Chapter 45 Fighting In The Sword Tower
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After Arthur entered one of the rooms, the entrance closed.
Looking around, the room was not very big and there was a giant circle drawn on the floor.
"This should be the battle ring that the Elder spoke about," Arthur looked at it closely.
Arthur walked into the battle ring and immediately he did so, symbols appeared on it and it lit up.
"Choose your weapon!"
A voice spoke to Arthur, seemingly coming from all corners of the room.
"None," Arthur replied.
"So be it."
After that, mist appeared at the edges of the battle ring and Arthur was unable to see beyond the mist.
"If you are beaten out of this ring or give up voluntarily, you will be sent out of the room," said the voice from the Tower once more.
'This must be the Artifact Spirit of the Sword Tower.'
Earth Rank Artifacts and above are sentient with the higher level one having an artifact spirit within them.
They are just like the Artifact Spirit of the Nine Heavens Palace.
*Tap!* *Tap!* *Tap!*
Arthur heard footsteps and soon a figure in full body amour holding a sword came from within the mist and stood opposite Arthur in the battle ring.
The figure was clad in bronze amour, even its head amour had no holes for eyes.
This was the Sword Puppet that was spoken about by the Elders.
*Clank!*
The Sword Puppet took a fighting stance and in an instant, it sent a slash forward.
Arthur tilted his body to the side, effectively dodging the attack.
*Swoosh!*
But the sword puppet suddenly twisted its sword with a little change in its stance, surprising Arthur a bit.
Arthur reacted fast enough and bent backward.
After dodging he stood straight and put some distance between him and the sword puppet.
The Sword Puppet did not give him any chance to catch his breath and continued with its attack.
Arthur continued to dodge every sword attack sent his way with relative ease.
'It seems to be using some kind of sword technique,' Arthur saw some patterns in the puppet's attack after some time.
'Hmm, this is a very good battle technique. But it has a lot of loopholes, and seems incomplete.'
After some time, Arthur had already seen through the sword puppet's attack and decided to end the battle.
"I have seen enough," he moved with greater agility and appeared at the puppet's side.
The puppet could not react fast enough and was still in the process of sending an attack forward when Arthur appeared at its side.
Arthur sent a punch at the puppet's hand, which disarmed it.
*Clank!*
The sword fell to the floor and Arthur grabbed the hand of the puppet and raised it to the air.
He suddenly had an idea and said, "Puppet Smash!"
Arthur smashed the puppet on the floor with great strength.
*Bang!*
The puppet twitched at that and didn't get up.
The mist at the edge of the battle ring extended and covered the puppet and the sword drawing them into the mist.
Arthur released his spirit sense and carefully inspected the surroundings and found something interesting.
'I am in an illusion. The elder from before was lying about dying in this test.'
Arthur finally saw through things.
'The illusion began immediately the mist appeared and now...'
Arthur could feel his body moving upwards as though he was in an elevator. But in the illusion, he was standing still.
*Clank!*
He felt his real body stop and understood that he was on the second floor of the tower.
*Tap!* *Tap!* *Tap!*
Another sword puppet in bronze amour appears from behind the mist and took a battle stance.
'Hmm, this one is stronger,' Arthur thought when he noticed that there were fewer openings in this sword puppet compared to the last.
Arthur withdrew his spirit power and the battle began once more.
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While Arthur and the rest battled within the sword tower, a group of spectators appeared outside the tower.
They were outer-sect disciples dressed in white robes with the crest of the Heavenly Sword Sect on their chests.
There were also a few inner-sect disciples who were dressed in blue robes and had stronger cultivation that the others.
Even a few elders of the sect had arrived.
"Did you hear? There are a few talented people amongst the new disciples this time."
"Yes, I heard there was one that comprehended sword intent whole climbing the Sword Stairs."
"No shit, you believe that? In my opinion, he must have already learned sword intent and just decided to make it seem as though he didn't, to attract the attention of the sect."
"Hmm, you might be right."
The disciples discussed as they looked at the sword tower.
Above the entrance of the sword tower from a glowing number that corresponded to the highest floor that had been reached by those that are within.
Currently, it was displaying the number, '3', which soon changed to '4'.
"The test just started and someone is already on the 4th floor. The quality of this set is good indeed," said an inner disciple.
"Say, Damon, do you think anyone would be able to break the record?"
The question was directed to an inner disciple who stood in front of the group as though he was their leader.
"I don't know," Damon replied in an uncaring tone.
"Well, I think it's impossible. That guy back then was a monster in every sense of the word."
The other disciples all agreed with him.
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Within the sword tower, David and Sophia stood in the hall looking at something.
In front of the rooms where Arthur and the rest entered was a screen that was showing what was happening in the illusion for each person.
In front of Arthur's room, was a screen that was showing the footage of what was happening in his battle, and it was the same for everyone else.
David and Sophia watched on, mostly paying attention to those that showed good combat talent.
Due to that, they noticed the most outstanding so far.
"That boy is the one that was told to reach the 25th floor or else he would be kicked out of the sect right?" David pointed at a certain screen.
Sophia looked at where he pointed and saw the ongoing footage of Sun Wukong battling the sword puppet with his bare hands.
"Yes, I heard it was because his Martial Spirit rank was too low, but for some reason, he was still given a chance," Sophia wondered why that was.
"That's true, apparently the details were kept secret. But regardless, even if his Martial Spirit is low, if he is able to reach the 25th floor, then that makes up for his disadvantage."
"You are right. After all, reaching the 25th floor signifies that he has a battle power of five stars..."
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