Chapter 203

Runsheng saw Old Man Shan; the old man's face was calm and restrained.

This was the first time since he could remember that Runsheng had seen such an expression on his grandfather's face; after all, his grandfather had always been short-tempered and wore his emotions on his sleeve.

Tan Wenbin saw his own father, Tan Yunlong. If one were to pluck that face from the high tower alone, it would be very suitable to be pasted on a tombstone. Pulling the camera back, it was his helpless self crying in the rain, his mother, and a group of his father's colleagues in police uniforms, plus the bureau leaders giving final comfort to the family.

Lin Shu You saw his grandfather, wearing the makeup of a Guan Jiang Shou, but no longer murderous, instead revealing a sense of desolation and dead silence.

Zhao Yi saw Old Man Tian, dead and lifeless, looking exactly like the way he looked when he was first sent home after being crippled, lying on the bed without moving, staring at the ceiling.

Later, it was only after his repeated persuasion and comfort, asking him to continue pounding herbs and making medicine for him, that he regained hope and vitality.

"Heh..."

Zhao Yi curled his lips into a smile.

This young master actually saw you here.

After going back, once I tell Old Tian about this, the old thing will surely roll around on the bed happily.

A Yuan saw a white old ape, the top of its head opened, boiling inside, white and frothy, with heat rising.

There was no light in the old ape's eyes, as if it had long accepted such a fate.

Yu Miaomiao saw an old woman who was dignified without being angry. Her status in the Yu family was equivalent to Liu Yumei in the Liu family; she was the matriarch of the family.

But as she watched, velvet hair grew on the grandmother's face, her eyeballs became round, and long whiskers grew on her lips.

In Yu Miaomiao's eyes, a look of confusion also followed.

She couldn't distinguish who she was seeing, because she couldn't distinguish who she was.

Li Zhuiyuan saw a face, but it was just a face.

This face seemed to be trying very hard to change into some appearance, but it never succeeded.

Last time in A Li's dream, Li Zhuiyuan hadn't been able to see the face of that black-robed person.

He originally thought that the person had deliberately concealed his true appearance; it seemed he had misunderstood him. It wasn't that the person was pretending to be profound, but that the person couldn't see the human side from his own perspective.

Yin Meng saw her grandfather, and then her grandfather disappeared very quickly.

Her heart panicked.

The one she respected most was her grandfather, but this kind of filial affection had long been worn away by time during ten years of meticulous care.

After her grandfather's face disappeared, it turned into a special face.

This face had no human air, like a clay statue.

In Fengdou, there were statues and paintings of him everywhere.

Since she was sensible, Yin Meng had been repeatedly told by her grandfather that her ancestor was Yin Changsheng, and that his bloodline flowed in her body.

And when the face of Yin Changsheng's divine statue was reflected, the bell on the high tower rang again.

"Hum!"

That face retracted and was no longer visible.

Except for Li Zhuiyuan, everyone's gaze stalled and then quickly recovered.

Everyone was incomparably wary in their hearts, and the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

It was hard to imagine how terrifying it would be to take action against such an existence.

No need for techniques, no need for arrays, not even need for words...

The person just stood there simply, and your consciousness and emotions would automatically be pulled by it.

Suddenly, although no sunlight could shine in here, the flying eaves on the pavilion shone brightly at this moment, and the light spilled onto the dining table, beginning to circulate.

Although silent, it was self-evident: Please take your seats.

It had been discovered long ago that the sense of rules in this wave was very strong, which made some fixed processes have to be gone through.

Regarding this, everyone was well aware and had long understood.

Only Li Zhuiyuan took a special look at Yin Meng.

The young man suspected that this time it might not really be a fixed process, but rather the special role positioning of the Yin family walking the rivers and lakes, which had been triggered once again.

The shade of ancestors could allow future generations to have better opportunities to eat; the Yin family had profoundly interpreted this point; they truly took it as a meal.

Yu Miaomiao and A Yuan entered the pavilion first. Although it was a banquet without a host, she still very naturally chose to sit in the position facing the white road they had come from.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin sat down next to their positions respectively; they were in the best physical condition, which could be considered a kind of isolation protection.

After everyone sat down, one chair was left empty.

Zhao Yi sat down beside Li Zhuiyuan, pointed to the wine glass in front of him, and smiled: "Shall we two brothers have a drink?"

Directly above the position of the wine glass, facing the opening, water droplets dripped at intervals, allowing it to be replenished while the heat waves under the table kept evaporating, which was very ingenious.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "In the brain development stage, I can't drink alcohol."

Zhao Yi's lips twitched, thinking: This brain of yours, still needs to grow?

However, he was just saying it; he didn't really dare to drink the wine here.

As for the dishes on the table, they looked colorful and fragrant, but they had been placed here for who knows how many years; they could be considered authentic zombie meat.

No one picked up chopsticks or moved cups; everyone sat quietly, waiting for this process to end.

Runsheng kept swallowing his saliva.

Li Zhuiyuan spoke up: "Brother Runsheng, if you want to eat, then eat."

The host shouldn't have poisoned the dishes; of course, the dishes themselves... didn't need to be poisoned.

Runsheng was very surprised and happy, smiling as he picked up his chopsticks and began to pick up food.

Under the wide-eyed gaze of Yu Miaomiao and A Yuan, he sent these delicacies into his mouth, chewing with enjoyment.

When eating these dishes, he didn't need to burn incense.

In the past, when Runsheng followed Li Sanjiang to sit for a fast, he would be arranged in a corner after the banquet started, and Li Sanjiang would instruct the host to prepare some dishes and a small bucket of rice for him.

This was not only because Runsheng had a special eating habit, but also because his appetite was too large; if he really sat at the table and ate openly, the people at the same table would definitely not be full.

However, for this meal today, no one was competing with him; it was all his.

The dishes in front of him were finished, and Runsheng stood up to pick up dishes from further away.

Tan Wenbin wanted to move the dishes in front of him to Runsheng, tried to pick them up with his hands, but discovered that all the bowls and dishes on the banquet were fixed to the stone table.

This wasn't built like this from the beginning, but because they had been placed for too long without moving, leading to adhesion.

Tan Wenbin had no choice but to pick up his chopsticks to help Runsheng pick up dishes.

A Yuan also stood up to help Runsheng with this favor.

Although the two sides stood on opposite sides and would have a life-and-death struggle in the future, this did not affect his appreciation for Runsheng.

Yu Miaomiao asked: "Can you eat?"

A Yuan shook his head.

Yu Miaomiao: "Then what about him?"

A Yuan shook his head again.

Yin Meng whispered: "It's rare to see Runsheng eat so happily; there is only this one meal."

Tan Wenbin: "This isn't difficult."

Yin Meng asked curiously: "Do you have a way to make it?"

Tan Wenbin nodded: "First, find a chicken old enough to be a great-grandmother, then find a duck old enough to be a great-grandfather, and then make them into dishes."

At first, no one knew how long this process of entering the banquet would take, but gradually, everyone saw the countdown.

Because Runsheng was about to finish the dishes on the table; there were no more dishes, so the banquet must end.

Seeing that Runsheng was already doing the final cleanup of the battlefield, the others at the dining table began to cast their gazes toward the high tower from time to time.

That face had never appeared again.

Finally, Runsheng finished eating.

He gently patted his stomach with his hand; the feeling of filling his stomach purely by dishes without staple food was truly good.

Just at this moment, a piece in the middle of the stone table first sank, and then slowly rose, with three identical plaques on it, and the plaques had the exact same marks as the palms of the three people earlier.

Yu Miaomiao's eyes shone, as if she had been waiting for a long time.

A Yuan stood up to help her take it, but as soon as his hand touched a plaque, the plaque ignited, and he immediately moved his hand away, and the flame went out.

Yu Miaomiao had no choice but to reach out and take it herself; this time, the plaque did not catch fire.

It seemed that only those who had previously obtained the invitation were qualified to take this plaque at this time.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi also took one each.

Once the plaque was in hand, it seemed that an echo with that high tower was immediately generated in their hearts.

Holding it, one could enter the tower.

Yu Miaomiao could no longer wait, got up and left her seat, walking straight toward the high tower, with A Yuan following closely behind.

Zhao Yi and Li Zhuiyuan were not in a hurry and remained sitting in their chairs.

Li Zhuiyuan held the plaque, his eyes thoughtful.

Zhao Yi played with the plaque at his fingertips, constantly flicking it and catching it.

The two people's gazes met inadvertently, and both could read each other's thoughts.

They had reached this step, and the rules still had a strong sense of presence.

This made it hard not to think deeply about the true purpose of this wave.

Zhao Yi: "I'm starting to suspect what exactly our role in coming over in this wave is."

On the word "role," Zhao Yi added some emphasis; he deliberately didn't use the words "purpose" and "meaning."

"Role" was more like a tool, an item placed where it needed to be.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Those who died in the competition for the first jade fragment, what was their role..."

Zhao Yi: "With their deaths, they exchanged for the opportunity to open the door and open the banquet."

Li Zhuiyuan: "... that is what our role is."

"Ha!" Zhao Yi nodded significantly several times, "That is indeed the logic."

In the past, when walking the river, the sense of rules was not strong, and everyone still needed to work hard to find and distinguish clues themselves.

This time, the rules were like a water channel that had been built; you were the flowing water within it, and could only flow in the direction it had planned.

The degree of freedom was greatly reduced, and this also seemed to indicate the irreversibility of the final outcome.

Those who died in the first round due to competing for jade fragments became consumables, but who could guarantee that the winners of the first round who obtained the invitation were not another kind of consumable?

Li Zhuiyuan: "So, there are three invitations, three choose one."

This was the aesthetic of the Heavenly Dao; it wouldn't set up a must-die situation. At any time, it would still give you a chance to struggle, even if only on the surface.

If it were three choose one, the two of them still had this bit of trust, so they would definitely push that silly girl out.

Zhao Yi: "Then what if it's three choose two?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "If it's three choose two, that depends on whether there are external conditions interfering."

When saying this, Li Zhuiyuan looked at that high tower.

If there were no accidents, inside the high tower, there should exist interfering conditions.

Zhao Yi: "What if there are no external conditions interfering?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I will solve her first, then solve you."

Zhao Yi: "What if there are external conditions interfering?"

Li Zhuiyuan said very frankly: "I will find a way to join forces with her and solve you first together, because you have a brain."

Zhao Yi smiled: "Under this premise, shouldn't she cooperate with me and solve you first?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "She might not have this brain."

Zhao Yi nodded, deeply agreeing.

"Hey, what are you two still waiting for."

Yu Miaomiao stood in front of the high tower and shouted toward here.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi walked out of the pavilion and walked toward the high tower, with the others following.

On the high tower gate, there were three ancient bronze mirrors, which refracted three ghostly lights downward, falling onto the ground.

Yu Miaomiao held her plaque, placed it in a ghostly light, and waved her other hand to urge them.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi also took out their plaques and let them bathe in the ghostly light.

"Click..."

The tower gate opened.

Only those holding the token could enter; otherwise, a terrifying restriction would be triggered.

Yu Miaomiao walked in first.

Her urgency represented her grasp of the inside story here.

The Yu family clearly had a deeper understanding of this place, which was not strange; after all, their ancestors had served as teachers here.

However, Yu Miaomiao had previously said that she could share the clues here.

From coming out of the vortex black water to passing through this long white road, Li Zhuiyuan hadn't brought this matter up to her.

Her pretending to be asleep later also had a part of this reason.

She didn't want to say it, and would stall if she could.

Li Zhuiyuan also didn't want to ask, because the result of asking might not be true, and even if she were truly willing to tell the truth, it might not be "true."

If the Yu family truly grasped the correct secrets here, Yu Cangshēng wouldn't have fallen into this state.

Information that wasn't guaranteed to be true could be listened to in leisure time to see if any useful bits could be screened out, but here, at such a critical moment, there was no need to accept this kind of misleading information.

It was just that he didn't ask, so why didn't Zhao Yi ask either?

He had seen Yu Cangshēng, but Zhao Yi hadn't.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at Zhao Yi beside him from the corner of his eye.

The young man understood; precisely because he didn't ask, Zhao Yi also felt there was no need to ask.

He was using him as a ladder.

If there is a mountain peak in front, then climb high to see far.

He truly had the legacy of Zhao Wuyang now.

After Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi walked into the tower gate, the tower gate closed immediately, and the others were all left outside.

The light on the first floor was somewhat dim, and long-burning lamps were lit.

Zhao Yi: "What kind of style is this? Outside, it's emerald and white jade, so bright that people's eyes ache, but here in the innermost core position, lamps are actually lit."

The first floor was very empty, but there were murals on the surrounding walls.

Unlike the stone slab carvings that were separate one by one on the white road earlier, the murals here had a clear continuity.

Yu Miaomiao didn't stop here and went directly to the second floor.

Truly an arrogant girl.

She should have known the information in the murals here long ago, but this wasn't a stair-climbing competition where whoever ran fast won.

Even if it was information told to you by your parents, you still had to verify it when it was time to verify it.

Just as Yu Miaomiao reached the second floor, a sound of bells came from the stairwell.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi remained unmoved; anyway, they would be going up later, so for now, they would still follow the wall and quickly go through the murals here.

The first chapter of the murals depicted a picture of a goddess ascending to immortality.

However, this picture was not beautiful, but rather bloody and cruel.

Her blood flowed downward, and after dripping from her toes, it continued to flow along the ground.

The traces of this blood flow, especially the V-shape, reminded Li Zhuiyuan of the Lijiang tourist map he had seen; it should be the First Bend of the Yangtze Jiang Shui.

Therefore, the implication of this picture had similarities with the image of Kuafu chasing the sun and his body transforming after death.

The goddess's blood turned into a river, so what about the flesh and other parts she was shedding?

Looking at the shattered flesh and skin in the painting that had detached from the goddess's body, glowing with a special green crystal, could it be the emerald here?

Li Zhuiyuan didn't believe in the goddess's ascension.

But he could understand that this first picture should be used to explain the reason for the formation of this secret realm.

The next few pictures didn't have much meaning; they recorded that some people, whose specific identities were unknown, came here, and traces of human construction gradually appeared here.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi quickly skipped them, because the buildings that appeared in the paintings were different from what they had seen when they arrived.

Clearly, the buildings and layout here now should have been finalized by someone later, so there was no need to look at the previous ones.

This skip directly skipped one-third.

Finally, in one painting, the prototype of the steps and the three stone doors appeared, with a large number of laborers working in between.

From here on, the painting style changed, becoming more delicate and realistic.

Clearly, the painter himself also knew that what was depicted earlier were all myths and legends.

An academy was opened here, attracting more and more people to study and communicate here, including accepting the worship of feudal lords and nobles.

Next was the development history of the academy, and the finalization of the buildings here.

Another third passed, and the painting style changed once again.

Everyone here was kneeling and worshipping, and green river water poured in from the sky, completely filling and submerging this place.

No one struggled, no one resisted; although the images in the painting couldn't be delicate enough to see expressions, one could still see a kind of excitement and longing from the group portrait performance.

In the subsequent murals, an archway appeared, a white road appeared, and this high tower appeared.

Then it was the interior of the high tower; the doors and windows of the high tower in the painting were wide open, and from the second floor up, many people could be seen drinking and having fun, talking freely and unrestrainedly on each floor.

Seeing this, Zhao Yi and Li Zhuiyuan subconsciously raised their eyelids and looked up.

It seemed that in this high tower, it wasn't just the one who had appeared earlier; there should be many people.

They clearly couldn't be so lively now... but they should still be here.

In the next painting, a group of people appeared in front of the high tower.

Counting the number, it was unclear; it used a first-person perspective, standing among the crowd, looking at the high tower ahead.

Zhao Yi: "I originally thought it would paint eight or nine people; that would be interesting."

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "You want to be the 'Destined One' that much?"

Zhao Yi: "Tsk, I like this title."

In the last third of the space, from the painter's perspective, what he painted was actually the future.

In short, it meant that a group of people would come here, enter the high tower, and begin to climb the floors.

As they walked, each of them would have one more person beside them.

Because the figures here used two painting methods, one could clearly distinguish the difference between the "Destined Ones" and the original inhabitants drinking and having fun inside the high tower.

After the Destined Ones entered the tower and walked upward floor by floor, as they walked, each of them would be followed by one of the people who had originally been talking freely and unrestrainedly in the tower.

Zhao Yi: "Does this mean we have to find a companion?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Hmm, the external interference condition has arrived."

The meaning in the painting was very obscure, yet very clear.

A smile appeared on Zhao Yi's face; if this were the case, then his current disadvantage would no longer be a disadvantage.

The penultimate painting showed two overlapping figures, and a special ray of rosy light shone on them; they rang that bell.

In the final painting, above the scroll, a clean and crystalline hand appeared, as if performing a reception, and the true Heavenly Gate Celestial Palace appeared above.

Below the scroll, inside the high tower, inside the kneeling corpse pits, all the black shadows inside the emerald, and even the singing and dancing girls on the white road, all flew away from the ground, collectively heading toward the celestial palace.

This scene of dense, collective ascension had a strange sense of terror.

Li Zhuiyuan extended his finger and pointed to the scene of ringing the bell on the top floor of the high tower in the penultimate painting; the one ringing the bell was two overlapping shadows, but one could tell that one was a Destined One and one was an original inhabitant of the high tower.

Zhao Yi: "Only one side can survive, three choose two."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Hmm."

Zhao Yi pointed to "that group of people" in the previous painting: "Since it deliberately used an unclear number to represent it, it proves that every once in a while, a batch of people will come in here, and everyone wants to ring that bell. Look at this painting again; after ringing the bell successfully, rosy light covers them; this is a great opportunity, an immortal fate."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Immortal fate."

Zhao Yi: "It means that the final winner, even if they can't cause the result of ascension in broad daylight, will obtain huge benefits."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Perhaps."

Zhao Yi: "Why do I feel your interest isn't high? Is it because you feel you are going to lose me?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't speak and pointed to the stairs, signaling that it was time to go to the second floor.

When the two went up the stairs, Zhao Yi asked: "Who was that face that appeared on the top floor earlier?" Immediately after, Zhao Yi asked and answered himself, "Is it the person who officially established this place?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "It should be."

It was just that the black-robed person who entered A Li's dream explicitly said that he had a grudge against a certain Long Wang of the Qin and Liu families. Calculating based on this, and combining it with the construction era here, it seemed that the timeline didn't quite match up.

The history of the Qin and Liu families was long, but the conflict with the person who built this place... that time was a bit too far-fetched to match; it could probably only be the true founding Dragon Kings of the Qin and Liu families who could barely reach it.

Li Zhuiyuan's thoughts were many and chaotic.

The main thing was that this place wasn't unchanging; since the layout here was finalized, people kept coming in, and Yu Cangshēng was a very typical example.

Including themselves now, they were even more forcibly pushed here by the river water.

Too many people had come in, which would definitely cause constant influence on this place.

Zhao Yi: "Hey, you are keeping secrets from me."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Hmm, we are competitors now, aren't we?"

Zhao Yi pinched his own fragile little heart and said very tragically: "Fine, fine, fine!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "When you were narrating earlier, didn't you also deliberately mislead me?"

Zhao Yi: "It doesn't matter if I do that; anyway, you wouldn't be misled by me."

The two came to the second floor, where there were tables and chairs, with wine and delicacies placed on them, but there was no noise of drinking and having fun; everyone was sitting quietly in their seats.

They were dressed differently, of different ages, and all were dead.

They died very peacefully, with smiles on their faces.

In front of everyone, a bell was hung. When Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi stepped onto the second floor, all the bells made a sound.

"Shh~" Zhao Yi whistled and smiled, "It seems that everyone is very satisfied with us and is willing to follow us."

The ringing of the bells meant they were willing to be chosen, which was also a kind of recognition.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi carefully observed the bells.

The bells were uniquely designed, with a circular groove facing upward on the outside.

This was actually a special restriction aimed at this high tower.

The high tower had suppressed everyone here.

This was easy to understand; the environment here was special, and the corpses could be perfectly preserved without being eroded by time at all.

And those who could enter this high tower were Xuan Sect figures. If the corpses of these people were left for such a long time without being suppressed, problems would inevitably arise.

The purpose of this bell was also very simple; almost anyone with a bit of array foundation could see it.

One only needed to drip one's own fresh blood into the groove of the bell and fill it up, and then the high tower's restriction on the corpse corresponding to that bell would be temporarily lifted.

It was like a small blood sacrifice ritual.

Just like the folk custom of dripping blood into wine to drink together and recognize brothers.

If one didn't drip blood into the bell but instead touched the corpses here, one would suffer the same suppression from the high tower.

Rules, there were strict rules inside the high tower too.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi just walked around and observed the crowd here, but didn't make a selection.

Even if they were to choose, they wouldn't choose on the second floor.

Immediately, the two went up to the third floor.

The third floor had the same layout as the second floor, but there were half as many people.

When the two came up, all the bells still rang collectively; it seemed that they were still very popular here.

The number of people on the fourth floor was halved again, and all the bells still rang.

The fifth floor, the sixth floor, the seventh floor... all the way to the eighth floor, it was the same.

As the floors rose, the number of corpses became fewer and fewer, but the pressure emitted from the corpses became more and more intense.

Logically speaking, they were already dead, and suppressed by the high tower, so it was impossible for them to have any aura leaking out.

Therefore, this kind of pressure was something they carried themselves; either they had done many extraordinary things, or they were truly extraordinary figures, only then could they present an aura of "the tiger dies but its prestige remains."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Did you see your relatives?"

Zhao Yi seemed to have heard something extremely absurd and pointed at his own nose to ask back:

"You actually have the nerve to ask me this question? Whose relatives could be as numerous as yours!"

In the Xuan Sect of the rivers and lakes, the top influential families were naturally the Long Wang families.

While a family frequently produced Dragon Kings, it also meant that there were more outstanding people in the same generation of the family.

These people had certainly been to many places in their lives; of course, the more dangerous and mysterious the place, the higher the probability of their corpses appearing there.

The Jiujiang Zhao family had only produced one Long Wang, Zhao Wuyang, in history. Although the Zhao family hadn't declined, the fact that no more Dragon Kings had been produced in later generations showed that this was Zhao Wuyang's height alone, not the height of the entire Jiujiang Zhao family; the sense of disparity was very obvious.

And the Qin and Liu families were orthodox Long Wang families. Although they were thin in the current generation, in terms of ancestral heritage, they truly didn't fear anyone.

Moreover, in Li Zhuiyuan's generation, he possessed the Long Wang gates of both families, which was equivalent to being able to use the relatives of both families as one.

Although Li Zhuiyuan's surname was Li, and Liu Yumei hadn't let Li Zhuiyuan change his surname, since he had entered the gate, the ancestors of the two families were equivalent to Li Zhuiyuan's ancestors, because the inheritance relationship was inherently deeper and more important than blood relationship, and was more valued.

Li Zhuiyuan: "I didn't lie to you; I didn't see my relatives here. My ancestors weren't very interested in becoming immortals."

Zhao Yi: "I didn't lie to you either; I didn't see my relatives here either. My ancestors should have been quite interested in becoming immortals, but they didn't have the ability to break into this place."

When it was time to go up to the ninth floor, Zhao Yi signaled Li Zhuiyuan to stop first:

"You wait a moment, I'll go up first by myself."

"Okay." Li Zhuiyuan stopped his steps.

The higher the floor, the higher the requirements, so Zhao Yi felt more uneasy in his heart; this could be considered a test of his own quality.

He was worried that after going up to the ninth floor with the young man, all the bells would continue to ring, so who were they ringing for?

Don't tell me they were ringing for himself, and he was still following along and laughing foolishly, feeling self-satisfied.

Zhao Yi went up to the ninth floor, and all the bells rang.

After Li Zhuiyuan heard the movement, he also walked into the ninth floor, and all the bells rang again.

A smile hung on Zhao Yi's face.

Li Zhuiyuan: "You could actually be a bit more confident."

Zhao Yi: "Before I met you, I was always very confident."

Next, go up to the tenth floor.

It was still the same as before; Zhao Yi went up first, and Li Zhuiyuan waited on the stairs.

There were only nine people left on the tenth floor, each in a separate armchair. As soon as Zhao Yi came up, he perceived a majestic pressure, and beads of sweat began to seep out on his forehead.

The bells rang; this time, among the nine bells, only two rang.

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to the floor, and all nine bells rang.

Zhao Yi: "Look, the gap has appeared."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't speak.

Zhao Yi: "I feel I can only choose on this tenth floor; there definitely won't be any part for me above."

Li Zhuiyuan still didn't speak.

Zhao Yi walked over: "However, this doesn't hinder me from going upstairs with you to take a look."

The twelfth floor was the big bell, so only the eleventh floor remained with people.

Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi walked up together.

Yu Miaomiao was also here, holding talisman paper in her left hand and incense in her right.

On this floor, there were only three people, each on a sleeping bed, occupying the three sides excluding the stairwell.

A white-haired old man in a purple Daoist robe, with a horsetail whisk on his knees, had the demeanor of an immortal.

A middle-aged woman in a black long dress, holding a treasure sword, was accompanied by sharpness.

The third person, with crane hair and a child's face, could not judge his specific age; he was lying on his side on the bed, his left hand supporting his head, and his right hand holding an open book.

His eyes were closed, and the pages of the book were blank.

The people downstairs were dead but still had prestige, while the three people here gave people a stronger special feeling, which was... although dead, they were still alive.

When Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi came up, the three bells didn't ring at all.

However, there was no need to feel disappointed because of this, because Yu Miaomiao was the same; if they had rung, she wouldn't have needed to perform the sacrificial ritual here.

The talisman paper burned, turning into ashes, and the clear incense burned quickly, dissipating instantly.

Yu Miaomiao performed the Yu family gate salute to the three people:

"Junior Yu Miaomiao, a river-walker from the Luoyang Yu family, asks the seniors to take action to help me win this immortal fate!"

As soon as the words fell, a bell sound rang; it was the black-dressed woman holding the sword.

The treasure sword seemed to have sensed something, slightly unsheathed, emitting a light chime.

Yu Miaomiao showed joy and bowed to the woman again: "Thank you, senior; senior's great kindness, junior will never dare to forget!"

After speaking, Yu Miaomiao scratched her fingertip with her fingernail and dripped fresh blood into that bell. Along with the groove of the bell being gradually filled with fresh blood, the high tower's suppression aura on the woman was also gradually dissipating.

Finally, the bell fell off and landed in Yu Miaomiao's hand. Seeing her wave lightly, the black-dressed woman got up from the sleeping bed and came down.

Yu Miaomiao walked in front, and the black-dressed woman followed behind.

When she got close, Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi felt that the skin exposed outside their clothes was pricked with pain.

One had to know that this was still in a state of not having opened her eyes and still being in the high tower environment.

A light wave of air was emitted from within the high tower, blowing only on Yu Miaomiao, moving her hair, as if giving guidance, signaling that she could go downstairs now.

Yu Miaomiao stopped in front of Li Zhuiyuan and Zhao Yi and first spoke to Zhao Yi:

"Try to see if your Jiujiang Zhao name can call them?"

Subsequently, she looked at Li Zhuiyuan and said contemptuously: "This is not a place you can come to."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

Yu Cangshēng had angrily scolded her as a fool, saying she hadn't even figured out the identity of her opponent until now.

She wasn't pretending; just like when she had forgotten to take a jade fragment in her hand as insurance, she truly hadn't strongly doubted the young man's background identity.

Li Zhuiyuan also truly didn't like to report his family background in front of living people, but under normal circumstances, after a little contact, one could see clues from each other's methods.

Just like Zhao Yi beside him, he had seen it back then.

Yu Miaomiao held the bell and took the black-dressed woman downstairs.

The last sentence left was: "You two move fast, don't keep me waiting long on the bottom floor."

Zhao Yi couldn't help but laugh: "How does she manage to be so confident all the time?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "It's quite good; this way one can always be very happy."

At this moment, because one bell had been removed, the long-burning lamps on this floor seemed to become dimmer, and this trend was still slowly continuing.

This should be a urging from the high tower, meaning one had to hurry.

Li Zhuiyuan asked Zhao Yi: "Do you want to bow?"

Zhao Yi shook his head: "Forget it, don't waste this effort. I'll go back to the next floor and go for the happy two-choose-one."

Zhao Yi waved his hand and went downstairs.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze lingered on the scholar and the old man.

He was making a choice, and this choice was so difficult.

His peripheral vision swept over the long-burning lamps; it was a pity that there wasn't much time left.

Zhao Yi stood on the tenth floor, where a man and a woman sat on two chairs in front of him.

Earlier, it was these two who had rung the bells for him.

Zhao Yi rubbed his chin with his fingers.

"Three choose two, three leave one, then aren't I dead for sure?"

The Yu family girl was very strong, regardless of whether she was injured or not. Furthermore, she had also brought down a helper from the eleventh floor, but Zhao Yi felt that he still had a chance to fight with her.

But the problem was, there was still a young man upstairs.

He truly didn't have the confidence to compete for that line of survival with that young man.

"Line of survival... line of survival..."

The life-and-death gate seam on Zhao Yi's forehead began to squirm rapidly.

He didn't want to die; he wanted to live. He had rushed to participate in this wave just to extend his life.

The content of the murals on the first floor was quickly flipped through in his mind, especially the last third part.

He looked conflicted: "Is there another, stranger truth? The ringing of the bells here, what kind of quality is it testing?"

Zhao Yi spread his hands and clenched his fists.

Then one finger stood up, and when he wanted to stand up the second finger, he couldn't stand it up no matter what.

Because this idea, for him, only had a ten percent possibility.

Even that ten percent wasn't there; it was just because he couldn't chop his little finger into several segments to express it more accurately.

"If this is the case, then it's too crazy, and it's no different from gambling."

Zhao Yi shook his head, changed his perspective to re-deduce the probability that he would win against the Yu family girl and also win against that young man after inviting one of these two down.

He held his breath, his heart pounded, and the life-and-death gate seam began to twist, but in the end, even a little finger couldn't be poked out.

"Isn't this dead for sure?"

Zhao Yi was tired and sat on the ground.

"Pop!"

He opened a can of Jianlibao; this was stolen from his good friend Lin Shu You's backpack. That guy didn't want to give it at first, saying it was all prepared for Brother Xiaoyuan.

When he said that if you don't give it, I'll go ask Brother Tan, Lin Shu You very readily stuffed a can to him.

"Glug glug..."

"Cough cough... cough cough..."

Drinking too fast and too quickly, Zhao Yi choked.

He wiped his nose and mouth with his sleeve, then threw his body back with force:

"Forget it, gamble once!"

Eleventh floor.

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to the scholar, cut his finger, and let his fresh blood drip into the bell in front of the scholar.

But only dripping it until it was slightly over half, he withdrew his finger, put his fingertip into his mouth, and sucked it gently.

He didn't really have this habit before, but now, he cherished every drop of his blood; who knew if the lack of this drop of blood color would make him be forced to eat a poached egg by Brother Runsheng.

Of course, the reason he didn't fill the bell wasn't because of this.

After a lot of blood was stored in the bell, the high tower's suppression force on this scholar was reduced a lot.

Li Zhuiyuan tried to reach out and grab the wordless book in the scholar's hand.

However, just as his fingertip touched the book, a force that was still extremely strong for him fell on his body.

The young man's body swayed first, then stumbled, and sat on the ground.

"The array here is truly amazing."

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, clapped his hands, and then spread his right palm, and blood mist slowly overflowed.

The young man's eyes scanned the surroundings, and his fingertips kept pinching; he was setting up an array.

Wanting to break this high tower, for him now, was simply an impossible thing; even if the person who designed this high tower personally took action, it would be impossible to succeed.

But, digging a little corner, Li Zhuiyuan felt there was still a little chance; he only needed to make the suppression effect in the area in front of him decrease a little more.

Time passed slowly.

The brightness of the long-burning lamps had become very weak, and what followed was a repulsive force gradually rising inside the high tower.

On the first floor, Yu Miaomiao, standing with the black-dressed sword-wielding woman, stood in front of the tower gate and cursed to herself resentfully:

"Truly a lazy donkey on the mill, with too much shit and piss!"

Eleventh floor.

"Whoosh... whoosh... whoosh..."

Strips of ceramic appeared beside Li Zhuiyuan, and they rotated and crossed rapidly. Finally, the moment the young man clenched his fist, they all solidified, and the array was formed!

Li Zhuiyuan didn't dare to delay, not only because the repulsion toward him inside the high tower was becoming more obvious, but also because the temporary array he designed himself had a very short maintenance time.

The young man's hand grabbed the wordless book in the scholar's hand.

"Ah..."

It hurt, it still hurt; there was a feeling that his flesh was about to be squeezed open and his bones were about to crack.

The young man gritted his teeth, his knuckles exerting force until they turned white.

Finally,

"Pop!"

That wordless book was taken down by the young man from the scholar's hand!

The array disappeared.

Li Zhuiyuan supported his knees with both hands, lowered his head, and emitted violent gasps.

It wasn't easy, very reluctant, but fortunately, he had taken it down.

Li Zhuiyuan walked downstairs with the book.

Just as he reached the tenth floor, he saw Zhao Yi, who was hugging the stair railing and gasping for air with difficulty. His current state looked like a withered flower or a fallen willow.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Why are you still here? I thought you had already gone down."

Earlier, when setting up the array upstairs, Li Zhuiyuan had isolated his perception of the outside world, because he had no energy to spare to pay attention to the movements on other floors.

"I was waiting for you."

Li Zhuiyuan looked behind Zhao Yi and didn't see anyone following.

Looking around the entire tenth floor, nine people were all sitting in chairs, not one missing.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Where are your people?"

Zhao Yi: "I didn't call, I gave up directly, hoping that you will be gentle when you kill me, considering that I was so cooperative."

Soon, Zhao Yi also tried hard to poke his head to look behind Li Zhuiyuan; first he was shocked, then he was overjoyed, and immediately after, he was suspicious again:

"No, where are your people? You stayed up there for so long, and you didn't manage to call them?"

"I didn't call."

Zhao Yi opened his mouth; this time he was completely ecstatic: "Hahaha, it seems I bet right, I finally bet right once!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "That's not necessarily true."

Zhao Yi said indifferently: "It's okay, if we die, we die together; with you to be buried with me, I don't feel it's a loss."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's go down; if we delay any longer, I'm afraid you'll have cardiac arrest from being suppressed here."

"Hmm." Zhao Yi grabbed the stair railing and followed the young man downstairs, asking again while walking:

"You didn't call, so how did you stay up there for so long?"

Li Zhuiyuan, walking in front, raised the wordless book in his hand:

"Since I came, I just pried a treasure from them."