Chapter 329: Chapter 329: Eightfold Momentum, Cultivation Tower Fifth Layer, Ah Ying
Li Mo Huang found Deputy Commander Zhou Jiacai.
“I want to become a night watchman and struggle until dawn.”
Li Mo Huang stated the mission’s requirement, then took the night watchman’s tools, hid at the corner of the street, and silently shed tears.
…
While Li Mo Huang was completing one task after another, the cultivation of the disciples at the Misty Sect continued.
On the fourth floor of the Cultivation Tower, the Combat Zone.
“Congratulations, you have passed the middle-rank difficulty assessment, scoring eleven points and currently ranking first.”
The mechanized voice reached Mo Ying’s ears.
“If the middle-rank difficulty is this demanding, won’t the upper-rank difficulty make it impossible to score even one point?”
Mo Ying gripped her Breeze-riding Flying Sword, her face full of solemnity.
In the lower-rank difficulty, it started with facing one hundred lower-rank Demon Soldier Level Crystal Spirits, followed by the successive appearances of ten lower-rank Demon Generals, and then, a middle-rank Demon General would emerge.
But the middle-rank difficulty was terrifying.
It began with a lower-rank Demon General.
Mo Ying slew ten in a row, and when the last middle-rank Demon General appeared, she killed it with ease, scoring eleven points and shattering the crystal.
It could be said that the gap between middle-rank and lower-rank difficulties was that the lowest bar was set high, effectively weeding out cultivators below the Element Gathering Realm.
Mo Ying exited the Combat Zone.
Meanwhile, Huo Yunjie also left the secret room.
“I scored ten points, and then I shattered the crystal before being killed by a middle-rank Demon General.”
Huo Yunjie voluntarily shared his experience.
“It was rough for me, I fought for a long time, could only score up to three points at most, and couldn’t even touch the crystal,” Long Tianxing said, holding his head with his hand, feeling somewhat weak.
“Elder Brother Long, you are already very strong. Although I have reached the eighth level of Body Refinement and can awaken the potential within my body, raising my aura to six times its normal state and approaching the level of Major Achievement of third-grade spells, my overall strength is still no match for a lower-rank Demon General,” said Qiao Jiaxi with a look of helplessness.
At that moment, his body shone with a pale gold light, his Ancient Giant God bloodline’s vitality growing more vigorous.
His battle strength could momentarily boost to six times his normal level.
But even so, with a foundation of just the eighth level of Body Refinement, he could only severely injure a lower-rank Demon General even with a desperate effort, unable to deliver a killing blow.
In this way, attempting to pass the test became extremely difficult.
To shatter the crystal while under the full attack of a lower-rank Demon General was a very challenging task, to the extent that Qiao Jiaxi hadn’t yet passed the middle-rank difficulty level.
“Although we have now passed the middle-rank difficulty level, we still don’t meet the requirements to enter the fifth floor’s Illusionary Realm Zone.”
“It looks like we need to try our luck in the upper-rank difficulty levels, rest for a while, then head out quickly.”
Huo Yunjie and Mo Ying chose to continue challenging.
“I’m also going to start challenging the upper-rank difficulty,” Long Tianxing thought for a moment, then decided to continue with the challenge.
“I’d better improve my cultivation level first,” Qiao Jiaxi said somewhat sullenly.
He couldn’t pass even the middle-rank difficulty level, mainly due to insufficient strength; he could only continue to challenge the lower-rank difficulty level, seeking to raise his Body Cultivation Realm to the ninth level of Body Refinement.
“To elevate to the ninth level of Body Refinement, my aura needs to increase to eight times its strength, equivalent to reaching Perfection in third-grade spells.”
“As for the method, it’s through ceaseless battle.”
Qiao Jiaxi took a deep breath, entered the Combat Zone, and chose a lower-rank challenge.
The next moment, he appeared in a valley.
Boom!
Fifteen lower-rank Demon Soldier Level Crystal Spirits charged at him.
“Sixfold aura!”
Qiao Jiaxi took a deep breath, his body igniting with a pale gold glow, his hair flowing without wind, turning a golden color.
Even his pupils sparked with golden light.
Whoosh!
He charged forward, punching each Crystal Spirit.
Qiao Jiaxi kept colliding through, breezing through the challenge at a rapid pace. Before long, he had shattered one hundred lower-rank Demon Soldier Level Crystal Spirits, leading to the appearance of a lower-rank Demon General Level Spirit.
The two clashed in midair.
With a “boom,”
Qiao Jiaxi was sent flying.
However, he didn’t get discouraged but continued to gather his aura, using “Divine Fist” in combination with “Sword of Qi and Blood” to keep slashing at the Crystal Spirit, causing it to crack.
Crack!
Finally, Qiao Jiaxi slid around to the back and shattered the creature.
His score reached a hundred and one points.
“I finally shattered it!”
Qiao Jiaxi was filled with confidence, but soon, a second lower-rank Demon General Level Crystal Spirit appeared.
A fierce battle erupted between it and Qiao Jiaxi.
As his physical strength gradually waned, Qiao Jiaxi found himself on the defensive, and a punch that could have shattered his skull was imminent. At the life-or-death juncture, his aura surged again, astonishingly reaching sevenfold, allowing him to dodge the attack.
Afterward, he began his counterattack.
Dependent on his rich combat experience and sophisticated fighting skills, he shattered the second lower-rank Demon General Level Crystal Spirit.
He fought valiantly, but ultimately fell before the fourth Lower Rank Demon General Level spirit.
The next moment, Qiao Jiaxi returned to the Combat Zone.
He looked at the blue and white walls that had reappeared around him, found that his body had no injuries, but the exhaustion of his physical strength was tremendous. He immediately collapsed to the ground, too tired to even move his fingertips.
After a long time, he recovered his strength and continued the battle.
After repeating this process over a dozen times, Qiao Jiaxi faced the seventh Lower Rank Demon General Level Crystal Spirit, and his momentum had built up to a peak, encountering a bottleneck.
He didn’t slack off but continued to fight.
Finally, while severely wounded and achieving mutual destruction with a Lower Rank Demon General Level spirit, a stroke of insight struck Qiao Jiaxi, and the bloodline of the Ancient Giant God within him surged violently, reaching an eightfold increase in momentum. His cultivation level also broke through to the ninth level of Body Refinement, strong enough to withstand multiple attacks from a Lower Rank Demon General Level spirit.
Crack!
Despite his injuries, he shattered ten Lower Rank Demon Generals, and finally, before a Middle Rank Demon General appeared, he blew up the Crystal Spirit.
His score reached one hundred and ten!
“Hahaha, that feels great!”
Inside the Combat Chamber.
Qiao Jiaxi once again lay exhausted on the ground.
He had reached his current limit.
Unless he made a breakthrough to the Demon General Level of Body Refinement, he would never be a match for a Middle Rank Demon General Level spirit.
After all, the gap between them was too wide.
“It’s time to try the Middle Rank difficulty Combat Zone. I wonder how the others are doing,” Qiao Jiaxi murmured to himself.
At that moment, in another Combat Chamber.
“Congratulations on passing the Upper Rank difficulty challenge. Your score is three, which qualifies you to proceed to the fifth floor of the Illusionary Realm Zone.”
Mo Ying heard the prompt in her ear.
“So passing the Upper Rank difficulty is required to go to the fifth floor. This means without the strength of a Sect Master from a One-Star Sect, one is not qualified to proceed to the fifth floor,” Mo Ying whispered to herself as she left the Combat Zone.
She discovered Huo Yunjie, Long Tianxing, and Qiao Jiaxi were still inside their Combat Chambers and hadn’t come out yet.
Mo Ying left a note on the ground.
Then, she headed to the fifth floor of the Illusionary Realm Zone.
The layout of the fifth floor was simple.
There were three archways made of white jade, all identical in height, design, color, and pattern.
“Illusionary Realm for Refining the Heart.”
Mo Ying looked up, read the words above an archway silently, and walked slowly into one of the gates.
The next moment, her figure disappeared.
Special radiance enveloped that archgate. Before Mo Ying emerged, nobody other than Ye Feng, the master of the Cultivation Tower, could open it.
This was a familiar world.
In front of her was an ancient Five-Colored Altar.
On the altar.
An old crone with a cane was etching strange purple and black runes on the face of a young girl dressed in black and with her hair braided into sheep’s horns.
“Ah Ying, the position of the High Priest of our Ancient Tribe will be passed on to you. Remember, never leave the bounds of the Ancient Tribe, or the ancient runes on your face will destroy your looks, and they can only be restored on the night of the full moon,” the old woman instructed while etching.
The girl called “Ah Ying,” nodded her delicate chin obediently and said, “High Priestess, Ah Ying understands.”
Mo Ying stood not far away, quietly watching.
The eyes hidden behind the black veil were already brimming with tears, her gaze constantly flickering.
“Rather than an Illusionary Realm, it’s more accurate to say this place can evoke the memories hidden at the bottom of one’s heart,” Mo Ying suddenly spoke in a choked voice.
She wiped away her tears and continued to release the memories deep inside her.
In the vision.
The Underground Cavern shattered, and the Foreign Clan emerged.
The Ancient Tribe, along with the former High Priestess of the Ancient Tribe, sacrificed their entire race to destroy the King of the Foreign Clan and seal the entrance to the Underground Cavern.
In the end, the young girl Ah Ying stood atop the ruins, letting out heart-wrenching sobs.
At this point, the Illusionary Realm’s vision ended.
These were Mo Ying’s deepest memories.
She didn’t wish to recall them but chose to gradually forget until nearly ten years later, when she remembered them again in the fifth-floor Illusionary Realm Zone of the Cultivation Tower, as if returning to the past.
“Why am I recalling this memory?”
Mo Ying removed her black cloak and shed the veil made from Spirit Silkworm Thread, revealing a face marred with burn scars.
The next moment, a Standing Mirror appeared in front of Mo Ying.
The person in the mirror was beautiful.
Willow leaf eyebrows, cherry lips, a delicate chin, skin as white and flawless as snow, an aloof temperament, and especially those clear, bright eyes that seemed to see through everything in the world.
That person was her, yet also not her.