Supreme Emperor of Swords

The neatly-arranged low stone tables and that gigantic jade wall in the east, vaguely reminded them of the countless young warriors who once sat here, quietly listening to their teacher before the jade wall imparting them martial arts!

“This could have been a martial arts lecture hall.”

Ding Hao guessed.

Uncle Tianshu and Evil Moon could not wait to search this floor.

It was not easy to come to a floor with something. These two fellows were shocked, and hopeful that they could find something.

“Where are you, my treasures? Come out quickly…” Uncle Tianshu murmured, searching every stone table around him.

“There must be something left behind, like some treasure…” The Demon King, Evil Moon, loitered around the jade wall.

But in the end, the two fellows could not help losing their cool at the same time. “What the f*ck, those guys didn’t leave anything behind? No Divine Artifact, not even a damaged magical weapon or something…”

They did not find anything.

“Aren’t those who came before us all absolute masters? Why are they like greedy mice, grabbing everything they come across? Are they so freakin’ poor? And what about the dignity of absolute masters?” Uncle Tianshu was so angry that he swore. When he turned his eyes to another scene, he was shocked and cried, “Damn cat, what are you doing?”

The Demon King, Evil Moon, had actually lifted the white jade wall and put it into the storage space in its stomach.

“Meow, I can’t stand the fact I’m without a treasure for so long. I don’t care, I must grab one first, to get the ball rolling!” Evil Moon said angrily.

“To get the ball rolling?”

Uncle Tianshu seemed to have realized something and nodded like he had just seen the light. He immediately picked up a few stone tables around him and put them into his storage device.

“This stone table is carved out of an ancient rock. The knifework is simple and direct, and the table’s also extremely tough. If I take a few out, I can find some fools… errr, no, I mean I can definitely sell them at a good price to some knowledgeable people.” Uncle Tianshu was comforting himself. Soon, his eyes lit up, and he fought with Evil Moon to divide all the stone tables on this level.

Ding Hao was dumbfounded. “Are you guys… so poor that you’ve gone crazy?”

Even the big white tigress could not stand it anymore. She lowered her head and covered her eyes.

Only the black puppy was still biting Tianshu’s ankle, like it was a part of Tianshu’s body.

It took Ding Hao and his team another half a day to climb the next 90 or more floors.

The oppressive power was extremely strong in the Towering Buddha Pagoda. The higher one climbed, the greater its oppressive power. Even masters at the Martial Emperor Realm would have to climb the stairs compliantly. It would take a long time to finish climbing nearly 100 floors.

Moreover, along the way, Evil Moon and Uncle Tianshu had also swept everything clean, including stone horses, stone statues, stone cars, stone spears, terracotta warriors and soldiers, and so. They put all these things without combat value into their storage devices, not even sparing a tile.

“I must take some things out, or…” Uncle Tianshu gnashed his teeth. “I will lose face.”

Ding Hao was speechless.

“We’re about to reach the boundary formation of the Second Celestial Level. I don’t know what defense they will erect there.” Time passed so fast that they had almost reached the Second Celestial Level. From their previous experience, it must be quite difficult to overcome the boundary formation on this level.

However, what surprised Ding Hao was that there were no longer any gatekeepers from either the Human or the Demon Clan.

Ding Hao speculated that 80% of the experts from the two clans had been wiped out at the Starry River Boundary Formation on the First Celestial Level. There were very few who could reach the 200th floor, so these absolute masters were no longer interested in setting up obstacles to reduce the number of adventurers. Besides, the way ahead was full of dangers. They did not dare make any of their men do such meaningless things.

Therefore, Ding Hao did not meet anyone when he reached the next Starry River Boundary Formation.

The situation was exactly the same as on the First Celestial Level. The 199th story of the celestial tower was a small world space built out of great magical power. It was different from that ancient cemetery they had encountered on the First Celestial Level, where there were countless dead bodies. This time, the small world was a boundless desert.

There was windswept sand everywhere, surging into the infinite distance.

No one knew how many bones were buried in the desert. As strong winds blew, all kinds of strange bones surfaced one after another, but were soon buried in the windswept sand at an even faster rate.

This was the real Bone-burying… land.

When an ordinary Martial Emperor expert entered this desert, his Qi cultivation would be suppressed and he would not be able to fly. A careless warrior might fall into the crimson dunes and perish.

Ding Hao was again riding Black Lightning, his motorcycle, in the air, transporting Uncle Tianshu and the others at breakneck speed. It took them six hours to reach the end of the desert. It was another black, lonely and boundless galaxy there, a more stable and more terrible Starry River Boundary Formation.

“Just as I thought. Since the Sacred Hall had mastered the Starry River Boundary Formation, they would use it again and again. This gateway on the Second Celestial Level is another starry sky…” Uncle Tianshu sighed in admiration.

However, unlike the previous Starry River Boundary Formation, the galaxy in front of them no longer had only distant and tiny starlight. Instead, there were dozens of massive stars, resembling a dozen or so planets close to them. Standing on the edge of the desert, one could almost see the terrains and linear marks on these vast planets.

“This Starry River Boundary Formation is even more terrible, because these massive planets can release strong gravitational force. If you’re careless enough to go near them, you may be sucked in immediately, and cannot break free… It’s basically the prototype of the Rules of Space in some parts of our universe.”

Ding Hao was shocked.

If the previous Starry River Boundary Formation had created a vacuum environment, this next Starry River Boundary Formation contained the gravitational rules of the universe—which was even more terrible and lethal.

“If you want to break the formation…”

Ding Hao remembered the method that breached the previous formation, and decided to try it again.

He tried his best to activate his Divine Senses without releasing them. Instead, he madly injected them into the golden light bead in his sea of consciousness.

Previously, because the golden light bead could devour the power of his Divine Senses, Ding Hao would not let them draw near to the light bead. But after “witnessing” unexpected scenes twice, he had gradually figured out a way to exploit that golden light bead, making him see what he desired.

As his Divine Senses gushed toward the golden light bead like a tidal wave, Ding Hao looked into his mind again and found that light bead spinning rapidly. Then, something strange happened. Golden mists spread out, almost flooding his entire sea of consciousness.

The next moment, he felt a sharp pain on his forehead.

As expected, Ding Hao could “see” again what he could not see before.

This more mature Starry River Boundary Formation before him was indeed flawed. Under his intent gaze, some previously invisible cracks and constructional gaps in the formation now became distinct in Ding Hao’s eyes. He could even comprehend some of the formation’s mysteries.

This time, Ding Hao observed very carefully.

“If I can comprehend the principles of this new formation, maybe I can also set up a similar boundary formation myself.” Ding Hao felt ambitious.

He was an inscription formation master himself. Guided by the Saber Master and the Sword Master, he was an expert of countless secret inscription formations. He indeed knew a lot of classic inscription formations from the distant past to the present. Although those two old freaks had never mentioned the Starry River Boundary Formation before, formations were always quite similar in their fundamental principles.

More than 10 minutes later.

Ding Hao suddenly felt an unprecedented dizziness overcome him. His mind was completely exhausted.

This was a sign that he had depleted too much of his Divine Senses.

The scene in front of him began to blur, and he felt a sharp pain on his forehead.

Ding Hao sighed and could only stop.

His mighty Divine Senses were required to activate the golden light bead. Although Ding Hao had already reached the seventh realm of the Mind Essential, he could only hold on for slightly more than 10 minutes. An ordinary warrior might not be able to activate this power at all.

He slowly sat down where he was, and ran the Mind Essential in his mind to regulate his breathing, replenishing his Divine Senses.

“It’s indeed a legendary boundary formation, almost equal to the Power of Rules. Ordinary inscription formations cannot rival it…” Ding Hao could not comprehend the true profundities of the Starry River Boundary Formation. He could only be said to have understood a little. It was surely impossible for him to erect another Starry River Boundary Formation at the moment.

“How is it? Little Chap Ding, can you break this formation in front of us?”

Seeing Ding Hao open his eyes and stand up, Uncle Tianshu and Evil Moon asked eagerly.

“Let me give it a try.”

Ding Hao nodded and recalled that gap in the formation that he had “seen” before. Just like it was previously, he gathered all his strength and suddenly unleash a force at the void.

For the next couple of days or so, Ding Hao and his team spent a long time climbing the stairs.

As expected, they would find another small world and an even more formidable Starry River Boundary Formation every 100 stories in the pagoda.

When they reached the Starry River Boundary Formation on the Fourth Celestial Level, its power could only be described as horrific—within the galaxy was a massive burning star, releasing terrible heat and suction power. It almost turned the entire small world into a fiery universe. Although it did not have the oppressive power of the pagoda itself, ordinary warriors would still be instantly incinerated in this high-temperature environment.

Ding Hao secretly made use of this fire’s power, to help enhance the Heaven Fire Qi in the Middle Dantian of his chest.

There was very little difference between Star Fire and True Solar Fire. Star Fire could be used to strengthen the physique and enhance the cultivation of fire-property Qi. Unfortunately, the Hell Ice Qi in Ding Hao’s Lower Dantian had been completely suppressed and could not advance any farther in cultivation. No matter how many True Solar Fires he absorbed from the stars, he still could not unseal another acupoint.