Chapter 136 - Sword Pagoda

Elder Lan led the examinees to one of the Heaven Sword Sects' peaks.

Along the way, the spiritual qi in the air became thicker the deeper they went inside. Compared to the outside, the spiritual qi here was nearly 2-3 times richer and denser, and their bodies felt lighter and more comfortable.

They felt like fish that once lived in a dirty river filled with mud and dirt and then moved into a pond filled with clean and clear water. Just breathing the air, they had already become this comfortable. What if they cultivated inside?

Great Sect was really a great sect. No wonder everybody wanted to join one. With this kind of environment, even a waste could become one of the Eastern Region's esteemed experts.

After around an hour of following Elder Lan's lead, they eventually arrived at their destination. There, a massive and tall building stood imposingly, giving the onlooker an ancient and mysterious impression.

With a height of around 180 feet tall, the building in front of them could easily be the highest artificial construction in the Eastern Region.

Unlike its name, the "Pagoda" looked more like a tower than an actual pagoda. The only feature that made it resemble a pagoda was the nine rings that encircled the tower, which decreased in size as the higher they were placed.

The ring on the bottom of the building was the biggest, and the ring on the top of the building was the smallest.

In between the rings, on the pagoda's wall, there will be several small windows. But, no matter what angle you used or what tools you used, you couldn't look inside the pagoda through those windows like a one-sided mirror.

When the corresponding floor was occupied, the window would shine brightly until all the people inside were expelled or moved to another floor.

This was the first time Snowy saw the sight of the Sword Pagoda, and she couldn't help but try to see through its mystery using her Ten Thousand Eyes.

But surprisingly, there was a strong restriction that obstructed her eyes, which could even help her see through a spirit-rank formation.

Although spirit-rank formation was by no means the pinnacle of the formation dao and the ability to see through it could only be considered average at best if compared to the whole mortal plane, in the Eastern Region, it should've been sufficient to uncover its profoundness.

Then she tried using her divine eyes but only got the ??? mark as the result, just like when she first met and inspected the Old Man Jade Emperor in Blackwood Forest that day.

It seemed that the Sword Pagoda was really unfathomable, Snowy thought. She became more eager to dive inside and uncovered its secret from within.

Meanwhile, a huge stone monument nearby the entrance of the pagoda quickly grabbed the other examinees' attention. Elder Lan slowly walked over to the tablet while speaking.

"This stone monument is actually connected to, or even perhaps a part of, the Sword Pagoda. Everyone who had passed a certain floor would have their name appear on the surface of the stone. Don't ask me how it works; even those stinky old men that play with arrays or talismans every day couldn't figure out the mechanism behind it."

Many eyes fell on the stone monument where a lot of names were engraved on its surface. It was filled halfway with the most names that appeared on the bottoms, and slowly decreased as they looked upward, and after it reached the midway, it stopped, only a single name written on the surface of the stone tablet: Lu Jinzong.

"Who is this senior? So fierce?"

One of the examinees accidentally blurted out their thoughts, which attracted people's attention, and when they realized that many eyes were falling on them, they couldn't help shrinking a bit due to embarrassment.

"That's the Sect Master's real name. He is the only one who has climbed until the sixth floor," replied Elder Lan with a chuckle.

"Is Elder Lan implying that no one has ever succeeded in reaching the top?"

"As far as we know, it is indeed so."

They once again glanced at the name in the middle of the stone monument with awe and reverie. Their sect master really deserved the title of the strongest cultivator in the Eastern Region.

Their eyes wandered about and quickly recognized some famous names on it.

"Qin Guang! The Crazy Sword Qin Guang! His name appeared on the tablet four times. It means that he had reached the fifth floor, right?"

"Tang Xin, the Dualsword Young Master from the Tang Family, also passed the fourth floor."

"M-Mo… it's Mo Hei's name! The Devil Mo Hei from the Heavenly Blood Sect!"

And soon some familiar names entered their sight.

"Yang Xiao… that's First Elder's name's right? He also reached the fourth floor. The same goes for the Second Elder. Elder Lan… why does Elder Lan only have her name mentioned twice?"

Elder Lan's eyebrows twitched as she heard the innocent remark from one of the examinees, "What do you know? I'm so busy that I can't get the opportunity to challenge the sword pagoda again. It's not because I'm weak, okay?"

Well, nobody said that you're weak, said they, grumbling inwardly.

"This Lin Ming, isn't it our first brother? And this Zi Ling, is Senior Sister Zi Ling right? They both only passed the second floor…"

And then, their attention fell on the stack of names in the bottom of the stone monument.

"Can you guess the cultivation of those names that only appeared on the bottom?" asked Elder Lan teasingly.

Although no one spoke, they already had an answer in their hearts, and suddenly their expressions turned gloomy.

"Indeed, as you may guess, most of the people whose names appeared on the stone tablet were at least Golden Core stage cultivators," said Elder Lan, "Of course, everything has an exception. Zi Ling is the only known cultivator who had etched her name on the stone before reaching the golden core stage."

Although they knew there was a vast gulp between their abilities and a once-in-a-thousand-years genius like Zi Ling, and only a slim chance for them to follow her steps, some of them who were ambitious enough couldn't help but feel some hope.

Unfortunately, Elder Lan's ill laughter quickly poured cold water on them, "But, at that time, she had already reached the peak level of the Qi Transformation stage. What about you guys? Still want to continue?"

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Author's note:

Thanks to Chloe_Prize_1053 and Vincenzo753 for the gifts!