152: Chapter 152 Entering the Trial Tower

Lin Qing arrived at the Sect main hall filled with joy, but at this moment, besides the Sect Head and the various Elders, there were two people he had never seen before inside the hall.

One of them was a young woman dressed in a pure white long dress, her figure slender and well-proportioned. Her skin was fair, her brows and eyes delicate, and her features refined. From the moment Lin Qing entered the hall, her gaze had been fixed on him, observing him with curiosity.

Standing beside her was an old woman in plain clothes; although her Face was aged, her demeanor revealed she was someone who had long held a high position. At this moment, she was also staring fixedly at Lin Qing, nodding gently from time to time.

Lin Qing stood in the main hall and cupped his hands to the group: "Greetings, Sect Head, Senior Brothers."

The Sect Head sat in the main seat, stroking his graying beard, and said with a chuckle: "Junior Brother Lin Qing, no need for such formalities. Let me introduce you; these two are Miss Mu Yao and Elder Nianci from the Qingyuan Sect."

The Qingyuan Sect was ranked among the six top forces in East Xuanqing Province. They were keen on intermarrying with various major powers, and because of the special nature of their Cultivation Technique, all their Disciples were handsome men and beautiful women. Therefore, their success rate for intermarriage was extremely high, and they had ties with many forces.

Given the current situation, Lin Qing suddenly felt a headache coming on, but having no choice, he bit the bullet and greeted the two. "Greetings, Miss Mu Yao, Elder Nianci."

Mu Yao slightly bent her knees, performing the "wanfu" courtesy common only in mortal dynasties. Elder Nianci cupped her hands in response: "I have long heard of the great name of Young Master Lin Qing; seeing you today, you truly possess an extraordinary demeanor."

Lin Qing just smiled politely and did not respond further. He had already fulfilled the necessary etiquette, and regardless of what kind of person this Miss Mu Yao was, it had nothing to do with him; he did not want to stay here any longer.

Thus, he turned around and said in a somewhat stiff tone: "Sect Head, you called me here, is it because the things I asked for are ready?"

The Sect Head had already noticed that Lin Qing's tone was off; he stopped stroking his beard and hurriedly took out a Storage Ring, tossing it to Lin Qing. "It's ready, it's ready."

Lin Qing caught the Storage Ring and cupped his hands to the Sect Head again. "Thank you, Sect Head. This Junior Brother will take his leave."

After speaking, he did not wait for anyone to react and turned to leave. When he reached the entrance of the main hall, he happened to run into a Disciple coming to report something.

Lin Qing bypassed the Disciple and walked out of the main hall, the Disciple's voice trailing behind him. "Reporting to the Sect Head, Elder Yunzhang and Miss Xueling from the Duchuan Sword Sect request an audience."

...

Lin Qing's actions could be said to be very disrespectful to the Sect Head, but Lin Qing truly detested such things, so he did not want to play along and be insincere, lest it lead to misunderstandings.

Lin Qing's battle achievements spread, naturally attracting the interest of other forces, and many young female Prodigies also developed ideas about Lin Qing.

Unfortunately, they had never seen Lin Qing fight in person; if they had seen it with their own eyes, they would only admire him like Ling Shu, rather than covet him.

It was just that he would have to explain things to the Sect Head later; after all, while in the Sect, these Senior Brothers had truly provided him with quite a lot of help, and unless absolutely necessary, he did not want to fall out with these people.

Lin Qing's principle for handling affairs had always been that if others were good to him, he would give back, and he wouldn't mind helping these people when he had the ability, such as the group from Luoxia Valley. But he was definitely not the type of person who could be coerced by others' kindness.

He was neither righteous nor evil.

Just like when he was in the valley, he was willing to take those Mortal Realm Cultivators captured by the Demon Court and evacuate, but when those Cultivators actually died accidentally in front of him, he didn't even frown.

After leaving the main hall, to prevent any complications, Lin Qing hurriedly went to the Chuyun Immortal Sect Logistics Department, the internal marketplace where some Disciples traded, and the various major merchant guilds in Chuyun City.

He spent an entire day gathering the Materials needed for his subsequent Cultivation Techniques. Along the way, he also happened to purchase a sixth-tier Cultivation Technique that suited Sect Master Shen Yurong and prepared a dozen visualization maps for Yun Nian and the others.

Afterward, he hurried without stopping to the residential area for top-ranked Disciples and plunged headfirst into the Trial Tower.

The preceding floors, even the sixty-fifth floor that had stopped Ling Shu, were under no pressure for him, and he soon arrived at the seventieth floor.

Arriving at the higher levels, the space was already much smaller than the first floor, and names began to appear on the surrounding walls.

This tradition originated from when the Trial Tower first landed; the Genius who ranked first among the seventh-tier Disciples at that time had only managed to climb to the seventieth floor, and then he left his inscription on the wall.

Later, as the Immortal Sect's Cultivation Technique continued to grow and the Disciple cultivation training system was constantly perfected, more people broke through to the seventieth floor.

They saw the signature left by that Disciple, so one after another, they followed suit, carving their own names on the wall, which later became a tradition.

Nearly ten thousand years had passed, and the walls of the seventieth floor were already densely packed; some carvings were still very clear, as if they had been carved in the last few decades or centuries, while others looked as if they had been there for ten thousand years.

The seventieth floor was naturally not Lin Qing's limit; he continued to climb, and the names on the walls became fewer and fewer. At the eighty-fifth floor, he saw Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao's name. On the subsequent floors, some had no names at all, and some had one or two.

Starting from the ninetieth floor, Lin Qing had not seen any inscriptions for several consecutive floors, until the ninety-fifth floor, where he saw Jue Chenzi's name carved alone on the wall.

Lin Qing had long known that Jue Chenzi was a peerless Prodigy of the previous generation of the Immortal Sect, but he hadn't expected him to have surpassed everyone else by so much, outshining all his peers for nearly ten thousand years.

After arriving at the hundredth floor, Lin Qing carefully felt the speed of his Spirit Pill condensation; it had increased by about 30% compared to being outside.

This floor only had a meditation cushion placed in the very center, and the surrounding floor was carved with various runes and lines, as well as many recesses for placing Spirit Stones to activate the Formation. Lin Qing took one look and determined it was an eighth-tier Spirit Gathering Array.

Currently, Lin Qing had the world Origin inside his body continuously releasing Five Elements Spiritual Power to him, so the Spirit Gathering Array had no use for him, and he did not activate it.

What he didn't know was that activating the Spirit Gathering Array for cultivation within the floor was precisely the method for determining the rankings on the Heavenly Ranking.

Along the way, the highest-ranked Disciple he saw was only on the sixty-something floor, and that Disciple, seeing Lin Qing continue to climb, did not show any particular emotion.

He himself knew clearly that it was only natural for Lin Qing's floor to be higher than his.

Thus, in the situation where Lin Qing did not activate the Spirit Gathering Array, the people outside only knew he was cultivating inside the Trial Tower, but they did not know exactly which floor he was on.

Taking out a brand-new meditation cushion from his Storage Ring, Lin Qing sat cross-legged on it, took out various Materials, and officially began his seclusion.