye found a flaw in the Sword Servant’s defense, and he pushed the Sword Servant’s sword away in one go. After that, his right hand shook as his sword stabbed forward directly, and it stabbed into the Sword Servant’s body, causing it to instantly vanish.
As he watched the Sword Servant’s body vanish, Yang Ye said in a low voice, “With these Sword Servants to spar with me, my Basic Sword Technique has become more and more skillful. If my speed and strength can improve a bit more, then the Basic Sword Technique would probably become extremely terrifying!”
In the past, Yang Ye already felt that the Basic Sword Technique wasn’t weak. Now, after he fought these Sword Servants, it had further proved his thoughts from the past.
The Basic Sword Technique stressed on two points, speed and strength! Once one got close to the enemy, then one just had to utilize these two points to the limit, and one would absolutely be one’s opponent’s nightmare.
Yang Ya didn’t continue up to the next level. He stood on the spot with his eyes closed tightly instead, and he recalled the scenes of the battle between him and the Sword Servant from before.
Since the 10th level, he'd started to carry out self-criticism towards the way he fought in each battle after he won it.
After a long time, he opened his eyes, and he said in a low voice, “I revealed three flaws, and if this Sword Servant was a bit stronger, then I would have probably suffered a huge injury. Moreover, I missed three of that Sword Servant’s flaws. Looks like my ability is still very inadequate!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Ye took a deep breath before walking up to the 13th level.
There was only a single Sword Servant in the 13th level as well. However, Yang Ye’s expression seemed to be slightly heavy. Because this Sword Servant was at least three times stronger than the Sword Servant from the 10th level!
However, fortunately, it didn’t utilize the Sword Servant from the 12th level as the standard, otherwise, it would really be difficult to deal with a Sword Servant that possessed three times the strength of that Sword Servant from the 12th level.
Without any extra words or movements, he executed an extremely simple stab at the Sword Servant, and the battle began!
At the 10th level of the pagoda, Jiang Yuan’s battle was much more intense than Yang Ye’s. Jiang Yuan didn’t get into closed quartered combat with the Sword Servant, and he was fighting sword qi against sword qi with the Sword Servant, causing sword qi to surge horizontally and vertically through the surroundings.
Ding!
In a moment of carelessness, a strand of sword qi smashed onto Jiang Yuan’s chest. However, Jiang Yuan wasn’t sent out of the Sword Servant Pagoda because he was wearing Profound Rank armor beneath his clothes. However, even then, it still caused Jiang Yun to break out in cold sweat.
“Dammit! Is this Sword Servant’s Profound Energy limitless? It’s actually even able to execute sword qi!” Jiang Yuan cursed in his heart as he fought the Sword Servant.
He’d already been fighting this Sword Servant for a period of time, yet he was utterly unable to harm it at all. Because this Sword Servant didn’t just execute sword qi better than him, its combat instinct was much more formidable than his own. In the past, he’d been treated like an ‘ancestor’ at home, and even if he fought in a battle, he was never made to fight a life and death battle with a person or Darkbeast. So, when he encountered a Sword Servant that wasn’t afraid of death, his flaws were instantly fully revealed.
However, fortunately, even though his combat instinct was slightly inferior, it wasn’t to the extent of causing him to lose. Because the Sword Servant was only a Sword Servant in the end, and even though it possessed such combat instinct, it wasn’t as intelligent as a human in the end.
For a time, both of them were in a stalemate.
On the other hand, the woman in a green dress was in a similar situation as Jiang Yuan. A Sword Servant at the ninth rank of the Mortal Realm that possessed combat instinct and possessed a solid cultivation was a bit too difficult for her. However, she didn’t get dispirited, and she grew more energetic as the battle carried on. She’d been growing up in adverse circumstances since a young age, so difficulty was a common occurrence for her!
“Someone has entered the 14th level!” Outside the pagoda, a young man that was ranked on the Outer Court Rankings exclaimed with surprise, and he pointed towards the large characters on the pagoda.
The other outer court disciples by his side looked over as well, and all of them were instantly stunned when they noticed the large characters ‘十四’ displayed on the pagoda.
The 14th level meant that the person’s strength was already invincible amongst his peers. After all, the ninth level Mortal Realm Sword Servant at the 14th level was extremely terrifying. Moreover, so long as one ascended to this level, then that person would have tied with the records of the young man with a black mole and the round faced young man who were the 2nd and 3rd ranked on the Outer Court Rankings.
“Qin Feng, this young man called Jiang Yuan isn’t bad. He was actually able to ascend to the 14th level.” The round faced young man looked at the young man with a black mole as he spoke with a smile on his face. At that time, the two of them had ascended to the 14th level as well, and they were well aware of the difficulty on that level. So, this young man called Jiang Yuan had aroused deep interest from him.
“Let’s talk about it after he ascends to the 15th level!” The young man with a black mole had an extremely calm expression, and he spoke indifferently.
“The 15th, he has gone up to the 15th already!” The young man with a black mole had just finished speaking when a young man near him pointed at the large characters of the pagoda and spoke excitedly.
This time, the young man with a black mole was moved.
“The 15th, it really is the 15th. Haha!!” When he noticed the characters on the pagoda transforming into ‘十五’, Elder Cao Huo completely lost his composure and roared with laughter. It wasn’t just Cao Huo, even Elder Qian and Elder Feng Yu were smiling.
What sort of notion was it to ascend to the 15th level? It represented that if this person didn’t perish, then after the Sword Sect fostered him for two years, then he would be able to represent the Sword Sect in the next Ascension Rankings!
What did a disciple capable of ascending the Ascension Rankings represented? Such a disciple represented the future of the Sword Sect! So, how could they not be excited when a disciple that represented the future of the Sword Sect had appeared?
After a moment of excitement, Cao Huo suddenly thought of something, and he turned around and asked Feng Yu. “Brother Feng, how many people are left in the pagoda?”
When he heard this, Feng Yu said, “If I’m not wrong, then four people remain in the pagoda. These four people are respectively Jiang Yuan, Qingxue, Fan Wen, and Yang….”
When he spoke up to here, Feng Yu suddenly looked at Elder Qian and said, “Yang Ye?” That Labor Disciple, Yang Ye?”
When he heard Feng Yu, Cao Huo looked at Elder Qian as well. He had a slight impression of Yang Ye, and now, he was slightly surprised when he heard Yang Ye was actually still within the pagoda.
Elder Qian stroked his beard while he beamed from ear to ear and said, “Of course it’s him! I’ve been constantly paying attention to him, and he hasn’t come out yet. He’s still within it now!”
Feng Yu and Cao Huo were shocked when they heard this. Presently, the lowest active level in the pagoda was the 10th level. So, in other words, Yang Ye had entered the 10th level.
The natural talent and strength of someone capable of entering the 10th level were extremely good. However, the two of them were slightly bewildered about why Yang Ye was unable to become a Profounder for an entire year.
Right at this moment, a figure was teleported out of the pagoda. Elder Qian was the first to glance over, and he instantly heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed that it was Fan Wen and not Yang Ye. Because Yang Ye had entered the 10th level, it meant that it wouldn’t be difficult for Yang Ye to be ranked in the top 10 with his current strength. However, Elder Qian still hoped that Yang Ye could ascend a few levels higher.
“The 16th level! The 16th….” Someone shouted.
In an instant, everyone outside the pagoda including that group of disciples that were ranked on the Outer Court Rankings were shocked.