Chapter 478: Trial Tower

"Impressive." Luo Cheng had to give Zhang Lie a thumbs-up.

To have learned so much after just one day at the academy was something no ordinary disciple could accomplish.

Zhang Lie continued, "Boss, ordinary disciples only get one chance a year to apply to become inner court disciples. It’s usually one month after the entrance exams, which means this year’s opportunity is just a month away."

"One month, huh?" Ye Xuan mused.

If being an inner court disciple was really that desirable, he wouldn’t mind becoming one at Gale Light Academy in a month’s time.

Back in his dorm, Ye Xuan checked the student handbook. It was just as Zhang Lie had said: inner court disciples all had their own private courtyards, which were very secluded, allowing them to come and go without being noticed.

Beyond that, the benefits and treatment inner court disciples enjoyed far surpassed those of ordinary disciples.

’Looks like it might be worthwhile to get myself an inner court disciple status, just for the fun of it,’ Ye Xuan mused.

’But according to Zhang Lie, the weakest inner court disciple in recent years was a Tier Six First Layer Martial Venerable. Given the standard of Gale Light Academy’s disciples, that’s equivalent to at least a Peak of Tier Six Second Layer Martial Venerable from the outside world.’

And that was Ye Xuan’s conservative estimate.

The students of Gale Light Academy were all top-tier geniuses, and those who could join the inner court were the geniuses among geniuses. For them, defeating those at a higher cultivation level was as simple as breathing.

’Of course, with my current strength, I’m capable of fighting a Tier Seven Martial King for a short while. It wouldn’t be difficult to join the inner court with that kind of power. But my own cultivation level is only Tier Five Second Layer. If I really joined the inner court at Tier Five Second Layer, that would be too monstrous.’

Ye Xuan’s brow furrowed slightly.

His current identity was already known to the Profound Mystery Sect. As the saying goes, the tree that stands out in the forest is the first to be blown down by the wind.

On one hand, he needed to make Gale Light Academy value him. On the other, he couldn’t let the Profound Mystery Sect feel that he was too much of a threat.

If he really joined the inner court at Tier Five Second Layer, it would be too heaven-defying. He had to master this balancing act.

After all, both the Profound Mystery Sect and Gale Light Academy were one of the three top powers in the Dream Realm Plain. If he pushed the Profound Mystery Sect too far, they might just send a top-tier expert to Gale Light Academy to assassinate him.

And it wouldn’t just be a Supreme Elder like Crazy Battle they sent.

Right now, he could escape from a Tier Seven First Layer Martial King. But what if the Profound Mystery Sect sent a Tier Seven Third Layer Martial King?

As a titan of the continent in his past life, Ye Xuan was strategically dismissive of the Profound Mystery Sect, a mere top power of the Dream Realm Plain. Tactically, however, he was extremely meticulous and cautious.

In his past life, how heaven-defying had he been?

And yet, hadn’t he still fallen in the end?

For a true expert, the one who kills them is never someone else, but their own arrogance.

’There’s still a month. I should try my best to break through to Tier Five Third Layer within that time. Entering the inner court with the strength of a Tier Five Third Layer would be more plausible.’

Ye Xuan set a plan for himself.

’Let’s see what other conditions there are for joining the inner court.’

Ye Xuan flipped through the handbook, the various clauses coming into view one by one.

Gale Light Academy didn’t just have requirements for strength to join the inner court; there were restrictions in other areas as well.

There were three such restrictions in total.

"First: Age cannot exceed twenty-five."

Ye Xuan shook his head. ’Looks like Luo Cheng has no hope of joining the inner court in this lifetime.’

"Second: Clear the second level of the Trial Tower."

"Third: Clear the second stage of the Illusion Chamber."

Ye Xuan nodded. ’The Trial Tower and the Illusion Chamber must be some kind of assessment grounds for Gale Light Academy.’

’In that case, I’ll go take a look.’

Ye Xuan was not one to sit idle.

After resting for the night, he called for Zhang Lie and Luo Cheng early the next morning.

"Zhang Lie, you should know where the Trial Tower is, right? Take me there."

"The Trial Tower? Young Master Ye, you want to take the Trial Tower’s assessment?"

Zhang Lie was stunned. He quickly said, "Young Master Ye, you’re planning to go because you saw the standards for joining the inner court, right? To join the inner court, you have to clear the second level of the Trial Tower. But there’s something you might not know. Every student at Gale Light Academy only gets one chance to challenge the Trial Tower each month."

"And the inner court assessment is just one month away. That means if you fail to clear the second level this time, you won’t even have the chance to participate in the inner court assessment. So I advise you to learn more about the Trial Tower first, continue cultivating for a month, and then try to challenge it the day before the assessment. You’ll have a much better chance that way."

Zhang Lie analyzed the situation for Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan frowned. He hadn’t known Gale Light Academy had such a rule.

"Then what does this Trial Tower assess?" Ye Xuan asked.

Zhang Lie didn’t answer directly. Instead, he said in a serious tone, "Young Master Ye, you know that many disciples in Gale Light Academy come from major powers, right? They hide their identities and join the academy for no other reason than to train in these two assessment grounds: the Trial Tower and the Illusion Chamber."

"These two assessment grounds are unique to Gale Light Academy. No other top power has them."

"Among them, the Trial Tower assesses a Martial Artist’s combat talent. It’s said to have been obtained from some ancient ruins by the founder of Gale Light Academy. It’s an incredibly heaven-defying treasure, the only one of its kind in the entire Dream Realm Plain."

"Its function is very special. A Martial Artist’s physical body cannot enter at all; only their consciousness can. Inside, the Trial Tower will automatically create a spiritual manifestation equal to the Martial Artist’s own strength. Defeating this manifestation allows you to proceed to the next level. The next level will then have double the number of spiritual manifestations from the previous one, and so on."

"Inside, it doesn’t simply test a Martial Artist’s strength, but primarily their combat talent."

"The Trial Tower has nine levels in total. The more levels you clear and the more spiritual manifestations you kill, the higher your combat talent is considered to be."

"What’s even more miraculous is that in the Trial Tower, all the Cultivation Techniques and martial arts you’ve practiced will appear. Some of the spiritual manifestations even have a higher mastery of your martial arts than you do."

"Furthermore, in the Trial Tower, a Martial Artist can fight another of equal strength without fear of death. If they ’die,’ their consciousness simply returns to their body. At most, it consumes a large amount of Spiritual Power, but the physical body and soul remain unharmed."

"Therefore, every assessment in the Trial Tower is equivalent to a life-and-death battle for a Martial Artist. Moreover, they are fighting an opponent of equal strength who uses the same Cultivation Techniques and martial arts. For any Martial Artist, this is an immense tempering experience."

In one breath, Zhang Lie told them everything he knew about the Trial Tower.

Luo Cheng, who was listening at the side, was dumbfounded.

"Each level has double the spiritual manifestations of the previous one... The first level has one, the second has two, so doesn’t the third have four? By the eighth level, wouldn’t there be one hundred and twenty-eight? And what about the highest, the ninth level?"

He murmured, a dazed look on his face, "Can anyone really clear the ninth level?"

Even Ye Xuan’s expression was one of slight astonishment.

Fighting Martial Artists of your own level on every floor meant that regardless of one’s individual strength, everyone started on equal footing. What’s truly being tested, then, was a Martial Artist’s combat talent.

But the fact that only one’s consciousness could enter... this Trial Tower was truly bizarre.

Zhang Lie shook his head. "As far as I know, no one has ever cleared the ninth level. I’ve heard that the highest record in Gale Light Academy’s history was set by a genius student over three hundred years ago. But even he only made it to the seventh level. He was just shy of reaching the eighth, but he failed in the end."

Luo Cheng looked horrified. "The seventh level? Doesn’t that mean fighting sixty-four spiritual manifestations of the same level? That’s too heaven-defying! But if the geniuses can’t do it, what about the experts and instructors in the academy? Isn’t the current Headmaster, Huangfu Xiuming, one of the most outstanding headmasters in the academy’s history? What about him?"

Zhang Lie explained, "That’s because the Trial Tower has a restriction: only those under the age of thirty can enter. So, renowned experts can’t go in or be tested. But it’s also because of this that the Trial Tower can remain safely at Gale Light Academy. Otherwise, a heaven-defying treasure like this would have long ago triggered a chaotic war among the top powers of the Dream Realm Plain."

"As for Headmaster Huangfu Xiuming, there’s very little information about him. But it’s said that when he was a student at Gale Light Academy, his talent was relatively poor. When he graduated, he was only a Tier Six First Layer Martial Venerable. But his performance in the Trial Tower was quite good; he cleared the fifth level, which wasn’t any weaker than some of the inner court geniuses."

After Zhang Lie finished, Ye Xuan fell into deep thought.

’Only those under thirty can enter the Trial Tower, and only as a consciousness... This is definitely no ordinary treasure. It sounds like something from the ancient era, a treasure a sect used specifically to test its disciples.’

Without realizing it, Ye Xuan had developed a keen interest in this Trial Tower.

’Fighting spiritual manifestations of the same level, huh?’ A faint smile touched Ye Xuan’s lips. "Even though I only get one chance, I still want to test it out now."

From Zhang Lie’s explanation, Ye Xuan understood that the content of the Trial Tower’s assessment didn’t have much to do with a Martial Artist’s actual strength. That being the case, there was basically no difference between taking the assessment now and taking it in a month.

"Since you still want to go, Young Master Ye, then follow me."

Seeing that Ye Xuan was insistent on trying, Zhang Lie didn’t waste any more words and immediately led him towards the Trial Tower.

"By the way, Zhang Lie," Luo Cheng asked curiously as they walked, "you said earlier that the Illusion Chamber and the Trial Tower are Gale Light Academy’s two core assessments. The Trial Tower involves fighting spiritual manifestations of the same level, so what about the Illusion Chamber? What does it assess?"

Zhang Lie smiled slightly and said, "The Illusion Chamber, it’s said, was also built from an Illusion Crystal that the founder of Gale Light Academy obtained from some ancient ruins..."

Zhang Lie continued to explain as they walked.