Chapter 272 - 201: Slaughter Tower
But Grandmasters had all walked this path, passing through countless moments between life and death, before they could finally stand above and look down upon the world.
Without experiencing countless battles and dangers, how could one grow into a true Martial Arts Grandmaster?
...
Xie Yuan shot up from the ground.
He spat reflexively, trying to clear his mouth of sand, but then he froze.
’No sand? None on me either?’
’A bit strange...’
He quickly looked up. He wasn’t in a deep pit or on a pile of sand. He hadn’t been buried, and there wasn’t even a single grain of sand around him. Instead, he found himself in a vast, indoor space.
The place resembled a large, circular plaza. The domed ceiling was several stories high, so lofty it was hard to make out clearly.
Several rows of massive stone pillars, which seemed to support the very heavens, extended all the way to the walls. Faintly visible against the walls was a ring of rooms that encircled the entire plaza. They were too far away to see clearly, and it seemed Xie Yuan’s eyesight wasn’t as sharp here as it was outside.
’This place...’
Xie Yuan got to his feet, frowning as he carefully surveyed his surroundings.
’It looks like... the inside of the Slaughter Tower?’
’It seems to be the 1st Layer at the base of the tower. A circular plaza large enough to hold tens of thousands, with countless rooms lining the walls...’
’But the space and area don’t match what I saw from the outside at all, do they?’
From the outside, while the illusory image of the Treasure Tower was tall, each of its floors didn’t seem particularly large, nor were the ceilings very high.
Yet the area in here was immense, far larger than the illusion suggested. In fact, the height of this 1st Layer alone was comparable to the midpoint of the entire Treasure Tower!
’Is this what the Buddhists call "a universe in a mustard seed"?’
Xie Yuan had a flash of insight. ’Is this the strange nature of these ruins?’
He cautiously scanned his surroundings again. It was unnervingly silent, without the slightest stir. It felt as if he were the only person here.
’Where are Lin Zhen and the others? We all fell in together, so why can’t I see anyone?’
Xie Yuan was standing very near the center of the plaza. He could see most of the 1st Layer from his position, but there was no one in sight.
’We were separated?’
He was extremely wary of these mysterious ruins. In the dead silent space, he didn’t dare call out.
Slowly, Xie Yuan moved away from the center, intending to investigate the perimeter first and see if he could find his companions.
He took a couple of steps. As he passed the first pillar, he observed the ancient carvings on its surface.
It was engraved with images of Buddhas and Arhats, seemingly depicting stories from ancient Buddhist scriptures. Xie Yuan paid it little mind at first. He glanced away as he walked past it, but then he suddenly froze.
He snapped his head back, his eyes widening.
There, behind the stone pillar, a person was embedded in it. Half of their body was sticking out, the other half inside, as if they were a sculpture welded to the stone!
Xie Yuan looked closer and realized it was one of Lu the Third’s bandits. The man’s eyes were wide open, his face a mask of frozen terror.
’This...’
Xie Yuan saw the man was motionless and wasn’t breathing, yet his body was held rigidly in place. His hand was even outstretched, not falling to his side. Xie Yuan’s brow furrowed deeply.
’He isn’t breathing, but somehow... he doesn’t feel dead...’
After staring at the bizarre sight for a moment, his brows tightly knitted, Xie Yuan slowly backed away.
After passing several more pillars, Xie Yuan saw the same thing again. A bandit seemed to be sprouting like a mushroom from the crack between a pillar and the floor, one head and one arm sticking out. He was staring upward, his mouth agape.
’What the hell is this?’
Frowning even more deeply, Xie Yuan continued to explore the perimeter.
Along the way, he found more bandits, all of them "growing" out of the floor or walls. He gradually grew accustomed to the sight, his expression turning thoughtful.
’They all slid in here with me. Why didn’t I end up like this? Was it just luck? Or is there another reason?’
He couldn’t find an answer, but a seed of worry began to sprout in his heart, and he quickened his pace.
As he neared the rooms by the wall, Xie Yuan was about to pick one to investigate when his expression suddenly froze and his heart clenched.
He saw someone he knew, also "growing" out of the wall of a room.
’It happened... My fears came true...’
Xie Yuan hurried over, calling out in a low voice:
"Miss Lin... Senior Sister Lin, Lin Zhen!"
But Lin Zhen didn’t react at all. She was like a lifeless stone statue, the front half of her body protruding from the wall while the back half was embedded within it.
Anxious, Xie Yuan reached out and took Lin Zhen’s delicate hand. He tested the resistance with a gentle tug, but no matter how hard he pulled, Lin Zhen remained completely motionless. It was as if she were a natural part of the stone room, or rather, being devoured by the room—by the Treasure Tower itself. It was utterly bizarre.
’She’s not dead, but she’s not alive either... It’s like she’s frozen in a certain state.’
Xie Yuan frowned, and then a thought struck him.
Whether it was Lin Zhen or the bandits he’d passed, their expressions, postures, breath, and very life-force all seemed to have stopped at the exact moment they fell into the pit.
’It’s as if... their time stopped at that very instant?’
Xie Yuan’s head snapped up. He turned in a full circle, looking around the interior of the Treasure Tower.
The very air here seemed completely still, without the slightest current.
’Is time itself paused inside this Treasure Tower?’
’And I’m the only one who can move?’
Xie Yuan suddenly found himself in a scenario he might have fantasized about in his past life. Yet, as he looked at the beautiful Lin Zhen, stuck in the wall before him... he felt nothing of the sort. The only thing he felt was a profound sense of the bizarre.
’How could this be?’
’What’s so special about me?’
An idea sparked in Xie Yuan’s mind. ’Besides my most secret panel, there’s only...’
He pushed up the sleeve of his left arm. Sure enough, a faint light was flowing along the lines of the two-petaled, tattoo-like black lotus there.
’It’s the Eight Trigrams Lotus... Is there a Black Celestial Book here, too? No, I don’t feel that heat...’
Xie Yuan fell into deep thought. He looked from the black lotus petals on his arm to his surroundings and found that the entire space had an inexplicable sense of unreality.