Age of Evolution#

Lines of Sword Qi burst forth from his body, like the sun breaking through the cloud cover, rays of light shining in all directions, making the demons retreat!

The guardian blinked, gave a loud shout and retreated!

Clang~!

An invisible force cut through the ropes binding him!

“Even Gods have life and death, nothing in this cosmic sky is eternally immortal, even if you are a God!”

“God Burial~~~!!!”

With a surge of Sword Qi around him, this invisible sword, under Lin Zhen’s command, unleashed a strike!

Space Locked!

All the Star Power converged on this heaven and earth altering strike, the guardian didn’t even manage to respond, when he saw a flash of Sword Light!

A crimson line gradually spread before his eyes, depleting all his health.

Space collapsed, light and shadow flickered before his eyes, Lin Zhen entered the eighth layer of Tai Chi Enveloping Heaven!

*********

Within the Four Great Sacred Lands, silence reigned.

People could hardly believe what they were seeing, the news on the screen that Lin Zhen had advanced to the eighth layer!

“What the hell! Isn’t it! Am I seeing things?”

“Is it real, how did Lin Zhen defeat the Divine Transformation?”

“Unbelievable! Cheating! There must be some cheating involved, those from Falling Star Lake must have rigged something, Leader Zhang Lang, you need to thoroughly investigate this!”

Zhang Lang exhaled deeply, slightly shaking his head: “It’s impossible to cheat, no one could tamper with anything in the Thirty-three Heavens Tower, let’s just say, we all underestimated Lin Zhen.”

His gaze fell on the first place ranking, the words Lin Zhen were glaringly bright.

“I hope Lin Zhen won’t choose a too good stele for comprehension, I really didn’t expect to lose to Jin Nuo, Falling Star Lake Sacred Land… truly has a promising future.”

**********

Within the Twin Trees Garden, Feng Qingluan’s face flushed with excitement, like a layer of rouge.

Zhou Zimei commented with a hint of jealousy beside her: “Qingluan, your man is really something, he actually defeated the seventh layer and has overridden Brother Moses.”

Before Feng Qingluan could respond, Moses spoke calmly, “Zimei, don’t take the win-loss too seriously, the Four Great Sacred Lands are interconnected, there are frequent contests, if one lost poise every time they lose, wouldn’t it be too exhausting?”

Zhou Zimei blushed and said no more.

*********

Lin Zhen didn’t achieve much in the eighth level of Tai Chi Enveloping Heaven. This level’s opponent was an Early Stage Divine Transformation Realm warrior, incredibly powerful, and unlike the useless Spiritual Mind Master of the seventh level, he was decisive and ruthless. Now, Lin Zhen had lost his clone, he can’t transform into a Black Hole Beast and lost his Destructive God Thunder, he just couldn’t fend off the opponent.

One percent!

He was eliminated upon achieving just one percent completion. Of course, this was partly because he didn’t fight with all his strength, but even if he had, the outcome wouldn’t have been any better.

That was enough.

Having been able to defeat the guardian of the seventh floor, Lin Zhen was completely satisfied. He also knew his current situation; if the spiritual mind master of the seventh floor had fought with all his power from the beginning, Lin Zhen wouldn’t have had a chance.

A series of coincidences had led Lin Zhen to a realization in the virtual environment. Through the encouragement of sword intent, he understood God Burial by forming an invisible sword, and turned the tide.

At this point, Lin Zhen understood why the last move of the Taiyuan Sword Skill was called God Burial. This move was invented to counter opponents at the God Transformation Realm.

After learning God Burial, this move became Lin Zhen’s greatest insight.

However, the move, Heart Sword Formless, induced by sword intent, still seemed quite vague to Lin Zhen.

Especially after he left the tower and returned to his normal state outside the virtual environment — he was completely healed, his avatar was still present, and the Destructive God Thunder was still there — he found it even harder to grasp the Heart Sword Formless.

Faintly, Lin Zhen could feel that the Heart Sword was the real essence of sword skill, sans any weapon. The move that appeared in the desperate situation in the virtual environment was hard to grasp once he left it and returned to normality.

“It doesn’t matter. Since I’ve already had the experience of understanding the Heart Sword once, there will definitely be a next time. After trying several times, I will undoubtedly grasp this move,” he thought.

At this point, Lin Zhen knew his sword skill had surpassed Li Mo’s, and he had caught a glimpse of the profound knowledge behind it.

The challenge of the Four Great Sacred Lands’ Tower was thus over.

With the top score among the newcomers of the Four Great Sacred Lands, Lin Zhen topped the ranking.

Becoming the top newcomer meant that he was also ranked first in the Earth Class. Lin Zhen entered directly into the Heaven Class and was ranked the first among the newcomers of his class.

However, there were not many cheers. Every competition had a first-place winner, and being top-ranked in newcomer competitions was not a big deal. After seeing the results, most of the students immediately chose to start their training.

Lin Zhen’s impressive performance had indeed stimulated them, sparking their competitive spirit.

Jin Nuo personally rewarded Lin Zhen with two divine stones!

The divine stones could be used to buy some very good things or to save one’s life. Lin Zhen hadn’t thought of what to do with these two divine stones yet, so he put them away for now.

At the same time, Jin Nuo announced Lin Zhen’s admission to the Heaven Class, where he was now allowed.

Everyone thought that the tower challenge had ended. However, after the crowds dispersed, Jin Nuo held back Lin Zhen.

“Lin Zhen, you did very well this time, so well that it was a bit beyond my expectations. Now, I have something to tell you. Regarding your score, Zhang Lang, the Holy Land Resident of Freedom City, and I had a bet. One of the terms was that if you could get through the seventh floor of the tower, you could choose any stone monument in the Heaven Class of Freedom City’s Holy Land to understand.”

“Oh! can I just pick?” Lin Zhen’s eyes sparkled instantaneously.

“Yes, you can pick any. But Lin Zhen, you’d better be careful. Remember that the information about the stone monuments of the Four Great Sacred Lands is not available to each other. This opportunity is very rare. If you choose a stone monument that doesn’t suit you, it’s a real waste.”

Lin Zhen thought for a moment, “Fifth Brother, do you have anything to teach me?”

Jin Nuo shook his head slightly, “Although I really want to tell you some choices, you have to do this yourself. As a resident of the Holy Land, I can’t help you cheat.”

Lin Zhen knew that Jin Nuo couldn’t possibly help him cheat. He was just casually asking. When he heard the news, Lin Zhen had actually made his choice.

“Thank you Fifth Brother, I think I have made my choice.”

“Oh, then tell me what it is. I’ll have Zhang Lang listen in too.”

Jin Nuo raised his hand and a screen appeared in the air. A sturdy young man in black clothes appeared on the screen, looking somewhat rebellious, but mostly inscrutable, just like Jin Nuo.

“Jin Nuo, has your Lin Zhen made his choice? You didn’t leak any information, did you?”

“Of course not. I don’t even know what Lin Zhen has chosen. For fairness, I invited you to listen.”

“All right, let me hear what choices this genius, the first among the new students, Lin Zhen, has made. Do you need me to show you the names of the stone monuments in the Heaven Class?”

“No need, I choose the Senluo Sword Skill.”

Lin Zhen got directly to the point, clearly stating his choice.

Jin Nuo was stunned, and finally couldn’t resist speaking, “Lin Zhen, while the Senluo Sword Skill isn’t bad, it consists of four moves. Each of the Four Great Sacred Lands has one stone monument. If you can’t learn all four moves, the power of this sword skill isn’t much more than that of other sword skills. Won’t you reconsider?”

Zhang Lang quickly stopped Jin Nuo, “Hey! Jin Nuo, watch your words. Since Lin Zhen has made his choice, it must be confirmed. Don’t beat around the bush.”

Lin Zhen smiled at Jin Nuo, “Fifth Brother, it’s okay. In the Heaven Class of our Falling Star Lake, there’s a Senluo Sword Skill stone monument. If I study that in Freedom City, wouldn’t I have two moves? Two moves of Senluo Sword Skill are not weak.”

Jin Nuo thought for a moment, “Yes, I heard that the power increases twofold with each move you learn in Senluo Sword Skill. But don’t think too much about it. Once everyone knows that you’ve learned two moves of Senluo Sword Skill, neither Fang Fei from Twin Trees Garden nor Feng Dao from Soul Lock Platform will possibly give you another chance to learn Senluo Sword Skill.”

“Fifth Brother, I understand, don’t worry. This is my choice.”

Jin Nuo sighed, “All right, since you’ve made your choice, I won’t interfere. Zhang Lang, send him your stone monument information.”

Zhang Lang nodded. In his view, Lin Zhen’s choice of Senluo Sword Skill wasn’t the best, but of course, he wouldn’t let Lin Zhen change his mind. He added Lin Zhen to his dimensional universe friend and sent over the information on Senluo Sword Skill.

After receiving the Senluo Sword Skill from Freedom City, Lin Zhen bid farewell to Jin Nuo.

“Fifth Brother, I’m going to practice.”

“Yes, work hard in Heaven Class, Lin Zhen… I have high hopes for you!”