Chapter 228 - 39 Baiwen Tower_1
Upon seeing the meaningful smile on Tang Ji’s face, Wang Ba couldn’t help but pause. And soon after, an unbelievable thought struck him.
“Could he be…”
He couldn’t help but glance at the young man’s appearance before turning his gaze back to the elderly man dressed in brocade standing in front of the palace.
No way!
I mean, no way!
They do look a bit alike!
Tang Ji, naturally unable to guess what Wang Ba was thinking, saw the latter’s enlightened expression and chose not to conceal any longer. Pointing at the elderly man standing in front of the palace, he said with a smile:
Once you approach him, tell him you wish to ascend to the Baiwen Tower.
He’ll know what to do.”
“Err…”
Wang Ba suddenly realized that he had misunderstood, but seeing the confidence in the other party’s expression, he felt more certain.
In their previous conversation, he also sensed the breadth of Tang Ji’s knowledge, which far exceeded his expectations. He was certain that Tang Ji was no ordinary man, which meant there was no reason for him to mock him.
Besides, you might spend your whole life with some people without understanding their true nature, while with others, you know they’re worth your time from your first meeting.
Tang Ji, in Wang Ba’s perception, belonged to the latter category.
Thinking of this, Wang Ba couldn’t help but feel a surge of confidence.
Of course, this is just a chance to get a slot on the third layer. Whether or not you can grasp it depends on yourself,” Tang Ji reminded him before falling silent.
Upon hearing this, Wang Ba solemnly bowed in gratitude:
Thank you, fellow cultivator!”
Having said that, he began packing up his stall.
But when he looked up again to speak to Tang Ji, he realized that the other party had disappeared unexpectedly.
He hadn’t noticed him leave at all.
Such a man of wisdom!” Wang Ba inwardly exclaimed.
But if he wasn’t a wise man, how would he have been able to guide Wang Ba?
Even though he wasn’t exactly sure of the other party’s motives for giving him this opportunity, Wang Ba wasn’t willing to miss out on this rare chance.
With that thought in mind, he promptly strode to the front of the palace.
The elderly man, adorned in brocade, stood outside the palace. When he recognized Wang Ba, his expression remained indifferent, and his tone was nonchalant:
“What do you want this time?”
Upon sensing the man’s indifference, Wang Ba hesitated.
Was Tang Ji making fun of him?
Nonetheless, with no other choice, Wang Ba politely saluted and said: “I wish to ascend to the ‘Baiwen Tower’.”
“Oh?”
Upon hearing Wang Ba’s words, the elderly man’s expression revealed surprise, and he took a closer look at Wang Ba.
Subsequently, his pupils shone brightly, clearly revealing that he was using the Spirit Eye technique.
However, even after his scrutiny, he was still uncertain:
“No mistake in observation. He is indeed at the early-stage of the Foundation Establishment, but this… this is against the rules…”
After a moment of contemplation, he asked, “Who told you to go to the Baiwen Tower?”
Wang Ba replied truthfully, “Tang.”
“Tang…I understand.”
Upon hearing this, the elderly man’s tense countenance eased as he nodded, subsequently chanting a magical seal.
Soon, the door to the palace opened.
“Go in.”
“Thank you, fellow cultivator!”
Wang Ba hurriedly responded with a polite bow.
The elderly man turned aside, shaking his head, “Don’t disappoint his expectations.”
Seeing the man’s indifferent attitude, Wang Ba felt no urge to engage in needless conversation and promptly entered the palace.
Outside the palace, a cultivator with long ears happened to see Wang Ba entering the palace and was shocked.
However, by the time he looked again, the palace doors were already shut, as if what he had just witnessed was merely an illusion.
Bang.”
The palace door closed.
Wang Ba was standing in the center of the palace.
To Wang Ba’s surprise, the vast palace contained nothing but a single teleportation array.
Next to the array, there was a sign.
It read ‘Bailian Tower’.
A young cultivator approached and asked:
“Are you ready?”
Wang Ba quickly replied, “I…I am not going to the Bailian Tower, but the
Baiwen Tower.”
Baiwen Tower?
The young cultivator looked somewhat surprised at Wang Ba, then said, “Follow me.”
With that, he turned around and began walking towards the depth of the palace.
Wang Ba followed behind him and soon arrived at a side hall.
In the hall, there was also a teleportation array.
There was a sign next to it, too.
‘Baiwen Tower’.
Wang Ba couldn’t help but ask curiously, “May I ask the difference between the Bailian Tower and the Baiwen Tower?”
“If you are skilled at combat and killing, you can go to the Bailian Tower. If you are adept at the Hundred Arts of cultivators, you can go to the Baiwen Tower.”
The young cultivator answered calmly.
“Thank you for the clarification.”
Wang Ba politely replied.
“Are you sure you want to go to the Baiwen Tower?”
The young cultivator asked.
“Yes.”
Wang Ba responded decisively without any hesitation.
Even if it weren’t for Tang Ji’s advice, he wouldn’t have chosen the Bailian Tower. He was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and combat was not his forte.
He immediately stepped into the teleportation array.
When he opened his eyes after the dizziness caused by the teleportation array, he was stunned to find himself standing in front of a seven-storey building.
The surroundings were pitch black, seemingly an endless void of darkness.
Only this seven-storey building was mysteriously unfathomable, diffusing a glowing light.
Apparently, the so-called ‘Baiwen Tower’ is actually a tower.
Seemingly sensing Wang Ba’s arrival, the tower door automatically opened without any wind.
Wang Ba hesitated for a moment. When he noticed that both his Storage Bag and Spirit Beast Bag were working properly, he felt a little relieved and hesitantly walked into the building.
What surprised Wang Ba was.
Two futons appeared before him, both were empty.
Wang Ba looked around to find nothing else, not even staircases to upper levels. Looking up, he could only see an ordinary ceiling.
After contemplating for a while, he sat on one of the futons.
The moment he sat down on the futon, an elderly man’s phantom appeared on the other futon.
Even though it was a phantom, when Wang Ba looked into the old man’s eyes, he was still shocked by the endless stars swirling in them!
In his ears, too, an old yet full-of-wisdom voice rang out.
In the Baiwen Tower, each floor has a hundred questions. Answer 90 percent of them correctly to pass. After passing the first two floors, you will qualify for the third layer of the Linglong Ghost Market,” said the voice.
Two floors?
Does that mean answering two hundred questions?
“Each floor requires ninety correct answers to pass, but what kind of questions are they?”
Wang Ba thought in confusion.
The old voice rang out again by his side.
This tower has Alchemy Dao, Talisman Dao, Tool Method, Puppet Dao…
Beast-controlling Dao, Spirit Plant Dao…”
“You can choose one.”
Wang Ba finally subtly understood why Tang Ji would have him come to the Baiwen Tower.
The former obviously felt that he might pass in Beast-controlling Dao.
Although he didn’t know where Tang got such confidence, Wang Ba immediately made his decision:
“I choose Beast-controlling Dao.”
“Very well!”
The old man’s phantom nodded slightly. A water curtain suddenly rose between the two.
A bird nest appeared on the water curtain. The mother bird was incubating her eggs, while the male bird was searching for food and bringing it back.
As sunrises and sunsets, stars rotated.
Wang Ba watched, but couldn’t help but frown.
However, he still patiently observed. But upon seeing that the bird egg in the water curtain hadn’t hatched as expected, Wang Ba finally couldn’t bear it anymore.
“How could it hatch like this?”
With his voice, the image on the water curtain froze.
The old phantom also looked at him. In that moment, Wang Ba felt as if a sky full of stars was pressing down on him.
The old man suddenly asked, “Why can’t it hatch?”
“Too dry!”
In the face of the pressure from the old man, Wang Ba strained and pointed around the bird nest.
“Here…here, the soil is dry and red, mostly caused by the long-term accumulation of Fire Style Qi. In this kind of environment, tern chicks are too dehydrated inside the egg, causing the chick’s body to stick to the egg membrane. With the chick’s strength, it’s hard to detach from the membrane, thus hatching is unlikely. So, the simplest way is to help the chick break the shell directly.”
The old man nodded slightly.
First question, correct.”
The water curtain fell, and then rose again.
Only then did Wang Ba realize.
So the questions had already begun!
And it was not the type where he had imagined being handed a paper and starting the exam.
Immediately he focused his mind.
This time, a wolf appeared on the water curtain…
Facing question after question hidden in each water curtain scene, Wang Ba even though some were extremely elusive, he managed to pinpoint all of them, and he answered the questions raised by the old man accurately.
He had no choice but to do so, as he had read too many miscellaneous books related to Beast Control.
Though these books didn’t have many useful insights, they recorded various situations, each strange and unique, that came with thoughts and summaries from the authors.
Wang Ba sometimes considered these records like novels.
But now, they all came in handy.
He didn’t know how much time had passed and wasn’t sure how many questions he had answered.
Even when the water curtain dissolved and didn’t rise again, Wang Ba was still in a trance.
“Congratulations, you answered all correctly, you’ve passed the first floor.”
The old man’s expression hadn’t changed much, but there was a slightly noticeable smile on his face.
It seemed he was quite satisfied with Wang Ba’s performance.
Wang Ba was somewhat dumbfounded upon hearing that.
Did he answer all correctly?
Not even one mistake?
This seems unlikely, right?
Are you sure it’s real?
This feeling was like that of a person who had been cheating, suddenly scoring full marks with his own ability.
Far from being amazed or delighted, it was more of disbelief.
After a moment, Wang Ba couldn’t resist looking at the old man.
Weren’t you saying I passed the first floor?
Why hasn’t anything changed?
“The questioner for the second floor is still me, so there’s no need to go upstairs, stay here.”
It seemed that the old man had seen through Wang Ba’s thoughts and leisurely spoke.
Upon his words, Wang Ba was speechless. He didn’t understand why there were seven floors in this building.
However, it slowly dawned on him.
“It seems like the questions of this Baiwen Tower aren’t all that hard, or maybe, my own understanding of Beast-controlling Dao isn’t as bad as I thought.”
Of course, he was very self-aware, although not bad, more conversations didn’t seem to help either.
As expected, when answering the first question on the second floor, he encountered a dilemma for the first time.
During the Bloodline Breakthrough of a ‘Wind Egret’, advancing to Class I, what method should be used to reduce the power of the Thunder Tribulation?