Chapter 40 Entering the Phantom Spirit Tower

Saying that Lin Tiancheng was one of the strongest at the Earth rank did not mean he was exceptionally talented.

In fact, this was already Lin Tiancheng's fourth time taking the promotion assessment.

Among those who started with him, or even later, many had already advanced to the Heaven rank. Of the remaining who couldn't advance, he was the strongest.

This was Lin Tiancheng's greatest shame, so he was very sensitive about others mentioning it in front of him. Especially junior students, who always avoided the topic in his presence.

As luck would have it, Ye Yuan's words struck Lin Tiancheng's weak spot.

Lin Tiancheng's face changed drastically, and he glared at Ye Yuan, saying fiercely, "You've got some nerve, daring to speak to a senior like that! I think you're asking for death!"

With that, Lin Tiancheng channeled his primal power and struck a palm at Ye Yuan.

"Bang!"

Ye Yuan stood still, but Lin Tiancheng's body flew backward.

After tumbling several times on the ground, Lin Tiancheng barely steadied himself, looking very disheveled.

"Which bastard attacked me from behind?" Lin Tiancheng roared furiously.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Tiancheng noticed everyone around him staring at him with strange expressions, and he was momentarily confused.

"Lin Tiancheng, you've got some nerve, daring to make a move in front of me!" Hu Yan Yong's icy voice came, making Lin Tiancheng involuntarily shiver.

Facing Hu Yan Yong, where would Lin Tiancheng find the courage to resist?

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He had just cursed Hu Yan Yong as a bastard—wasn't that asking for trouble? Hu Yan Yong was the one presiding over the assessment; if he made a few small moves, wouldn't this attempt end in failure again?

If Hu Yan Yong held a grudge, he might never advance in his lifetime.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Teacher Hu Yan, I... I didn't know it was you," Lin Tiancheng quickly apologized.

Hu Yan Yong said expressionlessly, "The Phantom Spirit Tower is a place for promotion assessments. How dare you make a move without my permission? If you affect other students' assessments, can you bear the responsibility?"

"Teacher Hu Yan, I... it was him... he taunted me and deliberately provoked me to strike!" Lin Tiancheng dared not offend Hu Yan Yong, so he naturally turned the blame on Ye Yuan.

"Senior Lin, don't falsely accuse an innocent person. I was clearly wishing you success in your assessment, but I don't know how I offended you, and you wanted to attack me. Could it be that Senior Lin came for the Phantom Spirit Tower assessment but doesn't want to advance?" Ye Yuan's face showed a surprised expression.

Ye Yuan had indeed said, "Don't stumble at the last hurdle," which couldn't be faulted in terms of wording. But given his exaggerated expression, no one would think he was blessing Lin Tiancheng.

Poor Lin Tiancheng didn't know that Ye Yuan had come for the assessment today because Hu Yan Yong himself had invited him.

Not only had Lin Tiancheng started the trouble, but even if he were in the right, Hu Yan Yong wouldn't side with him.

"I saw everything that happened. From start to finish, you were the one making sarcastic remarks. Do you think I, as the examiner, am easy to fool?" Hu Yan Yong's voice grew colder.

"No, no, I..."

"Stay put! Considering it's your first offense, I'll let it slide this time. If it happens again, I'll disqualify you from the assessment!"

Lin Tiancheng dared not talk back anymore and obediently went to stand aside.

After waiting a while longer, students trickled in. When about fifty had gathered, Hu Yan Yong appeared before everyone again.

"Now that everyone is here, I will open the restrictions shortly. The Phantom Spirit Tower will automatically teleport you to the corresponding assessment based on your cultivation level. Most of you have experienced promotion assessments before, but a few are participating for the first time, so I'll give a brief explanation..."

Hu Yan Yong briefly introduced the precautions for the Phantom Spirit Tower.

In fact, he was specifically explaining for Ye Yuan and Lü'er's benefit. Apart from Ye Yuan and Lü'er, everyone else in this batch had participated in promotion assessments before.

Lü'er went without saying. Ye Yuan should have undergone the entrance assessment and entered the Phantom Spirit Tower. However, his predecessor was too weak to pass the Phantom Spirit Tower assessment. Ye Hang had used many connections to squeeze Ye Yuan in, so he had never been to the Phantom Spirit Tower.

"So it's a thirty-two-restriction spirit artifact. The Nether Cloud Sect does have some methods," Ye Yuan praised inwardly as he sensed the layers of restrictions on the Phantom Spirit Tower.

A thirty-two-restriction spirit artifact was nothing in Ye Yuan's eyes, but although this artifact was low-grade, it had some unique features as a tool for student promotion assessments.

This Phantom Spirit Tower seemed to be specially developed by the Nether Cloud Sect to classify students. It had five areas: Beginner Advancement, Yellow Rank Advancement, Mystic Rank Advancement, Earth Rank Advancement, and Heaven Rank Advancement.

The first four areas corresponded to the four student ranks of the Danwu Academy. Passing the entrance assessment advanced to Yellow Rank, passing the Yellow Rank promotion assessment advanced to Mystic Rank, and so on.

The last area, Heaven Rank Advancement, was the assessment for Heaven-rank students to qualify for entry into the sect as outer disciples.

Clearly, the difficulty of these five levels increased progressively. By the time of Earth Rank Advancement, the difficulty was already quite extreme.

In fact, Lin Tiancheng's aptitude was not bad, but the Earth Rank Advancement assessment was indeed somewhat abnormal, causing him to fail repeatedly. Among Earth-rank students, those like him were not few.

As for Heaven Rank Advancement...

"I hope that during your time at the Danwu Academy, some of you will be qualified to take this assessment," Hu Yan Yong told the students.

Hu Yan Yong's words did not elicit much reaction from the others, clearly indicating they all knew how terrifying that assessment was.

Hu Yan Yong said 'qualified,' not 'able to pass.' That meant among these people, even by the time they graduated from the Danwu Academy at age twenty, they would never have the chance to attempt such an assessment even once.

One could imagine the difficulty of that assessment!

Most of the students present today were taking the Mystic Rank Advancement, i.e., the assessment to advance from Mystic to Earth Rank. A few were taking the Yellow Rank Advancement and Earth Rank Advancement, and only Lü'er was taking the Beginner Advancement.

"Once you enter the Phantom Spirit Tower, you can participate in multiple levels of assessments until you are killed or voluntarily withdraw. Passing one assessment will automatically teleport you to the next, and you can choose whether to proceed. The tower will remember the assessment level at which you were killed. The next time you enter, you will start from that level. Alright, now enter the Phantom Spirit Tower!" Clearly, Hu Yan Yong's last words were meant for Ye Yuan.

After speaking, Hu Yan Yong walked to the gate of the Phantom Spirit Tower, raised his hand, and traced a half-arc in front of him. A faint black primal power sank into the tower.

Then, the gate of the Phantom Spirit Tower slowly opened.

The students taking the assessment entered one by one, disappearing as soon as they stepped inside, evidently teleported away by the tower.

When it was Lin Tiancheng's turn to enter, he glared fiercely at Ye Yuan and said, "If you can't advance to Earth rank, you'll always be trash! You were lucky today, having Teacher Hu Yan help you. Don't let me run into you in the academy from now on, or you're dead!"

After saying that, Lin Tiancheng stepped in and his figure vanished instantly.

Ye Yuan chuckled lightly, unconcerned by Lin Tiancheng's threat. He turned to Lü'er and said, "Lü'er, let's go in too."