Chapter 295: The Changes on the Tower of Eternity (I)
Chapter 295: The Changes on the Tower of Eternity (I)
This time, the count of casualties in the Southern Mountain’s City was over ten thousand, but their manpower was in the end still ample. With the assistance from civilians, the city gradually recovered its splendour.
Of the forty Demon Hunt Squads that came, only a small number resided in the Priest Temple’s headquarters, whereas the others were accommodated in other residences. Of course, Long Haochen’s group resided in the Priest Temple.
On the first underground floor of the Priest Temple, Long Haochen gathered his comrades in his room.
The Priest Temple really treated them well, not only offering them rooms for resting, but also a small area for cultivating.
“Boss, why do we have to stay here cultivating?! We came here for the sake of a mission, didn’t we?” Sima Xian asked doubtfully. On the battlefield, he was the most straightforward to kill his way through the enemy lines. The first appearance of the Energetic Ball of Light had a stronger utility than he had even expected himself.
Originally, Sima Xian was left behind by the rest of the team in terms of strength. To say nothing of Long Haochen and Cai’er, he was still inferior compared to Wang Yuanyuan and Han Yu. But after changing his equipment, in this battle, Han Yu and Wang Yuanyuan combined didn’t kill as many demons as him. Everywhere the Energetic Ball of Light had passed, everything had been blown away. Now, he naturally wished to to keep displaying his talent on the battlefield.
Long Haochen replied, “We have a temporary truce with the demons. Additionally, with the end of the battle, our emergency War Mission naturally concluded. However, there’s something even more important that we’ll have to handle now.”
Immediately, he gave everyone the details regarding the Illusory Paradise as well as the negotiations between the Alliance and the demons.
“Spiritual stoves! So there’s actually such a great place, able to produce a great amount of spiritual stoves?!” While Sima Xian asked with a pleasantly surprised face, the others weren’t unperturbed from the news either.
This was about spiritual stoves!
For which reason could Long Haochen become the real core of his team, and defeat more powerful opponents? Other than his own strength, he had the help of two great spiritual stoves. And in fact, without Long Haochen’s and Cai’er’s four spiritual stoves, the strength of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad as a whole would decrease by half. For whichever vocation, it would rather be strange to stay calm after hearing about spiritual stoves.
Lin Xin flung his long hair over his shoulder, happily claiming, “Boss, vice-captain and you should work hard! The best would be to come back with a few spiritual stoves. I won’t be picky; as long as one is compatible with fire element, I am satisfied.”
Chen Ying’er disdainfully snorted, “So shameless. Do you have no limits? Has-drug-bro, your drugs almost caused Captain’s death, but you still have the nerve to say that?”
Lin Xin responded with a snort, “I will accept whatever punishment the team decides on for the problems that accrue from my pills. But if you give me a fire elemental spiritual stove, my spiritual energy will be bound to grow in purity. When I then make pills, the effects will naturally be even greater. I was saying this out of consideration for the team.”
Sima Xian replied with a smile, “Save your bullshit, who wouldn’t be able to contribute even better to the team with a spiritual stove? Nonetheless, are these things so easy to acquire? You’re just dreaming. We should rather hope for Boss and Vice-captain to get one more spiritual stove for themselves.”
Seeing his comrades’ unconcealed thirst, Long Haochen exclaimed, “It’s not like you have no chance to obtain spiritual stoves yourselves.”
“What?” The eyes of the five of them opened wide, clearly revealing weird expressions.
Long Haochen continued, “For this visit of the Illusory Paradise, Cai’er and I have both obtained a secure place. When Grandfather Ling talked to us about the Illusory Paradise, he said that to enter it, one’s spiritual energy couldn’t exceed ten thousand. Otherwise, one will get rejected by the Illusory Shrine. This means that the other people who will enter the Illusory Shrine should all be at the sixth step of cultivation, and as close as possible to 10,000 units of spiritual energy. Personally, I believe that they will be picked from different Demon Hunt Squads. Since our team already got two places, the odds of getting more are low.”
“However, this is a chance that happens only once every century, so I hope that everyone will benefit from it. This is also the reason why I brought you here after requesting from grandteacher that we can stay behind closed-doors to raise everyone’s strength over this month. During this time, I want to try out whether my plan would possibly work. If it works, it may be possible for you to follow Cai’er and me inside the Illusory Paradise.”
Before saying this, Long Haochen had released a Holy Mantle, covering all his teammates inside while isolating the sound inside, “I have a simple plan, for this we will use the Tower of Eternity.”
Because everyone took a Holy Spirit Pill back in Holy City, their cultivation level had been rising at a fast pace since then. But before they got to enter the Tower of Eternity, they were forcibly enlisted for this War Mission. And now that they heard Long Haochen mention the Tower of Eternity once again, everyone immediately had flabbergasted expressions on their faces. All of their faces were filled with eagerness.
Wang Yuanyuan was the first to speak, “Captain, do you mean that at the time vice-captain and you will enter the Illusory Shrine, we should stay inside the Tower of Eternity, and that after entering the Illusory Paradise, we would come out?”
Long Haochen nodded, and said, “Exactly. This is why we should try out whether this is feasible. Grandfather Ling said that there was no limit to the number of people entering the Illusory Paradise, but only roughly twenty spiritual stoves would be produced, with only one per type. Letting too many people enter would cause a loss of balance, and would only boost the danger without increasing the odds of getting rewarded. And with the agreement done this time with the demons, both sides will send ten people to the shrine. That’s to say, if I bring you in, we will strive to take away the demons’ share, while trying our best not to get found out. The main problem that remains now is whether the Illusory Paradise and the Tower of Eternity are compatible.
First of all, you will remain inside the Tower of Eternity, and try out whether returning from the Tower will affect you. Next, we’ll have to know whether the Tower of Eternity can be used to transport you inside of the Illusory Paradise.
The third point will be whether the Illusory Paradise will reject the Tower of Eternity. We will solve the first problem through practical tests, but even if we settle this issue, we’ll still have no way to predict the next two issues. Thus, I cannot guarantee that you will be able to enter the Illusory Paradise.”
Sima Xian laughed out loud, “Boss, having a chance already makes us very satisfied. Even if at that time it doesn’t work, we’ll still be okay with it. Anyway, vice-captain’s and your strength rising means that we will become stronger as a whole.”
His speech was not just for flattery; in fact, without Long Haochen’s and Cai’er’s lead, how could their recently formed team possibly get so many contribution points, used for strengthening every single of their members? It appeared like Long Haochen gained a lot since the founding of their team, but how much did the others gain? Sima Xian and Chen Ying’er successfully broke through to the fifth step, and everyone was already at least at the fifth rank of the fifth step of cultivation. This pace of progress was enough to absolutely scare some people.
Also, there was still the Demon Hunt Mission Tower. Who said that with enough contribution points, there wouldn’t be something even better to buy than the Holy Spirit Pills? The more Long Haochen and Cai’er would grow in power, the more difficult would the missions they could take become, and this would consequently increase the amount of contribution points they would receive. Thus, Sima Xian’s words got the approval of everyone present.
Long Haochen said, “Then, let’s hurry to conduct our tests. Even if you cannot accompany Cai’er and me to enter the Illusory Paradise this time, the Tower of Eternity will still enable everyone to raise their strength, and maybe even to reach the sixth step earlier. This way, we’ll advance to the commander grade even faster. Make your preparations everyone, we will immediately enter the Tower of Eternity.”
“Wait.” Han Yu, who had been silent for some time, suddenly interrupted, “Boss, this is the headquarters of the Priest Temple. Won’t the deathly aura coming from it make us easily detectable?” Han Yu may originally have been very haughty, but he still possessed a very good common sense. His strength aside, he was also a very meticulous person. Still, his fortune had been to run into Long Haochen back then. His brilliance had always been kept hidden, until he became Long Haochen’s retainer knight, and started to always act out of consideration for him. This change had helped him correct himself.
Long Haochen shook his head, “At the time we were in Holy City, I already tested this. Because Elux is a Holy Necromancer, his main attribute is light, therefore, entering the Tower of Eternity will only produce faint light essence. I believe this was done on purpose when the tower was built. Now everyone, gather in a circle around me. After I summon the Tower of Eternity, no one is allowed to act blindly without thinking. You must listen to all my orders.”
Actually, Long Haochen was really nervous. After all, this was related to his comrades’ safety, thus at the time he said those last words, Long Haochen’s expression was particularly serious.
Han Yu and the other four nodded in succession, changing into their equipment before forming a circle around Long Haochen.
Long Haochen also put on his own armor, and readied the Holy Radiant Shield in his left hand, while his right hand was slung around Cai’er’s waist. Slowly, he closed his eyes.
A mild golden radiance emanated from his chest. It was the brilliance associated with Eternal Melody.
Over the last few days, regardless of whether it was during the time Long Haochen was unconscious or after he woke up, the Eternal Melody had always radiated a high temperature. By chance, Long Haochen was already used to it.
Regarding this necklace’s powers, he felt increasingly more convinced as time passed. That day, after he had seriously wounded the Moon Demon of the eighth step, he had heard the latter shout the words ‘divine artifact’. And in the instant before losing consciousness, he had also felt as if he was covered in a particular kind of spiritual energy, which was precisely what protected him.
Clearly, it came from the Tower of Eternity, or perhaps the Eternal Melody.
Was one of those really a divine artifact? But, the question remained, was it the Eternal Melody or the Tower of Eternity that turned out to be a divine artifact? Long Haochen felt that it should be the latter, because based on everything he saw in the Tower of Eternity, Long Haochen had no qualms calling it a divine artifact. Inside, far too many miraculous things were waiting to be discovered.