Sovereign of the Three Realms

Jiang Chen grew ever closer to his goal of the tower of inheritance as he set foot into ninth level origin realm. He’d been studying the three formations over the past two months as he’d be able to face the tower directly as long as he broke through the third formation. This last formation was called the “Great Dream of Spring and Autumn Formation”.

There were three formations to the tower of inheritance, the first of the “Minor Artifice Formation”, one of illusion; the second “Ancient Slaughter Formation of Seven” was one that sought to kill; and the third “Great Dream of Spring and Autumn Formation” was one of death.

A formation of death didn’t meant that it was an unattended formation with no one in charge, but that there were nine paths that led to death within, and one to life.

If one didn’t find the only way out of the formation after entering it, one would be forever trapped within until death of old age. The “Great Dream of Spring and Autumn Formation” was like its name, a formation that made challengers feel like they had dreamed a great dream. When one finally awoke, they would discover that countless springs and autumns had come and gone, and they were doddering, old wrecks.

The Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect had used this formation in ancient times to take down countless experts. Of course, the version in front of the tower of inheritance wasn’t one at peak condition. It was meant to test heirs to the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect, so it was set for geniuses in the sage realm. Although Jiang Chen had yet to enter this realm, he felt that his current level was absolutely not less than any sage realm genius. He might even have his own advantages as well.

Jiang Chen took a deep breath in as he stood outside the formation and leapt in with gusto. The scenery in front of him immediately changed as he did so. There were ten enormous pillars reaching for the sky in front of him, with many ancient glyphs and characters carved on them. There was a faint golden gaze shimmering over each of them, giving one an exceedingly historic and simple feeling.

He observed all of them through the God’s Eye and discovered that all the carvings on them were different! “Mm? These are cultivation methods?”

There was a method carved on each pillar, and the level of each pillar was quite high. The ten pillars formed a perfect circle, and Jiang Chen stood in the midst of the circle. There were also ten passageways between the ten pillars.

“It looks like the ten pillars correspond to the nine possibilities of death and only one of life in the formation. This means that there’s only one of these passageways that I can take, and all the others lead to certain death?”

Jiang Chen didn’t make any careless moves in the heat of the moment. He believed that since this was a test, there would be hints as well. The formation wasn’t set up for enemies, in which no clues would be left at all. Its purpose wasn’t to kill, but to test those who were here. Therefore, it was up to how observant Jiang Chen was.

His mind settled as his thoughts traveled here, and he sat down cross-legged, examining each pillar with the God’s Eye. At first glance, the methods on the pillars all seemed to have their unique points, and they seemed to be on similar levels. The differences between them didn’t seem that great.

“If there are hints in this formation, then they must lay within the methods. But where is the crux of the problem?” Jiang Chen was in no hurry as he began a careful study. Since he couldn’t identify the issue with human eyes, he decided to try each of the methods.

A month later…

A ripple of disturbance suddenly travelled through Jiang Chen’s consciousness, as if a needle had slightly pricked him. He knew that this wasn’t an external stimulus, but an innate sense of rejection from his consciousness.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Chen suddenly came to himself as he broke out into a cold sweat. His expression changed even more as he slightly perused what had happened before.

“Frightening, too frightening! I actually lost myself unknowingly in the formation! These methods have the ability to lure one in. It was a good thing that a sliver of rejection formed in my consciousness. If I’d really sunk and lost myself in the cultivation, not knowing the passing of the seasons outside, then it would truly be like a great dream, and I’d be a doddering old wreck at the end of my lifespan when I finally awoke.”

Jiang Chen suddenly realized that this method was all smoke and mirrors. Although there was an exceedingly high temptation in training it, one was destined to not actually achieve anything with it. There wasn’t anything tangible from this technique at all apart from losing oneself in it.

Even cultivating with it for a hundred years would cause one to wake up with a handful of dross. There would be nothing at all when one woke up apart from an aged body and halted training.

Sweat poured out over Jiang Chen’s body when his thoughts travelled here. He had already been quite careful and tried each method one by one, wanting to find the clues, but he’d still nearly lost himself! If it wasn’t for his training in Psychic’s Head and the enormous strength of his consciousness, he likely would’ve lost himself within and been unable to wake.

He might’ve woken up three or five hundred years later, halted in the origin realm and past the prime period for cultivation. He would be unable to raise his strength any more and would slowly live out his days until they were no more. His heart palpitating with fright, Jiang Chen immediately summoned the Goldbiter Rat King. “Ole Gold, keep an eye out for me. Wake up me if I don’t come to within three days.”

Since Jiang Chen knew that there was something amiss with the pillars, he had a strategy to deal with them in turn. The Goldbiter Rats had seen their strength increase markedly since their baptism in the wood spirit spring. Their power in their lineage had continuously awoken and their strength increase in leaps and bounds. They were now the equivalent of a human first level sage realm, and listened to everything Jiang Chen said these days.

Progress was swift since Jiang Chen had a plan of attack, and he made a play on all of the pillars. He finally discovered on the seventh pillar that the method on this pillar wasn’t illusion, that it was completely real. However, he didn’t lose his composure in his delight. He carefully tried all of the remaining pillars before finally confirming his findings.

Since he had located the difference, this meant that he had found the clue. He entered the passageway next to the seventh pillar and used the method on the pillar to easily find the exit t the formation. The “Great Dream of Spring and Autumn Formation”, success!

Jiang Chen found it a bit hard to believe when he walked out of the formation. There hadn’t been any blood or gore involved breaking through this formation, but it was far more frightening than the Ancient Slaughter Formation of Seven!

Although danger had lurked in every corner of that formation, Jiang Chen had had a proper plan to deal with it all. In the Great Dream of Spring and Autumn Formation however, he had unwittingly fallen into its trap. if it wasn’t for his own power awakening to the fact that something was amiss, he might not have been able to extra himself.

There was no formation disk to this particular formation, nor were there any other presents. Yet, Jiang Chen wasn’t depressed as the tower of inheritance was right in front of him now!

The tower didn’t look that eye-catching as it was only three stories high. However, Jiang Chen wasn’t of the mind to go charging right into it. The three formations outside had just been small tests. Jiang Chen believed that even greater tests lay within if he wanted to obtain the tower’s inheritance.

The owner of this place had said that one had to be at least sage realm to try, so Jiang Chen didn’t want to do things haphazardly. The formations on the outside had been fine, but since the tower had to do with the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect legacy, it would not be as gentle as the three formations on the outside. Fatal danger might very well lurk behind every corner of the tower!

Thus, Jiang Chen decided to enter the tower of inheritance only after his power had broken through to the sage realm.

……

The outskirts of some forbidden area in the Ninesuns Sky Sect.

Cao Jin had been standing outside of a residence for a while and finally seemed to make up his mind on a difficult decision. He raised his hand and threw a message glyph into the residence.

A slight crack formed in the restrictions outside the residence after a short while as a short, bald-headed young man walked it, wreathed with insincere smiles. “Oh my, look what the wind’s blown in today? Senior brother Cao? To think that I, Wu Heng, would have such an honor as a visit from a great disciple?”

The fatty voiced pretty words, but he didn’t set foot outside his residence, an obvious display of wariness against Cao Jin.

Cao Jin smiled remotely. “Don’t be such a coward, Wu Heng. You have nothing that I’d use any method possible to obtain. There’s no need to be so afraid.”

Cao Jin was quite observant and had naturally identified a few problems. Wu Heng had yet to set foot outside his residence, obviously afraid that Cao Jin would do something against him. What a minor character!

Wu Heng chuckled and rubbed his head, but didn’t deny anything. He leered strangely, “Can’t blame me senior brother Cao! The environment of our Sky Sect is harsh and ruthless. I might have died a hundred times over if I hadn’t been more careful. And, I’m not a narcissistic person. What might one of the great disciples want with a fatty like me?”

Cao Jin burst out laughing. “Why can’t it be something good?”

Wu Heng cackled. “This fatty doesn’t believe that senior brother Cao would think of a small character like me if there was anything good. All the true disciples have lofty visions, not to mention of the ten great disciples like senior brother Cao.”

“Alright.” Cao Jin spread out his hands. “Cut the chatter. Apart from a body full of fat, what about you would tempt anyone? I’m here this time to talk about working together.”

“Working together?” The fatty was a suspicious person by nature, and his first thought upon hearing that one of the ten great disciples wanted to work with him was, is this a trap?

“Senior brother Cao, do you swear you’re not trying to trap me somehow?” Fatty Wu stared carefully at Cao Jin, trying to figure out what this fellow was up to.

“Paranoid guy.” Cao Jin furrowed his brows. “I’ll be frank, I’m looking at your talents in formation. We don’t have many geniuses in this area. You count amongst the top three in the younger generation.”

Fatty Wu smirked. “Even if I’m in the top three, there are still ones who are stronger than me in front!”

Cao Jin responded faintly, “Those who are stronger than you are all true disciples who rank higher than me. What’s the point of going to them?”

Fatty Wu kept smirking as he knew that Cao Jin spoke the truth. Fatty Wu wasn’t the top in the younger generation when it came to martial or pill dao, but he was absolutely in the top three when it came to formations. In fact, he even thought that he was the strongest formation master in the younger generation. It was just that he was very adept at hiding his strength. He was deathly afraid of having too strong a reputation and eliciting displeasure from the two great disciples. This was why he was happy with the title of “third best in the younger generation”. Honestly speaking, Wu Heng felt confident he wouldn’t lose to those two, and might even be better than them!