18 LUCK OF A REBORN SOUL (1/2)
Roughly an hour before Xiao Wu's breakthrough…
Just as Xiao Wu entered her meditative state, Cheng Hao also sat down cross-legged. However, he did not immediately begin cultivating. Instead, he couldn't help but cast a gaze at a certain golden snake resting atop the table.
”Goldy, would you-?”
”Would I what?” The golden dragon perked up his ears, ”Castrate you as you meditate? Don't worry, I'll be sure to take them out in a single blow. The pain will only last for a moment...”
Cheng Hao ignored what he hoped to be a sarcastic remark and instead asked through gritted teeth, ”…Blindlight... Could you-?”
”Ah…” the dragon interrupted, ”do you really believe I would be making all this fuss over a stupid nickname? Tch! Just what cold-blooded monster do you imagine me to be?” Goldy clicked his tongue while shaking his head.
”Tch! Tch!” He smiled, ”I will take care of this 'sister' of yours just fine, Stupid Hao. Just go. I do have a heart, unlike a certain damnable bastard over here that cannot help harassing his close companions.”
The golden-eyed youth beamed. ”Oh, shut up, you, you… You'll make me want to cuddle you!”
”Please, don't.” Goldy shuddered.
”Ehehe...”
After assuring that the snake would help the young girl, Cheng Hao finally relaxed and threw himself on the ground, submerging himself in the wondrous meditative state.
Even as Xu Ling, he had personally always enjoyed that part about cultivation; meditation. It allowed people to look at the world, at reality itself all the while increasing their strength. It was like staring in the face of a vast yet blurry truth. As time went on and one grew more and more powerful, that truth would grow to be clearer and clearer... just like gradually waking up from a dream. He enjoyed the revelations that would come whenever the fog would clear up. It had come to the point that he had begun substituting sleep with meditation.
However, this time would be different. He had not entered meditation for the mere pleasure of it; today, he had a massive task to accomplish!
As soon as he sat down, Cheng Hao had already closed his eyes, grabbed the Immortal Ascension Tower and projected his consciousness into it. He only imparted a small part of his Will in the heavenly treasure, and immediately he felt a strong suction force warping his consciousness, somewhere else... As soon as the suction force appeared, the scenery surrounding him changed. The small hut had suddenly vanished and he found himself suspended in a vacuum.
In front of him was a majestic tower, thousands of feet tall, an inverted pagoda made of bronze, silver and gold.
There were a total of fifteen floors, each separated by peculiar, golden halos. These glowing rings wrapped themselves around the sections of the gargantuan tower that connected a floor to the next. What's more, each ring was brighter and glowed a purer golden hue than those located below. Such a dazzling sight was enough to bewilder anyone who would see the golden tower for the first time in its entirety. Cheng Hao however, couldn't be any more familiar with it: for six months, he had struggled to build and perfect the object in front of him. And yet, even after six months of hard and strenuous work, he had failed to accomplish so. Completing the Immortal Ascension Tower was simply too big of a task for a single person to accomplish in such a short time.
And yet, even an incomplete treasure as this could be considered a Martial Way!
As a matter of fact, although Cheng Hao had called the immortal Ascension Tower he had created a Martial Way, it was actually something completely different! At the same time however, it was such a magical existence that it could somehow still be considered a Martial Way… and one surpassing most others at that! It was basically like using a katana to cut one's vegetables: such a sharp weapon could easily accomplish that job, despite its intended use being different.
And in that case, the Immortal Ascension Tower would be the sharpest katana.
Cheng Hao had crafted such a massive tower to help him accomplish one thing: reach immortality as fast as possible and in the most domineering way!
All of a sudden, the lowermost glowing halo let out a loud cracking sound and began to fall apart. The shards of golden light that formed merged together to become a stream of light particles. In the blink of an eye, this stream had entered Cheng Hao's body! Just like that, foreign Spiritual Energy and odd Qi Strands charged straight into his consciousness! Because of those, Cheng Hao passed directly from the Qi Sensing phase to the Absorption phase!