Heaven-Reaching Tower Floor 61

In the villa numbered 2985, Yin Congyang's spirit withdrew from the mysterious light point in his dantian, a faint, pleased smile on his face.

Nearly ten years had passed since his first trip to Hell Star.

After his second journey to Hell Star, when he visited the Machine Race satellite, he completed the mission and, as expected, once again sensed that faint fluctuation of the laws. Familiar with the path, he found the true center of the satellite. This time, without needing to say anything, the seed in his dantian automatically extended a root, once again piercing through his index finger into the place where the law force was stored.

Once back at his residence and confirming it was safe, he let the seed release the fluctuations generated after absorbing the law force. This time, the law force was the Law of Gold, and sure enough, it advanced his comprehension of the Law of Gold by a step.

That wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was that his soul power had finally broken through the bottleneck of Universe Level and entered Domain Lord Level.

Soul power at Domain Lord Level was far stronger than at Universe Level, so he spent a year cultivating another clone. This time, he used a third of his lung to cultivate a Soul Container, so this clone leaned toward the Law of Gold.

Having already succeeded once before, this clone's cultivation went very smoothly. However, without Universe Crystals or treasures of the Law of Gold to provide energy, this clone was still in that round, slippery jelly-like state, which made Yin Congyang grumble inwardly.

Over the course of a year, the fluctuations from his dantian and the seed not only made up for the soul's loss but also increased the soul's strength and toughness considerably, giving a feeling of breaking down and then rebuilding.

So he applied for a third trip to Hell Star. This time, Feilaoshen simply didn't bother to say anything, waved his hand in approval, and told him to get lost.

On the third satellite, the seed absorbed the Law of Fire. After returning to his residence, the seed deepened his comprehension of the Law of Fire and also strengthened his soul power considerably.

This confirmed one thing for him: each of these eight satellites contained a law force, and they were the eight lower-level laws of the Five Elements, Wind, Lightning, and Light.

So, over the following period, he applied to visit one satellite every six months, eventually stripping all of them bare. His understanding of the Five Elements laws within the spatial system improved greatly, but without systematic guidance, the progress, though substantial, was fragmented—bits and pieces. To put it vividly, the breadth was there, but the depth wasn't enough.

Unfortunately, although the Five Elements laws had all improved considerably, the Law of Space had made little progress. It was still the same problem—no systematic guidance, no spatial secret techniques to study, making improvement very difficult.

Additionally, as expected, although the laws of Wind, Lightning, and Light had all improved after absorption, they still weren't enough to cross the threshold of the laws, which completely extinguished his delusion of cultivating all eight laws simultaneously.

After stripping all eight satellites bare, Yin Congyang's soul power, thanks to the seed's gift, had nearly reached the peak of Domain Lord Level. So he cultivated another clone, this time using a third of his heart as the Soul Container, making the third clone lean toward the Law of Fire.

Although the various laws and the Law of Space lacked systematic guidance, fortunately, he had the Thirty-Six Heaven-Opening Axes as a guide, along with the mysterious light point space. Whenever he accumulated enough doubts and entered that mysterious space, he would gain new insights, and the power of his axe techniques rose steadily.

After absorbing the eight law forces, the seed had changed somewhat—its color was brighter than before, and even the fluctuations it emitted seemed more vibrant and full of life.

After winning first place in the Training Camp competition for the third time, he finally decided to apply to challenge the Heaven-Reaching Tower, to see exactly where his strength stood.

He spent points to apply to the Training Camp's intelligent system and quickly received a response, granting him entry to the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

Arriving at the familiar Heaven-Reaching Tower dimension, there was no beautiful Purple-Robed Dragon Lady this time. He walked through the tower gate, first selected his weapon and battle armor as usual, then teleported directly to the 45th floor.

Since he had failed on the 45th floor last time, he started directly from the floor where he had previously failed, without needing to fight up from the first floor.

Standing on the arena of the 45th floor, Yin Congyang recalled how he had been killed on this floor last time by an opponent's axe cutting through his neck, and he couldn't help but look forward to this battle.

He didn't have to wait long. A few seconds later, the opponent for this floor materialized on the other side of the arena.

Yin Congyang looked at the opponent, whose eyes became lively, and smiled, "Remember me?"

"Oh, it's you," the opponent on this floor also held an axe, a hint of a smile in his eyes. "I didn't expect that not long ago, you've reached Star Level nine. Looks like you're quite confident this time?"

"Over these thirty years, I feel I've improved quite a bit," Yin Congyang said, slowly approaching his opponent. "So I can't wait to go see the Core Layer, to see how the scenery there differs from the Training Camp..."

Without waiting for any response, Yin Congyang unleashed a [Shake God] secret technique. The opponent's soul shattered under a stunned gaze, killed instantly.

Yin Congyang shrugged. Last time, a soul attack could barely affect this opponent; this time, it killed him outright. Clearly, his soul power had advanced tremendously over these decades.

On the 46th floor, relying on his exquisite axe techniques, he tangled with the opponent for a few exchanges before killing him easily.

On the subsequent floors, he didn't use soul attack secret techniques again. He had understood long ago that soul attacks were a double-edged sword. He still remembered the first time he used a soul attack on the Iron-Horned Bull—the backlash. Though that was because he had no experience or techniques back then, barely understanding the soul at all.

But the universe was vast and full of wonders. What if a genius at Star Level or Universe Level possessed a World Lord-level or even an Immortal-level soul or will? A soul attack wouldn't just be humiliating; it could backfire, severely injuring the soul, or even shatter it entirely.

So soul attacks could only serve as a trump card, used in life-or-death battles or evenly matched critical moments, to seal the deal in one blow.

The second reason was that he wanted to see how far he could go relying on his law comprehension and axe techniques alone. Golden Lion instructor had said that the top ten of the Genius Tournament back then could all pass the 61st floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower. He wanted to know if his thirty years of hard training could match the combat power of those top ten.

The third reason was similar: the Heaven-Reaching Tower was ultimately a test of a student's law comprehension and secret technique cultivation. If he relied on overwhelming soul power to clear it, the Training Camp's higher-ups or the intelligent system wouldn't necessarily deny the achievement, but it would feel somewhat illegitimate.

Of course, Yin Congyang wasn't rigid. If he couldn't clear the 61st floor with his Heaven-Opening Axe, he would still use soul attack secret techniques if necessary. After all, the Training Camp could no longer offer him much improvement.

Entering the Core Layer was different. Even a member of the Core Layer in the End-of-the-World Secret Realm could enter the Virtual Universe Company's treasure vault and exchange for a vast array of treasures tailored for Universe Level members. There was just no point discount on purchases, but points had plenty of sources—mission points, Heaven-Reaching Bridge, Heaven-Reaching Mountain, Illusion Sea, and so on—all ways to earn points.

So this time, Yin Congyang was determined to clear the 61st floor!

Standing on the arena of the 61st floor, Yin Congyang took a deep breath. Through his axe technique duels with opponents on the previous dozen floors, he had gained some insights, and had some ideas on how to apply law comprehension to his axe techniques. If he weren't challenging the Heaven-Reaching Tower, a few days of quiet contemplation might have advanced his axe techniques further.

Soon, the opponent for the 61st floor appeared. Looking at Yin Congyang, his eyes showed appreciation. "As a Star Level nine, clearing the 60th floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower means you have boundless potential. As the guardian of the 61st floor, I haven't faced a Star Level opponent in a long time. Bound by the rules, I can't go easy, but I hope you can defeat me and enter the Core Layer directly... But you should know, I'm far stronger than the opponent on the 60th floor. Good luck, kid."

Feeling the oppressive aura emanating from the opponent, Yin Congyang's expression was serious but filled with battle intent. "Thank you, senior. I will definitely beat you!"

The Heaven-Opening Axe in his hand swung toward the opponent along a profound trajectory. At Yin Congyang's current level, every move and stance could draw on the power of the laws. And because his comprehension of the Five Elements laws was deep, the Heaven-Opening Axe techniques perfectly manifested the sharpness of Gold, the flexibility of Water, the explosiveness of Fire, the resilience of Wood, and the heaviness of Earth...

Although his comprehension of the Law of Space wasn't deep, the Five Elements laws, as lower-level laws of the Law of Space, could still unleash tremendous power at Star Level—after all, fully comprehending a single lower-level law could achieve eternal Immortality.

The opponent on the 61st floor was indeed several times stronger than the one on the 60th. Not only was his law comprehension extremely profound, but his axe techniques were also more exquisite, on par with Yin Congyang's. The two exchanged over a hundred rounds without either gaining the upper hand.

After decades of training in the Training Camp, Yin Congyang's body's force-amplification had reached the perfect level of 100 times his own control. His axe techniques in attack, defense, and movement had also reached an extremely high level. But the opponent on the 61st floor was no slouch—his force-amplification, attack, defense, and movement were all on par with Yin Congyang's.

What was more astonishing was that his comprehension of the Law of Space was clearly a notch higher than Yin Congyang's. As a higher-level law, that single notch could steadily build an advantage until it turned into victory.

Fortunately, although Yin Congyang's Law of Space comprehension was lacking, his Five Elements law comprehension was stronger than the opponent's. And with the perfect domain of the Five Elements' cyclical flow, he severely suppressed the opponent's domain, forcing him to use the Law of Space's power to compensate for the domain's deficiency. Otherwise, once suppressed by Yin Congyang's domain, his movement, axe techniques, and force-amplification would all be affected.

In a battle of this level, even a slight hindrance to movement would directly lead to being suppressed by the opponent, then injured, then defeated.

As the fight went on, Yin Congyang's eyes grew brighter and brighter. Suddenly, he let out a long cry, "So this move can be done like this..."

The Heaven-Opening Axe in his hand spun, the axe face rippling slightly like flowing water, deflecting the opponent's incoming axe blade. The axe back struck the opponent's chest like a falling meteor, the shock force freezing the opponent momentarily. The Heaven-Opening Axe flipped, a sharp glint of gold flashing across the blade, and sliced horizontally through the opponent's neck...