Liang Chen and Yan Ling quickly found a small house that suited them, locking it up so that there would be no interruptions. The two of them didn't plan on staying on this first floor for long, the people here were simply too weak, meaning that they gained very little even if they killed them. Their plan was to rush to the higher floors as quickly as possible, reaching a floor where they could settle for a bit and cultivate using the resources they could buy, as well as the corpses of the other people they killed.
But before they did that, there was one other thing they wanted to do first, increase Yan Ling's cultivation. Once they locked themselves in the small stone house, Yan Ling set up a small array and fed it some Spirit Stones as well as the currency of this planet. The array would drain and somewhat purify the energy from the Spirit Stones and channel it to the center of the array, while at the same time also drawing in all the surrounding Qi at an increased rate. It was a very rudimentary cultivation array, not the most effective, but it would do the trick.
Liang Chen sat down at the center of the array and Yan Ling sat down directly in front of him, so close that their knees touched when they crossed their legs. Liang Chen closed his eyes and focused half his mind on controlling his law of time and the other half on absorbing in all the Qi that the array was drawing in. He focused his law of time on Yan Ling, speeding up the flow of time around her.
Since he was focusing his law of time on another living being, and since the array was rather rudimentary, he couldn't increase the flow of time too much if he wanted to keep it active for long. He decided to only increase the flow of time to two times the normal speed, as this would allow him to just barely keep it active for as long as the array stayed active.
While Liang Chen was focusing on his law of time, Yan Ling started to take out corpses from her interspatial ring and use the Chaos King Technique on them. She only took out corpses from the Fiendgod and the Undead race, aiming to cultivate her body and soul to a stage equivalent to her Qi cultivation.
Her body was already strong thanks to her bloodline, so it only took her a week to reach the Body Ascension realm and acquire her own Fiendgod Essence. She only cultivated the Chaos King technique, not a strange one like Liang Chen's Lightning God Physique, so her Fiendgod Essence was the normal pitch black color.
It took a bit longer for her to reach the Ascended Soul realm and acquire her own Anima Essence, nearly three weeks of continuous cultivation. Calculating the increased flow of time, it took her two months to increase her body and soul cultivation to a stage similar to her Qi cultivation. It was only the first stages of body and soul cultivation, but it was still a rather amazing feat.
Luckily she had received a supreme technique like the Chaos King technique from Liang Chen. Without that technique, increasing her body and soul cultivation would take far longer than just two months, it would likely take between half a year to a year. With her soul and body cultivation increasing, Liang Chen felt much more assured about their rush to the higher floors, ending their cultivation seclusion and standing up, stretching his body.
"Alright, now I feel much more at ease. When do you want to head to the higher floors?"
Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and took out two jugs of water, handing one to Yan Ling and taking the other one for himself. Yan Ling accepted the jug of water and quenched her thirst, rolling her eyes for a bit before responding.
"As fast as possible, there really isn't much for us on this first floor. I think I'll spend about an hour or two getting accustomed to my new strength and then head directly to one of the arenas. What about you?"
She had never used Anima Essence or Fiendgod Essence before, so she wanted to spend a bit of time getting used to it before she tried it out in a fight. Liang Chen took a few swigs of water, not spending too much time thinking before he responded.
"I'll head out to check some of the markets. Maybe I'm lucky and they have blood or parts from Demonic beasts that had the wind element. After that, I'll head over to one of the arenas, probably the one closest to the entrance, and finish all the battles I need to head on up."
Thanks to the Star God bloodline that had fused with his Heaven Devouring Dragon bloodline, he could now somewhat use the law of wind alongside his other laws. But until he created a Dragon Lotus for his law of wind, his control over it would always be far weaker than any of his other laws. To create a Dragon Lotus for the wind element, he would need a lot of energy that had the wind element, Demonic beast blood or parts being the best choice for him.
Yan Ling nodded her head and used a gust of wind to clean up the array as well as the dust that the various Spirit Stones had become, she then started to experiment with her Fiendgod Essence and Anima Essence. While she experimented, Liang Chen left the house and started heading for the closest market, occasionally glancing at some of the arenas spread throughout the area. After walking for a bit he heard someone call out to him, stopping in his steps.
"Oh, you're alone today? No Yan Ling to keep you company?"
Liang Chen turned his head slightly and saw Yin Weijing jogging over, waving at him with two of his four arms. Liang Chen gave him a slight nod as a greeting, Yin Weijing continuing to talk.
"You haven't left the house for an entire month, so you might not know where everything is, need me to show you around?"
Yin Weijing wore a light smile as he talked patting Liang Chen on the shoulder. He kept his hand there for a bit but removed it the moment he saw Liang Chen cast a sideways glance at it. His thoughts were exceedingly simple, he wanted to latch onto Liang Chen or Yan Ling for protection.
He had seen the strength that Yan Ling and Liang Chen had, if he managed to latch onto the two of them, his odds of survival would be much greater. Killing was very common in the arenas, but if people knew that you had a strong backing they would be hesitant to kill you, afraid that someone would hunt them down for revenge. Liang Chen gave the proposition a bit of thought and then nodded his head.
"Demonic beast parts and blood, show me the best place to buy them."
His words were short and curt but Yin Weijing didn't let it bother him, he clapped his hands with a casual smile and started leading Liang Chen in the opposite direction of the one he had just been going. Yin Weijing continued to lead Liang Chen for several minutes, passing by several other marketplaces. Yin Weijing only stopped after they had walked for almost a quarter of an hour, pointing at a marketplace not far from them.
"That's the best marketplace for Demonic beast blood and parts, it's got quite a wide selection. It even has some Demonic beast bloodlines for those who want to implant them into themselves."
The market place a short distance in front of them was in fact just a few rows of small houses surrounded by a square wooden fence. This fence signaled that this was a marketplace, meaning that any battles were prohibited past the fence. Liang Chen looked at the market, but something Yin Weijing said had caught his attention.
"You can buy Demonic beast bloodlines here?"
If he could buy Demonic beast bloodlines of adequate strength, not only could he feed them to Yan Ling's bloodline to strengthen it and help it awaken, he could do the same to his own bloodline. Of course, to strengthen a bloodline like her Star God or his Heaven Devouring Wolf bloodline, the Demonic beast bloodline had to be a very strong one, it couldn't come from just any Demonic beast. This question was the first thing Liang Chen had said ever since Yin Weijing started to lead him here, so he quickly responded.
"Yup, there are some market places like this on every floor of the tower. The bloodlines are provided by the Tripartite Slayer herself, with the higher floors having stronger bloodlines available. It's something of an incentive to make people do their best to ascend the towers."
Sun Cailin clearly wanted people to increase their strength and ascend the tower, but exactly why she wanted this, Liang Chen had no idea. Liang Chen swept the surroundings of the market place, his gaze stopping on a few people who were loitering outside the marketplace. His lips curled up into a faint sneer but he still started approaching the marketplace. But just like he thought, three people from the White Orchid race stepped in front of him and Yin Weijing before they were able to enter the marketplace.
"Sorry, but this marketplace requires that you pay a tax to enter it. About 200 Orange Gibbings should do it."
Gibbings was the name of the currency on this planet, and they were graded on their color. The gradings were white, yellow, orange, and finally red. To equal one higher ranked Gibbing, one would need 500 of the Gibbing graded directly below it. Most families on this planet, as well as cultivators, would mostly only use Yellow Gibbings. Yin Weijing quickly stepped forward in an attempt to show off to Liang Chen.
"Humph, you trying to scam us? None of the marketplaces have any taxes needed to enter them, so you can just screw off!"
Yin Weijing stepped forward, but the three people all had cultivation at the middle stages of the Heaven's Gate realm, he was far from a match for them. The only reason he dared step forward was that Liang Chen was right behind him. The three people didn't seem surprised that their scam was seen through, each of them pulling out a sword. One of them placed his sword against Liang Chen's neck, while another one placed his sword against Yin Weijing's neck.
"I wouldn't exactly call this a scam, it's more of an extortion. I believe the saying is, your money or your life?"
The man moved to tilt his head and smile at Yin Weijing, but his body froze as he was tilting his head. He shakily lowered his head, his eyes landing on a hand that was buried in his chest. He moved his gaze upwards, following the hand to Liang Chen, who was simply looking at him with a disinterested, if somewhat angry expression.
Liang Chen drew back his arm, pulling an orchid out from the man's chest, killing him in the process. The orchid was orange in color and had about five leaves on it, each of them releasing a small amount of heat. This was the Tiger Orchid of the man, it was the same as Liang Chen's Dragon Lotus or Yan Ling's Ascended Tower. Liang Chen looked at the orchid for a bit before clicking his tongue.
"Not of the wind element, what a shame."
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He stored the orchid into his interspatial ring, saving it for later. This Tiger Orchid was created using the fire element so it wasn't the most useful to Liang Chen or Yan Ling, but they could still use their Chaos King technique on it to strengthen their Qi cultivation. Liang Chen moved his gaze slightly, his eyes landing on the two other people. They would have killed him if he was weak and refused to hand over everything he owned so he would not have any mercy on them.
They let out horrified screams and tried to flee, but it was already too late. Liang Chen dug his hand into their chest and pulled out their Tiger Orchids, checking if they were of any use to him creating his next Dragon Lotus. One of them had a Tiger Orchid made using the water element while the other was made using the metal element. The one with the water element would be very useful for Yan Ling, but the one with the metal element was only useful for the Chaos King technique.
Liang Chen took the interspatial rings of the three people and then used his poison to dissolve their bodies, leaving only a small bloody puddle behind. Since he had already taken their Tiger Orchids, the rest of their body was useless to him. Looking at the scene, Yin Weijing couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.
When he had seen Liang Chen previously, while he might have seemed a bit distant he would also crack a few jokes and tease Yan Ling a little, he was a somewhat warm person. He was quite different from how he was now, quiet and cold, his gaze alone enough to instill fear in people. Yin Weijing didn't say it out loud, but he swore to himself that in the future, he would only be around Liang Chen as long as Yan Ling was there as well. She clearly calmed him down, serving as an anchor that stopped him from acting like he was right now.
Liang Chen cast a sideways glance at Yin Weijing after he finished dissolving the bodies, Yin Weijing quickly understanding what he had to do. He led Liang Chen into the market and showed him around to the various shop, pointing out the most affordable ones as well as the ones with the best stock.
Liang Chen picked up two jugs of Demonic beast blood that had come from a Cloud Swallower, an eel-type Demonic beast with the wind element. He also looked for any bloodlines that might be of use to Yan Ling, but he didn't find any so he decided to leave the market. He had bought what he could, now it was time to finish the 10 battles and ascend to the second floor.
Yin Weijing continued to follow him, doing his best to chat in a cheerful and casual manner, telling Liang Chen as much as he knew about the towers. Before long, the two reached the arena closest to the tower entrance, the same one where they had to fight a group battle right after entering the tower.
The seats around the stage were mostly full, a battle between two women currently taking place. Liang Chen walked up to the side of the stage, casually observing the battle while waiting for it to finish. Here on these lower floors, one could just enter the arena and fight whenever they wished, but on the higher floors, one had to actually schedule their fights by sending out challenges. You could reject a total of five challenges per floor, but after rejecting your fifth you had to take part in all the subsequent ones. Because of this, it was important to know when to reject a challenge and when to admit defeat during the battle and flee.
The battle was rather evenly matched, so it took a little over an hour for it to actually finish. The moment it ended, Liang Chen stepped onto the stage, a graceful blue-haired female from the Undead race stepping onto the stage to serve as a commentator.
"Our next combatant is the one known as Scourge King, I wonder what sort of battle he will show us here today! Do you have anyone specific you want to challenge?"
Liang Chen winced slightly when he heard what she called him, quietly deciding to tease Yan Ling a bit later on for signing him up with that name. He swept the seats around the stage, shrugging his shoulders lightly as he responded.
"No one specific I want to challenge. Anyone is free to come up, but I would prefer if 10 people came up at once, I want to leave this floor as fast as possible."
The commentator and the audience were rather caught off guard by Liang Chen's statement, raising a slight commotion. Fighting all 10 battles needed to ascend to the next floor at once? And not even one by one, but all at once? Was this not a bit too arrogant? Of course, there were one or two among the audience who remembered what Liang Chen had done the moment he entered the tower. These people simply leaned back in their seats, preparing for a show.
Liang Chen's statement served its purpose, a few people standing up from their seats and heading to the stage. Some of them stepped onto the stage because they were confident in their strength, some did it because they wanted to know Liang Chen down a peg, and some only stepped up because they were caught up in the atmosphere. The commentator looked at the people stepping onto the stage, shaking her head slightly before stepping down from the stage.
"You asked for it, so there is nothing I can do to help you. I hope you are strong enough to back up your arrogance."
Liang Chen didn't respond, he merely swept the people who stepped onto the stage with a calm gaze. Their cultivations ranged from the late stage of the Ascended Tower realm to the middle stage of the Heaven's Gate realm, with none of them being very noteworthy. He wondered why those with cultivations lower than his even bothered to step onto the stage, but since they made the choice, there was nothing he could do. After a 17th person stepped onto the stage, no one else stood up and entered the stage, so Liang Chen spoke up.
"Can we start?"
The 17 people facing him flared up slightly after hearing his casual question, convinced that he didn't even put any of them in his eyes. They quickly nodded their heads and drew their weapons, each of them bursting forth with power and bloodlust.
But the moment they nodded their heads, Liang Chen had already made his move. He stepped forward and turned into a blur, arcs of emerald lightning trailing in his wake and causing the air to distort from heat. He pulled out his spear and gathered his three different energies at the tip, sending out a sideways slash with a quiet mutter.
"First step shatters the body."
The lightning and poison gathered at the tip of the spear were unleashed, turning into a thin line that changed between emerald and violet in color. The line cut cleanly through the 17 people, passing through their chests where their hearts would be. The four people from the Fiendgod race were quite a bit taller, so the attack only ended up separating their torsos from their lower body.
But with the lightning and poison wreaking havoc on their innards, even their vast amount of lifeforce wasn't enough to save them, death swiftly overtaking them. Liang Chen wasn't a bragger, but he was confident that with his current strength he might even be able to put up a good fight against someone at the early stage of the Soaring Immortal realm. This was the blessing that a strong bloodline gave you, strength far greater than you should have.
Liang Chen waved his hand and stored the corpses and their interspatial rings into his own, turning his gaze onto the commentator. She needed a second to regain her wits after seeing the unexpected scene, but then she quickly stepped onto the stage again and walked over to Liang Chen's side.
"What an overwhelming show of power! It seems like Scourge King really had the right to speak those arrogant words! Congratulations, with that you have earned the right to move on to the second floor. You may head over to the center of this floor whenever you want, from there you will be brought to the second floor."
Liang Chen nodded his head and started stepping down from the stage. He had completed his fights, but now he had to see if Yan Ling had already taken part in her fights. If she hadn't, he could accompany her to the arena and observe her fights. That was his plan, but a voice called out to him when he stepped down from the stage.
"Boo! Couldn' you have spent a bit longer on that? You're gonna make me feel bad for having to spend a few minutes on my fights."
Liang Chen turned his head to the side, spotting Yan Ling making her way down from the seats in the arena, her cheeks slightly puffed out as she pouted. Her words made it clear that she had already finished her fights somewhere else, likely while Liang Chen was waiting for the previous battle to finish. Seeing her pouting face, and seeing a chance for revenge, his lips curled into a smirk when she walked over to him.
"Is that jealousy I hear? Are you jealous that I completed my fights faster than you? Are you, are you?"
Yan Ling's cheeks puffed out further when she saw his smirk and heard how pleased his voice was. She stretched out her arm and pointed at him, opening her mouth to retort, but this was the chance that Liang Chen had waited for. In front of everyone currently in the arena, he grabbed onto her outstretched arm and pulled her close, planting a kiss on her lips.
She enjoyed it for a short second, but upon remembering that everyone in the arena could see them she turned as red as a beet, even her ears turning red. She quickly pulled back and was once again faced with Liang Chen's smirk.
"That's what you get for signing me u...!"
Before Liang Chen got to finish his sentence, he was struck by Yan Ling. She hit him over the head, using her law of wind to increase the speed of her fists as she launched a barrage of hits, each one hitting Liang Chen over the head.
"Trying to take advantage of me, are you? Just you wait until we get back to the sect and I tell father and Big Brother about this!"
Her face was still completely red, so it was clear that she was trying to cover up her embarrassment. Yin Weijing was standing a short distance away, the corners of his mouth twitching as he looked at the scene. The image of this Liang Chen, with his teasing smirk and somewhat warm atmosphere, was simply too different from how quiet and cold he was when he was alone.
Yan Ling continued to wail on Liang Chen to hide her embarrassment, but each hit was accompanied by a bit of her law of water, so even if one of her hits ended up actually wounding or hurting him, this law of water would immediately heal it. Liang Chen didn't retaliate to the barrage of hits, chuckling lightly and just enjoying the presence of Yan Ling.