167: Trial Tower

Long Aotian's sudden appearance undoubtedly caught all the Cultivators attending the Heaven Ruins Millennium Grand Tournament of Martial Arts off guard.

He immediately crushed the core bigwigs presiding over the tournament, demonstrating terrifying strength. One had to wonder, if he were to participate in the arena competition, who among the competing Cultivators would be his match?

Dan Xin was undoubtedly a quick-witted and extremely intelligent woman, and she quickly realized this.

However, not allowing Long Aotian to participate would clearly violate the tournament rules.

Clever as she was, she quickly made a decision for Cang Jue, Ling Yu, and others that no one present dared to refute.

That was:

To directly declare Long Aotian the first-place winner of this Heaven Ruins Millennium Grand Tournament of Martial Arts, without the need for him to participate in the grand competition.

Regarding this.

Not a single person in the entire venue dared to utter a word of dissent!

It was no joke; he was a Ninth Revolution Peak of the Mahayana Realm Cultivator who could easily suppress even Cang Jue and Ling Yu. Who would dare to provoke him?

With such a Realm of cultivation, he had already displayed such Heaven-Defying combat power. If he were to Breakthrough to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, to what extent would he become strong?

Everyone simply couldn't imagine.

Not to mention, even Cang Jue and Ling Yu were easily suppressed by him as if they were trash. Among everyone present, if it came to one-on-one combat, few had the confidence to defeat Long Aotian.

As for a group attack?

It wasn't that no one had thought of it, but which faction would be so foolish as to provoke such a fierce individual?

Didn't they see that Dan Xin had already conceded on behalf of the Central Continent Immortal Mansion? And Cang Jue and Ling Yu, two of the Central Continent Immortal Mansion's ten strongest Grand Elders, although their expressions didn't look very good, remained silent, clearly agreeing with Dan Xin's words.

One had to ask, if even the Central Continent Immortal Mansion had to yield to him, what reason did they have to offend him?

The Central Continent Immortal Mansion was one of the few continental-level Giant Cultivation Factions, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was the strongest among them. An existence that even the Central Continent Immortal Mansion was unwilling to provoke—few other factions truly dared to stroke Long Aotian's tiger whiskers... It was just a pity for those three thousand slots in the Tribulation Dao Secret Realm. The first-place winner of the heaven ruins millennium grand list of prodigies would receive three thousand slots to enter the Tribulation Dao Secret Realm, and Long Aotian simply got them for free.

Regarding this, although everyone felt somewhat uncomfortable, no one dared to stand up and oppose Dan Xin's decision.

The Cloud Palace, under the gaze of millions, entered the State-Level Giant Cultivation Faction seating area.

This small interlude before the tournament thus came to an end.

However, the Cloud Palace Team successfully became a key focus for various factions. These factions even vaguely developed a sense of apprehension towards the suddenly emerging Cloud Palace Team, and couldn't help but inwardly speculate: among the Cloud Palace Team's Mahayana Realm competing Cultivators, would there be other powerful Cultivators with combat power as monstrous as Long Aotian's?

No one knew.

The Eastern Barrens had been isolated by the Haiyun Dream Marsh for nearly a million years, and very few people ventured there. Even the Central Continent Ye Clan hadn't been to the Eastern Barrens for nearly two thousand years. The Eternal Leaf Dynasty in the Eastern Barrens had even been somewhat forgotten by the Central Continent Ye Clan.

The truth was, in the eyes of the Central Continent Ye Clan, the Eastern Barrens was too desolate. The Imperial Family of the Eternal Leaf Dynasty, in the eyes of the Central Continent Ye Clan, was merely an insignificant branch. Therefore, when the Cloud Palace Team, claiming to be from the Eastern Barrens of the Eastern Continent, suddenly appeared, the Central Continent Ye Clan's memory of the Eastern Barrens was still stuck nearly two thousand years ago.

Over such a long period, what drastic changes had occurred in the Eastern Barrens, what exactly was this Cloud Palace, and what was its strength? The Central Continent Ye Clan was completely clueless.

If even the Central Continent Ye Clan was completely clueless about the suddenly appearing Cloud Palace Team, then other factions had heard even less about them.

Unknown strength was undoubtedly the most daunting. Various factions repeatedly warned their Disciples: if they encountered members of the Cloud Palace Team in the arena, they should absolutely avoid killing them if possible... Long Aotian had no idea that simply tossing Cang Jue and Ling Yu and a dozen others would cause such a huge stir.

Honestly, although his cultivation was only at the Ninth Revolution Peak Stage of the Mahayana Realm, fighting against Ascension Realm powerhouses like Cang Jue and Ling Yu was clearly a bit unfair.

Although Cang Jue and Ling Yu's cultivation Realm had reached the ceiling of the Lower Realm, and Long Aotian was still one major Realm below them, in terms of physical body, speed, and Divine Sense, when facing Long Aotian, they were like newborn infants facing an adult—utterly vulnerable.

In terms of physical body, speed, and Divine Sense, Long Aotian had already Broken through the ceiling of the Lower Realm, and had far surpassed even ordinary Immortals.

To call him a Half-Immortal would be underestimating him.

It was precisely because of this that Cang Jue and Ling Yu, dignified Ascension Realm powerhouses, appeared so vulnerable before Long Aotian.

A true Immortal, with just a single pressure, could make Lower Realm Cultivators' souls tremble in fear, and Cultivators with weaker cultivation could even have their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering instantly.

Although Long Aotian was not a true Immortal, even ordinary true Immortals would probably find it very difficult to defeat him... With the final entry of the Cloud Palace Team, the tournament officially began.

To Long Aotian's surprise, the ranking competition for this tournament seemed to have changed, adopting a tower-climbing ranking system.

Cang Jue conjured a Trial Tower, which had ninety-nine floors, each containing a large number of combat Puppets.

The Puppets on floors one to eleven had combat power equivalent to a Cultivator at the First Revolution Stage of the Mahayana Realm, with the number of Puppets increasing geometrically from floor to floor.

If the Puppets within every eleven floors represented a change in quantity, then each eleven-floor block represented a change in quality.

The combat power of Puppets from floors one to eleven was comparable to the First Revolution Stage of the Mahayana Realm; the combat power of Puppets from floors twelve to twenty-three was comparable to the Second Revolution Stage of the Mahayana Realm... Every eleven floors, the combat power of the Puppets would increase by a small revolution.

The ranking for the heaven ruins millennium grand list of prodigies was also very simple: whoever climbed higher in the Trial Tower ranked higher. If they both reached the same floor, then it depended on who killed more Puppets.

Regarding this, the other major continental-level Giant Cultivation Factions had no objections, and other factions' eyes lit up even more.

In previous arena battles, swords had no eyes, and Disciples from powerful major factions often wantonly slaughtered Disciples from weaker factions, resulting in many deaths. Now that the Central Continent Immortal Mansion was willing to bring out its treasured artifact, everyone would be fighting Puppets. If death was imminent in the Trial Tower, one could crush a jade token to be teleported out, making death almost impossible.

How could other factions not agree without hesitation?

One must know that the Disciples able to participate in the Heaven Ruins Millennium Grand Tournament of Martial Arts were the pillar forces of their respective factions, Prodigies cultivated with immense resources and great difficulty. The death of even one would cause them heartache for a long time. This ranking competition, which avoided being massacred and had such fair rules, was something they welcomed with open arms.

As Cang Jue announced the official opening of the Trial Tower, Cultivators participating in the ranking competition went to a hundred service windows to register and receive their Trial jade tokens to enter the Trial Tower and begin the ranking competition, and the scene immediately became lively...