"Come."
Li Yun shouted as Aurora Step accelerated again. Before the four beams could close their circle, he shot through the gap between them and kept climbing without pausing.
The higher he went, the more attacks came at him. Four beams became twelve, twelve became dozens, and eventually hundreds of golden lights were flying around him at the same time.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Before long, Li Yun reached the halfway point, and several hundred golden beams erupted all at once. They wove themselves into a massive golden net that sealed off the surrounding space completely, leaving nowhere for him to dodge.
Bang!
Hundreds of beams slammed into him. He let out a muffled groan as his body was blasted downward, and he tumbled all the way from the middle of the mountain back to its foot.
"Hiss."
Li Yun drew in a sharp breath. Even with his current physique, falling from that height was unpleasant, and the sensation of hundreds of golden beams crashing into him had been worse still.
Radiant Gold Mountain was clearly no simple place, since his combat power already matched a powerful cultivator at the 6th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm and he still could not get past the halfway mark.
Instead of feeling discouraged, though, he found himself interested, because this was exactly what he needed. He had somewhat neglected Aurora Step lately, and even after all this time it had only reached the completion stage.
Radiant Gold Mountain was the perfect place to push the technique into perfection, and if he succeeded, his overall combat ability would rise further.
For the next stretch of time, Li Yun threw himself completely into climbing. Again and again he rushed upward, and again and again countless golden beams struck him and sent him crashing back down. Each time he landed, he stood up and started another attempt without hesitation or frustration, simply repeating the process while constantly adjusting the way he used Aurora Step.
Eventually the twenty hours he had bought with one hundred points ran out, and by the time he was forced to leave, Aurora Step stood only one step away from perfection.
He then returned to the Extreme Dao Pagoda and the Endless Pagoda, clearing the seventh floor of the former and the fifth floor of the latter, which together earned him more than two thousand five hundred points.
With fresh points in hand, he went straight back to Radiant Gold Mountain, and after another five hours inside, he finally crossed the last threshold. Aurora Step reached the perfection stage, and his movement technique underwent an obvious transformation.
Satisfied with the result, Li Yun left Radiant Gold Mountain and set off for another secret realm, the Puppetwood Corridor.
Where Radiant Gold Mountain tested speed and reaction, the Puppetwood Corridor focused on comprehensive combat strength, and it contained several distinct stages. The first stage held eighty-one wooden puppets whose strength ranged from the 1st to the 3rd levels of Spirit Manifestation Realm, which made it seem somewhat similar to the Endless Pagoda on the surface.
There was one major difference, however, because the coordination between the wooden puppets far surpassed that of the guardians inside the Endless Pagoda. On top of that, their formations changed constantly, shifting into an entirely different configuration every few moments, and all of this made the Puppetwood Corridor considerably harder.
The first stage was meaningless for Li Yun, though, since his strength already matched experts around the 5th and 6th levels of Spirit Manifestation Realm and there was little to gain from fighting puppets from the lower levels.
He therefore went directly into the harder stage, where the wooden puppets ranged from the 4th through the 6th levels of Spirit Manifestation Realm, because only that level could genuinely pressure him.
From that day on, Li Yun trained tirelessly inside the Puppetwood Corridor. As time passed, he lasted longer and longer within the formations, his ability to respond to their shifting patterns improved, and his sword control grew more precise. His skill at combining movement, swordsmanship, soul power, and physical strength also advanced steadily.
Half a month slipped by in the blink of an eye, and while Li Yun buried himself in cultivation inside the Puppetwood Corridor, a great deal happened elsewhere in the Genius Training Camp.
Puff!
At the gambling arena, Luo Zhenting was sent flying backward with blood spraying from his mouth. His aura had weakened severely, and he could barely keep himself upright.
"Twenty-five."
The one standing before him was a pale-faced young man with silver hair, who strolled forward and kicked Luo Zhenting straight off the arena.
Below the stage, Xie Wushang, Man Tao, Su Zimo, and several other geniuses from the Heaven’s Chosen Assembly wore equally grim expressions. Most of them were injured, and their auras had faded considerably.
"Hmph." The silver-haired youth glanced down at them with contempt. "The second most prosperous Heaven’s Chosen Assembly in history? The strongest generation of future geniuses? It’s all nonsense." His lips curled into a mocking smile. "Over the past three days I’ve beaten almost every single one of you, and not one of you could force me to fight seriously. What a disappointment."
"Yin Cangxiao, what exactly do you have to be proud of?" Xie Wushang spat out a mouthful of blood and sneered. "You’ve just cultivated a few years longer than us, and you’re leaning on that higher realm of yours. If we stood at the same level, I could crush you with one finger."
"Is that so?" Yin Cangxiao laughed loudly. "Then come talk to me again after you reach the 2nd level of Spirit Manifestation Realm. I have no interest in wasting words on defeated trash."
His silver hair drifted as his gaze turned arrogant.
"Only three targets are left. Drunken Monk, Huang Tianlin, and Li Yun. Once I’ve beaten those three, I’d like to see what right any of you still have to call yourselves a prosperous generation."
Still laughing wildly, Yin Cangxiao turned and walked away without sparing Luo Zhenting or the others another look.
"That bastard."
Below the arena, the faces of Luo Zhenting and his companions turned extremely ugly, and cold light filled their eyes as they watched him disappear into the distance.
Yin Cangxiao ranked three hundred and seventy-ninth in the Genius Training Camp, and his cultivation had reached the perfection stage of the 2nd level of Spirit Manifestation Realm.
Among cultivators of the same level he had almost no rivals, and many considered him one of the strongest people below the 3rd level of Spirit Manifestation Realm.
More importantly, he enjoyed an excellent relationship with Lei Xuankong, an elite member of the camp, since the two had become sworn brothers several years earlier.

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