"Heroic Spirits" Within the Pagoda

Xie Yuan reached the fourth floor of the Floating Pagoda and found that the stairway exit no longer led into a room.

The moment he stepped up, he was already outside. Xie Yuan swept his gaze around, taking in the entire fourth floor.

This place was at least half the size of the first floor and much lower in height.

The layout was not much different, except the ring of small stone houses against the walls had all been replaced with large courtyards.

"Looks like Grandmasters received much better treatment."

Xie Yuan thought silently.

He guessed that the Floating Pagoda was in fact something like a secret ground of an ancient sect. From the ordinary people on the first floor upward, each level housed disciples of different strengths.

And every floor contained all the supplies needed for cultivation and daily life at the corresponding level, fully stocked and meticulously prepared.

Considering the size of the Floating Pagoda and the sheer quantity of supplies within it, this place was like an independent world. It could sustain itself for who knew how many years without any contact with the outside world.

At that thought, Xie Yuan could not help pondering again:

"The rooms I saw were all fully stocked, with nothing having been used. In a normal sect, even if they had a habit of replenishing supplies, there wouldn't be no signs of consumption at all. It seems this place was either never activated, or it was meant as a reserve?"

He nodded slightly and looked toward the center of the fourth floor.

Though the fourth floor was much smaller, it was far more open than the floors below.

Apart from the surrounding courtyards and several buildings between them that were probably functional structures such as a Scripture Pavilion, there was only a great plaza in the center.

At the heart of the plaza stood a single temple. In its middle was an enormous open-air Arhat statue, one hand resting on a Coiling Dragon, one foot trampling a tiger. Solemn and sacred, it towered between heaven and earth, its head nearly reaching the fifth floor.

Before this Arhat statue, Xie Yuan felt incomparably small.

He stared at the sacred Arhat statue for a moment. Suddenly, his heart throbbed with unease. He did not dare look any longer and hurriedly shifted his gaze away.

It was not merely the statue's solemn sanctity and enormous size that made him afraid to profane it. What made his heart pound even harder was that, while staring at it, he had sensed the statue's state...

It was the same as Lin Zhen and the others, and the horse bandits.

This Arhat statue also seemed to exist in a state neither alive nor dead!

How was that possible...

Xie Yuan could not make sense of it. He secretly examined it a few more times, but the discomfort only grew stronger, as though if he looked a few more times, the Arhat statue would truly come alive.

He no longer dared glance around carelessly. Lowering his eyes, he quickly made a circuit of the surrounding buildings and courtyards.

Other than the living quarters being vastly better than before, the Scripture Pavilion being filled with blank books edged in gold, the apothecary containing precious materials any single stalk of which could stir Grandmasters into a frenzy outside, and the armory being packed with mysterious weapons, Dharma staves, and demon-subduing vajras, it was nothing special.

Xie Yuan's heart surged as he looked, and he only hated that he could not take any of it away.

He followed the stairs in the Scripture Pavilion upward and arrived at the fifth floor.

The fifth floor was similar to the fourth, except the surrounding courtyards were larger and more exquisite, while the statue in the center was different.

The enormous statue in the center of the fifth floor was a white-robed Bodhisattva. Her treasure-like visage was solemn and compassionate, and she held a mist-wreathed precious pearl as her gaze overlooked the floor below.

Xie Yuan looked only a few times before withdrawing his gaze and walking away with his eyes lowered.

This statue was the same as the Arhat statue below.

After making another round through the fifth floor, he likewise found the way up in the Scripture Pavilion and reached the sixth floor of the Floating Pagoda.

Compared to the first floor, the sixth floor was already much smaller, and there were only around ten courtyards around its perimeter.

Xie Yuan counted them. There were exactly eighteen large courtyards.

Although the sixth floor was considerably smaller, that was only relative. Its total area was still immense.

Yet in such a vast space, there were only eighteen courtyards around the perimeter. The land occupied by each courtyard was already extremely substantial.

"If the fourth floor housed Grandmasters, then could the fifth floor be Great Grandmasters? What realm would this floor be?"

Xie Yuan was somewhat puzzled.

"And there's even a seventh floor..."

Great Grandmasters already possessed divine powers beyond ordinary imagination. Was there another realm above them?

"Or perhaps, as Miss Mu said, every realm above Grandmaster is a whole new sky. The fourth and fifth floors may both be for Grandmasters, while the sixth and seventh are for Great Grandmasters."

Xie Yuan nodded. That was possible as well.

He visited the eighteen courtyards one by one. Unlike the ones below, each had its own distinctive features—ornamental rocks, ponds, gardens, Buddhist shrines. Though the overall style remained plain, their size and furnishings alone displayed the magnificent bearing of great households.

There was no common armory here. Every courtyard had its own dedicated display chamber. Brocade Kasayas and Nine Ring Tin Staffs seemed to be standard equipment for each one. Besides those, there were Dragon Subduing Staffs, vajras, and all sorts of weapons Xie Yuan could no longer recognize. They seemed to surpass the category of mysterious weapons and might already be called divine weapons.

Once he finished making the round, Xie Yuan felt his horizons had been broadened. Then he silently drew a breath.

For some reason, he had subconsciously avoided raising his head to look at the statue in the center even once. He could only vaguely see a pair of gleaming golden feet planted ahead of him, yet every time, he shifted his gaze away.

"I should be able to look now..."

His heart stirred uneasily as Xie Yuan slowly raised his head and looked toward the Golden Four-Faced Buddha statue that reached all the way to the ceiling.

Seeing the radiant golden Buddha statue, he was dazed for a moment, feeling as though it had opened its eyes.

But when he focused, its eyes were lowered, with nothing amiss.

After just one glance, Xie Yuan inexplicably felt his state of mind become ethereal as well, as though every mundane thought and worldly desire were falling away like petals.

Martial cultivation, the scenery at the heights, settling grudges to his heart's content, beautiful women at his side—all of it seemed not worth mentioning.

Xie Yuan's expression grew muddled. Without realizing it, he slowly raised his hands and pressed them together.

Yet just as his palms were about to meet, his arms suddenly burned and his mind cleared. He jolted awake.

"What am I doing?"

He hurriedly flung his hands apart, cold sweat breaking out across his back.

It felt... as though he had been only a thread away from completely converting to Buddhism. Once his palms came together, the next step would have been to shave away his troublesome locks.

How could that be allowed...

Xie Yuan felt that the Buddha statue's Buddhist Resonance was unimaginably powerful. It could infect even someone like him, who possessed no Buddhist heart whatsoever, in an instant. He instinctively lowered his head and stared only at the ground before his feet, never daring raise it again.

"The sixth floor is already like this. What could be on the seventh?"

Yet he no longer dared investigate. If the seventh floor contained a statue with even stronger Buddhist Resonance, then the instant he went up, he might no longer be himself.

Once his mind settled somewhat, Xie Yuan turned directly around and headed for the stairs down.

Behind him, however, the colossal Four-Faced Buddha statue slightly lifted its gaze toward his side. Golden light flickered in its eyes as it watched his retreating back.

Xie Yuan went straight down three floors by the stairs, not daring look at any of the enormous statues again along the way.

Time and space within this Floating Pagoda had clearly stagnated, yet the upper floors were still so strange. The three colossal statues in particular were both sacred and dangerous, making one wish only to keep far away.

"As expected of Ancient Ruins. I've already taken every shortcut I can, yet it's still this dangerous."

Xie Yuan descended to the great plaza on the first floor. Feeling that the danger here was much less, he let out a breath.

Looking at the horse bandits growing from the pillars, he fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"Better horse bandits growing than Buddha statues."

This time, he truly had the two Eight Trigrams Lotus petals to thank...

Xie Yuan looked at the two lotus petals on his arm, his gaze softening.

The two lotus petals could not help him gain insights and appeared to offer no practical benefit. When he parted from Mu Chaoyun, he had once suggested returning them to her so they could be complete again, naturally making them far more useful to her.

But Mu Chaoyun had only shaken her head and said that no matter what, the thing was a treasure, and keeping it on him might prove useful.

At worst, if the two of them were separated someday, they could rely on the unseen connection between the petals and the lotus body to meet again eventually.

Perhaps that latter reason had been Mu Chaoyun's true intention.

Xie Yuan naturally could not refuse such a romantic reason, so he had kept the two Eight Trigrams Lotus petals all this time. He had not expected them to repeatedly prove so useful afterward.

He wondered where she was now...

Xie Yuan exhaled, lowered his sleeve, and slowly paced between the pillars beside the plaza.

He looked at the various murals and relief carvings above. Their exquisite craftsmanship went without saying, and their contents seemed to include many Buddhist allusions, rich with Zen meaning. Unfortunately, he knew little about Buddhism and could not decipher much of it.

As he watched, a sharp gleam flashed in Xie Yuan's eyes.

"These murals and pillars don't seem so simple."

He vaguely sensed that they formed an array. If it were activated, leaving would not be easy.

Xie Yuan had examined the pillars on this side and had a rough understanding. Just as he was about to cross the great plaza to inspect the other side, he suddenly froze.

A stone slab had appeared in the middle of the great plaza.

A stone slab that had not been there when he first arrived.

Xie Yuan's back immediately tightened, and he swiftly looked around.

Silence. Stagnation. Emptiness. There was nothing.

Xie Yuan frowned. After pondering briefly, he slowly approached the stone slab, which stood slightly taller than he did, and looked up.

It was densely covered in ancient Sanskrit, an extremely long passage that seemed to be a scripture.

Yet Xie Yuan did not understand ancient Sanskrit—he did not even understand ordinary Sanskrit. The only reason he knew this was ancient Sanskrit was because the Yunshan Sword Sect's outer sect offered many literacy classes, where they had displayed books showing the forms of Sanskrit writing and touched upon some Buddhist scriptures.

He stared at it for a while, utterly baffled.

Since he could not understand it anyway, he was about to leave when he suddenly felt the Sanskrit characters on the slab flicker. Then, as though they had abruptly entered his mind, he inexplicably understood a small portion of their meaning:

"...Thus, when I return in departure, there shall be three omens. First, yellow sands shall roll back, my kingdom shall see daylight again and bathe once more in sunlight. Second, the Floating Pagoda shall reappear, and light and shadow shall shine upon the city. Third, the earth shall quake and mountains shall shake, the Buddhist kingdom of ten thousand li shall become real, and I shall—"

The information stopped there abruptly, leaving Xie Yuan rather bewildered.

That passage sounded like translationese, a blend of East and West, half classical and half vernacular, with a hint of garbled text mixed in. Xie Yuan could not make it out clearly, nor did he know why he had understood it.

Still, he understood the three omens and fell into thought.

"The first one seems to be when Lu Lao San said he entered the ruins, right? The second is this time, but there was also an earthquake this time... Uh, it can't have something to do with me throwing thunder, can it?"

Xie Yuan could not quite tell...

Forget it. No one was blaming him anyway.

As for "return in departure" and the "Buddhist kingdom of ten thousand li," Xie Yuan did not understand them well. But his intuition told him they were nothing good, and he could not help frowning.

He watched a while longer. Seeing no further gains, he committed the matter to memory and continued exploring elsewhere.

After realizing that the stone pillars and murals formed an array, he guessed that the stone houses were not ordinary either. Sure enough, he spotted mechanisms at the doors, roofs, and other places in many of the houses, poised but untriggered. They had simply been paused, remaining forever frozen.

"Feels like I'm not even a closed-beta player anymore. I'm a GM..."

Xie Yuan looked at the mechanisms that were sometimes revealed in every detail when the walls became half-real and half-illusory, muttering silently to himself.

After making a circuit, Xie Yuan returned to the room of Lin Zhen and the other four. After thinking for a moment, he simply moved them to the second floor.

The first floor was like the level for ordinary people. There was nothing good here, so he might as well give them a better starting point.

After placing the four of them in an apothecary on the second floor—the very room piled full of Blood Dragon Pills—Xie Yuan made another round through this level and found that another stone platform had appeared in the center of the hall.

Amid the heavy encirclement of the second floor's Practice Dummies, a bottle of pills sat on the stone platform. Xie Yuan casually picked it up and saw that it was filled to the brim with Clear Spirit Pills. His gaze immediately sharpened.

Clear Spirit Pills were sacred Inner Strength medicines during the external cultivation stage. They could cleanse Inner Breath, open up the meridians, and improve one's natural aptitude. They were like Blood Dragon Pills for Inner Breath, yet because Inner Strength was difficult to obtain and the pills could alter one's aptitude, they were even rarer than Blood Dragon Pills. Yet there was an entire bottle here.

Xie Yuan clicked his tongue. Even if he had little use for this bottle, he could sell it for an astronomical price—

Wait, it seemed he could use it.

He now cultivated two Inner Strength arts, and the Sword Qi Art had not yet reached a particularly high level. This would be just right to assist it!

Moreover, if he used the Nourishing Body Skill in the future to convert into the Sword Qi Art or other Inner Strength arts, and the Nourishing Body Skill's level dropped as a result, he could use these pills to replenish it as well!

Not to mention, with such precious medicine, even if nothing else, eating it like candy would still mean beneficial candy.

Xie Yuan drew in a breath and tried putting it in his pocket. Yet once he walked beyond the range, the bottle turned into a phantom, while the pills reappeared upon the stone platform.

Just as expected... Xie Yuan shook his head, somewhat regretful.

He left the pill bottle alone for now, then examined the Practice Dummies beside it. After pondering for a moment, his eyes narrowed.

These things might not be as simple as wooden dummies and stakes.

After watching for a while, Xie Yuan left this place and went up another three floors to look.

As expected, a stone platform had indeed appeared in the center of the third floor as well.

Xie Yuan was already numb, having no idea what kind of anomaly the Floating Pagoda truly was.

This place was far too strange for him to explain, so he stopped trying. He merely walked over to inspect the stone platform carefully and saw that it seemed meant to hold two items, as there were two indentations.

One was already empty. Xie Yuan could not help suspecting that Lu Lao San had taken away the treasure that allowed him to become a Grandmaster. Though it was a pity, he was also somewhat excited.

If it had not been empty, he might still have doubted it. But since it was empty, that proved everything was not an illusion. They were real treasures that could be taken away and would function outside.

Then this time, he was going to reap a rich harvest!

Xie Yuan looked toward the other side. There lay a short golden rod, looking similar to the patrol staff used by monks, except its material was somewhat strange, seemingly comparable even to a mysterious weapon.

Curious, he picked it up to inspect it. He wanted to know what was so extraordinary about this weapon that it had been placed at the center of the Qi and Blood Transformation level.

The instant Xie Yuan took it in hand, he saw the weapon transform by itself, becoming a Logging Axe!

Xie Yuan's hand trembled, and he nearly threw it away.

But as he stared at the newly transformed Logging Axe, he froze for a moment. Then he suddenly recognized it—it was not the old axe he handled best?

Xie Yuan inhaled sharply.

With a thought, he stared at the axe and imagined for a moment. The axe immediately softened and stretched like liquid, transforming once more in an instant into the exact likeness of the Treasure Blade Staff Lin had gifted him!

"This... the Ruyi Jingu Bang?"

Xie Yuan's pupils contracted as he watched it turn into a longsword at his will. The process took no more than a breath. It changed almost as soon as he thought of it, without the slightest delay.

This thing was truly fated with me!

Xie Yuan's eyes gleamed. This absolutely counted as a mysterious weapon—at the very least, it was far more miraculous than the Golden Light Whip he had seen—yet it could be used by someone in the Transformation Realm.

It could freely alter its appearance. Though it had no other special effects, for a martial artist like him who knew multiple techniques and wielded multiple weapons, it was practically a life-bound mysterious weapon!

Its weight was suitable, and its material was superb. It did not lose to Staff Lin's Treasure Blade, yet it could transform at will and was convenient to carry...

It was destined to be fated with me!

Xie Yuan could not put down this treasure, but unfortunately, he still could not take it away.

"I wonder when these ruins will open. I might as well guard this place and take it directly once they do."

The moment that thought surfaced, Xie Yuan instinctively turned his head and looked at the densely packed Practice Dummies around him.

These dummies grew sharper and more formidable from the outside inward. His intuition told him that those near the stone platform were likely at the Qi Blood Third Transformation Realm...

He silently withdrew from the formation of dummies.

"Perhaps I can employ the scheme of the mantis stalking the cicada, while the oriole waits behind."

Xie Yuan's eyes flickered as he nodded inwardly.

After thoroughly examining the first, second, and third floors back and forth several times, he had memorized the terrain map perfectly. He could not say he saw everything here as clearly as fire, only that he knew it like the back of his hand.

Once the ruins truly opened, he planned to remain active on these three floors. He definitely would not go above the fourth floor again.

They already seemed dangerous now. Once the ruins opened, he feared the statues would come alive. Anyone below Grandmaster would probably be swatted away one at a time.

Xie Yuan silently returned to the first floor, found an inconspicuous stone house, and quietly adjusted his breathing within.

"I wonder how much time has passed. Perhaps time has no meaning here either."

Xie Yuan pondered to himself.

This spot had the fewest stone pillars blocking his view. He decided to wait here for the ruins to open. If anyone came in, he would be able to observe them through the window at the first opportunity.

When he entered, Lu Pei had already begun fighting Black Wind Old Man and Lu Lao San. With three Grandmasters present, he reckoned this matter could not possibly remain concealed. Lu Lao San's plan to swallow the ruins whole had thoroughly gone down the drain.

He simply did not know how many people would enter when the time came, or what level of martial artists they would be. It would be best to get a clear grasp of the situation here.

Xie Yuan sat quietly in meditation, regulating his breath and adjusting his condition as he waited for the ruins to open and spacetime to return to reality.

"Cultivation really is useful."

Feeling his cultivation grow, Xie Yuan nodded faintly.

However, he sensed that the ruins would not take long to open, so he only regulated his breath lightly and did not dare enter a state of deep cultivation.

Who knew how much time passed.

Perhaps a day or two; perhaps more than ten days. In this place, even Xie Yuan's sense of time had grown somewhat unreliable.

The Floating Pagoda suddenly trembled. The stagnant atmosphere in the air gradually faded with the vibrations, and the heavy air seemed to be coming alive.

Xie Yuan opened his eyes and watched the continuously shaking tower walls, a glint flashing through his gaze.

It had begun.

With a thought, his figure blurred and gradually became impossible to see clearly.

In the first-floor hall of the Floating Pagoda, numerous flashes of light suddenly appeared and vanished. After the light faded, figures emerged one after another.

The young powerhouses of Great Li and the Western Regions gradually revealed themselves. They had entered the Floating Pagoda ruins.

Yet unlike the clear divide between them when they entered, their positions in the hall had been assigned at random, a complete mess.

Some landed directly in the open areas near the stone rooms, with no one around them. Others found themselves nearly shoulder to shoulder with enemies, staring at each other in dismay.

After a brief standstill, shouts of battle abruptly erupted throughout the hall.

The Central Plains and the Western Regions had never been on friendly terms. Now that they had gathered together in these ruins, it was naturally a clash of dragons and tigers.

The powerhouses who had landed near one another immediately exchanged blows. Some failed to react in time and were injured on the spot, letting out miserable groans.

However, most who had entered the ruins were outstanding talents of their generation, with strength largely at the Second Transformation Realm of blood and qi. Their reactions were swift. Even if injured, they did not immediately lose the ability to fight, instead circling and contending with their opponents.

Only one Great Li talent had been extremely unlucky, landing right beside Black Vajra Roto, Ming Wang's disciple. Before he could react, his head was smashed apart by a single punch, becoming the first casualty to enter the ruins.

"Central Plains people truly are weak."

Roto withdrew his fist, shook off the blood and brain matter on his hand, and looked utterly disdainful.

He watched a pair of opponents nearby locked in an inseparable struggle, then grinned, revealing gleaming white teeth, and strode over.

Suddenly, a drifting longsword stabbed out from the side. It seemed hidden within cloud and mist, impossible to see clearly.

Roto was no mediocre fighter. He instantly halted and narrowly evaded the sharp sword, then flicked a finger to knock the blade aside and looked over.

Qin Zhenyang withdrew his sword, his expression grave.

"Luo Tuo, I am your opponent."

A savage grin appeared on Roto's dark, ugly face.

"Sending you on your way first is no different!"

Black light spread across his fist. Carrying a heavy, roaring gale, it smashed ferociously toward Qin Zhenyang!

Qin Zhenyang turned his longsword and directly unleashed the Thousand Mountains Mist Concealing Sword. Its sword intent was like mountain ranges, its sword paths like clouds concealing themselves, steadily receiving Roto's attack.

The leading talents of both sides began fighting, while the other martial artists also descended into a clanging melee. Yet some powerhouses took advantage of the chaos to quietly slip aside and inspect the mysterious little stone rooms around them.

"Ah—"

"Fuck, what is this???"

"Ah... save me..."

Miserable screams and startled cries continuously rang out across the first-floor hall. Those fighting fiercely paid them no mind at first.

Yet the screams and cries were too piercing. They did not sound like they came from the combatants, and as they rose and fell through the vast empty space, they even produced echoes. Many people were gradually distracted and slowly stopped fighting.

More and more people went to investigate the source of the screams, then cried out in alarm.

"People! Where did these people come from?!"

"They seem to be the bandits under Lu Lao San..."

"Fuck, why have they grown into the stones?"

Qin Zhenyang was engaged in a fierce clash with Roto. Though Qin Zhenyang's swordsmanship was superb, Roto's ferocious strength and undefeated body were equally difficult to handle. For the moment, the two were evenly matched.

However, the two were clearly only probing each other. Both heard the commotion around them and slowed their movements slightly.

Hearing the others' discussion, Qin Zhenyang's heart stirred. He frowned, leaped backward first to withdraw, gave Roto a look, and slowly retreated.

Roto watched Qin Zhenyang but did not pursue. He dug at his ear with a large hand, raising his brows.

"What's making such a strange noise? Let me see what's going on... Huh."

On the other side, Qin Zhenyang walked over to Huijue, who was facing a stone pillar and quietly chanting a Buddhist invocation. Miserable cries were sounding directly in front of him.

"Master Huijue, what is...?"

Qin Zhenyang looked at the bandit whose upper body protruded from the stone, his mind filled with question marks.

"Amitabha. The Buddha is merciful. These bandit benefactors likely entered this place while the ruins were on the verge of opening but had not yet opened. Their bodies fell into the crack between the ruins world and the real world, which is why they have become like this."

Huijue wore an expression of pity. He turned his Buddhist Beads before the bandit and chanted a Buddhist invocation.

"Amitabha. Benefactor, you have suffered. I shall chant a Buddhist scripture for you in hopes of dispelling your pain."

His lips moved without pause. The bandit had not yet died, and his face twisted with agony.

"You bald donkey, quit your fucking wailing! If you pity me, then give me a quick death!"

"Benefactor, the Buddha is merciful. How can I recklessly commit the precept of killing? Hold on."

As Huijue chanted Buddhist scriptures, he saw that the bandit's breath was weakening. He grabbed the man's hand and sent a powerful stream of Inner Breath through his meridians, revitalizing the bandit's spirit and making his howls even louder.

"Bald donkey, I told you to give me a quick death, not torture me! Fuck, what sins did I commit to run into you... Fuck, stop sending Inner Breath into me! Let me die!!!"

"Amitabha. Benefactor, Heaven cherishes life. This humble monk is one who has left the secular world; how can I stand by and watch you die without saving you?"

Qin Zhenyang's eyelids twitched as he watched from the side. He could not tell whether Huijue was doing it deliberately or by accident. He only felt that this young eminent monk from Bodhi Courtyard was unfathomable, not nearly as pure as he appeared.

Yet upon seeing what had happened to these bandits, boundless worry immediately rose within him.

"Master Huijue, have you... have you seen my junior brothers and sisters?"

"Senior Brother Qin, this humble monk has not seen them."

Huijue pressed his palms together and replied quietly.

"No. I have to find them!"

Qin Zhenyang's face was solemn. He glanced back at Roto in the distance, who was watching them like a tiger eyeing its prey, and hesitated somewhat.

"If I leave, and Roto attacks our side..."

Huijue seemed to understand his thoughts. Lowering his eyes, he said, "Senior Brother Qin, go as you please. Leave Roto to me."

"You? Master Huijue... are you certain?"

Qin Zhenyang was somewhat hesitant.

Huijue's expression remained calm.

"This humble monk may not be confident against other Third Transformation Realm experts. But this Buddhist brother's Buddhist arts are improper. It will not be difficult for me to hold him off."

Huijue still looked modest and polite, yet his tone was utterly certain, without the slightest hesitation.

A Second Transformation Realm fighter who did not fear the Third Transformation Realm...

Thinking of Huijue's master, and of how he had entered Bodhi Courtyard at such a young age, Qin Zhenyang figured Huijue would not be recklessly showing off. He gave him a deep look.

"Master Huijue, then I leave it to you."

"Yes, Senior Brother Qin."

Huijue pressed his palms together and lowered his gaze. Then he returned to performing a living salvation rite before the bandit, though his attention had already fixed upon Roto.

Roto seemed to sense something. He looked at Huijue from afar, and his brows immediately furrowed as though facing a great enemy.

Seeing this, Qin Zhenyang relaxed. He swiftly moved through the hall, his worried gaze sweeping over one bandit mushroom after another. Every time he looked and failed to find fellow disciples such as Huang Zifeng, he felt both relieved and even more worried.

But after circling through the stone pillars, Qin Zhenyang gradually felt that something was wrong.

Though the hall was vast, one could see its end at a glance. With his movement speed, he should not have spent so long without leaving this forest of stone pillars.

He abruptly stopped and stared at a bandit ahead of him. He had clearly seen that one before.

A formation...

Qin Zhenyang surveyed the area and discovered that the stone pillars truly formed a formation. Without noticing it, one would likely keep circling in place forever.

But since he had seen through it, this formation was nothing impressive to him. Though the Yunshan Sword Sect did not specialize in formations, sword formations also involved the principles of formations. Moreover, sword cultivators possessed clear Sword Hearts and were often not easily influenced.

Standing in the distance, Xie Yuan saw Qin Zhenyang swiftly uncover the mystery here and relaxed.

"This floor should pose no difficulty for Senior Brother Qin."

But the same could not necessarily be said for Great Li's other experts. Many were confused by the stone-pillar maze formation and the murals upon them, standing dazed and turning in circles. Some had even plunged their minds entirely into the world of the murals, remaining motionless as Western Regions people quietly approached them.

"Why do all these Western Regions experts understand this place? Was it Lu Lao San?"

Xie Yuan instantly figured it out, and his expression darkened.

Watching clearly from outside the formation, he saw many Great Li experts thrown into a passive position by the stone-pillar formation, teetering on the brink of danger.

Though so many people entering had taken him by surprise, seeing the clearly divided camps, it did not matter that he did not recognize most of the experts here. He naturally took a side.

As fellow Great Li people, Xie Yuan could not say he held much affection for country and homeland, but at the very least, he could not sit by and watch his compatriots be slaughtered by foreigners.

"Fine. No one has gone to the second floor yet anyway."

Xie Yuan rose from the stone room, walked to the door, opened it, and vanished from where he stood.

A Western Regions expert nearby saw the door abruptly open. His scalp tightened, and his heart leaped into his throat.

He only possessed First Transformation Realm blood and qi cultivation. His sect was simply close by, and Ming Wang had thought one more person was better than one fewer, so he had allowed him to enter and make up the numbers.

The man was clever enough to know the conflict in the middle was not something he could involve himself in. From the beginning, he had run to the side, relying on Lu Lao San's guide to pass through the stone-pillar formation, intending to loot the outskirts.

His journey had been smooth, and no Central Plains expert had paid him any attention. Just as he was feeling rather lucky, he saw this eerily opening door.

Yet the door had opened by itself without wind, and nothing came out from within. There was no movement for a long while.

After hesitating, the man took two steps forward. Suddenly, his body stiffened, and he slowly lowered his head.

Looking at the blade tip protruding from his chest, he never understood, even in death, where the enemy had appeared from.

"These ruins... have ghosts!"

After casually dealing with the unlucky Western Regions man who had run into him, Xie Yuan withdrew his long blade. He had no time to search the corpse and rapidly rushed toward the nearest stone pillar.

A Central Plains expert holding a saber was staring blankly at the mural on a stone pillar, completely unaware that a bare-chested Western Regions expert had quietly crept close beside him.

Seeing that he had not alerted the man, the Western Regions expert was just revealing a smug grin when the Central Plains expert suddenly stumbled, as though someone had kicked him. He instantly woke up, and his eyes locked onto him.

"You Western Regions barbarian, you dare launch a sneak attack on me? Die!"

Fuck, who sneak-attacked you?!

The Western Regions expert's eyes widened. He could only raise his weapon, preparing to fight his opponent, when his heart suddenly lurched. Instinctively, he swung the spiked club in his hand to the side and knocked away a longsaber.

Fuck, who sneak-attacked me?

Seeing his opponent inexplicably swing his club to the side, the Great Li expert was rather puzzled. Yet when club and saber collided, he seemed to glimpse a faint shadow, and his heart immediately tightened.

Seeing that strange shadow did not attack him but instead slashed his opponent twice more, his eyes brightened. Naturally, he would not let such an opportunity go. He charged forward with his saber and immediately suppressed his enemy, firmly taking the upper hand.

Xie Yuan retreated to the side, shaking his hand as he thought to himself.

"A Second Transformation Realm fighter really is much stronger. I still cannot clash head-on with them."

But after his few strikes, the Western Regions expert was forced to fight with hands tied. Suppressed by a Great Li expert of roughly equal strength, he repeatedly faced peril and certainly would not escape death.

Xie Yuan swiftly ran to another stone-pillar formation and repeated the same method, saving a Central Plains expert. This time, that expert coordinated seamlessly with the invisible him, and the two of them killed their opponent in just two moves!

"There are actually Central Plains Heroic Spirits inside this tower?"

The Great Li expert muttered to himself and bowed toward empty air, making Xie Yuan secretly laugh.

"Yes, yes, yes. I am a Heroic Spirit."

After several exchanges, despite the great chaos in the hall, Great Li's side gradually learned that a ghost existed in these ruins—a Great Li ghost wandering through the ruins, specifically helping Great Li experts caught in desperate situations. It instantly made up for their disadvantage in being less familiar with the environment than their enemies.

The Western Regions people, meanwhile, became deeply unsettled and discussed in low voices.

"Did Lu Lao San leave something out?"

"He must have kept something up his sleeve! Didn't you see that even Lu Tianyong has disappeared?"

"Could there really be ghosts here? I heard it is normal for remnants of powerful experts' thoughts to remain in ruins... but why is this one a Great Li ghost?"

"Stop arguing!"

Roto let out a thunderous roar, silencing them.

His face was already black as coal, so even though his expression was grim now, it could not really be seen.

"Ghost or not, if I encounter it, I will scatter it with one punch! All of you, follow me."

Roto snorted angrily. Seeing that this first trial could not do anything to the Central Plains people, while that bald donkey from Prajna Temple had been staring at him the whole time and making him deeply uncomfortable, he took the lead toward a stone room—the staircase to the second floor lay there.

Seeing the Western Regions people leave first and already seize the position, the Great Li experts could not get ahead of them, but they followed close behind, refusing to let them shake them off.

At the edge of the stone formation, Qin Zhenyang stabbed a Western Regions man to death with two sword strikes. Seeing him clutch his throat and collapse without a sound, Qin Zhenyang waved off the Great Li expert thanking him beside him, his brows tightly furrowed.

Suddenly, a murmur sounded beside his ear.

"Second floor... third floor..."

Qin Zhenyang's eyes widened slightly. He looked around, but saw nothing.

Could it truly be as they said? Was there a Great Li Heroic Spirit here?

Better to believe it exists than to believe it does not.

Qin Zhenyang became solemnly respectful, raised his sword in a salute, then sped toward that direction like the wind.

At the staircase to the third floor.

Lu Tianyong revealed himself. He was the first to abandon the main group and reach the third floor.

His gaze shifted as he looked at the stone platform in the center, desire blazing in his eyes.

His feet shifted, and he was about to dart to the side when his body suddenly paused. He swiftly moved aside from the passage behind him, evading that fatal sword strike.

Looking at Qin Zhenyang, who had revealed himself, surprise filled his eyes as he asked instinctively, "How did you get up here?"

"Seeing Brother Lu arrive with such urgency and speed, I did not dare fall behind."

Qin Zhenyang replied calmly.

"Impossible. You should not have been able to keep up with me..."

Lu Tianyong spoke decisively.

In truth, Qin Zhenyang had not followed Lu Tianyong here. Lu Tianyong had a route his father had painstakingly worked out over many years; from the moment he arrived, his goal had been clear, and he bypassed countless mechanisms. Qin Zhenyang had not even seen where he went.

Yet Qin Zhenyang had likewise received Xie Yuan's secret guidance. Following the route Lu Tianyong had already cleared, he caught up to him directly at the entrance to the third floor.

Xie Yuan was not far behind Qin Zhenyang at the moment. Chuckling happily, he tucked a porcelain bottle into his robes and stood aside to watch the show.

The dummy formation on the second floor had been easy enough to pass, and the Clear Spirit Pill was already in hand. This trip had at least broken even.

But the dummies on the third floor started at the Qi and Blood Transformation Realm. Xie Yuan did not dare rashly enter, merely musing to himself:

"Lu Tianyong is clearly here for this mystical weapon, but why did he head right when he first arrived? What's on the right?"

He recalled the scripture repository and armory on the right. He had visited both more than once, but before the ruins opened, he had not known what many of the items were for.

Could the key to this floor be there?

Xie Yuan sank into thought.

When it came to how these ruins looked after opening, Xie Yuan might not understand as much as Lu Lao San. But when it came to the terrain, the layout, and what was located where, he knew it even better than Lu Lao San.

Thus, Lu Tianyong had merely turned in a different direction upon coming upstairs, yet Xie Yuan had already connected it to many things.

"There really are a few little trinkets in the armory that I never knew the purpose of—beads, bracelets, jade talismans... Tiger Seals?"

Xie Yuan suddenly remembered that the talisman bore a tiger shape, much like the Tiger Seal used to command troops and dispatch generals.

Moreover, the armory on the second floor had the same Tiger Seal.

The two floors corresponded to different cultivation levels, and their stored items differed in countless ways. Only these scant few items were exactly identical.

Xie Yuan's eyes lit up. Perhaps this Tiger Seal was the key to controlling the dummy formation?

He set off directly toward the armory.

Qin Zhenyang and Lu Tianyong fell into a standoff. Lu Tianyong wanted to break away, but he could not shake Qin Zhenyang off, nor did he dare fight him. His expression grew grim.

"Chief Qin, this floor has countless treasures. Why don't we make peace, explore separately, and keep out of each other's waters?"

Qin Zhenyang looked at him and shook his head.

"Brother Lu has clearly come prepared. If I let you roam free, nothing good will come of it. Besides, my Yunshan Sword Sect slays demons and exterminates evil, punishes wickedness and upholds righteousness. We have never made peace with bandit cavalry such as yours.

"Your Lu Family's mounted bandits have wantonly plundered merchant caravans and slaughtered innocents along the border. Of all of you, Lu Tianyong, your methods have been the cruelest. A bounty has long been posted within my sect for your head. Today, I will take it."

Once Qin Zhenyang finished speaking, he drew his sword. Sword blossoms, like clouds over a thousand mountains and mist over ten thousand peaks, shrouded Lu Tianyong from all sides, making his face change drastically.

Lu Tianyong's face darkened as he shouted:

"Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"

He slashed with his saber and exchanged two moves with Qin Zhenyang. His third strike cut through empty air.

Lu Tianyong's heart jolted. He instinctively tilted his head aside, narrowly dodging the sword coming at his face.

Yet the Sword Qi stirred by the blade carved a bloody gash across his cheek, spattering blood onto the ground and making his heart pound wildly.

Qin Zhenyang was actually this strong?

He had reached Qi Blood Three Transformations in his early thirties. Aside from having a grandmaster father, his own talent was far from lacking—at the very least, he was far stronger than his father had been at the same age.

There were no weaklings at Qi Blood Three Transformations. Xie Yuan had experienced Qin Zhenyang's strength firsthand, and it was absolutely not to be underestimated.

Yet even so, before Qin Zhenyang, Lu Tianyong had been pushed into peril after only a few sword strikes. If they exchanged a few more rounds, would he not be cut down beneath the sword?

Lu Tianyong's heart tightened. Just as he realized he could not clash head-on with Qin Zhenyang, his expression suddenly turned stern as he looked toward the staircase inside the room.

Qin Zhenyang did the same, only a step ahead of him. He faced that direction as though confronting a deadly foe.

A brawny black figure leaped up. Bare feet landed on the ground as he looked through the doors and windows at the two men facing off outside, then grinned.

"Qin Zhenyang, so you were hiding here!"

Qin Zhenyang's expression turned grave. Lu Tianyong might be mediocre in strength, but Luo Tuo was a formidable enemy. With the two of them together, he had to be on guard.

Yet after Luo Tuo, one expert after another came upstairs. They were all people from the Western Regions. In an instant, they packed the stone room and spilled out through the doorway, surrounding Qin Zhenyang in the blink of an eye.

Even Qin Zhenyang, steady as he was, showed a slight change in expression as he watched the experts of the Western Regions gather around him.

Luo Tuo bared his huge mouth in a grin.

"Qin Zhenyang, do you think we'll beat you to death first, or will your companions arrive first? Heh heh. Even if they do arrive, I'll guard this stairway. Who would dare come up?"

Qin Zhenyang drew a breath. His expression returned to calm, while his eyes revealed unyielding resolve.

It's a pity I still haven't found my junior brothers and sisters...

He looked at Luo Tuo, then at Lu Tianyong. His gaze moved back and forth between the two strongest experts of the Western Regions, as though he were choosing a name.

Lu Tianyong's heart naturally tightened. Even Luo Tuo, brave as he was, felt a sudden jolt in his heart. His brows furrowed slightly as he revealed a wary look.

This fellow was going to risk his life.

The experts of the Western Regions around them all understood. Their hearts thudded like drums as they slowly backed away, unwilling to become someone else's sacrificial substitute.

"Hmph, a pack of cowards."

Luo Tuo spat, then stepped forward without hesitation. Raising his enormous fist, black Blood Qi rose from his body as he roared:

"Come with me, all of you! Beat him to dea—"

Before he could finish, he abruptly froze and whipped his head around.

Quite a few people from the Western Regions turned their heads at the same time. Even Qin Zhenyang could not help but glance to the side, his eyes widening.

The Practice Dummies that had stood silently still, never moving unless someone approached them, were now like a military formation. Their lifeless steps began to move as they charged straight toward them at high speed!