Chapter 231: Unstoppable
Chapter 231: Unstoppable
Outside the Heavenly Ascendent Tower.
The High Preceptors, the Core Palace disciples, and Carmilla were staring at the glowing stone monolith.
The golden rune had just jumped from Floor 9 to Floor 10.
And then, before any of them could even take a single breath... it immediately jumped to Floor 11.
"He... he cleared the tenth floor?" Halston stammered, "It hasn’t even been even one minute since he walked through the doors!"
Before this, the person reaching fastest to the tenth floor had taken a full five minutes.
It was a record time.
Before anyone could even process this absurdity, the golden runes on the ancient monolith shifted again
[Floor 11]
Two seconds later.
[Floor 12]
Three seconds later.
[Floor 13]
"What..." Halston’s face had gone completely white. "That’s impossible. The opponents from Floor 11 onward are an entire minor realm above him. Each floor adds another opponent. He should be slowing down, not accelerating!"
Aldren’s usually impassive demeanor had crumbled into naked disbelief.
"Three seconds per floor," Aldren breathed. "He’s... he’s treating the founder’s millennium-old death trap like a leisurely morning stroll."
Even Carmilla, who had the most faith in Rhain’s unfathomable depths was stupified.
Amidst the group of shocked Domain Masters and trembling Core Palace disciples, only one person remained entirely serene.
Seris stood closest to the monolith, her delicate hands clasped before her chest, her pale purple eyes unblinking.
She wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
For her, it didn’t matter if it was a thousand-year-old death trap or a trial designed by a legendary founder.
If her husband said he would conquer it, then the tower simply had no choice but to be conquered.
"You can do it husband!" Seris murmured with unwavering confidence.
___________
Inside the Heavenly Ascendent Tower.
The pitch-black space warped once more.
Rhain stepped onto the twenty-first floor.
Before him, the spiritual light coalesced and a single essence puppet materialized at the center of the dark metal arena.
However, the aura rolling off its body was noticeably thicker.
Seventh level of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
Two minor realms above his own.
The puppet gripped a translucent halberd and launched forward, moving with a speed that would have forced any ordinary fifth-level cultivator into a desperate, life-or-death struggle.
Rhain looked at the incoming attack and simply let out an amused chuckle.
"Just punching them is getting a bit boring," Rhain murmured. "Since the Academy was so generous with its library, I suppose I should put those arts to good use."
Rhain raised his hand, his fingers curling slightly as he channeled his essence into a newly memorized Epic-Grade martial art.
Shadow-Rending Claw!
Swoosh—!
Five streaks of pitch-black essence tore through the air like invisible scythes.
They effortlessly bypassed the puppet’s weapon, slicing the essence puppet into five perfectly neat pieces before it could even take another step.
BANG!
The puppet exploded into dissipating light.
A glowing staircase materialized.
Rhain casually walked up.
From the twenty-first floor onward, Rhain completely abandoned raw physical brawling.
Instead, he turned the millennium-old trial into his own personal, training dummy system.
[Floor 25]
Five Level 7 Spirit Manifestation puppets surrounded him.
"Let’s see how this one flows."
Rhain’s footwork shifted.
He executed an incredibly complex Epic-Grade movement art he had learnt from the fourth floor.
His figure effortlessly slipping through their coordinated assault before he tapped his fingers against their foreheads.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
[Floor 30]
Ten Level 7 opponents.
Iron Mountain Cleave!
A casual wave of his hand produced a shockwave of kinetic force so dense it literally flattened all ten opponents into nothingness in a single second.
He ascended higher and higher, stepping through the floors leisurely like a man strolling through a garden.
The mental suppression that the founder had woven into the every floor of the tower, was constantly bombarding Rhain’s consciousness.
But against a spiritual sea that could even be compared to a Domain Master, the mental pressure was utterly meaningless.
It was like throwing a pebble into a bottomless ocean.
Soon, the space warped, and Rhain stepped into a significantly larger arena.
[Floor 40]
This was the exact floor where Halston, had been brutally overwhelmed and forced to flee for his life.
Rhain’s dark grey eyes swept across the chamber.
Ten massive figures materialized simultaneously.
Peak of the ninth level of the Spirit Manifestation Realm!
Four minor realms above his own cultivation!
Three heavily armored beasts roared, charging forward like unstoppable meteors.
Four weapon-masters moved with lethal synchronization. And three soul-attackers at the rear unleashed a devastating, unified mental blast aimed directly at his brain.
Rhain looked at the charging horde.
He simply gathered a dense layer of dark essence around his right arm.
Epic Grade - Void Fist!
BOOM—!!!
A vortex of kinetic force and compressed essence erupted from his knuckles.
The sheer penetrative power of the strike bypassed the constructs’ defensive barriers as if they were made of wet paper.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
In less than three seconds, the ten peak Spirit Manifestation Level 9 opponent were completely and utterly annihilated.
------------------------
Outside the Heavenly Ascendent Tower.
The golden monolith flashed brilliantly.
[Floor 40]
Halston stood near the High Preceptors, his hands sweating profusely as he stared at the monolith.
"He’s at Floor 40," Halston whispered, his voice trembling slightly. "This is it. This is where the ten Level 9 opponents spawn. The coordination is flawless. The mental pressure alone is enough to make a normal genius cough blood. Let’s see how long it takes him to—"
RUMBLE—!
The golden text flashed.
[Floor 41]
Halston’s mouth snapped shut.
"Three seconds..." Halston muttered, "He cleared the floor that nearly killed me... in three seconds?"
The High Preceptors exchanged glances that were utterly devoid of sanity.
"He isn’t even slowing down!" Preceptor Krell gasped, shaking his head.
Seris’s smile only grew brighter. Her pale purple eyes sparkled as she listened to the stunned elders praise her husband.
----------------------
[Floor 50]
Inside the tower, the environment underwent a qualitative shift.
A single essence figure materialized in the center of the room.
But this time, the aura radiating from the puppet was fundamentally different from anything before.
First level of the Core Formation Realm.
The enemies had officially crossed the major realm boundary.
Rhain looked at the Core Formation puppet, taking a deep breath.
For the past thirty minutes, he had been continuously executing high-tier Epic-Grade martial arts, channeling his essence relentlessly without a single moment of rest.
His Abyssal Sovereign Physique had been simulated, and the vast reservoir of energy he had been suppressing since his last breakthrough finally reached a critical mass.
The Core Formation puppet lunged, a devastating halberd thrust aimed at Rhain’s heart.
Rhain simply stepped forward and threw a bare fist.
BANG!
His fist collided with the halberd.
The weapon shattered instantly, and the kinetic force traveled straight through the puppet’s chest, exploding it into light.
And at that exact same second...
CRACK!
The invisible bottleneck shattered.
An explosive aura erupted from his frame, sweeping across the empty chamber.
The dark void within his dantian expanded, greedily absorbing the residual energy of the defeated Core Formation puppet.
Without sitting down, without closing his eyes, without even breaking his stride, Rhain’s cultivation succesfully ascended.
Spirit Manifestation Realm—Level 6!
"Breaking through while walking up the stairs," Rhain murmured with a satisfied smirk. "Not bad."
Rhain stepped onto the glowing staircase and continued his ascent.
[Floor 51]
[Floor 53]
[Floor 55]
And then...
[Floor 57]
The highest record of the thousand year history of Stormveil Academy.