Chapter 290 - 288: Heaven-Reaching Tower
"The Heaven-Reaching Tower on Yanfu Mountain in the Desolate Heaven Ridge?"
Of course, Chen Yuan knew of this place. It was a major backdrop in the original story. Many brilliant figures of the Jianghu had obtained their fortuitous encounters from within the Heaven-Reaching Tower, which was how they made a name for themselves.
For instance, the current Zhi Shilang, Wang Xuangan, and the master of Lu Chuanshan, the Alliance Leader of the Jianghai Alliance, ’Sea-covering Divine Monarch’ Chen Longbi, had both ventured into the Heaven-Reaching Tower in their youth. They had obtained opportunities there that allowed them to soar to prominence.
In the original story, the Heaven-Reaching Tower opened once every thirty years. The Chen Yuan in the original plot had also entered it, but due to the storyline’s progression and his limited strength, he could basically only wander around the lowest levels. Those who could reach the upper floors were all future prodigies and truly influential figures from the original plot.
There were many different tales about the origin of the Heaven-Reaching Tower. The most reliable one claimed that it was jointly constructed by countless ancient Human Race Clans and Sects in an attempt to ascend to the Divine Realm.
Its interior was a world of its own, containing countless Cultivation Technique Manuals, Exotic Treasures, and more, left behind by the ancient Clans and Sects.
Even many Divine Artifacts had been brought out from the Heaven-Reaching Tower. For example, Zhi Shilang Wang Xuangan’s Divine Weapon Heaven-Burning Flame was obtained from within the Tower.
However, Wang Xuangan was a man of incredible forbearance and astonishing willpower. He had obtained the Divine Soldier thirty years ago but had kept it hidden, only revealing it to shock the world when the Sun-Swapping Alliance was established.
Now, thirty years had passed, and in just over four months, the Heaven-Reaching Tower would open again. This was another grand event in the Jianghu.
The conditions to enter the Heaven-Reaching Tower were actually quite simple: anyone with strength below the Primordial Pill Realm could participate.
In the beginning, the upper limit for the Heaven-Reaching Tower was the Celestial Profound Realm. All Martial Artists at the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound and below were qualified to enter.
But as time passed, the space within it collapsed and shifted, and the power inside grew unstable. If a Martial Artist who was too strong entered, it would cause the space inside the Tower to shatter.
Therefore, the limit was lowered from the Celestial Profound Realm to below the Primordial Pill Realm, making it suitable only for the younger generation of Martial Artists to venture inside.
The top few on the current generation’s Hidden Dragon Rankings actually had the confidence to step into the Primordial Pill Realm long ago. However, they had been suppressing their Realm and refraining from Solidifying their Pill, all for the sake of entering the Heaven-Reaching Tower this time.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible for those in the Primordial Pill Realm to want to enter. It was just that the Heaven-Reaching Tower was not without order. Each generation, there was a mysterious Tower Guardian Elder, whose strength was simply unimaginably formidable.
A hundred years ago, the Divine Feather Sect, one of the Nine Martial Sects, had just been established. Having just been ranked among the Nine Martial Sects, they were at the height of their pride and ambition.
Because one of their young disciples had accidentally failed to suppress his Realm and had just condensed his Primordial Pill less than half a month prior, the Divine Feather Sect wanted to force their disciple into the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
The Tower Guardian Elder refused. The founding ancestor of the Divine Feather Sect, who was already in the late stage of the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound, tried to use force. In the end, he was slapped so hard by the Tower Guardian Elder that he coughed up blood, and the Divine Feather Sect was forbidden from entering the Heaven-Reaching Tower for its trials for a hundred years.
Since then, the Divine Feather Sect had become a laughingstock in the Jianghu. Its strength declined day by day, not at all resembling a Sect that had just entered the Jianghu Wind and Cloud Rankings and should have been at its peak.
However, with the Divine Feather Sect serving as a prime example, the various powers were all well-behaved during the subsequent trials of the Heaven-Reaching Tower, not daring to break the rules in the slightest.
Mr. Bei bringing up the Heaven-Reaching Tower at this moment made Chen Yuan a little suspicious. ’Could the Ming Sect be powerful enough to ignore the Tower’s rules and find some loophole for me?’
Mr. Bei saw the look in Chen Yuan’s eyes and knew what he was thinking. He couldn’t help but smile. "The Heaven-Reaching Tower may seem fair, but did you know that for some Major Sects with legacies stretching back thousands of years, their disciples actually have an advantage when they enter the trials?"
𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
"In the very beginning, the Heaven-Reaching Tower could accommodate experts at the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound. It was only as time went on that the cultivation requirements were gradually lowered."
"Thousands of years ago, the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound ancestors of the various Major Sects all entered it. They left behind many opportunities and arrangements that only their descendants can activate."
"Therefore, when the disciples of these Major Sects with long-standing legacies enter the Heaven-Reaching Tower, they naturally hold a huge advantage. With the opportunities left by their ancestors, they can go much further inside the Tower."
Chen Yuan was slightly stunned. "The Ming Sect’s history only seems to go back five hundred years. But the Tower’s strength requirement was lowered to below the Primordial Pill Realm a thousand years ago. How could our Ming Sect have left any opportunities or backup plans inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower?"
Mr. Bei said proudly, "Because in all these millennia, my Ming Sect’s Sect Leader, Qin Wuye, is one of only two people to have ever forced their way into the Heaven-Reaching Tower and sustained the internal space with their own cultivation, preventing it from collapsing."
"When the Sect Leader returned, he said that he had left some things inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower for future disciples of the Ming Sect to uncover."
"Over the years, the Ming Sect has had some young disciples whose strength and cultivation were not weak. For example, when I was young, and when Liu Bai was young, we were certainly considered talented individuals."
"But our cultivation could only be considered decent; it was far from astonishing. So, after much deliberation, the Sect did not grant us the opportunity within the Heaven-Reaching Tower."
"But you are different. The contributions you’ve made this time are immense, and your strength is plain to see. You can fully stand shoulder to shoulder with those truly brilliant prodigies in the top ten of the Hidden Dragon Rankings."
"If we don’t give the Sect Leader’s opportunity to you, I’m afraid that in a few more decades, it might just rot away completely inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower."
"However, what the Sect Leader left behind is not for us to decide. When I return to the Sect for a discussion, I will inform you of the result."
"But rest assured, the Ming Sect has always valued the principle of fairness. With the three of us here, we will do our best to ensure this opportunity is reserved for you."
Chen Yuan nodded and cupped his fists. "Thank you, Seniors."
After a pause, Chen Yuan asked curiously, "Why did you say the Sect Leader is one of only two people to have forced their way into the Tower? Who was the other?"
"I don’t know."
Mr. Bei shook his head. "That person’s identity is extremely mysterious. If the Sect Leader hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t even believe that someone five hundred years ago could be his equal."
"Of course, that’s not important. The world is vast, the Jianghu is wide, and every era will always produce some unbelievably powerful experts and eccentrics."
"Take the Tower Guardian Elder, for instance. He could make the founding ancestor of the Divine Feather Sect cough up blood with a single slap. Just how strong is he?"
"If he chose to leave Yanfu Mountain and establish his own Sect, he could create a top-tier Major Sect in the Jianghu in an instant."
"But he chose to live in seclusion on Yanfu Mountain, guarding the Heaven-Reaching Tower, sitting in silent meditation for a hundred years, only able to see outsiders once every thirty years."
After obtaining the Sun-piercing Sword, there was nothing else left in the entire Sun-piercing Alliance worth taking for them.
As one of the Seven Alliances of the World, the Sun-piercing Alliance naturally had some cultivation resources. However, Yuwen Shan and his men had already taken all of it. They needed to rebuild the Sun-piercing Alliance and certainly wouldn’t abandon those resources.
As for the other fixed assets, Yuwen Shan couldn’t take them, and the Ming Sect had no use for them.
However, there was one more matter within the Sun-piercing Alliance that Chen Yuan needed to handle. Zuo Xinglie’s granddaughter, Zuo Qianlan, was still in the underground prison.
Chen Yuan was a man of his word. Since he had promised Zuo Xinglie to look after his granddaughter, he would take care of her, regardless of whether she would one day become the leader of the Cangming Army, the Ming Water Guanyin.
After explaining the situation to Mr. Bei, the group went to the underground prison again.
The entire underground prison was empty, but Du Yang was still waiting there anxiously with Zuo Qianlan.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to escape, but that he didn’t dare.
Chen Yuan’s previous ferocity had left a deep impression on him. So, after thinking it over and over, he decided to stay and trust Chen Yuan.
Seeing Chen Yuan arrive, Du Yang instantly breathed a sigh of relief. ’I really did bet on the right person!’
"My lord, you’ve finally come!"
Chen Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "Well done. This is your reward. And let me give you a piece of advice: being a bandit is a life lived on the edge. Even if you don’t die here, you might die somewhere else in the future. How many in this line of work meet a good end?"
With that, Chen Yuan tossed Du Yang a bottle of Elixirs and an Earth Level Technique.
These things were useless to Chen Yuan, but for a Loose Cultivator of Du Yang’s level, they were priceless treasures.
"Thank you, my lord!"
Du Yang cupped his fists excitedly and then sighed. "I’ve learned my lesson this time. ’A man fears fame as a pig fears fattening.’ Always messing around in the Jianghu, one is bound to capsize sooner or later."
"I plan to find a Noble Family or a Sect and become a Ministerial Guest. That’s better than drifting aimlessly in the Jianghu."
Du Yang could also see that the people around Chen Yuan had astonishingly powerful auras. He didn’t dare to try and get any closer to Chen Yuan, and instead hurriedly left with his things.
"Were you getting anxious?"
Chen Yuan patted Zuo Qianlan’s head.
Zuo Qianlan shook her head. "No. Since Grandpa entrusted me to Big Brother, it means Big Brother is someone I can absolutely trust."
She had been hiding and fleeing with Zuo Xinglie since she was little. Despite her young age, she was already very sensible.
Just then, Mr. Bei made a soft sound of surprise.
"Little girl, hold out your hand and let me see."
Zuo Qianlan was a little scared of this stranger, Mr. Bei.
Chen Yuan patted her head and said, "Don’t worry, this uncle is a good person."
The corner of Mr. Bei’s mouth twitched slightly. He never thought he would one day be called a good person.
Comforted by Chen Yuan, Zuo Qianlan timidly extended her hand.
Mr. Bei held Zuo Qianlan’s wrist, sending his Wood True Qi into it. He said in astonishment, "This little girl’s talent is so strong! And her Spiritual Power is incredible, even stronger than some Martial Artists."
"Furthermore, her natural affinity for the Water Attribute is extremely high. When my Wood True Qi enters her, it is immediately nourished. If she were to cultivate a Water Attribute technique, her cultivation would surely advance by leaps and bounds."
Chen Yuan wasn’t surprised. If Zuo Qianlan’s talent wasn’t good, how could she become the Ming Water Guanyin in the future?
It was probably because Zuo Xinglie had made her memorize the "Emperor’s Qi Observation Skill" long ago. Although she couldn’t understand the "Emperor’s Qi Observation Skill" yet, it had made Zuo Qianlan’s own Spiritual Power exceptionally strong.