643 Two Towers

[POV: Ru Qiu]

The building turned out to be a gangster hideout.

On the surface, it was nothing more than an office for a small microfinance firm, supposedly operating by lending money to those in need. In reality, the gangsters were not merely lending money. They were extorting people.

By the time Ru Qiu had finished making his way through the building, the gangsters were black and blue. There was something almost comical about the sight. A group that looked more like homeless wanderers than respectable cultivators had barged into a gangster hideout and beaten its occupants senseless.

The Hobo Party raided the place thoroughly.

“Hold back a little,” Da Wei told them. “We don't want to murder anyone. The rules of this floor might follow the same rules as Earth.”

It was a free-for-all after that.

Anyone who tried to attack Da Wei ended up regretting it. Fingers were broken, crowbars were bent, and anyone who struck him was promptly knocked unconscious by his Reflect. Da Wei barely needed to move.

Nongmin was much more mischievous about it. He tripped gangsters whenever they passed by, sending them crashing into the floor with almost effortless precision. Tao Long was even more casual. He simply flicked people away.

N'wa, however, was the most expressive of them all. She threw people and furniture. She threw whatever happened to be within reach, treating the entire encounter like an opportunity to experiment with how much force was appropriate.

Hei Mei couldn't have cared less about the distinction between restraint and excess. She beat one unfortunate gangster into submission, then proceeded to steal his clothes.

“Where's the boss?”

“Someone get the boss!”

“Call the boss!”

The cries echoed throughout the building.

Ru Qiu sighed. He grabbed one of the thugs by the collar and slapped him across the face. The gangster staggered. Ru Qiu gave him a backhand. The man nearly collapsed. Ru Qiu caught him before he hit the floor, then hoisted him upright. “Where's your boss?”

The thug trembled as he pointed deeper into the building.

Ru Qiu followed the direction of his finger.

He eventually found a private domicile hidden behind the office. The place was considerably more comfortable than the rest of the building, which was enough to confirm that he had found the right person.

When Ru Qiu walked inside, he found a man lounging comfortably with a woman, apparently enjoying himself while the rest of his gang was being beaten into submission.

The man stared at Ru Qiu. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Ru Qiu didn't answer. He simply knocked both of them unconscious. Afterward, he opened the wardrobe. There were several sets of clothes inside. He picked out a black suit and a red shirt, changed into them, then found a pair of sunglasses and placed them over his eyes.

When Ru Qiu stepped back into the office, the rest of the gangsters had already been subdued. They were all on their knees, heads bowed.

Da Wei had taken possession of the sofa and was sitting comfortably in front of the television.

“Sunglasses inside?” Da Wei remarked. “That's very much like you.”

He hadn't bothered changing his own clothes.

“It feels strange on me, that's for sure,” Ru Qiu admitted.

He tugged at his collar. The outfit reminded him of Earth. That was the problem. This place looked like Earth. It felt like Earth. The people acted like people from Earth. But it was never Earth.

Da Wei changed the channel to the news, leaned back against the sofa, and closed his eyes. “Do whatever you please, everyone. Explore, kick ass, or whatever. I'm going to stay still here, close my eyes, and explore the future. Don't disturb me. I'll get back to you when I can. Also, Ru Qiu's in charge. Teach them the rules of Earth.”

His eyes closed.

“You're not the boss of me,” Ru Qiu snapped.

Da Wei remained silent. Apparently, he had already entered whatever strange state he used to explore the future.

Tao Long glanced toward him. “I'll just stay here. Someone needs to watch Da Wei.”

Ru Qiu looked at the others. “First rule,” he said. “No killing.” He headed toward the door. After taking a few steps, however, he stopped. Ru Qiu turned around. “Actually, tell me your plans first. I'll tell you what you should and shouldn't do.”

N'wa immediately raised her hand. “I want to learn about this world. Its society, its people, everything.”

“Try the internet.”

N'wa tilted her head. “What is the internet?”

Ru Qiu stared at her. For someone who had once owned a PC Bang, it was embarrassing to realize that he had no idea how to explain the internet to a person who had come from a xianxia Victorian-era world.

He glanced toward one of the gangsters. “He'll tell you.”

The gangster looked terrified. “Uuh... W-what?”

“Get them to assist you,” Ru Qiu said to N'wa. “The internet is the ultimate medium of the Information Age. It's a good place to start.”

Hei Mei spoke next. “I want books. Hard copies, preferably things I can bring with me.”

“Bring one of these guys to a bookstore,” Ru Qiu said. “And don't forget to bring cash.”

Hei Mei nodded.

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Nongmin folded his arms, looking toward the subdued gangsters with clear interest. “This... gangsters. I believe they are a criminal organization operating for the purpose of gaining money through illegal means. I want to take them over. We will need a base of operations and a support system.”

Ru Qiu pointed toward the hallway. “Just ahead. Room to the left. There's an important-looking guy wearing gold chains. Start with him.”

Nongmin nodded thoughtfully.

Tao Long stretched. “I could use some entertainment.”

Ru Qiu picked up the television remote and tossed it toward him. “You can start with that. I'm going.”

N'wa looked at him. “Where are you going?”

Ru Qiu pushed his sunglasses up slightly. “Exploring.”

Outside, the place resembled Earth quite closely.

That was the first thing Ru Qiu noticed as he stepped out into the city was the buildings, streets, vehicles, and general atmosphere all carried a familiar feeling. Yet the letters displayed on the signs were unfamiliar to him.

This wasn't Korea.

Ru Qiu tried to fly.

He gathered his qi and attempted to lift himself from the ground through cultivation alone, only to find that nothing happened. The natural flight that came so easily to cultivators was impossible for him here. That only made him more curious.

He wanted to challenge this world. He wanted to see what it had to offer. More importantly, he wanted to find out whether there was anyone here strong enough to challenge him. If Ru Qiu had his way, he would search for the strongest person in this place and fight them.

Unfortunately, he had no real means of searching for them. He clicked his tongue and decided to make use of what still worked.

“Defying the Heaven's Decree.”

Black flames erupted around Ru Qiu's body. The Immortal Art allowed him to use them to achieve flight, and he rose into the air.

The higher he went, however, the more difficult it became.

Gravity pressed down on him with increasing force, as though the Law itself had become his opponent. Ru Qiu eventually stopped climbing and landed atop one of the beams of an unfinished construction site.

He looked out over the city.

Da Wei had been right.

The Laws were the most powerful force here.

Ru Qiu had kept himself relatively well-informed about the Tower. He had actively followed the research being conducted by the various institutions studying this place, so he understood that the Tower was divided into two major regions.

One was on the Hollowed World, where Da Wei's experiences provided them with a direct reference point.

The other was on the False Earth's side.

In truth, they were two Towers separated in the middle. Even the first floor of the Hollowed World's Tower differed from the first floor of the False Earth's Tower. If they wanted to return to the False Earth, they would have to conquer the Tower.

Ru Qiu considered that a simple solution.

If fighting the strongest people on each floor contributed toward conquering the Tower, then that was precisely what he intended to do. He tried to expand his Qi Sense, but it failed.

Ru Qiu's expression darkened.

It seemed that the supernatural abilities naturally developed through cultivation were at a significant disadvantage inside the Tower. Instead of relying on the extraordinary properties that came with one's cultivation, the Tower appeared to place greater emphasis on the individuality of the practitioner.

Techniques. Skills. Individual abilities.

That was troublesome for Ru Qiu.

He had always prioritized firepower first and movement second. Sensory abilities had never been particularly important to him because he could simply rely on his Qi Sense. If his Qi Sense wasn't enough, he could pour in more qi and apply his Supremacy Trait to compensate for its shortcomings.

The Tower was telling him that approach was no longer sufficient. He couldn't afford to neglect his techniques. Ru Qiu briefly closed his eyes and consulted his mental library.

The system interface he had possessed when he still had the Source might no longer have been with him, but it had not disappeared completely. He could still access the remnants of what had once been his vast collection of techniques.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

The sensory techniques available to him were inferior.

Objectively, every technique in his mental library was excellent. Even now, within the Heavenly Demonic Cult, they were considered some of the finest techniques available and were praised for their practicality.

Ru Qiu simply found them stale, especially when compared to Da Wei's Divine Sense.

He sat down on the construction beam.

For the next three days, Ru Qiu meditated on Da Wei's Divine Sense.

It was practically child's play for him to deduce its principles. He had been observing Da Wei for an extraordinarily long time, and as an Ascended Soul at the peak of his realm, Ru Qiu possessed more than enough understanding to reconstruct what he needed.

By the end of the third day, he had managed to reproduce the basic structure.

“I'll call you Heavenly Divine Sense.”

The name registered within the Tower's system interface. Ru Qiu stared at the words, Divine Sense. The phrase stared back at him. He clicked his tongue.

His pride got the better of him.

Five more days passed.

Ru Qiu continued refining the technique. He applied his Supremacy Trait, built upon the foundation he had derived from Da Wei, and incorporated additional properties into it. He dissected every aspect of the technique and rebuilt it according to his own understanding.

Eventually, he got what he wanted.

The moment Heavenly Divine Sense was completed, Ru Qiu spread his perception across the city. Immediately, he detected several powerful presences. His eyes opened. There were people here who possessed considerable strength. Unfortunately, they were only around N'wa's level.

Ru Qiu was disappointed.

In hindsight, however, it was to be expected. This was only the first floor. Then he noticed something else. One presence was considerably stronger than the others. Yet he couldn't sense it properly. Whoever it belonged to was concealing themselves so well that even Heavenly Divine Sense couldn't locate them.

Ru Qiu slowly turned around. His gaze settled on the shadow beneath the construction beam. “Reveal yourself.”

The darkness shifted. A man stepped out from the shadow. He wore a pristine white suit. His head, however, was that of an octopus. The strange creature smiled. “Greetings~!”

Ru Qiu stared at him.

Above the man's head, the Tower's information appeared.

[Level: ???]

[Class: Great Dreamer]

Ru Qiu remembered the Great Dreamer.

During the Ascension Games, when he had fought alongside Da Wei, the Supreme Void's camp had possessed a creature known by that name. It had resembled a gigantic octopus and was incapable of speaking anything that could be understood. It was not simply some strange monster, either. The Great Dreamer represented certain aspects of the Supreme Void itself.

Seeing another creature with the same name was enough to make Ru Qiu's blood stir.

He had been feeling battle-hungry ever since entering the Tower.

“Satiate me.”

Ru Qiu stepped forward and swung his leg down in an axe kick. Black flames cloaked his leg as it descended with tremendous force.

The kick connected.

The Great Dreamer was driven straight into the unfinished construction site below. The impact shattered the structure, causing the entire building to collapse inward as concrete and steel crumbled toward the center.

Ru Qiu created a platform of black flames beneath himself and stood above the destruction, looking down through the falling dust.

Something felt wrong.

When the debris finally settled, the Great Dreamer was standing in the middle of the ruins. It was unharmed. The creature slowly raised one hand, then it closed its fist.

Ru Qiu's surroundings abruptly changed.

The city vanished.

Darkness swallowed him, and in the next moment, he found himself in a completely different realm. He had been banished somewhere else, separated from the world by the Great Dreamer's ability.

Ru Qiu looked around once before clenching his fist. He manifested the anti-quintessence and poured his Fallen Star into it. The technique had once been incomplete. When he had shown it to Da Wei, Ru Qiu had already known that there were flaws within it. At the time, however, he had been unable to resolve them.

Now, things were different. His newly developed senses allowed him to perceive the technique in ways he had never been able to before. He could see the flaws, understand their causes, and correct them. The anti-quintessence gathered around his fist.

Ru Qiu stepped forward and thrust. His fist struck something. The darkness shattered.

The Great Dreamer was sent flying, crashing into another unfinished construction site in the distance. The structure buckled around the creature as concrete and steel collapsed beneath the force of the impact.

This time, Ru Qiu was certain that he made a clean hit.

He immediately pursued.

There was no reason to give the creature another opportunity to use whatever strange ability had transported him into that realm. Ru Qiu rushed toward the wreckage, intending to finish the battle before the Great Dreamer could recover.

But when he arrived, there was nothing there.

The Great Dreamer had already disappeared.

Ru Qiu stood amid the ruins, his expression darkening. “Disappointing.”