Chapter 54: The Iron Pagoda Trial (2)

"Don't expect me to follow you. I'm here to complete the trials." Ling Feiyue coolly said to Yuan Ji. Although she sounded cool but she was upset with Yuan Ji for wasting his profound strength on the low level trials.

Yuan Ji nodded and said nonchalantly, "Alright then."

After he had made his decision, he had walked toward the yellow portal.

To his utter surprise, Ling Feiyue had followed him through the yellow portal.

Yuan Ji gave her a perplexed look, "I've thought that you're going to take the blue portal?"

"Maybe you still got some more trump cards that I'm not aware of." She smiled gently before ignoring him to step into the yellow portal.

Yuan Ji frowned silently, "That is why you can't trust the words of women sometimes…they change their minds as fast as they change their clothing."

He rubbed his chin before adding, "She can certainly change her clothing really fast too…"

There were roughly 10% of the cultivators that had decided to take the green portal to turn back as they had either expended too much of their profound strength to continue or were too seriously injured.

Another 20% of the cultivators had decided to explore the trials of the iron pagoda while 70% of the cultivators presented had decided to go directly to the third level of the trial.

When some of the cultivators saw that Yuan Ji had moved toward the yellow portal, they were smiling secretly.

"I thought that he is quite strong to arrive first at the iron pagoda. In the end, it seems that his strength is just so and so only."

"He must be lucky to reach the iron pagoda without encountering any desolate beasts. I've thought that he is an expert but actually he isn't."

"So he is just a low level golden celestial after all…"

Very soon, Yuan Ji, Ling Feiyue and the roughly sixty other cultivators found themselves in a beautiful white hallway.

"Where are we now?"

"This is where we are supposed to take the trial of the iron pagoda?"

"Guess we should walk down this hallway and check the other end first…"

As everyone moved along the hallway, Ling Feiyue shot Yuan Ji an annoyed look. "Why did you choose the yellow portal first? It is a waste of time."

Yuan Ji laughed, "I am just curious about the trial here, that's all."

"Hmph! Up to you." Ling Feiyue hummed coldly as she distanced herself from Yuan Ji.

"Don't be upset alright?" Yuan Ji said quietly. "Actually I have my reasons for doing so."

"Which is?"

Yuan Ji sighed softly, "Maybe you have come from an influential background and you don't think that the low level profound treasures are rewarding to you. But for me, it is still worth chasing after. Moreover, I have never been to this place before and I will like to explore the place a little more thoroughly first."

Ling Feiyue had a look of guilt in her eyes after she had heard his explanation. "Is that so? Sorry, I am riding on my high horse and fail to see things in your perspective."

Yuan Ji heaved a soft sigh, "I know that you are eager to complete the entire trial in the Lotus Sword Mansion and if possible, also get the best results. Therefore I do not blame you at all. There is no need for you to apologize to me. Rather, I am happy that you are willing to join me here."

Ling Feiyue smiled gently, "I'm here to witness your regretful expressions for choosing to come here actually."

Yuan Ji laughed jovially, "Well, I hope that I won't disappoint you."

All the cultivators had walked for just a while before they could see flying blades zapping all over the place in the hallway ahead of them.

Many of the cultivators were gulping when they saw the dozens of flashing blades that were flashing out of the walls of the hallway before exploding with a huge impact into nothingness; these flashing blades were created by pure profound force and had extreme penetration power.

One of the cultivators said aloud to everyone, "Either we rely on our profound lightless art to dash across this corridor or we have to depend on the defenses of our profound auras."

"Only a golden celestial may have strong enough profound defenses to tank these profound blades. I can't…" A cultivator who was only at fourth realm level shook his head with a sad resignation.

All sixty cultivators were now looking around and saw that there were actually seven golden celestials in their midst. And of course two of them were Yuan Ji and Ling Feiyue.

A golden celestial had proudly walked forward as he smirked with pride, "I am a sixth realm golden supremacy and I also happen to specialize in profound defenses."

It was obvious that he was aiming to be the first person to overcome this trial.

All of a sudden he gave a great shout as his profound aura burst forth in a startling golden light.

He was not lying to everyone; his profound aura was indeed formidable.

All of a sudden everyone could see that there was a totem image of a gigantic spirit entity in his profound aura.

"He already has a spirit entity…" A cultivator gasped with shock.

"After this spirit entity has appeared, his profound aura grows even stronger…"

"This spirit entity is also renowned for its tough defenses!"

"This is a perfect unison between cultivator and spirit entity..."

"Impressive…"

"Genius…"

"Son of the Heavens..."

The golden celestial laughed, "I am not an unknown golden celestial. My name is Han Guanglie from the Guardians Citadel Sect. The whole lot of you should remember my name from today onward!"

Yuan Ji frowned as he turned to Ling Feiyue, "He is quite impressive. Is he famous?"

He had been away for so long and he was not surprised that there were now many such powerful celestials that he did not know. The heroes of tomorrow were always replacing the heroes of old.

Ling Feiyue replied gently, "No idea. Never heard of him before."

"Well, after today, we will all know him." Yuan Ji smiled.

Han Guanglie had quickly dashed into the dangerous hallway and soon the first profound blade had struck him.

Many of the lower level cultivators were gasping as the first profound blade had struck Han Guanglie and they gasped again when the profound blade was dissipated into nothingness by his powerful profound aura.

Han Guanglie smiled triumphantly as he continued to walk ahead.

From his brilliant look, he seemed to be telling everyone that he was so awesome.

Soon, the second profound blade, third profound blade and eventually the tenth profound blade had appeared from the walls and all the profound blades were rendered into nothingness by his formidable defensive profound aura.

Many of the cultivators had never seen anyone with such a formidable profound aura as this Han Guanglie before.

Even Yuan Ji was clapping silently, "His profound aura is really so impressive. I doubt that my full strength sword energies can even penetrate through his profound aura. Although he isn't a saint level cultivator but his profound aura is better than most saints."

Ling Feiyue said coolly, "Just so and so only."

Yuan Ji took a curious look at her, "You mean your profound aura is stronger than him?"

Ling Feiyue smiled as she winked at him, "That is for sure."

Yuan Ji chuckled softly, "You really know how to boast."

Ling Feiyue sneered softly at him, "Do not use your puny profound aura standard to measure against mine."

Yuan Ji: …

Yuan Ji ignored her and he continued to watch Han Guanglie.

"This guy is really a tank!"

"He is too formidable…"

"I wish that I can have even one-tenth of the strength of his profound aura…"

"This is the thirty profound blades now?"

"Too power…"

"He is too awesome…"

As Han Guanglie continued his walk into the hallway, the pace of the profound blades had also increased from one to two, from two to three and multiple profound blades could be seen flying on him now.

Han Guanglie was trembling lightly now and he had broken into cold sweat as the number of profound blades were increasing as it struck him one after another. He had to maintain all his focus and profound strength in order to maintain his profound aura.

Every hit by the profound blade was a drain to his profound strength. Every two simultaneous hit was not a double drain but required three times more profound strength to maintain it as he had to quickly replenish the profound power of his profound aura.

Every three simultaneous hit was a greater drain to his profound strength.

And now the profound blades were hitting him from all sides simultaneously.

Han Guanglie knew that he had to endure just a little longer. The light at the end was actually very near and soon he would overcome this trial.

But unfortunately his profound strength had to give up at this point when six profound blades had decided to strike him at the same time and he was soon sliced to pieces by the profound blades.

When he got sliced to pieces, many of the cultivators were blankly blinking their eyes.

"He didn't make it?"

"Obviously not…"

"He is so close..."

"I can't believe it…"

"I think he is really dead as well…"

"Yes, I saw the profound blade exploding his heart and slicing through it too…"

"Such a renowned cultivator and he is permanently dead now…"

"The awesome guy has just died…"

Even Yuan Ji was speechless when he saw the scene, "This…"

Ling Feiyue said coolly, "He is just a noob that uses too much of his profound strength at the very start. If he has better control or is a saint level cultivator, he should be able to clear this trial."

Yuan Ji could only say, "Well, he did use his life to show everyone the expectations."

Then he added sadly, "If he didn't use his spirit entity to show off in front of us, he would probably clear this trial almost effortlessly."

Ling Feiyue nodded as she said, "Although having a spirit entity was a great advantage but it would also consumed a great deal of the cultivator's profound strength to maintain it."

Many of the cultivators were now muttering with shock, "So who's next?"

Suddenly two of the cultivators were saying to each other, "Protégé brother, I don't have the courage to kill myself. Why don't I kill you and you kill me?"

"Right. If we're lucky and the trial portal isn't closed yet, we can still retake the trial again. And we will be mindful about coming this way to take this trial again."

"Alas, I really regret taking the yellow portal and I should have taken the blue portal." The same cultivator was lamenting loud now.

With that, the two cultivators had 'killed' themselves and had vanished from view.

After these two cultivators had killed themselves, they were quickly followed by sixteen more cultivators. It was because they all felt their poor heart could not take it and the profound blade seemed to be aiming for the hearts.

Yuan Ji muttered, "These cultivators…"

But he quickly calmed himself down and said, "Guess we can only use our profound lightless skill now."

And when he had said that, he had already sped past through the dozens of flying profound blades.

Everyone was holding their breath; it was because they could only see the many afterimages of Yuan Ji and it seemed to them that he had narrowly avoided being hit by the profound blades each time.

Many of the cultivators that did not have a superb divine sense were all gasping and had thought that he had been struck but it turned out to be his afterimage instead.

In less than ten blink of an eye, he had already reached to the other end in safety, stunning all the onlookers.

More than three hundred profound blades were seen flying all over the hallway and it had all missed Yuan Ji.

There was no other description other than absolute astonishment to describe his profound lightless feat that awed many of the onlookers except for one.

And that was Ling Feiyue.

It was because Ling Feiyue was the next one to speed past the deadly profound blades in a straight line with her afterimages and she had only taken seven blinks of an eye.

Everyone was stunned by her lightless movement that was being displayed by her.

It was because Yuan Ji was already a record breaker and now they had another record breaker.

Yuan Ji frowned lightly to Ling Feiyue, "You just take away my limelight."

Ling Feiyue lit a gentle smile, "Do you really think that you think that you're the main lead of the story?"

Yuan Ji answered weakly, "I thought I am…"

But he quickly rebuked her gently, "Just because you want to show off, you have expended so much of your profound strength. Didn't you say that you want to conserve your profound strength. Is it worth it?"

Ling Feiyue hummed with a beautiful smile, "Because I like."

Profound lightless art actually consumed a great deal of the cultivator's profound strength. The faster it was, the greater effort it was to maintain it and hence it consumed even more profound strength. Every step beyond the limit could have the effect of consuming double the profound strength!

This was likened to a sword that was thrust into the ground. While a cultivator could casually thrust a sword several inches into the ground with a swung of their profound strength but every additional inch would require double the profound power due to ground resistance.

Stories about cultivators destroying mountains and huge boulders were only used in metaphor speeches to describe how powerful they were but the truth was that none could even barely moved a huge boulder much less than destroying it as the shock resistance and density of the large rocks could easily absorb the profound power of the cultivators.

A lightning bolt had more profound power than the strongest cultivator. What a lightning bolt could not damage, the cultivator was unable to do so as well.

After the two of them had cleared the trial of the flying profound blades, there were twenty more cultivators that had also made through it. Among the twenty, ten were seriously wounded and another four had light wounds.

Although there were six others that were not injured as they also had superb lightless skill but none of them were able to clear it within forty blinks of an eye.

Among the survivors were two golden celestials.

All in all, forty cultivators had failed the trial.

Soon everyone was in another hallway and this hallway was leading them to another grand hall which had two shimmering portals.

And suddenly everyone was beaming with excitement.

It was because this was the reward hall!

There was a black stele in the hall and touching it immediately revealed to them that they would now be able to claim their rewards.

One portal would lead to the Weapon Hall for them to pick a weapon of their choice as a reward.

The other portal would lead to the Alchemy Hall for them to pick a profound pill as a reward.

Ling Feiyue was a little unhappy with Yuan Ji for waiting earlier so that he could see which of the cultivators could make it through the trial.

It was because the two of them were actually the first to clear the trial. Therefore if they could each go to the Weapon and Alchemy Hall, they would have a chance to make the first pick.

Now that everyone knew what the rewards would be, there was a mad rush to the two portals.

Most of the cultivators had picked the Weapon Hall because there may be a chance for a divine sword to be given. If not, a heaven-step precious sword was also thought to be good enough!

Sixteen of the cultivators had picked the Weapon Hall while the Alchemy Hall was picked by the two golden celestials and two other lower level cultivators.

As for why the golden celestials picked the Alchemy Hall over the Weapon Hall, it was because they were desperate for some profound pills for their breakthrough. Therefore their choices were not surprising to Yuan Ji.

The lower level cultivators would usually prefer weapons to aid them in combat and at the same time it would also help them to climb further in their clan tournament rankings. When their clan ranking improved, naturally they would be allocated profound pills and other cultivation resources.

This was what Yuan Ji had analyzed and he had said it to Ling Feiyue while rubbing his chin.

"Enough of your analyzing already." Ling Feiyue was really unhappy now. "Can we please make our own choices now? All the good stuffs are already taken away."

She really could not believe that Yuan Ji was just watching everyone curiously and waiting to see what portals they would be picking.

Yuan Ji shrugged his shoulder as he said nonchalantly, "Alright, it is our turn to choose now."

"The Weapon Hall or Alchemy Hall? Ling Feiyue asked with a soft resignation. It seemed that she was the one regretting coming with Yuan Ji because he seemed to be enjoying himself.

Whether it was the Weapon Hall or the Alchemy Hall, it did not matter now because they were not the first.

Yuan Ji was staring at the two portals and he had suddenly used his sword to deflect the light of the two portals together and had revealed a secret third portal.

With a grin, he said to Ling Feiyue. "We are taking this third portal."

Ling Feiyue was stunned as she stammered with disbelief, "How did you know that there is a third portal?!"

Yuan Ji grabbed her wrist to pull her to him before saying, "The stele will sometimes lie. I tell you when we're inside before we have more company."

Ling Feiyue was stunned. The stele in the trials was like the absolute truth and no one had a reason to believe that it would lie.