Chapter 231 - 230: The Nine-Tiered Sky (3)

Everything will soon end, the nod conveyed. I will conquer this pagoda, I will defeat all in the tournament and I will finally remove that soul transformation restriction from you!

Bai Qingyue returned the smile, her lips moving silently as she mouthed a single word that only he could decipher. Win.

Lin Yuan smiled slightly, then turned his attention toward Chief Adjudicator Xuanji, who was preparing to speak. But before Xuanji could say a word, Lin Yuan took a brief glance at his own system panel, checking his current status.

[Millionfold Return System]

[Host:] Lin Yuan

[Wife:] Bai Qingyue

[Root Bone:] Supreme Heavenly Talent

[Comprehension:] Against Heaven Understanding

[Lifespan:] 200/4500 years

[Physique:] Ancient Beast Body (Rank 10)

[Realm:] Spirit Severing Realm (Unshaken Stage)

[Divine Skills:] Death Gaze, Three Rebirths within the Thunder Rain Dao Intent, Immortal Cloud Step, Thunder Step, Eye of Heavenly Retribution (Autonomous), False Immortal Palmstrike, Shatter Illusion, See Truth.....

High above the arena, standing upon the hovering central dais, Chief Adjudicator Xuanji raised his hand. The massive, peak Soul Transformation aura of the elder washed over the crowd, instantly silencing the lingering whispers and debates.

"The time for speculation has ended!" Elder Xuanji’s voice boomed, vibrating with a lethal authority that rattled the star-iron plates beneath their boots. "The Nine-Tiered Sky awaits! This is a vertical climb of pure martial prowess! There are no alliances. There are no shadows. There is only the depth of your foundation and the sharpness of your blade!"

Elder Xuanji swept his arm toward the colossal, glowing spatial rift hovering in the sky, where the ancient, nine-story pagoda pulsed with malevolent, multi-colored light.

"Enter the crucible!" the Adjudicator roared. "Let the echoes of the ancient gods test your right to stand in here!"

A resonant, deafening chime echoed from the massive jade monolith.

The teleportation array carved into the central floor of the Grand Court instantly ignited. A blinding, incandescent pillar of pure white light erupted upward, completely swallowing the nominees.

The physical sensation of the transition was fundamentally different from the violent, stomach-churning tear of the Void Ascension Battlefield. This teleportation was smooth, absolute, and carried the heavy resonance of a perfectly refined spatial artifact.

Lin Yuan did not close his eyes. He allowed his mind to ride the currents of the spatial shift, actively analyzing the essence of the teleportation. He felt the massive group of nominees being systematically separated. The array was not dropping them into a shared environment; it was pulling them into hundreds of isolated, and localized pocket dimensions.

A personal instance, Lin Yuan realized as the blinding white light faded. A solitary climb for every single cultivator.

When his vision cleared, Lin Yuan found himself standing alone.

He was not in a canyon, nor a forest, nor a ruined temple. He was standing in the center of an unimaginably vast, circular arena. The floor beneath his boots was forged from seamless obsidian, completely devoid of cracks or imperfections. The walls of the arena stretched infinitely upward, composed of swirling, dark-grey spatial mist that seemed to hold the crushing weight of the cosmos at bay.

The atmosphere within the first floor of the Nine-Tiered Sky was profound.

Lin Yuan took a slow, deep breath, expanding his Divine Sense to map the parameters of his new cage. His Against Heaven Understanding immediately began to dissect the fundamental laws of the environment, peeling back the layers of reality like the pages of an ancient manuscript.

This is not merely a pocket realm, Lin Yuan concluded, his deep purple eyes gleaming with fascination. This is a Dao artifact. And it possesses an origin that predates the current central empires by millennia.

He instantly recognized it. It felt strikingly similar to his own Rivers of Years Pagoda.

Just as the Rivers of Years Pagoda was a Dao artifact designed with the singular purpose of manipulating time—creating a sanctuary where a century could pass in the span of a day to allow for boundless cultivation—the Nine-Tiered Sky was a Dao artifact designed with the singular purpose of pure combat. It was a battlefield artifact!

But as Lin Yuan continued to analyze the ambient spiritual Qi, he discovered the true, terrifying perfection of the pagoda’s design.

The Dao laws within this arena were completely, and utterly flawless. In the outside world of the Nine Provinces, a cultivator constantly leaked faint amounts of Spiritual Energy into the atmosphere, battling the natural push of the mortal plane. During a prolonged fight, exhaustion set in, meridians frayed, and spiritual seas ran dry.

But here, within the Nine-Tiered Sky, the environment actively preserved the cultivator’s absolute peak condition.

Fascinating, Lin Yuan mused, stepping forward, his boots clicking softly against the floor. The ambient nature is constantly recycling spiritual energy. Any Spiritual Energy I expend will be instantly replenished by the realm itself. There is no physical fatigue here. There is no spiritual exhaustion. The artifact ensures that every single cultivator within its walls remains at their absolute martial peak.

It was a terrifyingly, but brilliant design.

By removing the variables of exhaustion, and ambient Qi deprivation, the Nine-Tiered Sky ensured that a cultivator could not lose a fight simply because they ran out of breath or suffered a lapse in stamina. If a cultivator was defeated here, it was not because they were tired; it was because their martial arts, their comprehension of the Dao, or the fundamental might of their foundation was objectively inferior to their opponent.

It was a crucible of absolute truth. There were no excuses in the Nine-Tiered Sky.

"A fitting arena," Lin Yuan whispered, letting his arms fall loosely to his sides, entirely relaxed.

As if responding to his voice, the center of the vast arena began to warp.

A pillar of blinding, azure light erupted from the floor, swirling with ancient runes. The light condensed, solidifying into physical matter with a heavy, resonant hum.

The first Phantom Guardian had arrived.

A/N: Thanks for reading, some extra golden tickets will be appreciated.