The Third Floor
By the time they returned to Spirit City, it was already evening.
The four of them went to the mission hall first to turn in their mission. The same middle-aged female deacon was behind the counter. She took the oilpaper bundle Xie Yue handed her and opened it for a look. The Dusky Blue Wolf's mane was intact, and its shoulder bone had no cracks. She nodded, made a mark on the bronze token, and handed them a wooden token in return.
"Mission complete. The points have been credited. The elder will send someone else to collect the materials. If there are any problems, you'll be notified separately." She paused, then added, "The elder may have a bad temper and exacting standards, but the materials are so intact this time that there's nothing to pick fault with."
"Thanks." Xie Yue put the wooden token away.
The four left the mission hall as the sky was darkening. Yan stretched, his joints cracking. "I'm dead tired. I'm going back for a bath, and tomorrow I'm sleeping until the sun's high in the sky."
"See you tomorrow." Hu Liena waved to the other three and left first.
Xie Yue nodded and turned to go in another direction. Yan clapped Ning Buhui on the shoulder, said, "See you tomorrow, junior brother," and left as well.
Ning Buhui stood at the entrance to the mission hall, watching the three of them go their separate ways. The sudden quiet around him felt a little strange. Over the past few days on the mission, the four had eaten and lived together amid a constant bustle of chatter. Now that they had suddenly parted, it felt as though something was missing. He smiled, shook off the thoughts, and headed for the quiet room.
After getting back, he first took a bath, then went to the dining hall for something to eat. By the time he returned to his room, it was completely dark. He shut the doors and windows, then sat by the bed for a long while, thinking over and sorting through some details of the trip.
Suddenly, he remembered something important he had yet to do-the third floor of the Nine Hell Soul-Suppressing Pagoda had opened after he absorbed his Third Soul Ring.
He had been busy getting used to his new Soul Skill and the Wind Thunder Wings, then immediately taken a mission and gone out, so he had never found time to go inside and have a look. Now that he had turned in the mission, there would be some time before the next one, and he finally had a stretch of free time. He had sensed before that the third floor was very important. It was time to take a good look at just what the pagoda had left him.
With a thought, Ning Buhui found himself standing on the second floor. He looked at the teleportation array that had suddenly appeared in the center. It was just like the one that led from the first floor to the second.
He stepped inside, closed his eyes, and thought of going up. Gray mist surged around him, enveloping him. When it dispersed, he was gone.
As soon as he entered the third floor, Ning Buhui felt dizzy. It wasn't discomfort from the teleportation, but a flood of information that had suddenly appeared in his mind-inherited memories.
They were inherited memories concerning the third floor. They recorded that the space on the third floor was much larger than either the first or second floor, as large as ten soccer fields.
The third floor was the most special floor in the entire pagoda. The hazy gray mist had vanished completely, replaced by a bright, open expanse. Overhead was not a dome, but a sky of unknown height, a color between milky white and pale blue-green. Like the sky at first light, it was easy on the eyes, yet it illuminated the entire space. The boundary was no longer gray mist, but dense white fog that rose from the ground all the way to the top of the sky, surrounding the expanse like four white walls.
A mountain spring flowed within the white fog.
No one knew where it came from. Its waters murmured clearly, and no opening could be seen where it passed through the fog, as though it had appeared out of thin air. The spring formed a stream three meters wide, its water crystal clear. It wound in a great circle around the entire space before disappearing into the white fog on the other side. Wherever the water passed, the soil was especially rich and moist, covered in low green moss.
All the soil on the third floor formed a single, unbroken tract of Breathing Earth. It needed no fertilizer or tilling and grew more fertile year after year. Anything planted in it could survive; even ordinary grass could grow into a spiritual plant. Exotic flowers and rare herbs filled the place, their variety and quality far surpassing anything he had seen in any illustrated guide.
Cultivation here was ten times faster than in the outside world, and Soul Power was so dense that it had almost liquefied. This was all because a Heaven and Earth Yin Yang Grand Array was buried underground. The array was black and white, its markings as intricate and interwoven as veins. Yin and Yang Qi circulated through it again and again, each cycle drawing free-floating Soul Power from the void, purifying it, and releasing it throughout the space. The abundance of Soul Power in the entire space depended wholly on the Heaven and Earth Yin Yang Grand Array operating without rest, day and night. The inherited memories did not say who had laid the array, leaving only one sentence: This array is the root of the pagoda. Do not tamper with it.
The last piece of information was brief but clear. The cultivation speed on the third floor could be adjusted at the pagoda master's will, but its maximum was limited by his level. For now, he could only set it to ten times the normal speed. Any higher, and his body would be unable to withstand the impact of that Soul Power. Once the fourth floor was unlocked, the upper limit would rise further.
It took Ning Buhui quite a while to take in all the information. He opened his eyes and looked around. The sky was clear and the air fresh, as though he were in a small world of its own.
In the distance, exotic flowers and rare herbs vied to outshine one another.
Every Nine-Leaf Lingzhi was as large as a washbasin, its purple so deep it was nearly black. The golden lines on their leaves had joined together, and they were all at least close to ten thousand years old. Profound Yin Grass and Pure Yang Flowers grew side by side, each occupying half the area. A Star Vine climbed a white rock of unknown origin, its leaves so thick with silver light that they dazzled the eyes. A Nirvana Vermilion Fruit tree was laden with red fruit, weighing its branches down until they almost touched the ground.
There were many more whose names he could not recall because he had not yet had time to examine the memories closely. Some had white petals and black stamens, some had leaves like ice crystals, and some had exposed roots and stems that glimmered gold. Each gave off an exceedingly weighty presence and was finer than anything he had seen in any book.
If not for the inherited memories, he would not have recognized most of the exotic flowers and rare herbs, much less known their effects.
Several among them were the most special.
Nether Spider Heart Lotus: Its petals were ink-black, shimmering with dark purple light, and its center resembled the curled-up heart of a spider. It could nourish the origin of Twin Martial Souls, stabilize the mind, amplify the ability to erode souls, and alleviate accumulated poison injuries within the body. The price was that whoever consumed it had to face all the pain and inner demons in their heart.
Radiant Light Heavenly Feather Lingzhi: Golden throughout, its cap spread like a pair of folded angel wings, and flecks of golden light flowed along its veins. It could purify the holy light attribute, strengthen mental resistance, ward off illusions and inner demons, and reduce the burden that eruptions of angelic power placed on the body. Its medicinal properties were pure and noble, making it difficult for evil filth to taint.
At the very center, a lotus growing in a pool of spring water occupied a thousand meters of open ground all to itself. The lotus was azure throughout, with black and white Qi coursing over its twin blossoms. Five Elements Qi flowed across its petals, and a tiny lotus seed had formed at its heart, pulsing bright and dim in rhythm with the array.
Chaos Azure Lotus.
Its name surfaced in Ning Buhui's mind. Chaos divided into Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang transformed into the Five Elements. This azure lotus was the rarest Immortal Herb in this space, without equal.
According to the inherited memories, the lotus had not yet matured. Its maturation could only be accelerated once the fifth floor of the pagoda opened.
Ning Buhui looked toward the only building here, a bamboo house of about fifty or sixty square meters. He walked up and pushed open the bamboo door. The inside was clean and tidy, with simple furnishings: only a table, chairs, a bookshelf, herb shelves, and a bamboo bed. No information about any previous owner had been left behind, as though it were simply waiting for a master.
Ning Buhui lay back in the rocking chair and calmed himself.
He had originally planned to find a chance to visit the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. When he read the book in his previous life, he had coveted the Immortal Herbs there, especially the exceptional ones that could refine Martial Souls. But now that he had this space and its herb garden, those Immortal Herbs had suddenly lost much of their appeal. No matter how good the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was, it belonged to someone else. Entering meant taking risks, and picking anything meant worrying about being discovered. No one could take away or see the things in his pagoda, and their quality was far superior to those at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, so there was no need to compete for them.
Still, he could do Dugu Bo a favor. Ning Buhui clearly remembered that there was an Immortal Herb in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well that would greatly benefit Dugu Bo's poison arts, though Dugu Bo himself did not know it. He planned to find an opportunity to go out alone for training and pass the information to Dugu Bo.
Bibi Dong had already intended to bring Dugu Bo into her service, and a favor owed by a Titled Douluo still carried considerable weight in Spirit Hall. There was plenty of time before Tang San went to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, so there was no rush. He could wait until his Soul Power was higher and he had more confidence.
He would also need to find a suitable reason to bring the spiritual herbs here out later, so he could strengthen his family and friends, and trade some for benefits for himself. For example, he could use them to arrange the hunting of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, obtain Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones, and so on. That way, his future Soul Rings would be accounted for too.