Chapter 174: Tongtian Tower

It is said that after Li Zhangsheng left the Holy Sea of Ten Thousand Saints, he spent a month of winding travel, crossing countless star regions and the territories of countless powers, and finally stepped into the domain of the Canglan Sacred Land!

The Canglan Sacred Land domain is an extremely vast sacred territory!

Its radius spans a full million light‑years; within the domain stars are densely packed, continents float, and countless cultivators crowd to step into this sacred land, seeking even a sliver of cultivation opportunity!

At the core of the domain lies the Dao Hall of the Canglan Emperor, ruler of the Canglan Realm!

This emperor is a pinnacle Dao‑Emperor‑Realm master from Yuan Zhi Sheng Tu, who single‑handedly forged the supreme splendor of the Canglan Sacred Land, enjoying lofty status and awe‑inspiring authority across the eight directions!

After some inquiries, Li Zhangsheng learned that the Canglan Emperor is like a divine dragon—only the head is ever seen, the tail never.

For ordinary people, getting a face‑to‑face audience with the Canglan Emperor is as hard as scaling the heavens!

Even the headmasters of top factions and peak Dao‑Emperor‑Realm masters, without a heavenly providence, can never meet the emperor in a lifetime!

Yet throughout the Canglan Sacred Land, everyone knows the only path to see the emperor: scaling the Tongtian Tower!

The Tongtian Tower stands in the core star region of the Canglan Sacred Land, its whole body forged from blood‑tear divine crystals!

The tower soars into the clouds, ten‑thousands of light‑years tall, its summit never visible at a glance!

Countless ancient Dao runes are engraved upon its shaft, exuding an obscure yet mighty aura, as if merged with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

The tower has fifteen levels, each containing an ultimate trial—be it combat, Dao insight, or mental refinement—and each carries the risk of death and Dao extinction!!

Nevertheless, the Tongtian Tower also holds many providences!

The Canglan Emperor greatly values talent; he once decreed that anyone who can break through the ninth level of the Tongtian Tower and reach the tenth or higher qualifies to become his direct disciple!

Becoming his disciple naturally grants a view of the emperor's true visage!

Yet the tower's difficulty is god‑defying; even a common cultivator who exhausts a lifetime can barely breach two or three levels.

Exceptionally gifted geniuses, giving their all, can reach five or six levels.

The top‑tier prodigies, hailed as regional monsters, at most breach seven or eight levels, after which further progress becomes impossible!

To date, in the multi‑million‑year history of the Canglan Sacred Land, only two individuals have barely reached the tenth level, successfully taken the Canglan Emperor as master, and become truly transmitted disciples revered by all of the sacred land!

As for above the tenth level, no one has ever touched it!

Rumors even claim that the eleventh level and beyond are utterly unattainable, turning them into distant legends in the hearts of cultivators across the realm!

The Tongtian Tower opens to outsiders once a year!

Each opening draws countless prodigies and strongmen from the entire Canglan Sacred Land to swarm the tower!

Naturally, most people attempt the tower chiefly to become disciples of the Canglan Sacred Land!

As for taking the emperor as master, that is beyond their imagination!

After all, breaking to the tenth level of the Tongtian Tower is harder than soaring to the blue heavens!

Even if one cannot become the emperor's disciple, reaching the sixth level of the Tongtian Tower already grants disciple status of the Canglan Sacred Land!!

Once a disciple of the Canglan Sacred Land, the cultivation methods and resources one obtains are far beyond what any other faction can compare to—a tremendous honor!!

Within a lofty tavern, in a tranquil private booth, Li Zhangsheng sat by the window, with various rare delicacies laid out before him!!

Li Zhangsheng leisurely took a sip of wine and lifted his gaze through the window outward!

A magnificent towering spire stood between heaven and earth in the distance, like a pillar upholding the sky, its end invisible at a glance!!

That was the Tongtian Tower, rising in the core star region of the Canglan Sacred Land!

Within the Canglan Sacred Land's domain, wherever you are, you can see the Tongtian Tower!

The Tongtian Tower is the symbol of the Canglan Sacred Land!

Li Zhangsheng is now inside a tavern on one of the continents within the core star region of the Canglan Sacred Land, a continent relatively close to the Tongtian Tower!!

The Canglan Sacred Land's Tongtian Tower opens to outsiders once a year, each opening lasting a month; anyone with sufficient talent and strength may attempt it!

This year's opening period happens to be tomorrow!

At present, the planets and continents surrounding the Tongtian Tower are teeming with cultivators—a bustling scene!

Originally, Li Zhangsheng intended to go straight to the core area of the Canglan Sacred Land to find the Canglan Emperor.

However, it is said the Canglan Emperor is like a divine dragon—only the head is seen, never the tail—without a fixed dwelling; even those within the sacred land do not know his exact whereabouts!!

Since reaching the tenth level of the Tongtian Tower grants an audience with the Canglan Emperor, and the tower opens tomorrow, he decided not to search for the emperor and simply plans to climb the tower tomorrow!

"I wonder whether the Canglan Emperor's Ten‑Thousand‑Ages Face‑Recognition Technique can help me locate those three people; I've traveled thousands of miles to find you, so please don't disappoint me," Li Zhangsheng said, leisurely sipping his wine, gazing at the sky‑piercing Tongtian Tower, murmuring to himself.

…

Early the next morning, Li Zhangsheng headed for the Tongtian Tower area!

From afar, the foot of the Tongtian Tower was already a sea of people!

Countless cultivators crowded the star region spanning tens of thousands of li!

There were lone wandering cultivators as well as prodigy disciples arriving in clusters from major sects and families!

Cultivation levels ranged from Dao Lord to Dao Emperor Realm!

The various auras intertwined, yet due to the tower's majesty, no one dared to make noise; the atmosphere was both tense and fervent!!

Climbing the Tongtian Tower actually has an age limit!

The bone age must not exceed two hundred thousand years!!

For cultivators of Yuan Zhi Sheng Tu, two hundred thousand years is considered a young generation!

However, the tower imposes no cultivation‑level restriction!!

It is said that the higher a cultivator's level, the tougher the trials!

"Look, there are more prodigies attempting the tower this year than before; the Holy Son of Qingxuan Sacred Land and the heir of the Yǒumíng Valley's valley master have arrived again."

"I heard those two have already braved the Tongtian Tower three times; last time each reached the fifth level, and it's uncertain whether they can make it to the sixth this time and become disciples of the Canglan Sacred Land!"

The Tongtian Tower imposes no limit on the number of attempts; as long as you meet the age requirement, you may try again, gaining experience for subsequent attempts.

However, the higher the level inside the Tongtian Tower, the greater the danger coefficient; the deeper you go, the greater the risk of a fatal fall, and some hazards can kill you before you even have time to react, causing instant death and Dao extinction!

"Even geniuses like the Holy Son of Qingxuan Sacred Land and the heir of Yǒumíng Valley can barely challenge the sixth level; who knows how impossible the tenth level truly is!"

"It takes several million years for only two direct disciples of an emperor to appear—just imagine the difficulty!"

"I heard that before, a mid Dao Emperor realm powerhouse, upon reaching the ninth layer, was instantly ground to ashes by the tower's internal Dao power, without even a chance to react!"

"Voices of discussion rose and fell, the crowd gazed upon the incomparably majestic Heaven-Reaching Tower, their eyes filled with awe and longing!!"

"For them, passing the tenth layer is unattainable."

"But for Li Zhangsheng, storming the tower is merely a shortcut to meet the Canglan Emperor!"

"Li Zhangsheng wore a single white robe, standing alone at the edge of the crowd, his aura plain and undisturbed, appearing no different from an ordinary cultivator!!"

"……"

"Above the Heaven-Reaching Tower, there is a palace that flies and hovers, encircling the tower!!"

"That palace, before the Heaven-Reaching Tower, is tiny as a speck of dust!"

"At this moment inside the palace, there are three elders; they are the elders of the Canglan Holy Land, responsible for overseeing the tower's opening and observing the challengers' progress inside, to see if any new talents will emerge this year to be taken into the Canglan Holy Land for cultivation!"

"Inside the palace where the three elders reside, ten mirror-like treasures float!!"

"These ten treasures allow them to observe the scenes from the first to the tenth layer of the Heaven-Reaching Tower!!"

"As for above the tenth layer, they have no permission to observe!"

"Of course, they also have no need to observe the situation above the tenth layer of the Heaven-Reaching Tower!"

"After all, no one has ever set foot in the eleventh layer of the Heaven-Reaching Tower up to now!!"

"Even those two monstrous geniuses who became disciples of the Canglan Emperor merely managed to reach the tenth layer, make a slight challenge, and then stopped, daring not to go further!"

"\"It's about time, we can open the Heaven-Reaching Tower. \" Inside the palace, the leading elder wore a red robe; he is Zhuge Xiao, the Grand Elder of the Canglan Holy Land, a mid Dao Emperor realm powerhouse, and within the Holy Land he is second only to the Canglan Emperor!"

"\"It's been many years since anyone reached the eighth layer; I hope someone can reach the eighth layer this year. \" Behind Zhuge Xiao, a one-eyed, gray-haired elder chuckled; he is Yun Huan, the Second Elder of the Canglan Holy Land!!"

"\"Ah, every year we three old men repeat this; couldn't another monstrous genius who can reach the tenth layer come, to give us three some fun? \" Another elder laughed; he is Lu Chen, the Third Elder of the Canglan Holy Land!!"

"\"Reaching the tenth layer isn't that easy, \" Yun Huan Elder teased: \"Old Three, if it were you in your youth attempting the climb, even the ninth layer would be uncertain! \"

"\"Yeah! \" Lu Chen didn't object: \"Reaching the tenth layer is that difficult; I also don't know what it means that the Heaven-Reaching Tower has fifteen layers. \"

"\"Who knows what kind of genius the Emperor is looking for; the time has come, open the Heaven-Reaching Tower. \" Grand Elder Zhuge Xiao, while speaking, activated a small formation disk before him!"

"Moments later, Dao patterns across the Heaven-Reaching Tower suddenly lit up, golden light shooting straight into the clouds!"

"An immense, boundless pressure swept out; the previously noisy crowd instantly fell silent, everyone's eyes locked firmly on each entrance of the Heaven-Reaching Tower!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh……"

"Immediately, figures like locusts surged into the Heaven-Reaching Tower!!"

"Around the Heaven-Reaching Tower there are many entrances; Li Zhangsheng also casually picked one and darted in……"