Chapter 598: Chapter 380: Urgency

Xu Yang glanced at the passage leading to the Ninth Layer, suppressing the urge to step inside.

He wanted to see what the tenth and eleventh layers looked like, but doing so would attract too much attention. Beating the eighth layer was already enough to secure his ranking on the Celestial Strategy Wind and Cloud List; there was no need to show off further.

Circulating the Formless Thousand Illusion Skill, he disguised himself to look completely exhausted and forced a few drops of blood to trickle from the corner of his mouth. "I concede!" Xu Yang said flatly.

The next moment, the scenery before his eyes shifted, and he appeared at the entrance of the Battle Tower. Xu Yang "stumbled" forward, reaching out to support himself against the tower wall.

"Xu Yang is out!"

"Look at him, he looks completely spent."

"I was really afraid he’d push into the tenth layer."

"I bet he got blasted out the moment he stepped into the Ninth Layer. The Ninth Layer is his absolute limit."

Seeing Xu Yang emerge, many people couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. They had been genuinely afraid that he would keep going.

"Junior Brother Xu, are you alright?" Sun Tao, who had already recovered somewhat, walked over to support him with a look of concern.

Xu Yang shook his head. "I’m fine. I’m just a bit drained of strength. The rest are all minor injuries; I just need a moment to recover."

"Not bad!" Jin Yu smiled and looked over.

Xu Yang’s current result was second only to Sun Tao. If the Lingyun List were still around, he would be ranked fifteenth. People who repeatedly shattered the rankings of the Lingyun List were a rare sight, and Jin Yu was very satisfied with Xu Yang’s performance.

Many people looked at Xu Yang in shock. Jin Yu had always been unruffled and rarely spoke. Even when those Spirit Bone Celestial Pride geniuses finished their tower runs, he wouldn’t necessarily offer a single word of praise. Xu Yang was absolutely the sole exception.

"Thank you for the praise, Teacher," Xu Yang said, cupping his hands.

Sun Tao helped him sit down to the side. Gu Qingfeng strode over and chuckled, "Brother Xu, you’re amazing. You’re already at the eighty-fifth place on the Celestial Strategy Wind and Cloud List."

Hearing this, Xu Yang looked back and sure enough, saw his name on the Celestial Strategy Wind and Cloud List. There was only one person separating him and Sun Tao.

"Brother Gu is joking. Compared to you, what is a mere eighty-fifth place?"

As Xu Yang spoke, Jiang Fan and a few others began entering the Battle Tower.

"Brother Xu’s astounding performance is truly enviable." Zuo Mu, Qiu He, and the others walked over. Xu Yang’s display today made him the undeniable sole dark horse.

Not far away, Du Ziming, Fang Xu, and the others stood together with Huo Xiaochen. Du Ziming sent a voice transmission, "He comes from a peasant background. Logically speaking, without the backing of a faction, it’s impossible for his Cultivation to progress this fast. Should we investigate if some power is already secretly backing him?"

The fact that Xu Yang could reach the Ninth Layer meant that his Cultivation speed was no slower than anyone else’s. Without resources, relying solely on absorbing Spiritual Qi to cultivate, even a Spirit Bone Celestial Pride couldn’t possibly achieve such progress.

Huo Xiaochen glanced at Xu Yang and shook his head. "No one is backing him. Don’t forget, he still has credits."

Credits? Du Ziming and the others were taken aback. Who would be willing to use credits to exchange for Cultivation Resources? Generally, they were used to exchange for Cultivation Techniques or to go to the Martial Tower to comprehend Martial Techniques. Only a fool would trade them for resources.

"That’s right. The last time he fought with Wan He and me, he didn’t have any decent Martial Techniques to show for it," Du Ziming said, coming to a sudden realization as he remembered his three clashes with Xu Yang.

On the other side, Wan He kept his head lowered, not daring to look at Xu Yang. Before entering the Battle Tower, he had boastfully declared that he would surpass him. Now that Xu Yang had pushed into the Ninth Layer while he had stopped at the Sixth Layer, he only felt his face burning hotly. The surrounding gazes seemed to be mocking him.

Xu Yang meditated for a while before seeing a faint flash of light at the Battle Tower’s entrance, where Jiang Fan abruptly appeared. Of the three who had gone in, he was the first to be eliminated, stopping at the Fifth Layer.

Time passed. An hour later, everyone in Basic Class A—except for Lu Ren—had entered the Battle Tower. Of the later entrants, the vast majority stopped at the Sixth Layer, with a small minority halting at the Fifth Layer.

Without staying to watch the rest of the tower runs, Jin Yu led everyone back to the classroom.

"The half-year period is over. In a few days, the Academy will arrange for you to go out for tempering. During this tempering period, you must remember not to slack off on your Cultivation," Jin Yu said, his gaze sweeping across the crowd.

The so-called tempering was, in fact, doing tasks. The Celestial Strategy Academy had so many students and teachers to support, so naturally, they had their own industries which required people to manage them. The crowd had known about this for a long time. It was impossible to enter the Celestial Strategy Academy, do absolutely nothing, and just receive resources for cultivation every day. Of course, it wasn’t uncompensated labor; everything rewarded credits.

"Yes!" Everyone cupped their hands in acknowledgment.

"If you don’t want the Academy to make arrangements for you, you can also take the initiative to accept tasks beforehand." Jin Yu continued, "Next, I will issue a cultivation task to all of you."

As he spoke, he looked toward Qi Ning and the others. "Within two months, if the six of you Spirit Bone Celestial Prides can break through your Cultivation to the Celestial Essence Third Layer, you will receive a reward of thirty credits."

As soon as these words came out, everyone other than Qi Ning and those few Spirit Bone Celestial Prides was moved. It had only been five or six months since they had broken through to the Celestial Essence Second Layer, yet these geniuses were already preparing to assault the Celestial Essence Third Layer. Their Cultivation progression speed was simply terrifying.

Finished speaking, Jin Yu looked at the rest of the class and added, "Of course, it’s the same for the rest of you. If you have the ability to break through to the Celestial Essence Third Layer within two months, you can also obtain thirty credits."

No one dared to answer. Even the likes of Lu Wei and Tu Gang knew it was impossible for them to break through to the Celestial Essence Third Layer in just two months.

"Those who reached the tenth layer of the Battle Tower—if you can hit the eleventh layer within half a year, you will receive thirty credits. If you can reach the twelfth layer, you will receive one hundred credits." Jin Yu continued, "For the rest of you below the seventh layer of the Battle Tower, for every layer you advance, you will earn ten credits. For those above the eighth layer, every layer advanced will earn you twenty credits."

In an instant, many people’s fighting spirit soared. This was especially true for those who had stopped at the fifth or sixth layers, because for them, the room for improvement was vast. On the contrary, for those who had already reached the ninth or tenth layers, the room for improvement was tiny; advancing even one layer would be incredibly difficult.

"None of my business," Xu Yang thought, secretly shaking his head. Unless necessary, he wouldn’t display his talents again. Reaching the Ninth Layer today was already highly conspicuous, and the way Huo Xiaochen and the others looked at him now was nowhere near as casual as before.

The crowd soon dispersed and left the classroom.

Upon returning to his courtyard, Xu Yang began to mull things over. Now that the half-year period was over, the Celestial Strategy Academy would assign tasks. If he didn’t want the Academy to decide for him, he had to take the initiative to accept a task himself.

"The tasks arranged by the Academy are too random, and the level of danger is unpredictable. Therefore, it’s best to proactively choose a task myself," he mused.

Fortunately, the matter wasn’t urgent; he still had a few days. Besides, he wanted to do tasks to earn credits anyway. He had yet to obtain the subsequent portions of the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength, the Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture, and the Golden Gang Skill. Relying solely on the credits rewarded by the Celestial Strategy Wind and Cloud List, it would take him years to gather enough to exchange for those Cultivation Techniques.

He was now ranked eighty-fifth on the Celestial Strategy Wind and Cloud List. According to the rules, he was rewarded fifty credits a month, which was only six hundred credits a year. Just the subsequent portion of the Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture alone cost more than six hundred credits. Not to mention, apart from these Cultivation Techniques, he also lacked a Physical Body Martial Technique.

Aside from credits, Xu Yang’s eighty-fifth ranking also granted him three free entries into the Battle Tower each month to hone his combat skills, along with three days of cultivation time in the Spirit Tower and three days in the Martial Tower.

The Martial Tower was useless to him! It was mainly used to comprehend Martial Techniques and Cultivation Techniques, enhancing one’s Comprehension. Given his level of Comprehension, there weren’t many Cultivation Techniques that required him to enter the Martial Tower to decipher them. Even for regular students, that place was only utilized when they encountered a bottleneck in their cultivation; no one treated it as a regular cultivation spot. Since bottlenecks didn’t exist for him, the Martial Tower was naturally useless.

"The Spirit Tower reward, however, is quite good," he thought.

It was the only thing he could actually make use of. The main function of the Spirit Tower was to elevate Cultivation. It was said that the Spiritual Qi inside the Spirit Tower could be permanently maintained at over ten times that of the outside world—an absolute heaven-defying effect. When many people broke through to a new Realm, they would choose to go to the Spirit Tower.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t received these rewards yet. He needed to stay on the Celestial Strategy Wind and Cloud List for a full month without being pushed down to claim them.

"Next, I should first develop my Spirit Bone. Once I possess a Spirit Bone, my cultivation speed will be even faster, and my utilization rate of Spirit Medicine will also be higher," he planned.

"After upgrading to a Spirit Bone, I’ll go accept a task.

"But before that, I need to get my hands on the final layer of the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength."

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Yang grabbed his Waist Token and credits, heading straight for the Hidden Skills Hall. Over the past half-year, he had accumulated nearly one hundred and eighty credits—enough to exchange for the final portion of the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength.

As a Secret Technique that amplified Combat Power, the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength absolutely could not be delayed. The portion he currently had on hand was nearing completion, making the exchange an imminent necessity. Of course, there was another point: he planned to learn the final layer of the technique first before upgrading his Spirit Bone. If he upgraded his Spirit Bone and then went to the Hidden Skills Hall, it would be too easy for that old man to notice something amiss.

When he arrived at the Hidden Skills Hall, there were hardly any people there. Most of the students were at the Battle Tower, watching the new students’ first tower run.

"Teacher, I would like to exchange for the Heart Method of the Perfection portion of the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength." Xu Yang walked up to the counter and handed over his Waist Token and one hundred credits. He had checked the information on the Secret Technique long ago; exchanging for the complete manual required four hundred credits, but for just the Perfection portion, one hundred credits were enough.

"Go on up yourself." After collecting the credits and registering Xu Yang’s name, the teacher handed over a wooden token.

"Thank you, Teacher!"

Taking the token, Xu Yang turned and walked upstairs. It was still the familiar scene: the old man sat cross-legged on a futon, his body shrouded in a dense, glowing mist that emanated a majestic and formidable aura. Beneath his withered frame, it was as if mighty rivers and vast oceans were surging violently.

Sensing his arrival, the aura vanished in an instant.

"This student pays his respects to Senior," Xu Yang hurriedly stepped forward and cupped his hands.

The old man opened his eyes, and it felt as if a flash of light swept across the entire second floor of the Library Hall. That sensation of being seen entirely through resurfaced once more.

"Not bad, kid. You’ve already cultivated Dragon Qi. Your speed is barely any slower than those Spirit Bone Celestial Prides," the old man said, revealing a slight smile.

"This Old Deng!" Xu Yang grumbled inwardly.

"Senior, you have absolutely no respect for privacy. This student has no secrets before you; it’s practically no different from standing naked in front of you," Xu Yang said helplessly.

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