As soon as Xu Que stepped onto the staircase leading to the third floor, the Sky Incense Valley disciples shifted the spell up as well. The entire area of the third level was now transparent to them. Without daring to relax the slightest in anticipation of Xu Que’s weird antics, they watched on tensely.
The second Xu Que arrived at the third level, he felt an entire wave of pressure sweep across his body.
He felt as if he was placed in a perilous situation with a huge flood of water submerging him under.
Xu Que trembled as he planted his feet firmly on the ground. It took him all of his energy in order not to be swept away by the strong force. He gritted his teeth and held on for dear life.
He told himself to hold on tight and to concentrate all his thoughts and willpower to remain firmly rooted.
This was the best way to deal with such a force which aimed to suppress a person’s mind and soul!
Xu Que wasn’t alone in doing that. The rest of the cultivators on the third floor were doing the same as him. Each one of them looked like a mountain, firmly rooting themselves to the ground. All of them were deep in concentration, finding it extremely hard to take another step forward.
"Look! The black robed cultivator has been restrained!"
"But, he just stepped into the entrance of the third floor and he’s already having so much difficulties? Wasn’t he extremely at ease on the second floor?"
"Looks like he was feigning it on the second floor then. When he finally reached the third floor, the pressure was too much for him to handle and revealed his true strengths."
"He’s really having problems! But as a Full Foundation in the Golden Core Stage, being able to withstand the pressure of the third floor was already quite an achievement."
"Eh... that’s the normal standards for someone of the Golden Core Stage!"
"I guess that’s good as well. Now we don’t have to worry about anything unusual happening on the third floor."
The people standing outside the Tower of Souls broke out into discussion immediately.
Some people felt it was a pity that the third floor is probably where Xu Que’s journey would end. Others were slightly doubtful and were still suspicious of Xu Que and his strange ways.
An example of this was the group of cultivators who had followed Xu Que from the previous stage. Seeing such a scene, their reaction was the same as before, "If you fall for this, it’s your loss. He is definitely pretending, nothing more."
The group of cultivators who had been expelled from the second floor as a result of Xu Que’s antics were still fuming with rage. Seeing him having difficulties caused them some happiness as they gloated in his misfortunes.
"Hm, I thought he had some incredible mental strength. I didn’t expect the third floor to be more than he can handle!"
"He is trash!"
"In fact, he’s currently stuck at the entrance of the third level. He probably won’t even be ranked among the top 100 cultivators!"
"Well, he deserves it. As long as he doesn’t end up joining the Sky Incense Valley, we can attack him after all this is over and kill him!"
At the same time, on the third floor of the Tower of Souls...
"Shit! How weak is my soul? Looks like I have to buy more booster pills to consume!"
Xu Que’s legs trembled slightly as he scolded out in his mind. He then entered the system’s shops and spent 500 act tough points and purchased the Dark Jade Dew.
"System, I can’t move a muscle. Consume the Dark Jade Dew on my behalf!"
"Ding! Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for consuming a single Dark Jade Dew. Your soul strength and mental fortitudes have increased by 60%!"
Boom!
All of a sudden, Xu Que could feel the boundaries restraining his brain explode open!
The feeling can only be described as having an atomic bomb detonate within his brain, blowing everything inside apart ‘till nothing was left. His mind was a complete blank.
In the next moment, all his memories and emotions came gushing back to him. He could feel the peripheries of his mind becoming much broader and wider. It was almost as if his perception skills and thought processing speed became 60% faster.
Xu Que then understood. The strength of his mind and soul was heavily dependent on his perceptions and way of thinking.
He then snapped back to reality and could feel an immediate difference. The powerful pressure which once restrained him was no longer present. He felt extremely light and comfortable. In fact, he felt no different now than outside the tower. Not a tinge of pressure was felt by him at this point.
"Aiyo. This is amazing!" Xu Que shouted out loudly.
All the cultivators on the third floor were immediately roused from their deep concentration.
"Pu!" A pair of cultivators who were hanging on for dear life were instantly distracted to the point of no return and vanished from the spot instantly. They then appeared outside the Tower of Souls.
The pair of them raged out in apparent anger but had no way of venting it. The pair of them had mocked Xu Que when he was stuck on the first level as well. It was an eye for an eye.
The group of cultivators outside the tower weren’t even bothered by the pair of cultivators who had been expelled. The entire group broke out in shocked conversations as they looked at Xu Que through the transparent windows.
"How… How was this possible?"
"He merely stood there for several seconds. His mind and soul received yet another breakthrough?"
"What on earth was happening?"
"He was clearly having difficulties earlier and was trapped. And now he managed to overcome all the resistance. He must’ve been pretending from the start. Or was it that he really managed to find a breakthrough in such a short span of time?"
"He’s too strong. Look at how everyone is trembling vigorously from the pressure on the third floor. Then look at how at ease he is, as if the pressure has no effect on him whatsoever."
Everyone was extremely alarmed and astonished!
Only the group of cultivators who had followed Xu Que from the earlier test stage weren’t surprised. Instead, they revealed the same looks of ‘We saw through his act from the start’. Their hearts were full of pride as if they were correct and extremely smart to have seen through Xu Que’s act.
"Ding! Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for acting tough. The reward is 30 act tough points!"
"Ding! Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for acting tough. The reward is 40 act tough points!"
Just like that, Xu Que had earned an additional 70 act tough points."
However, he still felt like he had lost out. He spent 500 act tough points to purchase the Dry Jade Dew. Although this increased his mental and soul strengths, he only managed to earn back a small fraction of whatever he spent. He knew that this wasn’t enough.
With his hands behind his back, his chest stuck out and his head raised high, he started roaming around the entire third floor, completely at ease.
It was as if he was the leader of an investigation, walking around and examining the area thoroughly. The group of ten cultivators were looking at him, completely bewildered by his unbridled and composed demeanor.
However, they decided not to bother too much with him and shut their eyes before concentrating hard once more. They didn’t even have any energy remaining to deal with Xu Que at this point, for most of their strength had been devoted to repelling and resisting the strong crushing pressure.
Xu Que walked an entire round of the third level and didn’t find anything interesting. He then walked over to the window of the tower and looked down at the group of people outside.
The Sky Incense Valley disciples looked at him and hurriedly shouted out, "My friend, since you have such strong soul strength, why not make full use of the time and head over to the fourth level?"
"The fourth level? There’s no rush. There’s nobody up there and I’m still hungry. I shall cook something else to eat." Xu Que waved his hands and replied casually.
"Hsss..." Everyone outside inhaled a deep breath of air.
They’re finished. Looks like he’s up to something again!
The Sky Incense Valley were extremely anxious when they heard this, "My friend, you promised me you wouldn’t eat anymore."
"What farts are coming out from your mouth? I promised that I wouldn’t eat anything too delicious smelling." Xu Que replied.
Everyone paused in shock. He won’t eat anything too delicious smelling? Then what was he going to eat? Was he really this hungry and wanted to cook plain rice for himself to eat?
The Sky Incense Valley disciples paused in shock before asking, "Then… What does my friend wish to eat?"
"Don’t worry. I understand your struggles as well. Eating something too delicious would distract the other cultivators and make it hard for them to concentrate. I am not an inconsiderate person, so please relax. I shall eat something else." Xu Que replied.
When the group of people heard this, they nodded their heads helplessly.
"Looks like this black robed young man is quite a nice person after all."
"Eh at least he knows when to stop misbehaving when things are getting serious. At least this shows that he’s a person of good moral conduct and that he knows how to behave."
The group of Sky Incense Valley disciples clasped their hands together and saluted him, "Many thanks, my daoist friend."
The group of cultivators who had followed him from the previous stage had expressions full of doubt and suspicions. They still didn’t believe whatever Xu Que said.
In that next instant, they saw Xu Que taking out his iron pot once more, retrieving a strange looking vial.
"I knew it wasn’t so simple. He’s probably trying to cook something else." The group of cultivators who had followed Xu Que muttered out under their breaths.
The Sky Incense Valley disciples saw this, their lips twitched as well. "My friend, please don’t do anything that might disturb the rest of them. If not, it would be hard for us to handle the matter."
"Don’t worry. I am a man of my word. If the smell is too delicious that it would distract them, I would come down and kill myself by eating all the dung I can find."
Xu Que slapped his chest as he spoke out.
Soon after, he started greasing his pot before sitting down on the ground. Once again, he took out some wood to start a fire as he heated the oil on his pot.
The group of cultivators outside the tower watched him silently. Their thoughts and expressions were extremely cautious and strange.
They were clearly here to see people pass this stage and move on. Why were they watching the black robed youth cook now? And he was doing all these within the Tower of Souls…..
Before long, the pot started steaming as the sound of oil sizzling could be heard.
Xu Que raised his eyebrows as he took out something from the system inventory. He retrieved the "Fermented Smelly Tofu" and emptied the entire packet of it into the hot pot.
"Gulu gulu…."
The smelly tofu was rolling in the oil, as it started cooking.
At the same time, the few people nearest to him could smell the stomach-turning stench wafting out from the pot. The smell diffused slowly across the entire third floor before long.
"Oh ! What’s that foul and offensive smell?"
"It smells exactly like dog shit!"
"Damn it…"
The people outside the tower had strange expressions as they hurriedly pinched their nostrils.
The Sky Incense Valley disciples were extremely anxious and angry. At this point they then realized what was happening. He said he wouldn’t cook anything delicious smelling. Hence he decided to cook something smelly!
The group of cultivators who followed Xu Que from the valley earlier on looked down as they mumbled to themselves, "Master Hua…. Is cooking shit!"
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