Borrowing someone else's "cheat" felt pretty good!

Inside the Demon-Sealing Tower, Wan Jiang let out a long breath, exhilarated.

His tactics had been dangerous, but surprisingly effective.

The massive agility boost he gained by severely injuring himself meant that none of the ten Ghost Children could touch him. Combined with his spear's reach, it had let him clear the trial without taking a single hit!

Another trial reward was a class advancement card, which would let Wan Jiang advance straight to tier 1 when he reached level 10!

[Class: Dragon Gallantry Gunfighter → Dragon Shadow Spear Soul (tier 1)!]

[New skill acquired: Spear Shadow Formation.]

What excited Wan Jiang even more was the advancement of his innate skill. Normally, one only received a chance to advance their innate skill upon reaching tier 3.

But the Demon-Sealing Tower's reward had let him advance his innate skill while he was still at tier 0!

It was equivalent to using an ability at tier 1 that he should only have received at tier 3!

[Dragon Gallantry: Immune to fear; for every 1% decrease in health, agility and physique each increase by 1%; for every enemy nearby, strength increases by 2%!]

Advancement ↓

[Peerless: Immune to all negative status effects; for every 1% decrease in health, all four attributes increase by 1%; for every enemy nearby, all four attributes increase by 3%!]

For a low-quality class talent, the effects of advancement would not have been particularly dramatic.

But Wan Jiang already possessed a Legendary class talent, and its effects after advancement were downright terrifying!

[Body tempering will begin shortly. Challenger, prepare to undergo the gravity baptism!]

[The baptism may be attempted up to three times. When the challenger can withstand one thousand jun of gravity, their body tempering will be considered perfect!]

"So I have to withstand one thousand jun of gravity within three attempts for it to count as perfect?"

As his words fell, an invisible pressure seemed to congeal in the air. Wan Jiang felt his body pinned down, and even the ground beneath his feet split into spiderweb cracks that kept spreading.

His resolute face blazed with fighting spirit. "Bring it on!"

Outside, the captain of Squad Five was deep in thought.

Yi Tian had given Wei Yuan a general account of the situation. After the commander of the Vanguard Regiment issued his orders, Squad Five was told to remain where they were and stand by.

"At least Wan Jiang should be all right..."

"But waiting here is really slowing down our demon kills, isn't it?"

The squad members were somewhat disgruntled, and their captain understood perfectly. Killing Evil Demons earned them merit, after all.

Although Squad Five was not particularly strong and had little hope of placing in the rankings, who wouldn't want to earn a little more merit?

"How about we split into two teams?"

"Wait, don't split up. Look!"

One squad member looked alarmed and instinctively turned toward a certain direction.

Through the gloom, more than a dozen Evil Demons charged toward them. Some Ghost Children were down on all fours, crawling forward at high speed!

Running into an Evil Demons Horde was usually terrible luck. All they could do was defend while retreating and summon nearby squads to join forces and wipe it out.

But right now, their squadmate Wan Jiang was still "missing."

"Are we still waiting!?"

The captain gritted his teeth. "Three more minutes, tops. Shield guards, hold them off for a while. If you can't, we'll..."

Before he could finish-

That deep blue glow appeared again, and Wan Jiang emerged from the Demon-Sealing Tower!

"Holy shit! You... hurry, move!"

Countless emotions surged through the captain, but all he could do now was tell everyone to retreat immediately.

"Sorry, sorry." Wan Jiang scratched his head sheepishly, but he really hadn't anticipated anything like the Demon-Sealing Tower.

He turned to see the dozen-odd Evil Demons charging viciously toward them, and his expression grew calm and resolute.

"Spear Shadow Formation!"

He drove his spear into the ground. Golden light erupted, forming a radiant formation ten meters across with him at its center. Countless phantom spears instantly appeared, their sharp edges gleaming coldly.

The moment the Evil Demons charged inside, the phantom spears moved like soldiers awaiting orders, weaving nimbly back and forth as they slaughtered them!

One skill wiped out the entire Evil Demons Horde!

The five members of Squad Five exchanged bewildered looks, a question rising from the depths of their souls:

"Is this guy really our teammate?"

Meanwhile, Wan Jiang's heart surged with excitement as he examined the effects of his body tempering:

[Body tempering level: 270 jun.]

[Talent effects: Strength +50, constitution +50, spirit +20!]

On his first body-tempering attempt, he had only held out until 270 jun. He was still some distance from one thousand and needed to keep working.

But his combat power was now twice what it had been before he joined the demon tide battle!

He still had two body-tempering attempts left. Once he reached one thousand jun, the effects would surely be even stronger!

Aside from that, he had also learned the requirement for the next floor's trial inside the Demon-Sealing Tower:

[Kill a Demon Monster-rank Evil Demon.]

That, however, left Wan Jiang deep in thought.

There were currently five known ranks of Evil Demons in Great Xia:

Malignant Spirit, Demon Monster, Demon Spirit, Demon Lord, and Demon Heavenly King!

Every appearance of a Demon Lord or Demon Heavenly King brought a tremendous catastrophe to Blue Star. They could destroy cities, even entire nations!

At this rate, unlocking the fourth and fifth floors of the Demon-Sealing Tower would be far too difficult!

Even more terrifying, however, was that Wan Jiang discovered a miniature tower design on the ring-and it clearly had nine floors!

Where on earth had his father gotten this thing...?

Wan Jiang thought for a long time but could find no answer.

He decided to focus on the present instead. He would take the road one step at a time!

He turned toward his Squad Five teammates and flashed a brilliant smile:

"Come on. I'll take us to first place in merit!"

Meanwhile.

After Wan Jiang completed his body tempering, Yi Tian also shared in the talent effects of [Thousand-Jun Body Tempering].

Although it was only at 270 jun for now, Yi Tian had plenty of confidence in Wan Jiang. He believed one thousand jun wasn't far off.

"Transcendent physique..."

Yi Tian was quite interested in this ability that could raise a class holder's upper limits.

"Body tempering tests strength, physique, and willpower. Should I get Wan Jiang something to boost his attributes?"

The higher his attributes, the sooner Wan Jiang would reach one thousand jun, and Yi Tian would benefit as well.

It would also help with the trials on the higher floors of the Demon-Sealing Tower.

"Since the first floor's trial reward was body tempering, the rewards for the later floors should have something to do with transcendent physique, right?"

He had to admit, borrowing someone else's "cheat" felt pretty good!

Yi Tian leaned back in his computer chair, browsing the forums as he waited for midnight to approach.

He was the only one in the house today.

After the Unsealed Dungeon, Bai Qiu Li had started running dungeons solo and still hadn't returned.

It seemed Yi Tian's earlier instant boss kill had spurred her on again.

With only six days left until the college entrance exam, growing stronger as quickly as possible was probably on every final-year high school student's mind.

Besides, the honors earned in the college entrance exam were sure to carry enormous weight. Profit Sharing and special rewards would certainly be part of the package, and Yi Tian was especially looking forward to them.

The night deepened.

The demon tide seemed to have ended as well, and the gloomy demonic energy that had shrouded the eastern border was steadily receding.

Midnight arrived.

It was twelve o'clock!

The Management Log's settlement list began to refresh...