Because of Wan Lei's existence, the Creation Pagoda became a fixed check-in point for many people every morning. They would record the moment when Wan Lei's ranking rose after the sun appeared each day.
On the eleventh day, Wan Lei reached the eleventh stage. This time, he met an old acquaintance.
Xiao Jin.
Seeing the familiar person opposite him, whose eyes were dull but whose appearance was extremely familiar, Wan Lei couldn't help but chuckle.
It seemed Xiao Jin's level was even lower than Chai Yan's, having stopped at the eleventh stage.
However, even though they were acquainted, Wan Lei showed no mercy. He directly punched Xiao Jin's phantom body, shattering it, and then continued to wait.
A surprised exclamation came from outside the Creation Pagoda.
"Huh? Why has my ranking dropped by one? And Wan Lei's ranking is right above mine?"
Xiao Jin pointed at his name on the screen. He had dropped one position from three thousand two hundred and seventy-third.
"This means the opponent Wan Lei just defeated was you, hahaha, congratulations, congratulations."
People nearby offered their congratulations.
"Congratulations my foot! It turns out I can't even withstand one punch from Brother Wan either."
Xiao Jin squatted on the ground dejectedly, wiping away a tear of sorrow.
Wan Lei was unaware of Xiao Jin's inner turmoil. He remained seated cross-legged in mid-air, contemplating.
Xiao Jin had mentioned that the number of people decreased exponentially with each stage in the Creation Pagoda. In the eighty stages after the twentieth, there would be no more than two hundred people.
Wan Lei also remembered the information he had looked up about Chai Yan.
Chai Yan was ranked within the top hundred among the disciples of the Fire Hall at the thirteenth stage of the first level of the Creation Pagoda.
Going by this ratio, by the thirteenth stage of the Five Elements Ten Halls, there would only be about a thousand people left.
Even the strongest halls, the Gold Hall and the Sword Hall, would not have excessively larger numbers in the later stages of the Creation Pagoda. At most, the total number would be around fifteen hundred.
By the twentieth stage, the number would be reduced to just over two hundred, meaning about twenty people per hall.
These individuals were all renowned prodigies within the Five Elements Halls.
Therefore, after the twentieth stage, even though there were still eighty more stages, seemingly a large number, the gap between disciples was not that significant.
It was simply that the remaining stages were numerous, diluting the population.
Furthermore, advancing through each stage was extremely difficult because the opponents you faced were always the same few. Whether you could defeat them was a clear matter of capability.
And Wan Lei actually knew Chai Yan's strength.
It wasn't particularly strong.
Back in the Molten Death Zone, both he and Fang Xiaoyu had hidden their true strength.
During his first battle against Suo Shisan, Wan Lei had played around a bit to familiarize himself with the combat prowess of the Five Elements Hall disciples. In subsequent battles, he fought alongside the Four Little Ones and didn't have many opportunities for close combat, mostly playing a role of suppression and weakening.
After all, it wasn't a one-on-one fight. When a hundred people attacked you, it wasn't a matter of defeating them all with a hundred punches.
The enemy's combat power would surge.
The disciples he fought in the martial arena were all hand-picked by Xiao Jin, with Creation Pagoda rankings below ten thousand. None could withstand a single punch from him.
Even Chai Yan, in a one-on-one fight, might not be able to withstand his full-power punch.
Overall, one should not underestimate the opponents after the twentieth stage, but Wan Lei also could not underestimate himself.
It didn't really matter; he had a full day to battle in each stage. Since his debut, Wan Lei hadn't encountered an enemy that could make him fight for an entire day.
Wan Lei advanced one stage per day without any delays, always entering the next stage smoothly at the break of dawn.
Consequently, the discussions among the onlookers gradually shifted to which stage Wan Lei would be stuck on for more than five minutes.
The majority predicted he would be stuck at the twentieth stage.
After all, from the twentieth stage onwards, there were only a few people left in each level, making it easy to guess Wan Lei's opponents and their strength.
Then, based on the time Wan Lei took to pass, they would judge his combat power.
No one believed Wan Lei would fail before the ninetieth stage. If he failed, he would not be able to defeat the disciples of the subsequent halls within six months.
Wan Lei was currently advancing one stage per day, clearly in a hurry, and everyone understood this.
After all, everyone knew he only had six months, which was one hundred and eighty days.
According to the rules of the Creation Pagoda, failing a stage also counted as a challenge completed. To attempt it again, one had to wait until the next day.
With one hundred stages, it would take at least a hundred days. Wan Lei only had one hundred and eighty days, meaning he had only eighty chances to fail.
Under these circumstances, no one could afford to waste time.
Days passed, and Wan Lei continued to advance one stage each day.
His ranking rose from the thousands to the low hundreds, then the upper hundreds, then the eighties, seventies, fifties...
The time he took to defeat his opponents also increased, from a few seconds to over ten seconds, then twenty seconds, and eventually to a terrifying one minute.
It took a full minute to defeat an opponent!
One could imagine how powerful the opponent was!
Three months later, Wan Lei finally cleared the ninetieth stage.
At this point, only about thirty opponents remained in the last ten stages.
Each opponent was a renowned figure.
From stage ninety-one to ninety-seven, there were only two or three people each. At stage ninety-eight, there were four Hall disciples and one Sword Hall disciple. Stage ninety-nine had four Hall disciples, and the final stage had only one person.
Just when everyone expected Wan Lei to start failing, he continued to push forward with unstoppable momentum, clearing stage ninety-seven in seven days.
During this stage, he spent a full fifteen minutes defeating his opponent and even almost drew his weapon.
Next, only three stages remained.
The strongest three stages, the most difficult three stages.
As Wan Lei waited for the next day to arrive, a large crowd had already gathered outside the Creation Pagoda.
They bustled and chattered, discussing amongst themselves.
"Wan Lei, in ninety-seven days, has consecutively cleared ninety-seven stages. No one has been able to withstand him for even one exchange; all have fallen."
"Wan Lei has made history again. This feat is worthy of being recorded in the annals."
"In stage ninety-seven, only Luo Shuihan of the Gold Hall could challenge him. In the entire Void Realm of the Five Elements Halls, only ten people could defeat her. Yet, she only managed to hold on for fifteen minutes against Wan Lei."
"He's going to challenge the next stage? Those are Hall disciples. Won't he rest and recover his condition?"
"I really want to see him spar with the Hall disciples."
"Look quickly, what is that? A live broadcast!"
A disciple exclaimed loudly, and everyone looked up.
On the large screen of the Creation Pagoda, all ranking information had disappeared, replaced by an image of Wan Lei sitting cross-legged alone in mid-air.
This was going to be a live broadcast!