Chapter 310: Sneak Attack

Chapter 310 -308: Sneak Attack

At the foot of Yanfu Mountain, the crowd watched as the disciples from the various families entered the Heaven-Reaching Tower. Once the Celestial Ladder was retracted, the older generation of Martial Artists from the Major Sects outside began to either chat idly or sit down to meditate and cultivate.

The duration of the Heaven-Reaching Tower trial was actually different each time.

Moreover, the passage of time inside was different from the outside world. One day on the outside was equivalent to ten days inside.

Calculated by outside world time, the trials had historically lasted anywhere from a few days to over a month.

In other words, some of the Martial Artists in this batch might even have to stay inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower for up to a year.

However, such a long duration wasn’t without its benefits, as some of the secret realms within the Heaven-Reaching Tower were sacred grounds for cultivation.

There were even cases of people accumulating enough power inside to immediately condense a Primordial Pill upon their return.

Meanwhile, at the summit of Yanfu Mountain, Chen Yuan stepped onto the peak to find a magnificent tower of White Jade before him, its surface inscribed with mystical runes and murals.

The Heaven-Reaching Tower was immeasurably majestic. Its peak disappeared into the heavens, and its width spanned nearly the entire mountaintop.

A portal shimmering with brilliant divine radiance stood directly ahead. Without hesitation, Chen Yuan stepped through it.

The next moment, a golden light enveloped Chen Yuan. When he opened his eyes again, a fantastical and mysterious scene unfolded before him.

Chen Yuan felt as if he were floating in the cosmic void. But this was no dark universe; it was a space saturated with a golden divine radiance.

Although no sun was visible, a massive light source high above showered the space in divine radiance.

Enormous land fragments, defying gravity, floated in mid-air, scattered throughout the space in an overlapping, intersecting arrangement.

Some of these land fragments were massive, large enough that he could vaguely make out jungles, lakes, and even small mountains upon them.

Smaller fragments were covered with palaces and pavilions, clearly the ruins of a Sect and Family, though many were now completely dilapidated.

The even smaller pieces could no longer be called land fragments, but were simply floating boulders.

Countless such boulders floated between the larger land fragments, forming pathways for travel between them.

The entire place looked like a three-dimensional, floating scroll painting that had been violently torn to shreds and scattered into the void.

Chen Yuan found himself on a floating boulder only a few dozen feet across. Below him was a pitch-black void, a land of nothingness where no one knew what lurked.

The intelligence Liu Suifeng had provided Chen Yuan contained only one warning about the bottom of the Heaven-Reaching Tower: whatever you do, do not fall.

Throughout history, anyone who had fallen to the bottom of the Heaven-Reaching Tower had never been seen again.

‘Some bad luck. I got randomly teleported to the very bottom.’

Chen Yuan shook his head. He looked up toward a land fragment that seemed to hold sect ruins and began his ascent, leaping from one floating boulder to the next.

After entering the Heaven-Reaching Tower, everyone would be randomly teleported to a different location.

Because the Heaven-Reaching Tower was a small world unto itself with an immense interior, the probability of any two Martial Artists being teleported to the same spot was extremely low.

Generally, everyone appeared on the lowest level of the Heaven-Reaching Tower upon entry. The higher one climbed, the more complete the ruins and treasures left by the Ancient Sects and Families. The space also grew smaller with altitude, whereas the bottom level was, conversely, vast and boundless.

However, even within the lowest level, some lucky individuals would appear directly on a fragment holding sect ruins.

Chen Yuan was one of the unluckier ones. He had been teleported to the absolute bottom of the lowest level. Any further down, and there was nothing but the boundless, empty darkness.

He continued leaping upward. The nearest land fragment was of a moderate size, several hundred yards in diameter, and it was covered in broken walls and ruins. Barely any intact structures remained.

Yet even from these remnants, Chen Yuan could roughly imagine what the sect ruins looked like in their prime and how many Martial Artists had once cultivated here.

The origin of the Heaven-Reaching Tower was, in fact, somewhat mysterious.

The commonly accepted theory was that during the Ancient Era, an age when the Divine Demons had vanished, countless Sect Clans and the most powerful experts of that time joined forces to build the Heaven-Reaching Tower. They brought their Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers with them, and some even moved their entire Sects into the tower.

The Heaven-Reaching Tower itself was a supreme Divine Artifact Demon Soldier, an ultimate creation forged from the combined might of the entire Human Race. It was believed to be capable of piercing the heavens and earth to ascend to the Divine Realm.

In the end, however, for reasons unknown, the Heaven-Reaching Tower failed to reach the Divine Realm. Instead, a catastrophe occurred, causing its internal space to fracture and leading to the annihilation of countless Sect Clans within.

Of course, even this account wasn’t entirely accurate. In the current Jianghu, only three parties were likely to know the tower’s true secrets.

One, naturally, was the Tower Guardian Elder. But he only appeared when the Heaven-Reaching Tower opened, and outsiders could scarcely hope to get a single word out of him.

The other two parties were the Northern Unrivaled City and the West Pole Divine Light City.

The history of these two powers could be traced back to the time the Human Race Alliance built the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

However, these two powers served the gods. To them, attempting to ascend to the Divine Realm through human effort was an act of blasphemy, so they had not participated in the tower’s construction.

But they almost certainly knew some of its secrets.

Unrivaled City and Divine Light City rarely set foot in the Central Plains. Yet, whenever the Heaven-Reaching Tower opened, both powers would invariably send people to explore, as if searching for something specific within.

They were even less interested in the Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers than in whatever it was they were looking for.

Chen Yuan rummaged through the ruins for a while, but found nothing of use. He then picked a direction and continued his search.

Although the ruins in the Heaven-Reaching Tower contained many treasures, after so many years, much of the lowest level had already been picked clean. It was normal not to have a significant find.

After climbing and leaping upward for an hour, Chen Yuan finally discovered a massive land fragment. The sect ruins upon it were surprisingly intact, with several great halls that showed little external damage.

The buildings on this fragment were pitch-black, their murals and carvings decorated with demonic patterns and ghost-face motifs. It must have been left behind by a Sect from the Demon Dao or a similar evil faction.

Just as Chen Yuan was about to enter the central great hall to explore, a Martial Artist emerged from the nearby ruins.

The man was in his early forties, dressed in black, with a simple and honest-looking face. He held no Weapon.

The man was stunned for a moment upon seeing Chen Yuan. He then quickly forced an ingratiating smile, cupped his hands, and said, “Greetings, Master Chen. Since you’ve taken an interest in these ruins as well, I’ll leave them to you. I’ll be on my way.”

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. “That accommodating?”

The Martial Artist gave a bitter smile. “Not being accommodating would be simply asking for death. I saw you fight five prodigies from the Hidden Dragon Rankings all by yourself out there. Your divine might is overwhelming. How would I dare compete with you? A man has to know his limits.”

“Besides, this Heaven-Reaching Tower is vast, and there’s plenty of time. I’d be better off looking for opportunities elsewhere.”

With that, the Martial Artist immediately turned to leave.

A faint smile played on Chen Yuan’s lips as he turned to walk toward the great hall.

But at that very moment, the Martial Artist who had just been acting so honest and accommodating suddenly erupted with violence. A sinister and incomparably evil Ghost Qi flared from his body.

His simple, honest face twisted into a ferocious mask. He spun around abruptly, and with a flick of his left hand, unleashed a torrent of Bone Needles that blotted out the sky as they shot toward Chen Yuan.

With his right hand, he released dozens of Ghost-faced Poison Spiders that surged toward Chen Yuan, intent on tearing him apart.

In the same instant he unleashed the Bone Needles and Ghost-faced Poison Spiders, he rapidly formed a Seal Technique. A black light from a sinister Array flared, and countless ghastly faces surged toward Chen Yuan.

It all happened in a flash. The Martial Artist had unleashed three different attacks in succession with incredible speed.

“So what if you’re a prodigy on the Hidden Dragon Rankings? A genius from Zhenwu Hall? I, Ma Gushan, live to kill arrogant whelps like you!”

A ferocious grin appeared on Ma Gushan’s lips.

He had, of course, witnessed Chen Yuan’s might when he fought the five prodigies from the Hidden Dragon Rankings. He wouldn’t have dared to attack head-on, not even with a hundred times his courage.

But an ambush was a different story.

He had forged those Nine Nether Bone-Eroding Needles by robbing graves throughout the Jianghu, refining them from skeletons unearthed from yin-aligned lands at yin-aligned times. They specialized in breaking through physical defenses.

Even if a Vajra Martial Monk from the Vajra Prajna Temple were here, the Nine Nether Bone-Eroding Needles could pierce their Protective Buddha Light and corrode their very bones and flesh.

He had obtained the Ghost-faced Poison Spiders from a Miaojiang Witch at an exorbitant cost. They had to be fed countless living humans just to develop their distinctive faces. If their venom touched a person, even a Martial Artist at the Primordial Pill Realm would have their True Qi, blood, and flesh corroded.

Finally, the Array was an Ancient Array Plate he had acquired, the Hundred Ghosts Yin Killing Array. Once activated, it could suppress a person’s True Qi and Qi Blood. If its Yin Ghost Qi entered the body, not even the gods could save them!

‘With this triple threat combined, it doesn’t matter what kind of genius or prodigy he is. He’ll just become another pile of bones in a grave!’

‘The valuable things in the Heaven-Reaching Tower aren’t just these ancient sect ruins—it’s the people, too!’

‘This Chen Jiutian is carrying a Divine Artifact Fragment, not to mention the Top Grade Celestial Soldier, the Demon-Drinking Saber.’

‘If I kill him now, all those things will be mine!’

But just then, without even turning his head, Chen Yuan’s body erupted with a blinding golden Buddha Light.

As the Six Paths of Vajra Mantra of Master Padmasambhava was invoked, a Brahma Sound roared like thunder. Golden ripples spread through the void, instantly shattering the Hundred Ghosts Yin Killing Array!

The next moment, a scorching Li Yan Blood Fiend erupted from Chen Yuan’s body, while the Starfire in his Dantian seethed and blazed.

The two forces merged, and boundless blood flames surged forth. All the Ghost-faced Poison Spiders were incinerated to ash in the searing blaze, leaving behind a foul, burnt stench.

At the same time, the Blood Sea Listening Tide appeared in Chen Yuan’s hand. He spun and slashed down, his scorching Killing Saber Intent surging forth to pulverize the Nine Nether Bone-Eroding Needles into a shower of bone dust.

Before Ma Gushan could even react, a Karma Fire Red Lotus bloomed from the saber’s edge. It effortlessly tore through his Protective True Qi and, before his horrified eyes, sliced him in two!