Chapter Twenty-Eight: Ascending to Power

In the blink of an eye, another year passed, and Yin Seventeen had now spent five years in the training camp.

At present, he could already wield his sword aura to carve statues with lifelike detail. Although he still could not match the effortless, fluid mastery of the Man in the Bronze Mask, his skill was already on par with the great sculptors of the secular world.

"This time, the prize of the Sacred Cloth Tournament is the Swordfish Cloth. This armor resonates perfectly with your cosmos. Go and claim it!" The Man in the Bronze Mask spoke coldly, his gaze fixed on the youth who was wholly absorbed in his carving.

Though Yin Seventeen had cultivated for many years and possessed a monk-like calm, he could not help but grow short of breath with excitement at this news.

He knew that, with his strength, he could have easily seized a Sacred Cloth in previous tournaments. But as luck would have it, none of the armors presented by the Pope before had suited him, so he could only watch from the sidelines as others won their Sacred Cloths and donned them with pride.

Now, at last, a Sacred Cloth matched him perfectly, and he could barely contain his elation.

"But..." The Man in the Bronze Mask's tone shifted. "Although the Swordfish Cloth suits you, with your current strength, wearing a Bronze Cloth is beneath you."

"When you obtain the Swordfish Cloth, petition the Pope for the Silver Ascension Battle!"

"A Silver Cloth is far more fitting for you!"

Hearing this, Yin Seventeen's expression changed, and he hesitated. "Wouldn't that be too abrupt, master?"

In his second year training under the Man in the Bronze Mask, the latter gradually revealed to him the internal promotion system of the Saints—a system unknown to mere trainee warriors.

As he had suspected, each Gold Cloth corresponded with two Silver Cloths and four Bronze Cloths, all possessing similar requirements for choosing their bearers.

Thus, a Saint who met the requirements for one could also qualify for the others.

For this reason, the Sanctuary had established a system for Saints to ascend in rank. Through internal challenges, the strongest could rise, thus ensuring the upper echelons retained their edge and preventing a rigid hierarchy where only those with powerful armor held sway while lacking true strength.

Much like the Sacred Cloth Tournament, all worthy candidates would battle, and the strongest would inherit the armor.

To ascend to Silver, one had to be the strongest among four Bronze candidates; otherwise, the others would not accept it. The same held true for Gold ascension.

Of course, this only applied when there was a vacancy among higher-ranking Saints. If the position was already filled, the Bronze candidate need only defeat the incumbent Silver to take their place.

However, the gap in power between Gold, Silver, and Bronze was astonishing—roughly a thousandfold at each stage.

Bronze Saints measured their speed by the speed of sound; Silver Saints by a thousand times that; Gold Saints by the speed of light.

From this, it was clear that the gap between each rank only widened, and the higher one climbed, the harder it became to improve.

If the leap from Bronze to Silver still offered a glimmer of hope, the advance from Silver to Gold was utterly despairing.

One must understand: the speed of light is more than 880,000 times the speed of sound. A Silver Saint would need to increase his speed a thousandfold, repeatedly, to reach the Gold standard.

Throughout the Sanctuary's long history, those Silver Saints who reached the speed of light were vanishingly few.

No Silver Saint had ever dared to request a Gold Ascension Battle.

While the gap between Bronze and Silver seemed less daunting than that between Silver and Gold, in reality, success was still a rare feat.

A Bronze Saint might strive to increase his power a thousandfold to challenge a Silver, but he could find his intended Silver opponent had simply improved tenfold, reaching a staggering ten thousand times the speed of sound.

Thus, even the Silver Ascension Battle was rare within the Sanctuary. Only a handful of Saints with extraordinary talent would dare attempt it.

After completing his training in sword aura control, Yin Seventeen had reached the Silver threshold of a thousandfold sonic speed. By the end of his second year of sculpting, he had already achieved a hundred thousand times the speed of sound.

This was due in part to the teachings of the Man in the Bronze Mask, the compatibility of the Sacred Sword with his cultivation, and perhaps his own innate talent.

That old Daoist had not exaggerated—perhaps Yin Seventeen truly was suited for this path.

Sensing his student's misgivings, the Man in the Bronze Mask spoke solemnly: "With your strength, your ambition should match. You have reached a hundred thousand times the speed of sound, far surpassing those feeble Bronze Saints. Do not confine your vision to their narrow world!"

"Even if you lose the Silver Ascension Battle, there is no need for regret or sorrow."

"For every failure only sharpens your sword."

Encouraged by these words, Yin Seventeen let go of his doubts and replied earnestly, "I understand, master! After I claim the Swordfish Cloth, I will immediately request the Silver Ascension Battle from the Pope!"

The Man in the Bronze Mask nodded, then added, "I hope Silver is not your final destination. Let me see the day you challenge for Gold!"

At this, Yin Seventeen could not help but pull a wry face. "Master, Gold Saints are measured by the speed of light. I am only at a hundred thousand times the speed of sound. There's still a long way to go—I don't even know if I'll reach that realm in this lifetime."

From lighting the cosmos flame, to breaking through to a thousandfold sonic speed and reaching the Silver threshold, Yin Seventeen had not found it terribly difficult.

But as he pressed onward toward Gold, the pressure became crushing.

It was simply too hard.

For a Silver Saint, every improvement was measured by a thousandfold increase in speed, and each step became exponentially more arduous.

To reach Gold, one needed to improve by over eight hundred times just to approach the speed of light.

And even that was merely to get close, not to reach it, for attaining the speed of light required enlightenment into the Seventh Sense—the Manas Consciousness.

Just as, during his days as a trainee, he could never break the sound barrier without igniting his cosmos, so too was the speed of light a realm unreachable by the Sixth Sense alone.

The Man in the Bronze Mask gazed at him and said, "With your talent, approaching the speed of light won't be difficult. But to truly reach the Gold realm, you will need a heart."

"A heart?" Yin Seventeen was baffled.

The Man in the Bronze Mask pointed at his hands. "Your sword has no heart. Though you have forged it, it is but a dead blade."

"You do not know why you sharpen it, nor for what purpose."

"When you find the heart of your sword, that will be the moment you reach the speed of light and ascend to the Golden realm."