TL/N: the Sky-Piercing Bridge (通天桥) has 2 different names which is either Sky-Piercing Bridge or Heaven-Reaching Bridge. It's pinyin called Tongtian Bridge and how the novel and donghua translation kept it. It's simplified name is Sky Bridge, The same as to Sky mountain (Tongtian Mountain / 通天山). Simply put, it means a Bridge that Reaches the Heavens. Mandarin has many different meanings/names in each letter and word. I had to clarify this incase you guys noticed any word that is different from what i translated in the past or future chapters.
For now I'll call it Sky-Piercing Bridge, it sounded better personally. As for Sky mountain, i kept the name as is. It will appear after chapter 200+. It's already up in my patreon.
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Silence.
At this moment, the space of the Sky-Piercing Bridge was utterly still.
The gathered geniuses all had sharp eyes.
When they saw that Luo Fan's Sea of Blades was less resilient than the mysterious man's, they had already assumed Luo Fan's journey would end there.
After all, they all had some understanding of the Tidal God Blade.
Or rather, these geniuses knew most of the divine weapons used by both warriors and spiritual masters at their level.
These were, after all, the most common weapons wielded by their peers.
Therefore, they knew well that with Luo Fan's current level of comprehension, he shouldn't have been able to condense the Sea of Blades' energy onto the Tidal God Blade itself.
But what they hadn't expected was that the Tidal Blade King had modified one of his own secret techniques, or more precisely, had adjusted its core method and passed it to Luo Fan.
That allowed Luo Fan to perform this move ahead of time.
Though the power wasn't at its full potential, it was still far stronger than a normal Sea of Blades.
Even if it couldn't be perfectly controlled, the unleashed power was terrifying.
So, the mysterious man's defeat was not unjust.
"Gulp."
Someone swallowed audibly, breaking the silence as everyone finally came back to their senses.
"Too… too strong!"
Thunder God couldn't help but exclaim.
"I'm going to cultivate," Hong said calmly.
The next instant, he vanished, proof that he had exited the Virtual Universe.
Many other geniuses reacted the same way.
Luo Fan's current strength was something they could only look up to.
But if they didn't hurry and train, soon they wouldn't even be able to look up.
In the blink of an eye, many of them disappeared.
They had all been deeply shaken by Luo Fan's performance.
As for the King-level immortals, their gazes toward the Tidal Blade King were filled with envy, jealousy, and frustration.
"Hey, what are you all doing? I didn't show off this time!"
The Tidal Blade King looked warily at the surrounding sealed kings, especially the Vast Sea King.
The Vast Sea King's hands were itching for a fight, but he couldn't find an excuse. After all, the Tidal Blade King hadn't said a word this time.
He shot him a glare and left.
Several other sealed kings did the same.
After all, with their discerning eyes, they could tell—
Luo Fan had barely managed to clear the fourth level.
It was nearly impossible for him to pass the fifth.
After all, the mysterious man on the fifth level could perfectly condense the Sea of Blades' energy onto the Tidal God Blade.
A counterfeit would never surpass the original.
So, they stopped watching.
If they stayed any longer, their urge to beat up the Tidal Blade King would only grow stronger.
Damn it!
His disciple was too monstrously talented, and he himself was too smug and irritating.
Stay any longer, and they'd either kill him or die of rage.
…
When Luo Fan arrived at the fifth level, his injuries were already fully healed.
The energy within him was at its peak.
"Choose your opponent. You may choose a warrior, a spiritual force controller, or a spiritual illusionist."
"Select any one opponent. Defeat them, and you may proceed to the sixth level."
The familiar voice came again from within the mist.
"Warrior," Luo Fan said firmly.
A moment later, the mysterious man reappeared before him.
Luo Fan noticed, perhaps it was just his imagination, that there seemed to be a trace of appreciation in the man's eyes.
The mysterious man said nothing. He simply raised his Tidal God Blade.
Countless blade lights began to gather on it.
Unlike Luo Fan's earlier performance, the condensation was instantaneous.
The moment the blade energy formed, he struck.
Luo Fan's Sea of Blades was split apart in an instant, a massive opening carved through it.
He raised his own blade to block, but there was no time to condense his energy.
He could only respond with the third form.
His water blade shattered immediately.
The next moment, everything went black.
When Luo Fan regained consciousness, he was already back on the plaza of the Sky-Piercing Bridge space.
Around him, more geniuses had gathered.
Thunder God was the first to approach him.
"Tsk tsk, Luo Fan, you're insane!"
"You even managed to drive Brother Hong back into training!"
"Turns out he was watching your Sky-Piercing Bridge recording too."
"And now he's gone straight back to cultivate!"
"Not just him, plenty of others too."
"And most importantly, you've motivated me as well!"
"If I didn't still need to try the first level myself to gauge the guardian's strength, I'd be off training right now too."
"You're seriously a monster."
Thunder God pulled a funny face as he spoke.
While they chatted, the other geniuses quietly left.
Clearly, they too had been deeply motivated by Luo Fan's display.
Just as Luo Fan was about to reply, a voice echoed directly into his mind.
"Come see me when you have time."
He instantly recognized his teacher's voice, the Tidal Blade King.
However, his tone was complicated: a mix of pride, bitterness, and joy.
Luo Fan turned to look around but didn't see him.
He knew that if the Tidal Blade King didn't want to be seen, he'd never find him anyway.
In truth, the Tidal Blade King had already left right after sending the message.
He was afraid that if he lingered any longer, he'd get beaten up.
The other sealed kings departed soon after as well.
The ones who remained weren't anyone they particularly cared about.
After chatting with Thunder God for a while, Luo Fan returned to reality.
It was time to claim his task rewards.
Of course, he had set up missions for the Sky-Piercing Bridge challenge.
When he first arrived in the Bridge's space, his clone had already begun creating them.
At first, there were only three.
After the fight on the fourth level, the clone created another one.
[Mission: Pass the First Layer of the Ice Peak Sky-Piercing Bridge. Reward: +10,000 Ice Peak Chaos Monument comprehension, +1 Ice Crystal Spirit Fruit]
[Mission: Pass the Second Layer of the Ice Peak Sky-Piercing Bridge. Reward: +20,000 Ice Peak Chaos Monument comprehension, +2 Ice Crystal Spirit Fruits]
[Mission: Pass the Third Layer of the Ice Peak Sky-Piercing Bridge. Reward: +30,000 Ice Peak Chaos Monument comprehension, +3 Ice Crystal Spirit Fruits, Replica of the Ice Peak Chaos Monument's Second Diagram]
[Mission: Pass the Fourth Layer of the Ice Peak Sky-Piercing Bridge. Reward: +40,000 Ice Peak Chaos Monument comprehension, +4 Ice Crystal Spirit Fruits]
Luo Fan had already obtained several Ice Crystal Spirit Fruits before, but he had been too focused on the Sky-Piercing Bridge to consume them.
The effect of the Ice Crystal Spirit Fruit was simple—
It increased comprehension speed of both Water Origin Laws and Spatial Origin Laws by ten percent.
That alone wasn't the most impressive part.
The true value lay in the fact that its effects stacked!
Now, Luo Fan possessed eleven Ice Crystal Spirit Fruits in total.
That meant, after consuming them all, his comprehension speed for both the Water Origin Laws and Spatial Origin Laws would increase by 1.1 times.
It was just a pity that the effects were additive, not multiplicative.
Otherwise, it would have been a 2.85× increase.
Still, there would surely be more to come in the future.
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