"Ye Xuan, stop!"
Liu Yunxi suddenly shouted after coming to her senses.
"Brother Chengfeng is going to challenge the tower! You're not worthy of going in with him!"
The time that followed should have belonged to her Brother Chengfeng.
But Ye Xuan, who had already reached the entrance of the Hundred Refinements Tower, paused for only an instant. Then he snorted coldly and stepped inside.
"Damn you, how dare you!?"
Seeing this, Xiao Chengfeng flew into a rage and hurried after him.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared before the Hundred Refinements Tower.
Seeing this, the crowd was somewhat puzzled. Only then did they realize that the Violet Firmament Sect, ranked first in the Northern Region, had arrived as well.
But wasn't the Violet Firmament Sect's foremost prodigy the Saintess, Chu Wan'er!?
Why hadn't anyone seen her!?
"The one who just went in—could he be the legendary fiancé of Saintess Chu?"
"Should be. I heard his name is Ye Xuan, and apparently, he's even a mortal!"
"That's right. I heard that Ye Xuan also has something going on with the Azure Mist Sect's Saintess, Liu Yunxi!"
For a time, the crowd began discussing it among themselves.
Although the Northern Region was currently the weakest of the four regions, it had the most gossip.
"Shut up! What relationship could I possibly have with him!?"
Liu Yunxi immediately cursed angrily.
Why was Ye Xuan like a dog-skin plaster? Why couldn't she shake him off no matter what she did?
"You're not worthy of having a relationship with Ye Xuan either!"
At that moment, Su Ziyun led some people down before the Hundred Refinements Tower. Her beautiful eyes swept across the crowd, her expression extremely cold.
"Su Ziyun, what do you mean!?"
Seeing this, the Azure Mist Sect Master directly moved in front of Liu Yunxi to protect her.
"What do I mean?"
"Even if our Violet Firmament Sect's Holy Son were blind, he still wouldn't take a fancy to your sect's Saintess!"
"She isn't even worthy of carrying his shoes!" Su Ziyun didn't hold back at all and cursed outright.
"Hmph, I'll see how long you can keep acting arrogant. At the Sect Tournament, you'd better send that useless Holy Son onto the stage and let all the sects of the Barren Continent take a look!" the Azure Mist Sect Master sneered.
She was only somewhat surprised that Zhao Gan hadn't come.
"Fine. I'll grant your wish!"
Su Ziyun glared at her, then stopped responding.
Right now, she was only worried about Chu Wan'er's safety.
Inside the Hundred Refinements Tower, by the time Xiao Chengfeng rushed in, Ye Xuan had already chosen Purgatory Difficulty and disappeared from the hall.
"Heh, overestimating himself!"
Xiao Chengfeng sneered. After choosing Normal Difficulty, his figure vanished.
But by then, Ye Xuan had already trodden over the fragments of a late Spirit Sea Realm puppet on the first floor and entered the second.
Inside the Hundred Refinements Tower, the higher the level of the puppet trial, the higher the puppets' rank and the greater their numbers!
The Purgatory Mode was even more so.
The first floor held a single late Spirit Sea Realm battle puppet. By the second floor, there were two puppets, and their cultivation had directly risen to the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm!
"Get lost!"
Facing the bronze puppet charging toward him, Ye Xuan raised his hand. As a tide of thunder swept out, the puppet was blasted into fragments filling the sky, unable to block him for even an instant.
Ye Xuan had no intention of wasting the slightest bit of time on it. The first six floors of Purgatory Mode were separate spaces. Only after reaching the seventh floor would one enter the sole passageway.
In other words, if two people entered the seventh floor of Purgatory Mode, they would run into each other.
By now, Ye Xuan's cultivation had reached the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm, while his combat strength was terrifyingly powerful.
The puppets on the third floor possessed the combat strength of the Heavenly Gang Realm. Their bodies glittered with silver light, and one of them thrust out a long spear, its edge stretching dozens of meters!
But against Ye Xuan's single Thunder Collapse punch, it shattered!
On the fourth floor, there were two puppets with combat strength at the minor-success stage of the Heavenly Gang Realm. Yet under Ye Xuan's Thunder Charge punch, both shattered!
On the fifth floor, the number of puppets had reached four, and their combat strength was already approaching the early-stage Heavenly Gang Realm's great accomplishment!
Ye Xuan frowned. No wonder the Purgatory Mode of the Hundred Refinements Tower struck fear into people's hearts. The puppets were already this powerful on only the fifth floor!
Still, despite his surprise, Ye Xuan's footsteps never stopped. His figure flickered and twisted between the four puppets, and in the instant he passed them, every puppet was smashed apart.
Sixth floor!
When eight puppets at the peak of the early Heavenly Gang Realm appeared before him, the corner of Ye Xuan's mouth twitched.
"That Ji Fengliu managed to pass this floor. He really does have some ability!"
The eight silver-armored puppets, when joining forces, possessed combat strength absolutely beyond what an ordinary mid-stage Heavenly Gang Realm cultivator could match.
However, the surprise on Ye Xuan's face vanished in a flash.
If the eight puppets couldn't stop Ji Fengliu, naturally, they couldn't stop him either!
Buzz!
As the eight puppets charged toward Ye Xuan, he raised his arm. Lightning raced across it, and sword intent erupted!
Boom!
Even without borrowing a sword, Ye Xuan used only sword intent to forge an edge. Thunder arcs surged like a tide, sweeping across the battlefield. The eight battle puppets collapsed the moment they were touched!
His palm descended, and Ye Xuan stepped over the puppet fragments into the seventh floor.
"A formation!?"
But upon reaching the seventh floor, Ye Xuan was stunned.
At the center of this floor stood only a pale-golden puppet, its combat aura already seemingly at the mid-stage of the Heavenly Gang Realm.
Although the puppet itself did not appear very strong, it was enveloped by a layer of formation barrier.
To defeat the puppet, he first had to break the formation.
Only then did Ye Xuan understand why Ji Fengliu had been stopped on this seventh floor.
The formation on this floor was no ordinary one. Its complexity even surpassed that of the altar he had seen in the secret realm before.
Unless the great clans of the Central Region possessed profound formation foundations, they could forget about breaking it.
Even if Ji Fengliu wanted to do so, he no longer had enough time. After all, the Sect Tournament was tomorrow.
But this formation could not stump Ye Xuan.
He reached out directly and pressed his hand against the formation barrier.
Buzz!
In an instant, layer upon layer of ripples spread across the barrier, their frequency growing faster and faster!
Crack!
In less than half a tea's time, the barrier shattered with a resounding boom!
Buzz!
Yet the instant the formation broke, the edge of a long spear thrust straight out from within at Ye Xuan!
The battle puppet had moved!
"Hmph!"
Ye Xuan let out a cold laugh. Lightning flashed around his body. The instant he dodged the spear light, he drove a punch at the battle puppet!
Clang!
An explosive sound like clashing metal and stone echoed out. Sparks of lightning scattered, yet the battle puppet was merely forced back more than a dozen steps.
It hadn't been shattered by that punch!?
Ye Xuan's pupils contracted slightly. Although this floor's puppet only had somewhat greater combat strength, its defense had increased severalfold!
"Die!"
But Ye Xuan didn't hesitate in the slightest. Before the puppet could steady itself, his thunderous sword qi tore through space and slammed heavily into its chest.
Crack!
The puppet froze in place for a moment, then split into two, its aura dissipating with it.
Ye Xuan didn't spare it another glance. He went to the center of the space and teleported to the next floor!
Eighth floor!
Two puppets, two layers of barriers.
Unlike the seventh floor, this space was filled with scorching flames.
The temperature was searing, while the spiritual energy was far denser than outside.
But cultivating here would be absolute torture.
Moreover, he still hadn't seen Chu Wan'er on this floor. She must be on the ninth floor.
It made sense. Although the injury to Chu Wan'er's foundation was still far from healed, she was, after all, the Imperial Daughter. The first eight floors absolutely couldn't stop Wan'er.
Casting aside his distracting thoughts, Ye Xuan advanced once more.
He broke the formation and slew the puppets.
Half an hour later, Ye Xuan finally stepped onto the teleportation formation leading to the ninth floor.
Buzz!
Light flashed wildly, and a scorching tide surged around his body like flames!
Ye Xuan abruptly opened his eyes. In the next moment, his expression changed dramatically.
Because he saw Chu Wan'er sitting cross-legged in the crimson sea of flames, breaking the formation!
Yet Chu Wan'er's lips were parched and her face bloodless.
Clearly, she had been tormented by the heat in this space for quite some time!
"Wan'er!"
Ye Xuan cried out in alarm and hurried over.
"Ye Xuan, Brother..."
Chu Wan'er, already on the verge of collapse, slowly turned her head. As she looked at Ye Xuan, her eyes held both guilt and self-reproach.
"Wan'er is useless. I couldn't break this barrier!"
"How could you be so foolish?" Ye Xuan hurried over and pulled her into his arms.
The aura of his thunder body blocked out the flames. He then took out a bottle of top-grade Spirit Marrow Milk and fed it to her.
The temperature of the flames here was enough to rival a second-grade Exotic Fire!
If not for the protection of the Peach Talisman, Chu Wan'er would have died—or at the very least, suffered another grievous injury!
This ninth floor was clearly meant to kill people!
"It was her... She didn't want anyone else touching the Heavenly Thunder Seed..." After the Spirit Marrow Milk entered her body, Chu Wan'er's condition improved somewhat under Ye Xuan's protection. Yet she suddenly gave a bitter smile.
"She? Who is she?"
Ye Xuan was startled. He then looked toward the formation before them, and in the next instant, his pupils suddenly shrank.
"This is an Imperial Formation!"
"The Imperial Ji Family!"
Although the formation before his eyes contained only the faintest trace of Imperial Formation aura, Ye Xuan absolutely couldn't have mistaken it.
There were countless imperial clans in the Outer Heavens, but when it came to formations, the Ji Family was number one throughout the myriad realms.
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