Chapter 67: Pass

There's a difference between the City Lord and the Patriarch in the sect.

While both of them are leaders, the Patriarch still has the highest authority in the sect. No one can argue with him, and most can only follow his words.

The City Lord is, well, just a City Lord. He leads the underground city, signs documents from the people, and generally has the highest authority in the sect besides the Patriarch and the Grand Elder.

And as the leader of a huge city, the City Lord is quite strong, having the cultivation of Nascent Soul at the age of 45. It is rumored that he is at the peak of the stage, and is close to achieving the cultivation of Imprisonment. And since the City Lord has not been seen for a while, it is theorized that he was cultivating hard to reach the next level.

Though, there comes the risk for becoming an Imprisonment Cultivator.

Once a cultivator tries to achieve it, mana itself would create illusions of the cultivator's worst nightmares. It is a trial for trying to break the laws of heaven and earth.

A wise cultivator once said, "Either you break the illusion, or die a worthless mongrel."

There is no way out of that, a cultivator can only fight within his mind.

That's why there are so few Imprisonment Cultivators in the 4 continents; due to this trial of illusions.

The City Lord's name is Donovan Leontii, a White Lion Demi-Human.

It is rumored that Donovan's white mane is as thick as a lush tree and as beautiful as the smoothest of hairs. And he was as wise as the olden kings and as strong as the heaven-chosen emperors.

But that's just hyperboles coming from the people.

The reason I'm talking a lot about the city lord right now is because I'm in front of his office, since the Beast Tower is located right under it. I need permission to enter the Beast Tower from the office, and since I'm quite strong, as it was shown in the tournament, I think they will accept me.

I should've gone right here a month ago, if it weren't because I had some training to do with my master.

But now that I have an entire month all for myself, I can do everything I want! Muhahaha!

Well, not everything, but still.

Yet, as I stood here, I started questioning my life decisions.

You see, the line to the City Lord's office is especially long this day, and I've been waiting here since half-an-hour now.

[Just sacrifice these people to the blood god, and you won't have any problems]

'Shut it. I'm not going to do that.'

[C'mon, you won't have to wait in this line, you know?]

'Yeah, but I'll be hunted down by the sect. And I still have my moral compass, unlike you.'

[Hey, I also have a moral compass. It just points in the wrong direction!]

'Stop playing games with me, I need to control my temper before I burst because of this stupid line!'

[Fine, fine!]

After a few dozen minutes or so, the line dwindled to 5 people, including me.

Soon, I was able to enter the city lord's office after all of them left.

I saw the clerk, and asked her, "Um, where can I ask permission to enter the Beast Tower?"

The clerk looked around, and was confused when she didn't see anyone.

"Down here," I said.

She finally looked down, to see little ol' me.

"Oh, little boy, what's a little cutie like you doing here?' She asked.

"I want to enter the Beast Tower," I bluntly said.

"Hmm, but you can't. You need to be a disciple of the sect to enter it," She said to me, playfully.

I took out my D-Class Disciple badge, and showed it to her.

"So they accept toddlers now?" She muttered after inspecting the badge a bit.

She cleared her throat, and said, "You are lucky today, there are no disciples trying to fight in the Beast Tower at the moment. Or else, the line would've been quite long. Here, just follow this map and you should be able to find the entrance. Here, this is a stamped paper, show it to the guard at the entrance so that he could let you in."

She gave me the map of the office and a white paper that has a red stamp on it.

I smiled at her, and said, "Thank you, miss."

"Anytime, little boy. Be careful now!" She replied.

That was a kind woman; she didn't ask many questions as to why a toddler is going to fight beasts.

So, basically, the entrance is at the right side of the building. The entrance of the Beast Tower and the City Lord's office are interconnected, which means there must be paths all around here.

Though I wonder why they decided to build something like that here. Meh, not my problem.

I passed by a few people while searching for the entrance. I sensed no large amount of mana in them, so they must be civilians or city merchants who sell fruits and stuff.

People usually need to sign some papers in the city lord's office to legally sell things in the city. And since there's not that much land here, people must go to the surface and go to kingdoms or villages to buy stuff and resell them here. This is normally done in secrecy because the sect cannot risk the knowledge about their existence to common people.

If common people find out that there are people out there who could literally move mountains and receive powers similar to that of the gods, then they would fear them. Fear would result in hatred, and hatred will only breed more hatred.

The common people are generally uneducated, this is why the sect must stay in secrecy; riots and witch-hunts will occur. Even if some people can understand and move on, most will not stay silent.

The more unknown a thing is, the more those with sentience fear it.

And humans, generally, are like dogs; the louder they bark, the weaker they are.

The nobles of kingdoms. Most of them are weaklings, incapable of even lifting a sword, yet many people envy them for their wealth and fortune. They show off to the common people their jewelries, expensive objects, and lands so big that a village could fit in it but they would rather turn it into a vacation home than let the "peasants" live there.

But what those "nobles" don't realize is that they are the same as those "peasants"; in the end, they will die. All beings die, no matter how long they have lived or how much they've achieved in life.

As I was thinking about useless things, and after walking down a staircase, I found the entrance with two guards in uniforms guarding it. There was a screen on one of the marble pillars surrounding it, giving out a list of names and how many floors they've conquered.

I saw the number one with the name "Alphonsus Ellsworth" and it is said there that he has conquered 70 floors out of the 100 floors this Beast Tower has. Since he managed to reach that low, then he must be a disciple of the sect. Must be in the higher ranks, around A-Class or so.

Second to him was a guy that has the name of "Adalius Navarel" who has conquered 69 floors. Again, he must be from the higher ranks since I also don't know about him.

(Note: Noice)

The entrance was built with materials that are gold, silver, and even adamantium. It was filled with extravaganza, yet even with all of its luxurious look, I can see that it was made to be tough. I even find myself questioning whether I could make a dent to it with my fists.