Chapter 270 The Tower of Immortality
Why didn't this mechanical female voice appear when there were progress indicators for the mission before, but it has appeared now?
Thinking further, the reason why this mission was completed so dramatically was simply because she obtained an auxiliary item from the blind box she had previously opened from the system.
Or is it that the "Panmen" where she landed was actually one of the real reasons for the destruction of the lower realm?
Questions flooded her mind, but Mu Jianjian had no time to think about them. She even forgot about the reward mentioned by the mechanical female voice. Her body had just been slammed onto the scalding red soil, and with a light sweep, she could see the red blood blisters on her exposed skin.
Even so, holding the orb of light she had just fought so hard to snatch, she could not back down in the slightest. To back down would be to yield to the enemy before her.
“You can try. It’s faster for you to come and kill me,” Mu Jianjian took a deep breath. The festering sores all over her body were not enough to shake her. “It’s faster for me to crush this ball of light in my hand.”
The dragon's massive body suddenly paused, its sharp, crimson eyes sweeping across the spirit orb in the petite girl's hand. As if sensing her thoughts, its body, submerged in lava, slowly and quietly settled down.
However, its long tail was still swaying back and forth, seemingly symbolizing its impatience and rage.
Only then did Mu Jianjian get a chance to catch her breath. She struggled to turn over, tearing apart the flesh that had been stuck to her clothes on the ground, and placed the Rain Ruler on it.
The pain in my feet subsided considerably.
[System? Is the system there?]
Mu Jianjian tentatively spoke in her mind, but as she expected, the system in her mind remained silent, as if reminding her that the system would not make any suggestions or judgments on her choice before she had chosen the reward.
"Whoosh—"
The dragon slowly exhaled two streams of hot air from its nostrils. The steam quickly spread out and then rapidly turned into gas under the warmth of the surroundings.
Its waiting time is limited.
Mu Jianjian, however, remained calm and unhurried. She exhaled softly, glanced at the festering blisters on her arms with a heavy heart, took out the Fire Fox Dagger, quickly cut off the rotten flesh, and then poured the meager amount of Holy Lake water from her system space onto the wounds.
The whole process took less than a second, emphasizing speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness.
Mu Jianjian's face contorted in pain, and tears welled up in her eyes, but they evaporated quickly due to the environment, leaving no trace.
With the water from the sacred lake covering her, the festering flesh on her arms slowly healed within three breaths, revealing new, white-pink flesh.
Only then did she raise her head again, meeting the gaze of the dragon whose body was half-submerged in lava.
“I know you can understand me,” Mu Jianjian said, clutching the ball of light tightly in her hand. “This spirit orb is very important to you. I can return it to you, but in return, I hope my divine sense can enter your sea of consciousness and tell me what you know about this place.”
Allowing divine consciousness to enter the divine sea requires sufficient trust in one party, because the divine sea is fragile. Once invaded, it is very likely that someone will take advantage of the situation, causing irreversible damage to one's spiritual power.
The dragon's once rounded black pupils suddenly snapped upwards, like two short thorns embedded within, radiating a dangerous and oppressive aura that sent chills down one's spine.
But Mu Jianjian did not back down at all.
After treating her wounds and stabilizing the dragon, she began to ponder the words spoken by the mechanical female voice earlier.
The progress bar of the mission indicates that she has been on the right path since discovering the giant rune array in the sand cave. People from the upper realm have tampered with things in the lower realm, such as the rune array that allowed her to travel through time and space, and the giant "Panmen" she is currently in.
If someone hadn't deliberately leaked the information, attracting cultivators to come and explore, who would have thought that such a strange sight would exist deep in the mountains and forests?
The motives of the person behind it and the corresponding solutions.
By addressing these two key issues, it becomes clear just how valuable the two rewards offered to her by the mechanical female voice were.
Judging from the superficial reasons for the reward, it is no surprise that reward one is more tempting. After all, having a plan B as a fallback after one's cultivation is destroyed or even one's Dao heart is ruined will greatly increase one's tolerance for mistakes in the cultivation world.
Compared to reward one, reward two seemed particularly vague. The mechanical female voice did not clearly tell her what abilities the system would have after upgrading and gaining a physical form, or what kind of assistance she would receive. But it was precisely because of this vagueness and uncertainty that the reward seemed so tempting.
This is similar to opening blind boxes; you want to win big with a small investment, hoping that the box you're holding will contain a hidden item or that the next card you draw will be an SSR.
“I know you have doubts about my motives, but I have no intention of harming you,” Mu Jianjian smiled, looking completely harmless. “After I accidentally fell here, you chose to wait until I touched it before you made your move, which means we can be enemies.”
The hoarse sound of the steam was unusually calming, slowly soothing the dragon's furious heart. Yet, it remained silent, its vertical black pupils testing the attitude and sincerity of the cultivator before it.
Mu Jianjian met its gaze and slowly raised her hand. "I can swear on my Dao heart that if I enter your divine sea with my divine sense, I will only communicate and exchange ideas, and will not damage this spiritual pearl."
Her smile was kind, yet she still left herself a way out when she spoke.
Although it says "merely," it doesn't specify the means or methods of such "communication and exchange." Brutality, gentleness, threats, etc., are all methods. She deliberately blurred this concept in order to exploit the loopholes in the natural order.
After hearing this, the dragon reluctantly withdrew its gaze from the ball of light, and continued to sink into the lava, leaving only its head above the surface. It then swam to Mu Jianjian's side.
An even stronger steaming aroma followed.
Mu Jianjian moved the ball of light into the system space without making a sound. After taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she separated a strand of her myriad threads of divine consciousness and slowly inserted it into the dragon's forehead.
She vowed that if she could get out of this godforsaken place, "Panmen," she would use the Xuanshuang Technique to freeze herself for several days to relieve the heat she was experiencing here.
Eating shaved ice in an air-conditioned room used to be a common occurrence, but now it's a happiness that's hard to find.
Mu Jianjian's entry into the dragon's divine sea with her divine sense was relatively easy. Fortunately, her spiritual power was strong enough due to her previous training, and it was not greatly devoured during the brief contact. She only stopped slowly after sensing another aura in the pearly-colored space.
"What do you want to ask, human?" The dragon's tone was unfriendly, as if he hadn't spoken to a human in many years, and his words were filled with unfamiliarity and distance.
Mu Jianjian didn't care. "'Panmen' means what? And where is this place?"
"Panmen" is this place. She dug a small hole in the first question to test whether the dragon had a general understanding of its environment.
“Human, I don’t know what you mean by ‘Panmen’, but I can tell you clearly that this is not a place for the living,” the dragon took a deep breath. “Something unknown is hidden inside. Let’s leave before anything starts.”
“I’m not the only one who’s come here; many cultivators have come as well,” Mu Jianjian sensed the weariness hidden in the other’s tone and subtly revealed some information about the outside world. “But since you say it’s so dangerous here, why don’t you leave?”
The dragon didn't react to the first part of the sentence, as if it had expected this situation. It wasn't until the second part that its attitude changed.
His tone was sarcastic. "We can't leave. Ever since we were locked here and became one with this lava, we haven't been able to leave."
It even repeated "can't leave" twice, its words filled with helplessness, but even more so with resentment.
"You guys?" Mu Jianjian keenly caught the wording in the other person's words.
Does this mean there are other giant dragons existing beneath the magma?
The thought sent chills down her spine, and she began to feel a sense of dread. If other dragons had suddenly appeared while she was threatening with the spirit orb, even with the sacred lake water in the system space as a safeguard, it would have been difficult for her to survive.
“Yes,” the dragon paused, its voice tinged with confusion, “isn’t this what you wanted to ask? In this place, beneath this magma, lie the sleeping people of our race, sustained by the heat of the magma.”
Is that really the case?
If what it says is true, why does it avoid mentioning the role of the Dragon Balls?
Mu Jianjian frowned imperceptibly, steer the conversation toward the danger it had just mentioned, "Then what is this 'unknown thing' you just spoke of, and where is it?"
"That's something the Longevity Pavilion created. The Longevity Pavilion is no good. Many years ago, they tricked the people here into coming here, and after it was built, they turned their backs on them instantly. Almost no one can escape," the dragon's voice sighed.
"As for that thing? It was fabricated by the Longevity Pavilion in its pursuit of immortality; who knows if it's true or false?"
Changsheng Tower.
Upon hearing about the unfamiliar background of the power, Mu Jianjian quickly extracted the points that could be deduced from the dragon's words.
Firstly, it has stayed here for many years to protect its people and the Spirit Pearl, and even watched the "Panmen" being built. Before that, it should have lived in the Upper Realm. Secondly, the unidentified object is in the deepest part of "Panmen", which is likely the place on the mountaintop where the so-called "precious herbs" are stored.
Finally, is Ouyang Wenjin a member of the Longevity Tower? And was the Immortal Palace involved in this matter, and what role did they play?
The situation became even more confusing, and she suddenly remembered the woman in pink who had always been by Xiong Guangze's side.
Does she know information about "Panmen"? Is she also an informant from the upper realm?
No, she rejected the idea as soon as it came to her mind.
The upper realm wouldn't send such a weak cultivator. Those people have always been arrogant and disdainful of the lower realm, wishing they could stick a label on their foreheads to distinguish themselves from "ants of the lower realm" and show their specialness. Why would they choose to attach themselves to a stupid and worthless young master of a caravan?
"Many years ago, the people here were tricked into building this place, and almost no one escaped." The dragon's words echoed in Mu Jianjian's mind. The fact that almost no one escaped meant that there was still a possibility of escape.
She pulled out the old bracelet she had previously snatched from Xiong Guangze's wrist from her system space. "Have you seen this magical artifact before? Something similar is fine... or even just a familiar scent."
The dragon recognized what it was almost instantly, and as if afraid of getting involved with it, it even took a few steps back. "Don't take this out, really, if you don't want to be assimilated by it."
"You know? Where did it come from?" Mu Jianjian took a step forward.
"The little gadgets that the people at Changsheng Tower use to bewitch the people here are just a small, insignificant percentage extracted from the 'Manluo' potion, but they are far more disgusting than their original purpose."
Hearing the dragon's disgusted tone, Mu Jianjian remembered that Xiong Guangze had used this ancient bracelet to improve his cultivation. According to this method, he would probably suffer a terrible backlash.
This further confirmed her guess that the woman in pink was probably a relative or friend of the surviving cultivator, and at the same time, it eliminated the threat posed by her.
After pondering for a moment, Mu Jianjian took out the Spirit Pearl from the system space. She held the Spirit Pearl in her palm and placed it back in front of the dragon. She could clearly feel that the dragon's breathing had become much more rapid.
"Here you go," she said.
"That's it?" The dragon was quite surprised, but quickly took the spirit orb back. "You didn't even ask what this spirit orb is for."
This weak cultivator was clever. Although he was testing it step by step, the questions he asked were within its acceptable range and did not cross the "bottom line" set in its heart, thus preventing it from rebelling.
Mu Jianjian nodded.
The other party's attitude determined her own. Since she could sense their sincerity, she didn't want to cause any more trouble. After all, once she entered this "Panmen," the challenges and dangers would only increase, and she needed to conserve her strength to fight to the end.
“Yes,” she said, softening her tone, “but now, I want to work with you.”
Having established a fragile initial trust, we can now move to a deeper level.
——
A corner of the "Panmen" was cut open, allowing light to naturally shine into the narrow passage where a caravan walked slowly, the atmosphere somber and oppressive.
If Mu Jianjian were there, she would have noticed that the auras of the cultivators led by Sun were much more tired and weaker than when they parted, probably because they had encountered something afterward.
Even Ouyang Wenni, who was usually fearless, had a frosty expression on her face. Her voice was filled with fear and lingering dread, "Brother, that thing could have killed us, so why... why did it leave in the end?"
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