Surging Ever Higher

Trial Tower, Third Layer.

This was a desolate stretch of wilderness beneath a sky heavy with dark clouds.

When Wang Yi appeared here, dual blades in hand.

"Third Layer, Stage A trial. Trainee Wang Yi, your objective is to kill 100 Beginner Beast General level Golden Vultures within ten minutes! Good luck!"

"The difficulty has gone up again." Wang Yi looked up at the suddenly appearing mass of bird-type monsters and felt a faint pressure in his heart.

Golden Vultures were vicious vulture-like birds of prey. Their upper bodies and wing feathers were black with a faint silver-gray sheen, while the down on their chests and bellies, as well as the feathers beneath their wings, were golden.

"Caw!!!"

Over a hundred Golden Vultures swept toward the tiny black-haired youth in the wilderness like a golden tidal cloud that blotted out the sky.

The instant they came into contact, cold, sharp light burst from Wang Yi's eyes beneath his bangs.

"Kill!!!"

A fierce and cruel slaughter began in the wilderness.

The two war blades in Wang Yi's hands once again turned into grim crimson flashes. As Wang Yi's figure flickered, they formed streaks of red among the flock of Golden Vultures.

Wherever he went, a tempest rose. Blood fell like rain, while black, silver-gray, and golden feathers drifted through the air in a strange, brutal beauty.

In battle, Wang Yi's consciousness and body became completely immersed in the Artistic Conception of the Blade Technique and Body Movement.

In a fight between life and death, survival was decided in an instant. Though this was only the Virtual Space, it could achieve one hundred percent realism.

And Wang Yi's comprehension of the Blade Technique was real as well.

More importantly, reaching the Artistic Conception level in the Blade Technique had brought Wang Yi's understanding of it to an extremely high level.

Unknowingly, his comprehension of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade also became faster.

Every slash was made without holding anything back, exhausting every effort to draw out every inch of his body's potential.

His comprehension rose frantically, and before he knew it, Wang Yi had mastered the Second Layer of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade!

"Boom!"

Wang Yi's strength surged once more in the midst of battle. Even his blade light seemed to expand by a full circle. With one slash, the heads of three Golden Vultures flew away together in an exaggerated display, blood mist spraying out in a straight line.

Wang Yi's force output had increased from 1.4 times to 2.1 times!

The explosive increase in strength made Wang Yi, who already held the advantage in battle, even more unstoppable.

"Caw!"

"Caw!"

Though the remaining Golden Vultures were fearless of death and continued to swarm him one after another, before the greatly strengthened Wang Yi, they could only futilely become corpses.

"Splurt!"

"Splurt!"

The scalp-numbing sounds of flesh being torn apart rang out in rapid succession. In less than three minutes after the battle began, the sky had been cleared, and all 100 Golden Vultures had been killed by Wang Yi!

Only a black-haired youth covered in blood remained where he stood, head lowered as he panted faintly.

Blood continued dripping from the twin blades in his hands.

Corpses littered the ground around him, and the air was filled with killing intent.

At the main entrance of the colossal building that soared into the clouds, Yang Hui stood like a stone statue, staring blankly as the Trial Tower level on Wang Yi's black carving suddenly jumped from '3.0' to '3.3'!

Yang Hui slowly, deeply drew in a long breath.

Then he slowly turned toward his own black carving beside it. The Trial Tower level displayed there was '3.2'!

A little awkward.

Yang Hui fell silent again.

"Is this kid even human?" After a long while, Yang Hui could not help but curse.

That was enough!

It was only his first day at the Training Camp, and he already wanted to punch a hole through the sky, didn't he?

"I..."

Yang Hui suddenly felt a wave of bitterness.

He had spent so many years struggling, yet his Trial Tower level was only '3.2'. Now he had been surpassed by a kid who had just arrived at the Training Camp.

And it was a complete, utterly overwhelming crushing defeat!

"What a monster!" Yang Hui looked at the black carving. Wang Yi had no idea how many Training Camp records he had broken this time.

Without realizing it, a trace of anticipation arose in Yang Hui's heart.

Wang Yi had not come out yet.

So how far could he ultimately make it?

At that moment, Yang Hui could not help but look forward to it. He felt that he was witnessing a piece of Elite Training Camp history, the history of a Peerless Genius rising!

Since Wang Yi had not emerged from the Trial Tower, the trial was still continuing. Yang Hui waited patiently. After a while, Wang Yi's Trial Tower level jumped again, becoming '3.6'.

Yang Hui watched in silence.

Trial Tower level 3.6!

This result was actually considered quite good even among War Gods.

And Wang Yi was merely an Eighteen Years Old youth who had become a Martial Artist less than a month ago, born into an ordinary family... Yang Hui had reviewed his records more than once and knew them clearly.

But precisely because of that, too many questions lingered in his heart.

He had no idea how Wang Yi had achieved this.

Yet the facts were right before him, and Yang Hui had no choice but to accept them.

After all, the Trial Tower's realism was beyond question, and there could be no mistakes or loopholes.

In the end, it could only be described as a miracle.

A bitter smile appeared at the corner of Yang Hui's mouth. Wang Yi's Trial Tower level had now left Yang Hui, a Mid-level War God, far behind.

The further one advanced in the Trial Tower, the higher the difficulty became, and the greater the demands on every aspect of the challenger. Thus, even as a War God, Yang Hui could not pass even the first stage of the Third Layer, let alone the second stage!

There was no doubt that he and Wang Yi had an enormous gap in Combat Power Amplitude. If their physical qualities were the same, Yang Hui had no doubt that he would not be Wang Yi's match.

"Now, we'll see which layer Wang Yi can reach..."

Yang Hui raised his head and gazed at the giant tower standing upon the endless silver ground, muttering to himself.

Time slowly passed. Five minutes later, the Trial Tower level on Wang Yi's black carving became '4.0'!

Yang Hui's eyelids twitched wildly.

This was too insane.

He continued waiting patiently.

However, this time he did not have to wait long.

A short while later, "Whoosh!" Wang Yi's figure appeared beside Yang Hui. Yet Yang Hui did not look at him. Instead, he immediately looked toward the black carving, where the displayed Trial Tower level was—'4.2'!

He had been just a little short of passing the first stage of the Fourth Layer.

A full layer higher than War God Yang Hui!

Yang Hui closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.

Wang Yi looked somewhat strangely at the silent Yang Hui beside him, whose expression seemed a little weathered. He had no idea what a tortuous emotional journey this envoy of the Limit Martial Arts School had gone through during the brief time Wang Yi had spent inside.

Wang Yi himself felt somewhat regretful. He had made a mistake in the Fourth Layer just now, otherwise he felt he could have continued further.

However, this was how the first test worked. Once one failed, there was no second chance. After all, it was only meant to let trainees understand and adapt to the existence of the Virtual Space before officially entering the Training Camp, so the current data did not truly represent anything.

New trainees only began having their ranking results officially counted in the second month!

Except for Wang Yi, this freakish anomaly! A monster who had reached the Fourth Layer of the Trial Tower on his very first attempt!

Yang Hui's mind was blank as he wondered whether any of the current Training Camp trainees had achieved a result equal to Wang Yi's.

"This won't do. I have to report this..."