Chapter 155 - 155: 154: Storming the Sky-reaching Tower! (Please subscribe!)
Chapter 155 - 155: 154: Storming the Sky-reaching Tower! (Please subscribe!)
He gained an additional 13,000 days. During these days, he didn’t practice footwork or spear techniques but instead focused all his energy on understanding the mysteries of Sharp Gold.
In addition, he borrowed many books about fundamental knowledge from the Book Collection Pavilion and moved them all into his Life Space.
Whenever he hit a bottleneck in comprehending the mysteries, he would whip out a book and immerse himself deeply in reading.
Du Gang didn’t actually have a strong foundation in these basics. He had barely studied these fundamental theories. Even though he had learned a bit about power from techniques like Spear and Lance Nine Kills and Nine-layered Strength, his understanding of cultivation, the Laws, and the world was minimal.
During these days, Du Gang was like a traveler parched and hungry in the desert, fervently learning the foundational knowledge.
At the same time, his knowledge and strength in Gold Element Laws drastically increased with the growth of his knowledge base.
Finally, on the 7,000th day in his Life Space, he had understood ninety-nine percent of the mysteries of Sharp Gold. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t grasp that last one percent.
Following those days, he spent an entire 3,000 day and night period unable to comprehend that remaining one percent.
Besides that, he read all the books he had brought with him, even the miscellaneous books in his memory, to the point where they were worn thin.
In the end, in desperation, he picked up the previously discarded Light and Dark Secrets again.
This was the secret text from Pang Shui’s storage ring. Before he comprehended the laws, Du Gang couldn’t understand it and assumed it was a typical item.
Looking at it now, he realized it was no ordinary item—it contained the principles of Laws.
“My affinity with the Light and Dark Laws is five percent, which actually isn’t worse than the average person. Even if I’m just learning it, maybe I can use analogous reasoning and fully understand Sharp Gold.”
With that thought in mind, Du Gang quickly began learning.
This learning took up the remaining 3,000 days.
As he progressed, he even forgot about his incomplete understanding of Sharp Gold.
“Without light, all things in this world would be shrouded in darkness!”
This was the opening quotation to the Light and Dark Secrets. When Du Gang first read this sentence, he glossed over it without paying much attention. But, as he mastered a hidden mystery, his comprehension of this sentence deepened.
Everyone and everything actually emits radiation, such as heat and light, and all this information is disseminated through light.
This hidden mystery allows a person to completely hide their light in this world, making them ‘disappear’.
As Du Gang’s understanding of these hidden mysteries deepened, his figure became more and more faint, as if blending with his surroundings. Unless one looked closely, it was even hard to notice him.
He seemed to have entered a particular state, so much so that he didn’t even notice when he dropped the secret text.
Moreover, the light that was initially illuminating the entire space from his phosphorescent stone began to flicker like a faulty light bulb. It started to dim.
The phosphorescent stone wasn’t glowing anymore?
No, the phosphorescent stone was still exerting its effect.
The truth was, something was absorbing the light emitted by the phosphorescent stone.
As time passed, the light within the space became darker and darker.
Finally, when the entire space became pitch dark that nothing could be seen, a visible circle of light spread out from Du Gang, radiating in all directions.
This was the Domain of Light!
Not only did Du Gang master the hidden mystery, but also, after entering a special state, he fully grasped this hidden mystery and eventually acquired his Domain.
This was related to the location of the Life Space. It was not connected to other cosmos, it was like a small world, which was in line with the true meaning of the hidden mystery, allowing Du Gang to quickly comprehend it.
Suddenly, with Du Gang’s eyes slowly opening, the light originally from the phosphorescent stone gradually recovered, and the entire space slowly lit up again.
Feeling the Domain around him, a smile crept onto Du Gang’s face.
“So that’s how Pang Shui was hiding right in front of me…”
Having grasped the Mystery and perfected it, and possessing one layer of the Light and Dark Domain, he finally understood the principle behind Pang Shui’s initial concealment.
It was by completely enveloping himself with this Light and Dark Domain that his body was completely isolated from the outside world, no longer emitting any light, thus achieving invisibility in both physical and mental aspects.
This type of invisibility is undetectable even to mental power, because mental power detection requires identifying a specific subject. But the Light and Dark domain converges all light, so with no signal for mental power to receive, naturally it cannot detect a person.
“Huff!”
Du Gang exhaled and glanced at the timer next to him. It was already beyond thirteen thousand days, reaching thirteen thousand two hundred days. Seeing this, he quickly left the Life Space.
“You finally came out!”
As soon as he emerged, Barala joyfully said, “Fortunately, you came out, otherwise you would have missed an opportunity!”
Du Gang paused for a moment before saying, “It’s only been two hundred days, right? There should still be five hundred days till the Cosmic Peak Talents Competition.”
“The opportunity I’m referring to is not that!”
Barala quickly used projection technology and soon, an image of a tower-like object appeared on the ground.
“This tower, called the Sky-reaching Tower, is a combined effort of the Virtual Universe Company and the other three major companies…”
“Inside, there are countless steps. With each ascension, the body is subjected to increasing pressure. Apart from this, the Sky-reaching Tower itself releases energy that subtly enhances the physical fitness of the challengers…”
Du Gang got it, this was a benefit the Virtual Universe had provided for its disciples. He said with a smile, “I guess I’m in luck, I just managed to catch…”
Barala shook his head, “It was supposed to start last week, but Fan An,
Imowing you were in retreat and comprehending the Laws, delayed it for you. You’re lucky you came out, otherwise people from the other three companies wouldn’t have been able to wait…”
Upon hearing this, Du Gang promptly said, “Okay, let’s go right away!”
As he spoke, he immediately contacted Fan An.
Milky Way Empire.
A group of men and women dressed in the outfits of the four major companies quietly entered a secret room.
Inside, Zhou Haotian was sitting.
Seeing them come in, he wasted no time and said directly, “You are all people I have supported. Originally I was going to wait until you became successful before asking for a treasure to help myself break through and advance…”
“But now, I have to call in your favors in advance…”
The man at the forefront listened to this, gave a light smile, “It’s better to use the favors in advance, it saves future trouble, speak up!”
Zhou Haotian, hearing these words, was neither angry nor disturbed. He only remarked lightly, “Wang Liang, I remember that you used to be the most respectful in front of me, I didn’t expect you to be so self-confident now…”
He was actually very unsatisfied, Wang Liang was indeed raised by him, but was poached by the people from the Cosmic Colosseum.
At this time, another girl spoke faintly, “Sir, please state the matter at hand.
With so many of us gathered together, it’s easy to get exposed…”
Zhou Haotian glanced at the speaking girl again, didn’t criticize her anymore, instead he said, “Aren’t you guys about to enter the Sky-reaching Tower?”
“I want you guys to kill someone for me inside…”
“Kill someone? In the Sky-reaching Tower?”
Wang Liang frowned, “How can anyone be killed in such a place?” Zhou Haotian laughed, “It’s simple, murder by using the rules…”
“The Sky-reaching Tower, aside from using a bunch of energy, if you can use the power of Earth Element Laws, I have here a wood rune. I need you to stick it on the guy’s back after you reach the ten thousandth step…”
“The Sky-reaching Tower, with each step you rise, an Earth Element power will strengthen your bodies…”
“And wood restrains earth. Wood can absorb the energy of the Earth Element.
Once it surpasses ten thousand layers, a person’s body will harbor a lot of Earth Element power in a short time. This Wood Element rune can trigger the detonation of the Earth Element power in that body …”
“The reason I have beckoned you here is that you have the strongest gifts. Reaching ten thousand layers should not be a problem. So as long as you accomplish this and kill that person, then the cause and effect between you and me will be completely settled! ”
The people present exchanged glances. They were very tempted by Zhou Haotian’s proposal.
Finally, someone could not resist asking, ‘What’s that person’s name!”
“Du Gang!”
The Sky-reaching Tower. It’s truly a towering structure—eighteen thousand kilometers high, with a diameter of nine hundred and sixty kilometers.
At this moment, beneath the Sky-reaching Tower, it was packed with descendants of the four major companies who had received the news.
This Sky-reaching Tower will open for a month. Every disciple can enter continuously.
The number of disciples from the four major companies in the Milky Way Galaxy has reached four to five million. They all gathered beneath the Sky-reaching Tower at this moment.
Thankfully, the Sky-reaching Tower is sufficiently large and long. These four to five million people could not encircle the tower, even holding hands in a circle.
Right now, besides the Sky-reaching Tower itself, numerous platforms have been set up around it for people to land on.
These platforms maintained a certain distance from the Sky-reaching Tower, but not too far away.
Generally, a platform encircling the entire tower would be set up every time the altitude increased by tens of meters.
These platforms were designed to catch those who fell off while climbing the tower.
In addition, countless large screens are installed on each platform.
These were used to record and display the information of tower climbers.
Before the Cosmic Peak Talents Competition began, the tower climbing rankings were used to stimulate the contestants.
Soon, Fan An, Ou Yun, and other four cosmic powerhouses appeared out of thin air, suspending in the four directions of the air, ensuring that people in every direction could see them.
“Everyone!”
As the mouths of the four people in the four directions opened at the same time, the noisy crowd below quieted down.
“The Sky-reaching Tower is indeed a rare treasure tower. Anyone who climbs it will gain a lot
“Anyone, as long as they break through a thousand layers, will be rewarded with a Source Crystal
“Break through ten thousand layers and get rewarded with a Stellar Crystal “Break through fifty thousand layers and get rewarded with ten Stellar Crystals
“Break a hundred thousand layers, award one hundred Stellar Crystals …”
People are quite indifferent to these rewards because they are too far-fetched for them.
Though none of the crowd has ever climbed the tower, they have closely examined the situation of those who had climbed before.
Five thousand years ago, the highest level the disciples of the previous generation reached was just over forty thousand layers, only a little bit away from ten Stellar Crystals.
And the rest were even worse, not many of them managed to climb past a thousand layers …
“I believe all of you have already learned about the specific situation of the Sky-reaching Tower, so I won’t say much. Now, the Sky-reaching Tower is officially open!”
With the declaration of opening from the cosmic powerhouse, everyone started to move and walked towards the tower at the first opportunity.
Luckily, the base of the tower was spacious enough to accommodate everyone entering simultaneously.
In less than three seconds, over four million Planet Level and Stellar Level powerhouses had entered the Sky-reaching Tower instantaneously.
At the same time, the large screens on the platforms outside the tower started to flicker.
[Layer 1 Number ot People: 4565454]
[Layer 2 Number of People: 231]
As time passed, more and more people moved up to the higher layers.
At this moment, Du Gang also entered the Sky-reaching Tower along with the crowd.
As he stepped onto the staircase, a gravitational force was transmitted from under his feet, while a very weak force began to burrow into his body.
He understood that this was Earth Element power strengthening his body. But his body had already reached a terrifying degree of strength, such strengthening is rather minimal!
The stairway here was very thick, with each step reaching a height of fifty centimeters.
However, the steps ahead were not much of an issue for most people.
People didn’t even pause, all swarming upwards in droves. Within a short while, they had left the lowest steps.
Finally, when everyone reached the hundredth step, suddenly, the group that had been on the same level began to differentiate.
Within the Sky-reaching Tower, the pressure doubled every hundred steps. This led to a sharp decrease in speed for those with weaker abilities after reaching the hundredth layer.
However, most people were still striding robustly towards higher ground.
Just like that, within a short moment, when the main force reached the two hundredth step, there was another separation.
Another batch of people lost speed, transitioning from the first cohort to the second.
Then came the three hundredth step, four hundredth step… each time, some people would fall behind.
Until the five hundredth step was reached, suddenly, the majority of the people slowed down.
The Sky-reaching Tower not only increased the difficulty level every hundred steps but also doubled the difficulty level every five hundred steps.
This time, only about a scarce amount of tens of thousands of people continued to sprint upwards.
The six hundredth step, seven hundredth step, eight hundredth step… every increase of a hundred steps resulted in at least ten thousand people falling behind.
When the team progressed to over nine hundred steps, there were only over fifty thousand people left.
Meanwhile, those who were originally at the lowest steps also gradually gave up, jumping out towards the tower, landing at the nearest platform.
This is the power of the Sky-reaching Tower. Each ascending step required the climbers to exert full strength.
Meanwhile, the Sky-reaching Tower kept exerting its effect, wildly stimulating and draining the body’s power while constantly replenishing it with a force of life.
Finally, when they reached the first thousandth step, the group, originally of fifty thousand, abruptly reduced to only five thousand.
And out of these remaining five thousand, nearly half of them also slowed down.
Only about two thousand people still maintained their initial speed, sprinting upwards.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
From time to time, some people tried to forcibly ascend the steps. However, they were swept out by gravity and fell onto the platforms.
Within a short period, most of the over four million people who had entered the tower were kicked out of the Sky-reaching Tower, falling onto the platforms.
“For those of you who have exited the tower, don’t lose heart. Snatch up time to recuperate, and start your tower climb again .
At this moment, those who had fallen out of the tower were recovering their strength on one hand and watching the situation on the big screen on the other.
[Number of People on the 2000th Layer: 1201]
“Oh my god, they’ve reached the two thousandth layer already!”
“Yeah, it’s terrifying. I couldn’t make it past the two hundredth layer …”
“You can’t compare one person to another… You don’t know. With my legs, I’m even afraid of causing an explosion when I walk on a planet on a regular day. Today, I was brought to my knees by the Sky-reaching Tower …” “Who knew that so many people these are still holding on up there…” With time, the originally chatty crowd gradually fell silent. Because the numbers on the screen had reached a frightening level. [5,500th floor population: 550 people]
“Over five thousand floors, with more than five hundred people yet, who exactly are they?!”
At this moment, many people were thinking — are we really climbing the same tower?
People are all indeed the same, but why is there such a huge difference?
They could no longer imagine how intense the pressure would be after more than five thousand floors.
However, in reality, most of those five hundred people, belonged to the Stellar Level.
This time, the Planet Level and Stellar Level entered the tower together.
The four major companies sent all the Stellar Level disciples they had accumulated over the past century.
Inside the tower, these Stellar Level powerhouses were shocked by one person.
“This guy is just at Planet Level, right?”
“Yes, how can this guy possibly maintain the same speed as us…”
Many Stellar Level disciples looked at Du Gang with perplexed expressions, wondering how a Planet Level participant could keep up with them.
As for these whispers, Du Gang paid no attention and maintained his steady progress.
As a Fourth Rank Ancient God, though he belonged to the Planet Level, his physical strength and power had long surpassed everyone present.
At this moment, the power transmitted from the steps could not limit him at all. Even the energy supplied to him, considering his powerful physique, its intensifying effect was very limited.
And so, everyone continued to ascend with the thought of when this Planet Level participant would fall.
Moreover, after crossing over six thousand steps, some Stellar Level disciples began to waver.
But seeing Du Gang, who still strode robustly and showed no signs of bodily reaction, they all held on.
“Hold on, we can’t lose face in front of a Planet Level participant!”
“Yes, we can’t let others look down on us!”
Though many people forcibly continued to ascend, the Sky-reaching Tower cared not for this. If your strength wasn’t enough, then you would be removed.
Sure enough, not long after, a Stellar Level participant ran out of energy and was propelled out with a “whoosh”, landing on a platform.
At this moment, a Stellar Level disciple finally yielded.
After the expulsion of the first Stellar Level participant, other Stellar Level powerhouses followed sui, one after the other, being continuously propelled out. Although at a low frequency, it was very steady.
Finally, at the eight-thousandth floor, the original number of over five hundred dropped to just over a hundred.
Among them, there were only the hundred or so strongest Stellar Level participants and the sole Planet Level Du Gang.
Just like before, his body didn’t even break a sweat and he was still very relaxed.
“This guy…”
Looking at Du Gang, the people present were somewhat at a loss for words.
He’s too strong!
Not just them, at this moment, the large screen in the outside world also began listing names as the number of participants dropped to around a hundred.
Each large screen displayed the highest floor, the name, and the prefix of the participants.
Finally, someone saw Du Gang’s name and exclaimed.
“Look, there’s a Planet Level participant!!”
Everyone looked over, instantly taken aback. [8588th floor: Du Gang, Registered Disciple.]
“My god, a Registered Disciple, he’s at Planet Level!”
According to the rules of the four major companies, none could break it. Planet Level had to be Registered Disciples, so Du Gang had to be at Planet Level.
Everyone quickly glanced over and found that of the remaining hundred or so, only Du Gang was Planet Level, and all others were Outer Sect Disciples, which meant they were all Stellar Level participants.
“Unthinkable, who exactly is this guy?
“Yes, I’ve never heard about him before…”
Most people had not heard Du Gang’s name and didn’t know who he was.
But a small number of people who had heard about Pang Shui’s incident began to recount.
“This Du Gang is a Registered Disciple in the virtual universe, over half a year ago at the age of 17 , at the Planet Level, he killed Pang Shui who had reached the Stellar Level and comprehended the Domain!”
“What? Pang Shui was killed by him?”
Upon hearing this news for the first time, everyone was stunned.
Pang Shui wasn’t like Du Gang, he was a pretty impressive figure even among the Stellar Level disciples.
Among all the Outer Sect Disciples in the entire Milky Way Galaxy of the Cosmic Colosseum Company, only three people had comprehended the Domain, and Pang Shui was one of them!
Do know that even when the other three major companies are combined, the number of people who have comprehended the Domain does not exceed ten!
“Good heavens, who on earth is this Du Gang?”
“Could he be the descendant of some prominent family? The illegitimate child of several Universe Level powerhouses?”
“Nonsense, let me tell you, this Du Gang is from the ninth star district!”
“What?!”
Everyone was shocked, they had not expected Du Gang to have come from the ninth star district.
“An unparalleled genius has emerged from such a place?”
At this time, someone shouted: “Look, they’re about to reach the ninth thousand floor!”
Suddenly, everyone quieted down to look closely at the large screen.
[8998th floor: 115 people]
[8999th floor: 115 people]
Finally, under everyone’s watchful eyes, they reached the ninth thousandth floor.
[9000th floor: 60 people]
“Half of the people are gone!”
“My god, cut down in half!”
At this moment, someone came to their senses, quickly saying, “Quick look if that Du Gang is still there!”
In an instant, many people began searching for Du Gang’s name.
“He’s still there!”
Everyone was stunned and some lost for words.
That’s truly terrifying, Stellar Level strongmen are being thrown out continuously, yet he still remains within!
And so, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Du Gang stepped up, moving towards higher grounds.
When the number of stairs reached 9999 levels, everyone held their breath again.
[Layer 9999: 18 People]
Inside the Sky-reaching Tower.
As everyone moved higher, the scattered people were gathered together.
The gap between Du Gang and the others was not very far anymore.
The crowd present, regardless of their order, walked up to the 10,000th level.
Just then, four or five people were shot out of the tower by the force as soon as they stepped up.
Looking at their condition, Du Gang didn’t mind it and continued to ascend.
Just as Du Gang stepped onto the 10,000th level, a man and a woman nearby suddenly sped towards him, taking advantage of the others’ unpreparedness.
“Smack! ”
“Smack! ”
Two crisp sounds, two talismans, were suddenly slapped on Du Gang’s back.
“What’s this?”
Du Gang only felt an inexplicable force suddenly enter from his back, then beneath his feet, the original gentle Earth Element energy kept pouring into his body.
This sudden force nearly toppled him, but luckily, he steadied himself and sat down on the ground, going straight into meditation.
Upon seeing this, everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.
They were worried that this Planet Level guy would collapse along with them. Thankfully, he finally couldn’t hold on anymore.
Therefore, out of the remaining seventeen people at the 10,000th level, six were dropped, leaving only eleven people.
These people all glanced involuntarily at Du Gang, who was sitting cross-legged at the 10,000th level, as they stepped onto the 10,001st step.
“That’s good enough, reaching the 10,000th level is really incredible. If you can’t hold on anymore, just leave!”
“Yeah, man, rest up, and come back next time!”
Everyone comforted Du Gang a few times and then continued to move towards the higher stairs.
The man and the woman, however, sneered at Du Gang, who was sitting cross-legged, and followed the others up.
At this moment, Du Gang had a lot on his plate.
Upon stepping onto the 10,000th step, two forces suddenly emerged in his body – one at his back was Wood Element.
Another was from the steps beneath his feet, which was Earth Element.
This Wood Element energy wasn’t actually very strong; he could just shrug it off his shoulders. However, he didn’t do that.
Because, he found, the Wood Element energy at his back seemed to have a provocative capability and had mobilized all the original weak Earth Element energy, which was crazily rushing into his body.
As for these Earth Element energies, Du Gang didn’t let them meet the Wood Element energies, but intercepted them midway instead!
He absorbed all the Earth Element energy from the steps beneath his feet into his own body.
You must know, these Earth Element energies were filled in by the four big corporations consuming countless resources.
This absorption instantly made Du Gang feel extremely relieved.
Meanwhile, the crowd outside were all discussing. [Layer 10,000: 1 Person, Du Gang, Proclaiming Disciple!]
[Layer 10,456: 11 people…]
“I didn’t expect that this guy would eventually not be able to hold on!”
“Yes, reaching 10,000 levels is quite an accomplishment. However, since he hasn’t come out yet, is he trying to hold on stubbornly?”
Everyone could guess that Du Gang was near exhaustion and could barely hold on, but was still struggling.
“I guess he will only last for a minute before he comes out!”
“A minute? I guess thirty seconds…..”
Thus, time went on amidst everyone’s discussion.
Thirty seconds passed, Du Gang didn’t come out.
One minute passed, but Du Gang still didn’t emerge!
“What the hell is that guy doing? What’s the point if he’s just hanging on so long?
“Yes, the others have already reached more than 10,500 levels, he’s still at 10,000 levels, what’s he trying to do by stopping?
“I speculate that he will certainly come out in no more than two minutes…” Minutes ticked away amidst the crowd’s confusions and taunts.
One hour later, everyone had grown numb to Du Gang on the 10,000th level.
But at that moment, someone exclaimed in shock: “He moved!”
‘What?”
Everyone quickly shifted their sights from over 12,000 levels back to the 10,000th level.
Sure enough, Du Gang, who had originally stopped at the 10,000th level, had moved up a level, now to the 10,001st level.
“Has his strength recovered?”
The crowd gasped in astonishment.
But, just when everyone thought that Du Gang was going to progress rapidly, he stopped at the 10,001st level.
“Is he planning to hibernate inside?”
Inside the Sky-reaching Tower.
Du Gang didn’t care though what others thought. The move from the 10,000th level to the 10,001st wasn’t because he wanted to continue ascending the stairs.
It was because the Earth Element energy of the 10,000th staircase had been completely absorbed by him…
“Good fellow, the energy from a single level of Earth Element feels like it tops the energy of a thousand Source Crystals…”
Du Gang had a feeling that by just absorbing the energy from ten staircases, he could gain energy equivalent to that of a Stellar Crystal.
“So, if I absorb the energy from a hundred thousand staircases, equivalent to absorbing ten thousand Stellar Crystals, does that mean I can break through to the Stellar Level?”
With that thought, Du Gang joyfully sat cross-legged on the 10,001st level and began to absorb the energy.
As for the people who attached the two talismans to his back, he just wanted to say:
“I don’t know who you guys are, but thank you!”