Early in the morning on the next day.
The sky hadn’t even lit up when the entire imperial city had fallen into an expanse of clamor. Cultivators were like a tide that moved amidst the trace of night before dawn arrived as they surged towards the Grand Deduction Tower at the center.
Chen Xi, Liang Bing, and Teng Lan had set out as well. When they arrived before the Grand Deduction Tower, the ink black veil of night that enveloped the sky was torn open by the first ray of sunlight at dawn.
Dawn arrived, and light illuminated the world.
The Grand Deduction Tower that was standing silently amidst the night was instantly covered in a misty and dazzling glow, and it stood towering while being suffused with bright radiance, and it seemed as if it had awoken from countless years of slumber.
Auspicious qi fluttered about while divine radiances suffused it, and a myriad of talisman markings moved about within it. The vast scene was like a divine miracle that caused others to be unable to refrain from dreaming. Who placed the Grand Deduction Tower here? Which extraordinary figure created it?
No one knew the answer.
Even if it was an inheritor of an ancient clan like Liang Bing, she wasn’t able to provide an accurate answer.
It seemed as if this miraculous and extraordinary tower had been here since before the Talisman Dimension had been created, and it became the core of the entire Talisman Dimension and source of the Virtue Energy in this entire expanse of the heavens and earth.
Chen Xi stood in the crowd while he swept his gaze towards the surroundings. At the very first possible moment, he noticed Luo Zixuan and the others because they were too striking. No one dared to stand at or approach their surroundings, so they were like cranes standing amongst chickens.
When Chen Xi’s gaze swept over, Nan Xiuchong, Chu Xiao, Cao He, and the others seemed to have noticed it, and they turned around to look over. When they saw it was Chen Xi, they revealed killing intent and resentment that wasn’t concealed in the slightest.
Only Luo Zixuan smiled lightly while a wisp of dense disdain curled up on the corners of his mouth.
Chen Xi’s expression remained unchanged as he withdrew his gaze.
Teng Lan said warmly with a smile, “Don’t worry, they’ll absolutely not make a move before we enter the Grand Deduction Tower, and even if they want to make a move, they’ll wait until we arrive at the 8th level of the tower.”
Chen Xi asked with surprise, “Is there any particular reason for this?”
Teng Lan explained patiently.
Actually, is was very simple. The interior of the tower formed a world of its own, and it was divided into 10 levels. The mysterious cultivation technique was stored on the 10th level.
Every single level of the tower was filled with numerous restrictions and killing intent, and the higher one went, the restrictions would grow in formidableness while the killing intent would grow in magnitude.
Especially the 9th level, which was simply like a natural chasm. In the countless years of the past, there had been countless people that were stopped outside the 9th level, and there was no lack of Heavenly Immortal Realm experts with extraordinary might amongst them.
But this wasn’t difficult to the members of the four great clans. Under the a.s.sistance of the four Chaotic Divine Artifacts, they would be able to enter smoothly.
Of course, it was merely entering the 9th level, and besides the a.s.sistance from these artifacts, they had to rely on their own strength and fortune to arrive at the 10th level.
On the other hand, the reason Teng Lan said Luo Zixuan would surely choose to make a move at the 8th level of the tower was partially because of this. But the most important reason was that if he was able to obtain the Heaven Discernment Ruler, then when combined with the Dao Severance Sword he possessed and the EarthG.o.d’s Seal in Gu Liushui’s possession, it would greatly increase their hopes of entering the 10th level.
If it wasn’t for the Yin Clan having lose its World Suppression Tower, then once these four artifacts were gathered together, they would absolutely be confident in entering the 10th level because such a matter had occurred numerous times in the history of the Talisman Dimension.
Unfortunately, there was only a single treasure possessed by each of them, whereas the four great clans had enmity between them. So they weren’t willing to allow another to use the sacred treasure of their clan.
Chen Xi finally understood everything after he found out about all of this. Luo Zixuan probably wouldn’t make a move outside the Grand Deduction Tower because he’s worried if he pressures Liang Bing too much, she’ll leave with the Heaven Discernment Ruler, and that would absolutely be an outcome that wasn’t worth his efforts.
“Actually, even if one doesn’t rely on the a.s.sistance of the Heaven Discernment Ruler and the other artifacts, some people are still capable of entering the 9th level and smoothly arriving at the 10th.” A trace of an unusual expression flashed in Teng Lan’s eyes, and he said slowly, “For example, your cousin sister, A’Li, ascended the peak of the tower by herself, and she took a mysterious treasure away with her.”
Chen Xi rubbed his nose and sighed with emotion in his heart. The more I get to know this Senior Sister of mine, the more I notice that she’s too strong, strong to the point I’m basically unable to guess to exactly what extent her cultivation has arrived at.
After that, he suddenly realized a problem and asked. “Could it be that there are numerous treasures in the higher level of the tower?”
Teng Lan smiled as he shook his head. “The Grand Deduction Tower will only open its doors every 3,000 years. Every single time it opens, a type of treasure would appear within it, and no one is able to explain the reason behind this. Unless…”
“Unless what?” asked Chen Xi.
“Unless someone is able to take control of this tower one day. Perhaps that person will be able to unravel its profundities.” Teng Lan spoke indifferently before he laughed with self-ridicule, and he seemed to feel that he was talking nonsense.
Since the ancient times until now, the Grand Deduction Tower had stood towering here for countless years while innumerable experts had ascended it, yet not a single person was capable of taking control of it to this day!
Om!
Right at this moment, a clear ring that was like the ring of the morning bell suddenly resounded out in the world, and it roused the deaf and shook the hearts of all.
“It’s going to open up!”
“Quickly! Prepare yourselves! Charge in with all your might as soon as it opens!”
“Remember to be careful after entering. Even though the fortunes it contains are great, the dangers are absolutely not small.”
The crowd started to become restless and clamorous.
Chen Xi raised his eyes and saw that the surroundings of the towering and ancient bronze tower was suffused with circles of strange ripples, and they stretched out to the surroundings.
At the same time, a myriad of rainbow bridges flew out from the tower and descended to the ground. They were like numerous arch bridges, and at the end of the bridges was shockingly numerous doors that were coiled with radiant glows.
Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+
Practically at the instant those rainbow bridges appeared, the cultivators present that were unable to restrain themselves any longer since a long time ago had transformed into black shadows that charged into the tower. For a time, the entire scene was in chaos. Some cultivators squeezed together on a single rainbow bridge, and they started fighting before they even entered the tower, causing shouting and cursing to resound out without end.
“Hahaha! Liang Bing, you probably understand the importance of the 10th level. Since you’re unwilling to submit yourself to me, then we’ll see each other on the 10th level!” Luo Zixuan suddenly flew up in midair, and his long hair fluttered while his gaze that was like a cold bolt of lightning locked onto Liang Bing. He roared with laughter and spoke these words before turning around and charging into the tower.
They had great strength in numbers, and there were numerous Mysterious Immortal Realm experts amongst them. Everywhere they pa.s.sed, the surrounding crowd retreated with horror, causing them to seem extremely arrogant and overbearing.
“Let’s go in as well.” Liang Bing’s expression was calm as she instructed, and then she chose a rainbow bridge and charged into the tower with Chen Xi and Teng Lan.
Of course, there was similarly no one that dared obstruct her.
It was even to the extent that because of the appearance of Luo Zixuan’s group and Liang Bing’s group, it caused no one to choose the doors that those two rainbow bridges led to.
The reason was very simple. Those were the forces of the four great clans, so not to mention getting some sc.r.a.ps, they might not even be able to see a trace of anything if they followed behind these groups! Everyone present wasn’t an idiot, so they naturally wouldn’t follow behind these two groups.
…
As soon as they entered the tower, Chen Xi felt a thick fluctuation of restrictions a.s.sault his face, causing even his figure to become slightly heavier as if he was immersed in water.
His feet descended to the ground as he raised his eyes to scan his surroundings, and he gazed at the 1st level of the tower.
To his surprise, there was only a limestone stairway before him, and it went up step by step to the next level. When he counted it carefully, it just happened to have 99 steps.
Higher above these steps was a door that was coiled with a bright glow.
Moreover, there wasn’t just this one stairway in the 1st level of the tower, and there were others all over. A quick count allowed him to discover that there was a total of 99 of these stone stairways as well.
If one looked down from high above, one would notice that there were 99 doors at the top, and there was a stone stairway that descended from every single door. Moreover, these stairways had 99 steps as well.
The s.p.a.ce between stairways was filled with spatial rifts that flickered in the sky and were extremely shocking. When facing such spatial rifts, not to mention cultivators, even Heavenly Immortals wouldn’t dare go past them.
After all, the dangers of spatial rifts was practically common knowledge. Once one fell into a spatial rift, one would be instantly minced into powder by the spatial tempest within them, and there was absolutely no chance of survival.
These spatial rifts were like natural barriers that caused cultivators that were on the stone stairways to be unable to move to another stairway. In other words, once one chose a stairway, one was bound to only be able to move forward and be unable to move to another stairway.
At this moment, there were numerous cultivators charging up swiftly on the other stone stairway. These stone stairways had at least over 10 people and even had up to a few tens of people, causing it to be extremely crowded.
Like before, Chen Xi had noticed Luo Zixuan’s group as well, and they’d arrived at the end of a stone stairway before entering the door and vanis.h.i.+ng.
“AH!!!” Right at this moment, a shrill cry echoed out.
Chen Xi glanced over and saw a cultivator at the Nether Transformation Realm rolling down while coughing up blood, and he seemed to have suffered a heavy injury.
“Hmph! You overestimated your ability! Every single step of these stairways is filled with restrictions. If you don’t have the strength, then don’t rush up impatiently.” Someone grunted coldly with disdain.
“So he was injured by the restrictions on the stairway…” Chen Xi instantly came to an understanding. He swept his gaze over and really noticed that the footsteps of Earthly Immortal Realm experts were obviously calmer, and they moved up step by step in a relaxed and carefree manner.
On the other hand, those experts at the Nether Transformation Realm seemed to be extremely cautious, and they were pondering deeply with every step they took.
“The restrictions on the stairway are condensed into form by the energy of talisman markings from the Grand Deduction Tower. The higher one goes, the great their might will be. So it’s much easier for Talisman Formation Masters to get to a higher level here.” Teng Lan explained with a warm voice from the side. “You’ve witnessed the strength of the Talisman Towers in the Golden Mulberry Village and Crimson Swallow City, so you ought to understand how formidable the might of their talisman markings is. Moreover, the strength of all the Talisman Towers in the Talisman Dimension actually comes from the Grand Deduction Tower.”
Chen Xi nodded. But, even though he understood, he still couldn’t help but be slightly shocked in his heart.
The entire Talisman Dimension was extremely vast and there were countless villages and cities scattered all around it. But the energy of the Talisman Towers in all these places had actually come from the Grand Deduction Tower. The vastness and variety of talisman markings in this Grand Deduction Tower was obvious from this.
“Since the restrictions within the tower are so formidable and the highest level only contains a single cultivation technique, why do the others still swarm in when they’re clearly aware that their strengths are insufficient?” Chen Xi couldn’t refrain from asking.
“Very simple, for the sake of earning Virtue Energy.” This time, it was Liang Bing that answered him. Her gaze was like water as she said coldly, “But most importantly, in the Grand Deduction Tower, they can use Virtue Energy to exchange for things they always wanted even in their dreams!”