C51 Shocked

He emerged in under a minute?

That seems awfully quick, doesn't it?

A few Outer Sect disciples, who had been watching the Puppet Tower, were momentarily stunned. Their surprise quickly morphed into mocking laughter.

"He's out already? No way he could have completed the challenge, right?"

"Must be a newbie. Probably got the scare of his life the second he stepped into the Puppet Tower."

They continued to ridicule Lin Xuan without mercy.

The disturbance here was hard to ignore, drawing the gaze of many other Outer Sect disciples.

"Is that Lin Xuan?"

"The one who's been the talk of the sect? The top prodigy of the Outer Sect?"

"How did he exit so fast?"

"Not even a full minute has passed. Senior Brother Chen, who's reached the Qi Transformation Stage, took three minutes. There's no way Lin cleared it, right?"

"My guess is he bolted after the puppets started their assault."

"I can't believe the so-called top genius of the Outer Sect is this faint-hearted. He really doesn't live up to the hype."

"Exactly!"

The chatter among the disciples grew louder.

Once they recognized the figure as Lin Xuan, the jeering intensified.

At this point, they were all convinced that Lin Xuan had fled.

Moreover, Lin Xuan had been with the sect for only a month, yet he had already outshone the more seasoned disciples.

Jealousy and resentment simmered in their hearts.

Now, seizing the opportunity, they unleashed their pent-up frustrations.

They spared no effort in belittling Lin Xuan, intent on discrediting him completely.

The Head Elder, seated on a stone bench, furrowed his brow at the scene.

Xu Annlan, on the other hand, let out a derisive laugh.

"To think the Outer Sect has come to harbor such a useless individual. The standards really are slipping with each generation."

"Perhaps you're jumping to conclusions a bit too soon."

The voice of the Head Elder cut through the noise.

He, too, had taken note of Lin Xuan's rapid rise as the Outer Sect's foremost talent.

While he doubted Lin Xuan could have passed the challenge in such a brief span, he didn't believe Lin Xuan to be the type to seek attention for its own sake.

He intervened, putting an end to the disciples' gossip.

At that moment, the deacon responsible for record-keeping in the Puppet Tower burst out, his face etched with urgency.

"I bet the deacon can't take it anymore with Lin Xuan. Looks like he's about to give Lin Xuan a piece of his mind!"

"Ha ha ha!"

Several disciples burst into laughter.

The Head Elder rose to his feet and strode forward, his voice a sharp rebuke.

"Sun Wen, what are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be recording the scores?"

"Head Elder, there's no need to record scores any longer!"

Sun Wen was panting heavily, his eyes wide with astonishment as he pointed at Lin Xuan nearby and exclaimed:

"All the puppets in the Puppet Tower have been destroyed by him!

We can't proceed with the elimination rounds!"

His words hung in the air.

A hush fell over the crowd.

Eyes widened in shock, the disciples stared at Lin Xuan, struggling to grasp the reality of the situation.

Had they heard correctly?

Every single puppet in the Puppet Tower had been destroyed?

And it was Lin Xuan, the new disciple, who had done it?

It seemed too far-fetched.

The puppets in the Puppet Tower were crafted from special materials, designed to be incredibly durable.

It was a formidable challenge for someone at the Qi Gathering Stage to even damage a Level 1 puppet.

And the puppets on the sixth floor were even tougher, outmatching those at the peak of the Qi Gathering Stage by a significant margin.

Not even a cultivator at the Qi Transformation Stage could hope to destroy one.

During their trials in the Puppet Tower, they had always aimed to avoid direct confrontations with the puppets, relying on their agility and evasion techniques to clear the levels.

Chen Yuze, who had advanced to the Qi Transformation Stage, was no exception, taking three minutes to complete his trial.

The idea of destroying the puppets had never even crossed their minds.

Yet now, the deacon was claiming that a new disciple, just a month into his training, had accomplished this feat.

He hadn't just destroyed a few puppets; he had demolished every single one within the Puppet Tower.

The magnitude of this disparity was like a vast gulf.

It was beyond belief!

The disciples felt as though they were caught in a fantastical dream.

A surreal feeling overwhelmed them, making the scene before their eyes seem like an illusion.

At that moment, a throng of disciples emerged from the Puppet Tower.

Nearly two hundred of them gathered, all disciples from the seventh group.

"Senior Brother Lin is incredibly powerful, isn't he?"

"Absolutely, he even demolished the puppets on the sixth floor."

"I think Senior Brother Lin isn't just the top talent of the Outer Sect; he's probably among the elite geniuses of our entire Drifting Cloud Sect, don't you think?"

"It's highly likely."

The disciples filed out, buzzing with conversation. Clearly, they were still reeling from the shock.

Upon hearing their words, the other disciples felt a surge of astonishment.

With so many disciples emerging, all echoing the same sentiment, it seemed implausible that Lin Xuan could have fooled the deacon, let alone two hundred Outer Sect disciples.

Could it be true?

Did Lin Xuan single-handedly destroy every puppet in the Puppet Tower?

And in less than a minute?

It appeared to be true!

The disciples were overwhelmed with shock.

The reality before them was hard to believe, yet the mounting evidence made it undeniable.

Faced with such a stark contrast, they struggled to come to terms with it.

Suddenly, a grating noise cut through the air.

Turning their heads, the disciples saw an Outer Sect manager approaching with an armful of puppet debris.

"Head Elder, these are parts of the puppets from the sixth floor. Knowing you might not take my word for it, I had them brought out. If you're still skeptical, feel free to inspect the Puppet Tower yourself," Sun Wen told the Head Elder.

The disciples gazed at the fragments, gasping in disbelief.

"These do look like parts from the sixth-floor puppets—I've just seen some of them!"

An Outer Sect expert at the Peak of the Qi Gathering Stage spoke up.

"All these puppets have been destroyed?"

A disciple from the top ten cried out in shock.

"These are indeed puppet remains!"

"The final guardian puppets have been obliterated too!"

"How could this be?"

After surveying the scattered puppet debris, the disciples' view of Lin Xuan shifted dramatically.

The area erupted into a buzz of excitement.

"It's really true!"

"Senior Brother Lin is unbelievably strong! Is he truly a newcomer?"

"None of the top ten in the Outer Sect hold a candle to Senior Brother Lin, do they?"

The disciples were abuzz with conversation, the noise around them reaching a fever pitch.

Their gazes turned to Lin Xuan, and they were so astounded that they shook from head to toe!

Despite their reluctance to accept this reality,

the evidence was right before their eyes in the form of shattered puppet debris—they had to concede to the truth.

It was undeniable!

Lin Xuan had single-handedly obliterated every single puppet within the Puppet Tower!

And astonishingly, he had accomplished this feat in under a minute!