This Trial Tower is Not Ordinary

At the entrance to the Trial Tower, an inner disciple and several outer disciples were busily registering the cultivators who wished to enter.

"Hand over your identity plaques." The disciple in charge of registration spoke to Qin Huaian and Lin Qingxuan.

They handed over their identity plaques. After the disciple scanned them with an array device, he gave Qin Huaian a jade token.

"This is the jade token for entering the Trial Tower. The time limit is one day. Once the day is up, you'll be teleported out. If you can't hold on during the trial, you can also crush the jade token to teleport out directly."

Qin Huaian paused. "May I ask, Senior Brother, is the trial dangerous?"

"You're newcomers from East Dawn Peak, aren't you? There will be some danger. It won't be fatal, but sustaining serious injuries would still greatly affect your cultivation."

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother."

Holding their jade tokens, Qin Huaian and Lin Qingxuan walked to the entrance of the Trial Tower.

There was no traditional gate at the entrance of the Trial Tower. Instead, an arch-shaped sheet of white light covered the doorway, slowly rotating like a vortex.

"Senior Brother Qin, we can just walk straight in. I saw everyone else doing that," Lin Qingxuan reminded him.

Qin Huaian nodded slightly and entered the Trial Tower together with Lin Qingxuan.

The moment he entered the white light, a dazzling flash filled his vision. When Qin Huaian opened his eyes again, he found himself in a vast, empty Gobi wasteland. He turned around, only to find that the entrance they had just entered through was gone. Lin Qingxuan, who had entered with him, was gone as well. Qin Huaian was the only person left in this stretch of wasteland.

The Gobi wasteland was immense, stretching beyond the limits of sight—far exceeding the size of the Trial Tower as seen from outside.

An illusion? Qin Huaian wondered inwardly. He bent down and touched the gravel on the ground. Everything felt so real.

If this was an illusion, it was far too realistic!

Above the Gobi wasteland floated nine arenas. Stairways connected the nine arenas, ascending diagonally in a single line like a staircase leading into the sky.

The lowest flight of stairs extended right to Qin Huaian's feet. At the same time, a flying sword appeared beside him. Qin Huaian immediately understood. He picked up the flying sword and stepped onto the stairs.

The instant he stepped onto the first stair, a streak of sword light suddenly shot toward him. To Qin Huaian, this sword light was not particularly strong. With a casual swing, he shattered it.

Every time Qin Huaian stepped up another stair, a streak of sword light came at him. The higher he climbed, the denser the sword lights became, and the greater their power grew.

After cutting apart the last streak of sword light, Qin Huaian stepped onto the first arena.

The attacks on this first flight of stairs were only equivalent to those of the fourth level of Qi Refinement, and posed no threat to Qin Huaian whatsoever.

At that moment, a person appeared on the arena. However, his expression was vacant, like that of a puppet.

The puppet said nothing and immediately swung its sword at Qin Huaian. Its cultivation was roughly equivalent to the fourth level of Qi Refinement, but its swordsmanship was quite exquisite, already surpassing the proficient level in the fundamentals of swordsmanship.

However, there was a considerable gap between the puppet's cultivation and Qin Huaian's. Before long, Qin Huaian pierced its heart with a single thrust, and the puppet dissolved into a streak of white light.

"First level cleared. Please receive your reward." A voice suddenly rang out from the sky.

"A reward? What kind of reward?" Qin Huaian silently wondered. At that moment, an insight into swordsmanship poured into his mind like divine enlightenment. It was an insight into the fundamentals of swordsmanship, and the understanding of the sword contained within was stronger than the swordsmanship the puppet had displayed just now.

This insight was unlike the insights produced by the mirror body's deductions. After the mirror body performed its deductions, the resulting insight was as though he had personally practiced something millions upon millions of times, until it had wholly become his own.

This insight, on the other hand, was like someone breaking down their own cultivated understanding piece by piece and feeding it to you. It was countless times faster than fumbling through it alone, but whether or not you could comprehend it still depended on yourself.

Cultivators with high talent for the sword might comprehend it quickly and make it their own. Those with poor talent might still learn a little of the surface, but fully comprehending it would be extremely difficult.

Take Qin Huaian, for instance. Though this insight had entered his mind, he was still completely lost in the clouds and mist.

Looks like I still have to see what this cheat can do.

Even so, this Trial Tower was truly impressive. Calling it a paradise for cultivation would not be an exaggeration.

But for Qin Huaian, it was somewhat tasteless.

He wondered whether reaching the later arenas would bring insights beyond the fundamentals of swordsmanship, or perhaps insights into even more formidable sword arts. Those were what mattered most to Qin Huaian.

Although the mirror body could perform deductions, it could not create something from nothing. It could only deduce things Qin Huaian had access to.

Hopefully, the rewards from the later arenas would bring a pleasant surprise.

After receiving the reward, Qin Huaian stepped onto the second flight of stairs.

The second flight was similar to the first, with sword-light attacks as well, but their strength had risen to the fifth level of Qi Refinement.

Qin Huaian easily passed the second flight and arrived on the second arena.

Likewise, a puppet appeared on this level. This puppet was at the fifth level of Qi Refinement, and when it attacked, it used swordsmanship fundamentals beyond the proficient level.

Although Qin Huaian's realm was higher than the puppet's, his swordsmanship still lagged behind it. After a long stalemate, Qin Huaian finally pierced the puppet with a sword, and it dissolved into a streak of white light.

This time, Qin Huaian again received an insight into the fundamentals of swordsmanship, one stronger than the swordsmanship the puppet had just displayed.

For sword cultivators, this Trial Tower was anything but ordinary—truly damn impressive!

Qin Huaian stepped onto the third flight of stairs. The sword-light attacks here had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refinement. As Qin Huaian gradually made his way upward, streak after streak of sword light shot densely toward him.

Qin Huaian employed the proficient-level fundamentals of swordsmanship, parrying left and blocking right as his sword moves gradually fell into disorder. Just as he felt he was about to be unable to hold on any longer, he finally stepped onto the third arena.

The puppet on the third arena was at the sixth level of Qi Refinement, the same cultivation level as Qin Huaian. But its swordsmanship far surpassed his. After only a few exchanges, Qin Huaian could no longer withstand it.

There was no need to get injured here. He decisively crushed the jade token. In an instant, white light enveloped Qin Huaian, and he appeared on Trial Plaza.

During the teleportation, the Trial Tower's notification sounded by Qin Huaian's ear:

"Overall evaluation: 6,556th among Qi Refinement cultivators."

Well, that was not too bad. After all, the Qi Refinement stage included all Qi Refinement disciples, many of whom were older cultivators who had practiced swordsmanship for years.

No one was surprised by Qin Huaian's sudden appearance in Trial Plaza; in a place like Trial Plaza, such scenes were commonplace.

Qin Huaian walked to the entrance of the Trial Tower and saw Lin Qingxuan looking around near the entrance.

When she saw Qin Huaian, she ran over happily. "Senior Brother Qin, how did you do? What's your rank? I'm ranked 10,225."

Lin Qingxuan was only at the fifth level of Qi Refining, so this ranking was already quite good.

"I'm somewhere above six thousand."

"Wow, Senior Brother Qin, you're amazing!"

"Let's not talk here. We're going back." Qin Huaian had no intention of staying to watch the excitement and was preparing to return and continue cultivating.

Just then, someone called out from behind him, "Big Brother Qin!"

Qin Huaian turned around. It was Wang Baole, the little fatty he had not seen in a long time.