85 The 11th Floor.
"I'm done. Let's get ready to move to the next floor." Wan Qing spoke, as she arrived into the small café.
"Welcome back Qing. Would you like a drink before we go? They have a nice selection of beverages here." Lei Zhi offered.
Xiurong waved her claw up and down in agreement. She had a small bowl just for her to drink tea from. Quon was rather large for this small establishment so Lei Zhi had to place him inside a Capture Bead. Quon couldn't shrink or grow his body like Xiurong could. Lei guessed that she was special among aquatic spirit beasts. She was the only animal who could grow or shrink her size out of all the beasts he's pulled from his fishing rod.
A Capture Bead is formed by placing the Capturing spell on a beast and sending it into a tiny marble. If the animal is particularly strong enough, it can easily escape the Capture Bead. That's why it was recommended for those attempting to capture beasts to sufficiently weaken it before trying to capture it or it would break free and destroy the bead.
"You two don't seem to be in any hurry to increase your strength." Wan said displeased by their leisure attitudes.
"Heh heh... You can't just train all the time. Some rest is needed." Bing was in the middle of stuffing dumplings into his mouth.
"Ugh..." She responded with disgust. "Hurry up and finish. I'll be waiting outside." Ni Xong looked at the large number of dumplings on Bing's plate with a yearning in his stomach.
"Come on!" Wan Qing walked outside of the small shop with Ni Xong following behind her sadly.
"She's so young but still doesn't know how to properly relax. It's saddening to see the older generation pushing the younger ones into such a brutal mindset." Lei Zhi softly spoke.
"Well, that's kind of the world we live in. A brutal one." Bing responded casually.
"That's even sadder."
"I agree. I would love to live a carefree life with no worries of suddenly dying because I got on the bad side of someone stronger than me. Maybe one day we can change that." Bing shared, just sharing how he felt without any thought.
He didn't honestly believe the Empress would be capable of changing the world. Realistically, he only believed she would be capable of taking over the sect and that was already thinking very highly of her. The world is a large place. The amount of power, influence, and numbers they would need to affect the world is so unbelievably high Bing felt it was more realistic to imagine himself reaching the True Immortal realm. Someone like him with average or below average talent reaching that stage would require countless resources and godlike luck.
"Alright. I'm finished." Bing ate his 3rd large bowl of dumplings and left 3 spirit stones as payment.
"This place was rather nice. I'll leave them something extra for having such a peaceful atmosphere." Lei Zhi paid 2 spirit stones instead of 1 for his tea.
The two left the caf�� and met with Wan Qing outside. They walked together to the Warp Point that would send them to the 11th floor. As they were walking, Bing snuck Ni Xong a dumpling from his pocket when Qing wasn't looking. He chuckled seeing the wide smile on the panda cub's face. He placed his finger to his lips, telling the small panda that it was their secret. Bing saw how he looked at his bowl of dumplings inside the shop and figured it wouldn't hurt to give the little guy just one.
Near the Warp Point, the group saw several other cultivators waiting around. They figured it must be another floor that requires a certain number of people to start before it begins. A giant hourglass that was almost empty at the top stood in the middle of the Warp Point. On that hourglass were the numbers 950/1000.
"What happens if we don't have enough people?" Bing asked.
"That counter is telling the max limit, not the required limit." Qing explained.
"Does that affect the floor's difficulty?" Lei wondered.
"Sometimes. In some floors, more people can make it easier to survive. In others, less people can greatly increase the chances of dying."
"Do you know what this floor is going to be?" Bing wanted to try and think of strategies before they went to the 11th floor.
"No. I never went past the 10th floor. I was a Qi Gatherer like you two the last time the Treasured Plains opened. Back then, I barely survived the 10th floor. I refused to go to the next floor out of fear of for my life." Qing honestly shared.
"Should we be going with you then?" Bing asked worried about his own safety.
"You have nothing to worry about. Although I hate to admit it, you two are far stronger than I was at your stage. Probably the strongest among your individual stages." Qing gave a rare compliment.
"Well, thanks Qing..." Bing rubbed the back of his head with his fat fingers.
"Thank you for your honest critic." Lei gave his thanks as well.
"Hmph. I wasn't doing it to compliment you two. I was just saying, you aren't as bad as you think. Maybe if you two cultivated a little more seriously, I could see you becoming more than your average cultivator." Wan told them.
The sand inside the hourglass emptied from the top. A bright light glowed from beneath their feet, blinding them. When their vision returned, they realized they were completely separated from each other inside the 11th floor. The Warp Point must have transported them all to different locations within the floor. Every cultivator staring in the sky right now would be able to see a number etched into it.
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850/475
Bing already realized what type of floor this would be seeing that number in the sky. It was a type of test that he's already been through before. During the first test of the Golden Serpent Sect, he needed to survive long enough that the number of participants dwindled in size till it was a good enough number for the elders to end the first test and start the second one. The second test was also similar in nature but focused on a different aspect instead of survival skills.
"This shouldn't be too hard to survive." He spoke sarcastically. A hundred people died as soon as they got teleported.
The soft sand beneath his feet, a hot glaring sun bearing down on him, and the lack of anything but sand in sight.
"I'm going to starve to death, aren't I?"
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"Well... I didn't expect to find myself in this type of situation..." Lei Zhi said slightly excited.
He was in some large structure with sand beneath his feet and stone all around him. A type of temple, he would describe it. Down the hallway in front of him laid several life-threatening traps. Traps that the normal cultivator wouldn't be able to spot without experience in navigating dangerous areas. But unlike the average cultivator, Lei Zhi could see things further than them despite being blind. Thanks to his auxiliary art, Blind Man Can See, he could recreate his surroundings inside his mind by enhancing his other senses to their limits simultaneously in a specific breathing pattern. The pathways his qi goes through during this process is an extremely dangerous one. If a common cultivator tried to use this martial art, they would permanently disrupt every sense except sight. Forcing them to live a hellish life that no other man could possibly live with.
"Sorry, I had to keep you in there so long Quon. I know you don't like being in a Capture Bead." Lei Zhi released Quon and he immediately wrapped himself around Lei's entire body with his tentacles.
Lei rubbed his bulbous transparent head and made his way down the trap-filled hallway while avoiding all the triggers for the traps. Perhaps there could be treasure inside this dangerous place. After that, he would try to find Bing and Qing to meet up with them. With the special talisman Jing gave them, they can easily find each other whenever they wanted. All they had to do was flow their qi into the slip and wait for someone else to respond by also injecting their qi into their own talisman.
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"Hmph. Dumb beasts. Understand your limits." Wan Qing gave a single wave of her fan towards the large Sand Worms. It was the first time she opened her fan all the way. Ni Xong held onto her legs so that he didn't fly off.
Her fan produced sharp blades of wind that danced around her. These wind blades easily cut into the bodies of the spirit beasts, slicing them into pieces as they roared out in pain. It was a massacre of blood, guts, and blowing sand. Ni Xong kept his eyes closed during this as he trusted his owner would be able to handle anything!
"Quit cowering and let's get a move on. Finding those two won't be easy even if we can find each other." Wan told the panda.
"Ror?"
"Hop on. It'll be faster if we fly." Wan brandished her giant fan and tossed it in front of her.
The black fan hovered above the sand. The talented disciple and her pet hopped on and flew above the calm desert in leisure.
'Maybe this floor will be easier than I thought...' Wan thought, before shaking her head.
If she tried to come to this floor last time and found herself in the same situation as before, she would've been devoured without a chance to resist. It was only thanks to this fan that she could come out unscathed against a group of Qi Consolidation realm spirit beasts. What she did wouldn't be possible with her old sword. The thick skin of the Desert Worms were too tough for a stellar-ranked spirit weapon.
