Tower Of Sin

The Tower of Sin

The towering inverted spire of Sin has multiple layers within. As I stepped through the entrance, my intentions were clear ~ gain experience swiftly and talent test. Every action in this place would ripple outward, potentially affecting Luo Zheng's future cultivation when he inevitably arrived here.

Not that I care, but I don't know .

I released my soul power in a controlled wave, letting it wash over the first six layers in battle field like a tide. Warriors from the human faction, demon knights, and pure demons alike found themselves overwhelmed not by brute force, but by the sheer presence of my spiritual energy. Well, I suppose it wasn't entirely fair ~ but fairness had never been the tower's strong suit.

In the higher floors, I shifted tactics. My sword became an extension of my will, each strike with new techniques I have created calculated to defeat without killing. Limbs were severed, pride was shattered, but lives were preserved. The difference between facing a warrior puppet and a real opponent became starkly apparent ~ flesh yielded differently than construct, the light of nascense as a result is also less if I didn't kill.

As with recognition came attempts at life.

A nightkin war saint attempted assassination, thinking shadows would be his ally. Poor fool. When Tao caught his attack barehanded, the space law itself seemed to dissolve into nothingness. The assassin simply... vanished under crushing of spatial layers. Within the confinement of shield cover. Whether he lived or died remained a mystery for others.

The points accumulated from these victories were substantial ~ enough to propel me two full realms into the lord realms. But ascending was only the beginning.

The Tenth Layer

On the tenth layer, Yun Luo appeared again. This time, months of training had taught me to mask my presence from the world's prying eyes. She glanced at me ~ just a look, nothing more. No comments about being fateless, no cryptic remarks. This version of herself may have power that transcended the divine extremity realm by magnitudes but now appearing as an ordinary woman.

Could she kill me? No. Seriously injure me if I refrained from using creator energy? Definitely Yes... But I maintained my silence, preserving the mystery that had become my trademark. Yes throughout coming here from level one, I didn't particularly bother with anyone even the human seat holders within the tower.

Any blockade was met with spiritual pressure making way for me. The ranking list beckoned, and I needed to test myself against something more substantial than endless cultivation in isolated chambers with only Af'u for company.

The test of talent presented itself with familiar arrogance. They wanted me to analyze fourth and fifth~layer laws based on my current realm and the laws I previously exuded ~ how quaint. I had hoped the Linglong tower would offer greater laws than I already knew, but every tower has its limitations.

I chose the tablet of causality. The rebirth moment and understanding of death from my past life had already laid the foundation. My rise through the rankings was swift and decisive.

The physique test came next, but instead of crude physical suppression, I found myself within a purple passive realm. Materialized swords attacked in endless barrages while I needed to gain control over their projection, not hiding within space nodes. The test of spirit followed ~ I was more than qualified, naturally.

When the tower spirit finally appeared, it led me to the test of skylords. The projections of previous skylords materialized with all their accumulated power and wisdom. It didn't matter. My swordsmanship, attuned to the dao of nature itself, found their flaws instantly. Techniques crumbled, physical power dissolved, and one by one they fell before me.

The mark of skylords branded itself onto my being. I returned and entered again this time new law, like that I went through multiple law tablets.

Outside, only four hours had passed, but the crowd had grown. War saints had arrived, their presence heavy with anticipation and threat. The name I had given upon registration now appeared above the original skylords: TAO. One and Only.

Wait One and Only? I seen this when Luo Zheng is supposed to take the test the second time after he became a Daozi. Well what would happen then in future? Two and only? One of the Only?

The Price of Power

The human faction attempted to argue for me, but politics has always been a game of sacrifice. The decision was made ~ eliminate me in exchange for deciding seats in the Tower of Sin's governance. Without the demon knights or their faction to support me, humanity couldn't stand against the pressure of demons.

A demon war saint proclaimed my death sentence and moved to execute it. The moment his intent crystallized into action, the purple realm erupted around them. Creation energy flowed like liquid starlight hiding in between, forming knots around their necks. I watched with cold detachment as they suffered, knelt, and finally fell unconscious as their genuine energy reversed within their bodies.

For two months afterward, I remained in the tower, occasionally challenging the higher floors. The lights of nascence, star energy from the ultimate map of cosmos, and ambient energy provided everything I needed to advance to the late stage of virtual disaster realm. My body required only the creation of sufficient gaseous genuine energy within my dantian ~ both body and soul had already achieved limbo realm cultivation.

Previously, a single blackflame from the divine dragon cauldron had refined my body to holy tier through inherent body refinement comparable to limbo realm. But further advancement required the coupling of genuine energy cultivation with natural energy formed by the body itself.

I began working with the third law of fire and beyond, attempting to refine my body into a weapon. Only when I reached the fifth layer of fire law did my body show significant improvement. But my lack of genuine energy to consistently create such higher grades of fire left my body refinement stagnant at the top of holy tier.

I deliberately avoided crossing paths with Yun Luo ~ the tower's controlling rights belonged to me, after all. She might appear as a fragment of soul, but her true body existed at realm lord level, and seeing my title, it was obvious she wishes to challenge me. When boredom finally overtook me, I opened a portal, returned and gave up control to the tower, and left.

Return to the Eastern Region

Returning to the region, I sensed people with similar purple passive realms attempting to venture into mine. Cui Xie and his group, most likely. But I remained shielded, deliberately concealing myself so thoroughly that no development occurred even when I passed directly by them.

Time had advanced significantly due to the tower's slower rate ~ many months had passed here. I found myself observing Luo Yan again. Luo Zheng was competing with Si Miaoling, and for a moment, I considered dragging Luo Yan's consciousness into the purple realm. My purple passive was higher ~ I could block others from viewing, even from Cui Xie, who would have no idea it was happening.

She existed within a void of darkness, placed there to accelerate her cultivation. To her, time had become meaningless since her capture. But if I were to show her something, she would worry endlessly about her brother for what felt like eternity to her. It would be torture without knowing the end results.

The reason I interfere so little is simple ~ I need to return to the same exact universe, not its variant, in my next omniversal return travel. When I venture further to paramita or stronger realms, the events must follow a similar fashion. If I change too much, Luo Zheng's fate and luck would diminish. If I help him directly, his resolve to rapidly gain strength to help his sister would disappear. The experiences pre-arranged by his father would be lost.

But I might need to help Luo Yan from certain death a year from now. It would be possible for any saints or gods to enter this particular world of universe while I remained within it since I set the ability to whole realm rather than only myself as soon as I entered.

My style of help would be to better stay away from the siblings' realm and let fate run by itself.

Her being taken by an unbeatable god like Yu Taibai at this point served as a great aligner, making Zheng's martial will bloom later in the upper world and developing a mentality to gain strength above all else.

What am I going to do with her in my current case? Other than cause some tensions to the Gods above?

I considered visiting the Phoenix~Blooded Princess of the Sky Wind Kingdom to bathe in her fire and advance my body cultivation, but her phoenix was young ~ impossible to demonstrate the fifth layer of fire law.

The Immortal Mansion

I returned to the eastern domain immortal mansion and entered the library again. This time, I didn't go to learn but meditated in the side hall. Despite the many techniques I had learned, my low realm prevented me from using many techniques I understood and had even recreated using the LOHP.

Thunder tribulation killing, eight tune flying smoke, Truth Illumination, binding seal, nine heavens annihilation thunder, divine light of cause and effect ~ these were just examples. Recently, even while in the tower of sin, I had primarily achieved fusion of laws: thunder and fire, fire and water, life and death, cause and effect. Only two laws could be fused now, and that only up to the third layer. I needed to advance to life and death realm to gain more control.

But that would mean to undergo first tribulation.

But heaven would bring down its killing tribulation on me because I defied heavenly fate by my very existence, by combat power that exceeded my realm by ridiculous margins. This tribulation would serve as an equalizer, matching my strength to raw capability. Minor tribulations wouldn't stop at two or even three ~ they would continue until my strength was evened out with my realm.

Better to advance now. For that, I might need to go to the four gods realm.

The Dragon Tribe Mining Site

I imagined myself within the realm of the dragon tribe mining site, inside the feathered emperor secret realm near the disaster flower of the land tree. The portal opened, and I stepped through. The place was empty ~ the timing for periodic excavation hadn't started yet.

This flower was usable for Zheng and would significantly lower his survival chances if I took it for myself. I needed to spend my energy to recreate it. Creation energy flowed as I duplicated the precious resource. Instead of taking it directly there, I went to a lower floor and copied the black star pickaxe, one of the ultimate divine vessels. Both required almost same energy as duplicating the Sanskrit of supreme refinement and the dragons within.

While I created the new pickaxe, a new name appeared in the list of ultimate divine vessels in universe list. Some people in higher realms noticed. I understood the implications and didn't care to stay under their inspection any longer. After activating it and picking up a few life stones and soul cores, I immediately reabsorbed the creation energy of the pickaxe back into myself.

Moving to a grassy field several dozen miles away from the mining center, I stood facing heaven. Up until now, I hadn't needed to confront heaven directly to advance. That time had come.

The Tribulation

I lifted my shielding from myself to Universe. Covering Heavenly Dao of sub realm with it.

I activated my current essence cultivation technique: Boundless Divine Transformation of Energy Body and Spirit. Simultaneously, I absorbed the copy of the disaster flower's nectar and transformed the rest back by reabsorbing creation energy.

Dark clouds began forming overhead, negative intent spreading and directing itself toward me. Thunder condensed directly to the realm limit of life and death before I could cross it, but it was easily absorbed, converting into pure genuine energy.

As if enraged by this fact, thunder manifested into a soaring snake plunging directly at me at the fifth layer ~ it too was absorbed. The color also became azure blue, dark blue and violet as level increased.

Testing me to its limits, the tribulation instantly jumped to the seventh layer. This time I withstood it with my body using genuine energy. The sheer amount was enough to create a hundred~meter crack where I stood. It really hurt drowning my body. Well creation energy was manifested as a shield to block the majority.

Suddenly, my genuine energy, which had already partially liquefied, absorbed the essence from the thunder and began rapidly condensing true essence. Laws up to the fourth layer were permitted by life level, but my comprehension instantly understood the flaws of the seventh layer, green thunder of rebirth surpassing it as soon as it was over. True essence began to condense ~ the replacement for genuine and gang energy. 

But the first tribulation was over. But something else isn't. An eye appeared in heaven, It gave me a feeling of insignificance, but my mind was shielded. My will only strengthened.

As it began to project annihilation and corrosion energy, the barrier formed by creation energy activated. Instead of destroying it, the energy was directly transformed to fill its reserve, and I received a further supply of genuine energy that pooled into my dantian through converting some.

The strength reached a critical moment until the next minor tribulation appeared. The strength of soul and body were judged during the previous tribulation, so as if equalizing it the tribulation continued. This time, soul tribulation struck my soul directly. The heavenly fate fire within myself consumed the energy while the rest went to my essence, appearing stronger as a swirling energy ocean of true essence formed in my dantian.

This process continued for every law tribulation I had crossed ~ fifth layer, sixth layer ~ until it calmed down, pushing my cultivation to late stage life and death realm by the end of the hour long tribulation. Finally, my dantian cultivation, body cultivation, and soul cultivation were all synchronized. If I didn't have adaptable body or unless I was a main character, I would have been bled to death.

But the eye appeared again. But instead of directly projecting curse energy, a spatial tear appeared in front and shadow beings emerged. A bunch of black ghosts , a giant eyed beast and a gigantic skeleton head taking in energy to fire directly from above.

This is the witch clan. So these were the ones behind eye trying to kill me, but unlike Luo Zheng who had certain luck and was neglected, my continuous tribulation has alerted them.

Well it appears they entered my scope of absolute power. Before those witch beings could fire and attack directly or even sense, a barrier enveloped them.

It was extremely thin but it didn't budge under any attack. Slowly it began to crush from within. The skeleton head that cannot be destroyed by even 10th layer of law energy of heavenly Dao, is but now broken down along with wailing and crushing of other ghosts inside. The spatial tear closed soon after. And eye disappeared.

The Mahayama Lotus

A giant projection of a lotus appeared. It had nothing to do with my intent ~ this was heaven grading myself. Its petals unraveled in real time, first nine petals blooming in rapid pace, then a Mahayana lotus opening up on top to twenty~six layers.

The petals could only appear in odd numbers. It would only suggest a person had the greatest possibility to surpass heaven's way ~ a daozi. 

It was likely due to creation energy easily blocking power rivaling higher realms and extreme flawless comprehension and techniques forcing heaven to send such higher layers of law for a lower life form to test whether it could resolve it.

Well, I couldn't stay here any longer.

Not due to any witch clans attacking, but humans search sensing their presence or if they were to see the Mahayama lotus from afar or whatever happened here. Even if I remained in the realm, people who tried to search for anomalies could find traces of tribulation patterns even if I was shielded by any sort of divination.

After all this is a big thing. The potential of martial art and tribulation patterns are closely watched in any realm. Particularly the current one, because the ascension tunnel had been destroyed before. 

If anyone could report this, upper realms can sent people to fix it solely for accepting people like myself as their disciples, so that they could win sect wars and gain controlling rights of properties.

Returned the shielding back to myself. It's time to go back to immortal mansion. Opening the portal instantly, I appeared just outside the immortal mansion and used the token to enter the courtyard. I could teleport directly inside, but that would lead to more questions about how I could teleport from universe directly to Immortal Manor.

The mysteries I carried were burden enough without adding unnecessary complications and not having actual strength to stay unaffected.

....