Chapter 866: The Last Challenge Su Ping received rare training resources every day after securing the top of the rank. The Deep Red Astral Crystals were usually intended for Star Lords’ training. They were also used as currency amongst this tier of experts. Such items were so rare in the universe that even those in the Ascendant State would compete for them; although it wouldn’t be for their direct usage, they could give them to their subordinates. Most Ascendants had their own organization. Few were lone wolves, and even those had their believers too; they would also fight to claim special resources for their sake. Training with Deep Red Astral Crystals was highly demanding; those who weren’t Star Lords had to have strong willpower. Su Ping tested his willpower when he received the resources in one of the monuments with a Star Lord. It was actually just a formality; having climbed 96th floors of the all-class monument in a row was proof enough of his horrifying combat ability and unparalleled mental power. The result of the test was exactly as the Star Lord had speculated; Su Ping was able to swiftly pass the test. He wasn’t trying to shock everyone; passing the test was good enough. After all, he wouldn’t get anything from it. Su Ping detected a distant and indescribable type of energy besides the pure and magnificent astral power when he absorbed the Deep Red Astral Crystals. The energy surrounded him and guided him like a voice, making his senses much keener than before. No wonder they’re meant for the Star Lords. I’d be able to grasp laws easily if I train with them for a long time. However, when it comes to the Star Lords themselves, their combat ability wouldn’t be significantly improved, even if they grasped one or two new laws. This distant energy sounds like the whispers in the fifth space. Those who are not determined will be lost in it; no wonder a strong willpower is required. The energy inside Su Ping’s body reached its limits, given that five crystals were provided for him every day; anyone else in the Fate State would have had to make a breakthrough to absorb the energy... But Su Ping’s Chaos Star Chart showed a great capacity; the cells all over his body absorbed and stored the astral power. Once all of them were full, he attempted to cultivate the Astral Painting State, which was the third major phase! He connected his cells and drew the first Astral Painting inside his body. It was a simple Astral Painting, which consisted of three stars making a triangle; there was a strange energy field in the area they enclosed. Su Ping melded his cells and constructed three enormous cell collections, then he drew the Astral Painting with them. The drawing was quite strenuous to make and a lot of astral power was required. Su Ping had originally reached his limits and couldn’t absorb any more astral power, but as he drew on, not even the magnificent astral power from the Deep Red Astral Crystals seemed enough for him. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶 It’s true that training the Astral Painting State is more difficult. Su Ping wasn’t frustrated; he had the Deep Red Astral Crystals anyway, and he could finish the drawing sooner or later. He was looking forward to finding out how strong he would become by the time he completed the first Astral Painting. Aside from those crystals, Su Ping’s body was also assimilating the Star Dragon Bone Marrow. It was a pure body-strengthening material. Su Ping had been practicing the Solar Bulwark and was essentially a young Golden Crow, and the Star Dragon Bone Marrow was polishing it further. Su Ping felt as if he wouldn’t get hurt even if a Star State expert attacked him with full force. His body alone was already horrifying enough. It had to be noted that he was still in the Fate State at that moment! The blades of Five Element Divine Grass, on the other hand, were currently useless to him. Apart from the five basic elements, his resistance to other elements had been increased to the special grade, too. Such a resource was no longer useful for him. I can save them for my sister, or my other friends on the Blue Planet. Su Lingyue placed them in his storage and thought of Su Lingyue. All his pets, including the Little Skeleton, also had special-grade resistance, so it wouldn’t be useful for them, either. Time went by quickly. Su Ping had remained on the hilltop the whole time while absorbing those resources. As for the others, they kept on reentering the monuments to train after they recovered. Fighting inside the monuments was more effective than sitting around, in their opinion. After all, they had specifically gone to that mysterious realm because of the monuments; there were multiple places with denser astral power in their academies if the goal was to simply sit and meditate. Oasis Dragon King, the young man who carried a wooden sword, and the others rose steadily as they continued their challenges. On the third day, the young man who carried a wooden sword reached the 80th floor. Dragon Emperor was also inching closer to the 80th floor. On the seventh day, the young man who carried a wooden sword entered the 83rd floor. Dragon Emperor stepped into the 80th floor, and was ready to tackle the 81st. The other geniuses—such as the Thousand Leaves Holy Lady and Oasis Dragon King—were only one or two floors behind. Su Ping was enjoying himself while sitting on the hilltop, crazily absorbing astral power coming from underneath the chair and drawing his first Astral Painting. Why didn’t he try entering the monuments again? He had been through countless life-and-death exercises in the cultivation sites; such a kind of training was no longer effective for him. His 96th floor record and the point coefficient of the all-class monument made Su Ping remain on top of everybody else. Many people would unconsciously look at the hilltop as they got out of the monuments, feeling weird when they saw that Su Ping was still sitting there; they felt both insulted and somewhat relieved. “Why has the guy been cultivating instead of challenging the monuments?” “This is a rare opportunity. Isn’t it a waste for him to only be sitting and meditating there this whole time?” The seven Star Lords also felt weird when they saw that. The man had been given the chance to enter that mysterious realm, yet he wasn’t making the most of the opportunity to train inside the monuments. What was the point? Some speculated that Su Ping had used some sort of secret technique on the first day that caused severe sequela; that was why he had been resting. Many agreed; they didn’t feel as amazed by Su Ping’s record anymore. A month passed in the blink of an eye. The young man who carried a wooden sword had reached the 88th floor! He was very close to the 90th floor, but he had been lingering on the 88th since a week earlier, since it had been difficult for him to reach the 89th floor. Obviously, he was reaching his limits. Dragon Emperor was close behind him; his points were slightly fewer, while he still held onto third place. Oasis Dragon King ranked fourth; he had also chosen the dragon-class monument, but he was one floor below Dragon Emperor. The others were slightly behind Oasis Dragon King, but the gap wasn’t too wide. “He’s still cultivating...” The young man who carried a wooden sword walked out of the monument and habitually looked at the hilltop, only to find that Su Ping was still sitting inside the circle of light. Su Ping never left the hilltop after reaching the 96th floor on his first day. The young man carrying a wooden sword didn’t believe the rumors; his concern was that Su Ping had perceived something during the challenge and had been contemplating about it. That idea had been weighing down on him ever since it occurred to him. He had rarely paid attention to anybody else and was fully focused on his sword technique. Still, he was currently paying attention to Su Ping. It’s been a month, and we haven’t even caught up to his performance from the first day... The young swordsman took a deep breath and returned to the hilltop. Soon after, Dragon Emperor came out of the monument and also looked at the hilltop. He snorted after seeing Su Ping there, then he flew back to his seat. Time flew quickly. Given that Su Ping was earnestly cultivating every day, the others gradually lost interest in him and fixed their eyes on Dragon Emperor, the young man who carried a wooden sword, and Oasis Dragon King who were more active; they too were trying hard to polish themselves inside the monuments. The top of the rank remained steady and unshakable, but those ranging from second to the tenth were competing fiercely. Dragon Emperor surpassed the young man with a wooden sword twice, who later caught up; he was trailing behind the young swordsman most of the time. However, the two times he was able to surpass him made the Dragon Tomb Academy feel proud in front of the Sword Deity Academy. “Some visitors will come to this place for observation and training, but they only stay for half a month. Focus on yourselves and don’t bother them.” One day, a Star Lord of the mysterious realm brought a piece of news back. The geniuses were slightly surprised, but didn’t consider it a big deal. After all, that mysterious realm was a super rare place that entertained not just them but also geniuses from other parts of the universe. Interstellar spaceships arrived in the mysterious realm a few days after they were notified; some of them belonged to the five academies and carried distinguished students. Even though they weren’t the cream of the crop, they were also remarkable geniuses who had gone there for training. However, their training was not as intense as the one prepared for Su Ping and the other contestants. Other organizations from the galaxy had also sent representatives. Some of them were either descendants of a Star Lord or future stars of their organizations. All of them were gathered in the mysterious realm. “Are all the geniuses of the five academies here?” “I heard that they’ve been here for a long time since they had recommendations. All of them are preparing for the upcoming matches!” “I wonder how strong they are. It’s a shame that I wasn’t admitted by any of the five academies. I would love to meet them.” Many newcomers were curious about Su Ping and the geniuses, but they didn’t dare to approach them while under the Star Lords’ watch. “The score monument is right there!” “Wow! The top of the rank challenged the all-class monument and reached the 96th floor?” “Is the 96th floor very difficult?” “It’s not just difficult; it’s impossible! Do you know Huan Lieshen, owner of this mysterious realm? He challenged the all-class monument and passed all 99 floors. Thanks to that, he was acknowledged as master of this mysterious realm!” “... Seriously? So to speak, if that guy climbs three more floors, his accomplishment will be as good as Lord Huan Lieshen’s?” Some of the geniuses who had never been to the mysterious realm were horrified. Huan Lieshen was an Ascendant expert! And yet, somewhere before them there was a guy who was as strong as him? Originally, some weren’t really impressed by the candidates who received the recommendations, but then they were dumbfounded after seeing the rankings on the monument; no matter how confident they were, they didn’t think they could reach the Ascendant State! The Ascendant State was too distant; it was extremely difficult to become a Star Lord as it was! “It’s him...” Koro was stunned in the crowd. He had also been sent there by his academy. He didn’t expect that the top ranker wouldn’t be Oasis Dragon King or a genius from another academy, but the guy who frightened him with one punch. The guy had dwarfed Oasis Dragon King and suppressed all the other geniuses from the five academies! He sweated hard and almost slapped himself in the face as he recalled that he almost attacked Su Ping earlier. “Humph!” On the hill—some of the geniuses who were training snorted at the newcomers who pointed at them and whispered. They weren’t interested in what they were talking about, at all. Time flew. The newcomers didn’t affect the results of Dragon Emperor and the others. Su Ping had been sitting on the hilltop all the time, still opting not to enter the monuments, so the others stopped paying attention to him and focused on their own training. Three months passed in the blink of an eye. The screening tests of the Universe Geniuses’ Contest were over; even the elimination rounds in the planetary systems were over too. Silvy’s elimination matches were soon going to be held. This also meant that the geniuses had to leave this mysterious realm. The newcomers had left a long time earlier. Only the top students of the five academies remained at the moment. “He’s on the 91st floor...” “As expected of the Sword God’s heir. He’s made another breakthrough. His limits must’ve been breached on the 89th floor. It’s incredible enough that he was able to climb two more floors in merely three months!” “He’s a great learner. No wonder the Sword God taught him personally.” The young man who carried a wooden sword walked out of the monument, pale and exhausted. His appearance instantly attracted everybody’s attention. Dragon Emperor—who was currently cultivating on the hilltop—had a grave expression, as the young man had gained much more points than him. He rose quickly, ready to challenge the monument again. However, exactly at that moment, he turned his head and looked at one particular circle of light, only to find that the young man who had been sitting there had walked out. The young man who carried a wooden sword also noticed when Su Ping left, and so did everybody else. All the eyes that had previously fixed upon the former shifted to Su Ping.