Chapter 161 - 159: Upholding Justice
Chen Yuan killed Qiu Guanyun with a single palm strike, and the entire area in front of the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower fell deathly silent.
The Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artists who had been fighting to block the tower’s entrance now all willingly cleared a path, allowing Chen Yuan to enter first.
Qiu Guanyun hadn’t been the strongest person present; his Cultivation was only at the Early Stage of the Condensing Truth Realm.
But even so, he was a genuine Condensing Truth Realm expert.
The sheer power of Chen Yuan’s palm strike was utterly terrifying.
Shen Wugui and Huangfu Yi exchanged a glance, shock evident in both their eyes.
They had witnessed Chen Yuan in action before, during the Furnace Opening Assembly.
The Great Brightness Sect truly lived up to its name. While channeling power into the Shennong Cauldron, he had still been able to kill one of Zhao Wuji’s Condensing Truth Realm experts. His strength was already terrifying back then.
Now that he had actually stepped into the Condensing Truth Realm, his power had skyrocketed compared to how he was at the assembly.
While the other Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artists were still stunned, the two of them leaped directly into the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower. This time, no one dared to stop them.
’If Chen Yuan of the Great Brightness Sect is that terrifying, how strong must Shen Wugui and Huangfu Yi be? They’re all prodigies from the Hidden Dragon Rankings.’
No one dared to test that theory. They could only let them go first, after which the rest of the crowd filed in.
As Chen Yuan entered the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower, he found himself in a vast space filled with countless puppets.
These puppets wielded various weapons. Most were forged from Golden Iron and stone, their bodies covered in dense, complex runes.
The members of the Shangguan Family and the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion were already engaged in battle with the puppets.
The puppets’ combat strength was extremely high. The weakest were at the Sea of Reincarnation Realm, and some were even at the Condensing Truth Realm.
In the very center stood three puppets whose power was comparable to the Primordial Pill Realm.
At the same time, a voice echoed throughout the space, and information suddenly and strangely flooded into everyone’s minds.
The message was simple, explaining the rules of the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower.
The first three floors are filled with these mechanical puppets, and they grow stronger with each descending level.
Killing a puppet drops a Primordial Stone containing the Power of Heaven and Earth. Collecting enough of these stones serves as the key to the Middle Three Floors.
Furthermore, the Primordial Stones contained pure Power of Heaven and Earth and could be directly refined later, just like an Elixir.
The Middle Three Floors consist of individual halls. The number of Primordial Stones one collected determined which hall they were qualified to enter. The more stones required for a hall, the higher the difficulty of its trial.
After clearing all three floors within a single hall, one would receive a trial reward. Naturally, the higher the difficulty, the more lavish the reward.
As for the final three floors, they were in fact a single level dedicated to tempering the heart, a test of a Martial Artist’s mental fortitude.
Only the one who endured to the very end could claim the ultimate reward of the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower.
The competition within the original Palace of Myriad Phenomena was incredibly fierce; it was a complete "Raising Gu" model.
To go through the immense effort of building such a massive Trial Tower, only for a single person to claim the final prize, was arguably quite harsh.
Of course, there were still rewards for clearing the Middle Three Floors, but in the original story, those rewards were nothing compared to the final prize.
The members of the Shangguan Family and the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion were already locked in a fierce battle with the puppets, frantically collecting Primordial Stones.
Chen Yuan didn’t use the Celestial Fire Secret Manual to ignite the Starfire within his Dantian and Reincarnation Sea. Instead, he relied solely on his pure, unadulterated physical strength to deal with the puppets.
The Celestial Fire Secret Manual consumed too much energy. It wasn’t time for the real killing to begin, so he needed to conserve as much stamina as possible.
Besides, these puppets weren’t true Martial Artists. Their movements were somewhat stiff, making them easy to dispatch.
At its peak, the Palace of Myriad Phenomena not only cultivated the Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon Three Vein Skills but also dabbled in all sorts of other fields like Alchemy, Mechanisms, and the Array Dao. That was how they were able to mass-produce these puppets.
However, it was obvious the Palace of Myriad Phenomena never took these unorthodox arts seriously, merely using them to test its young disciples.
By now, Shangguan Jue and Xu Wenzhou had already dealt with the Primordial Pill Realm puppets and had moved on to the next floor to continue the slaughter.
Jie Yushan of the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion suddenly appeared before Shangguan Yun, with Shen Wugui of the Nine Nether Sect following behind him.
A wary look immediately appeared in Shangguan Yun’s eyes. Several Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artists from the Shangguan Family closed ranks around him.
"Brother Shangguan, don’t be alarmed," Jie Yushan said. "I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m here to ask if you’re interested in cooperating."
"Cooperating? On what?"
Jie Yushan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, squinting at the other Martial Artists battling puppets throughout the vast space.
"The entrance to this Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower was opened by the seniors of our two families. On what grounds do these people get to reap the benefits?"
"The first three floors are just filled with weak puppets, mainly to weed out the pretenders."
"The Middle Three Floors, however, contain treasures. Are you really willing to watch them fall into the hands of these people?"
"Why don’t we join forces? We’ll wait for them to deal with all the puppets and collect the Primordial Stones. Then, we’ll deal with *them*. We can split the stones and divvy up the treasures from the Middle Three Floors. What do you say?"
"Brother Shen of the Nine Nether Sect has already agreed. If you join us, no one here will be a match for us."
Shangguan Yun sneered. "Truly the style of your Forgotten Heaven Pavilion. Unscrupulous and as ruthless as the Demon Dao!"
The Martial Artists of the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion who cultivated the Forgotten Love Celestial Book all seemed a bit deranged. Each one had a cold and grim state of mind, acting with extreme, calm calculation, putting profit above all else.
As long as a Martial Artist from the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion believed their actions would yield the greatest benefit, there was nothing they wouldn’t do.
Thus, although their Cultivation Technique didn’t belong to the Demon Dao, their style was often more demonic than the Demon Dao itself, and they had a poor reputation in the Jianghu.
Shen Wugui snorted. "What do you mean, ’as ruthless as the Demon Dao’? Brother Shangguan, do you have a problem with my Demon Dao?"
Saying such a thing in front of someone from the Demon Dao was indeed an indirect insult.
Shangguan Yun coughed. "Brother Shen, please don’t take offense. That’s not what I meant."
"Besides us, is there anyone else? What about Chen Yuan from the Great Brightness Sect, or Huangfu Yi from the Huangfu Family? You didn’t invite them?"
"Team up with someone from the Great Brightness Sect? Are you insane?!"
Jie Yushan sneered. "Has it been so long that you’ve forgotten what your own ancestors did?"
"Which of our families didn’t kick the Great Brightness Sect when it was down? Who didn’t scoop up some benefits when it was destroyed?"
"Your Shangguan Family’s Nine Heavens Cold Water Secret Realm—where do you think you seized that from? Surely you haven’t forgotten?"
"We can’t afford to provoke that bastard right now. In fact, we need to be on guard against him."
"As for that kid from the Huangfu Family, he’s a spineless coward, not even worth mentioning. I just went to invite him, and he actually refused, even saying I was going too far. Utterly ridiculous!"
Shangguan Yun pondered for a moment before saying, "Alright! When the time comes, we’ll strike together."
’Jie Yushan’s personality is just like most Martial Artists from the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion: extremely calm. He wouldn’t sabotage himself unless there’s an absolute conflict of interest, not even over the fact that my brother, Shangguan Moyuan, once defeated him.’
After most of the puppets on the first floor were dealt with, everyone proceeded down to the second floor through the central passage.
The puppets on the next two floors were more numerous and slightly stronger, but they were not difficult to handle.
Once the puppets of the first three floors were cleared out, Shangguan Jue and Xu Wenzhou had long since taken their Primordial Pill Realm Level Primordial Stones and entered the trials of the Middle Three Floors.
But now, with a wave of his hand, Shangguan Yun had his men block the passage to the Middle Three Floors.
The expressions of some of the Martial Artists on the scene immediately changed.
A veteran Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist stepped forward, frowning. "Master Shangguan, what is the meaning of this? Why are you blocking the passage and preventing us from entering?"
"Exactly! Are you saying only the Shangguan Family and the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion are allowed to enter and seize treasures, while the rest of us are forbidden from exploring?"
"This is the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower, left behind by the ancient Palace of Myriad Phenomena, not by the ancestors of your Shangguan Family and Forgotten Heaven Pavilion! How can you be so tyrannical?"
This tyrannical move by Shangguan Yun and his allies immediately drew the crowd’s ire, and many began to voice their condemnation.
Jie Yushan sneered. "A bunch of insatiably greedy fools!"
"If it weren’t for my martial uncle and the Grandmaster from the Shangguan Family, would you even be worthy of setting foot in here?"
"You know this is a trial ground of the Palace of Myriad Phenomena. Do you really think trash like you are worthy of being tested here?"
"Kill them! Take all their Primordial Stones!"
As his voice fell, Jie Yushan moved. Water and Fire Power swirled around his body as he threw a punch. The Pole Power erupted, instantly sending the Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist who had spoken first flying.
A frigid Demonic Qi surged from Shen Wugui’s body as he too charged into the crowd.
The Loose Cultivators at the Sea of Reincarnation Realm were no match for him; they couldn’t even withstand a single exchange.
With the members of the Shangguan Family joining in, the Condensing Truth Realm experts from smaller local factions and the Independent Martial Artists were quickly beaten, their miserable cries echoing through the chamber.
Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. ’The Forgotten Heaven Pavilion’s methods really are simple and brutal.’
’But the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion has never cared about its reputation. They have their own deep-rooted power. Even if the entire Jianghu thinks they’re cold-blooded and unscrupulous, it doesn’t change the fact that they are one of the Nine Martial Sects.’
Seeing Chen Yuan standing on the sidelines, uninvolved, some of the Independent Martial Artists actually ran over to him for help.
"The Shangguan Family and the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion are being so tyrannical and unreasonable! Master Chen, please help us! Uphold justice for us!"
Chen Yuan smiled. "Alright."
The man was instantly overjoyed. ’I can’t believe the successor of the Great Brightness Sect, which is rumored to be an Evil Cult, is so approachable!’
’It’s the so-called great powers of the Jianghu, like the Shangguan Family and the Forgotten Heaven Pavilion, who are acting like unreasonable tyrants. You really can’t believe the rumors you hear.’
"Just hand over all the Primordial Stones you have, and I’ll naturally uphold justice for you," Chen Yuan said.
The smiles on the faces of the Martial Artists who had asked for help instantly froze.