Upon entering the Fourth Heaven, Ling Tian and Su Meier discovered that it was completely different from the previous three Heavens, which were characterized by howling gales and raging ice flames.
The Fourth Heaven was a tranquil, suspended 牌殿—nine gilded card tables floated according to the positions of the Big Dipper, and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches carved along their edges flickered with each breath.
Su Meier’s tail brushed the edge of a card table, and ripples appeared on its white marble surface; it was solidified liquid Spiritual Qi.
"The Spiritual Qi concentration here is thirty times that of the outside world," she said.
The Moonlight Pearl she had condensed on her fingertip suddenly exploded. "Ling Tian, all spells are sealed!"
The star map on the dome of the card hall suddenly rotated, and a woman in plain clothes emerged from the Tian Shu position card table.
Unlike the ferocious guardians of the first three Heavens, this person, with her high crown and wide sash, resembled an immortal from a painting; only the six stars of the Southern Dipper flickering in her eyes revealed her non-human essence: "I am the Spirit of the Xuan Tian Card.
Those who wish to pass this level must solve the Heaven, Earth, and Human Tri-Talent Killing Game."
"Ling Tian, what kind of rule is this? How can there be a battle of wits?" Su Meier touched her curious head, a big question mark in her small mind.
"This card is called the Xuan Tian Treasure Card..." An ethereal voice came from the woman’s mouth.
Three hundred and sixty luminous white bone cards fell from the dome's star map, spreading out into a path to the Heavens on the gilded card tables.
These secret treasures, refined from the vertebrae of primeval Divine Beasts, had raised star patterns on their surfaces that were not mere decorations but actual projections of stars; the trajectory of the Zi Wei Emperor Star flowing across the card faces was identical to that in the Nine Heavens.
"The cards are divided into three talents, aligning with the principles of Heaven and Earth."
The Heaven cards glowed with gilded light, engraved with totems of the twelve main stars such as Zi Wei and Tai Yi; metallic Spiritual Qi solidified into tangible star dust on their surfaces, allowing the holder to consume star dust to forcibly change the card order.
The Earth cards were as heavy as mountains, with patterns of Hou Tu and Gou Chen glowing with mysterious yellow light; whenever a loser's Spiritual Qi was drawn in a card game, earth-attribute spiritual power would condense into new mountain ranges on the Earth card's surface.
The Human cards were the most enigmatic, with Life Palace constellations like Wen Qu and Wu Qu flickering on their crimson surfaces; intense fire-attribute spiritual power allowed them to replicate the opponent's previous round's card face, but each replication added a crack to the card body.
"The Dao of victory and defeat is hidden in the mutual generation and restraint of the three talents.
Each player holds a Heavenly King Jade Token, within which eleven Innate Spiritual Qi are sealed.
In each round, two hole cards must be secretly held, and three cards revealed to form a Heaven, Earth, and Human killing formation—the sharpness of the Heaven card can break the thickness of the Earth card, the vastness of the Earth card can suppress the agility of the Human card, and the adaptability of the Human card can restrain the sharpness of the Heaven card, thus forming a cyclical Daoic shackles."
The loser not only had to offer the corresponding Spiritual Qi, but more terrifyingly, for every Spiritual Qi lost, their Divine Soul became more entangled with the card formation.
However, the true danger of the card game lay in the Heavenly Rules hidden behind the stars.
When the three stars of Zi Wei, Wen Qu, and Gou Chen appeared simultaneously, a sign of flourishing literary fortune would descend from the dome, allowing the winner to forcibly extract thirty percent of the opponent's Spiritual Qi; if the three ominous stars of Po Jun, Qi Sha, and Tan Lang gathered, it would trigger the 'Sha Po Lang' ultimate formation, causing both players to suffer a Heavenly and Earthly backlash that halved their Spiritual Qi.
Even more fatal was the cyclical generation and restraint of the day and night hours: during the Zi-Chou hours, Heaven cards received the power of the Great Yin, and cold water Spiritual Qi poured in, doubling the power of the metal attribute; during the Yin-Mao transition, Earth cards borrowed the Eastern Yi Wood Qi, surprisingly counteracting the sharpness of Heaven cards; during the Wu-Wei hours, Human cards were imbued with the essence of Li Fire, and intense fiery Qi could melt metal and break jade; during the Shen-You hours, the White Tiger Star Lord descended, and the Heaven card's sharp metal Qi broke wood and shattered earth; during the Xu-Hai transition, Earth cards received the aid of the Central Wu Earth, and their vast spiritual power could suppress fire and seal flames.
These hidden rules were not explained by the card spirit, leading to countless tower climbers dying because of them...
The card spirit's delicate hand caressed the gilded card tables, and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches on all nine tables suddenly lit up simultaneously: "This game decides life and death, and also proves the Dao."
The floating bone cards rotated at her fingertips, each reflecting the desperate faces of the losers.
First Round · Heavenly Fire Burning City
Ling Tian flicked the "Ying Huo" card face, and the crimson star pattern ignited in response.
This Heaven card, imbued with the essence of Li Fire, burned the "Hou Tu" Earth card played by the card spirit fiery red—according to the overt rules, Heaven overcoming Earth was a sure victory.
"The blazing essence burns the city, victory should be mine," he said.
The spiritual light of the chip he had condensed on his fingertip was already flying towards his token, but he saw the card spirit's lips curl slightly.
The dome's star map suddenly reversed, and the power of the Great Yin during the Zi hour poured down like a waterfall; the "Ying Huo" card, which should have been fire-attributed, actually emitted a faint blue cold light!
Su Meier's nine tails suddenly tensed: "The Five Elements of the card face have changed!"
Before she finished speaking, the "Hou Tu" card, which had been tempered by Li Fire, suddenly burst forth with Xuan Ming cold Qi, freezing the "Ying Huo" card into an ice block.
Ling Tian grunted, and the Heaven Token in his Tri-Talent Token suddenly dimmed, one of its eleven Spiritual Qi already lost.
"Second round, please."
The card spirit lightly waved her delicate hand, and the starlight of the Xu hour cast a dim yellow glow on the card table.
The "Song Shan" Earth card, carrying the might of the Five Great Mountains, pressed down, and Ling Tian immediately threw out the "Wu Qu" Human card—normally, a Human card belonging to Earth should be restrained, but he specifically waited until the Xu hour when the earth Qi was strongest on the card face.
Just as the chips were about to change hands, the White Tiger constellation on the dome suddenly brightened.
The 肅殺 golden Qi of the Shen hour arrived through the Void Realm, and the "Wu Qu" Human card, which should have been earth-attributed, actually emitted a metallic luster.
The card spirit chuckled and formed a hand seal; the "Song Shan" card suddenly transformed into golden peaks, crushing the "Wu Qu" card!
"The Shen hour's metal Qi overrides the Xu hour's earth command..."
Second round, Ling Tian, defeated...
By the fifth round, Ling Tian's lips were already bleeding.
He deliberately chose the Yin hour, when wood Qi was rising, to use the "Gou Chen" Earth card to restrain the card spirit's "Wen Qu" Human card.
The surface of the Earth card glowed with a vibrant green, and Yi Wood Spiritual Qi condensed into an Azure Dragon phantom.
Just as the Azure Dragon was about to devour the "Wen Qu" card, the card spirit suddenly flipped over a hidden card.
The "Tai Yin" Heaven card, boosted by the Zi hour, transformed into Xuan Ming heavy water; the water spirit, which should have been restrained by wood Qi, instead saw its power triple due to the mutually generative effect of the hours!
"The Yin hour's water Qi borrows the momentum of wood?" Ling Tian coughed up half a mouthful of vital blood, and the Earth Token in his Tri-Talent Token already showed cracks.
Su Meier suddenly pressed his trembling wrist, "Ling Tian, are you alright!"
Ling Tian suddenly transmitted a message to Su Meier: "Meier, in the second round, I already felt a sense of incongruity, as if I had missed something.
It wasn't until this fifth round that I could confirm that there's definitely something fishy about this card game!
It should be related to the cycle of hours!
Meier, listen carefully, I will continue to probe it with the remaining rounds, and you must find the key as soon as possible!"
After hearing Ling Tian's message, Su Meier closed her eyes and sat in meditation, her nine tails unfurled, fox fire coiling around her, and the qingqiu imperial seal began to examine all surrounding objects.
When the eighth round was lost, Ling Tian's chest was already covered in frost patterns.
The card spirit toyed with the newly condensed "Qi Sha" card, its surface reflecting the scene of their initial entry into the tower.
"Do you want to continue?" Her fingertip traced the eight surplus Spiritual Qi in the Heaven Token before her.
At this point, Ling Tian had lost five and won three.
Just then, Su Meier suddenly tore her sleeve, and her Innate fox fire burned scorch marks on the card table: "The Yin hour's wood command generates the Wu hour's fire Qi, and the Shen hour's metal command transforms into the Zi hour's water phase—this card spirit is using reverse Five Elements generation and restraint!"
She used her tail as a brush, performing deductions in the Void Realm: Zi hour (water) changes to Wu hour (fire), Heaven card metal transforms into fire to overcome metal.
"The thing is inside the table!" Su Meier shouted.
Ling Tian's pupils constricted, and the jade dragon sword suddenly pierced through the card table.
The star dust picked up by the sword tip condensed into a phantom armillary sphere in the Void Realm—the back of that disc was actually engraved with inverted Twelve Earthly Branches!
Subsequently, Ling Tian and the other person won two consecutive rounds, entering the final round!
Eleventh Round.
Ling Tian placed the last three cards in the Zhen position.
At this moment, the card spirit was secretly holding another miniature armillary sphere; it turned out that the previous two consecutive losses were to mislead Ling Tian and the other person into thinking that she had no more tricks up her sleeve.
However, just as she was about to activate the Shen hour's metal Qi to decide life and death in one round, Su Meier instantly flashed behind her, her nine-tailed fox fire flaring brightly, coiling around the armillary sphere: "Young Miss, it's time to set things right!"
The reversed hour dial was forcibly twisted back onto its correct track, and the card spirit's "Qi Sha" card suddenly spontaneously combusted.
Ling Tian seized the opportunity to throw out the "Wen Qu" Human card; under the blessing of the true Yin hour's wood command, this literary fortune card, which should have been restrained by a Heaven card, actually borrowed the Eastern Purple Qi to devour the starlight!
"When you come out, you always have to pay!" Ling Tian's sword finger wiped across the bleeding card face, and the tampered hour power surged back into the card spirit's body.
The card spirit's plain white figure developed cracks, and the gilded card tables exploded.
The three hundred and sixty bone cards, like a shark swarm smelling blood, tore at her disintegrating Divine Soul.
The lingering Divine Souls of those Cultivators who had been devoured surged out from the card faces, transforming into three thousand six hundred threads of Karma that pierced into her Spiritual Platform.
"I... how could I lose..." The Southern Dipper starlight she had condensed at her fingertips had not yet fully formed when the star map of the entire Xuan Tian Hall suddenly inverted.
The streak of light from the falling Zi Wei Emperor Star cut across the card face, nailing the card spirit's last true spirit onto the "Tan Lang" card.
The raised star patterns on the bone card's surface began to grow in reverse, and dark red blood marrow actually seeped from the gilded star 軌.
When the last wisp of Divine Sense was devoured, all the bone cards trembled simultaneously.
A completely black reverse-fate card condensed in the Void Realm, and the liquid Spiritual Qi formed a vortex, pouring into the card.
The Reverse-Fate Card can modify one's predetermined outcome once.
Su Meier handed the card to Ling Tian, and the Reverse-Fate Card transformed into a stream of light, disappearing into Ling Tian's glabella.
Star patterns seemed to emerge between his eyebrows, reflecting the inverted six stars of the Southern Dipper.
Then, the two collapsed to the ground; after this round, one felt his brain emptied, and the other felt his Divine Sense emptied.
They leaned against each other, gazing at the starlight, and fell into a deep sleep.