Martial Master

A formless power locked onto Qin Chen, and he sensed it was the spirit of the tower.

After a moment, it spoke, “This battle is considered a draw; you are indeed strong. If you were to improve even a tiny bit in martial skills, perhaps it would have been you winning and replacing Xuan Yuan Jue as the new guardian here.”

“In fact, although you did not defeat Xuan Yuan Jue, with your strength, you could have left a trace of your spirit here, becoming the second guardian just like Xuan Yuan Jue. However, I’m sorry, for certain reasons, I cannot leave a trace of your spirit to allow you to replace Xuan Yuan Jue.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Qin Chen said with a faint smile. He was only interested in fighting fiercely against strong opponents; replacing anyone brought no benefits, so he couldn’t be bothered.

“Can I leave now?” Qin Chen asked lightly. What troubled him now was that he had cleared all nine levels of the Ancient Saint Tower. Once he went out, what kind of tsunami would it trigger?

With prominence comes envy.

If Qin Chen were now a Heavenly Saint, he would naturally feel no fear, but he was merely at the peak of Earth Saint late stage; sometimes, it was better to remain low-profile and cautious.

“You can leave at any time, but before you go, I have two things to tell you. I hope you can keep them secret.”

The spirit of the Ancient Saint Tower suddenly became serious.

“What?”

This was the first time Qin Chen had seen the spirit speak this way, causing him to frown. He had a vague feeling that what the spirit was about to say was very significant.

“First, although you have passed the ninth level examination of the Ancient Saint Tower, I have not lit up the ninth level. Therefore, after you leave, everyone will only think that you have passed the eighth level and failed at the ninth level.”

The spirit explained.

Why is that?

Qin Chen was puzzled; the spirit should have no emotions. Why would it take the initiative to modify his examination results?

Although Qin Chen himself did not care about the examination results at all.

“This relates to the second thing I want to say.”

The spirit's tone became grave: “Because I must protect you, you previously asked me how many geniuses have passed the ninth level of the Ancient Saint Tower and how many became Holy Lords. I now tell you that there were a total of one hundred and three martial artists who entered the ninth level of the Ancient Saint Tower, but only eleven, including you, completely passed the ninth level examination.”

“And among those ten before, due to their overwhelming presence, six were assassinated, each perishing on the path of cultivation and trials, while the final four who survived all cultivated to the Holy Lord realm and became local tyrants.”

Gasp! Qin Chen inhaled sharply, genuinely shocked.

Out of ten, four broke through to become Holy Lords; this was... too astonishing.

The probability was simply abnormal.

Moreover, the remaining six all fell on the path to becoming Holy Lords. If they hadn’t fallen, they also had a great chance of becoming powerful Holy Lords.

But what does this have to do with concealing his results?

“Are you saying that the six fallen were related to the examination results of the Ancient Saint Tower being leaked?”

Qin Chen’s gaze sharpened as a guess formed.

“Exactly.”

The spirit replied coldly: “My Heavenly Work exists to combat the Demon Tribe, and thus the talents we gather will not only stir the human race but also attract the attention of the Demon Tribe. To prevent you from being assassinated, I must hide your results.”

“In fact, if you had merely entered the ninth level without clearing it, or even just reached the fourth stage of the ninth level and persisted for a while, I wouldn’t have concealed your results. But you defeated Xuan Yuan Jue.”

“Perhaps you don’t know, but every martial artist who can clear my Ancient Saint Tower is born from destiny and embodies fortune. Talents like you, my Heavenly Work absolutely cannot afford any accidents.”