Chapter 143: Clearing the Pagoda
Shen Yuan's eyelids twitched as he heard what she said, "You want me to cultivate 366 cultivation techniques at once? How long will that take me? Millions or Billions of years?"
Yue Lan coughed slightly in embarrassment when she felt Shen Yuan's piercing gaze on her,
[Cough, I just gave you choices, it's up to you whether you want to buy the physique or not. And with your comprehension ability, I'm fully confident that you can master those techniques before you die of old age.]
Shen Yuan felt like drawing his sword but he knew it was futile as he instead continued staring at her.
[Alright, alright, I was just joking with you. I'm sure with my capabilities and your ability, you will master those techniques in no time, if you ever feel like lacking in comprehension talent then just buy it from the shop.]
She finished speaking and turned into particles before vanishing from the scene as her voice echoed in his mind,
[We will talk more about this after you finish this pagoda.]
Shen Yuan shook his head and started walking again, "Well, now I need to make plans for that physique as well. I can open up a lot of paths which I deemed impossible in the past due to my technique restraints."
He spoke aloud while walking straight ahead.
[Just remember that whatever technique you decide to cultivate, Primordial Vessal Cultivation Art will be your foundational technique, it will be the foundation of the rest of your techniques. The rest will at most be supporting cultivation techniques.]
Yue Lan reminded him to not make him lazy and to focus on his main cultivation art.
Shen Yuan nodded his head, "I'm not that stupid, don't worry about it. Though I must say, I didn't encounter this physique or knew that Primordial Vessal Cultivation Art can do this in any of the lives I had inside the Dao Heart Trial."
[That's because you didn't think that it was possible. Those worlds reflected your own knowledge which you already have, they didn't create anything new.]
Yue Lan explained simply as she was already getting tired from the topic of that Dao Heart trial.
Shen Yuan smiled lightly as if he felt her getting tired of the topic, "Well that seems to be the case."
He soon reached the end of the third floor as the pressure didn't even manage to slow down his steps.
"Well, that's the third one down. I wonder what the fourth has in store," Shen Yuan mused as he casually stepped onto the final floor of the pagoda.
The pressure instantly increased, making him raise an eyebrow, "Now that I feel it, there are no protective barriers around the entrance or exit of the floors on this pagoda. Looks like Pagoda Bearing Monarch was still more merciful to leave us some breathing space."
He chuckled softly after speaking to himself. The surroundings on the fourth floor were different. Instead of an empty field with a few trinkets here and there, this floor had large stone pillars scattered across the area, each glowing faintly with runes flashing on them.
Shen Yuan could tell those pillars were increasing the weight on this floor by multiple times as he casually moved towards one such pillar to take a closer look.
"Formations, Arrays, Runes…such wonderful arts. I should look into them if I get the time later." He muttered to himself after observing the intricate formation carved on the stone pillars.
But he soon shook his head and started walking again as there was no point in looking at these formations for now.
He soon neared the end of the fourth floor, "This challenge was unsurprisingly underwhelming huh. It wasn't even enough as a warm-up for me."
He shook his head as he crossed the fourth floor entirely, at the end of the floor, a soft glow surrounded his body as he was teleported back to the first floor.
"Well…that was uneventful." He muttered to himself as he stepped towards the exit of the pagoda.
…
Outside the pagoda, the crowd had grown restless with anticipation after discussing for a while about him. The disciples who had been speculating how long Shen Yuan would take were now eagerly waiting for him to exit the pagoda, while some were still in discussion about their earlier predictions.
"It's already been a while," one disciple muttered, glancing at the entrance with furrowed brows. "He must be on the second or third floor by now."
"Well, we'll know soon enough," another disciple replied, her voice filled with curiosity and anticipation. "Even if he doesn't beat Jin Ling's record, he's bound to get a high rank."
Wan Ling stood by the side, looking at the pagoda with hopeful eyes. She hadn't voiced it earlier but deep down, she had a feeling that Shen Yuan would surpass all of their expectations. She had that much faith in him.
Suddenly, the doors of the pagoda opened, and the entire crowd went silent as Shen Yuan calmly stepped out of the pagoda, unlike the other disciples who got out as if they were half dead already, his face showed no sign of tiredness.
Almost as if he went to take a stroll inside. He looked as composed as when he had entered.
"What? Already?" someone gasped in disbelief.
"How... how long has it been?" another disciple shuttered, her eyes wide with shock.
A few disciples immediately rushed to the ranking board where Shen Yuan's name had been updated. The moment they saw the time, gasps and murmurs spread through the crowd like wildfire.
"Eight minutes?!" one disciple shouted in disbelief.
"No way!" another exclaimed. "He cleared all four floors in just eight minutes? That's impossible!"
"Impossible or not, it's right there on the ranking board," a senior disciple said in disbelief, pointing at Shen Yuan's name now sitting firmly at the top of the board, far ahead of Jin Ling's record.
Wan Ling's face lit up in excitement. She didn't think much of what his current ranking represented as she was just happy for him. She knew he would do something extraordinary, but this was well beyond even her expectations.
"He finished each floor in just two minutes…" a disciple muttered, staring at the board in awe. "That's ridiculous. No one's ever come close to that!"
Another senior disciple spoke in bewilderment when she noticed something amiss, "Wait, he took two minutes for each floor, that means he didn't even try his best and just took a stroll inside."
"What a damn monster." Another muttered to herself, feeling doubtful about her talent or even if she was worthy to cultivate in the same sect as him.
The crowd erupted into murmurs of astonishment and disbelief. They had expected Shen Yuan to perform well, but surpassing Jin Ling's record by such a wide margin was something no one had even considered.
Shen Yuan stood at the pagoda's entrance, watching the crowd's reaction with a faint smile. He wasn't particularly interested in their shock, but it was amusing to see nonetheless.
But then he saw some disciples' demotivated expression, which made him contemplate his actions for a moment.
He knew what happened to them but the question was, should he do something about this? Or let the elders handle it?