Chapter 108 on the list

Inside the State Religion training hall, the long-waiting Cultivators had long since lost their patience, the air thick with whispers of impatience and skepticism.

"Is this Yun Bai actually capable or not?" a bearded man leaning against the wall couldn't help but complain, his voice rough. "He was shouting about wanting to challenge the third level, but I've been wasting my time here for half an hour, and I haven't even seen a shadow of his name on the hidden dragon ranking!"

"I'm afraid he already met his downfall at the second level, didn't he?" a tall, thin Cultivator nearby sneered, tapping the ground with a chess piece in his hand. "Making such a big scene, only for this? Is he just messing with us?"

"Sigh, what a complete waste of time..." someone sighed in agreement, already beginning to pack up their belongings, preparing to leave.

Jiang Shuanger, who had been tightly gripping the corner of her clothes while staring fixedly in the direction of the Black Tower, turned around abruptly upon hearing this.

Her almond-shaped eyes widened, her willow-leaf brows arched in anger, looking like a little beast that had been provoked: "It's easy for you to talk while standing there! If you're so capable, go inside and challenge it yourselves! Let's see how many breaths you can last in there?!"

She stomped her foot in anger, her voice rising with agitation: "Not to mention how far you can get, who among you could go in and persist in fighting for so long without coming out, just like him?!"

Her words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing some of the clamor. Some people looked embarrassed and shut their mouths.

Indeed, was the Black Tower trial child's play?

Many of them couldn't even manage the basic adaptation to that "body" within the tower, moving clumsily, let alone engaging in long battles against those Heavenly Soldiers and Generals who were proficient in coordinated attacks and possessed unpredictable Divine Sense strikes.

That kind of pressure on the level of Divine Sense often caused dizziness, and in severe cases, direct unconsciousness and being ejected from the tower. How could a youth of only eighteen, with a cultivation base of only First Realm Mid-stage, possibly persist for so long?

Just as some people began to reflect inwardly, a sarcastic, Yin and Yang voice rang out again, filled with undisguised malice.

"Hahaha, Miss Jiang, stop trying to put on a brave face for your 'Brother Yun Bai'!" The person speaking was none other than Wang Er's friend, Zhao Qian.

He pushed his way out from the crowd, a mocking sneer on his face. "A greenhorn with a First Realm Mid-stage cultivation base, spending so long in there? I think, most likely, he saw so many people waiting outside to see him make a fool of himself and is too ashamed to come out! Or even worse, perhaps he was already scared witless by the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals in there, collapsed on the ground unable to move? Or even... scared unconscious? Huh? Hahahaha!"

His words immediately drew laughter from a small group of people nearby. "That's right, that's right, Brother Zhao makes sense!" "It must be so! Otherwise, there would have been a result by now!"

For most people, this wasn't purely jealousy, but rather a "belief" that they were unwilling to admit that a Genius was right beside them.

They could accept that Prodigies were born in distant places like the Capital or the Holy City, but it was hard for them to believe that such a person could emerge in this resource-scarce, internally conflicted Northwest frontier city, Chu Prefecture.

Behind this, there was more or less some bitterness and inferiority from being in a backward place. Reality was just that cruel.

Someone like Yun Bai who could sign an Earth-Grade contract was a rare occurrence in ten years in Chu Prefecture.

If a Heaven-Grade truly appeared... that would simply be an unprecedented grand event for the Northwest Region in a century!

In everyone's minds, the possibility of Yun Bai passing the third level was as slim as the Northwest Region producing a Heaven-Grade contractor.

"Let's disperse, let's disperse, there's nothing left to see." "In the end, it's just a futile struggle, both pitiful and lamentable..."

Everyone shook their heads, the discussions gradually died down, and they prepared to disperse, returning to their original spots to continue their previous boring pastimes—chatting, playing cards, or studying that never-ending chess game.

However, at this very moment—

A sharp, distorted exclamation pierced the dullness of the hall like a thorn. "Look! Look! That, that, that is?!" "What's wrong? What happened?" Everyone was attracted, looking in the direction of the sound.

"Look at the ranking list! At the very bottom! Look! That name!!" The first person to discover it was so excited they were incoherent, pointing with a trembling finger at the huge light screen.

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on the very end of the hidden dragon ranking.

They saw that at the very bottom of the originally stable list, a name was emitting a faint yet clear light, climbing up one spot, pushing the guy who was originally in last place down!

Those two characters, simple in strokes, were as scorching as a branding iron at this moment—Yun, Bai!

"Yun Bai?!" "Is it really him?! Am I seeing things?!" "Good heavens! Where did he pop out from?! He passed the second level?!"

The entire training hall was like cold water thrown into boiling oil, instantly exploding into chaos. Exclamations, questioning, and joyous shouts mixed together, the wave of sound almost lifting the roof.

The huge commotion even alarmed the State Religion security enforcement team outside. Several powerful auras quickly swept across the hall, thinking a riot had broken out inside.

"It's really him! He just rose from the last place! It's him!" Jiang Shuanger jumped up in excitement, her eyes instantly reddening, her voice tearful yet filled with incomparable joy. "Great! Great! I knew it! I knew he could do it! He is now... he has already reached the third level!"

"The third level! He really broke into the third level!" "My god... he actually really did it..." "This kid... is he a monster?!"

Someone muttered to themselves, their face full of disbelief. It was boiling! The entire hall was completely boiling!

Regardless of whether Yun Bai could eventually pass the third level, at this moment, he had already achieved something that no one present could match—passing the second level of the Black Tower! This already proved that his strength far exceeded everyone else's!

Moreover, he did it with a cultivation base of First Realm Mid-stage. This was simply shocking!

The Earth-Grade contract terms given by Great Elder Xu Antong of the State Religion only required him to break through to the Second Realm and pass the second level within three years. And Yun Bai had already over-completed it ahead of schedule.

What did this mean? It meant that the potential he possessed was likely far beyond Earth-Grade! Earth-Grade? Or even... the legendary Heaven-Grade?!

That glowing hidden dragon ranking had now become the absolute focus, attracting all the shocked, complex, and expectant gazes.

Countless people began to hold their breath, looking forward to whether that name could continue to create miracles and continue to climb upward.

Inside the State Religion command headquarters, Supervisor Zhou Shengtai had just finished a conversation via the communication Formation Plate with General Lin Jian, rubbing his brow as he pondered the details of the redeployment of Chu Prefecture's city defense.

At this moment, another dedicated communication jade talisman at his waist vibrated urgently, and Elder Yin Xin's astonished voice came from within: "Old Zhou! Old Zhou! Yun Bai! Yun Bai has passed the second level! He is now in the third level!"

"What?!" Upon hearing this, Supervisor Zhou Shengtai's hand shook, almost knocking over the inkstone on the table. He stood up abruptly, his face full of shock. "This... how is this possible? When I used my Divided Soul to perceive earlier, he was clearly still in the second level meditating and adjusting his breath, how could he suddenly..."

He immediately split a wisp of Divine Sense to connect to the Black Tower, and the feedback from Elder Black was irrefutable—Yun Bai was already in the first stage of the third level!

"How did he do it?!" A huge question instantly filled Supervisor Zhou Shengtai's mind.

When Yun Bai demonstrated Second Realm Divine Sense, he had realized that this child was by no means an ordinary Earth-Grade talent, but he only thought that his future was promising and that he needed to reach the Holy City to truly shine.

He had never dared to imagine that in this resource-barren Northwest frontier city, he could encounter such an unreasonable "Heaven-Defying Genius".

Eighteen years old, First Realm Mid-stage cultivation, overcoming numerous difficulties to pass the second level of the Black Tower.

This meant that in terms of his starting point for cultivation, Yun Bai had already crushed the vast majority of Cultivators in the world, and his talent and potential were enough to rival or even surpass many Prodigies in the Capital and the Holy City!

"Heaven-Grade contract..." A thought that made his heart suddenly accelerate uncontrollably emerged. "Could it be that the first Heaven-Grade special contract in the Northwest Region in a hundred years is actually going to be born through my, Supervisor Zhou Shengtai's, hands?!"

He subconsciously tried to contact Great Elder Xu Antong again, but the message was still like a stone sinking into the ocean.

"He has passed the first stage of the third level!" Before Supervisor Zhou Shengtai could fully clear his thoughts from the huge impact, new good news came from Elder Yin Xin's side, the shock in his tone even greater than before.

"What?! He passed again?!" Supervisor Zhou Shengtai completely lost his composure. This speed of clearing levels not only didn't slow down, but was actually accelerating?! "He... could it be that he ate some kind of Heaven-Defying Divine Pill?!"

An indescribable ecstasy and the excitement of having bet on a world-shaking Treasure Trove instantly overwhelmed him. He finally made up his mind.

"Yun Bai, Yun Bai. You really are... exceeding my expectations time and time again." Supervisor Zhou Shengtai looked in the direction of the Jiang residence, his gaze burning. "Yun Qian, you have a good brother who is enough to shake the world!"