Chapter 582 - 353: Clearing the Enlightenment Tower (2)

Chapter 582: Chapter 353: Clearing the Enlightenment Tower (2)

In an instant, a gentle yet irresistible pillar of light descended from the void, enveloping his entire being.

Ripples spread through space, and Li Wen’s figure vanished from the second layer.

「Outside, on the Enlightenment Tower’s real-time leaderboard.」

Li Wen’s points instantly jumped, then skyrocketed.

His rank shot up by over a hundred thousand spots.

This massive leap instantly sent waves of excitement through the countless spectators watching the leaderboard.

In the Alka District’s exclusive viewing area in the Virtual Cosmos, supporters who had been staring intently at Li Wen’s name erupted into long-suppressed cheers. "He moved! The God of Slaughter moved!"

"Look! He waited until the last second again! I knew it! Li Wen is definitely using the time inside the tower to cultivate."

"Just as I thought! It was the last few minutes on the first layer, and now the second layer is the same. It’s not that he can’t pass, he’s racing against time to build up his power."

"So steady! That’s some serious self-control."

"What a relief!"

The supporters from the Alka Empire looked as if a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders, their faces beaming with excitement and confidence.

Their previous doubts vanished completely, replaced by admiration for Li Wen’s foresight.

...

「Inside the central, dark-gold building.」

The divine senses of the Immortals intertwined as they watched the feeds of various key contestants.

Chen’s gaze caught Li Wen’s figure the moment he was teleported away, then lingered on the leaderboard for a while.

In the depths of his eyes, a faint smile of appreciation slowly widened.

Chen picked up his cup, murmuring to himself, ’This kid... is getting more and more interesting.’

This level of composure and masterful use of opportunity far exceeded his expectations.

It was as if he was watching a true gem in the rough, one who understood how to build a strong foundation, polishing himself in his own unique way.

...

「The 3rd Layer.」

The fluctuations of the spatial transfer subsided, and Li Wen’s figure appeared in a new environment.

The spatial layout was identical to the previous two layers, but the complexity of the Law fragment suspended in the core had suddenly increased by an order of magnitude.

Three completely different fundamental elemental Laws were forcibly fused together.

They intertwined and collided, yet formed a strange, symbiotic balance.

The lines of Law were tangled like a chaotic mass of colorful, silken threads. Compared to the dual-element fragment, the difficulty of deciphering it had more than just doubled.

Given the sharp increase in difficulty, Li Wen chose a more prudent strategy this time.

He took a deep breath. A flash of gold and silver light flickered in his eyes as he pushed his [Absolute Focus] ability to its limit.

This time, he didn’t immediately try to comprehend the profound rhythm of time that permeated the space. Instead, he focused all of his mental energy, holding nothing back, on the triple-element Law fragment in the center.

’First, I’ll deal with this.’

Time flowed by silently amidst his absolute concentration.

Even with the terrifying 230% boost to his comprehension, it still took Li Wen the better part of half a day of tower time to completely analyze the triple-element fragment.

If compared to all the other contestants in this tournament, that speed was enough to rank in the top five.

However, as this thought flashed through his mind...

The image of Ling Xuzi triggering a Law resonance phenomenon on the 7th Layer involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

’The gap is still a vast chasm.’

He shook his head slightly, clearing his mind of stray thoughts. After confirming he had fully grasped the core of the fragment, he once again immersed himself in comprehending the Time Law.

Inside the Enlightenment Tower, time flew by in units of years.

In the blink of an eye, the one-year time limit for the 3rd Layer was nearly up.

Li Wen, who was exceptionally sensitive to the flow of time, opened his eyes right at the last moment. ’Time to go to the 4th Layer.’

He activated the Law fragment without hesitation.

The instant the light enveloped him and he vanished, the leaderboard outside refreshed dramatically once again.

Li Wen’s rank rocketed into the top one hundred thousand.

This meant that in the brutal screening process of the Enlightenment Tower’s first three layers, over 9.9 million geniuses from the various Cosmic Empires had been ruthlessly eliminated.

At this moment, within the massive Virtual Cosmos arena, fewer than ten thousand contestants remained in the Enlightenment Tower.

Most of these survivors were "time management masters" like Li Wen, who precisely calculated their time and chose to clear the layer only at the last possible second.

A small portion, on the other hand, had simply happened to complete their comprehension at this time.

And at the very top of this list of fewer than ten thousand people were a few contestants who had reached the 5th Layer.

Among them was a name that the Alka audience knew all too well—Blood Slaughter Barton!

Barton’s current rank was 1,124.

He was only a little over a hundred spots away from the prestigious top one thousand.

The gazes fixed on Barton’s name instantly grew fervent.

"Barton! 5th Layer! Rank 1,124!" The atmosphere in the Alka viewing area instantly ignited, though it was mixed with complex emotions.

"So strong! He’s Blood Slaughter, after all! The 5th Layer of the Enlightenment Tower! He’s the furthest along of anyone from Alka right now!"

"Rank 1,124... I wonder if he’ll be able to break into the top thousand by the end."

"Don’t worry, don’t worry. He still has two months left on the 5th Layer. Besides, this isn’t where Barton’s strengths lie. The combat sections later on are his home turf."

"That’s right! Lord Barton excels at combat! Comprehension isn’t his strongest suit, so reaching this point is already an explosive display of his limits. Every extra 1% of comprehension he gains can boost his rank by dozens of spots, or even more. He’s fighting for a better starting position in the elimination rounds to come."

"Have faith in Barton! He’s the pride of Alka! This ranking is already fantastic!"

The supporters chattered amongst themselves, some relieved at his current rank, others hopeful he could break into the top thousand.

But most of all, they were filled with admiration for Barton’s tenacity.

Attempting the impossible, wringing out every last bit of potential improvement from a hopeless situation—this was the very embodiment of "Blood Slaughter’s" will.

...

「The central building, in the circle of Immortals.」

An Immortal clad in crimson battle armor, his aura as scorching as molten lava, spoke. "That little fellow from Alka has reached his limit."

Watching the image of Barton on the 5th Layer, his brows tightly knitted, struggling to make any progress despite his full effort, he gave a slight nod.

He had easily discerned Barton’s limits.

"Indeed. A four-element fusion is already his bottleneck. This five-element fragment is like an indecipherable text to him."

Another Immortal nearby, whose aura was like ten-thousand-year-old ice, agreed, his voice cool and detached.

The red-armored Immortal who had spoken first turned his gaze to Chen with a smile:

"Still, to have come this far on the path of slaughter, his will and foundation are both quite solid. Chen, my congratulations. It looks like your Alka District is guaranteed at least one spot in the top thousand this time. This Barton will surely shine in the combat portion later on."

The other Immortals also nodded in agreement.

The potential Barton had shown was enough for them to make a positive judgment ahead of time.

Chen’s gaze swept over Barton’s feed, then seemed to pierce through the void, settling once again on that young figure who had just stepped into the 4th Layer and was now looking up at an even more complex Law fragment—Li Wen.

The smile on his lips remained, but deep within his eyes, there seemed to be an even greater expectation.

’Perhaps Alka’s glory won’t end here?’

...

「Enlightenment Tower, 4th Layer.」

After steadying himself, Li Wen turned his gaze to the Law fragment at the center, which was a fusion of four elemental Laws.

Once again, he chose to first comprehend the 4th Layer’s Law fragment completely before using the remaining time to comprehend the Time Law.

And so, he activated Absolute Focus and began his comprehension.

This time, it took Li Wen a full five days to finally comprehend the entire Law fragment.

Only then did he once again immerse his mind in comprehending the Time Law.

Time continued to pass, and in a flash, nearly two more months went by.

Barton’s one-year time limit on the 5th Layer of the Enlightenment Tower was up.

In the final two months, he had given it his all but only managed to advance his comprehension of the Law fragment by 4%, ultimately stalling at 16%.

A flash of brilliant light, and he was teleported outside. His final rank on the leaderboard was locked in at 1,024, just 24 spots shy of the top-thousand threshold.

Looking at the number on the light screen—just 24 spots away from the top thousand—a flicker of unwillingness crossed his eyes, but he quickly calmed.

His gaze swept over the leaderboard. Li Wen’s name was still in the tens of thousands, corresponding to the 4th Layer.

The audience from the Alka Empire let out a collective, complicated sigh.

They were proud that this Blood Slaughter had lasted a full year on the 5th Layer and come so close to the top thousand, yet frustrated by the "so close, yet so far" nature of his result.

"The Solitary Staircase is your real home turf!"

Someone shouted, firm in their belief that with the iron will Barton had forged through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he would surely make a comeback.

With Barton’s departure, Li Wen was the only one from the Alka camp left inside the tower.

The spectators stared intently at the main leaderboard, but they couldn’t see a single thing happening on the 4th Layer. Disappointed, they had no choice but to disperse, agreeing to return in ten months.