130: Chapter 130 Challenging the Limits

"You guy, not a single honest word comes out of your mouth..."

President Ji Guyan exhaled a turbid breath and plunged his longsword into the ground; the blade sank into a crack in the stone floor, and thin wisps of smoke from the evaporated beast blood still lingered on the holy white sword body.

"The boss of this floor is over there." President Ji Guyan lifted his chin and gestured toward the depths of the ruins. "I haven't finished my clearance mission yet. If you want to go over, go ahead; I need to rest for a while."

Lu Cheng followed his gaze and looked over.

Behind the collapsed clock tower in the depths of the ruins, a particularly dense mass of black-red mist was slowly squirming.

Inside the mist, the outline of a behemoth could be vaguely seen, with four thick limbs supporting it on the ground and a row of spike-like bony protrusions standing upright along its spine.

The aura of a Meridian Opening Realm boss surged over from that direction in waves, carrying a fishy, sweet, and rotting stench.

Lu Cheng withdrew his gaze, looked at President Ji Guyan again, and asked.

"How many have you cleared?"

President Ji Guyan leaned against a nearby ruined wall, the back of his head resting against the cold masonry, and he panted twice before speaking.

"Thirty Peak Source Gathering Realm beasts." His voice was much lower than usual. "There are still twelve left to finish."

He paused and added, "I've been fighting my way up from the first floor without resting, and I'm almost at my limit now."

Forty-two Peak Source Gathering Realm beasts, plus one Meridian Opening Realm boss.

This configuration would be enough to give any elite squad a hard time on any city defense line outside the tower.

The difficulty of the fifth floor was several times that of the previous four; those first four stages could only be considered bonus levels for the candidates.

Only students who passed the fifth stage would have a chance to be selected by the academy...

That President Ji Guyan could clear thirty Peak Source Gathering Realm beasts alone under these conditions was enough to prove the value of his Six-Winged Tianshu Bloodline; it would indeed be unwise to force his way through the rest in his current state.

Lu Cheng nodded.

"I haven't finished clearing the ordinary beast missions yet," he said. "But... it should be done before you finish resting."

President Ji Guyan leaned against the ruined wall, stunned for half a second upon hearing this, then pulled his lips into a smile.

"Bragging."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Lu Cheng had already taken a step forward.

This step landed on a crack in the stone slab, the sole of his boot crushing the cluster of moss emitting a faint blue fluorescence, sending fragments of light splashing up, only to be swallowed by a layer of suddenly brightening golden-white light.

The dragon scale armor began to surge outward from Lu Cheng's shoulder blades, golden-white scales growing against his skin one by one, their edges trailing extremely fine, flowing light patterns.

The moment the armor covered his entire body, a pair of Holy Dragon Armament wings unfurled behind him with a boom.

With a wingspan of fully three meters, every bone spur on the wing bones spewed golden-white dragon flames, illuminating the entire ruin battlefield and forcing the dark red moonlight back.

Holy Dragon Armament!

Lightning exploded under Lu Cheng's feet, the thunder patterns of the Thunder Step Boots spreading from the soles to his knees, with electric arcs crackling and dancing across the surface of the armor.

He didn't look toward President Ji Guyan, only raised his hand to flex his fingers.

"One minute."

As his voice fell, he had already vanished.

The first flash of lightning exploded in the southeast corner of the ruins.

An Iron-Spine Boar that was gnawing on its companion's corpse in the ruins hadn't even had time to lift its head before Lu Cheng's knee drove into its eye socket.

Before the dull sound of shattering bone could spread, he used the force to flip to the side, his right fist wreathed in electric light smashing into the lumbar spine of a second Shadow Leopard.

Three Styles of Crushing Fist - Thunder Walk!

Boom!

The Shadow Leopard's entire spine was blasted into three segments, and its body turned into motes of light while still in mid-air.

[Progress: 5/43]

Just as Lu Cheng's feet touched the ground, the Thunder Step Boots triggered again.

The golden-white afterimage flashed between the broken walls of the ruins, and with every pause, a beast was blasted into motes of light.

Six Peak Source Gathering Realm Iron-Spine Boars lunged over from the north side of the ruins simultaneously, their tusks wreathed in corrosive black mist.

Lu Cheng did not dodge.

He met them head-on; the lightning on his right fist and the holy light on his left palm exploded simultaneously—one punch for one, one palm for one.

He grabbed the tusks of the sixth Iron-Spine Boar, swung it around, and smashed it into the ruins of a nearby collapsed stone tower, where the falling bricks and stones buried it solid.

[Progress: 12/43]

[Progress: 18/43]

[Progress: 24/43]

Everywhere in the ruins were motes of light from exploding beasts, like a silent fireworks display.

President Ji Guyan leaned against the ruined wall, his longsword still stuck in the ground. He had intended to close his eyes and rest for a while, but now he couldn't close them at all.

Too fast...

Every movement was an ultimate treat for an onlooker.

From the moment Lu Cheng entered the battle until now, his footsteps had not stopped.

The lightning arcs from the Thunder Step Boots left streaks of light that had not yet dissipated all over the ruins.

The golden-white afterimage trailed by the dragon scale armor sliced the entire battlefield into countless fragments.

It took only about forty seconds for the remaining twelve Peak Source Gathering Realm beasts to turn into motes of light from the moment Lu Cheng began his attack.

The screeching in the ruins suddenly ceased.

[Progress: 42/43]

Lu Cheng stood in the center of the ruins, the last motes of light from the beast still drifting near his feet. He looked up toward the direction of the clock tower.

That Meridian Opening Realm boss had already walked out of the black-red mist.

It had the reptilian build of a quadruped, nearly six meters in length, its entire body covered in dark red bone armor.

The row of bone spurs on its back was seeping black grease, which dripped onto the stone floor, instantly corroding pits that emitted white smoke.

In the gaps of the bone armor, dark red muscle tissue could be seen writhing; every contraction drew the surrounding Source Power into its mouth.

Meridian Opening Realm Initial Stage, Rot-Marsh Bone Lizard.

If this thing were on a real battlefield outside the tower, this bone armor and corrosive body fluid alone would be enough to wipe out an entire Source Gathering Realm squad.

The Rot-Marsh Bone Lizard opened its mouth, and a ball of dark red energy lit up in its throat.

Lightning flashed under Lu Cheng's feet.

He appeared directly above the Bone Lizard, his right fist raised high, the golden-white holy light and black-red demon flames on his fist intertwining.

Flame Demon Transformation!

Flame horns grew on his head, and his pupils turned into molten gold.

The black-red demon flames wreathed around his body overlapped with the golden-white holy light of the Holy Dragon Armament, pulling out an eerie pillar of light under the dark red moonlight.

The Rot-Marsh Bone Lizard looked up, the energy ball in its mouth not yet fired.

Lu Cheng's fist had already arrived.

Thunder Walk - Collapsing Fist - Three Styles: Origin!

The fist struck the very center of the Bone Lizard's forehead. The sound of the bone armor shattering was like a bronze gong being forcefully smashed through, with cracks spreading from its forehead all the way to its tailbone. Holy light poured into the cracks, and demon flames burned out from them.

The entire body of the Rot-Marsh Bone Lizard was smashed into the ground, its six-meter-long body plowing a three-meter-deep trench into the stone floor.

When the motes of light exploded, they were brighter than all the previous beasts; the golden-white pillar of light shot into the sky, dyeing even the dark red moon partially white.

[Progress: 43/43]

[Fifth Floor - Ruin Battlefield - Completed]

Lu Cheng landed, and the Flame Demon Transformation and Holy Dragon Armament faded simultaneously.

He flexed his wrists and walked toward President Ji Guyan.

President Ji Guyan was still leaning against the ruined wall, his posture unchanged.

His expression hadn't changed either; from the moment Lu Cheng said "One minute" until now, his mouth had remained open.

"Is this really something a human can do..."

The air beside President Ji Guyan suddenly cracked open.

A light gate tore out from the void, runes flowing on its faint blue doorframe; it was the portal to the next floor.

Lu Cheng waved at him, "I'm going first."

After saying this, he turned and walked to the other side of the ruins.

His own light gate to the sixth floor had also opened, right next to the pile of rubble in the southeast corner.

President Ji Guyan watched Lu Cheng's back disappear into the light gate, then looked down at his longsword stuck in the ground.

He was silent for two seconds, took a deep breath, pulled out his sword, and sheathed it.

"Damn it..."

He cursed, stood up from the ground, and said, "I can't fall too far behind..."

Outside the Simulation Tower.

Zhang Zhenheng stood in front of the control console, his finger hovering over a light screen, having remained motionless for several seconds.

On the huge ranking light screen behind him, another halo on the fifth floor lit up.

It was Su Wan's name that lit up, but everyone's gaze was not on Su Wan.

Because Lu Cheng's name had already jumped to the sixth floor.

And the time from when the fifth-floor halo extinguished to when it first lit up was less than two minutes.

Two minutes.

The teachers and students watching outside the training area all exploded into an uproar.

"Passed the fifth floor in two minutes?!"

"Isn't the fifth floor forty-two Peak Source Gathering Realm beasts plus a Meridian Opening Realm boss??"

"Two minutes... No, if you only count the actual combat time, it might be less than one minute. This... killing forty-two Peak Source Gathering Realm beasts plus a Meridian Opening Realm boss??? Is this something a Source Gathering Realm could possibly do?!"

Beside the console, several teaching assistants looked at each other, none daring to speak first.

Gu Yu stood at the edge of the training area, expressionlessly staring at the two characters "Lu Cheng" on the ranking light screen.

Lu Cheng.

Damn it.

Gu Yu heard this and walked over to Instructor Zhang, saying.

"Old Zhang, I think this student has issues; I don't rule out the suspicion of cheating."

Zhang Zhenheng rolled his eyes at him and said.

"You should be as clear as I am that it's impossible to cheat inside this Simulation Tower. Every trace of Source Power fluctuation in the tower is recorded, and every kill data is uploaded to the central system in real-time. Are you questioning the underlying architecture of this tower?"

Gu Yu's face was livid; his lips moved as if he wanted to say something more.

"But..."

Killing 43 Source Gathering Realm beasts and one Meridian Opening Realm boss in one minute... Even if it were 44 pigs scattered on the fifth floor, he, with his Peak Meridian Opening Realm strength, might not be able to kill them that fast.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

Zhang Zhenheng didn't look at him again, his gaze falling back onto the ranking light screen, a complex look that only he could perceive flashing in his eyes.

Inside the Simulation Tower, sixth floor.

Lu Cheng walked out of the teleportation light gate, his feet landing on the soft, grayish-black sandy ground.

The terrain of this floor was a desolate Gobi desert, the sky was a dim yellow, and occasionally a few streaks of dark red lightning flashed within the low-hanging clouds.

The wind was strong, wrapping fine sand around him and hitting the Holy Dragon Armament, making a rustling sound.

He lifted his eyes to scan his surroundings, and the system prompt had already appeared in his field of vision.

[Sixth Floor - Desolate Gobi]

[Mission Objective: Kill Meridian Opening Realm Initial Stage beasts × 25]

[Current Progress: 0/25]

Lu Cheng stood in place without rushing, first stretching his shoulders.

Finishing the sixth floor should be enough to go back.

His true level should be able to pass the eighth floor, but the points from the sixth floor were enough.

Continuing any further, compared to higher rewards, letting his enemies increase their vigilance against him was not worth it...

Lu Cheng suddenly paused and looked down at his hands.

His palms were clean, with no wounds, no bloodstains.

His body covered by the dragon scale armor was intact, without even a single scratch.

He suddenly realized something.

He hadn't been injured in a very, very long time.

Ever since he obtained this thing and fused with the Eternal Flame Demon Bloodline, combat had become easier and easier.

Invincible among peers, crushing those of higher ranks; all enemies were like paper before his fists.

He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be injured.

Lu Cheng slowly curled his fingers into a fist, his knuckles making a light clicking sound.

He wanted to know just how strong he was right now... wasn't this... the right time...

[Sixth Floor - Desolate Gobi - Completed]

[Time Taken: 5 minutes 12 seconds]

Lu Cheng glanced at the time, hesitated no longer, and stepped into the teleportation light gate.