Chapter 287

"Is this the Heavenly Dao Tower?"

Above Antarctica.

Lu Xun looked toward the tower on the ice plain.

This tower is entirely carved from white jade, has ninety-nine levels, subtly implying the meaning of "Nine Heavens Reaching the Sky".

The tower's body is straight as a sword, its eaves flutter like phoenix wings; the whole tower is naturally formed, possessing both the ethereal grace of immortals and the dignity of emperors.

From afar it looks like a jade pillar holding up the heavens; up close, myriad mysteries are revealed.

Of course,

This is the Heavenly Dao Tower as seen through Lu Xun's eyes.

It is said that everyone sees a different Heavenly Dao Tower.

Easterners and Westerners see different things.

Even within the East, the people of Huaxia, Fusang, and Luzon—these small countries—see different things.

In the old era there was a saying: among a thousand readers, there are a thousand Hamlets.

In the High Martial Era, among a hundred million people's eyes, there are a hundred million Heavenly Dao Towers.

"A stone tower."

Lu Xun used his God's Eye of Illusion-Breaking to look, and saw the true form of the Heavenly Dao Tower.

In fact,

It is merely a simple, unadorned stone tower.

Including the base and spire, its height is exactly a thousand zhang.

That is over three thousand three hundred meters.

Each level averages one zhang in height.

After the flying vessel reached the vicinity of the Heavenly Dao Tower, it began to descend slowly.

The Heavenly Dao Tower is located exactly at the center of Antarctica.

Upon an ice-snow plateau.

After entering the High Martial Era, Antarctica's ice layer is thicker than in the old era.

Lan Xing's position within the ancient road nodes is often in places without stars.

No stars means no heat.

This easily brings extreme cold.

At the onset of the High Martial Era, there were some catastrophes, namely the extreme cold disaster.

As the number of strong ones on Lan Xing increased and the Grand Star-Protecting Array was established, this situation began to improve.

The Grand Star-Protecting Array has many functions, such as directing the extreme cold that Lan Xing encounters toward the north and south poles.

Precisely because of this, the north and south poles remain in a state of perpetual freezing.

Like the North Pole, the entire Arctic Ocean is frozen shut, making navigation impossible.

Around the Heavenly Dao Tower, a ring of buildings forms a Great No-Fly Array.

To challenge the tower, one must first register information and pay Dark Energy.

The first attempt requires one cubic unit of Dark Energy; each subsequent attempt doubles the required Dark Energy.

As for cultivation level, there are actually no special requirements.

In other words, even if you are only at the first realm, you can come challenge the Heavenly Dao Tower as long as you can afford the Dark Energy.

But regardless of realm, the number of times you can challenge the Heavenly Dao Tower does not reset.

Thus, even the scions of wealthy families who can easily produce Dark Energy will not come to challenge the tower just for fun when their realm is low.

After completing registration, one can go line up in the hall.

Only one person can challenge the Heavenly Dao Tower at a time, and ahead of the two of them there are still several people.

There are not a few people in the hall; besides those challenging the tower, the others are likely accompanying friends or family, or simply came to watch the excitement.

These people come from all over the world, and there are also a small number of Easterners.

"Wow, what a gorgeous beauty."

The arrival of Fu Yue and Fu Xue attracted many gazes.

Seeing someone about to act rashly, Fu Xue released the pressure of the seventh realm without changing her expression.

"Thud."

"Ah... spare me... senior, spare me!"

A white man who thought himself quite handsome was about to come over to flirt, but he bumped into Fu Xue's seventh-realm pressure, fell to his knees with a thud, and repeatedly begged for mercy.

After this incident, no one dared to approach anymore.

"Wow, John actually made it to the eighteenth floor—truly impressive!"

Exclamations rang out.

Lu Xun looked over and saw only that on a stone tablet in the hall, the number eighteen appeared.

This represents the eighteenth level.

"Eighteenth level... is that even worth being happy about?"

Lu Xun felt that these Westerners were perhaps too easily surprised?

Indeed.

The Heavenly Dao Tower's trial is actually not about cultivation level.

But rather about talent level.

That is, actual combat power.

Everyone is at the Fifth Realm; it's just a matter of whose combat strength is strongest.

Western mages, lacking the notion of surpassing limits, are generally weaker in combat power than Eastern cultivators of the same realm.

Of course, the West also has some powerful mages, but their proportion is relatively small.

Therefore, among the cultivators participating in the Tiandao Battlefield, those from the East's several hundred million population contribute more than half.

The remaining several billion population make up the other half of cultivators.

"God... how did He fail?"

Five minutes later, John timed out while attempting the nineteenth floor, stopping at the eighteenth floor.

The Tiandao Tower's requirements are extremely strict; each floor allows only five minutes.

Failing to clear a floor within five minutes counts as failure.

"Next, Audebiao."

After the Westerner named John came out, it was a black person's turn.

The black man named Audebiao is extremely tall; his practice is likely martial magic, i. e., body cultivation among mages.

Or put another way, a warrior.

Soon after Audebiao entered, the number on the stele became one.

Then it changed from 1 to 2... 3.

"Really fast."

Being this fast ahead is actually quite normal.

After reaching the eighth level, it obviously slowed down, requiring more than a minute to clear a level.

"This old black guy actually made it to the twenty-second floor?"

Audebiao's strength is not bad; he stopped at the twenty-second floor.

He is somewhat stronger than the previous John.

"Next, Karim."

The next person comes from Central Asia.

His cultivation is at the Fifth Realm, and his score is the seventeenth floor.

"A Fusang person?"

After two more people passed, Lu Xun saw a Fusang person.

This Fusang person is quite strong, rushing to the twenty-ninth floor.

This drew many exclamations.

"If you want to rank in the top 1000, you need to reach at least the forty-ninth floor."

Fu Xue said lightly.

"Teacher, where can we see the ranking?"

Lu Xun asked.

"On that stele."

Fu Xue pointed to another stele.

Lu Xun looked, and indeed, the stele was covered with countless names.

These names are in various languages; each person's name is in the language of their country.

The names are in three rows, each row representing the ranking of a realm.

"Are the rankings separate?"

"Yes, the Fifth Realm has its own ranking, the Sixth Realm has its own ranking, and the Seventh Realm likewise has its own ranking."

"I saw your name... but what about Teacher Fu Yue's name?"

Lu Xun did not see Fu Yue's name on the stele.

The Ranking List is interesting.

The Fifth Realm ranks a thousand, the Sixth Realm ranks a hundred, and the Seventh Realm ranks only ten.

This exactly matches the number of participants needed for the Tiandao Battlefield.

Fu Yue's name Lu Xun did not see, but Fu Xue he saw.

She is third in the Sixth Realm ranking.

This means that, among the Sixth Realm, two people still surpass her.

"Jianbei Xuan? Iori?"

These two people, one has an Eastern name, the other a Fusang name.

In the Tiandao Tower, the default opponent is a peak-level opponent of the realm; Xiao Xue's rank was achieved when she cleared the ninth level of the Sixth Realm, so she only placed third.

"As for me, I am only at the early stage of the Seventh Realm, and I failed to make the top ten."

Fu Yue seemed to notice Lu Xun's doubt and explained.

"I see."

"Teacher, what about you now..."

Lu Xun was puzzled.

"Let's tackle it together."

Fu Xue said lightly.

"Tackle it together?"

"Can we do that?"

"Next, Lu Xun."

It's Lu Xun's turn.

Go, Lu Xun.

Fu Yue smiled.

Come on, Lu Xun.

Fu Xue rarely cheered for Lu Xun.

Two teachers, I'm going.

Lu Xun walked toward the Heavenly Dao Tower.

Soon, he entered the gate of the Heavenly Dao Tower.

Apart from a sword stuck in the ground, the inside was empty.

Boom—

The gate closed.

Immediately, a rosy light enveloped Lu Xun.

This is protective light; if it is broken, it signifies failure to clear the tower.

In the sky, a countdown appeared.

300 seconds.

After the protective light arrived, a faceless person appeared and immediately attacked Lu Xun without a word.

Lu Xun raised his hand and struck with a sword, shattering that person.

First layer, so easy.

The surroundings changed, and Lu Xun found himself in a desert.

After the protective light arrived, two faceless people appeared and attacked Lu Xun.

Lu Xun struck again with a sword, killing those two faceless individuals.

This is the third layer.

So simple.

The first ten layers are actually all simple.

The opponents of these ten layers, although at the peak of the Five Realms, have relatively few methods; they only increase in number.

Lu Xun easily cleared nine layers like that.

When it came to the tenth layer, an identical Lu Xun appeared.

Not only identical, his methods were not much different from those Lu Xun had displayed.

Heh, fighting oneself?

Lu Xun, without a word, directly struck and defeated the opponent.

Eleventh layer.

The number of faceless people actually reset, returning to one, but their methods increased.

For Lu Xun, it was still no challenge.

He didn't even use his full strength.

Nor could he use his full strength.

Clearing the tower requires skill.

One cannot reveal too much all at once.

Because every ten layers, an opponent identical to you appears.

At the tenth layer, it's one; thereafter, every ten layers it doubles.

These opponents' strength and methods are the same as what you have shown before.

If you reveal too much earlier, the later stages become difficult.

For ordinary cultivators, facing ever more peak Five Realms opponents, even if their methods are relatively simple, over time, without exerting full strength, it becomes hard to cope.

But once you exert your full strength, you'll feel uneasy at integer layers.

Fighting oneself is inherently unpleasant.

Moreover, you have to fight many copies of yourself.

Perhaps that's why some cultivators' layer numbers stall at those beginning with '9'.

For example, at layer 29, they definitely haven't cleared layer 30.

At layer 39, they definitely haven't cleared layer 40.

As for those not beginning with '9', they are just terribly weak.

Just like those who slowly grind up to the Five Realms over time, their combat power is too ordinary.

Take the earlier John, for instance—he fell at layer 17.

Such a Five Realms cultivator can only be a Five Realms cultivator.

Soon, Lu Xun reached layer 20.

Layer 20 had two identical Lu Xuns.

Their abilities were exactly what Lu Xun had displayed in previous battles.

Including strength, body technique, true qi, sword intent, and so on.

Whatever Lu Xun displayed, the Heavenly Dao Tower could perfectly simulate.

Thus, clearing the Heavenly Dao Tower tests not only one's talent but also how many methods one possesses.

In the early stages, one must use the fewest methods to defeat enemies.

Yet this is difficult,

Because there is a time limit.

Five minutes.

This makes it impossible for you to wage a war of attrition.

You can only fight quickly and decisively.

If you fight quickly and decisively, you will have no choice but to employ more means, thereby being simulated by the Heavenly Dao Tower.

Inside this place, you cannot use talismans or similar trump cards.

All external objects cannot be borrowed; you must rely solely on your own strength in combat.

"My secrets are more than you can imagine."

Lu Xun, after disposing of two "himself" with a single sword, spoke softly.

As for this Heavenly Dao Tower, to him, ascending it will not pose great difficulty.

He has too many means.

21, 22, 23... Lu Xun went straight up to the 30th floor.

The "himself" on the 30th floor turned into four.

Lu Xun, after dealing with them, went straight up to the 40th floor.

"How fast."

Outside, Fu Xue and Fu Yue were both staring at the stone tablet.

Lu Xun's speed in clearing the tower is astonishingly fast.

"God, is this an Eastern genius? How can he be so fast?"

Outside, many foreigners were stunned one by one.

Most of those who come to challenge the tower at this time are mediocrities.

Now a genius has suddenly appeared, and a genius of this caliber.

It opened their eyes.