Chapter 1 A Generation in Full Bloom

Elder Yin Xin had been keeping a close watch on Yun Bai's movements inside the Black Tower.

He had already made proper arrangements to handle the chaos outside.

For a Cultivator like him, his Divine Sense was extraordinarily powerful, and multitasking was not a problem at all.

"Hmm, such fast speed. He cleared the first stage's Heavenly Soldier Formation so quickly, and this is the 108 Heavenly Soldier Formation," Elder Yin Xin clicked his tongue. "It seems my Chu Prefecture is indeed about to see a dazzling new star emerge."

Elder Yin Xin watched as Yun Bai's progress in clearing the Black Tower reached the second stage of the third floor.

He knew very well that the second stage should be one of the Four Heavenly Kings. He did not know if this kid could handle it, nor did he know which Heavenly King he was facing. The Four Heavenly Kings were responsible for patrolling the four Heavenly Gates, and they sometimes rotated shifts. Therefore, the one guarding the Southern Heavenly Gate was not necessarily the Southern Heavenly King.

The third floor was quite special; both its second and third stages involved battling the same one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

The second stage was about dealing with that Heavenly King's Domain techniques, while the third stage was a battle against that Heavenly King going all out with every technique at his disposal.

In other words, it was somewhat similar to the second phase of a boss fight in the video games Yun Bai played in his previous life.

"Is he still struggling?" Elder Yin Xin waited for a while and found that Yun Bai's progress had stalled at the second stage of the third floor, and he began to feel some concern.

Just then, the information fluctuations transmitted from the Black Tower surged!

[Yun Bai has successfully cleared the second stage of the Black Tower trial's third floor]

[Yun Bai has successfully cleared the third stage of the Black Tower trial's third floor]

[Yun Bai has fallen, current progress: first stage of the fourth floor]

"What! Cleared three stages in a row? What is going on?" Elder Yin Xin simply could not believe his Divine Sense.

How could he suddenly clear three stages in a row?

Could it be that he used thunderous means to kill one of the Four Heavenly Kings on the spot?

Elder Yin Xin quickly locked onto this possibility. He extended his Divine Sense to the State Religion Library to start browsing the archives. Naturally, there had been similar examples in the history of the Black Tower trials. However, there had only been seven such individuals in all these years, and those seven were exactly the top ten on the hidden dragon ranking.

Could Yun Bai also be one?

He had originally thought he had discovered a decent Junior, but who would have thought he would turn out to be such a Prodigy in the blink of an eye?

Elder Yin Xin could not believe it for a moment.

He immediately contacted Supervisor Zhou Shengtai.

"Old Zhou, you—"

"I have already notified the Grand Elder," Supervisor Zhou Shengtai spoke first.

While Grand Elder Xu Antong was in a meeting, a handsome Daoist with a face like jade suddenly entered the conference room.

This was Grand Elder Xu Antong's Personal Disciple, Fellow Daoist Ge Yueze. He approached Grand Elder Xu Antong and used a special secret Divine Sense transmission technique to inform the Grand Elder about what had happened in Chu Prefecture.

These messages were only delivered to Fellow Daoist Ge Yueze because Supervisor Zhou Shengtai had used the highest priority communication request.

After checking that the message was correct, Fellow Daoist Ge Yueze immediately rushed into the meeting to notify Grand Elder Xu Antong.

Grand Elder Xu Antong was very surprised.

A terrorist attack had occurred in Chu Prefecture; this was no small matter.

At the same time, he praised Supervisor Zhou Shengtai and General Lin Jian for handling the arrangements very promptly in this matter. The situation within Chu Prefecture had already stabilized, and at the same time, the State Religion and the military would strengthen martial law within the city.

Small groups of Demon Race elites were harassing the Cang Plains, and terrorist incidents created by the Demon Race had appeared within Chu Prefecture, indicating that the power of the Demon Race had already infiltrated the rear.

As a Grand Elder in the middle of a war meeting, Grand Elder Xu Antong understood the disadvantages on the battle front very well.

The Demon Race had adopted various new types of weapons on a large scale, and their tactical and strategic reforms had yielded obvious results. It was completely different from their previous image as brutes who only knew how to build strong fortifications, fight hard battles, and cause destruction everywhere. It was said that this was all the work of the Demon Race's newly emerged "Heavenly Master."

At the same time, Fellow Daoist Ge Yueze also told Grand Elder Xu Antong another thing—the situation regarding Yun Bai.

Grand Elder Xu Antong's eyes immediately began to shine upon hearing this.

"Yun Bai has cleared the third floor of the Black Tower."

Grand Elder Xu Antong immediately split off a wisp of his Divine Sense to communicate with the Black Tower. The Black Tower responded that Yun Bai had indeed cleared the third floor of the Black Tower and had perished together with the enemy at the very end of the third floor.

"Good kid!" Grand Elder Xu Antong could not help but exclaim loudly in his heart, "What a child of deep affection, righteousness, and unyielding perseverance!"

When he learned from the message attached by Supervisor Zhou Shengtai that Yun Bai was risking his life to clear the tower to raise a huge amount of Spirit Stones to save his sister, he had a deeper recognition and appreciation for Yun Bai's Heart-Nature.

Such a Genius, who valued affection and righteousness and had a firm will, was exactly the kind of pillar the State Religion was most worth investing all its efforts into cultivating. He was far more reliable than those "ungrateful wretches" who had talent but were cold and heartless.

After all, the Northwest border had been chaotic for many years, and incidents of moral decay were common. There had even been a dark period where evil Cultivators ran rampant, bordering on the Demonic Path.

Grand Elder Xu Antong could not easily leave the meeting at this moment, so he immediately issued instructions to Fellow Daoist Ge Yueze: "Ge Yueze, go and handle this personally right now! Go to the Mind Realm, find Jiu Ye, and no matter the cost, buy that 'Rank 6 soul-stabilizing pill' in his hands and immediately send it to Yun Bai. Bestow it in the name of the reward for his successful clearance of the third floor of the Black Tower. At the same time, the Spirit Stone rewards due for clearing the tower must be issued in full, without missing a single bit!"

Fellow Daoist Ge Yueze accepted the order, his figure flashed, and he disappeared from the conference room.

Grand Elder Xu Antong fell into deep thought.

How should he arrange for Yun Bai?

This child had already shown the potential for a Heaven-Grade contract!

He made up his mind and immediately applied to the Holy City headquarters for the highest-level Heaven-Grade special contract for Yun Bai.

The gates of the State Religion Academy in the Holy City would be open to this child at any time.

He began to consider arranging for Yun Bai to go to the Holy City immediately. A Genius like this should not be placed in a border city only a few hundred miles from the front line. This was too dangerous; if a Genius were to fall in the flames of war on the front line, he, Grand Elder Xu Antong, would be unable to shirk his responsibility.

He split off a wisp of his Divine Sense, and his Divine Sense underwent Soul Emergence to communicate with the Black Tower, which was far away in the sky.

He once again split off a more condensed wisp of Divine Sense, which left his body and underwent Soul Emergence to communicate with an existence in the nether regions. The Divine Sense spanned endless time and space, condensing into an illusory figure, and stepped into a mysterious and indescribable strange space.

Inside the space, the Black Tower's artifact spirit, "Elder Black," was stroking his beard, seemingly still savoring something.

"Elder Black." Grand Elder Xu Antong's Divine Sense projection spoke.

"Yo? Isn't this little Xu?" Elder Black raised his head, a hint of playfulness flashing in his eyes. "I heard you've become some Grand Elder, busy with a thousand things a day. How do you have the time to come all the way to this old man's place just for a little brat?"

If an outsider heard this white-haired and white-bearded Grand Elder being called "little Xu," they would surely be shocked, but the two of them appeared extremely natural.

"Elder Black, may I ask about the situation regarding Yun Bai? How did he do it?" Grand Elder Xu Antong asked directly, wanting to know the details.

"Hmph! This kid is very slippery!" Hearing this, Elder Black seemed to hum with some displeasure. "In this old man's view, he most likely guessed this old man's existence and deliberately played a trick while on the third floor! What a cunning little fellow!"

"This?" Grand Elder Xu Antong was stunned, and his heart was even more curious. What exactly had Yun Bai done to make this Elder Black, who had lived for who knows how many years and was a crafty old spirit, suffer a setback?

"You brat, were you mocking this old man in your head just now?" Elder Black glared.

"Uh, this Junior would not dare." Grand Elder Xu Antong kept a straight face and immediately brought the topic back. "Please enlighten me, Elder Black."

"Hmph, see for yourself!" Elder Black waved his hand, and a huge light screen immediately appeared in the space, on which the final scene of the battle between Yun Bai and General Mo Liqing began to play back.

In the scene, Yun Bai could be seen spreading out a strange black Domain that seemed to be able to devour everything, and the outer edge of the Domain was a dazzling white halo that made one's heart palpitate...

"This is... the aura of an Ancient God?!" Seeing this, Grand Elder Xu Antong was finally completely shocked and lost his composure, his voice even carrying a slight, imperceptible tremor. "How can this be! Haven't the Ancient Gods long since—" His words stopped abruptly, as if he had touched upon some taboo deeply buried in the long river of time.

Fortunately, Elder Black had lived for a long time and naturally knew those dusty ancient secrets.

He sighed, his tone becoming somewhat distant: "That is exactly it. It seems... the Human Race's generation is truly favored by Luck, an era of blooming flowers."