“I just received the news as well,” Feng Ying pulled a chair out of the wreckage and dusted the surface. “The Immortal Ascension Pagoda suddenly appeared in the Yu Family home in Huayuan City. Apparently, your battle with the Yu Family made them take extra precautions against you by setting up the Immortal Ascension Pagoda. The Heaven and Earth phenomenon we witnessed yesterday was caused by that Immortal Ascension Pagoda. Come, sit down!”

　　“Oh,” Shen Ying sat on the chair that Feng Ying dusted. “What kind of pagoda is that? What is it for?”

　　[Ding! Congratulations Host baby, you have accomplished your mission and achieved the Well-Mannered Teen reward!]

　　Feng Ying’s mouth twitched. He tried to ignore the system and continued, “According to the Yu Family’s ancient texts, the Pagoda is a Dharma artifact created by their ancestors before they achieved Immortal Ascension millions of years ago. There are plenty of training grounds inside the pagoda which links to the Immortal World. If you make it to the third level of the pagoda, you could achieve Immortal Ascension. That’s why it’s called the Immortal Ascension Pagoda.”

　　“Immortal Ascension!” Everybody around was shocked. Achieving Immortal Ascension was such a mean and dangerous feat. Many Soul Formation cultivators in the Upper Azure World, even those who have Perfected Soul Formation, do not dare to trigger the Immortal Ascension Lightning Tribulation for fear of disintegrating under the lightning bolts. The Disintegrating Itinerant Cultivators were prime examples. The Yu Family’s pagoda would drive everybody in the Upper Azure World mad.

　　“According to the information obtained by my Soul Chasing Tower, the Yu Family attracts the most attention out of all the aristocratic families because of this pagoda. Everyone wants to get into their good books so they can learn more about this Immortal Ascension Pagoda,” Feng Ying explained. “The Yu Family knows they cannot keep the pagoda to themselves now that their Master is missing. The elders of the Yu Family thus decided to invite the great cultivators from the other three aristocratic families to enter the pagoda and try it out.”

　　“My father and several uncles from my family are some of the people who were invited to enter the pagoda,” Yin Yuanfei said in a low voice.

　　Shen Ying nodded, “Then how do you know they’re in trouble?” Could this is a part of the Yu Family plan?

　　“It’s the Life Presenting Token.” He retrieved a square token from inside his robe. Only the upper right corner of the square was white – the remaining parts of the token were all black. “My Yin Family does business. We often help cultivators sell some rare treasures that are highly sought after by bad people who in turn may attempt to kill us to obtain said treasures. Everybody in my family carries a life token like that. If it becomes black, it means that someone from the family is in life-threatening danger.”

　　Yin Yuanfei raised the life token up and said, “Shortly after my father entered the Immortal Ascension Pagoda, my token turned into this. Clearly, his life is in danger. He’s not alone. My father took precautions before entering the pagoda and handed a similar Life Presenting Token to my other two uncles who followed him. He instructed me to look out for any changes on the token. Last night, everybody’s tokens either fell apart or became like this. No matter how dangerous the pagoda is, it can’t be that everybody’s token…”

　　In other words, everybody who entered the pagoda were in danger. Shen Ying frowned. This is so troublesome! She turned to address the crowd, “Where’s Father Niu?”

　　“Sect Master, you forgot,” Yu Hong stepped forward and answered. “Elder Lonemoon went to the Yin Family. According to what Yu Haiheng said yesterday, Elder Lonemoon also… went into the pagoda.”

　　“Father Niu is stuck in the pagoda too?”

　　“Even the traveling immortals from each of the three aristocratic families have not come out of the pagoda,” Feng Ying shook his head. “It looks like Supremacy Lonemoon is in trouble.”

　　“This is really troublesome,” Shen Ying scratched her head. Father Niu is such a smart man why did he enter the pagoda? What should I do, should I save them? But I haven’t eaten my breakfast. She scanned the crowd once more but did not find any familiar face. “Where’s Chef? Didn’t he say he would only be away for a day?”

　　Yu Hong shook her head, “Elder Yi hasn’t returned.”

　　“Are you talking about the other elder in your Sect?” Yin Yuanfei suddenly asked, looking as if he recalled something important. “I saw him on my way here. He told me he had heard there was trouble and was on his way to the Immortal Ascension Pagoda to rescue people. Elder Yi also told me where I could find you and your honorable sect, Great Immortal. I think he’s already there. Great Immortal, please… Wait, Great Immortal? Where’s Great Immortal?”

　　He turned around and saw the lazy Shen Ying missing.

　　The crowd: “…”

　　A while later…

　　“Senior Sister Hong, did Sect Master go alone?”

　　“I think so. This concerns Elder Yi after all.” Apart from Shen Ying, everybody else remained.

　　“But Sect Master would get lost even in the rear hall. Can she… make it to the Immortal Ascension Pagoda?”

　　Yu Hong: “…”

　　Feng Ying: “…”

　　The crowd: “…”

　　Suddenly, they began to worry for the future of their sect.

　　——————

　　Yi Qing rushed to the Yu Family the night before. The Immortal Ascension Pagoda was so tall that it reached the skies. Immortal Qi thicker than in the ancient Immortal Pavilion surrounded the pagoda. What felt strange was that the Yu Family sent no one to guard the entrance to such a grand Immortal Ascension Pagoda. Cultivators were free to enter.

　　As he was rushing to rescue people, Yi Qing could no longer afford to hesitate. Pushing his thoughts aside, he rushed into the pagoda.

　　Yi Qing could see no one else in the pagoda as he entered into a pitch black area. Yin Qi, not Immortal Qi, filled the air inside. The Yin Qi periodically condensed into a material form and attacked the people in the pagoda.

　　As Yi Qing defended himself against the evil aura, he thought hard about the secret regarding the pagoda. After six hours, he felt low on spiritual power. He began to systematically look for cracks in the pagoda and managed to break out of the darkness. A blinding light suddenly hit his eyes.

　　Squinting, he found that he had entered a wide stone room. Seated on the floor were all the cultivators who entered the pagoda. Each of them looked as though they were stuck in some imaginary world – they all had pained expressions and were unconscious.

　　The darkness earlier was part of the Mental Demon Tribulation. As a result of being a sword cultivator who had sworn to defeat all the evil under the sky, all he saw was darkness. He was fortunate to have noticed the trap and broken out of the darkness. The people on the ground were not so fortunate. They were still stuck in their Mental Demon Tribulations.

　　This caused Yi Qing to be unsure exactly what the Immortal Ascension Pagoda was. Why could it invoke mental demons? As he thought about it, he heard a sound above him. It sounded like movement.

　　He raised his head and saw the neatly arranged bricks from the wall moving out one by one. The bricks automatically stacked themselves atop one another, forming a flight of stairs that led directly into the sky.

　　Yi Qing frowned. He scanned his surroundings, but saw no one else being conscious. He tightened his grip on his sword and flew up the flight of stairs. He wasn’t afraid of what he would find in the pagoda, all he knew was that he would never find out if he refused to move.

　　He made his way up the stairs steadily until his surroundings changed. He reached a dense forest and heard the sound of insects and birds all around him. The stairs were gone.

　　“Eh?”

　　Suddenly, he heard a man’s voice calling out from the horizon. The voice echoed throughout the forest.

　　“Someone actually managed to defeat the mental demons and make it to the first level.”

　　“Who are you?” Yi Qing cautiously looked around but did not detect any unfamiliar aura.

　　“You have an Innate Sword Embodiment, no wonder…” The other person clearly had no intention to answer his question. The voice continued, “You can defeat your mental demons – you must be a mentally determined person. Let’s see if you have what it takes to pass the test in this first level.”

　　As soon as the voice finished speaking, a bright line shone down from the sky. A human silhouette appeared, “If you defeat the person in front of you, you can progress to the third level.”

　　The voice mocked him. The light slowly faded and a man in a white robe stood in front of Yi Qing, holding a jade flute Dharma artifact in his hands. He felt the man’s Soul Formation suppression.

　　Yi Qing started. This man is Lonemoon!

　　Is he real?

　　“He’s not an illusion. This is the first level test of this Immortal Ascension Pagoda. If you defeat him, you will be one step closer to achieving Immortal Ascension,” the mocking voice sounded once more. “The road is ruthless. What remains to be seen is whether your heart can be equally ruthless to… Eh?”

　　Before the voice could finish, Yi Qing flew toward Lonemoon like an arrow being shot out from a bow. He rained punches and blows onto Lonemoon without hesitation, leaving him unable to retaliate.

　　He always wanted to beat this little guy for stealing his master!

　　It’s great that it’s really Lonemoon!

　　┗|`O′|┛