Chapter 86 - Immortal Ascension (2/2)

Suddenly, they began to worry for the future of their sect.

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Yi Qing rushed to the Yu Family the night before. The Immortal Ascension Pagoda was so tall that it reached the skies. Immortal Qi thicker than in the ancient Immortal Pavilion surrounded the pagoda. What felt strange was that the Yu Family sent no one to guard the entrance to such a grand Immortal Ascension Pagoda. Cultivators were free to enter.

As he was rushing to rescue people, Yi Qing could no longer afford to hesitate. Pushing his thoughts aside, he rushed into the pagoda.

Yi Qing could see no one else in the pagoda as he entered into a pitch black area. Yin Qi, not Immortal Qi, filled the air inside. The Yin Qi periodically condensed into a material form and attacked the people in the pagoda.

As Yi Qing defended himself against the evil aura, he thought hard about the secret regarding the pagoda. After six hours, he felt low on spiritual power. He began to systematically look for cracks in the pagoda and managed to break out of the darkness. A blinding light suddenly hit his eyes.

Squinting, he found that he had entered a wide stone room. Seated on the floor were all the cultivators who entered the pagoda. Each of them looked as though they were stuck in some imaginary world – they all had pained expressions and were unconscious.

The darkness earlier was part of the Mental Demon Tribulation. As a result of being a sword cultivator who had sworn to defeat all the evil under the sky, all he saw was darkness. He was fortunate to have noticed the trap and broken out of the darkness. The people on the ground were not so fortunate. They were still stuck in their Mental Demon Tribulations.

This caused Yi Qing to be unsure exactly what the Immortal Ascension Pagoda was. Why could it invoke mental demons? As he thought about it, he heard a sound above him. It sounded like movement.

He raised his head and saw the neatly arranged bricks from the wall moving out one by one. The bricks automatically stacked themselves atop one another, forming a flight of stairs that led directly into the sky.

Yi Qing frowned. He scanned his surroundings, but saw no one else being conscious. He tightened his grip on his sword and flew up the flight of stairs. He wasn’t afraid of what he would find in the pagoda, all he knew was that he would never find out if he refused to move.

He made his way up the stairs steadily until his surroundings changed. He reached a dense forest and heard the sound of insects and birds all around him. The stairs were gone.

“Eh?”

Suddenly, he heard a man’s voice calling out from the horizon. The voice echoed throughout the forest.

“Someone actually managed to defeat the mental demons and make it to the first level.”

“Who are you?” Yi Qing cautiously looked around but did not detect any unfamiliar aura.

“You have an Innate Sword Embodiment, no wonder…” The other person clearly had no intention to answer his question. The voice continued, “You can defeat your mental demons – you must be a mentally determined person. Let’s see if you have what it takes to pass the test in this first level.”

As soon as the voice finished speaking, a bright line shone down from the sky. A human silhouette appeared, “If you defeat the person in front of you, you can progress to the third level.”

The voice mocked him. The light slowly faded and a man in a white robe stood in front of Yi Qing, holding a jade flute Dharma artifact in his hands. He felt the man’s Soul Formation suppression.

Yi Qing started. This man is Lonemoon!

Is he real?

“He’s not an illusion. This is the first level test of this Immortal Ascension Pagoda. If you defeat him, you will be one step closer to achieving Immortal Ascension,” the mocking voice sounded once more. “The road is ruthless. What remains to be seen is whether your heart can be equally ruthless to… Eh?”

Before the voice could finish, Yi Qing flew toward Lonemoon like an arrow being shot out from a bow. He rained punches and blows onto Lonemoon without hesitation, leaving him unable to retaliate.

He always wanted to beat this little guy for stealing his master!

It’s great that it’s really Lonemoon!

┗|`O′|┛