Chapter 920: Chapter 146: Lin Chen: So Easy It Feels Unreal

In front of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda.

At this moment, the mist shrouding the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda has mostly retreated, and the martial artists from the Canglan Sect can’t hide the smiles on their faces.

It’s already been a quarter of an hour, and no one has come forward to challenge Junior Brother Lin; it seems everyone has been intimidated by his prowess.

The martial artists from the Eight Desolates Sect, seeing the elated expression of the Canglan Sect’s martial artists, feel a deep discomfort, with some unable to resist saying sarcastically: "Lin Chen’s rapid improvement in strength probably means the entire sect’s resources have been concentrated on him alone, unable to realize that someone has stolen their cultivation resources, truly foolish."

Unfortunately, the words from the Eight Desolates Sect’s martial artists did not receive approval from others; in fact, quite a few martial artists cast disdainful glances at the speaker.

Everyone here is a disciple of a super sect; can they really be unclear about how sects nurture their disciples?

Disciples like Lin Chen, a celestial pride, indeed receive special cultivation from the sect and indeed get a tilt in martial path resources, but it doesn’t affect others in the slightest, because every super sect has a comprehensive system for nurturing disciples.

Furthermore, in just two years going from the Innate First Realm to the Peak of Innate Third Realm, if one doesn’t overdraw their martial path potential, is it even possible to get there just by stacking martial path resources?

As for overdrawing martial path potential?

It would take the upper echelons of the Canglan Sect to be utterly confused in their minds to do such a thing, destroying the future for immediate gains.

On the circular platform, Lin Chen stands silently, his expression tranquil, though his inner thoughts are far from calm as shown.

He’s been savoring the scene when Qi Tinnan’s figure vanished at that moment.

His divine soul, comparable to the Innate Sixth Realm, couldn’t even catch Qi Tinnan’s silhouette at the instant he disappeared; Qi Tinnan’s body-shifting cultivation technique is truly extraordinary.

In the Innate Sixth Realm, each level up is an incredible surge in strength, and it’s hard for lower realms to fight across realms, partly because of the divine soul.

In the Innate Realm, battles are not based on sight, as your eyes may not be fast enough.

What’s really used to lock onto opponents is the divine thought.

Through divine thought perception, you can tell what your opponent is doing, especially when a high realm faces a low realm; you can see every move of the latter clearly, so sneak attacks from lower realms become impossible.

If face-to-face combat fails and sneak attacks are impossible, that’s why it is difficult to fight across realms in the Innate Realm.

The Star-Burning Valley’s Illusion Star Technique is remarkably mystical.

Lin Chen has already hatched a plan; once he emerges from the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda, once this Alchemy Competition ends, he plans to use [Martial Path Fame] to learn the Illusion Star Technique of the Star-Burning Valley.

...

Time ticks away, bit by bit.

No more martial artists on the plaza came forward to challenge Lin Chen; these martial artists are not fools, seeing that Qi Tinnan was defeated by Lin Chen, fearing they would likely struggle even against Qi Tinnan.

What’s most crucial is that, so far, Lin Chen has quickly defeated his opponents in both battles, and his true strength and ultimate moves have yet to be revealed, not even the sect’s ultimate skill, Canglan’s Eyes, known for greater power, has been witnessed.

Amongst the cloud, the figure of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda continues to reveal itself, and at the moment it fully emerges, all disciples of the Canglan Sect finally breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s settled; no one will challenge Junior Brother Lin anymore.

As the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda fully reveals itself, a beam of light descends upon Lin Chen, his figure disappears from the circular platform, and upon reappearing, he’s standing before the tower gate of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda.

Numerous martial artists present, holding trepidation in their hearts, only relaxed their expressions upon seeing Lin Chen at the tower gate.

Just within that one two-hour span, they constantly battled their rationality, suppressing the urge to challenge Lin Chen.

Even if Lin Chen defeated Xia Anbo, even as he defeated Qi Tinnan, there were quite a few martial artists at the Peak of Innate Third Realm, a hundred or so, not all believing themselves inferior to Qi Tinnan.

Now seeing Lin Chen appear at the tower gate, they no longer need to struggle internally, as the chance to challenge has passed.

...

...

Slowly, the gates of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda open, and under everyone’s gaze, Lin Chen steps inside; as Lin Chen enters the pagoda, the doors gently close behind him.

"How many levels do you think Lin Chen can conquer?"

Unable to compete for the spot now, all the martial artists at the scene relaxed instead and began discussing how many levels Lin Chen might conquer.

"According to previous accounts from Lv Zejia, the first thirty levels of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda adjust difficulty based on the entrant’s strength, so it’s hard to judge."

"Indeed, if there was a standard difficulty, it might be easier to judge, but now no one knows how this Heaven-Reaching Pagoda adjusts, or what exactly the test for the first thirty levels is."

Until now, aside from Lin Chen, only two individuals have entered the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda; Zuo Chuan disclosed nothing about its internal conditions, and Lv Zejia, though he revealed some information, kept things ambiguous.

According to Lv Zejia, the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda adjusts based on the entrant’s strength, which logically means everyone would conquer the same number of levels, regardless of whether they are in the Innate First Realm or Second, Third, even Fourth or Fifth Realm...

If the first level of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda is adjusted to seventy percent of the entrant’s strength, with each subsequent level increasing difficulty, everyone theoretically conquers three levels.

But the discrepancy in levels between Zuo Chuan and Lv Zejia suggests it’s not purely about adjusting based on strength but must involve other factors.

"Lin Chen should surpass Lv Zejia; since the royal family introduced the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda via Martial Arts Seal, combined with prior Martial Arts Mountain, the royal family aims to select potential martial artists and reward them, the old man’s judgement perceives Lv Zejia’s potential above Zuo Chuan’s, but Lin Chen’s potential needs no elaboration."

An elder gave his assessment, and everyone across the plaza showed signs of agreement.

They all acknowledge Lin Chen surpassing Lv Zejia in the tower; though the martial artists from the Eight Desolates Sect may not willingly accept, they too concede internally.

Now the only question remains: How many levels can Lin Chen surpass Lv Zejia?

...

...

The tower gate silently closed behind Lin Chen, isolating him from the clamor of the outside world. Lin Chen looked around; the entire interior was not the open corridors or staircases he had imagined, but a boundless, grayish space filled with a chaotic atmosphere.

In front of him, in the center of that space, floated a cubic orb of light radiating a gentle golden glow.

Seeing this rune, Lin Chen voluntarily walked forward and placed his hand on top of the orb.

There was no sound prompting him to do so, nor did any information emerge in his mind, but instinct told him this was what he needed to do.

A very peculiar sensation, as if it was a judgment made instinctively by his body and Divine Soul.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

As his hand rested on the rune, the entire grayish space continuously shifted, and simultaneously, the six-sided orb of light began to display numbers on the side facing him.

One!

Seeing the number one, Lin Chen was on full alert, ready for any impending crisis.

Unexpectedly, less than two breaths after the number "One" appeared, it flickered and changed into another number.

"Two!"

Lin Chen’s pupils contracted as he continued to watch.

"Three!"

"Four!"

Every three breaths, a level jumped. When he saw the number reach "Eleven"

Am I directly surpassing eleven levels?

Watching the numbers rapidly advance from one to eleven, uncertainty flickered in Lin Chen’s eyes.

Initially, he judged the numbers might correspond to the tower levels, but when the number exceeded six, he began to doubt his assumption.

If that’s the case, how did Zuo Chuan only break through six levels?

And when the number surpassed ten, this doubt deepened.

Had he done nothing, and already surpassed Zuo Chuan and Lv Zejia?

The Heaven-Reaching Pagoda shouldn’t be that simple, right?

Twenty!

Finally, the number on the six-sided orb of light stabilized at twenty, and stopped flickering. Strangely, Lin Chen felt a sense of relief.

This seemingly easy surpassing of twenty levels gave him a sense of uneasy illusion; he would have rather fought through twenty battles to arduously reach this level.

"Perhaps this is the difference between those with humble origins and the scions of nobility."

Lin Chen muttered softly. If Yin Yue had entered and effortlessly cleared twenty tests, it wouldn’t have been surprising to her because she would see it as normal for a princess of the Moon Soul Race.

But he had come all this way relying on step-by-step, combat after combat ascension; experiencing such a special treatment for the first time truly made him uneasy.

Three more breaths passed, and the number on the orb jumped again, becoming twenty-one.

At the same time, in that murky space, ten Jade Scrolls appeared out of thin air, quietly hovering in front of him.

"The first ten levels test whether the body has reached the limit for that realm."

"The next ten levels test whether the Divine Soul has reached the limit for that realm."

"These ten levels test whether comprehension has reached the limit for that realm."

"Ten Jade Scrolls, ten cultivation techniques, comprehension of each can reach the tenth level, all within one two-hour period."

This time, a segment of information finally appeared in Lin Chen’s mind, and a look of realization crossed his face as he finally understood why he was able to easily pass the first twenty tests.

That Lv Zejia wasn’t wrong. The first thirty levels indeed adjust based on the strength of the entrant, but only set standards based on the entrant’s realm.

Thus it seemed Zuo Chuan’s body was far from the limit for that realm, and Lv Zejia’s body met the standard, but his Divine Soul fell short of the limit, stopping him at the tenth level.

However, the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda is also humane. In addition to providing self-assessment, it also offers a battle test on the final level. If one can defeat the opponent manifested by the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda, they can still advance to the next level.

Unfortunately, both Lv Zejia and Zuo Chuan failed.

Having cultivated the Immortal Body, it seemed he had already reached the limit attainable by the Peak of Innate Third Realm, and this Heaven-Reaching Pagoda provided a concrete understanding of his condition.

As for the Divine Soul, that need not even be mentioned.

What Lin Chen hadn’t expected was the last ten levels testing comprehension.

Lin Chen reached out and grabbed a Jade Scroll, immersing his divine thought into it, briefly scanning it, then proceeded to the second Jade Scroll, and the third...

Ten Jade Scrolls, ten different types of cultivation techniques, all of very high difficulty...

In the outside world, understanding one of these in a few days would count as good Martial Path comprehension, yet mastering ten in one two-hour period...

No matter how difficult, Lin Chen would not give up.

Taking a deep breath, he quickly immersed his divine thought into the first Jade Scroll, and while he studied the cultivation technique mantra within, all Martial Path Wills in the stars within his Dantian reappeared, initiating evolution among the myriad stars.

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