The Exam Ends

Although the Golden Dragon King's aura emanating from Tang Wulin filled the dark gold terrorclaw bear with fear and made its limbs tremble slightly, that suppression had limited effect in the face of the absolute gulf in their strength. The Lord-Rank Soul Beast was too frightened to attack first, but its enormous body was like a mobile fortress of steel. Simply standing there, it exerted immense pressure.

"Attack!" Tang Wulin barked. Golden dragon scales instantly covered his right arm, transforming it into a sharp Golden Dragon Claw as he charged first.

"Golden Dragon Claw!"

Seizing his moment, he raked his claw viciously across the dark gold terrorclaw bear's thick shoulder.

Riiip—

A teeth-grating sound rang out. Tang Wulin's all-out strike finally left several faint white marks on the monster's hide, barely breaking the skin and drawing a trace of blood. But to the thick-skinned dark gold terrorclaw bear, that paltry damage was no more than a mosquito bite. It barely even hurt.

"Roar!" Stung by the pain, the dark gold terrorclaw bear's ferocity erupted. It swung its paw at Tang Wulin with a howl of wind.

"Watch out!" Gu Yue's cool voice rang out. Her hands swiftly formed seals, and countless ice cones and Wind Blades condensed above the dark gold terrorclaw bear before crashing down.

"Elemental Blast!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Violent explosions erupted above the giant bear's head. Smoke and dust filled the air, temporarily blocking its vision and forcing it to withdraw the claws aimed at Tang Wulin. Yet when the dust cleared, everyone's heart sank to rock bottom—Gu Yue's powerful attack, enough to freeze a hundred-year soul beast in an instant, had merely left a light dusting of frost on the dark gold terrorclaw bear's brown fur. It shook its enormous head and shed the ice fragments, completely unharmed and even more enraged.

"My turn!" Xie Xie shouted. His footwork shifted, and his figure flashed like lightning as he circled behind the dark gold terrorclaw bear's flank.

"Twin Dragon Storm!"

The two Light and Shadow Dragon Daggers became dazzling wheels of light in his hands. With a shriek that tore through the air, they slashed viciously into the giant bear's side.

Clang! Clang!

Two crisp clashes rang out, as though he had struck a wall forged from refined steel. Xie Xie's arms went numb, and the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers split. Even his Dagger had chipped. The dark gold terrorclaw bear, meanwhile, showed no interest in so much as looking back. An attack of that caliber did not even qualify as scratching an itch.

"No good! Its defense is ridiculous!" Knocked back several steps, Xie Xie discovered in horror that his strongest strike had failed to even graze the monster's skin.

Tang Wulin looked at the tiny trace of blood on his Golden Dragon Claw, then at the unharmed dark gold terrorclaw bear, his heart filled with helplessness. Even with Bloodline Suppression keeping it from fighting back, Gu Yue's elemental attacks holding it in check, and Xie Xie's high-speed harassment, the damage they inflicted was still pitifully small.

"ROAR—!!!"

The dark gold terrorclaw bear erupted in full fury. It drew a sharp breath, its chest swelling as a terrifying surge of soul power gathered within its body.

"Run! It's about to unleash its strongest attack!" Tang Wulin's pupils contracted. He grabbed the still-dazed Xie Xie and turned, sprinting deeper into the Gorge.

Gu Yue did not dare hesitate either. As she ran, she frantically unleashed soul skills to interfere, trying to delay the impending Destruction-like attack.

Tang Wulin desperately dodged the dark gold terrorclaw bear's claws, powerful enough to cleave mountains and split stone, while his peripheral vision frantically swept their surroundings. Several enormous, weathered boulders teetering on the Gorge walls caught his eye. They were their only hope.

"Gu Yue! Xie Xie! Get ready!" Tang Wulin roared, his voice hoarse with extreme tension.

Rather than continuing to flee blindly, he took an enormous risk and deliberately slowed down, luring the enraged giant bear directly beneath those boulders.

"Roar!" The dark gold terrorclaw bear lunged viciously at Tang Wulin, its enormous body stirring up a rank gust of wind.

At that very instant, Blue Silver Grass erupted beneath Tang Wulin's feet, and he slid several meters sideways, escaping by a hair's breadth.

"Now!"

"Gravity Control—fall!"

Gu Yue was already poised above them. With her sharp cry, the three precarious boulders instantly lost their balance. Under her precise elemental control, those thousand-jin boulders hurtled down like three meteors, carrying the force of Destruction as they smashed toward the dark gold terrorclaw bear below!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dust billowed and stone fragments flew. The entire Gorge shook beneath the violent impact. The boulders struck the dark gold terrorclaw bear squarely on its head and back, burying it instantly before it could even scream.

"Did we do it?" Xie Xie clutched his chest and gasped for breath, a flicker of joy at surviving disaster passing through his eyes.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yue also stared fixedly at the pile of rubble, their hearts involuntarily racing. At such close range, under such a heavy blow, even something made of iron should have shattered, shouldn't it?

Yet only two seconds passed.

The pile of rubble suddenly began shaking violently.

Then a deafening roar exploded from within, blasting countless stone fragments away. A scarred but still powerful bear paw thrust through a gap in the rocks and dug firmly into the ground.

Under the trio's horrified gazes, the dark gold terrorclaw bear actually forced itself to its feet!

Its body was covered in blood, its hide slashed open in numerous places by the broken rocks, yet its eyes were fiercer than ever. Against the crushing weight of three enormous boulders, it had forcibly straightened its body!

"Th-this... how is this possible?!" Xie Xie stumbled backward repeatedly, his legs trembling.

Tang Wulin stared at the monster, his heart feeling as though a great hand had clenched it tight. Looking at that mangled yet unbowed figure, he could not stop a despairing thought from rising in his mind:

This was only a simulated dark gold terrorclaw bear inside the Spirit Ascension Platform. Although it possessed lord-rank strength, it was not a true ten-thousand-year soul beast.

If it were a real dark gold terrorclaw bear that had cultivated for ten thousand years, just how terrifying would its defense and Attack Power be?

One swipe of its claws would probably flatten this entire Gorge.

The atmosphere in the Gorge grew utterly frozen. The dark gold terrorclaw bear's enormous body stood like an insurmountable mountain. Even covered in wounds, it still radiated a crushing pressure that drove them to despair.

Tang Wulin drew a deep breath, a glint of resolve flashing in his eyes. He turned his head, meeting Gu Yue's gaze. No words were needed. She instantly understood what his eyes conveyed—the madness of staking everything on one final gamble.

"All right!" Gu Yue's cool voice rang out. Her hands swiftly formed seals, and the scattered elemental power in her palms was instantly compressed and purified. This was no ordinary flame, but a highly concentrated "Soul Power Flame Seed" she had forcibly condensed using her own soul power as a catalyst. The flame burned an eerie, ghostly blue, its temperature so frighteningly high that the surrounding air warped in its heat.

"Catch!"

With a low shout, Gu Yue flicked her delicate hand. The ghostly blue Soul Power Flame Seed streaked across Chang Kong like a meteor and landed securely in Tang Wulin's left palm.

Tang Wulin gripped the violent Soul Power Flame Seed in his left hand, while that familiar azure flame suddenly ignited in his right. The two flames, utterly different in nature, danced wildly between his hands, crackling explosively. Enduring the agonizing pain in both hands, he forcibly pressed the two powers toward the center.

"Xie Xie!" Tang Wulin abruptly turned toward Xie Xie, who was already poised beside him. His eyes burned with frenzied fighting spirit as he roared, "The three of us will fight it to the death!"

"Bring it on!" Xie Xie's eyes turned bloodshot. His Light and Shadow Dragon Daggers traced two flourishes in his hands as he unleashed all his soul power without reserve, ready to deliver a fatal strike at the final moment.

"Buddha's—Fury—Fire—Lotus!!!"

With a furious roar that shook the Gorge, Tang Wulin brought his palms together, smashing the two flames compressed to their limits into each other.

BOOM—!!!

Time seemed to stop at that moment.

Then a heaven-shattering, earth-destroying explosion erupted. Blinding light instantly swallowed the entire Gorge, and a terrifying shock wave spread outward in a ring. Wherever it passed, rocks shattered and the earth split.

At the center of that Destruction-like energy, a gigantic Azure Lotus slowly bloomed. Every petal was formed from pure flame, its edges burning with Gu Yue's ghostly blue Soul Power Flame Seed, while at its heart blazed Tang Wulin's domineering golden flame. The three colors intertwined, breathtakingly beautiful, yet containing terrifying might capable of Destruction.

The dark gold terrorclaw bear's enormous body was utterly engulfed the instant it touched the fire lotus. It did not even have time to scream.

The immense explosion lasted several seconds before slowly subsiding.

When the light dispersed, only a vast, charred crater remained deep within the Gorge. That once-overbearing Lord-Rank Soul Beast had been reduced to nothing.

At the same time, Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xie Xie all began turning transparent. After completing that earth-shaking strike, their soul power had been completely exhausted, triggering the Spirit Ascension Platform's forced teleportation mechanism.

"We won..."

Tang Wulin watched the slowly fading tricolored fire lotus, a relieved smile curling his lips. Then his vision went black, and his consciousness sank into darkness.

The next instant, three beams of white light shot skyward, carrying them away from that brutal battlefield and back into the real world.

The real world, the Spirit Pagoda's assessment hall.

Three weakened figures tumbled from a spatial vortex, and Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xie Xie hit the polished floor heavily. Their condition was horrific: Tang Wulin's right arm hung limply, its golden scales long gone, and fine cracks caused by energy backlash covered his skin; Gu Yue's face was pale as paper, her breathing so faint that her chest barely seemed to move; Xie Xie's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed like a puddle of mud, clearly exhausted to his absolute limit.

The noisy chatter around them vanished instantly, replaced by a chorus of sharp gasps.

"Quick, healers!"

The Spirit Pagoda reacted swiftly. Several soul masters in white robes, wearing Advanced Healing Badges, hurried forward. With practiced movements, they released gentle green light, and a rich aura of life instantly enveloped the trio.

Warm soul power nourished their parched meridians like sweet rain. Tang Wulin's tightly knitted brows gradually relaxed, and a hint of color returned to Gu Yue's face. Under the effects of the Advanced Healing Soul Skill, the soul power within them, which had been on the verge of collapse, finally began to settle.

Nearby, Wu Changkong stood with his hands behind his back, his cold, stern gaze fixed on them. Only after their breathing stabilized did he approach.

Sensing their teacher's presence drawing near, the trio struggled to stand and greet him, but Wu Changkong raised a hand to stop them.

"No need for formalities."

Wu Changkong stopped before them. A rare trace of warmth appeared on that face that seemed frozen in ice for ten thousand years. Looking at the three students who had given everything they had, an almost imperceptible glimmer of approval passed through his eyes.

"You did very well this time."

Though Wu Changkong's voice remained low, it carried less of its usual chill. "In such desperate circumstances, you chose not to give up, but instead pushed your potential to its utmost limit. That unyielding will is more precious than any soul skill."

Those rare words of praise swept away the trio's physical and mental exhaustion like a spring breeze. Xie Xie grinned foolishly, Gu Yue lowered her head slightly to hide her smile, and Tang Wulin clenched his fists, his heart filled with strength.

However, the good times did not last.

Only a few seconds later, that touch of "spring warmth" on Wu Changkong's face receded like the tide, and his trademark "ten-thousand-year iceberg" once again loomed before them. He returned to his usual frost-cold expression, his gaze sweeping the hall like a blade as he announced the final assessment results in a hard, cold voice:

"The results of this Spirit Ascension Platform team assessment are as follows."

He paused, swept his gaze over the crowd, and called out:

"Wang Jinxi, 89 points."

Hearing his score, Wang Jinxi's anxious heart finally settled, and he let out a long breath. It was not particularly high, but at least he had safely passed.

"Zhang Yangzi, 93 points."

At his score, Zhang Yangzi puffed out his chest, a smug smile appearing on his face. He was clearly very pleased with his performance.

Ignoring everyone's reactions, Wu Changkong turned his gaze back to Tang Wulin's trio. His voice rose slightly, carrying clearly throughout the hall:

"Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, Xie Xie—99 points!"

The entire hall instantly erupted!

Ninety-nine points! It was an almost mythical score! Every student present wore a look of shock and envy, and whispers surged like a rising tide.

"Heavens! Ninety-nine points? Did they slaughter a God in there?"

"How is that possible? Teacher Wu is so strict, and they only lost one point!"

Xie Xie was so excited that he wanted to leap up in celebration, only to be instantly subdued by Wu Changkong's icy gaze. Wu Changkong gave a light cough. Though his face remained stern, a nearly imperceptible trace of satisfaction flashed deep in his eyes.

"Your score belongs to the past. Tomorrow's training intensity will be doubled." Wu Changkong coldly left them with those words, then turned and swept away.