Wuta, first floor, third level.
Passing through the Blistering Arrow Corridor of the second level, Zhang Ruochen stepped on the hard ground and arrived at the third level.
Pushing open the iron door of the third level, a ten foot square pool appeared in front of him, only to see a translucent and crystal jade tablet standing by the side of the pool. A line of words emerged above the jade tablet, “Count the number of ripples in the pool, with an error of no more than ten ripples.”
“Count the ripples, what does it mean?”
Before Zhang Ruochen could react, he heard a sound of falling water.
“Dang!”
At the top of the pool, a silver coin fell, smashing into the calm surface of the pool.
In the middle of the pool, a circle of ripples immediately appeared, stirring from the bit in the centre, towards the edge of the pool.
Although Zhang Ruochen did not understand the meaning of this level, he still immediately stared at the surface of the water to count the number of ripples, “One, two, three ……”
The ripples became thinner and weaker, and the difficulty of observing them increased.
“This is testing the martial artist’s mental strength, observation, judgement, and willpower!”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes became increasingly dry and even stung a little, yet he continued to stare at the surface of the pool and did not move his gaze away.
It seemed like a very simple thing, but it contained the Great Dao of Martial Arts.
Firstly, spiritual power. If one’s spiritual power was not strong enough, one would not be able to see the subtle changes in the ripples at all.
Second, observation power. Only those with keen observation could see every ripple. This was because, after the ripples spread out from the centre, they hit on top of the iron wall at the edge of the pool and began to surge in the opposite direction again, affecting the martial artist’s observation to a certain extent. Those who were not observant enough would definitely panic when the water ripples surged back, thus losing at this level.
Third, judgement. As the ripples became weaker and weaker, it even looked like the water had completely calmed down. At this time, this was the time to test the martial artist’s judgement. When exactly was the water considered truly calm?
Fourth, willpower. With a high level of mental concentration, as well as constantly counting the number of ripples, one’s eyes were very easily fatigued, and without willpower, it was simply impossible to hold on until the time when the water was completely calm.
About fifteen minutes passed, and the water surface finally calmed down.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes were burning with pain as he closed his eyes and let his eyes rest a little, “Luckily, I opened up my eye vein, and my eye power is far beyond that of a martial artist in the same realm. Moreover, my mental power is strong, reaching above the 30th rank, and I can clearly distinguish every ripple. This level isn’t too difficult for me!”
Zhang Ruochen walked to the front of the jade tablet, lifted an inscription pen on the ground, and carved a number on top of the jade tablet.
Two thousand seven hundred and sixty-five water ripples!
“Wow!”
On the surface of the jade tablet, a white glow emerged, and another line of words appeared:
Two thousand seven hundred and sixty-five water lines, zero error. Pass.
Zhang Ruochen smiled faintly, ”It’s really the same as what I observed. However, this level is still quite perverse, no wonder so many people were unable to pass this level. This is a test of a martial artist’s overall quality!”
“Boom!”
The door leading to the third level of the Martial Tower opened.
Zhang Ruochen walked straight in, ascending a step by step ladder to the third floor of the Martial Tower.
The tower light on the third floor of the Martial Tower lit up.
At this moment, those young martial artists and the nine elders outside the Martial Tower were once again startled.
Of the ten martial artists who had originally entered the Martial Tower with Zhang Ruochen, eight of them had already retreated in defeat, leaving only Xie Zhaowu of the Sifang County Kingdom and Zhang Ruochen of the Yunwu County Kingdom, who were still barging through the Martial Tower.
“Another person has broken through the third level of the second tier and entered the third tier of the Martial Tower. Who will it be?”
“It’s definitely Xie Zhaowu of the Sifang County Kingdom.”
“Right! It must be Xie Zhaowu! Although Xie Zhaowu’s fame isn’t as good as Prince Huo Xing and Qing Yu, he is after all still a genius at the Xuanji Realm’s Small Extreme Position. To reach the Xuanji Realm’s Small Extreme Position at such a young age, how could he be mediocre?”
No one would think that it was Zhang Ruochen who had broken through the third level of the second tier, after all, Zhang Ruochen was too young, only sixteen years old, and moreover, only at the middle stage of the Xuan Extreme Realm.
Even Elder Situ nodded gently and said, “Xie Zhaowu must have hidden his strength in the past, just wanting to wait until the time of the Martial Pagoda to break through the barrier to make a splash. For this son to have such a heart, he will definitely have notable achievements in the future.”
The other eight elders were all cold-faced, not wanting to see Elder Situ’s smug look.
Elder Situ was the receiver of the martial artists of the Four Directions County Kingdom, and the better the results of the martial artists of the Four Directions County Kingdom, the more rewards Elder Situ would receive.
Seeing the third floor tower light up, Elder Situ was of course very happy and couldn’t help but feel smug.
But the next moment, the expression on Elder Situ’s face froze.
“Squeak!”
The gate of the martial tower opened, and Xie Zhaowu walked out of the gate with his head hanging down.
Xie Zhaowu slightly raised his head just in time to see the nine elders all staring at him with wide eyes, causing him to be startled and take a slight step back in fear.
What had happened?
Elder Situ immediately greeted him and asked, “Xie Zhaowu, how many levels have you broken through?”
Seeing Elder Situ’s imposing appearance, Xie Zhaowu was so frightened that he once again took a step back, and only after steadying his footsteps did he say in a somewhat trembling voice, “Reporting back to the Elder, I broke through the second level of the second tier, and failed at the third level. Elder Situ, what exactly happened?”
Elder Situ’s face immediately turned pig-liver coloured, and he even became somewhat furious as he roared, “Since you failed at the third level of the second tier, why did the tower lights on the third tier of the Martial Tower light up?”
“What? The tower light on the third level of the Martial Tower is on?” Xie Zhaowu was even more surprised than Elder Situ.
Elder Xie, who was standing not far away, laughed loudly and said, “Elder Situ, you must know that there is still a young martial artist in the Martial Tower, and since Xie Zhaowu failed, then it must be that young martial artist who broke through the third level of the first floor.”
“The ninth prince of the Yunwu County Kingdom, Zhang Ruochen.”
At this moment, the crowd finally reacted and couldn’t help but reveal a shocked expression.
If a martial artist in the middle Xuanji realm could also break through the third level of the first floor of the Martial Tower, that would be too incredible!
Only Zi Xi appeared the calmest in the room because, no one knew Zhang Ruochen’s strength better than her. If Zhang Ruochen hadn’t broken through the third level of the first floor, that would be strange.
“You step back!” Elder Situ glared fiercely at Xie Zhaowu, then, added, “Someone, send Zhang Ruochen’s information to this Elder.”
Elder Situ still didn’t believe that a mid Xuanji Realm martial artist could break through the third level of the second tier, and wanted to check on this Zhang Ruochen.
It didn’t take long for an Outer Palace disciple, to deliver Zhang Ruochen’s information, to Elder Situ’s hands.
“How is that possible?”
After seeing Zhang Ruochen’s information, Elder Situ was so shocked that his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.
The other eight elders revealed a curious look, what was so remarkable about Zhang Ruochen’s profile, how could it shock even Elder Situ like that?
“Calm down! Calm down! Elder Situ, you’re a big old man, you should learn to remain calm, how could the profile of a mere young genius shock you like that?” Elder Xie laughed.
Elder Situ’s face was solemn as he said, “You guys don’t talk about sarcasm, come see for yourselves.”
The eight elders looked at each other and walked over, all of them looking at Zhang Ruochen’s profile.
After reading it, the expressions of the eight elders became exactly the same as Elder Situ’s, so shocked that they couldn’t speak for a long time.
“Only opening the Divine Martial Seal at the age of sixteen, and up until now, it’s only been less than a year of cultivation, right? Cultivating for less than a year and reaching the middle Xuanji realm?”
“Look here, you guys, after only half a year of cultivation, you became a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist and ranked first on the Yellow Ranking. Gosh! What kind of amazing talent is this?”
Although Elder Xie was the guide for the young martial artists of the Yunwu County Kingdom, but before, he hadn’t gone through Zhang Ruochen’s information.
At this moment, Elder Xie only saw Zhang Ruochen’s information for the first time, and broke into curses, saying, “That son of a b*tch, Liu Chuan Shen, why didn’t he tell me ahead of time that Zhang Ruochen was actually so demonic? It’s a pity! What a pity!”
Of course, Elder Xie was quite depressed and regretful, if he had known that Zhang Ruochen’s talent was so high, he would have taken Zhang Ruochen as a disciple in advance when he was on his way to receive Zhang Ruochen to the Martial City Academy Palace.
Now, it was too late!
A genius with such a high natural talent would definitely be accepted as a personal disciple by the Dean of the Western Academy, and it would not be his turn at all.
Elder Xie cursed all eighteen generations of Liu Chuan Shen’s ancestors.
Liu Chengfeng stood not far away, a displeased look on his face, muttering in a low voice, saying: ”Uncle Xie has usually been gentle and elegant, why did he suddenly break into a rage and curse my father? Forget it, he’s an elder, I won’t bother with him.”
Liu Xifeng was also quite depressed.
……
Zhang Ruochen walked into the first level of the third floor of the Martial Tower, and came to another closed martial arts training ground, very similar to the first level of the ground floor, and the first level of the first floor.
“Wow!”
On the stone wall, Luo Xu’s Spiritual Void Body, once again walked out.
Luo Xu glanced towards Zhang Ruochen and smiled, “This level, there is no need to battle! You already passed at the first level of the first floor!”
Zhang Ruochen was able to tell that the aura on Luo Xuyi’s body was still at the late Xuanji Realm, so he asked, “For this level, how many moves do I need to catch senior before I can be considered to have passed?”
“Three moves.” Luo Xu said.
Luo Xu’s first move was 20% power, the second move was 30% power, and the third move was 40% power.
As long as one caught Luo Xu’s three moves, they would be able to pass the first level of the third floor.
One should know that Zhang Ruochen had caught all nine of Luo Xu’s moves during the first level of the first floor. Therefore, there was no need to fight again at this level and he would directly pass.
Zhang Ruochen stared at Luo Xu and said, “I have a doubt in my mind!”
“I can answer a question for you.” Luo Xu laughed.
Zhang Ruochen said, “In the four hundred and sixty years of the Western Academy, the most powerful mid Xuan Extreme Realm martial artist is you, and the most powerful late Xuan Extreme Realm martial artist is still you. Is it true that you are the strongest in all seven realms of the Xuan Polarity Realm?”
Luo Xu said, “Before you appeared, it was indeed like this. However, after you appear, I believe that you will replace me in every realm and become the new guardian of the Martial Tower.”
After saying that, Luo Xu’s body turned into a wisp of aura and disappeared into the martial arts training ground.
Zhang Ruochen smiled gently, then walked towards the second level of the third floor.
……
