Feng Shei's face instantly sank to the bottom. It was like a case of being brought back to earth after reaching the heavens. As he stared blankly, he seemed to have realized something… the light on the fifth floor of the pagoda was activated, this meant that someone was still in the pagoda—Someone had surpassed his record!

'Reymon Kensa'

Who else could it be if not him? Earlier when he was kicked out of the pagoda, he didn't bother checking if there was anyone left, this was simply because he felt that no one could have survived up to the point he did.

None of the champions of the Academy was to be underestimated, he didn't underrate their abilities, besides there were other elites among them who were as strong as himself. The reason why he thought no one could have surpassed his record was because of the beast on the fourth floor.

According to what he experienced, that beast was an extraordinary existence, vigorous and powerful. The first few exchanges he made with the beast resulted in him being badly wounded, he then resolved in fleeing to the various ends of the illusionary battlefield; if not for the special movement technique he practiced, he wouldn't have stood a chance against the striking speed displayed by the beast.

In the end, after exhausting his essence energy while fleeing, he was caught and instantly finished off by the beast. Never in his wildest dreams would he have anticipated that Reymon Kensa would succeed and even reach the fifth floor of the pagoda, doesn't that mean he killed the beast? Feng Shei was forced to reanalyze his situation —it seems Reymon Kensa was destined to remain ahead of him in this life.

*

"As expected, this is the handwork of his Majesty the patriarch, who else will be able to achieve such feat if not someone personally groomed by him?"

"I've known his Majesty ever since we were young and vigorous, his heaven-defying talent was second to none, it's a natural thing for his disciple to follow in his footstep"

"Yes, yes that is the truth, compared to the patriarch, the impact we have on our disciples isn't worth mentioning"

There was a downpour of endless flattery as each of the elders washed the feet of the patriarch with numerous praises.

Hearing the blandishments of the elders, the patriarch could only smile slightly, it was obvious that they were all trying to deepen his impression of them.

"Hahaha, you elders praise me too much, what do my teachings have to do with the talent of my disciple? It's not like I do it frequently, my job has always been to give him a little advice on his cultivation from time to time, my disciple's growth is mostly based on his own efforts"

Although the patriarch's words appeared to have humble bearings and he neither accepted nor rejected their sentiments, he was actually delighted with their praises.

Three breaths after the light on the fifth floor was activated, Reymon Kensa was finally kicked out of the pagoda. The test officials were once more reliable as they swiftly performed their duty.

'Three Breaths?'

Everyone had surprised looks on their faces, although they didn't anticipate that Reymon Kensa would be able to reach the fifth floor, they couldn't help but wonder what kind of existence was able to force him out of the pagoda within three breaths. [TN: A breath is approximately 2 – 3 seconds]

As per their experience, they all knew that there was a huge difference in the level of difficulty on each floor, and how harder it got as one advance, so they could tell that whatever monster was on the fifth floor was countless times more powerful than that of the fourth floor. But why was it so hard? If they were to continue like this, then wouldn't they encounter a god-beast on one of the floors?

This further fueled their suspicions because apparently, there were ten floors in the grand pagoda, if the fifth floor was at this level, then how would the remaining floors turn out to be? it was a big mystery.

The grand pagoda existed for a very long time, countless generations have come and gone, experiencing its greatness, but its secret still remained unknown, although no one in the present generation knew who was responsible for building it, or had any idea of how it was built, what they knew clearly was that such a person was undoubtedly a peerless master in his prime.

According to the history records that were lying in different corners of the profound skill depository, florin valley was once a high-class province until its decline; as to why it declined, that remains for the breeze to tell. This was definitely the reason why the difficulty was so high; it wasn't an understatement to say that the present generation couldn't measure up to the set standard of the grand pagoda, was it the honorable patriarch or the proud elders? None of them could boast of completing all ten floors.

Soon after all the inner-court and direct disciples were ejected from the grand pagoda, the final ranking result was displayed on a jade platform on the base of the pagoda.

First place: Reymon Kensa — 5th floor, three breaths

Second place: Feng Shei — 4th Floor, nine incense sticks

Third place: Marianna Fraiman — 4th floor, seven incense sticks

Fourth place: Duke Langston— 4th Floor, six incense sticks

Fifth place: Li Seohyun— 4th floor, six incense sticks

Sixth place: Lou Gaoxiong — 4th floor, six incense sticks

…

…

…

The elders were indeed pleased by these results, apart from the first three places, the rest were separated by little time intervals, this showed that the competitive spirits of the disciples were very high, if this was to continue, then the future of Florin Valley was undoubtedly going to be bright.

One of the major surprises for this year's top rankings was Lou Gaoxiong, last year, he couldn't even make it to the top hundred, but this year he became the sixth-ranked disciple. Such a massive shift would undoubtedly cause an uproar among the disciples, but they were actually aware of the cause— The Myriad Slash.

The Myriad Slash in the profound skill depository was an incomplete technique, although none of the disciples could understand how he managed to cultivate it to a high degree they didn't bother asking; because the Lou Gaoxiong they knew will never let out the secret.

After the conclusion of the top rankings, the patriarch, elders, and their disciples departed from the range of the grand pagoda, but elder Sun remained, his disciple lost his inner-court qualification last year, and now it was time for the outer-court disciples to decide their rankings so he had to stay to watch his disciple's performance.

The outer-court disciples all had paled expressions as their eyes were fixed on the ranking results that were displayed on the jade platform; the performance of the inner-court disciples this year was just too terrifying, this meant that those of them who aimed to reach the top ranking had to step up in order to succeed.

Right then, the test officials divided them into three groups comprising of two hundred students each; they were to go in by this group arrangement because the grand pagoda could only accommodate two hundred at a time.

Doran was chosen among the first group of persons to enter the grand pagoda. The match official walked up to them, gave a brief reminiscing of the rules, and lit the incense burner.

Just as Doran was about to walk in, he felt a pair of eyes locked unto his position, his eyes darted to the source, only to discover Ian Wrighte giving him an unfriendly stare.

After seeing his gaze, Ian Wrighte grinned slightly, "Not bad, your perception seems to have improved, I can tell you must have trained hard to win the bet"

"Tsk-tsk"

Doran clicked his tongue, "I don't have the time to speak with you, just be ready to hand over the one thousand merit points" he said as he walked into the grand pagoda.