Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
On the seventy-first level, Tang Ximen was determined to fight hard and prove himself.
The current me is not the same me from last year.
Seven Return to Void Stage divine-intent warriors began to materialize in the air.
An Lin narrowed his eyes slightly. These opponents were clearly more powerful than the ones on the previous level.
On the previous level, the aura exuded by the divine-intent warriors hinted that they had just progressed to the Return to Void Stage. However, the aura of these warriors clearly indicated that their cultivation bases had been stabilized.
A Return to Void Stage Celestial Immortal flew toward An Lin while welding twin golden swords in his hands. Both of the swords were peerlessly sharp, and they felt as if they would be able to easily slash through space itself.
An Lin relied on his agile movement techniques to dodge the attacks of the Celestial Immortal while glancing at Tang Ximen from the corner of his eyes. He then heaved a sigh of relief upon discovering that they were both quite far away from one another.
It was going to quite difficult to talk himself out of this one if he killed Tang Ximen’s opponent again.
An Lin decided to start off with some more subtle techniques before slowly increasing his offensive output as the battle progressed.
Tang Ximen didn’t have time to do something like that as he was forced to unleash his full strength from the get-go against a Sword Immortal.
The Sword Immortal’s sword techniques were extremely powerful, and the true intent of the sword exuding from each and every one of his strikes made Tang Ximen both a little bit nervous and also quite excited.
Ring!
The Celestial Immortal’s longsword began to ring as he prepared to unleash a powerful sword technique.
Tang Ximen’s body trembled slightly as he charged toward his opponent.
Right at this moment, a white flaming-sword projection imbued with the devastating power of holy flames tore through the air before flashing past in the blink of an eye.
The Celestial Immortal’s eyes widened as its body was sliced in half, upon which it began to slowly dissipate.
Tang Ximen’s eyes also widened as he stared blankly at the scenes taking place before his eyes.
He looked with confusion on his face toward a certain direction.
A woman in a jade dress holding a longsword conjured from the holy flames of the vermilion bird met his gaze with a slightly awkward one of her own.
“Um… sorry. I didn’t think there would still be such a powerful effect even after my strength had been reduced to one percent…” Xu Xiaolan said with an apologetic expression.
Tang Ximen’s body swayed slightly. He had the urge to throw up a mouthful of blood.
Why… why did this happen again?
He suddenly felt as if the world was so cold as a melancholy tune reverberated throughout his head.
An Lin was also dumbstruck. He was just preparing himself to carefully dismantle his opponent when he witnessed Tang Ximen’s opponent being destroyed by Xu Xiaolan…
What the f*ck was going on?
An Lin felt like he was embarrassed to even make eye contact with Tang Ximen. After all, Xu Xiaolan was his Dao partner-to-be, so he felt a hint of guilt and responsibility for her actions.
Outside the Immortal Spirit Tower, several thousand students fell silent as they stared up at the image of Tang Ximen on the crystalline screen.
“Student Tang was carried once again…”
“Indeed. He must be over the moon.”
“Over the moon? Why don’t I see any hint of joy on his face?”
“I feel like this is cheating! He f*cking bribed his allies! I’m going to report him!”
“Luck is sometimes more important than strength. You only need to be in the right place at the right time in some instances…”
“Should Student Xu Xiaolan be blamed for this? It was her monstrous flaming sword projection that accidentally slew two divine-intent warriors at once.”
“Did An Lin and Xu Xiaolan plan this in advance…”
“What you should be saying is, like husband, like wife.”
Just as all the students were discussing among themselves, Bai Zhong appeared once again in the Immortal Spirit Tower.
He turned to Tang Ximen and Xu Xiaolan with a weary expression on his face.
He had never seen anything like this happen before. It wasn’t rare to see students unintentionally injure someone else’s opponents, but annihilating two opponents at once like this was simply far too f*cking ridiculous!
“Tell me what happened! I told you not to do it again!” Bai Zhong harrumphed coldly.
Tang Ximen was embroiled in a strong sense of injustice. He didn’t want this to happen again, but other people kept on stealing his kills. What could he do?
“I’m sorry. I will make sure to control my strength next time,” Xu Xiaolan hung her head as she apologized.
She just wanted to test out her vermilion bird flaming-sword slash, but she had never thought that it would be this powerful.
“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to… I’ll make sure to…”
Tang Ximen was at a loss for words as he stuttered like a broken record.
What was he supposed to do?
What had he even done wrong? He didn’t have a clue!
Bai Zhong was developing a throbbing headache.
There had never been such powerful Soul Formation Stage students before that were able to slay two opponents with one strike past the seventieth level. Even if there were particularly powerful trial-taking students in the past, they were quite proficient at controlling their own strengths.
Furthermore, there had never been a student with luck as freakishly good as Tang Ximen’s! This was a cavernous area of over a kilometer in radius. Who could predict that his opponent would be in the exact position to be struck down by another student’s attack? And it happened twice!
Xu Xiaolan and An Lin had clearly made unintentional kills, so it was very difficult for Bai Zhong to disqualify them.
“You two, make sure this doesn’t happen again! If it does, you’re going to have to bear the consequences!” Bai Zhong did not know what to say anymore, so he could only deliver a stern message to Xu Xiaolan and Tang Ximen.
Why did this sound so familiar…
Xu Xiaolan nodded and promised to not do it again while Tang Ximen also nodded with an aggrieved expression on his face.
After Bai Zhong left, all the battles within the tower were coming to their conclusions.
Zuo Qiubing panted heavily as he finally slew his opponent. He then turned to Tang Ximen with an expression of envy on his face.
He had fought like his life depended on it to defeat his opponent.
But what about Tang Ximen? He didn’t even have to fight!
He had placed below Tang Ximen last year. Was this trend destined to continue even though he had already reached the Half-Step Soul Formation Stage…
Everyone soon progressed onward to the seventy-second level.
Tang Ximen gritted his teeth as he made a vow to himself. He had to prove himself no matter what! He would use his own power to defeat his opponent without interference from anyone.
All the other students seemed to be able to detect his emotions as they all chose to stand far away from him.
Seven divine-intent warriors materialized in mid-air before charging toward everyone with vast auras exuding from their bodies.
Intense battles instantly erupted!
And then, Tang Ximen was defeated…
His chest had been pierced by a bolt of lightning, and he lay on the ground as he resisted the urge to fall unconscious.
An Lin and the others had already finished their battles, and they silently spectated as Tang Ximen was slowly ground down before being defeated.
Tang Ximen turned to look at them. “I’m stronger than I was last year, right? I’m definitely stronger than I was last year, right?
“If I had been able to fight with my own strength on the seventieth or seventy-first level, I would most definitely have been able to win, right?
“The current me is no longer the same me from last year, right…”
His words seemed to be stained with his blood and tears while he asked a heartwrenching series of questions.
“Senior Student Tang, you are definitely among the most powerful cultivators at the Spirit Nurturing Stage!” Xu Xiaolan offered words of consolation.
“Senior Student Tang, you’re actually powerful enough to progress past even the seventy-second level. It was all because your state of mind had been muddled by our interference, thereby resulting in your lackluster performance.” An Lin also dug up an excuse to console Tang Ximen.
Tears welled up in Tang Ximen’s eyes. “Next year, I’ll definitely…”
Right at this moment, another bolt of lightning fell from the sky and knocked Tang Ximen unconscious.
Thus, Tang Ximen was teleported outside the tower without even having a chance to finish his sentence.
Everyone observed a minute of silence for him.
After a minute of silence, An Lin and the others continued onward to the next level.
