by Tinalynge
Xue Wei felt helpless. He knew these people were all looking at him with reverence, none of them daring to speak out of fear of angering him in some way, but Xue Wei really wasn’t such a scary person.
Fortunately, he was saved when Gu Bing’er arrived. Her face was slightly red making her seem adorable and flustered.Clearly, she had rushed back to the house as fast as she could.
“What brings you to our humble abode?” she asked politely, her eyes shining with excitement as she saw Xue Wei waving his hand and a few jade bottles appearing, with the scent of medicines spreading through the room.
The hearts of all present started beating rapidly. This could only be the Sky Knight Pills they had been hearing about, however, was it not too soon to have produced these pills? They had only been told about them the day before.
Noticing the surprise in their eyes, Xue Wei explained, “I had the herbs needed, so I made a few hundred pills for each family. Take these and bring them back to your elders, but be sure not to get robbed on the way.”
Having said this, Xue Wei got to his feet, bowed in thanks to his hosts for his tea, and swiftly made his way out of the courtyard, heading straight towards the one belonging to Yuan Bailong.
Here, the same scene played out. Yuan Bailong was not immediately present, and the ones who were quickly tried to please him while they impatiently prayed in their hearts that Yuan Bailong would arrive soon so that they did not have to be so scared for what Xue Wei might request of them.
It was not that these people had no idea to strengthen their relationship with him, they just feared that they might insult him instead, and considering he was already working with their families, they would be seen as traitors if they inadvertently messed up this transaction.
After delivering the pills to Yuan Bailong, Xue Wei also warned him about not allowing the pills to be stolen, and then he exited their courtyard and returned home.
“Tianyi, we are returning to the Soul Tower,” he said as he entered the room and found all three of his friends waiting inside.
“We are going to enter the ninth floor as soon as possible. I am currently able to enter the seventh floor, and we will use the golden dragon spirit to enter the eighth floor.”
“Sure,” Bai Tianyi nodded his head casually and stretched his body. Looking towards Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, he told them, “if Gu Bing’er or Yuan Bailong comes looking for him, then tell them we will be back in a month at the latest. They should not encounter too many issues within a month anyway.”
Having said this, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi walked through the academy heading for the Soul Tower. When they arrived at the academy, many were originally looking at them because it was rare to see that many two-eyed experts there, especially one so young, but now it was moreso because everyone knew of Bai Tianyi’s achievement. He had reached the ninth floor!
Every major faction had wanted to reel him into their own group, but ever since he had exited the Soul Tower, he had been in their courtyard and thus they had no opportunity to speak with him. Now things were different though, and as soon as he was seen, many rushed back to tell their superiors.
Some even rushed to the Soul Tower to rouse the people who were in charge of their factions and associations as they were cultivating—no one willing to lag behind.
“You seem to have become a celebrity,” Xue Wei said with a smile on his face, causing Bai Tianyi to change his own expression into a grimace of disdain.
“I am no celebrity, I am just stronger than them, and they want to abuse me for their own personal benefits.”
Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. The group had no interest in joining any of the factions, in fact, they were not interested in having anything to do with this continent’s politics; they just wanted to move on, and to do so they had to solve the mystery. They did not want to have any ties to the continent when they left, as they would likely never return again.
“They are like a starving wolf seeing a juicy steak,” Xue Wei could not help but laugh as he saw how many people were rushing towards them from all corners of the roads, all of them having their many eyes locked on the face of Bai Tianyi. Their expressions were trying to appear aloof, but greed flashed across many of their eyes.
Chapter 19 - Bloody Marks
Bai Tianyi and Xue Wei smiled amiably and seemed very friendly towards the many people who were rushing towards them. However, neither of them said anything, nor did they answer questions when they were bombarded by the group of late arrivals.
“Will you be willing to dine with me? Such an outstanding genius should be treated to the best of the best!”
“Don’t listen to him, come with me to my home and my wife will cook you food that cannot be compared to anything at all!”
“He is a genius; food is not what he needs! Listen, young man, come with me, and I will offer you some resources that can make your cultivation base increase rapidly, come have a talk with me, and my uncle will give you a lot of these cultivation resources, okay?”
“You idiot, those cultivation methods will ruin his foundations! There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world.Fast advances bring with them dangers!”
Like this, they were all arguing over the top of each other, roaring their offers to Bai Tianyi like a herd of wild beasts, all of them pretending to speak to a child, and making Xue Wei snicker slightly as he saw how Bai Tianyi’s face was turning black with anger.
“I am busy.” Bai Tianyi’s cold voice suddenly cut through the many offers that were being sent forward towards him. He then looked at Xue Wei and gestured for him to continue forward towards the Soul Tower.
Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. He knew that Bai Tianyi would never join any of the factions here, so he casually followed behind the annoyed young-looking boy.
No one dared to be too pushy towards them as they did not want to have the opposite effect that pushes them towards their opponents, but a few of the more powerful groups had malice flashing within their eyes when they saw how Bai Tianyi had snubbed them this day.
They would use some more ruthless methods next time and seeing how Bai Tianyi was treating Xue Wei; perhaps they could use him as a way to get what they wanted.
But before they dared to act, they had to get some more information. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were not average people. Both of them had only two eyes each, but the talent they had displayed was so outstanding that they did not lose out to four or perhaps even five-eyed experts.
Since this was the case, they had to have some sort of outstanding background or identity, so they needed to tread carefully.
Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were unaware of what these groups were thinking, but even if they knew, they would just sneer in annoyance and not really care.
If they were so easily dealt with, they would not have been able to escape unscathed as many times as they had back on Chang’an. They had quite some faith in their own survivability.
As they reached the Soul Tower, many were looking at them curiously. Although the people here today had not seen them before, all of them knew about Bai Tianyi and his features. He was the only one who had reached the ninth floor, so he was a legend amongst the academy already.
Xue Wei was also somewhat famous as he had displayed some outstanding talent whilst only having two eyes. Many had the impression of him being some special primordial beast who was talented in spiritual energy, and only a few knew that the group that came from another continent included these two small monsters.
The visitors from the other continent were shrouded in mystery. The only ones that could be identified were Lin Xiao and Hei Gou. The other two were so mysterious that no one seemed to have any idea what they looked like—and seeing as these two had such weak spiritual cultivation bases—there was no one who would connect the two monsters from the Soul Tower to the two visitors.
As they entered the Soul Tower, Xue Wei felt the great pressure bearing down on his soul as usual, but it was not as overwhelming as he remembered it.
Together with Bai Tianyi, they started ascending the tower once again.
He was slightly nervous. He knew that if he wished to reach the ninth floor, he would have to rely on the protection of the golden dragon spirit to shroud him on the eighth floor but to be able to summon the golden dragon spirit, he needed to ensure that no one saw it. He prayed that there were no people on the seventh floor and that it would be possible for him to quickly reach the ninth floor.
When they reached the sixth floor, Xue Wei finally felt the pressure of the soul power grow rather dense, and as he reached the seventh floor, his steps were slow, and his feet dragged behind him. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead, and his breathing became shallow.
As he stepped onto the seventh floor, he found that there was only one expert present. Xue Wei had seen this expert before on this level, and it was hard to doubt that he was one of the most talented experts in the entire academy.
When he sensed Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi enter the room, the expert opened one eye slightly, leaving the other three closed, and after glancing at the two of them, he closed the eye again to continue focusing wholly on cultivating.
“Stay here and wait for him to leave,” Bai Tianyi muttered before he continued upwards to the eighth floor.
Xue Wei nodded his head and sat down. Although he was slightly impatient, he quickly emptied his mind of all thoughts and began to focus fully on cultivating.
Every now and then, Xue Wei would open his eyes to observe whether or not he was alone on the floor. But instead of seeing the person leave, unfortunately, another one arrived.
His expression remained calm, but he could not help but feel slightly annoyed. He was on a tight schedule, he needed to figure out the problem behind the mystery within a specific time frame, but now he was forced to waste even more time.
The only benefit with this waiting was that he could cultivate at the same time; if he were not gaining extra strength while doing this, then he would have lost his patience long ago.
After a few days had passed waiting for an opening, Xue Wei sighed as he stood up and stretched his stiff body, but still, the level was not emptied out, and in fact, now they were four people on the floor.
His frustration beginning to outweigh his patience, Xue Wei contemplated what to do, and then he had an idea. He began to wander the floor, further and further towards the stairs leading towards the eighth floor. Every step was like a war against himself.
He felt the heavy pressure weighing down upon him; he felt the soul power crashing into his mind and even with the golden dragon refining it as fast as it possibly could, it still felt like trying to run while wading through a deep lake.
His legs began to tremble, and the sweat dripped like rain from his forehead, but he was not giving up. From time to time, he would look behind him to see whether or not anyone was observing him, but after numerous glances, he realized that they were not paying any attention to him at all, and a smile broke out on his lips.
He continued forward until he could go no further, where he halted, checking behind him one last time before just taking the risk and summoning the golden dragon.
The moment the golden dragon spirit appeared, it wrapped itself around Xue Wei’s body, and he felt the pressure on him lifting like magic.
Not wasting even a second and without another glance behind, he rushed upstairs the moment he felt the pressure lifting. The longer he waited, the more likely he was to be discovered, after all.
As he reached the eighth floor, he found that Bai Tianyi was sitting in the middle of the lonely room, looking exceptionally bored.
He did not need to do anything special to cultivate, he did not need to do anything else than just sit still, and his body would naturally change it to spiritual energy.
He did not seem at all like a ten year old child.He seemed like a carefree and casual person who had the world in his hands.
“Oh, they left?” He asked when he saw Xue Wei appearing with a golden dragon spirit wrapped around his body.
Xue Wei shook his head and sighed, “I was not patient at all,” he admitted.
“Did they see?” Bai Tianyi frowned slightly. It was a risk to summon the golden dragon spirit when others were nearby, but he trusted Xue Wei and would never go against his wishes.
Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think so,” he said, “but I cannot say for sure. The moment I summoned the spirit, I rushed upstairs, so they might have seen a bit of it, but they probably haven’t—at least not all of it .”
Bai Tianyi shook his head. For once Xue Wei had been impulsive, but he understood the impatience Xue Wei felt. They were on a tight schedule; the sooner they got clues, the better.
“Well we will gain nothing from brooding over the issue anymore,” Xue Wei sighed, knowing he had been slightly out of character and impatient, “let’s go to the ninth floor.”
Bai Tianyi was also aware that there was no way they would be able to change anything that had already happened, so instead of harping on about it, he stood up, and the two of them moved towards the stairs.
After Xue Wei summoned the golden dragon spirit, he was incapable of feeling the pressure. He could simply no longer sense it.The dragon just absorbed the energy as fast as it could, gulping down the soul power like a bottomless hole, seemingly unable to become full.
The golden dragon spirit was similar to Bai Tianyi’s body; both of them were made out of pure energy and could absorb spiritual energy with inherent proficiency.
As long as the golden dragon spirit was out, his cultivation would rise at a speed completely unlike before. At the same time, he could now enter the ninth floor.
Although he was tempted to stay on the eighth floor for some time and cultivate with the golden dragon spirit, Xue Wei decided to wait with this until he had solved the mystery of the ninth floor.
The walk towards the ninth floor was casual and carefree; the pressure was not at all capable of controlling him anymore. As they reached the ninth floor, they found that the pressure was still nowhere present as Bai Tianyi had observed previously, so Xue Wei retrieved the golden dragon spirit and began walking around the floor, looking at everything around him.
As he looked around, he found nothing special on the floor, it was just as bare as Bai Tianyi had told him, but something kept telling him that there was more to this floor than meets the eye.
After a bit of time pacing around the room, he found that there were some red marks on the walls all around. At first, he thought it was a decoration, though the longer he looked, the more he frowned.
The red marks came in different shades.Some even seemed to be freshly painted, while others seemed to be old and almost black with age. Upon closer inspection, accompanied by the colored marks were small indentations resembling scratch marks all over the walls too. When one looked at it all casually, it looked like a decoration, but when examining it, Xue Wei found that all the walls were filled with scratch marks and both new and old traces of—there was no denying it—blood.
Although there was blood painted on the walls, there was no scent of blood in the air, and both the floor and the ceiling was completely white, with no signs of blood or scratches at all.
Looking at this, Xue Wei frowned. What was the reason behind these bloodied marks? Was the ninth floor perhaps not meant to be traversed but a place where people were being sacrificed to feed the soul tower with soul power? Xue Wei was unsure, but he understood they had to leave as soon as possible.
Chapter 20 - Pirate
The blood was clearly something that had appeared over a long period of time. Some of it was fresh, some was very old, but all of it seemed grim under the light that illuminated the Soul Tower.
Bai Tianyi was frowning just as Xue Wei was, neither of them felt comfortable about what they were seeing. It seemed that something unspeakable was happening at the top of the Soul Tower, but if something like that was happening here, why was the floor not forbidden to access?
And even more puzzling, how did the people who had left the bloodied marks even manage to get there? It seemed that this made no sense, and both of them could not make any head nor tail of what they saw.
Apart from the bloody scratches on the walls, there were no other signs of terror on the entire floor, in fact, there was nothing else at all on the entire floor, it was completely bare.
“Let us leave,” Xue Wei said with a low voice, resummoning the Golden dragon spirit and then descending down the stairs. Neither of them spoke, both were uncomfortable with what they had seen on the ninth floor, and neither of them could get the thought of the ten missing people a day out of their mind.
As the two reached the seventh floor, Xue Wei made the golden dragon vanish back inside again. He instantly felt the pressure bearing down upon him, and he felt as if all blood in his body started flowing in reverse. A metallic taste appeared in his throat.
Suppressing the blood at the back of his throat, Xue Wei struggled towards the stairs leading down to the sixth floor, then slowly walked to the fifth and finally was able to exit the tower at a brisk pace.
Once again, their ascending to the ninth floor had caused panic and astonishment in the entire academy, but this time, the pair had not stayed for a long time, so all that had noticed were still rushing to inform others, and not all the people they had called for had appeared yet. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi made use of the chaos to vanish from the Soul Tower and rush back to their courtyard.
While walking, none of them said a word. When they arrived in the house, they sat down in the middle of Xue Wei’s room and looked at one another.
“Every day, ten people go missing in Yan Dalu,” Xue Wei muttered.
“The Soul Tower needs a large supply of soul power to be able to continue providing that power to all the people who are inside,” Bai Tianyi added.