Chapter 1224 - Maximum Difficulty

Liu Wuxie vanished where he stood, his figure splitting into two afterimages. Both afterimages struck Zhou Chen and his companion simultaneously; only sheer, overwhelming speed made such a feat possible.

The oncoming sword aura collapsed under Liu Wuxie's assault. His palm slammed into both youths before they even realized what had happened. In the blink of an eye, the clash began and ended, leaving the crowd stunned and breathless.

Zhou Chen and his companion flew back like broken kites, crashing heavily to the ground with two loud thuds. They trembled like aspen trees as pain wracked their frames.

Having stepped into the fifth-level Transcendent Realm, Liu Wuxie's combat strength had soared to terrifying heights. Even against an expert at the ninth-level Origin Conversion Realm, he could stand his ground without faltering.

Hissing sounds rippled through the gathered disciples. Shock flickered across their faces as they realized what they had just witnessed.

None could believe that a mere fifth-level Transcendent cultivator had defeated two inner disciples at the third-level Origin Conversion Realm. Even experts at the fifth-level Origin Conversion Realm might fail to accomplish such a feat.

"Who is he? Why is he so terrifying? His strength rivals that of a fifth-level Origin Conversion cultivator!" one inner disciple exclaimed, his voice echoing in disbelief. Those ahead in the queue no longer dared to dismiss Liu Wuxie based on his cultivation alone.

"Could it be him?" muttered a disciple at the sixth-level Origin Conversion Realm, his brows furrowing as he drew everyone's attention.

"Who?" the surrounding disciples asked eagerly, desperate to know Liu Wuxie's identity.

"Two days ago, something strange happened in the Outer Sect," the disciple explained. "A brat auctioned off Wisdom Stones and killed an inner disciple who tried to rob him."

Murmurs swept through the crowd. Many inner disciples had already heard fragments of the events that had occurred that day.

"An outer disciple killed an inner disciple?" Shock and interest surged through the listeners.

"I remember now!" another disciple shouted. "That kid also won first place during the wilderness training and received a pile of rewards, including cultivation time in the Primordial Pagoda."

Every inner disciple knew that top ranks in the wilderness training always earned cultivation time inside the pagoda. At the mention of Wisdom Stones, greed flickered in more than a few eyes.

Zhou Chen and his companion staggered back to their feet. Though they clutched broken ribs and staggered with drained strength, the murderous hatred in their eyes did not dim.

"Brat, just you wait! I'll make you wish you were dead!" Zhou Chen spat, clutching his chest as he stormed out of the Primordial Pagoda to fetch reinforcements.

Liu Wuxie, however, remained indifferent. Empty threats held no weight against him. He stayed in line, his focus fixed on cultivation.

The disciples ahead suppressed their greed. Someone reminded the crowd that the inner disciple Liu Wuxie had killed during the auction had been at the seventh-level Origin Conversion Realm.

Unless a ninth-level Origin Conversion expert appeared, no one here could match him. The strongest inner disciple present was only at the seventh level.

The disturbance faded quickly. Disciples resumed filing forward, each paying their contribution points and stepping into the pagoda.

Before long, Liu Wuxie stepped forward for his turn. The elder on duty raised his head, and a flicker of recognition flashed across his eyes. He was one of the elders who had witnessed the chaos during the auction.

Liu Wuxie presented his token, and the light pillar shimmered to life, reflecting his name. The elder granted him five days of cultivation time on the fifth floor of the Primordial Pagoda.

"Room D, fifth floor," the elder said, handing him a key-shaped item.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Liu Wuxie stepped into the portal. In a blink, he arrived at the fifth floor—a space the pagoda's array sealed from the outside world and lined with rows of stone chambers. Each chamber bore a glowing orb above its door that lit up when someone entered.

Finding his assigned chamber, he inserted the key. The stone door groaned open, and as he stepped through, the world shifted.

"This is interesting," Liu Wuxie murmured with a devilish smile. He had expected nothing more than an ordinary cultivation room. Instead, he realized the Primordial Pagoda was a treasure that could even rival treasures in the Celestial Realm.

With a thought, his vision shifted through scenes of wasteland, desert, forest, and mountain ranges. The dial on the stone wall allowed him to adjust the environment and the difficulty, which capped at the ninth-level Origin Conversion Realm. He guessed only the sixth floor could push that to the first or the second level of the Primal Origin Realm.

Most inner disciples chose the fourth or fifth floors. The sect allowed only those at the higher levels of the Origin Conversion Realm to tread the sixth.

On the wall, beneath the dial, lay two options—one white, one black. Someone had carved a skull into the black option's surface.

"So there's a choice between the Life Gate and the Death Gate," Liu Wuxie mused.

In the Life Gate, death meant nothing. In the Death Gate, however, failure meant real death.

Without hesitation, Liu Wuxie chose a wasteland environment, set the difficulty to the fifth-level Origin Conversion Realm, and tapped the Death Gate.

The scenery dissolved. A vast wasteland stretched out before him, indistinguishable from reality. He had no retreat; having chosen the Death Gate, survival depended only on his strength.

A cold wind howled. A black figure appeared, radiating the aura of the fifth-level Origin Conversion Realm. The figure's aura was sharp, far beyond that of ordinary inner disciples.

"Fight!" Liu Wuxie roared. The Heretic Blade gleamed in his hand as he charged, his overwhelming aura crushing forward.

The black figure swung its sword horizontally, skillfully countering Liu Wuxie's blow. Liu Wuxie's expression shifted. He was certain that such an attack could kill an ordinary fifth-level Origin Conversion opponent instantly, but this one left no opening.

Though the figure seemed to match the fifth-level Origin Conversion Realm, its technique brimmed with experience, igniting Liu Wuxie's fighting spirit.

"Nine Heavenly Dragon Forms!" Liu Wuxie unleashed the art, his body surging like a divine dragon through the wasteland sky.

Space itself quaked. The black figure's aura faltered under the dragon's oppressive might.

"Dragon Subduing Tiger!"

"Dragon Slither!"

Two forms erupted together. Against a normal fifth-level Origin Conversion cultivator, these would have decided the fight.

The black figure's flawless stance crumbled under Liu Wuxie's onslaught. He didn't even need to activate Ghost Eye to spot the flaws that the dragon's suppression had exposed.

A storm of fists descended from the heavens, smashing the figure apart. It dissolved into black mist, leaving behind a porcelain bottle that dropped at Liu Wuxie's feet.

He picked it up, uncorked it, and found a sixth-grade spiritual pill inside.

"They grant rewards here?" he murmured, a smile tugging at his lips. The Primordial Pagoda was far more extraordinary than he imagined.

Though a single sixth-grade pill couldn't push him into another breakthrough, it strengthened the Transcendent Realm laws in his body, tempering his foundation despite reaching the bottleneck in his True Dragon Physique.

When he returned to reality, he resisted the urge to change the scene again. Instead, he studied the Primordial Pagoda's rules and discovered the truth—the Life Gate offered no rewards. Only the Death Gate granted prizes, as only by facing actual danger could disciples earn them.

Without hesitation, he swallowed the pill. Energy surged through his veins, pushing his cultivation closer to the sixth-level Transcendent Realm.

After an hour of rest, Liu Wuxie rose again, his eyes burning with resolve. He cranked the difficulty to the maximum and shifted the scene to a jungle mountain range. This time, he would push himself to the very edge for the next five days, aiming to break into the sixth-level Transcendent Realm.

He chose the Death Gate once more. Only by risking everything could he extract every drop of potential within his body.

The maximum difficulty and Death Gate meant Liu Wuxie had to put his life on the line. If he had picked Life Gate, he would subconsciously know he wouldn't die, and the training effect would suffer. But he had no path of retreat from the moment he chose Death Gate.

The scenery twisted and reformed into a primal mountain range.

"This is the Dragon Expanse Mountain Range," Liu Wuxie muttered, recognition flashing in his eyes. The maps of the four astral domains were deeply ingrained in his memory, refined further by the Heavenly Dao Book. Every tree and stone looked real.

"Wait—this is the real Dragon Expanse Mountain Range! I'm no longer inside the pagoda!" Realization struck him like a hammer. The Primordial Pagoda was not just a training treasure; it was a super teleportation array, capable of sending him across realms.

He couldn't yet be certain if every detail here was real, but one truth was undeniable—only an immortal could have forged such a wonder. The mysteries of the Primordial Pagoda ran deeper than he imagined.

Elsewhere, the elders monitoring the pagoda stirred.

"Someone on the fifth floor has selected the Death Gate and set the difficulty to the highest," one announced. The maximum difficulty on that floor corresponded to the ninth-level Origin Conversion Realm.

"What?! A Transcendent Realm disciple?" Another elder gasped. In their minds, only seventh- or eighth-level Origin Conversion disciples had the qualifications to attempt such madness.

"Is this a mistake? How did an outer disciple get to the fifth floor?" asked the elder on the right, recalling past errors in the pagoda's system.

"There's no mistake," the elder in the middle replied with a mysterious smile. He had witnessed Liu Wuxie's deeds himself; he was even present during the auction. And now, fate had placed him on duty in the Primordial Pagoda this very month.