[Assessment time: 2 hours 37 minutes] [Assessment failed!]
On the First Layer's great platform, Jiang Ye stared at the panel that had appeared before him, momentarily speechless.
By now, he understood that as soon as he entered the illusion, he would instinctively forget his purpose.
It was as if an invisible giant hand wiped away his memories.
That was a real pain.
Unless his Martial Will could surpass the assessment's limit, there was no way he could pass.
"But this time, I finished the assessment half an hour earlier."
Jiang Ye pondered, Does that mean my Martial Will has improved?
In the illusion, although he seemed to be enjoying himself, his subconscious had constantly been resisting it.
The sooner he woke up, the stronger his Martial Will must be.
After going through the illusion twice, Jiang Ye felt that his willpower had indeed grown a little stronger.
"If I keep improving, then sooner or later, I'll pass the assessment!"
Thinking this, he didn't hesitate and entered the assessment again.
[Assessment time: 2 hours 11 minutes] [Assessment time: 1 hour 50 minutes] [Assessment time: 1 hour 23 minutes]
Over the next stretch of time, Jiang Ye kept repeating the illusionary assessment.
Again and again, he faced the trials of the Massage Parlor.
I'm not doing this for pleasure. I'm tempering my Martial Will this way.
Jiang Ye told himself.
It really was working.
As he endured the illusion again and again, the time it took him to complete the assessment grew shorter and shorter.
That meant his Martial Will was gradually growing stronger.
But the farther he progressed, the smaller his gains became.
Especially once he got under an hour, he could only shave off a few minutes at a time.
And Chen Zilu wasn't the only one who appeared in the illusion. It would also switch things up, arranging for beautiful women of all sorts of different styles to serve him.
Fortunately, Jiang Ye was firm of purpose and managed to improve a little each time.
As the time he took to complete the assessment kept shrinking,
at last, after one particular attempt,
[Assessment time: 10 minutes] [First Layer Assessment passed!]
First Layer of the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder.
Rumble!
A golden stone monument slowly rose from the great platform on the First Layer, like the morning sun rising, its radiance blazing in all directions.
Four bold characters were engraved upon it in a flowing, powerful hand:
Martial Arts Grandmaster!
[Congratulations, you have reached the First Layer of the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder and obtained the Immortal Monument!]
[Calculating rewards.]
"Phew!"
Jiang Ye let out a long breath, his eyes bright.
After a whole night of painstaking tempering, he had finally passed the First Layer Assessment!
"I wonder what the reward is?"
Jiang Ye was full of anticipation.
In truth, even without a reward, the Martial Will he had strengthened over the course of that night would already have been a tremendous gain.
Martial Will was intangible and elusive. Ordinary people had no way to improve it.
Jiang Ye's Martial Will now was probably far beyond that of the average person.
[You went through the 'beauty trial' 47 times before passing the assessment, surpassing 0.001% of Martial Arts Grandmasters. You love the realm, but love beauty even more!] [Title unlocked: Red Face Seeks the Way!]
[Reward settlement] [Red Face Seeks the Way, Talent Visibility, Comprehension Enhancement] [Red Face Seeks the Way: When you encounter an opponent or teammate of the opposite sex, your attack speed increases by 35%, and your chance to deal 50% extra damage increases.] [Talent Visibility: Martial Arts Grandmaster, with an eye for talent. You can easily identify other people's Martial Arts talent.] [Comprehension Enhancement: Comprehension permanently increased by 10%.]
Looking at the lines of text that appeared on the panel, Jiang Ye's mood was anything but good.
"Surpassing 0.001% of Martial Arts Grandmasters? Are all the other Martial Arts Grandmasters really that steadfast?"
Jiang Ye felt no shame about this.
Since ancient times, heroes had found it hard to pass the beauty test. Making a mistake in the face of a beautiful woman was only human nature.
So what if he was a Martial Arts Grandmaster? Did that mean Martial Arts Grandmasters couldn't touch women?
Jiang Ye shook his head and looked at the rewards.
"Red Face Seeks the Way, Talent Visibility?"
Red Face Seeks the Way was easy enough to understand: when he encountered someone of the opposite sex, his attack speed and critical-hit chance went up.
But Talent Visibility let him see other people's talents?
What was the point of the system giving him that?
"Could it really want me to found a sect and take in disciples?" Jiang Ye shook his head helplessly.
Still, this round of rewards had delighted him.
"Comprehension permanently increased by 10%!"
Jiang Ye's eyes lit up slightly.
He had already tasted the benefits of good comprehension.
Add his B-grade physique to that, and he didn't even dare imagine how fast he'd cultivate in the future.
However, here on the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder, he couldn't sense any changes in himself.
Jiang Ye didn't hurry to leave. Instead, he looked at the panel again.
[You have passed the First Layer Assessment. You may repeat the assessment, but you cannot obtain the reward again.] [You may continue climbing to the Second Layer.]
As the lines of text appeared,
the Second Layer's great platform, above and ahead of Jiang Ye, immediately shone with a burst of golden light, as if telling him that the Second Layer had been unlocked.
"I can repeat the assessment?"
"That means I can use the First Layer's illusion to keep tempering my Martial Will."
Jiang Ye looked at the panel and thought.
He had already decided that from now on, he would use the illusion to temper himself more often.
But right now, he wanted to see if he could climb to the Second Layer.
Jiang Ye looked at the white jade stairs before him and immediately climbed onto them.
"Boom!"
The moment he stepped onto the first stair, he felt an incomparably terrifying pressure.
Jiang Ye gritted his teeth and stood firm, but no matter what, he couldn't take another step.
The pressure was too terrifying!
A moment later, Jiang Ye returned to the First Layer.
"It seems I'll have to break through the Cultivation Method's Great Accomplishment, or even reach First Break, before I can challenge the Second Layer."
Jiang Ye felt a pang of regret.
Even after his physique had transformed, he could barely step onto the first stair.
But there were still nine more stairs before he could reach the Second Layer.
Going by the pattern he'd seen while climbing to the First Layer, the pressure on each stair would increase exponentially.
Jiang Ye knew that for the time being, he could only stop at the First Layer.
"Time to leave."
Jiang Ye turned and walked away, heading down from the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder.
Soon, he exited the Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder.
He glanced back at the majestic, imposing ladder that vanished into the distance. Jiang Ye's figure slowly disappeared into the mist.
In his room, Jiang Ye abruptly sat bolt upright.
When he checked the time, it was already four in the morning.
"Could that have been a dream?"
Jiang Ye rubbed his eyes.
But when he looked at his panel, he immediately came to his senses.
[Physique: Mortal Body (Class B)] [Endowment: Original] [Cultivation Method] Star Martial Cultivation Method: Great Accomplishment (1%) [Achievements] Martial Arts Grandmaster, Friend of the Ancestor, Martial Arts Grandmaster, Red Face Seeks the Way [Martial Arts Heavenly Ladder] First Layer
Jiang Ye looked himself over. His first impression was that he seemed to have grown much lighter.
His whole body was brimming with strength, with an endless supply of blood and energy.
"So this is a B-grade physique?"
He could feel that his body had been remade from the inside out!
The world before his eyes was crystal clear, even in the dark.
His hearing seemed different too. He could faintly hear sounds from far away outside the window.
Jiang Ye stood up and tried swinging his fist.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
He had only swung lightly, yet the air rang with a series of sharp whooshes.
"Things really are different from before."
Jiang Ye's eyes shone. "I feel full of strength. I'm probably a lot stronger than I was before!"
His body had changed in every way after his physique transformed.
"I just wonder what it'll be like cultivating with a B-grade Mortal Body."
Jiang Ye was full of anticipation.
Now, not only had his physique advanced to a B-grade Mortal Body, but his comprehension had also permanently increased by 10%.
He wanted to know just how much his Martial Arts Potential had improved.
Before you continue