Chen Ming stashed the Tower of Trials, aware of its purpose. It offered a fighting experience for any cultivator that entered, polishing their combat skills and testing their strength, but when the threat of death loomed over their heads, it would take the user outside. It was a good place to temper a sect’s disciples.
It was perfect timing too, since Yan Mountain’s disciples ate tons of pills and had nowhere to vent. Might as well let them give the tower a try.
He reckons Li Suyi was also thinking along those lines, but for himself.
With the West-pointing needle as a guide, they soon arrived at Yan Mountain. Chen Ming placed the Tower of Trials at the foot of the mountain then told Li Suyi to inform the disciples of its use; while he just went to bask in the sun’s glory.
Li Suyi finally found a place to put it, then saw how there wasn’t anyone on the rankings.
He decided he should be the first to give it a try. Inside, he barreled through nine stages of illusions, but the tenth stage was where his speed dropped to half.
Stopping at the fifteenth stage, Li Suyi came out of it pleased with himself, “I’m sure I’ll reach the Dao Initiation realm by the third try.”
And on the Tower of Trials’ ranking board, his name appeared on the first spot.
Some disciples, who noticed the tower sprouting, asked Li Suyi about it. Once they knew its purpose, they rushed to try it. They had so much energy with no place to vent it, so they jumped at the chance to try out this new and excellent toy.
From the moment they began, through hundreds of disciples’ trials, the best of them only reached the twelfth stage, far below Li Suyi.
Word of the Tower of Trials also reached Ling Xian’s ears. He dropped everything and came to test himself, where he was crowned as number one with a score of sixteen stages.
The disciples looked at the third senior brother’s position, This legacy disciple is so fierce, we can’t even compare. Yet when they felt embarrassed from this achievement, Chen Lingyu came down the mountain with pills. Second senior brother and third senior brother are amazing for sure, but fourth senior sister’s skill is all in alchemy. They might have the chance to surpass her, and Master might make one of them his fifth legacy disciple!
“Fourth senior sister, this Tower of Trials is very interesting. Do you want to try it?”
Chen Ling was bashful. This was the first time so many people paid her attention, “There’s no need!”
“Fourth senior sister, try it. Thre’s no danger, so you’ll be safe from harm.”
“Yeah, fourth senior sister, there’s nothing wrong with giving it a try.”
“Fourth senior sister, go ahead.”
Chen Ling held no real interest in testing herself. She liked refining pills, with alchemy holding her entire interest. There was nothing great about bashing and killing.
Chen Ling shook her head, “Master is expecting these ingredients, I will come back in the evening.”
Some disciples checked the sky to see that barely any sun rays were left out of the sunset, “Fourth senior sister, it’s already evening, please give it a try!”
As the final ray died out in the night, the light in Chen Ling’s eyes changed, as her entire self emanated a cold feeling. She gazed upon the tower with a smile, “Tower of Trials, was it? So there is some good place to hang out too. I will go check it out now.”
The disciples began making assumptions, “What do you guys think her highest stage will be?”
“Fifth, tops!”
“Seventh, I feel that fourth senior sister’s cultivation is profound!”
An hour later, the Tower of Trials’ rankings changed, with Chen Lingyu’s score of eighteen stages.
Ling Xian and Li Suyi exchanged a glance, seeing the new look in Chen Ling’s eyes. The crowd of disciples was speechless. As far as they knew, fourth senior sister, besides refining pills with Master, was also refining pills with Master. They knew better now, Fourth senior sister is the fiercest of them all.
Second senior brother wore the title of the Southern Border’s most talented genius, reaching Dao Initiation realm in three months. And now, fourth senior sister, younger than him, was the strongest!
All Yan Mountain’s legacy disciples were freaks!
As killing intent leaked from her body, Chen Ling gazed at the Tower of Trials, “I remember Chen Ling has some recovery pills on her.” Feeling around her body, she finally found them and popped one in her mouth, then reentered the tower.
Ling Xian glimpsed Li Suyi, finding him just standing there, then took a recovery pill and also threw himself into the tower.
He must not let this kid know Yan Mountain’s tradition, the weakest going on competitions. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t defeat his senior sister, but now that he knew his junior sister was also unbeatable, if even his junior brother overtook him then he would be world’s laughingstock!
Junior sister’s situation was strange, becoming a whole new person at night.
Li Suyi didn’t sense this, only finding that Ling Xian’s was even more arduous in cultivating. He was almost always covered in wounds from entering the tower each day. Whether or not his body could take it, he would still work himself to the bone while cultivating.
Even the other disciples sighed, “Second senior brother still works hard, despite his renowned talent in all of Southern Border. His high strength is not without reason.”
“Incomparable with you in talent yet even more hardworking. What reason do you have to not do the same?”
“Incomparable with you in talent yet even more hardworking. Then what good will it do to do the same?”
“You speak reason!”
The crowd was downcast, but then, “We can’t compare with second senior brother but we can with Southern Border’s geniuses. The youngest genius who entered Dao Initiation realm was fourteen years old and needed seven years to do it. I believe we have a good chance of reaching Dao Initiation realm in the following year.”
“Surpassing Southern Border’s geniuses is normal. Their Masters are just at Dao Initiation realm while ours is an Archfiend!”
“And look at the Southern Border’s sects, how small-minded they are, they need to hold a competition to see who gets each pill. Then look at our head senior sister, second senior brother, third senior brother, and fourth senior sister, they all eat pills from the bottle! And we, when we want to eat, we eat! ”
“This train of thought makes the other sects look dirt poor.”
“I believe that we must uphold Yan Mountain’s glorious tradition: eat pills from the bottle and walk on spirit stones!”
While on a stroll, Chen Ming overheard their small talk. His take on it: Walking on spirit stones ain’t such a bad idea. With a million spirit stones in the treasury, wouldn’t this method use them all up in one year on these disciples?
If they weren’t used, they were mere rocks. Only when you used them, were they worthy of the name spirit stone.
Not to mention, it still posed a problem. One needed a bit of skill to waster three Kings’ wealth, especially so for Archfiend Azure Lion three hundred years fortune.
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