Chapter 161: Chapter 156: Terrifying Realm Surge Speed

The Imperial Academy was in a state of panic. The students, unaware of the details, paled with shock at the events unfolding in the Tower of Calamity. Di Cang’s mouth hung slightly ajar. Even though he had long anticipated that Mu Chen could achieve a perfect clear—and was certain of it—the shock he felt when it actually happened was no less than anyone else’s.

Wu Kui stared at Di Cang in horror, muttering, "You... you son of a bitch, you were serious."

"Hm?" Di Cang snapped back to his senses and turned to ask.

"Where did you find this monster? He cleared the first floor in an instant! Look at the record on the Calamity Inscription." Beads of cold sweat formed on Wu Kui’s brow as he pointed a finger at the dazzlingly radiant Calamity Inscription, his voice grave.

Di Cang looked up. A line of colorful text had appeared on the first row of the Calamity Inscription. It read:

Challenger: Mu Chen

Floor Cleared: First Floor

Clear Time: One second

Clear Rating: Perfect Clear.

...

Among all the inscriptions on the stele, only the record of the long-gone Saint Level Dean, Shen Jianxin, had been written in this format. All other records only showed the challenger’s name and the floor they had cleared. This was the first time they had ever seen a record like Mu Chen’s in person.

"What’s going on?!" Qin Yuan had been in her office drafting the Holy Hall’s plans for the semester when she suddenly saw a pillar of golden light erupt from this direction through her window. As an Elder Level figure in the academy, how could she not know what this phenomenon represented? In her urgency, she had rushed over at her top speed.

A Holy Hall Student gulped. "I heard... I think someone got a perfect clear!"

"A perfect clear?! Who was it? Which student?"

Qin Yuan was overjoyed. In her view, only students from the Holy Hall were permitted to use the Tower of Calamity, so this perfect clear must have been achieved by one of them. But when she looked up and saw a crowd of Outer Circle Students with Di Cang and Lingyun, she was momentarily stunned.

"The one who cleared it seems to be Mu Chen from the Outer Circle," a Holy Hall Student whispered the answer.

Qin Yuan’s expression froze, the joyful look fixed on her face. "What? Who authorized an Outer Circle student to use the Tower of Calamity? Don’t they know this is under the jurisdiction of the Holy Hall?"

Qin Yuan’s voice was loud and clearly laced with anger. Di Cang knew her words were directed at them. With a slight smile, he said nonchalantly, "So what? No one ever stipulated that the Tower of Calamity can only be used by your Holy Hall. Don’t forget, I’m an Elder of the academy. I have the authority to recommend a student to use the Tower of Calamity. Is that against the rules?"

"You!" Qin Yuan was furious, her hand trembling as she pointed at Di Cang. He was right. Not a single thing he said was wrong. There was no explicit rule stating that only the Holy Hall could use the Tower of Calamity; it was just that they had been the only ones using it for all these years. Moreover, any Elder Level member of the academy’s upper management could indeed nominate someone to use the tower. She knew that arguing further would just be grandstanding. The only thing she could do now was pray that Mu Chen didn’t achieve another perfect clear. Otherwise, the plan she had been preparing for years would face a major disruption!

"Mu Chen. First Floor. Challenge successful. Rating: Perfect Clear. Special Reward: Cultivation realm increased by one tier!"

"A special reward? Cultivation realm increased by one tier! What!" The students erupted in an uproar. After challenging the Tower of Calamity for so many years, they never knew such a thing as a special reward even existed. What shocked them even more was how terrifying the reward was. An entire tier increase in one’s cultivation realm? Was such a reward even possible? Jealousy, anxiety, and panic—all sorts of negative emotions spread through the crowd of Holy Hall Students.

In contrast, joy, relief, and adoration—all sorts of positive emotions—spread through the students from Demon Castle. That was their class president, the president of Demon Castle: powerful, wise, and approachable. In the current atmosphere, even that cold and heartless voice seemed to be filled with emotion.

At this moment, inside the Tower of Calamity, Mu Chen had no idea what was happening in the Outer Realm. When he heard "Perfect Clear," he knew his theory was correct: the lower he suppressed his clear time, the higher the chance of getting a perfect clear. ’A special reward... I wonder in what form it’ll be given to me.’

Mu Chen was thrilled. But just then, the space in front of him suddenly distorted. The Guardian Illusion he had just blasted apart moments ago suddenly rushed toward him at a terrifying speed. Startled, Mu Chen hurriedly threw a punch to meet it, his arm wreathed in Thunder Light. As expected, his fist struck the Guardian Illusion, but then something happened that left Mu Chen dumbfounded.

The Guardian Illusion seemed to completely ignore his attack, allowing the punch to land squarely on its body. But then, Mu Chen’s Fist Power, along with the gust from his punch, passed straight through it as if he had struck empty air. There was no sensation of impact. Mu Chen froze, but the Illusion did not. In the instant Mu Chen was stunned, the Illusion shot forward like a Flying Swallow Returns Home and slammed into his body.

BANG!

Like shattering glass, the Guardian Illusion broke apart into countless golden motes of light. The motes spun rapidly around Mu Chen without any pattern. A few seconds later, as if receiving a command, they abruptly paused and then shot into Mu Chen’s body like bullets.

The sudden assault by the motes of light snapped Mu Chen back to his senses. By the time he reacted, he could already feel a powerful energy burrowing into him from the outside. Without any hesitation, it all rushed toward his Dantian. His nine slowly rotating Dantians showed no signs of rejection; instead, they joyfully began to absorb the incoming motes of light. Almost visibly, the Primordial Power stored in his Dantians skyrocketed. This was the first time Mu Chen had ever felt Primordial Power accumulating at such a terrifying speed.

In just five seconds, all nine of Mu Chen’s Dantians were completely filled with Primordial Power. And it didn’t stop there; the motes of light continued to pour in. Through Introspection, Mu Chen finally understood. This was how the Tower of Calamity bestowed its special reward. He quickly lay down on his side. The Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique began to operate on its own, requiring no conscious control.

CRACK!

With a sharp crack, the Dantians inside Mu Chen’s body finally broke through the limits of an Eighth-Ring Martial Master, successfully advancing him to the Ninth-Ring Martial Master realm. Due to the immense energy from the motes of light, he even leaped directly from the Mid Stage of the Eighth-Ring Martial Master to the peak of the Ninth-Ring Martial Master, just one step away from the Grand Martial Master Realm.

Overjoyed, Mu Chen willed it, and a yellow medicinal pill appeared in his hand. It was a Martial Power Pill. He hadn’t used one since breaking through to the Martial Master Realm, so he still had one use left. Now, Mu Chen intended to use this Martial Power Pill to shatter his shackles and advance to the Grand Martial Master Realm.

He tossed his head back, and the pill went down his throat, transforming into a gentle stream of air that entered his body. Guided by the Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique, Mu Chen swiftly converted the pill’s Medicinal Power into vast Primordial Power and gathered it toward his Dantian with practiced ease. He had taken a Martial Power Pill once before back in the Martial Artist Realm, so absorbing it this time felt effortless. The Primordial Power gathered, and streams of Medicinal Power instantly filled his entire body.

When a Martial Artist breaks through a Great Realm, it’s not enough to meet the standard for Primordial Power; their physique must also meet the requirement. Therefore, the effects of a Martial Power Pill work not only on Primordial Power but also on the Martial Artist’s body.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK...

Accompanied by the countless cracking sounds of his bones grinding, Mu Chen’s physical strength increased once again. The Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi within the tower continuously poured into his body. To Mu Chen’s surprise, this small Tower of Calamity contained such pure Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, and in such vast quantities! If one could engage in long-term Cultivation within the Tower of Calamity, the Holy Hall would absolutely dominate the entire Xuanling Empire!

However, one could only stay on each floor of the Tower of Calamity for twenty minutes. After that, the tower would automatically judge the challenger as having failed and eject them. It was a bit of a shame. But then again, if it were that easy, perhaps Mu Chen’s goal of challenging the entire Holy Hall would become a much more distant dream.

Calming his mind, Mu Chen took a deep breath. He had already been on the first floor for ten minutes. He had to break through quickly, or he would be stuck here. Pushing the Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique to its limit, nine orange Martial Rings materialized at his feet as he rapidly absorbed the Martial Power Pill’s Medicinal Power. Finally, after fifteen minutes, a shattering sound echoed throughout the Tower of Calamity. The nine Dantians inside Mu Chen’s body hummed in unison. The surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi began to pour madly into his body at a speed dozens of times faster than before, rapidly replenishing his Dantian Space, which had been utterly depleted by the realm breakthrough.

This process lasted for a full three minutes. Three minutes of frantic absorption consumed nearly a third of the Primordial Qi on the first floor of the Tower of Calamity. For Mu Chen to absorb a full third of such immense, Pure Primordial Power, it was clear just how massive the amount of Primordial Qi he needed to break through a Martial Artist Realm was! After absorbing a third of the Tower of Calamity’s Pure Primordial Power, the nine orange Martial Rings at his feet abruptly vanished. In their place, a single, dazzling yellow Martial Ring appeared. This Martial Ring was exceptionally solid, not at all like one that had just been formed.

He snapped his eyes open, and a purple gleam flashed through them. Sensing the Primordial Power within his body, Mu Chen raised the corner of his mouth into a slight smile. "My Primordial Power has doubled, and my strength has more than doubled."

When Mu Chen said his Primordial Power had doubled, for anyone else, that would be a ninefold increase. After all, he was a prodigy with nine Dantians. Once he broke through, he would madly absorb the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi like nine Ninth-Ring Martial Masters breaking through to the Grand Martial Master Realm all at once. This was also why his breakthrough had consumed a full third of the Primordial Qi on this floor of the Tower of Calamity.

The reward for his difficult breakthroughs was that the Primordial Power stored in his body was also nine times that of other Martial Artists. This gave Mu Chen far greater endurance in battles against those of the same tier and allowed him to perform Tier-Jumping, using Secret Techniques that required enormous amounts of Primordial Power!

Slowly getting to his feet, Mu Chen suddenly clenched his left fist. The Primordial Power in his body instantly condensed in his left arm. With a muffled BOOM, an ice-blue cyclone instantly enveloped his arm. The cyclone spun continuously, and Mu Chen’s fist shot forward like a drill. With a dull SWOOSH, the air in the path of his punch seemed to have been struck by a meteor, forming rings of shockwaves that spread out in all directions. The power was staggering. This was the Grand Martial Master Realm: the external release of Primordial Power!

"This feels... really good." A grin spreading across his face, Mu Chen walked briskly toward the blue Teleportation Array in the center of the Tower of Calamity’s first floor. After he had cleared the first floor, this blue Array had appeared in the otherwise empty, vast space. He didn’t need to think twice to know it was the passage to the second floor.

Stepping into the Teleportation Array, Mu Chen’s figure vanished from the vast space of the first floor with a WHOOSH...