Chapter 1483: Slaying the Artifact Spirit of the Second Floor
“Impossible, it’s impossible for this to appear. It’s impossible for this to happen. The world will not allow this at all. This is fake. This is fake. I refuse to believe it.” The boy seemed to lose his mind as he violently trembled. The gaze he sent toward Jian Chen was filled with terror, shock, and disbelief.
“Tower spirit, the outcome you just saw is fated to happen. You know whether it’s real or not. Are you willing to yield to our master now?” Zi Ying asked nonchalantly. Even though she and Zi Ying had once stood on opposing sides to the Anatta Tower, they still wished that Jian Chen could subdue the tower spirit even if there was only the shred of a possibility. That way, not only could Jian Chen avoid many difficult battles, but he would obtain the entire tower as well.
After all, the difference of an Anatta Tower with an artifact spirit and without an artifact spirit was extremely great.
“Tower spirit, considering that we’re all spirits born from the world, we don’t wish to see you die here, which is why we’re persuading you to yield to our master. You may be transformed from a strand of the universe’s origins, but you are not eternal. Even the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt would need to take extreme measures to kill you when you were in your prime, but you’ve already been suppressed by the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt for many years now. Not to mention the fact that you’ve been split into nine fragments, which has prevented you from recovering at all after all these years and causing you to weaken to such a state. You no longer possess the toughness you once had before. Killing you is not difficult,” Zi Ying said in a deep voice.
The red-robed boy did not waver at all. He looked at Jian Chen in terror sometimes, viciously at other times, and even madness. He roared out, “You’re dreaming if you want me to yield. Since I can see the terrifying future of your master, I will destroy him right now and prevent it.”
The fear in the boy’s eyes vanished and was replaced by a vicious madness. He stopped suppressing the sword spirits and charged at Jian Chen without the fear of death. Determination appeared in his eyes. He was willing to sacrifice everything.
The boy was much stronger than when he had been on the first layer. Even though the seals of the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt’s four swords still existed, he could use slightly more power than on the first floor.
As the boy charged over, the power of the tower surged once more, rapidly condensing into a miniature tower before the boy. The tower was only three inches tall, and at a closer glance, it was actually a miniature of the Anatta Tower.
As soon as the tower was condensed, it began to exude a mysterious and powerful force. It was filled with a brutal and destructive intent, causing Jian Chen’s eyes to narrow.
The Azulet swords were still entangled by the boy’s suppression. Without the swords, Jian Chen’s strength had drastically fallen, so he did not choose to take the attack head-on. With a single movement, he left behind an afterimage, reappearing a hundred meters away.
The boy’s miniature tower’s struck the space where Jian Chen had stood before. When the tower hit the space there, it immediately produced a groan as strands of a destructive power saturated the air there, causing the space there to violently tremble. If it were not for the fact that the space within the Anatta Tower was extremely tough, the boy probably would have caused the space in a radius of over a thousand meters to collapse.
“Where do you think you’re going? I’ll kill you today and completely end you,” the boy yelled. He continued toward Jian Chen, who was a hundred meters away. His mad eyes were fixated on him. They were filled with crazy killing intent.
Jian Chen was stunned. He stared at the boy and could clearly sense that the boy was different, as if the boy was a whole different person. It seemed like he had completely fallen out with the boy. The boy wanted to kill Jian Chen regardless of the price he had to pay.
However, this thought disappeared with a flash in Jian Chen’s head. He stared at the shrunken tower in the boy’s hand. He could clearly sense that the power within the tower had weakened after the strike from before.
Chaotic Force surged within Jian Chen. The chaotic neidan within his dantian spewed out large amounts of Chaotic Force. It moved through his body and filled every inch of it. He condensed a chaotic sword Qi in his right as well.
“Sword Origin!” With a thought, strands of powerful sword Qi began to condense from the surroundings. The sword Qi possessed the power of ways, fusing with the chaotic sword Qi in Jian Chen’s hand. He stabbed toward the boy’s tower with lightning-like speed.
With a boom, Jian Chen’s body violently shook before stumbling back. He only stabilized himself after moving several hundred meters away. The sword Qi in his hand had dulled.
Meanwhile, the boy had only paused in his advance. He continued charging after Jian Chen, still filled with a vicious madnesss. The miniature tower in his hand had become even more illusory.
The boy had originally been able to use all the power of the tower as he wished as long as he was in it, but the Anatta Tower had been sealed by the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt. Thus, the power he could use was unprecedentedly low. He could not even replenish it after he used it. This was why he was becoming weaker the longer he fought Jian Chen.
Jian Chen was different. The consumption of his Chaotic Force was extremely gradual while the sword Qi condensed from his comprehension of the Way of the Sword only took a slight toll on his soul. The tower spirit was unable to handle a battle that dragged on.
After a single moment, the chaotic sword Qi began to glowing once again in Jian Chen’s hand. The Way of the Sword fused with it as he slashed at the boy again.
Boom!
Jian Chen staggered back again after the attack. His face was now pale, but the miniature tower in the boy’s hand had completely disappeared. He was also pale, but the vicious madness in his eyes had not weakened at all. Instead, it had grown thicker.
Jian Chen swung his hand and shot a strand of sword Qi between the boy’s eyes before the boy could stabilize himself.
Spurt! The sword Qi left behind a wound three inches wide on the boy’s forehead. However, he did not die; his body only faded slightly.
At the same time, the Azulet swords finally broke free from their restraints. They flew over as long streams of light, passing through the boy’s body and returning to Jian Chen’s hands.
The boy’s illusory body finally disappeared after receiving the attacks of the swords. His gaze appeared vicious, mad, and regretful.
“Master, even though the tower spirit is weak, it’s very difficult for you to kill him with just your strength. Only Qing Suo and I can deal fatal wounds to him,” Zi Ying’s voice rang through Jian Chen’s head.
Jian Chen gazed at the hole to the third floor, which appeared with the boy’s death. He did not show any happiness at all and frowned instead.
“The body of the artifact spirit has been split into nine fragments by the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt. They guard the nine floors of the tower. The one on the first floor is the weakest, and the one on the ninth floor is the strongest. We’ve only arrived on the second floor and he’s already so difficult to deal with. I wonder just how powerful the artifact spirit will be once I reach the ninth floor. He’ll probably be very hard to deal with with just my strength.” Jian Chen revealed his worries. He needed to advance to the ninth floor to obtain the Anatta Tower, or all of his progress was pointless.
Originally, Jian Chen planned on looking for some things left behind by the Anatta Grand Prime in the Anatta Tower, but after going through the first two floors, he understood that everything that had been stored on the floors, no matter how valuable, had been destroyed when the tower became damaged. They had been reduced to dust. Probably only the items that the Anatta Grand Prime had devoted special effort to store away would still be in perfect condition.
“Master, using the tower spirit’s strength from the first and second floors, the tower spirit on the ninth floor will indeed be much stronger than master. Unless master uses all that he has, it’s impossible for you to be his opponent with your current strength,” Zi Ying said rather sternly.
“It’s just a pity that the tower spirit doesn’t want to yield to master, or it would have been much easier to obtain this tower, but don’t despair, master. Even if you can’t attempt the ninth floor right now, even the ninth floor won’t be able to stop you soon,” said Qing Suo.
Jian Chen fell silent. The tunnel to the World of Forsaken Saints on the Tian Yuan Continent was stabilizing and there was nothing he could do about it. Eventually the tunnel would be tough enough to withstand the passage of Returnance experts. He wanted to try all the options available to increase his strength, and it was extremely likely that a great fortune was hidden within the Anatta Tower, which was why he did not want to give up on it yet.
At the same time, Jian Chen was not completely confident he could survive the next battle against the foreign world, so this would likely be the final adventure of his life. He wanted to try his best to gain control of the Anatta Tower. He would not feel regretful even if there was no great fortune like he had imagined.
Suddenly, Jian Chen seemed to think of something. His eyes gradually lit up as he said, “Maybe it’s not completely impossible. The sword Qi that the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt’s left around the Anatta Tower still exists even after countless years. This sword Qi has probably already gained spirituality now. Maybe I can ask them for help.”
The sword spirits were stunned. They had never thought that Jian Chen would actually try to seek help from the sword Qi. Zi Ying shook his head. “Master, that’s impossible. The sword Qi may now possess spirituality, but they also possess the will of the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt. The will he left behind for the sword Qi was to suppress and seal. It’s basically impossible to get the sword Qi to abandon the will of the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt and get them to help you.”