Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 30

They made their way to the third floor without any incident, passing more than ten people at the middle trial station. Chao lowered his sound barrier so that their conversation would carry. He doubted whoever had attacked their people would be foolish enough to attack again so soon, but he certainly hoped he was wrong.

The third floor was different than the first two. Like the second floor, the first half was a maze of rooms. There were more people here than on the second floor. They wisely stayed in large groups. What made it unique was that it was designed for elemental cultivation. The chambers were laid out in the same order as the second floor, but instead of concepts and elemental representation, each chamber was lined with benches. The elemental qi that filled each room was fair richer than the first two floors.

In comparison to the Ice Phoenix Palace, the density of qi was about the same. The main difference was that there was far more pressure, so it forced the qi into your meridians during cultivation. The pressure would also stimulate your physique and even toughen your organs. If you stayed too long, it could injure or even kill. At Chao and Huifen’s cultivation, they weren’t bothered.

“Is it air pressure?” He wondered aloud. “It certainly isn’t from a gravitational change.”

“Technically, yes and no,” she said. “The air pressure isn’t alone. It would be more accurate to think of it as a higher realm cultivator’s suppression falling on you. The qi in this spire has a will of its own, even if it’s artificial or caused by an unseen array formation.”

He creased his brow but didn’t pursue the matter. If he had to guess, the pressure was equivalent to a sky realm cultivator. Maybe one that had reached small success. His wife was disguised as an earth realm cultivator. She shouldn’t be able to tell what it was equivalent to, so he didn’t ask now that they weren’t using a sound barrier.

Any hopes of running into the murder on the third floor were quickly dashed. Every chamber had at least one group in it. Some of them were made up of members from the same sect, while others had more variety to them. When they entered each room, they had to pass a barrier that held back the qi but let them through.

The responses they got form the groups varied, but most didn’t look happy when they entered. They thought they’d have to share qi. But despite the unfriendly looks, no one said anything until they entered the fire qi chamber. There were two groups inside. One was from the Fire Phoenix Sect. He recognized a few of the disciples there.

Core Disciple Shoi-ming was massive even when standing next to Sage Fang. He was a large success sky realm cultivator and was the number one ranked disciple of the Fire Phoenix Sect. It seemed like he cultivated muscle mass as much as fire qi.

The man’s eyes cracked open as soon as they walked in the room. He seemed to recognize them but didn’t say a word. With a small nod of the head, he closed his eyes again. Disciple Zhou, who had once been a top five disciple of the outer sect and had bullied Chao, was also there, but he didn’t notice them. Chao had been in the nascent realm when he faced off with the man while Zhou was in the earth and won. The man had proven to be more than just a bully, but they’d had little chance for interaction since their fight. Zhou had obviously moved up to the inner sect otherwise he wouldn’t be here.

It wasn’t the Fire Phoenix Sect that challenged their presence, but the disciples of Night Pearl Sect. There were seven disciples plus a sky realm elder sitting opposite the Fire Phoenix Sect in this largest cultivation chamber Chao had seen one the floor. The Night Pearl Sect all had veils pulled over their faces as they cultivated. He wondered that was supposed to simulate cultivating the moon…

The sky realm elder stood to her feet, removing her veil. “The quota to this room has already been met, and it will be hours before it’s available again,” the woman insisted.

At her voice, many veiled faces turned to look at them. It seemed that every member of this Night Pearl Sect was as pushy as Dvora.

Huifen gave the woman a shallow martial salute. “We are not here to cultivate, senior.”

“That is good, then,” the woman replied, returning to her seat. “Cultivate well.”

Passing through the room, they there was one final even larger one filled with water qi before they entered the second half of the floor to find a large empty chamber in a half moon shape. At the peak of its arch, there was a large opening that led down a wide passage.

“Does this lead to a trial or is it another cultivation chamber?” he asked. “The heaven and earth qi seems denser here.”

“It’s the Vault,” she replied. “It’s speculation that all the qi crystals are compressed here, but no one knows for sure.”

They kept a slow pace as they walked down the passage until they came to a wide-open room—the most open one they’d seen since the first floor. There was an energized pillar that stood three meters tall. It reminded Chao of the lightning flower he’d seen on the second floor except the energy remained under control. So much so that it looked to be held at the top of the three-sided pillar like an orb of liquid. Behind it was a massive round vault made out of the same white-metallic substance as the pillar.

Chao found himself drawn to the liquified energy atop the pillar.

He felt Huifen grab his arm, stopping him from getting closer.

“I’ve heard it’s a defensive weapon that protects what’s inside,” she said in hushed tones. “It’s not even safe for an overlord to mess around with it.”

Chao nodded his understanding. They weren’t alone in the room. More than thirty people were gathered there around the outside of the room cultivating. Even with so many people, the qi was denser than elsewhere on the third floor. No one seemed to be bothered that they were there.

The way to the next floor was obvious. There was a side passage to their left that skirted around the supposed vault. From there, they ascended.

The fourth floor was like the first. It was one big open room but had far fewer stations. What’s more, the qi density and suppression had gone from a low realm sky cultivator to that of one at the peak. It was enough that most earth cultivators wouldn’t be able to remain there for an extended period of time. The suppression wasn’t just a mental or spiritual pressure. There was a physical aspect to it that could destroy the body.

There also weren’t any cultivators present. Despite that, they didn’t stay to explore.

The fifth floor contained the suppression of an overlord. Any normal sky realm cultivator would find it uncomfortable and remaining their long term could be dangerous. One of the unexpected benefits of his father’s Training Construct was that he was already accustomed to such suppression. He had daily faced hundreds of overlords repeatedly. Not only had his perceptions been stretched and refined, so had his ability to handle such pressure. He felt it, but he felt no danger. But could he remain here indefinitely?

The floor was also fairly open, with four different rooms walled off where corner might be if the tower wasn’t round. He sensed people there both cultivating and making use of one of the stations. He really doubted they’d run into the person or persons that had attacked their lower-level disciples here. If they did, they were probably using these higher floors to hide as opposed to hunt further disciples. Anyone here was at least in the sky realm.

“Should we stop here?” Huifen asked.

“I don’t want to overdo it, but I think we should try the next floor before we decide.”

She didn’t object.

The sixth was open. All that seemed to be there were murals on the walls. It didn’t just have the suppression of an overlord, but a peak one. The density of qi was so rich that Chao was tempted to sit down and start cultivating.

“Let’s try the seventh floor,” he said, still able to move around comfortably. The only real downside was that it heightened his sense of danger. If felt like an overlord looking over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to remain there long term.

At the seventh floor, Chao was finally starting to feel the oppression a high realm cultivator could cause. It had to be at the tribulation level. He wasn’t frozen under its presence but remaining there could turn dangerous. Cultivating for a time wouldn’t be a bad. Besides, there was just a small chamber at the top of the stairs with one big shut door blocking their way.

“So the tower’s main legacy is hidden behind this door?” Chao asked. Huifen had already mentioned that this floor would be shut off to them except for basic cultivation. To get passed it, it was rumored you had to excel in all of the trials of the lower floors.

“This is it,” she confirmed. “I suggest we try to earn our way before trying to break in. We will be here for some time, and we already have too much to work on.”

“Agreed.” He sent out his little fire dragon to examine the surface of the door. It was almost identical to the pearl white vault of the third floor. The only difference was that this one was larger and there was no obvious defense. “So you’re the prize that no one has been able to win after thousands of years,” he said aloud.

“Husband, should we start on the fifth floor?”

“Sixth,” he insisted. “I think I might be able to stay their indefinitely as long as I’m just cultivating. For any pills that might be difficult for us to refine, we should probably go down to the fourth or fifth floors.”

“You’re sure?”

“There should be less people there to, so we should have less interruptions…”

She huffed out a sigh.

As they descended the stairs, Chao turned back and gave the locked door of the seventh floor one more look. He didn’t know what was behind those doors, but he knew he would eventually find out. One way or another.