Eternal Temptation: Awakening Sinful Desires - Chapter 287

Chapter 287: The Ranking Test Begins Now!
After observing for some more time, Asher turned towards Nadia.

“Hey, Nadia, did you find out when Big Sis, Alia, will come out of the seclusion?”

Nadia nodded with a smile. “Yes. According to my information, she should be done with her seclusion soon. Although she doesn’t know about you joining the sect.”

“I see… In that case, I can’t wait to see her expression when she comes out of her seclusion and sees me standing in front of her,” Asher said as he grinned.

A moment later, he turned his attention towards the huge dark stele as Elder Katrina floated on air towards the front.

Then she spoke, “The pagoda consists of nine levels, where you have to fight various opponents, each one stronger than the last. On each floor, the enemies will become harder to defeat. Of course, you’ll get injured if you aren’t careful.”

After saying this, she snapped her fingers, and many lights flashed from the Dark Stele, each one enveloping the disciples that were going to participate in the Ranking Test.

Soon, the lights all vanished into thin air, making all of them look around in confusion.

Elder Katrina smiled as she said, “This light has marked all the participants of the Ranking Test, so that if you are about to get an injury that may cripple your cultivation or threaten your life, a shield will envelop your body to protect you. And yes, you’ll be transported back here, marking the end of your Ranking Test.”

‘Hmmm, it seems that they also care about their disciples in case some unlucky guy encounters a mishap in the Ranking Test and is on the verge of losing his life. This makes sure that they won’t lose any disciples, and allows them to go all out while fighting.’ Asher analyzed it and found it pretty sensible, as it made sure no accidents took place during the test.

After seeing most disciples’ expressions clear up, Elder Katrina nodded before saying, “I hope you all give it your all and learn as you battle. The Ranking Test begins now!”

The very next moment, the disciples suddenly disappeared from their previous location, everyone materializing in different large chambers.

Asher wasn’t an exception, as he found himself in a place that seemed to be dark at first, as the light only started shining after a few moments, illuminating the huge chamber.

The walls of the chamber had various engravings that resembled ancient formations and contained mysterious inscriptions.

This kind of architecture made it clear that the Pagoda had been created a long time ago, as no one could create this kind of majestic ancient formation today.

But before he could even analyze them, he felt a change in the atmosphere in the chamber.

Then, after a few seconds, a blue light started condensing from all the engravings in front of him and began forming an outline of a silhouette.

As the outline took shape, it was evident that it was that of a man, dressed in blue armor with a long blue sword in his hand, standing tall.

Moreover, Asher could sense its power from afar as he narrowed his eyes while focusing on this humanoid-shaped light in front of him.

‘Initial-Stage of the Spirit Foundation Realm? It seems I have to start fighting from low tiers. Moreover, it will also test the endurance of a cultivator.’ He thought as a dark thorn appeared behind the figure, and before it could do anything, it was destroyed in an instant, dissipating into blue light, signifying his first win.

After defeating the blue silhouette, another one took its place as another bout began, but this time, there were two blue silhouettes with the Initial-Stage of Spirit Foundation Realm cultivation and armed with identical weapons.

They both appeared at the same time, surrounded him, and tried to attack from both sides simultaneously.

“Hmm… It seems that each time, they will add one more entity. However, I wonder, When will their rank increase?” Asher stood in the middle without moving, analyzing the situation while both entities met with similar fates.

This continued as many more fights ensued, and as the number of enemies increased, the difficulty of the fight increased as well.

They attacked together and combined their strength while they moved, creating different combinations, yet they all failed to do anything to him.

After Asher destroyed the ten entities that were attacking him together, a light enveloped him and teleported him to a chamber on the second level of the tower.

Soon, the light glowed once more, and the formation started building the entities, but this time, the new ones were in the High-Stage of the Spirit Foundation Realm and appeared holding different kinds of weapons.

Seeing them, Asher sighed while shaking his head before saying, “This is dragging…”

And so, the test continued, and Asher defeated all the entities till level 4, where they had cultivation of the Peak-Stage of the True Spirit Realm, similar to his, without much effort.

The attacks from the entities started getting smarter, and they kept testing his boundaries as time went on.

Moreover, as their speed, power, and mastery over their techniques increased, so did the difficulty of defeating them.

However, despite all of that, Asher didn’t feel any trouble at all in defeating them. Instead, he felt bored since nothing could pose any threat to him till now.

Moments later, the scenario changed. Now, the entity that materialized had the cultivation of the Initial-Stage of the Core Formation Realm.

It radiated with a fierce, dense aura that contained explosive power like a volcano, ready to erupt at any moment.

Upon materializing, it cast its sharp gaze on Asher before dashing towards him with its sword drawn in his direction.

In an instant, the sound of metal clashing against each other resonated throughout the entire chamber, and a heavy impact from the sword blow landed on Asher as he used his Boundless Sword to block the enemy’s sword attack.

The strong impact and the clashing of the weapons shook the atmosphere with an overwhelming force that generated powerful shockwaves of spirit essence, pushing them both backward.

However, Asher remained unfazed even after feeling the strong impact. His cultivation base allowed him to withstand this attack without difficulty as he stood upright, watching the entity that had a higher realm than him, which took a few steps backward as its sword was repelled.

Seeing that there was someone who could at least put up a decent fight against him, Asher’s lips curled up in an exciting grin, and he got even more motivated.

With a sparkle of light flickering in his eyes, Asher dived right back in and appeared in front of the enemy before he delivered a slash at the entity with his dark blade, aiming towards its neck.

However, as if it could predict the attack, the enemy dodged his attack and retaliated with another powerful sword slash that had fiery flames wrapping around it, striking towards his chest.

With his senses honed to their fullest, Asher avoided the incoming attack from the enemy before he blocked his opponent’s blade once again, making him grit his teeth as a burst of strength slammed into his arms and sent him skidding backward.

“Hah, what an agile and swift opponent, indeed! I assume that its battle sense and experiences are comparable to those of battle-hardened warriors who have walked through countless lifee-anddeath situations on the battlefield.” Asher chuckled as he increased the pressure and let the dark spirit energy spiral around his sword.

At the same time, a dark smoke began to cover the whole floor of the chamber, reaching their knees in an instant, which Asher had never used before.

Then, he used the first form of his sword art and swung towards the entity once again, unleashing slashes of dark light, but this time, there were many of such dark lights in the air that targeted his opponent, shrouding it like a swarm of locusts, aiming at its every single move, causing it to dodge.

But, at that moment, a few dark tendrils shot out from the dark smoke and wrapped themselves around the enemy, immobilizing its legs.

With its legs rooted in the smoke, it couldn’t dodge anymore attacks from Asher and got slashed several times before a huge impact slammed it backwards, where it got pierced by a dark thorn, which shattered it and created blue light fragments before vanishing.

After defeating the entity, Asher closed his eyes for a moment and meditated for a bit to enter a tranquil state.

This fight with the entity that was one level higher than him forced him to use more spirit essence than the previous entities to defeat it, and he had to push his strength to a limit to seal its movements and give himself an opening for the winning attack.

But this left him with a more exhilarating feeling. After all, for a cultivator, nothing is more exciting than a good fight to push their boundaries to new heights.

The same went for him. For some reason, Asher seemed to feel a deep sense of happiness in this situation, which surprised him to no extent.

Although his cultivation might have been powerful enough to destroy all the entities till now with ease, it couldn’t compare to the satisfying feeling of struggling against an opponent and putting in the maximum of his ability to emerge victorious.

This was why the Ranking Test was something that all disciples enjoyed and cherished the most, even if they got injured in the process, as they got the opportunity to face strong opponents to push themselves forward.