Tower Realm Takes Shape · Gazing Toward Heaven Dou

Nan Feng lay beside the Fierce Bear King's corpse for the entire night.

A light rain fell during the night. Water seeped through gaps in the canopy and struck his face.

He couldn't move. After absorbing the Soul Ring, his meridians were half-healed and half-torn, and a tingling ache spread through his bones from his toes to the crown of his head.

He could only lie there. The rain washed the blood and mud from his face. The Power of Creation traveled along his meridians, mending the places that had been stretched and torn.

The rain stopped at daybreak. The morning mist was thicker than the day before.

Nan Feng braced himself against the ground and sat up. A thick, dark-red scab covered the wound on his left arm, and the fracture in his back hurt less.

He looked down at his open hands. Blood and mud clung to all ten fingers, and black-red grime packed the spaces beneath his nails.

He raised his right hand before his eyes. Deep in the lines of his palm, the deep-black underlying light of the Soul Ring pulsed against his skin, more than a whole tier deeper than before he absorbed the ring. It was pure black, without a trace of another color, answering the blue-green light in the crack at the tower's base from above.

He tried to circulate his Soul Power. It was different from before. Weighty, steady, and slow to flow. Every strand carried the raw overbearing force unique to ten-thousand-year Soul Power.

Level thirty-four. He had jumped four levels from level thirty. The mass of Qi in his dantian was forty percent thicker, and his meridian walls were thick and resilient, their width increased by thirty percent.

Then he sensed the new thing the Soul Ring had brought him.

The First Soul Ring had given him Tower Suppression: Mountain Suppression, and the Second Soul Ring had given him Tower Suppression: Spirit Binding. As the Third Soul Ring's power settled, a new Soul Skill took shape deep in his consciousness.

This Soul Skill was different from the first two. Tower Suppression: Mountain Suppression bore down with weight, like a mountain pressing down overhead. Tower Suppression: Spirit Binding entangled, like a net wrapped around the body.

This new Soul Skill enclosed. It came down like an upturned bell, covering an entire space.

Nan Feng closed his eyes and sensed its outline, running its name through his mind: Tower Realm · Creation.

He opened his eyes and tried to activate it.

A blue-green halo spread out from beneath his feet, covering a greater area than ever before, with a radius of three zhang.

The air inside the halo grew sluggish. Broken stones sank half an inch into the ground, fallen leaves were pressed into the soil, and the branches of several small pines drooped under the pressure.

This was the Tower Realm, a domain suppression a tier above Tower Suppression. Tower Suppression suppressed a single point or line; the Tower Realm suppressed an entire space.

Within its range, enemies' speed was reduced and the flow of their Soul Power was impeded. The closer they were to Nan Feng, the stronger the suppression.

Tower Realm · Creation differed from ordinary domain suppression in one way. When he activated it, Nan Feng sensed a layer of warm light flowing through the halo, of the same nature as the Power of Creation seeping through the crack in the third-floor door. Allies touched by it would all be nurtured.

Old Huai's voice came from the crack. "When the Power of Creation flows through the Tower Realm, it automatically nurtures allies' meridians and Martial Souls. Once the third-floor door is fully open, this warm light will be able to actively help others evolve their Martial Souls."

"For now, it can only nurture them, but that's enough. Teammates fighting a prolonged battle inside the Tower Realm will recover twenty percent faster than usual."

Nan Feng withdrew the Tower Realm. The halo dispersed, and the ground returned to normal.

He stood where he was and worked his joints, which cracked several times.

Soul Power at level thirty-four. The Third Soul Ring was pure black. Tower Realm · Creation was his.

A greater change lay deep in his soul.

Nan Feng sank his consciousness into the space inside the tower. The first thing he saw was the tower itself.

The doors on the first and second floors were fully open. Dark-gold patterns spread from the tower's base to the outer wall of the second floor, and the tower's outline was more than a whole tier clearer.

Half the corrosion had flaked off the bronze, revealing a deeper layer of dark-gold patterns on the tower. Denser and finer than the outer inscriptions, they circled upward around it.

The Power of Mountain Suppression flowed steadily from the first-floor door, covering the area around the tower. The Power of Devouring from the second floor clung to the tower's surface like a dark film of light. Any free-floating Spiritual Power that came near the tower would be absorbed, converted, and fed back into his meridians.

What drew Nan Feng's attention most was the third floor.

The light shining through the crack in the third-floor door was warm. Not the scorching heat of flame, nor the warmth of sunlight, but the kind of warmth given off by a stone that had spent an entire deep-winter day in the sun.

Gentle and weighty. It seeped through the crack, flowed along his soul into his dantian, and then seeped into the meridians throughout his body.

Hidden injuries in his meridian walls healed in that warmth, and the tiny cracks in his bones were filled in.

His understanding of Martial Soul Evolution suddenly became clear. The Power of Creation was the power to bring things into being, and it could evolve Martial Souls.

He could sense the outline of the seal deep within Xiao Wu's Martial Soul. It was like an exceedingly fine chain fastened around the outermost layer of the origin power of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit. The chain was covered in runes that Nan Feng couldn't read.

He still couldn't touch the substance of the seal. The third-floor door was open only a crack, and the output of the Power of Creation wasn't enough. But he could see where it was and what shape it took.

Old Huai emerged from the crack and sat there, a blue-green light flashing in his cloudy eyes. The old man looked Nan Feng up and down, then grinned, showing a few scattered teeth.

"Level thirty-four. The second-floor door has been pushed fully open, the third-floor door has opened a crack, and your total Soul Power is forty percent greater than before you absorbed the ring."

"Now that the Power of Devouring is fully activated, the tower will automatically help you convert some of the power when you hunt Soul Beasts, easing the burden on your meridians. The Power of Creation can nurture your meridians, and it can also nurture teammates within the Tower Realm. Once you reach level forty and push the third-floor door fully open, you'll be able to actively help others evolve their Martial Souls."

Nan Feng withdrew his consciousness from the tower, walked over to the bear's corpse, and crouched beside it. He used his short staff to turn the body over.

There was no sign of a Soul Bone beneath the hide. The bear hadn't produced one.

But beneath a plate of armor on its belly, Nan Feng found a dark-yellow orb the size of a fist. Fine, dense earth-yellow patterns flowed across its surface. It felt warm to the touch, and its Spiritual Power fluctuations were steady and sustained.

Old Huai poked his head out and took a look. "An earth-attribute Soul Beast's inner core. It contains a portion of the Fierce Bear King's earth-attribute origin power. Keep it. You'll need it for the fourth floor's Power of Return to Origin later."

Nan Feng put the orb in his bundle. Standing in the clearing, he took one last look at the bear's corpse.

The enormous body lay on its side among broken stones and fallen leaves, its gray-brown fur soaked by the rain. Dark-red blood stained the ground beneath it.

The twelve-thousand-year Soul Beast had occupied the outskirts of Sunset Forest for who knew how many years. Nan Feng needed this Soul Ring to break through the level-thirty bottleneck. Old Huai had said to take only what he needed.

Nan Feng wiped the blood from his short staff on the bear's hide, tucked it behind his waist, and left the mountain hollow.

He walked slowly on the road back to Gengxin City. The Gravity Field worked against his skin, pressing every inch of muscle and bone tight.

As he walked, he kept turning his palm over to study that deep-black underlying light. Three Soul Rings: the first dark yellow tinged with purple, the second purple, and the third pure black. If he released them, any Soul Master with a discerning eye would see that something was wrong.

What expression would appear on Yu Xiaogang's face if he saw those three Soul Rings?

The corners of Nan Feng's mouth curved slightly, the movement almost invisible in the morning mist.

He traveled for two days and returned to Gengxin City on the evening of the second day.

The inn attendant stared when Nan Feng walked in covered in mud and blood, recognizing him only after a moment.

Nan Feng asked for a tub of hot water and a tableful of hot food, then shut himself in his room for three days, compressing his Soul Power bit by bit. Nurtured by the Power of Creation, his meridian walls grew thicker, and his Soul Power grew denser.

On the evening of the third day, he opened the door, his Soul Power stable at level thirty-four. The cracks in his meridian walls had all healed, and new flesh and skin had formed over the wound on his left arm, leaving only a pale scar.

Ye Lingling had gone on to Heaven Dou City, and Dugu Yan had returned to the Dugu Family. Nan Feng stayed alone in Gengxin City for another half month, practicing Tower Suppression, the Tower Realm, and his Soul Bone Skill by day and circulating the Primordial World Qi Refining Art at night.

Soul Power at level thirty-four. The second-floor tower door was fully open, the third-floor door had opened a crack, and Tower Realm · Creation was his.

Six levels remained before level forty. Only at level forty could he push the third-floor door fully open and truly project the Power of Creation outward. Only then could he help Xiao Wu with that seal.

One evening half a month later, Nan Feng was cultivating in his room when the blue-green light in the crack at the tower's base suddenly flickered.

Old Huai's voice came out, carrying a rare gravity. "Your perception has grown much stronger since the third-floor door opened a crack. Use Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light to scan in the direction of Heaven Dou City."

Nan Feng spread Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light toward Heaven Dou City. Its range was three times greater than before. His consciousness passed over Gengxin City's walls, crossed the main roads and fields, and stretched toward Heaven Dou City.

Within the outline of Heaven Dou City, he sensed several bright points of Spiritual Power, one of them particularly striking.

That point of light was crimson, its Spiritual Power fluctuations scorching and violent, like a flame compressed into an extremely small space.

Old Huai said, "Fire attribute, with very strong Soul Power fluctuations. At least Soul Saint level. You'll run into them when you go there later."

Nan Feng withdrew his perception and opened his eyes, looking at the deep-black underlying light in his palm. In the direction of Heaven Dou City lay the road he had to take.

He rested his right hand against his chest. The warm pulse deep in his palm traveled against his ribs, beat by beat.