"Yes, the young master will certainly reach the top!" Yuzhu smiled at those words and nodded emphatically.
Beside her, Xu Taiping smiled faintly at this, then reached out and grasped the last Azure Dragon Token.
Whoosh!
With another rush of air, Xu Taiping arrived in a dark stone passage thick with the smell of blood.
"Why would Elder Zhang live somewhere like this?"
Xu Taiping glanced around, then murmured with a frown.
The Azure Dragon Token he had just grasped was Elder Zhang's, which meant he was now at Elder Zhang's residence.
"Aah!"
Just as Xu Taiping stood there looking puzzled, a howl of agony suddenly came from the end of the stone passage.
Xu Taiping flew toward the sound.
In a mere instant, in his soul-roaming state, he passed through the long stone passage and entered the chamber.
He also caught sight of a horrifying scene.
Inside the chamber, a gaunt old man had long, slender silver needles embedded all over his body.
At the base of those silver needles, runes were burrowing into his body along the needles like ants.
With every rune that entered him, the pain on the old man's face deepened.
Only when that pain accumulated to a certain point did his tightly clenched jaws finally give way, and he let out another howl of agony.
Xu Taiping stared at this scene, dumbstruck.
For the old man was none other than Elder Zhang.
"Zhang Honghu, we cannot insert another needle!"
Beside Elder Zhang, an old man with white hair and a white beard spoke in a trembling voice, unable to bear it.
"Old Song, insert it! Hurry and insert it! The young master has already emerged from seclusion and will soon ascend the tower. Anyone else can be late, but not me!"
At those words,