Today was the day when Prime Tower finally opened. Those in the Grand-Orient Sect had been waiting a month for it. The Prime Struggle attracted quite a lot of flair this time around, with all the grudges and interactions blossoming on full display. While the battles would take place in the tower itself, the audience seating was still located at the First Grand-Orient Battlefield.
The past month seemed like it had lasted forever. The day before the tower even opened arrived, the First Grand-Orient Battlefield had already been filled to the brim like a pot of boiling stew, with the fires beneath it still burning. There were more than a hundred thousand inner disciples in the sect, so it wasn't easy to accommodate so many people at once.
Even Azure Dragon Sword Mountain's Yuan Huitian had to rely on his status to get a good seat, let alone the other disciples. The audience members were already discussing how it would all turn out.
"Come to think of it, what level is the junior sect master at now?"
"I don't know, there hasn't been any news about it. Perhaps he didn't make much progress after all."
"These matters are almost always regulated by the laws of nature. There's no way his growth and talent are exempt from the universal laws."
"I heard Yuwen Zhenxing and the rest already made some preparations for him."
"They're definitely going to get back at him for Yuwen Shengcheng and Su Yiran."
"I wonder if the junior sect master will even reach the third floor. Nobody will be able to see anything happening on that floor, so it'll be rather dangerous for him."
"I doubt it's just a matter about getting back at him for those grudges. His blazing talent is definitely something certain factions are wary of."
"Will this be a repeat of what happened to the sect master?"
"Brothers, there are some things we can't simply speculate about."
The Grand-Orient Sect wasn't a place where people could get away with saying just about anything. As the crowd was in heated discussions, a beam of light emanated from the battlefield, causing all of them to cheer.
All they could see was the appearance of a tower of light and shadow appearing in the middle of the battlefield. It was transparent on two floors with semi transparent layouts partitioning the levels, allowing everything happening there to be clearly seen from the arena.
"This is a heavenly pattern projection Elder Su Zhen created, right?"
"That's correct. It's an application of heavenly pattern barriers that can be used at the Heavenly Will stage."
"It seems to require some sort of special spirit ores to be installed within the tower itself. The mysterious nature of heavenly pattern barriers will allow the spirit ores to capture visuals from within the tower and project them here."
There was nobody in the projection for now, but at least the layout of the first two floors was visible. As for the third, no projection was made of it, making it impossible for those outside to know how the ones within were faring in the trials on the third floor. If anyone could emerge from the third floor to the top of the Prime Tower, they would become prime disciples.
If, however, nobody had entered the third floor by the sixth hour, they would fall off the second floor and be disqualified by the tower. The third floor had always been one of secrecy and mystique, making the discrepancy of knowledge about the tower between the seventeen participating direct disciples and four prime disciples to be quite large.
The highlight of the day was the treasure hunt on the first two floors of the tower, as well as whether or not Li Tianming would survive. The projection's appearance meant that the tower would open soon. Even if no prime disciples were raised, it was already an honor for the seventeen to be chosen to enter the tower—something the other inner disciples and outer disciples aspired to experience at least once. All seventeen of the chosen were super talented direct disciples of the elders or their family members, after all.
......
When Su Zhen emerged from Fengtian Mountain's hall, Tianming knew it was about time for him to fight.
"Why's Qingyu not back yet?" Ye Shaoqing asked, furrowing his brow.
"Granny’s gone out to look for her. She said Qingyu went to Fuling Town, or something. Based on the speed of the Grandwhite Kunpeng's flight, she should've returned a day ago," Tianming said.
"Qingyu would definitely come back for something as important as this. Perhaps she's been delayed by something."
Tianming was quite worried about her. Back when she left, he hadn’t thought too much about it. The closer it was to the opening of the Prime Tower, the harder it was for him to leave. Fortunately, the much stronger Jingyu was out looking for her. Given her familiarity with Qingyu, she would have a much easier time finding her.
"Qingyu isn’t someone that usually makes others worry. It should be fine. She might be back soon, you just have to focus on not losing your life today." Ye Shaoqing usually wasn't as strict as he was today.
"Understood."
"Come to think of it, how confident are you in your abilities right now?" Ye Shaoqing noted the improvements he had made in the past month. Back then, he had felt that Tianming was about to commit suicide by going to Prime Tower. However, now he was genuinely curious how it would go.
"Don't worry. The least I can say is that I won't die inside."
That was enough to calm Ye Shaoqing down. As long as Tianming survived, he would have tons of chances in the future.
"What about the treasures on the first two floors?"
"I'll do my best to get them."
The first floor had a much-desired terrestrial manna that could allow a lifebound beast to evolve to a third-order saint beast, not to mention the second floor. Competition was sure to be fierce.
"What about becoming a prime disciple?" Ye Shaoqing asked.
"I'm not certain about that. I know nothing about the third floor, after all."
"You asked me back then whether you'd immediately become a prime disciple after you passed the third floor. Back then, I didn't give it too much thought, but I'll tell you more about it now."
"Please do."
"The elders decided that each generation should have no more than four prime disciples. If there are currently only three or fewer, the one to pass the third floor of Prime Tower will automatically be anointed as a prime disciple by the council of elders. But now there’s already four, so if you pass the third floor, you'll have to fight one more round to disqualify one of the existing prime disciples and take their place. That’s a one-on-one fight, and the winner gets the rank of prime disciple," Ye Shaoqing explained.
In other words, even if he passed the third floor, he would still have to get a prime disciple to step down before becoming one himself.
"Who among the four will be challenged, then?" Tianming asked the crucial question. After all, Yuwen Shendu and Su Wuyou weren't even in the same league.