83: Chapter 83: Zhang Wen again?!

The next day, outside the Hundred Refinements Pagoda.

The clamor nearly reached the clouds as the top performers among the New Students walked one by one toward the giant tower forged entirely of dark gold metal.

On the Water Mirror Light Screen floating in the center of the square, rows of names had already lit up.

Yet, a single empty space remained at the very top, as if waiting for today's protagonist.

"Where's Zhang Wen? Why haven't I seen him?"

Someone stood on tiptoe to look around, their gaze sweeping across the front of the crowd.

Zhao Ya stood there, with faint flame patterns swirling around her crimson martial attire.

She turned her head slightly upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes—she had already searched the crowd earlier that morning.

She indeed hadn't seen that figure who always wore a faded black hoodie.

"Could it be he's got stage fright?"

A discordant voice rang out, only to be immediately drowned by the surrounding rebuttals.

"Does an SSS-rank Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder need to have stage fright? You've probably forgotten the strength he showed during the arena matches; no one could force him to use his full power!"

As they spoke, Ji Changkong was the first to step into the Hundred Refinements Pagoda.

Dressed in simple white martial attire, his expression was cold and stern, with wisps of cold air seemingly swirling around him as if he were merely going to do something perfectly ordinary.

Following closely behind, Zhao Ya's skirt fluttered as she walked into the tower with a smile as warm as flames.

Qin Huang took steady steps, each one making the ground tremble slightly.

Ding Siyi held her skirt, a deep red halo flowing through the tips of her hair.

Solitary Blade carried a long object wrapped in black cloth on his back, the scabbard making a dull thud as it hit the ground...

As everyone entered one after another, the names on the Water Mirror Light Screen began to light up with floor numbers one by one.

"Zhao Ya, 10th floor! Crimson Flame Dancer talent deployed, instakilling the level guards!"

"Ji Changkong, 12th floor! Winter Aura freezes the path, forcing a Breakthrough!"

"Qin Huang, 15th floor! Thousand Jin Stalwart Body head-on strikes the defensive array, his Physical Body smashing open the stone gate!"

The numbers jumped faster and faster, and the waves of exclamations from the onlookers grew louder and louder.

The instructors responsible for recording moved their hands swiftly, their pen tips leaving afterimages on the Jade Scrolls; one Elder with graying temples couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"In previous years, clearing 20 floors during the enrollment month would make one an elite. This year's batch... I'm afraid they're going to rewrite the records."

Just then, a sharp cry erupted from the back of the crowd: "Look at the very top! What is that?!"

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on the top of the Water Mirror Light Screen.

A name had appeared there at some point, as if it had long been branded into the Void Realm, and the number below it was so bright it made eyes ache:

[Zhang Wen - 60th Floor]

The clamor on the square was cut off as if by an invisible giant hand, instantly falling into a dead silence.

A few seconds later, the exploding discussions were ten times more intense than before.

"60th floor?! Am I seeing this right?!"

"The 60th floor of the Hundred Refinements Pagoda is the threshold for the Peak of the Microscopic Realm! The power of the illusions inside can directly disturb the Divine Soul. Without the cultivation of the Subtle Realm, entering results in a torn Divine Soul!"

"How long has it been since school started?! How could he possibly have reached the Subtle Realm?!"

The Elder responsible for guarding the Hundred Refinements Pagoda frowned and pulled out the Recording Jade Tablet from inside the tower.

The date was clearly engraved on the jade tablet—two months ago. This meant the boy had come to challenge the Hundred Refinements Pagoda not long after the College Entrance Exam ended and had reached the 60th floor!

"He reached the 60th floor two months ago?"

The Elder gasped. The records on the jade tablet showed that from the moment Zhang Wen entered the tower until the record settled at the 60th floor, less than two hours had passed.

"This cultivation speed is likely something seen only once in a century."

At this moment, Zhang Wen was sunbathing on the rooftop of his dormitory building.

He had a piece of Osmanthus Cake he'd just swiped from the Canteen tucked in his shirt, a faint wisp of Lightning Radiance wrapped around his fingertip as he boredly teased a sparrow perched on the railing.

The faint clamor from the direction of the Hundred Refinements Pagoda drifted over. He glanced up, a nonchalant smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"60th floor, huh..." he mumbled indistinctly while chewing on the Osmanthus Cake.

"If I hadn't had a Breakthrough into the Subtle Realm that day, maybe I could have cleared a couple more floors."

No one knew that when he stepped into the Hundred Refinements Pagoda two months ago, his cultivation had just stabilized at the Forming Realm Peak.

The Peak of the Microscopic Realm level on the 60th floor was indeed dangerous; the giant beast in the illusion had nearly torn apart his Indestructible Thunder Body.

But with sheer stubbornness, he used his Forming Realm cultivation to take three of the opponent's Divine Abilities head-on.

Finally, using the Profound Truth of the Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder to counter-kill, he left that shocking record in the tower.

As for now?

He was currently wondering about grabbing a portion of Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs at the Canteen for dinner, having absolutely no interest in joining the excitement at the Hundred Refinements Pagoda.

Meanwhile, on the square, Zhao Ya had already reached the 38th floor, her flame Domain exploding into patches of red light on the water mirror.

Ji Changkong was locked in a bitter struggle on the 35th floor, his Winter Power clashing violently with the level's Inferno.

Li Menger's Soul Dream Whisper displayed eerie power on the 32nd floor, directly plunging the guards into a deep sleep...

Yet everyone's eyes still couldn't help but drift again and again toward that static name at the top of the light screen.

The name Zhang Wen was like a bolt of thunder; when no one expected it, it had already split open the sky belonging to the New Students.

The discussions outside the Hundred Refinements Pagoda were still fermenting, and even the instructors responsible for maintaining order couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

"A Forming Realm clearing the 60th floor? How is that possible..." A young instructor rubbed his eyes as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

The Elder beside him sighed, his fingertip lightly tapping on the Recording Jade Tablet.

"The pressure monitoring inside the tower doesn't lie. The peak spiritual energy fluctuations recorded that day indeed didn't reach the threshold of the Subtle Realm."

Once these words were spoken, the surrounding instructors fell silent.

A Forming Realm Peak taking on a Peak of the Microscopic Realm level head-on was no longer something that could be explained by talent.

It was a near-prodigious resilience and control over power.

At this time, the challenges inside the Hundred Refinements Pagoda were still ongoing.

Zhao Ya's Crimson Flame Dancer hit a Bottleneck on the 40th floor. The Ice-Patterned Puppets in the level could directly freeze flames. Fine beads of sweat seeped from her brow, yet she still smiled brightly.

"Interesting."

Two crimson flame flowers swirled from her fingertips as she actually began to actively draw in the Puppets' cold air, as if she intended to refine ice with fire and force a path through.

Ji Changkong stopped his pace on the 37th floor.

The Puppets before him were emitting raging flames.

Winter Power condensed into thin ice on the surface of his body, only to melt at a rate visible to the naked eye.

He looked expressionlessly at the level gate on the other side and finally turned to withdraw—not because he was exhausted, but because he judged that going further would only waste spiritual energy in vain.

Qin Huang, however, relied on his Thousand Jin Stalwart Body to charge all the way to the 33rd floor.

Eventually, he was frustrated by a group of Puppets capable of neutralizing force. He roared and smashed the last Puppet before withdrawing resentfully.

Ding Siyi's Crimson Pearl Immortal Fire showed amazing purifying power on the 31st floor; the sinister energy attached to the vines turned into white smoke upon touching the immortal fire.

However, her Physique was leaning toward the soft side, and her spiritual energy was consumed extremely quickly. By the 32nd floor, her face had already turned pale, and she could only stop with regret.

Solitary Blade was the most straightforward. On the 30th floor, he encountered an Armored Guard with a shield. Without a word, he tore off the black cloth, and the Blood-Drinking Bone Blade hummed as it left its scabbard.

A flash of blade light passed, and the guard along with the shield were both split in two.

But on the 34th floor, facing a group of Puppets that attacked in a swarm, he took three strikes head-on. The blood patterns on the bone blade lit up and then dimmed, and ultimately he couldn't withstand the injuries and withdrew.

...