35: Chapter 35 Enlightenment Tower, the System's New Recipe

In the center of the Modu Martial Arts University campus stood a pitch-black spire, a hundred meters tall.

The tower's body was forged from an unknown material; its surface had no seams, and it faintly exuded a bone-chilling cold that made one's heart palpitate.

Even from several hundred meters away, one could feel a mental pressure that felt like needles piercing the brain.

Enlightenment Pagoda.

This was, aside from the gravity chamber, the other great foundation of Modu Martial Arts University, specifically used for tempering a martial artist's will and mental power.

It was said that a special magnetic field generator was sealed inside the tower, and for every floor one ascended, the mental pressure would double.

At this moment, quite a few students had gathered on the plaza beneath the tower.

Most of them were pale, and some were clutching walls and vomiting uncontrollably as soon as they emerged from the tower.

"What floor is the New Student record again?"

Lin Yuan stood beneath the tower, holding the admission ticket he had just exchanged for several hundred credits, and casually asked a passerby beside him.

That passerby was a sophomore senior who was rubbing his throbbing temples. Hearing this, he glanced at Lin Yuan: "A New Student? If a New Student can last ten minutes on the 1st floor, that counts as passing. As for the record... last year, Gu Feng reached the 3rd floor on his first attempt and lasted five minutes. That was already monstrous."

"The 3rd floor, huh..."

Enlightenment Pagoda, 1st floor.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Lin Yuan felt the air tighten. Invisible pressure surged from all directions, attempting to squeeze his brain nerves and inducing a slight sense of dizziness.

"Is that all?"

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.

This level of pressure was not even as intense as the feeling of cerebral congestion brought on by the 20-fold gravity in the gravity chamber just moments ago.

With his hands in his pockets, he didn't even pause his stride. He walked straight past the dozen or so New Students in the 1st-floor hall who were gritting their teeth and sweating profusely as they struggled to hold on, and headed toward the stairs leading to the 2nd floor.

"Excuse me, thanks."

2nd floor.

The pressure doubled. There were far fewer people here; only a few sophomores were sitting cross-legged in meditation, their faces twisted.

Lin Yuan still did not stop, sweeping past like a gust of wind.

3rd floor.

This was the so-called limit zone for New Students.

The air here seemed to have become viscous; the mental pressure had already materialized, even capable of causing people to experience mild auditory hallucinations.

When Lin Yuan walked to this floor, he finally felt a sensation like a light breeze brushing against his face.

"Hmm, this is getting interesting. It feels about the same as being lightly tapped by a pillow."

This scene was witnessed by a sophomore elite who had just climbed up with the greatest of efforts.

That person widened his eyes, watching Lin Yuan's leisurely back: "Holy... holy crap? Is he strolling through a shopping mall?!"

By the 5th floor, the environment here changed abruptly.

Piercing wails and howls of ghosts rang out all around. Countless hideous ghost phantoms crawled out from the walls, baring fangs and brandishing claws as they lunged toward Lin Yuan, attempting to tear apart his mental defenses.

This was a mental illusion.

Once one's will wavered, they would fall into endless terror and eventually suffer a mental breakdown.

"Trifling tricks."

Lin Yuan stood in the center of the illusion, his expression indifferent.

【Chaos God Grinder Visualization Technique, rotate!】

Deep within his sea of consciousness, that ancient and eternal chaos grinding mill emitted a dull roar and began to rotate slowly.

Those terrifying ghosts rushing toward him, the moment they touched Lin Yuan's Spiritual Telekinesis, were like minced meat meeting a meat grinder.

The ghosts screamed, their forms instantly shattering and turning into the purest particles of mental energy.

"Absorb."

And those shattered energy particles, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, were all absorbed into his brow, becoming nourishment to nurture the chaos grinding mill.

His spirit, which had been somewhat exhausted, instantly became incomparably clear.

"The taste is not bad, a bit like peppermint candy."

He discovered that the mental pressure here not only couldn't harm him, but after being crushed by the "Chaos God Grinder Visualization Technique", it had turned into a highly nourishing substance!

"Continue! I'm going upstairs to have a buffet!"

7th floor. This was a high-risk zone that only a Mentalist at the Third Rank Peak or even one who had just entered the Fourth Rank could step into.

The space inside the tower was extremely small, containing only a single meditation cushion.

But the mental pressure here had reached a terrifying extreme, even forming a gray storm visible to the naked eye, raging and howling within the space.

The moment Lin Yuan stepped onto this floor.

Hum—!

The Enlightenment Pagoda's intelligent core (Tower Spirit) seemed to have detected this anomaly's provocation.

Never before had a Second-Rank Martial Artist dared to step into the 7th floor!

This was a desecration of the rules!

"Boom!"

The gray storm instantly turned violent, transforming into a gigantic mental palm, carrying ten times the usual pressure, and slammed down hard toward the top of Lin Yuan's head!

This strike was enough to shatter the sea of consciousness of an ordinary Third-Rank Martial Artist directly!

However, Lin Yuan did not dodge; he simply sat cross-legged in the center of the storm.

【Warning! High-purity mental energy attack detected】

【System judgment: Top-tier ingredient!】

【"Chaos God Grinder Visualization Technique" operating at full power, activating 'Devour' mode!】

"Eat it for me!!"

The chaos grinding mill in his sea of consciousness spun crazily, reaching an extreme speed, and actually formed a transparent vortex above his head.

The moment that gigantic mental palm, which had been slamming down, touched the vortex, it was forcibly twisted, pulled, and shattered!

The attack that had originally been full of destructiveness now turned into an endless stream of pure energy, frantically pouring into Lin Yuan's brain.

Awesome!

So awesome!

Lin Yuan felt as if his brain were soaking in a hot spring, and his Spiritual Telekinesis, which had been stuck at a bottleneck, began to surge crazily.

In his sea of consciousness, there had originally been only a single, lonely spiritual flying knife.

Under the infusion of this massive energy, the prototype of a second flying knife began to condense.

Then, a third one followed!

【Ding! Mental power breakthrough!】

【Current Realm: Telekinesis Manifestation (Initial Stage)!】

【Number of spiritual flying knives: 3!】

【Telekinesis coverage range: 100 meters -> 500 meters!】

"That's not enough! Give me more!"

Lin Yuan greedily lifted his head. The vortex spun larger and larger, actually beginning to actively plunder the energy reserves inside the tower.

If the Enlightenment Pagoda's Tower Spirit had a personality, it would probably be cursing up a storm by now.

It increased the output, wanting to crush this insect.

But no matter how much it output, Lin Yuan ate it all, even complaining that the food was being served too slowly!

The mental storm on the entire 7th floor was thinning at an astonishing speed.

Five minutes later, the lights inside the Enlightenment Pagoda suddenly began to flicker crazily.

Immediately after, the entire tower body shuddered violently.

【Alert! Alert!】

【Enlightenment Pagoda 7th floor to 9th floor energy reserves exhausted! Energy circuit overload!】

【Emergency fuse mechanism activated! Shutting down for maintenance immediately!】

"All students, please leave immediately! Repeat, all students, please leave immediately!"

The piercing broadcast sound echoed throughout the entire campus.

The students who were struggling to cultivate on the lower floors hadn't even realized what was happening when they were forcibly ejected from the tower by a gentle force.

"What's going on? Is the tower broken?"

"I just paid my credits! Refund!"

Just as everyone was looking confused, the doors of the Enlightenment Pagoda opened once again.

Lin Yuan walked out with a look of lingering desire for more.

"How is it so flimsy?"

Although his voice was not loud, it sounded exceptionally jarring on the plaza.

The surrounding students and the instructors who had rushed over looked at the unscathed youth, then looked at the paralyzed Enlightenment Pagoda, and an absurd thought surfaced in all their minds simultaneously:

This guy... could he have gone in to restock?

And sucked the Enlightenment Pagoda... dry?