Chapter 467 - 305: Withstanding the Saint Realm with a Physical Body
The 5th Layer of the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
After defeating the near-perfect shadow of his true self on the 4th Layer,
Li Wen’s figure showed no hesitation as he stepped into the space of the 5th Layer.
The 5th Layer of the Heaven-Reaching Tower also consisted of a single section.
The scene before him changed abruptly.
It was no longer a physical battlefield with a tangible enemy, but a vast, boundless, starry cosmos.
There were no stars, no sources of light.
Only eternal darkness and cold, and an immense pressure that originated from the depths of one’s soul.
’A test of spiritual will?’ Li Wen realized instantly.
This 5th Layer eschewed physical combat and energy clashes, aiming directly at a Cultivator’s core: their Primordial Spirit and will.
The thought had barely formed when an indescribable spiritual storm swept over him without a sound.
This storm wasn’t an energy assault, but countless chaotic fragments of thought saturated with negative emotions.
Wails of despair, roars of greed, mad ramblings, bone-gnawing jealousy...
Like a billion invisible needles, they stabbed viciously at the barriers of Li Wen’s sea of consciousness.
They sought to tear apart his Primordial Spirit, corrupt his mind, and drag him into an eternal abyss of madness.
An impact like this was enough to make many a Venerable with a weak will suffer an instantaneous collapse of their Primordial Spirit, reducing them to empty shells.
Even a genius like Keynes had only managed to struggle and hold on for a few minutes on the 5th Layer before being eliminated.
However, for Li Wen...
BOOM—!
The moment that spiritual storm, powerful enough to annihilate an ordinary Early-stage Saint Realm expert, touched his sea of consciousness...
A far more majestic and condensed Primordial Spirit power suddenly awakened!
The pressure it naturally emanated was enough to silently crush the seemingly terrifying spiritual storm.
Li Wen’s Primordial Spirit had been forged and refined a thousand times over with every Scholar-class upgrade.
It had been further sublimated through countless life-and-death battles and by his conviction to protect his people.
Its resilience and power had long surpassed the scope of the Peak of Saint Realm, verging on the threshold of a Star Lord!
To him, the trial of the 5th Layer was like a gentle breeze, incapable of even causing a ripple in his Primordial Spirit.
He took a step, just a single step forward.
The vast and profound Starry Sky Illusion Realm, filled with spiritual pollution, shattered like a mirror and dissipated.
...
「Outside the tower, before the light screen.」
Time trickled by amid a dead, silent shock.
When the dot of light representing Li Wen broke through to the 6th Layer almost the instant it entered the 5th, the entire viewing area fell completely silent.
The color of Keynes’s face could no longer be described as ashen; it was a ghastly white, completely drained of blood.
He stared intently at the dot of light representing the 6th Layer on the screen.
His lips were pressed into a bloodless line, his nails digging so deep into his palms that he didn’t even notice.
He clearly remembered how he had struggled desperately in the Spiritual Illusion Realm of the 5th Layer, relying on a Secret Technique from his clan to barely last five minutes!
But this guy... did it instantly?!!
"N-No... Impossible..." Pato mumbled, completely dumbfounded.
His scale-covered face was filled with incredulous horror and the dazed look of a man whose entire worldview had been shattered.
Clearing the 4th Layer in 45 seconds had already left him feeling utterly humiliated, but clearing the 5th Layer almost instantly... This was like having his entire understanding of the world brutally ground into the dust.
All his previous doubts about "being countered" or "getting lucky" now seemed laughably pale.
"A monster... He’s an absolute monster!" someone in the crowd repeated the awe-filled word, immediately sparking a wave of agreement.
"The spiritual storm of the 5th Layer! Cleared in an instant? Just how powerful is his Primordial Spirit?"
"The Source Net really struck gold this time! A true prodigy!"
The discussions, like a long-suppressed tide, erupted with a roar, filled with disbelief and reverence.
All eyes were locked on the dot of light on the 6th Layer of the screen, hearts pounding as they waited for the next miracle.
...
The scene changed once more.
The 6th Layer of the Heaven-Reaching Tower also consisted of a single section.
Before him was no longer a void or an illusion, but an ancient, unimaginably massive combat arena.
The ground was paved with dark cyan flagstones covered in deep gashes, and it radiated a pressure so thick it felt tangible.
At the far end of the arena stood a figure.
It was not a living being, but a humanoid construct that gleamed with a cold, metallic luster.
It stood about three meters tall, its form defined by cold, sleek lines. Intricate energy circuits were etched into its joints, emitting a faint blue glow.
It had no head, only a large, slowly rotating, multifaceted crystal embedded in its chest.
At that moment, the crystal projected a blue beam of light, locking firmly onto Li Wen, who had just entered.
"Challenger, defeat the guardian to enter the next layer. Failure means expulsion." A cold, synthesized, mechanical voice emanated from the crystal in the construct’s chest.
VWOOM—!
The crystal in the guardian’s chest suddenly erupted with a blinding blue light!
Rings of visible blue energy rapidly expanded outward from it.
Wherever the rings passed, space groaned as if under an unbearable weight, as though shackled by invisible chains.
’This is... a spatial confinement field! And its intensity far exceeds that of a normal Early-stage Saint Realm!’
Almost as soon as the field deployed, the guardian moved.
It didn’t charge. It simply raised a metallic arm flickering with blue arcs of electricity, aimed it at Li Wen from a distance, and splayed its five fingers!
BOOM!
Five beams of intensely condensed, deep-blue energy shot out from the ground around Li Wen from five different directions without any warning!
The beams tore through the confined space, instantly weaving into a cage of death!
It sealed off any possibility of dodging or maneuvering.
Even more terrifying, the crystal in the guardian’s chest fired a blue ray as thin as a hair, yet it sent a faint sting through Li Wen’s Primordial Spirit.
Fired later but arriving first, it ignored the distance between them and shot straight for the space between Li Wen’s eyebrows.
The energy level contained within this ray had shockingly reached the peak of the Early-stage Saint Realm!
A three-pronged kill sequence!
The spatial confinement compressed his room to evade, the five-directional energy cage sealed his escape routes, and the lethal soul-light ray aimed straight for his core!
This was a pure killing machine! An absolute barrier at the threshold of the Saint Realm!
Outside the tower, on the light screen, Li Wen’s dot of light remained steady on the 6th Layer.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Ten seconds... thirty seconds... one minute...
The atmosphere outside had grown extremely tense.
Everyone knew what the 6th Layer meant—the combat power of the Mid-stage Saint Realm!
Countless prodigies had met their downfall here!
"He’s stopped..." someone said, their voice laced with a faint, almost imperceptible tension.
"The guardian of the 6th Layer has strength approaching the peak of the Early-stage Saint Realm, and it possesses multiple types of Law-based attacks... Can he still perform a miracle?" another person muttered.
Keynes held his breath, his gaze burning.
He hoped this unknown contemporary would fail, but even more, he wanted to see how this monster would face this towering wall. ’Will he pass?’
...
「Inside the combat arena.」
Facing the lethal blue soul-light ray and the closing energy cage,
Li Wen’s eyes showed no fear. Instead, a glint of excitement flashed through them, like a hunter spotting its prey.
’Peak of the Early-stage Saint Realm? Perfect. A good chance to test out my newly promoted physical body!’
He didn’t dodge. Just as the destructive soul-light was about to touch the space between his brows,
he raised his left hand, splayed his five fingers, and, without flinching, reached directly for the soul-light ray that was powerful enough to pierce a star!
Meeting the Saint Realm’s killing light head-on with his mortal body!
HISS—!
A piercing sound rang out! But the expected scene of his palm being pierced and annihilated did not occur!
The terrifyingly condensed soul-light ray seemed to have crashed into an invisible barrier.
Half an inch before Li Wen’s palm, it was forcibly frozen and distorted by an unseen force.
Finally, amid a blinding shower of energy sparks, it disintegrated and vanished inch by inch!
Pure physical strength! He had crushed a Saint Realm soul-light with his bare hands!
Almost simultaneously, the five beams of the encroaching energy cage closed in.
Li Wen’s right hand finally rested on the hilt of the blade at his waist.
KLANG—!
A clear, long cry of the blade, like a slumbering ancient dragon awakening, echoed throughout the entire space of the 6th Layer.
No flash of a blade appeared. One could only see that Li Wen’s drawing motion was executed with ultimate speed.
So fast it was as if the simple, ancient longsword had never left its sheath, leaving behind only an intent of Law that instantly filled one’s entire field of vision.
Slash!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no rampage of a chaotic energy tide.
When the five energy beams—powerful enough to tear through refined metal and incinerate mountains—came into contact with that pervasive intent of Law,
they silently disintegrated, failing to stir even the slightest ripple.
One slash! The five-directional killing formation was broken!
The cold construct guardian’s Energy Crystal in its chest fluctuated violently for the first time.
Its scanning beam flickered frantically, as if unable to comprehend what was happening before it.
It raised its arm again, and an even more terrifying energy fluctuation began to gather.
However, Li Wen gave it no second chance.
His figure seemed to merge into space itself as he took a step, ignoring the distance between them.
The instant the guardian’s energy core was about to erupt, Li Wen’s blade moved.
This time, the blade’s light finally appeared.
It was not a dazzling brilliance, but a sliver of ultimate "stillness."
Like the eternal moment before the dawn of the universe, or the ultimate void after all sound has ceased.
Where the blade’s light passed, space did not shatter. Instead, it took on a strange, smoothed-out texture.
*Myriad Phenomena Return to Ruin: Silent Annihilation!* (Incomplete)
The blade’s light gently brushed past the construct guardian’s core, like a lover’s tender touch.
BUZZ—!
The Energy Crystal in the guardian’s chest, which had been spinning at high speed and radiating terrifying fluctuations, instantly froze solid.
Its blue glow completely extinguished, turning it into a dull, dead stone.
The energy circuits flowing throughout the construct’s body dimmed and disintegrated, inch by inch.
Its massive metallic body, still in an attack posture, hung silently in place like a sculpture weathered by a billion years of wind.
Then, amid an imperceptible ripple in space, it turned into the finest cosmic dust and completely dissipated.
6th Layer, cleared!
On the light screen outside the tower, the dot of light that had paused for about a minute,
as if crossing an invisible step, steadily and indisputably entered the area of the 7th Layer.
Time: 1 minute and 15 seconds!
Dead silence!
The plaza outside the tower fell into absolute, dead silence!
The expressions on everyone’s faces froze—shock, bewilderment, and disbelief, as if they had just witnessed the very laws of the universe being rewritten!