Chapter Fifty-Five: The Sixth Floor of the Jade Pavilion

Suddenly, a colossal palm descended from the heavens. Within its grasp, the universe manifested, reflecting endless stars and shooting forth infinite starlight, forming a dazzling river of stars.

Xu Zhong looked up.

In the next moment, that radiant river of stars poured directly into his eyes.

Cold, ruthless starlight blossomed first within his gaze, then surged forcibly upward, piercing into the center of his brow, coursing upward past the divine court, opening the heavenly gate, vast and boundless, stretching along the line between his brows, as if to split Xu Zhong in two.

His consciousness grew numb; he felt his head frozen and stiff. The starlight roamed within his skull, filling his mind until it seemed impossible to bear a single thought—any movement of his will might cause his head to burst like a watermelon.

Yet this was merely a wisp of palm wind, its power unleashed through Xu Zhong’s eyes.

That force relentlessly battered his spiritual core.

Xu Zhong coughed blood repeatedly, then focused all his strength, visualizing the Yellow Dragon to shield his consciousness.

“Seven Lodges of the Black Tortoise, empower my body.” As he spoke, blood poured from his mouth.

The next moment, seven stars flickered within him, starlight shimmering around his body, forming the image of a Black Tortoise.

The Black Tortoise split in two, as did Xu Zhong’s form and spirit.

The Water Star’s secret chamber locked his life force, all vitality pooled within, forming a small, illusory shape of Xu Zhong.

That apparition devoured qi, yang energy, and the strength of essence, spirit, and soul.

Soon, Xu Zhong’s flesh shriveled, decaying like an old tree, becoming as dry as a sponge wrung of all moisture, so light it seemed his bones had no weight. At that moment, his body could float.

His soul was the same.

Within his human soul, the Water Star’s chamber swallowed the heavenly soul, earthly soul, and the seven wraiths.

For a time, his spiritual core was empty.

His body existed in a cycle of life and death.

The divine palm suddenly paused, unable to find its target.

Within Xu Zhong, the old demon of Black Mountain abruptly awakened, manifesting as a consciousness.

“Fortunately, I left a safeguard,” the old demon thought in the spiritual core, witnessing Xu Zhong's cycle of life and death, assured his caution was justified.

But as soon as he finished, the divine palm locked onto him.

The palm pierced through Xu Zhong’s spiritual core, utterly shattering the old demon’s lingering imprint.

Meanwhile, the external divine palm circled, starting from the Jade Tower of Vigilance, sweeping across six jade towers, and striking the seventh directly.

“Who dares plot against me?” The old demon’s roar echoed throughout Tianyong City.

At that moment, Xu Zhong shifted once more between life and death.

All vitality flowed from the Water Star’s chamber back into his body. Like a sponge absorbing water, he swelled anew.

As soon as he revived, Xu Zhong spat blood again.

He sat dazed in the rosy glow.

“Thankfully, it was only a residual spell,” he thought, heart still pounding in fear.

Had the spell contained consciousness, no matter how he switched between life and death, it would have been futile.

He could never have guessed the old demon would imbue his imprint with awareness.

The rosy radiance finally descended, setting him down before the Jade Tower of Vigilance.

This jade tower had six levels.

The first housed scriptures, encompassing the affairs of heavens and earth, recording countless living beings and the reflections of cultivators.

The second stored Daoist methods, the cultivation arts of the Vigilance realm.

The third held spells, also available to those in the Vigilance realm.

The fourth kept treasures.

The fifth preserved divine remnants—various relics left by sacred beasts and birds, containing only their spiritual resonance, not form: a bone, a feather, myriad and diverse.

The sixth contained the Way—a deity statue.

The statue resided on the sixth floor, much like the Yellow Dragon, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise symbolize the Five Stars realm, it too signified the Vigilance realm.

This was not Xu Zhong’s own insight.

Rather, the moment he beheld the jade tower, an unseen force introduced it to him.

Before the tower, not a soul stood.

Yet within, crowds filled every level.

From the first to the sixth, countless people gathered.

Xu Zhong hesitated, standing there as the deity statue on the sixth floor seemed to awaken, lowering its gaze upon him.

The statue, too, possessed two aspects.

Two divine lights circled above its heavenly gate, revealing its true form.

One, its entire body deepened with starlight, resembling a true dragon, swirling and roaring, its mouth uttering Daoist tones.

The other, emerald green, shrouded in pitch-black qi, like an immense black python, its mouth uttering demonic notes.

Daoist and demonic sounds mingled.

Strange, hissing shrieks blended with muffled thunder, unsettling to the ear.

“He’s fallen to the demon, just as I have?” Xu Zhong’s heart leapt.

Then, a voice boomed nearby: “You, standing so close to the statue—are you planning to sneak it away when we’re not watching?”

Xu Zhong turned and saw a chubby, harmless-looking child three feet tall, speaking with the gravitas of an elder.

Others watched him as well.

“Not good!” Xu Zhong thought, alarmed. “The Vigilance statue has pulled me up to the sixth floor.”

He hurriedly stepped back.

Each step he took, the statue followed.

Invisibly, the cultivators who were contemplating the statue also shifted a step.

“You’ve refined the Vigilance statue?” The child gaped in disbelief.

Like Xu Zhong, he had just arrived at the sixth floor and hadn’t yet delved as deeply as the others.

The cultivators, awakened by the commotion, noticed their own positions had changed.

Xu Zhong looked back, saw nothing amiss, and quickly explained, “I haven’t.”

The statue spoke as well, mimicking his tone: “I haven’t.”

Startled, Xu Zhong moved away from the statue.

But the statue followed closely, impossible to shake off.

“You may leave, but leave the statue behind,” the child declared, transforming into a Wuzhiqi, reaching out to seize Xu Zhong.

The great hand dripped blood, forming a crimson cloud, northern winds howling, its five fingers twisted into five blood-red pythons, all converging to strangle Xu Zhong.

“Qi Seal!” Xu Zhong invoked his internal magic, pointing behind him.

The art of Qi Seal froze the five pythons in midair, then dispersed them into a bloody mist, filling the air.

“Primordial Avatar!”

Wuzhiqi roared.

Countless monkey hairs leapt from its body, transforming into mind-monkeys, dropping to the ground and then bounding toward Xu Zhong.

These mind-monkeys consumed thoughts, wielded staffs; a single blow could shatter reason and clarity, allowing them to invade, stirring the cultivator’s heart into chaos.

The statue had warned him of this.

Xu Zhong formed a sword gesture, pointing forward.

Instantly, a mighty river of sword qi swept three hundred miles, surging toward Wuzhiqi.

The mind-monkeys darted through the sword qi, their staffs whirling like wind, often three or five could intercept an inch of sword light.

There were fifty thousand mind-monkeys; in an instant, they splintered Xu Zhong’s sword light into ten thousand fragments.

Xu Zhong was alarmed.

Then he saw each mind-monkey relay, transforming into Wuzhiqi, narrowing the distance.

“Soul Capture!” The spell seed within him awakened.

He grasped it instantly.

He reached out, and black wind whirled in his palm.

The wind spiraled outward, gathering the mind-monkeys like leaves carried by a breeze, returning them to monkey hairs, swirling in the wind.

Wuzhiqi paused.

He summoned the monkey hairs from afar, gathering them up.

With Wuzhiqi’s intervention, the others had time to recover their essence, spirit, and soul.

Behind Xu Zhong, they moved quickly.

Countless spells erupted from their bodies, targeting Xu Zhong.

“Light of Life, Robe of Shielding.”

Xu Zhong cast spells with both hands.

The Light of Life summoned protective divine radiance, impervious to all arts, wondrous in effect.

Robe of Shielding clothed him in a robe of nothingness, immune to wind, frost, rain, thunder, lightning.

Divine radiance shone outside the robe.

Yet, imperviousness and immunity depended on his own power.

Against the onslaught of spells, Xu Zhong’s divine radiance was easily torn, the robe shredded.

“Borrow the wind!”

From emptiness, a mighty gale arose.

The raging wind was the sharpest blade in the world, capable of smoothing all things.

It tore at flesh, scattered souls.

The wind howled, blood mist swirling.

Those with weaker cultivation near Xu Zhong suffered wounds.

“Wind-Stilling Pearl!”

A demon clan cultivator spat out a wind-stilling treasure, instantly calming the storm.

The others struck anew.

Xu Zhong, inspired, seized the statue’s legs, flipped it, and swept.

The magical phenomena dissolved like smoke.

He was stunned; so were the others.

None had imagined the statue held such use.

For a moment, the turmoil ceased, and all stood in shock, the atmosphere frozen.

“Put down the statue and you may leave,” the youth said, echoed by the others.

“I’d like to put it down too,” Xu Zhong placed the statue upright.

But when he tried to step away, the statue followed.

“See? It’s following me.”

The youth’s face darkened, coldly: “Are you mocking us?”

He suppressed his anger.

Xu Zhong, bewildered, could only protest.

“You’ve refined the statue; it has spirit, and naturally follows your movements,” the youth said, producing a spear.

The spear’s tip shone like a star, its tassel white as snow, the shaft like a dragon.

A surge of spear intent soared, as if to pierce heaven and earth.

“What I mean is, erase your imprint and set the statue free!” The youth pointed his spear at Xu Zhong. “But instead, you toy with us—truly intolerable.”

“I truly haven’t refined the statue,” Xu Zhong replied helplessly.

He wished to part with it, but it clung to him for reasons unknown, beyond his control.

He understood their thoughts.

Upon the statue lay the highest mysteries of the Vigilance realm.

Contemplating it for a day equaled a year’s worth of their own efforts.

“The wrath of the crowd is dangerous, I know that well,” Xu Zhong said, pointing at the statue. “But I’ve already explained I haven’t refined it. Whether true or false, you’re welcome to examine it yourselves.”

He lifted his gourd: “But if you refuse even to look, disregarding the truth and pressing me, know that I am not one to be bullied.”

Sword light and sword qi whirled from the gourd.

Tension mounted throughout the sixth floor of the jade tower.