Chapter 105.2: Naraka Tower pt. 1
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All nine petals bloomed at once, revealing an ice-blue round fruit in the middle.
At that moment, everyone was fascinated, quietly watching as Wei Zhentu waved the melody fruit into his sleeve.
But at this very moment, the melody tree cracked open. A black tower more than ten stories high rose from the ground, ensnaring all the cultivators in the field!
The blue phoenix was violently ejected and fell to the ground.
It was still upset at Wei Zhentu for stealing the limelight but the world suddenly spun around, then Jing-jing was gone, and it was also bounced out.
The blue phoenix was flustered and wanted to rush over when it felt itself being picked up.
“Oh, there’s a fish that slipped through the net… oh no, chicken.” Mo Qianyun’s mouth curled and his expression even looked a little naïve but his words frightened blue phoenix half to death. “Is there a spiritual beast that my Naraka Tower can’t capture? What are you? A divine beast?”
“Q-quick, let go of this phoenix! This phoenix is super fierce!” Blue phoenix whimpered and cried.
However, Mo Qianyun only heard several chirps. Seeing the silly sight of the blue phoenix, he laughed and said, “It even cries! Why are you crying now already? You have more reasons to cry later… ah!”
Mo Qianyun abruptly threw the blue phoenix away. With hands covering the eyes and blood dripping from the fingers, he screamed, “My eyes!”
The blue phoenix blew a leaf blade and fled with all its might but a strong force hit it. The blue phoenix was knocked to the ground and rolled over a few times. A sharp pain came from its wings and it couldn’t move anymore.
A disciple next to Mo Qianyun said, “Sect Leader Mo, don't waste time. Hurry up and set up the formation. We can deal with this beast later.”
Mo Qianyun let go of his hand. There was a deep cut across his left eye, destroying his original delicate appearance and making him look a bit sinister.
He glared at the blue phoenix on the ground and said, “I’m coming. Haha, my 18 hall masters are finally ready!”
At this time, Jing Yue was standing on a gray-brown ground, surrounded by surging demonic energy. At the extreme distance was a stone monument about 6 or 7 feet high with the writing ‘revive’.
…Revive? If he remembered correctly, it was one of the 18 hells of Buddhism, the living hell.
Buddhism referred to 18 levels of Naraka, including the 8 hot Naraka, 8 cold Naraka, boundary Naraka, and isolated Naraka. However, it didn’t continue in sequence from one to the next. Hell was not divided into levels but according to sins and length of time.
The Living Hell was one of the eight hot hells, with a full sentence of 16,200 billion years.
“A-jing?”
Jing Yue turned around and saw Wei Zhentu not far away, surrounded by a few cultivators scattered around with bewildered expressions.
Wei Zhentu had obviously figured out where they were and said, “I guessed that there was something wrong with the Four Elephants Villa after all. The black tower just now must be the treasure of the demonic sect. This place is most likely also not the real Naraka but the imitation done by the black tower of the 18 hells.”
Jing Yue wanted to ask Ji-ji if it knew anything about the black tower but suddenly found that Ji-ji didn’t follow him inside. He could feel that Ji-ji was still alive but there was an invisible barrier that prevented him from communicating with Ji-ji's consciousness.
Ji-ji being all alone out there made him anxious. Although it was good at avoiding danger, now that he was trapped by the black tower, Ji-ji was likely to be bold enough to risk it!
Jing Yue only hoped that Ji-ji could be as cowardly as before and run away quickly when danger was encountered.
At this time, an Amethyst Abode cultivator stepped forward and said, “Are you Jing-laozu of Frostcloud Sect?”
Jing Yue didn’t have the heart to exchange pleasantries and said directly, “I know that all of you have many questions and I’m in the same boat. But now that we have been taken into the black tower, we must find a way to get out as soon as possible. Otherwise, we’ll definitely be eroded by the demonic energy in the black tower.”
Amethyst Abode cultivator, “How are we going to get out? Also, there are hundreds of cultivators in the Listening Pavilion and even a few Amethyst Abodes among them, so why are we the only ones here?”
“They may have fallen into a few other hells.” Jing Yue thought about it. “To get out, maybe the only way is to break open the black tower. After all, this is not the real hell but just a magic artifact.”
Amethyst Abode cultivator, “While that may be true, this place seems to form a law of its own. Where do we start? Are we supposed to destroy this place?”
As soon as he spoke, he suddenly felt the hell begin to tremble. A sharp cry rang out, piercing their eardrums like needles.
Everyone covered their ears, but they still couldn't resist it. The wailing sounded directly in their consciousness. Only Jing Yue's divine consciousness was strong enough to not be affected.
Immediately after, clusters of white flames rose from the ground and the hell quickly became hot. The cultivators could only use spiritual energy to protect themselves, but the energy consumption was extremely great as if a hand was madly robbing them of their vitality.
In the smoke, many beast-like creatures appeared, biting and killing frantically, until their flesh and blood were exhausted, and died. However, a wisp of cold wind blew in the blazing heat. Where the wind passed, skin and flesh regenerated, and the suffering restored.
Jing Yue studied this situation carefully and discovered that these beasts were all spiritual beasts. Spiritual beasts had always been humane and close to people, but now, they had red eyes and violent behavior, no less than ferocious beasts.
He remembered blue phoenix saying that it heard cries for help from the spiritual beasts, and Wei Zhentu also mentioned that the beast fortress no longer sold spirit beasts to the Four Elephants Villa. He wondered inwardly if the Four Elephants Villa had been using evil magic to refine the spiritual beasts.
The cold sweat instantly covered his forehead as Jing Yue suddenly remembered something he had heard in his previous life.
At that time, a rogue demonic cultivator accidentally obtained a treasure that could control the 18 hells once it was refined.
In order to refine the treasure, the rogue cultivator threw 9,999 Golden Core cultivators into the hells as evil spirits, and tortured them with the punishment of each level of hell, turning their vitality into death energy, and spiritual energy into malefic energy, just to feed the treasure. Later, the strength of the rogue cultivator improved, and he wanted to capture 18 Amethyst Abode cultivators and throw them into hell. Unfortunately, his plan fell short and he ended up dead while the treasure was destroyed.
Every punishment in the 18 hells was extremely cruel, unimaginable and unbearable for humans, not to mention these spiritual beasts!
Was it possible that the black tower was actually the treasure of the demonic Dao that he heard about?
If that was the case, it was natural that blue phoenix couldn’t enter. It was born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and couldn’t be refined by the tower at all.
During the short time he pondered, the spiritual beasts that had long become evil spirits started fighting with many cultivators.
In front of him, a spirit beast rushed towards Jing Yue with great speed. It looked like a boar but its appearance was much cuter than ordinary boars. The entire body was snow-white while only the head and tail were black, and the size was much smaller. This spirit beast was called the little fragrant pig, which could control the spiritual energy of the earth during battle, both for offensive and defensive purposes. It had always been well-loved by low-level cultivators.
But at this moment, there was only killing in its eyes.
Jing Yue didn’t evade. Using his fingers to freeze ice, he cut the pig’s body into two halves.
A gust of wind swept passed and the little fragrant pig let out a squeal. The second half of the body grew again and it continued to charge at Jing Yue.
Evil spirits couldn’t be killed, only to be liberated into the afterlife!
Jing Yue was about to cast a spell when a trident stabbed him diagonally. He realized that more humanoid phantoms had appeared in the smoke at some point, wearing long robes of gray-blue, with the word ‘pawn’ on the chest.
Hell jailers!
Jing Yue abruptly took a step back and threw ice spikes at the jailer. The latter’s body immediately disintegrated and quickly regenerated again.
Although the jailer was injured by Jing Yue, there was no emotion of anger or fear, merely raised the trident woodenly and stabbed at the little fragrant pig again. He was like a puppet being manipulated, numbly carrying out every action. In his opinion, the evil spirits transformed from spiritual beasts were as sinful as the cultivators who broke in. There was no need to treat them differently or care about the outcome, as long as the punishment was carried out.
The body of the little fragrant pig died and the power brought it back to life before it was stabbed and killed again, repeatedly, endlessly.
This was the living hell—thousands of life and death in an instant.
“Shaoyang-shixiong!”
Suddenly, Jing Yue heard Wei Zhentu's shout. He frowned and flashed to the other party’s side. “Is that your missing Shixiong?”
Wei Zhentu's face was solemn and rare anxiousness appeared in his eyes. “Yes, but he’s only one of them. The other one is still missing.”
As soon as he said that, that Shaoyang-shixiong of Wei Zhentu had already attacked. Wei Zhentu kept dodging and holding back on his attacks.
Jing Yue, “What are you doing? They have been refined into jailers and can’t be killed at all, not to mention holding back your attacks!”
Wei Zhentu paused and said, “Don’t you think I know that?”
Thus, without hesitation, he waved out a diagram that contained the formation he had branded. In a flash, Shaoyang-shixiong was dispersed.
Wei Zhentu sighed. “No wonder so many golden core cultivators went missing. They must have been trapped here. What exactly is this black tower?”
“If I’m not mistaken, it’s the Naraka Tower. It should have been destroyed, but perhaps not thoroughly enough, and was accidentally obtained by Four Elephants Villa.” Jing Yue slowly analyzed, “In the beginning, the magic tower was fragile and might not be able to withstand the cultivator's attack from the inside. In addition, Mo Qianyun's cultivation base was not high at the time, so how could he catch the golden core cultivators so casually? Thus, Four Elephants Villa resorted to using spiritual beasts. Later, as the magic tower stabilized and his cultivation level increased, he gradually switched targets.”
“And now that all 18 hells have been restored, he thought it was finally safe to take all of us in.”
At this time, the Amethyst Abode from earlier also came over and said, “Mo Qianyun used the melody fruit as bait to lure us to the Four Elephants Villa so he has obviously planned this in advance. But in the past, he’d always covered up his tracks. By making such a big commotion this time, isn't he afraid that many forces would come after him?”
Jing Yue, “Of course he’s not afraid. I think he wants to refine some of us into the 18 hall masters.”
Wei Zhentu, “What do you mean?”
Jing Yue, “We know there are 18 hall masters in hell, each holding a hall. Since the Naraka Tower is a replica of hell, it’s naturally the same. Now that the spirit beasts have turned into evil spirits and the previous golden core cultivators have turned into jailers, it is only short of the 18 hall masters and the Lord of the Underworld.”
Wei Zhentu was startled. “Mo Qianyun wants to be the lord of the underworld?”
Jing Yue, “He can only control this realm completely by being the lord of the underworld. Once everyone took their respective positions and the Naraka Tower is fully revived, as the lord of the underworld, he will become one with the Naraka Tower. As long as he hides in the tower, who can do anything to him?”
Amethyst Abode cultivator, “Can’t the people outside break into the tower?”
Jing Yue, “Did anyone feel the presence of the Naraka Tower in the Listening Pavilion just now? One of the reasons why the Naraka Tower is a supreme treasure is that it can conceal itself and instantly teleport.”
The Amethyst Abode cultivator had long heard about how knowledgeable the Laozu of Frostcloud Sect was. After all, he had received the inheritance from Daoist-Master Jing Yuan. Thus, he no longer asked questions but lowered his head in contemplation.
On the contrary, Wei Zhentu was puzzled. “Since he’s looking for the 18 hall masters, why did he catch all of us? Isn't it just nice to refine 18 people directly?”
Jing Yue, “The stronger the hall master, the stronger the tower. I reckon that he wants us to kill each other and the victor will naturally emerge as the hall master.”
Once defeated, they will die here and eventually end up a jailer or even an evil spirit!
Of course, Wei Zhentu understood Jing Yue's unspoken words. He laughed mockingly. “It’s true that the demonic energy here is prevalent and will contaminate the soul over time, gradually causing people to lose consciousness. When that happens, won’t we end up killing each other?”
He shut up abruptly, showing a thoughtful look.
Author’s Notes:
Wei-daoyou: Every day is very tiring. Fortunately, I’m very thick-skinned.
Lil Rouge smiling sweetly: No, you’re far from it.
Jing-jing: ??? Don’t understand.
…
Jing-jing: Didn’t you say that you don’t care about the melody fruit? Why make so much preparation then?
Wei-daoyou: I’m a boy who does everything seriously. Even if I don't care that much, as long as I do it, I’ll give it my all.
Ji-ji: You are exactly like some scheming students from the small world, obviously studying until 5 a.m. but saying nonchalantly during the exam the next day that you went to bed early yesterday and didn’t prepare.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
All nine petals bloomed at once, revealing an ice-blue round fruit in the middle.
At that moment, everyone was fascinated, quietly watching as Wei Zhentu waved the melody fruit into his sleeve.
But at this very moment, the melody tree cracked open. A black tower more than ten stories high rose from the ground, ensnaring all the cultivators in the field!
The blue phoenix was violently ejected and fell to the ground.
It was still upset at Wei Zhentu for stealing the limelight but the world suddenly spun around, then Jing-jing was gone, and it was also bounced out.
The blue phoenix was flustered and wanted to rush over when it felt itself being picked up.
“Oh, there’s a fish that slipped through the net… oh no, chicken.” Mo Qianyun’s mouth curled and his expression even looked a little naïve but his words frightened blue phoenix half to death. “Is there a spiritual beast that my Naraka Tower can’t capture? What are you? A divine beast?”
“Q-quick, let go of this phoenix! This phoenix is super fierce!” Blue phoenix whimpered and cried.
However, Mo Qianyun only heard several chirps. Seeing the silly sight of the blue phoenix, he laughed and said, “It even cries! Why are you crying now already? You have more reasons to cry later… ah!”
Mo Qianyun abruptly threw the blue phoenix away. With hands covering the eyes and blood dripping from the fingers, he screamed, “My eyes!”
The blue phoenix blew a leaf blade and fled with all its might but a strong force hit it. The blue phoenix was knocked to the ground and rolled over a few times. A sharp pain came from its wings and it couldn’t move anymore.
A disciple next to Mo Qianyun said, “Sect Leader Mo, don't waste time. Hurry up and set up the formation. We can deal with this beast later.”
Mo Qianyun let go of his hand. There was a deep cut across his left eye, destroying his original delicate appearance and making him look a bit sinister.
He glared at the blue phoenix on the ground and said, “I’m coming. Haha, my 18 hall masters are finally ready!”
At this time, Jing Yue was standing on a gray-brown ground, surrounded by surging demonic energy. At the extreme distance was a stone monument about 6 or 7 feet high with the writing ‘revive’.
…Revive? If he remembered correctly, it was one of the 18 hells of Buddhism, the living hell.
Buddhism referred to 18 levels of Naraka, including the 8 hot Naraka, 8 cold Naraka, boundary Naraka, and isolated Naraka. However, it didn’t continue in sequence from one to the next. Hell was not divided into levels but according to sins and length of time.
The Living Hell was one of the eight hot hells, with a full sentence of 16,200 billion years.
“A-jing?”
Jing Yue turned around and saw Wei Zhentu not far away, surrounded by a few cultivators scattered around with bewildered expressions.
Wei Zhentu had obviously figured out where they were and said, “I guessed that there was something wrong with the Four Elephants Villa after all. The black tower just now must be the treasure of the demonic sect. This place is most likely also not the real Naraka but the imitation done by the black tower of the 18 hells.”
Jing Yue wanted to ask Ji-ji if it knew anything about the black tower but suddenly found that Ji-ji didn’t follow him inside. He could feel that Ji-ji was still alive but there was an invisible barrier that prevented him from communicating with Ji-ji's consciousness.
Ji-ji being all alone out there made him anxious. Although it was good at avoiding danger, now that he was trapped by the black tower, Ji-ji was likely to be bold enough to risk it!
Jing Yue only hoped that Ji-ji could be as cowardly as before and run away quickly when danger was encountered.
At this time, an Amethyst Abode cultivator stepped forward and said, “Are you Jing-laozu of Frostcloud Sect?”
Jing Yue didn’t have the heart to exchange pleasantries and said directly, “I know that all of you have many questions and I’m in the same boat. But now that we have been taken into the black tower, we must find a way to get out as soon as possible. Otherwise, we’ll definitely be eroded by the demonic energy in the black tower.”
Amethyst Abode cultivator, “How are we going to get out? Also, there are hundreds of cultivators in the Listening Pavilion and even a few Amethyst Abodes among them, so why are we the only ones here?”
“They may have fallen into a few other hells.” Jing Yue thought about it. “To get out, maybe the only way is to break open the black tower. After all, this is not the real hell but just a magic artifact.”
Amethyst Abode cultivator, “While that may be true, this place seems to form a law of its own. Where do we start? Are we supposed to destroy this place?”
As soon as he spoke, he suddenly felt the hell begin to tremble. A sharp cry rang out, piercing their eardrums like needles.
Everyone covered their ears, but they still couldn't resist it. The wailing sounded directly in their consciousness. Only Jing Yue's divine consciousness was strong enough to not be affected.
Immediately after, clusters of white flames rose from the ground and the hell quickly became hot. The cultivators could only use spiritual energy to protect themselves, but the energy consumption was extremely great as if a hand was madly robbing them of their vitality.
In the smoke, many beast-like creatures appeared, biting and killing frantically, until their flesh and blood were exhausted, and died. However, a wisp of cold wind blew in the blazing heat. Where the wind passed, skin and flesh regenerated, and the suffering restored.
Jing Yue studied this situation carefully and discovered that these beasts were all spiritual beasts. Spiritual beasts had always been humane and close to people, but now, they had red eyes and violent behavior, no less than ferocious beasts.
He remembered blue phoenix saying that it heard cries for help from the spiritual beasts, and Wei Zhentu also mentioned that the beast fortress no longer sold spirit beasts to the Four Elephants Villa. He wondered inwardly if the Four Elephants Villa had been using evil magic to refine the spiritual beasts.
The cold sweat instantly covered his forehead as Jing Yue suddenly remembered something he had heard in his previous life.
At that time, a rogue demonic cultivator accidentally obtained a treasure that could control the 18 hells once it was refined.
In order to refine the treasure, the rogue cultivator threw 9,999 Golden Core cultivators into the hells as evil spirits, and tortured them with the punishment of each level of hell, turning their vitality into death energy, and spiritual energy into malefic energy, just to feed the treasure. Later, the strength of the rogue cultivator improved, and he wanted to capture 18 Amethyst Abode cultivators and throw them into hell. Unfortunately, his plan fell short and he ended up dead while the treasure was destroyed.
Every punishment in the 18 hells was extremely cruel, unimaginable and unbearable for humans, not to mention these spiritual beasts!
Was it possible that the black tower was actually the treasure of the demonic Dao that he heard about?
If that was the case, it was natural that blue phoenix couldn’t enter. It was born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and couldn’t be refined by the tower at all.
During the short time he pondered, the spiritual beasts that had long become evil spirits started fighting with many cultivators.
In front of him, a spirit beast rushed towards Jing Yue with great speed. It looked like a boar but its appearance was much cuter than ordinary boars. The entire body was snow-white while only the head and tail were black, and the size was much smaller. This spirit beast was called the little fragrant pig, which could control the spiritual energy of the earth during battle, both for offensive and defensive purposes. It had always been well-loved by low-level cultivators.
But at this moment, there was only killing in its eyes.
Jing Yue didn’t evade. Using his fingers to freeze ice, he cut the pig’s body into two halves.
A gust of wind swept passed and the little fragrant pig let out a squeal. The second half of the body grew again and it continued to charge at Jing Yue.
Evil spirits couldn’t be killed, only to be liberated into the afterlife!
Jing Yue was about to cast a spell when a trident stabbed him diagonally. He realized that more humanoid phantoms had appeared in the smoke at some point, wearing long robes of gray-blue, with the word ‘pawn’ on the chest.
Hell jailers!
Jing Yue abruptly took a step back and threw ice spikes at the jailer. The latter’s body immediately disintegrated and quickly regenerated again.
Although the jailer was injured by Jing Yue, there was no emotion of anger or fear, merely raised the trident woodenly and stabbed at the little fragrant pig again. He was like a puppet being manipulated, numbly carrying out every action. In his opinion, the evil spirits transformed from spiritual beasts were as sinful as the cultivators who broke in. There was no need to treat them differently or care about the outcome, as long as the punishment was carried out.
The body of the little fragrant pig died and the power brought it back to life before it was stabbed and killed again, repeatedly, endlessly.
This was the living hell—thousands of life and death in an instant.
“Shaoyang-shixiong!”
Suddenly, Jing Yue heard Wei Zhentu's shout. He frowned and flashed to the other party’s side. “Is that your missing Shixiong?”
Wei Zhentu's face was solemn and rare anxiousness appeared in his eyes. “Yes, but he’s only one of them. The other one is still missing.”
As soon as he said that, that Shaoyang-shixiong of Wei Zhentu had already attacked. Wei Zhentu kept dodging and holding back on his attacks.
Jing Yue, “What are you doing? They have been refined into jailers and can’t be killed at all, not to mention holding back your attacks!”
Wei Zhentu paused and said, “Don’t you think I know that?”
Thus, without hesitation, he waved out a diagram that contained the formation he had branded. In a flash, Shaoyang-shixiong was dispersed.
Wei Zhentu sighed. “No wonder so many golden core cultivators went missing. They must have been trapped here. What exactly is this black tower?”
“If I’m not mistaken, it’s the Naraka Tower. It should have been destroyed, but perhaps not thoroughly enough, and was accidentally obtained by Four Elephants Villa.” Jing Yue slowly analyzed, “In the beginning, the magic tower was fragile and might not be able to withstand the cultivator's attack from the inside. In addition, Mo Qianyun's cultivation base was not high at the time, so how could he catch the golden core cultivators so casually? Thus, Four Elephants Villa resorted to using spiritual beasts. Later, as the magic tower stabilized and his cultivation level increased, he gradually switched targets.”
“And now that all 18 hells have been restored, he thought it was finally safe to take all of us in.”
At this time, the Amethyst Abode from earlier also came over and said, “Mo Qianyun used the melody fruit as bait to lure us to the Four Elephants Villa so he has obviously planned this in advance. But in the past, he’d always covered up his tracks. By making such a big commotion this time, isn't he afraid that many forces would come after him?”
Jing Yue, “Of course he’s not afraid. I think he wants to refine some of us into the 18 hall masters.”
Wei Zhentu, “What do you mean?”
Jing Yue, “We know there are 18 hall masters in hell, each holding a hall. Since the Naraka Tower is a replica of hell, it’s naturally the same. Now that the spirit beasts have turned into evil spirits and the previous golden core cultivators have turned into jailers, it is only short of the 18 hall masters and the Lord of the Underworld.”
Wei Zhentu was startled. “Mo Qianyun wants to be the lord of the underworld?”
Jing Yue, “He can only control this realm completely by being the lord of the underworld. Once everyone took their respective positions and the Naraka Tower is fully revived, as the lord of the underworld, he will become one with the Naraka Tower. As long as he hides in the tower, who can do anything to him?”
Amethyst Abode cultivator, “Can’t the people outside break into the tower?”
Jing Yue, “Did anyone feel the presence of the Naraka Tower in the Listening Pavilion just now? One of the reasons why the Naraka Tower is a supreme treasure is that it can conceal itself and instantly teleport.”
The Amethyst Abode cultivator had long heard about how knowledgeable the Laozu of Frostcloud Sect was. After all, he had received the inheritance from Daoist-Master Jing Yuan. Thus, he no longer asked questions but lowered his head in contemplation.
On the contrary, Wei Zhentu was puzzled. “Since he’s looking for the 18 hall masters, why did he catch all of us? Isn't it just nice to refine 18 people directly?”
Jing Yue, “The stronger the hall master, the stronger the tower. I reckon that he wants us to kill each other and the victor will naturally emerge as the hall master.”
Once defeated, they will die here and eventually end up a jailer or even an evil spirit!
Of course, Wei Zhentu understood Jing Yue's unspoken words. He laughed mockingly. “It’s true that the demonic energy here is prevalent and will contaminate the soul over time, gradually causing people to lose consciousness. When that happens, won’t we end up killing each other?”
He shut up abruptly, showing a thoughtful look.
Author’s Notes:
Wei-daoyou: Every day is very tiring. Fortunately, I’m very thick-skinned.
Lil Rouge smiling sweetly: No, you’re far from it.
Jing-jing: ??? Don’t understand.
…
Jing-jing: Didn’t you say that you don’t care about the melody fruit? Why make so much preparation then?
Wei-daoyou: I’m a boy who does everything seriously. Even if I don't care that much, as long as I do it, I’ll give it my all.
Ji-ji: You are exactly like some scheming students from the small world, obviously studying until 5 a.m. but saying nonchalantly during the exam the next day that you went to bed early yesterday and didn’t prepare.
All nine petals bloomed at once, revealing an ice-blue round fruit in the middle.At that moment, everyone was fascinated, quietly watching as Wei Zhentu waved the melody fruit into his sleeve.But at this very moment, the melody tree cracked open. A black tower more than ten stories high rose from the ground, ensnaring all the cultivators in the field!The blue phoenix was violently ejected and fell to the ground.It was still upset at Wei Zhentu for stealing the limelight but the world suddenly spun around, then Jing-jing was gone, and it was also bounced out.The blue phoenix was flustered and wanted to rush over when it felt itself being picked up.Oh, there's a fish that slipped through the net oh no, chicken. Mo Qianyun's mouth curled and his expression even looked a little nave but his words frightened blue phoenix half to death. Is there a spiritual beast that my Naraka Tower can't capture? What are you? A divine beast?Q-quick, let go of this phoenix! This phoenix is super fierce! Blue phoenix whimpered and cried.However, Mo Qianyun only heard several chirps. Seeing the silly sight of the blue phoenix, he laughed and said, It even cries! Why are you crying now already? You have more reasons to cry later ah!Mo Qianyun abruptly threw the blue phoenix away. With hands covering the eyes and blood dripping from the fingers, he screamed, My eyes!The blue phoenix blew a leaf blade and fled with all its might but a strong force hit it. The blue phoenix was knocked to the ground and rolled over a few times. A sharp pain came from its wings and it couldn't move anymore.A disciple next to Mo Qianyun said, Sect Leader Mo, don't waste time. Hurry up and set up the formation. We can deal with this beast later.Mo Qianyun let go of his hand. There was a deep cut across his left eye, destroying his original delicate appearance and making him look a bit sinister.He glared at the blue phoenix on the ground and said, I'm coming. Haha, my 18 hall masters are finally ready!At this time, Jing Yue was standing on a gray-brown ground, surrounded by surging demonic energy. At the extreme distance was a stone monument about 6 or 7 feet high with the writing revive'.Revive? If he remembered correctly, it was one of the 18 hells of Buddhism, the living hell.Buddhism referred to 18 levels of Naraka, including the 8 hot Naraka, 8 cold Naraka, boundary Naraka, and isolated Naraka. However, it didn't continue in sequence from one to the next. Hell was not divided into levels but according to sins and length of time.The Living Hell was one of the eight hot hells, with a full sentence of 16,200 billion years.A-jing?Jing Yue turned around and saw Wei Zhentu not far away, surrounded by a few cultivators scattered around with bewildered expressions.Wei Zhentu had obviously figured out where they were and said, I guessed that there was something wrong with the Four Elephants Villa after all. The black tower just now must be the treasure of the demonic sect. This place is most likely also not the real Naraka but the imitation done by the black tower of the 18 hells.Jing Yue wanted to ask Ji-ji if it knew anything about the black tower but suddenly found that Ji-ji didn't follow him inside. He could feel that Ji-ji was still alive but there was an invisible barrier that prevented him from communicating with Ji-ji's consciousness.Ji-ji being all alone out there made him anxious. Although it was good at avoiding danger, now that he was trapped by the black tower, Ji-ji was likely to be bold enough to risk it!Jing Yue only hoped that Ji-ji could be as cowardly as before and run away quickly when danger was encountered.At this time, an Amethyst Abode cultivator stepped forward and said, Are you Jing-laozu of Frostcloud Sect?Jing Yue didn't have the heart to exchange pleasantries and said directly, I know that all of you have many questions and I'm in the same boat. But now that we have been taken into the black tower, we must find a way to get out as soon as possible. Otherwise, we'll definitely be eroded by the demonic energy in the black tower.Amethyst Abode cultivator, How are we going to get out? Also, there are hundreds of cultivators in the Listening Pavilion and even a few Amethyst Abodes among them, so why are we the only ones here?They may have fallen into a few other hells. Jing Yue thought about it. To get out, maybe the only way is to break open the black tower. After all, this is not the real hell but just a magic artifact.Amethyst Abode cultivator, While that may be true, this place seems to form a law of its own. Where do we start? Are we supposed to destroy this place?As soon as he spoke, he suddenly felt the hell begin to tremble. A sharp cry rang out, piercing their eardrums like needles.Everyone covered their ears, but they still couldn't resist it. The wailing sounded directly in their consciousness. Only Jing Yue's divine consciousness was strong enough to not be affected.Immediately after, clusters of white flames rose from the ground and the hell quickly became hot. The cultivators could only use spiritual energy to protect themselves, but the energy consumption was extremely great as if a hand was madly robbing them of their vitality.In the smoke, many beast-like creatures appeared, biting and killing frantically, until their flesh and blood were exhausted, and died. However, a wisp of cold wind blew in the blazing heat. Where the wind passed, skin and flesh regenerated, and the suffering restored.Jing Yue studied this situation carefully and discovered that these beasts were all spiritual beasts. Spiritual beasts had always been humane and close to people, but now, they had red eyes and violent behavior, no less than ferocious beasts.He remembered blue phoenix saying that it heard cries for help from the spiritual beasts, and Wei Zhentu also mentioned that the beast fortress no longer sold spirit beasts to the Four Elephants Villa. He wondered inwardly if the Four Elephants Villa had been using evil magic to refine the spiritual beasts.The cold sweat instantly covered his forehead as Jing Yue suddenly remembered something he had heard in his previous life.At that time, a rogue demonic cultivator accidentally obtained a treasure that could control the 18 hells once it was refined.In order to refine the treasure, the rogue cultivator threw 9,999 Golden Core cultivators into the hells as evil spirits, and tortured them with the punishment of each level of hell, turning their vitality into death energy, and spiritual energy into malefic energy, just to feed the treasure. Later, the strength of the rogue cultivator improved, and he wanted to capture 18 Amethyst Abode cultivators and throw them into hell. Unfortunately, his plan fell short and he ended up dead while the treasure was destroyed.Every punishment in the 18 hells was extremely cruel, unimaginable and unbearable for humans, not to mention these spiritual beasts!Was it possible that the black tower was actually the treasure of the demonic Dao that he heard about?If that was the case, it was natural that blue phoenix couldn't enter. It was born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and couldn't be refined by the tower at all.During the short time he pondered, the spiritual beasts that had long become evil spirits started fighting with many cultivators.In front of him, a spirit beast rushed towards Jing Yue with great speed. It looked like a boar but its appearance was much cuter than ordinary boars. The entire body was snow-white while only the head and tail were black, and the size was much smaller. This spirit beast was called the little fragrant pig, which could control the spiritual energy of the earth during battle, both for offensive and defensive purposes. It had always been well-loved by low-level cultivators.But at this moment, there was only killing in its eyes.Jing Yue didn't evade. Using his fingers to freeze ice, he cut the pig's body into two halves.A gust of wind swept passed and the little fragrant pig let out a squeal. The second half of the body grew again and it continued to charge at Jing Yue.Evil spirits couldn't be killed, only to be liberated into the afterlife!Jing Yue was about to cast a spell when a trident stabbed him diagonally. He realized that more humanoid phantoms had appeared in the smoke at some point, wearing long robes of gray-blue, with the word pawn' on the chest.Hell jailers!Jing Yue abruptly took a step back and threw ice spikes at the jailer. The latter's body immediately disintegrated and quickly regenerated again.Although the jailer was injured by Jing Yue, there was no emotion of anger or fear, merely raised the trident woodenly and stabbed at the little fragrant pig again. He was like a puppet being manipulated, numbly carrying out every action. In his opinion, the evil spirits transformed from spiritual beasts were as sinful as the cultivators who broke in. There was no need to treat them differently or care about the outcome, as long as the punishment was carried out.The body of the little fragrant pig died and the power brought it back to life before it was stabbed and killed again, repeatedly, endlessly.This was the living hellthousands of life and death in an instant.Shaoyang-shixiong!Suddenly, Jing Yue heard Wei Zhentu's shout. He frowned and flashed to the other party's side. Is that your missing Shixiong?Wei Zhentu's face was solemn and rare anxiousness appeared in his eyes. Yes, but he's only one of them. The other one is still missing.As soon as he said that, that Shaoyang-shixiong of Wei Zhentu had already attacked. Wei Zhentu kept dodging and holding back on his attacks.Jing Yue, What are you doing? They have been refined into jailers and can't be killed at all, not to mention holding back your attacks!Wei Zhentu paused and said, Don't you think I know that?Thus, without hesitation, he waved out a diagram that contained the formation he had branded. In a flash, Shaoyang-shixiong was dispersed.Wei Zhentu sighed. No wonder so many golden core cultivators went missing. They must have been trapped here. What exactly is this black tower?If I'm not mistaken, it's the Naraka Tower. It should have been destroyed, but perhaps not thoroughly enough, and was accidentally obtained by Four Elephants Villa. Jing Yue slowly analyzed, In the beginning, the magic tower was fragile and might not be able to withstand the cultivator's attack from the inside. In addition, Mo Qianyun's cultivation base was not high at the time, so how could he catch the golden core cultivators so casually? Thus, Four Elephants Villa resorted to using spiritual beasts. Later, as the magic tower stabilized and his cultivation level increased, he gradually switched targets.And now that all 18 hells have been restored, he thought it was finally safe to take all of us in.At this time, the Amethyst Abode from earlier also came over and said, Mo Qianyun used the melody fruit as bait to lure us to the Four Elephants Villa so he has obviously planned this in advance. But in the past, he'd always covered up his tracks. By making such a big commotion this time, isn't he afraid that many forces would come after him?Jing Yue, Of course he's not afraid. I think he wants to refine some of us into the 18 hall masters.Wei Zhentu, What do you mean?Jing Yue, We know there are 18 hall masters in hell, each holding a hall. Since the Naraka Tower is a replica of hell, it's naturally the same. Now that the spirit beasts have turned into evil spirits and the previous golden core cultivators have turned into jailers, it is only short of the 18 hall masters and the Lord of the Underworld.Wei Zhentu was startled. Mo Qianyun wants to be the lord of the underworld?Jing Yue, He can only control this realm completely by being the lord of the underworld. Once everyone took their respective positions and the Naraka Tower is fully revived, as the lord of the underworld, he will become one with the Naraka Tower. As long as he hides in the tower, who can do anything to him?Amethyst Abode cultivator, Can't the people outside break into the tower?Jing Yue, Did anyone feel the presence of the Naraka Tower in the Listening Pavilion just now? One of the reasons why the Naraka Tower is a supreme treasure is that it can conceal itself and instantly teleport.The Amethyst Abode cultivator had long heard about how knowledgeable the Laozu of Frostcloud Sect was. After all, he had received the inheritance from Daoist-Master Jing Yuan. Thus, he no longer asked questions but lowered his head in contemplation.On the contrary, Wei Zhentu was puzzled. Since he's looking for the 18 hall masters, why did he catch all of us? Isn't it just nice to refine 18 people directly?Jing Yue, The stronger the hall master, the stronger the tower. I reckon that he wants us to kill each other and the victor will naturally emerge as the hall master.Once defeated, they will die here and eventually end up a jailer or even an evil spirit!Of course, Wei Zhentu understood Jing Yue's unspoken words. He laughed mockingly. It's true that the demonic energy here is prevalent and will contaminate the soul over time, gradually causing people to lose consciousness. When that happens, won't we end up killing each other?He shut up abruptly, showing a thoughtful look.Author's Notes:Wei-daoyou: Every day is very tiring. Fortunately, I'm very thick-skinned.Lil Rouge smiling sweetly: No, you're far from it.Jing-jing: ??? Don't understand.Jing-jing: Didn't you say that you don't care about the melody fruit? Why make so much preparation then?Wei-daoyou: I'm a boy who does everything seriously. Even if I don't care that much, as long as I do it, I'll give it my all.Ji-ji: You are exactly like some scheming students from the small world, obviously studying until 5 a.m. but saying nonchalantly during the exam the next day that you went to bed early yesterday and didn't prepare.
