Yi Qing and Lonemoon, with the three patriarchs in tow, fought off their attackers as they retreated. Time passed. They did not know how long they had been in the pagoda. Finally, they found a chance to regulate their meridians. However, the three family patriarchs were in a bad shape, partly due to the injuries they received when they were awakened, but mainly because they had been trapped for too long within the Mental Demon Tribulations spell, causing their foundations to be damaged. The Spirit Qi in their entire body had almost all dissipated. The strange thing was they could not even draw Qi into their bodies.

　　The surrounding Qi was so dense that it was almost palpable, but it seemed to be a fake Qi that could not be guided into their bodies. Therefore, recovering from their injuries was not possible. Lonemoon guessed that some kind of restriction had been placed on the Qi.

　　“What should we do?” Lonemoon was annoyed. “If this carries on, they will waste away even if they don’t get trapped by their mental demons.”

　　“It depends on what these patriarchs think?” Yi Qing pointed to the men sitting on the ground who were regulating their meridians.

　　The three men looked at him in surprise, “What do you mean, Supremacy?”

　　“They are all your family’s traveling immortals. Some of them may still be trapped in their mental demons and lost their sense of self…” Yi Qing let his sentence trail off.

　　Turning pale, the three men immediately understood his meaning. Trapped by their mental demons, the traveling immortals had lost their self-identity. In their current situation, there was no time to lose, if they are not awakened, then they were as good as dead.

　　For a time everyone was silent and the three patriarchs exchanged looks. After a while, they seemed to come to a decision and nodded.

　　Xuan Yuanyu took a deep breath and gritting his teeth, said, “Yi Qing Supremacy, I understand what you mean. If there’s no way… our three families will always be grateful to you for saving us, no matter the outcome.” It would be good if their men could wake up, but if their self-identities were eroded by the mental demons, even if they left the pagoda, they would only become useless killing machines.

　　“Good!” At this, Yi Qing heaved a sigh of relief. Looking at Lonemoon, he said, “When the four Supremacies catch up with us, divert them away first. You don’t have to fight with them, just delay them, but don’t let them catch up with you.”

　　After giving his instructions to Lonemoon, he looked again at the other three men and asked, “Patriarch Yi, can you think of a way to delay the traveling immortals?”

　　Yi Feng thought for a moment and then nodded, “Yes! But we can’t hold them off for long with only Dharma artifacts.”

　　“We need to hold them off for half an hour.” Yi Qing turned to two other men. “Patriarch Yin and Patriarch Xuan Yuan please back him up. Just hold off any one of the traveling immortals, as for the others, leave them to me.”

　　Turning to Lonemoon he said, “After an hour, divert another four over here.”

　　“You plan to divide and conquer!” exclaimed Lonemoon, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

　　“That’s right!” he nodded. “There’s no other way now.” Let’s hope those men don’t see through our plan.

　　“Alright! I’ll do as you say,” Lonemoon nodded and took a deep breath.

　　Yi Qing walked through the plan with the others. A short while later, he faintly detected the menacing aura of the traveling immortals heading straight towards them.

　　“They’re here!” Lonemoon and Yi Qing looked at each and then both flew off together.

　　——————

　　Huayuan City.

　　“Wow, what a tall pagoda.” Shen Ying looked up at the gigantic white pagoda before her. It occupied almost half of Huayuan City and can be seen from miles away.

　　“That goes without saying, they say that this pagoda leads directly to the Immortal Realm, so of course it’s unique.” The person next to her explained excitedly. “There are only three levels in the pagoda, but it’s said that there are many mysteries within, and it’s a world unto itself. Miss, I can only bring you so far, you have to go ahead by yourself.”

　　The man pointed to the Huayuan City gate which was ahead and descended to the ground on his sword.

　　“Thank you, little brother!” Shen Ying smiled at him. After leaving the Demon Realm, she had wandered around for half a month but still could not locate the Immortal Ascension Pagoda. Fortunately, she met a man who was kind enough to take her there. The world was still filled with many good people.

　　“You’re welcome, anyway, Yin Skycity, where I’m heading, is not far from here, so it’s along the way.” The man returned her smile and flew off again. “I’ll take my leave now, goodbye!”

　　Shen Ying waved in return and after seeing him off, entered the city.

　　Close up, the Immortal Ascension Pagoda looked even bigger, with Immortal Qi constantly swirling around it. A number of cultivators of various cultivation levels were gathered around its base. No one was guarding the pagoda gate, which was open. But hardly any of the cultivators went in, most were merely curious onlookers.

　　“What a huge crowd,” Shen Ying muttered to herself.

　　“This is nothing!” said a man next to her. “When this pagoda appeared more than half a month ago, there was an even bigger crowd. All the Soul Formation cultivators and Traveling Immortals from the major sects and aristocratic families came here as well – it was a gathering of almost all of Upper Azure World’s experts. Whereas these people outside the pagoda now are no higher than Nascent Soul.”

　　“Oh,” Nodding her head, Shen Ying asked. “Then why don’t they enter?”

　　“This is the Immortal Ascension Pagoda you are talking about. Cultivators below Soul Formation do not dare to enter it,” The man continued. “It’s said that there are three levels in the pagoda, every level is filled with danger, and only those who can make it pass the third level can ascend to become an immortal. So far, only the experts of the aristocratic families and sects have entered.”

　　“Is it really so terrifying inside?”

　　“Of course.”

　　“Oh.” With an earnest expression, Shen Ying pointed to the pagoda and asked, “Then why don’t they fly directly up to the pagoda from outside?”

　　Huh?

　　(⊙o⊙)

　　The man was made speechless by her logic. He had never thought of this alternative!

　　“I thought you said that reaching the top level was the goal?”

　　“Er… from what I heard, that is indeed… the case.” The man was silent, thinking over the feasibility of this method. Then he shook his head and said, “This is an immortal pagoda, there will definitely be a defensive array formation around it, how can anyone just fly up…?”

　　Before he could finish his sentence, he felt the figure beside him crouch down. The next moment he heard a loud boom and the ground subsided a few inches. The woman beside him a moment ago had sprung up into the air like an arrow.

　　“Holy cow… She really… really flew straight up!”

　　Σ(°△°|||)

　　————————

　　Inside the pagoda.

　　They had almost exhausted all their energy before they finally managed to subdue the traveling immortals who were trapped in their trance. Despite following the plan Yi Qing suggested, they had hit a snag along the way. Not long after Lonemoon had lured them away, the traveling immortals seemed to have discovered something amiss. They had abandoned their pursuit of Lonemoon and turned back.

　　Their divide and conquer plan would have failed if Yi Qing had not used all his reserves and held on. Fortunately, four of the traveling immortals had awakened, but as they had been in the demonic trance for a long time, they were in far worse shape than their three family patriarchs and could barely walk.

　　Lonemoon was so exhausted that he flopped himself down onto the ground. He looked at Yi Qing, who was the only one still standing and at the flight of staircase leading to the next level, which had reappeared. After panting for a while, he said to Yi Qing, “I’m bushed. What’s our next move? Do we go up?”

　　Yi Qing seated himself down in a lotus position. After taking a moment to regulate his meridians, he gritted his teeth and said, “Wait here. I’m going up!”

　　“What!”