Chapter Two: Twenty-Ninth Place

Myriad Manifestations Illusory Realm.

Appearing before Chen Fan was a Tier 7 fierce beast, accompanied by ten Tier 6 fierce beasts!

The Tier 7 fierce beast was a saber-toothed leopard, standing over three zhang tall!

Although it was not as terrifying as the Tier 7 fierce beasts Chen Fan had encountered outside, it still radiated an immensely terrifying pressure.

Boom!!

With a swift flash of its body, it lashed out with a single claw, the ferocious force compressing the air as it surged toward Chen Fan.

In an instant, Chen Fan’s body transformed into a bolt of lightning, putting distance between himself and the leopard. He then narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at the ten surrounding Tier 6 fierce beasts.

"The presence of these Tier 6 beasts is less about cooperating with the leopard to increase the difficulty, and more about making it easier to delineate the strength tiers of the Bright Moon Pavilion’s foremost disciples..."

Among the disciples of the Bright Moon Pavilion, even the most elite and highest-ranked among them were incapable of defeating a Tier 7 fierce beast!

Take someone like Zhan Yi, for instance. If he unleashed all his trump cards, he might be able to put up a fight against an ordinary Tier 7 grandmaster.

However, once inside the illusory realm, lacking powerful weapons and spiritual talismans, and relying solely on his own strength, he simply could not defeat this caliber of fierce beast!

Yet, the ranking of these Bright Moon Pavilion disciples would vary depending on how many Tier 6 beasts they could slay while enduring the crushing pressure of the Tier 7 beast.

Chen Fan took a deep breath. His virtual origin gallbladder instantly erupted, his true essence surging violently. His body turned into a flash of electricity as he took the initiative and charged directly at the leopard!

At the same time, arcs of lightning crackled and wrapped around the sword in his hand...

Regrettably, the only characteristic weapons possessed within the Myriad Manifestations Illusory Realm was durability; they were entirely incomparable to treasure artifacts or spiritual implements!

The leopard widened its jaws, and a gale instantly whipped up across the sky. Demonic power surged and gathered within its mouth, forming a turbid sphere that it roared and spat out toward Chen Fan.

Chen Fan’s expression turned stern.

Because his Thunder Slaughter Sword lacked a slot for idle cultivation, the progression of its mastery relied entirely on his own comprehension. Nevertheless, Chen Fan possessed astonishing insight, and over these past days, he had achieved considerable improvement.

Chen Fan’s application of the two conceptions was actually still quite crude, as he had comprehended them entirely through his own efforts, merely blending them simply into his sword techniques. However, because his comprehension of the conception of thunder improved at a rapid pace, the power of his sword moves remained terrifyingly formidable.

A flash of sword light slashed out in an instant.

"Thunder Slaughter: Sword Qi Devouring the Heavens!"

Combining the conception of slaughter with the conception of lightning, the sword radiance coiled and erupted from Chen Fan’s hand. A sword glare imbued with destructive might cleaved toward the Tier 7 leopard!

This was Chen Fan’s most powerful single-target technique at present!

The violent force exploded in mid-air.

The surrounding Tier 6 beasts, merely clipped by the shockwave of the sword glare, were shattered into dust one after another.

Meanwhile, Chen Fan’s razor-sharp sword glare parted the surging currents of air and slashed straight into the massive body of the Tier 7 beast.

Rip.

Its body was pierced by the black sword glare, leaving behind a deep, human-sized gash.

Yet, compared to the beast's massive bulk, this injury was entirely negligible. Instead, it only incited the beast's bloodlust, and it roared as it lunged through the air toward Chen Fan.

Chen Fan hurriedly used "Thunder Flash" to retreat, panting slightly as he furrowed his brows. In truth, the power of his previous sword strike was already terrifyingly extreme.

He was even confident that had he encountered the leader of the Purple Rainbow Gate from days prior, a single sword strike would have been enough to kill him. Yet, when facing a Tier 7 beast, it still fell short.

He raised his sword horizontally once more.

"Sword Nourishing Stance—"

The leopard charged at Chen Fan time and time again, its ferocious might churning the empty expanse of the Myriad Manifestations Illusory Realm.

Yet Chen Fan repeatedly utilized his integrated movement technique, frequently employing Thunder Flash to evade the leopard's onslaught!

Having been wounded by Chen Fan, the leopard's agility was greatly diminished, rendering it utterly incapable of landing a blow on him at the moment. This bought Chen Fan time to build up his Sword Nourishing Stance.

Then, he unleashed that ultimate, fully brewed sword strike via Sword Qi Devouring the Heavens.

Rip.

A violent sword glare soared into the sky, carrying a terrifying killing intent and lightning radiance as it arrived in an instant, cleaving the leopard cleanly in half at the waist.

Even after being sliced into two, the beast still refused to die completely; its jaws opened, once again brewing a restless surge of power!

"Although it's an illusion, it successfully simulates the terrifying vitality of a fierce beast..." Chen Fan narrowed his eyes.

Chen Fan slashed his sword horizontally once more, driving his entire body's true essence.

Yet another Sword Qi Devouring the Heavens, infused with the Thunder Slaughter Sword, was unleashed!

The sword glare swept horizontally across, and only then was the Tier 7 beast finally and successfully slain.

By this moment, having continuously executed high-level sword techniques, his true essence was nearly exhausted.

Under normal circumstances, a single eruption of his origin gallbladder would provide enough endurance for the consumption of a joss stick's time.

Yet after merely a few moves, his true essence was virtually depleted. This was because driving the power of conceptions to unleash such formidable sword moves required an immense amount of true essence to sustain them!

Chen Fan’s realm was high, which was why the power of his techniques was so fierce, but his actual cultivation level remained his greatest shortcoming.

"I am still only at the fifth tier. Unleashing kill moves driven by the power of conceptions is still somewhat pushing my limits."

Tier 7 martial artists could borrow the power of heaven and earth, allowing a sliver of true essence to exert ten or even a hundred times its normal effect.

Tier 6 martial artists could also form a circulation of vital blood and energy, resulting in a massive increase in both true essence recovery and total capacity.

As for Chen Fan, he was still only at the fifth tier, and his stamina was far from sufficient.

This was also his greatest flaw.

"Hah!"

Upon defeating the Tier 7 fierce beast, Chen Fan’s ranking rose precisely to the twenty-ninth place!

Defeating a Tier 7 beast did not elevate his ranking by a massive margin, but it had already pushed him to the limit of his current stage.

The lowest ranking among the disciples of the Radiant Sun Pavilion was twenty-ninth. At this moment, Chen Fan had unexpectedly tied with the very last disciple of the Radiant Sun Pavilion.

Chen Fan shook his head, confirming a certain realization in his mind.

"Every single disciple of the Radiant Sun Pavilion is capable of defeating a Tier 7 fierce beast in the Myriad Manifestations Illusory Realm..."

A Tier 7 fierce beast in the Myriad Manifestations Illusory Realm was not considered overly strong—far inferior to any of the ones he had encountered outside—but it was still quite formidable, possessing immense vitality!

In the next round of assessment, three Tier 7 fierce beasts appeared directly before him. Chen Fan once again erupted his origin gallbladder, utilizing his integrated movement technique to hold out for the time of two joss sticks, but in the end, he was defeated, failing to take down even a single additional beast...

His ranking did not change further.

Three Tier 7 fierce beasts were simply too terrifying.

...

Chen Fan opened his eyes and looked at the Myriad Manifestations Pot, scanning his own ranking without the slightest trace of joy on his face.

Instead, his gaze swept further up the list of names, resting upon those of the Radiant Sun Pavilion disciples.

He knew that from now on, these individuals would become his targets and competitors.

Ranked first was a disciple named Le Shaoyuan. He kept a very low profile and was often away from the Martial Academy for years on end, so Chen Fan had never laid eyes on him.

However, since he was able to rank first among all the disciples of Qingming Martial Academy, his strength naturally could not be underestimated.

One had to know that Zhangsun Shichuan, who had joined the academy twenty years ago and obtained a Grade-A-Superior rating in the strength-testing trial, was still only ranked fifth—several places behind Le Shaoyuan!

Chen Fan was deeply aware: "The disciples of the Radiant Sun Pavilion are the true core of Great Gan, and they will eventually be absorbed by some of the truly core organizations of Great Gan..."

The Martial Academy was a place to nurture elites for Great Gan.

Reaching the Radiant Sun Pavilion essentially meant these elites had graduated.

No wonder most Radiant Sun Pavilion disciples were absent from the academy year-round.

While serving as disciples of the Radiant Sun Pavilion, they each held other identities as well. While receiving cultivation and resources, they also had to shoulder their respective responsibilities!

Chen Fan resolutely looked away.

In this assessment, Chen Fan had exhausted all his trump cards and unleashed his full strength.

Without holding back the slightest bit.

To him, displaying his full strength would naturally earn him the full cultivation of the Martial Academy, though it might also invite the fate where "the towering tree catches the wind."

If he wanted to display his talent and strength without being broken by the fierce winds, there was only one path.

And that was to grow stronger even faster—at a pace that exceeded everyone's imagination!