Monarch Of Time

Chapter 1081 Amber Dawn’s Dao Tower (2)

”Huh...?” The old man sitting behind the reception desk widened his eyes as he stared at the newcomer, before he hurriedly shot to his feet.

Shun Long still had his disguise on, but that didn’t stop the elder from stepping forward and bowing all the way to his waist before he greeted him excitedly,

”Sen-senior Han!”

Shun Long came to a halt in front of the jubilant elder and cocked his head in curiosity. He was certain he hadn’t met this person before. In fact, the number of people he had interacted with in Amber Dawn, besides Jiang Chen and the others, could probably be counted on two hands.

And yet, the old man in front of him seemed to be getting more and more excited as he stared at him, straightening his back before he spoke again,

”Ah, I’ve seen senior Han from afar before, but to think I’d meet you in person today... the heavens must have blessed me.”

For a moment, Shun Long felt stupefied staring at the Nascent Soul cultivator in front of him. The look in the old man’s eyes was one of borderline reverence, and honestly, it felt a bit uncomfortable.

”Did I stay in seclusion for too long?” Shun Long thought to himself as he took in the bowing elder.

But of course, Shun Long had no idea what the emergence of alchemist Han truly meant to the residents of Amber Dawn. The fact that a star-rank alchemist was willing to ’risk his life’ to establish a shop in a remote city like this was more than enough for people to regard Alchemist Han as a living god.

Of course, if they knew what he was planning to do with the two assassin guilds in the future, their opinions would likely change, but that didn’t matter too much.

Letting out a breath, Shun Long helped the old man to his feet and said in a raspy voice,

”Fellow daoist, I appreciate it but there’s no need for such courtesy. I’m just a fellow cultivator like everyone else who comes here.”

The old receptionist seemed to cringe a bit at the words ’like everyone else who comes here’, but he still nodded his head after a moment of hesitation and asked,

”I understand, senior. In that case, do you need me to explain the rules of the tower, or are you already familiar with the process?”

”No need.” Shun Long answered.

Honestly, the process of entering the Dao Tower for the first time while he was still back in the Holy sect had been so memorable that he couldn’t forget it even if he wanted to.

Closing his eyes, Shun Long let a stream of his soul sense enter the ’Stone of Time’ and began to look for that one item he’d stashed away a long time ago.

It took him a few moments to find the palm-sized purple token discarded between two mountains of middle-grade spirit stones and a bunch of spatial rings he’d emptied out long ago.

Then, under the old receptionist’s watchful gaze, he began to make his way up the tower, looking for one of the 9000 rooms that were still empty.

”I wonder how strong my Dao comprehension is right now. I should be able to get to the silver rank at the very least.”

With a grin on his face, Shun Long stopped in front of one of the empty rooms and waved his right hand, taking out 5000 middle-grade spirit stones from the ’Stone of Time’ and guiding them towards the small holes on the door.

As soon as the stones embedded themselves into the door, a rumbling sound followed before the massive iron door slowly opened, revealing the room of complete darkness inside.

Stepping forward, Shun Long let the door close behind him as the darkness of the Dao Tower swallowed him once more.

...

Inside the room, Shun Long couldn’t even see his own fingers. He couldn’t hear his heartbeat nor could he smell anything.

But he was already prepared for this.

Spreading out his soul sense, he sat down cross-legged and retrieved the small purple token from the foggy space, before a faint but familiar connection began to tug at his soul once more.

Right. This thing was still connected to him.

Shun Long smiled as he felt the simple, crude texture of the token in his hand.

White. Yellow. Orange. Red. Purple. Silver. And finally, gold.

These were the ranks of the Dao Tower. How long had it been since his own token had turned purple? And now... he was going to let himself loose once more.

Shun Long closed his eyes and allowed the token to establish a connection with his mind, no longer resisting.

And the moment he did, he could feel the darkness around him as it began to shift.

It was the same sensation he had felt the first time he’d entered the Dao Tower.

Shun Long knew he was still sitting cross-legged inside the room, but he could no longer control his own body. He could still feel the connection he had with it, but just barely... before his consciousness began to pull away.

Still, Shun Long knew he could simply cut off the connection with the token whenever he wished, and everything would go back to normal. So he didn’t resist.

...

When he opened his eyes again, Shun Long found himself sitting in the middle of a vast stone arena.

There were no walls around him, nor was there a ceiling above his head. There was just a boundless gray sky that seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction.

Lowering his head, he glanced at his own hands and feet.

As expected, they were made out of motes of light.

At the same time, he could sense that his cultivation had been restricted... all the way to the early rank 1 of the Heaven grade.

Shun Long grinned.

Meanwhile, a few dozen meters ahead of him, space suddenly distorted, as another figure began to take shape.

It was a woman dressed in black robes, but her facial features were completely blurred out.

For a moment, she simply stood there, unmoving.

Then, the woman raised her head and began to gather her qi around her body, when two words reverberated throughout the empty arena,

”Monarch’s Domain.”