Chapter 7: The Opening Ceremony and the Tower's Silent Judgement
The resonance of the Ancient Bell still vibrated in the bones of every cultivator in the Alliance City. As the dust settled in the Pavilion Plaza, the atmosphere shifted from blatant mockery to a thick, suffocating tension. Tian Mo walked through the crowds, his students following in a wake of silence. The common cultivators parted like a sea of grass before a predator, but the glares from the elite academies—those from Tier-1 Empires—had turned from laughter to cold, calculated hostility.
Registration was no longer an issue. The 4-Star Elders themselves had personally escorted Tian Mo to the VIP guest house, though "VIP" was a loose term. The Hung Kingdom, despite Tian Mo's display, was still ranked at the bottom. Their assigned seating for the Opening Ceremony was at the very edge of the stadium, a place where the wind whistled and the view of the main stage was obscured by massive stone pillars.
"Master, they are still treating us like afterthoughts," Li Feng muttered, his eyes scanning the central arena where the geniuses of the Serene Cloud Empire and the Blue Frost Kingdom were being showered with flower petals and cheers.
Tian Mo sat on a simple stone bench, his posture straight, his eyes fixed on the distant horizon. "The higher you sit, the more painful the fall. Let them have their petals, Li Feng. We are here for the roots."
The Grand Arena
The Myriad Kingdom Tournament was held in the Coliseum of the Heavens, a structure so vast it could hold half a million people. At the center sat the Alliance Leader, Zhao Feng, a man whose cultivation was rumored to be at the peak of the Saint Sovereign Realm.
As the ceremony began, the announcer—a 4-Star Supreme Teacher named Teacher Mo from the Serene Cloud Empire—stepped forward. His voice, amplified by a formation, boomed across the stands.
"Welcome, geniuses of the twenty kingdoms! Today, we do not just test your strength; we test your foundation! Many claim to be masters, many claim to be prodigies, but the Tower of Trials will strip away your masks!"
Teacher Mo's gaze drifted toward the corner where the Hung Kingdom delegation sat. A sneer touched his lips. "I see even the smallest ponds have sent their 'fish' this year. I hope the Hung Kingdom's students can last more than ten seconds before the pressure crushes their meridians."
The stadium erupted in laughter. Li Feng's knuckles turned white as he gripped his spear, and Princess Ling'er's Lightning Lizard sparked aggressively.
Tian Mo finally spoke, his voice low but carrying a strange weight. "Li Feng, Ling'er. Step forward."
They knelt before him.
"The Tower of Trials uses 'Gravity and Soul Pressure' to measure a cultivator's flaws," Tian Mo said, his eyes glowing with a faint golden light. "Most will fight the pressure. They will use their Qi like a shield, wasting energy until they break. I want you to do the opposite."
Tian Mo leaned in, whispering the Heaven's Path Breath: Void Phase. "Do not resist. Let the pressure enter your body. Use your pores to swallow it. Imagine the tower is not a weight, but a teacher, pushing the impurities out of your blood. The higher the pressure, the purer your gold."
The First Round: The Tower of Trials
The Tower of Trials was a 100-story pagoda made of 'Obsidian Spirit Stone.' Each floor increased the gravity by twofold and the mental pressure by fivefold. To pass the first round, a student had to reach the 30th floor. To be considered a genius, the 50th.
"The trial begins!" Teacher Mo shouted.
Hundreds of students from twenty kingdoms rushed into the base of the tower. Among them was the Prince of the Blue Frost Kingdom, the same Prince Xuan Tian Mo had encountered on the road. He had been stabilized by royal physicians, but his face was still pale. He cast a murderous glance at Li Feng before disappearing into the tower's entrance.
Outside, a massive 'Formation Screen' showed the progress of the students as glowing dots.
"Look! Prince Xuan is already at the 10th floor! It's only been thirty seconds!"
"The geniuses of the Serene Cloud Empire are at the 15th! Incredible foundation!"
At the very bottom of the screen, two dots were moving with agonizing slowness. They were barely at the 2nd floor.
"Hahaha! Look at the Hung Kingdom! Are they crawling?"
"Maybe they are looking for lost coins on the floor!"
Teacher Mo laughed from the announcer's podium. "Teacher Tian Mo, perhaps you should have taught your students how to walk before you taught them how to ring bells."
Tian Mo didn't respond. He was watching the screen with a calm intensity.
[DING!]
[Divine Library: Monitoring Disciples...]
[Li Feng: Impurity Cleansing at 45%... Qi Density increasing...]
[Ling'er: Saint Physique Awakening... 12%...]
Inside the tower, the air was thick enough to suffocate a beast. At the 30th floor, students were already collapsing, their noses bleeding as their Qi shields shattered.
Li Feng and Ling'er were walking side by side. To the observers outside, they looked slow. But inside, they were in a state of 'Perfect Resonance.' Every step they took, the crushing gravity hit their skin and was immediately absorbed into their meridians, acting like a hammer on a forge.
Floor 40... Floor 45...
Suddenly, the 'slow' dots began to accelerate.
"Wait... what's happening?" an Elder shouted. "The two dots from Hung... they just jumped five floors in ten seconds!"
In the tower, Prince Xuan was struggling at the 48th floor. His knees were shaking, his teeth gritted. He looked back, expecting to see a void. Instead, he saw Li Feng.
Li Feng wasn't sweating. He wasn't panting. He looked like he was taking a stroll in a royal garden.
"You... how?" Xuan gasped.
Li Feng didn't even look at him. He simply walked past, the wind of his movement nearly knocking the Prince over.
The Record Breaker
Floor 50. The 'Genius Line.'
One by one, the top disciples of the Tier-1 Empires stopped. Their bodies could no longer handle the weight. They sat down to meditate, their faces pale.
Then came the two students from the Hung Kingdom.
They passed the 50th floor without stopping.
55... 60... 65...
The stadium fell into a deathly silence. Even the Alliance Leader, Zhao Feng, stood up from his throne, his eyes narrowed.
"Seventy floors..." Zhao Feng whispered. "Not even a 4-Star Supreme Teacher's personal disciple has reached the 70th floor in the first round in a century."
At the 80th floor, the obsidian walls were glowing with a violent purple light. The pressure here was enough to turn a common boulder into dust.
Ling'er stopped. Her Lightning Lizard was crackling with blue bolts, its eyes wide. She looked at Li Feng. "Brother, my body... it feels like it's becoming light."
"Master said this would happen," Li Feng replied, his voice calm despite the veins bulging in his neck. "The pressure has triggered your Saint Physique. Go on, Ling'er. Reach the peak."
Ling'er nodded. She took a step. Then another.
85... 90... 95...
At the 99th floor, the entire tower began to shake. A pillar of blue lightning shot out from the windows, circling the top of the pagoda.
Outside, the 'Formation Screen' flashed red.
[WARNING: FLOOR 100 REACHED.]
The stadium erupted in a cacophony of screams and gasps. Teacher Mo's microphone fell from his hand, clattering against the stone floor.
The doors at the very top of the tower—doors that hadn't been opened in three hundred years—swung wide.
Princess Ling'er stepped out onto the balcony of the 100th floor. She looked down at the half-million people below. Her veil had been blown away by the wind, revealing a face of such ethereal, cold beauty that the crowd forgot to breathe. Her aura was no longer 'gentle.' It was a cold, piercing storm of a Saint.
Tian Mo, sitting in the distant corner, finally allowed a small, satisfied smile to touch his lips. He picked up his tea, which was still warm.
"Not bad," he whispered. "But she still took three breaths too many on the 90th floor. I'll have to increase her gravity training tonight."
The General's Crisis
The celebration of the record was cut short by a frantic scream from the VIP stands.
"MY SON! HE'S NOT BREATHING!"
General Ba Yuan, the commander of the Alliance's Northern Armies, was holding his son, a young prodigy who had just been ejected from the 40th floor. The boy's skin was turning a mottled green, and his Qi was spiraling out of control, creating a miniature vortex around his body.
"Cultivation Deviation!" Teacher Mo shouted, trying to regain his dignity. "Quickly! All 4-Star Physicians, assist!"
Three high-ranking physicians rushed forward, casting spells and trying to force-feed the boy 'Soul-Stabilizing Pills.' But the moment the medicine touched the boy's lips, he vomited blood, and the green color spread to his heart.
"It's no use!" the Head Physician cried. "His meridians are knotted in a 'Devil's Loop'. If we touch him again, he'll explode!"
General Ba Yuan roared in grief, his power shaking the stadium. "SAVE HIM! I will give half my fortune to whoever saves my son!"
Tian Mo stood up. He didn't run. He walked with the grace of a scholar, descending from the stands. The crowd, now recognizing him as the master of the 'Tower Prodigies,' parted instantly.
"Move aside," Tian Mo said.
"You?" Teacher Mo sneered, though his voice lacked conviction. "This is a Devil's Loop! Even a 5-Star Physician—"
Tian Mo didn't even look at Mo. He looked at the boy.
[DING!]
[Divine Library: Target: General's Son.]
[Condition: Not Cultivation Deviation. True Cause: He ingested a 'Seven-Leaf Serpent Herb' before the trial to boost his stamina. The Tower's pressure reacted with the herb's hidden toxin, creating a 'False Knot'.]
[Flaw: The knot is a decoy. The real blockage is in the Sole of the Left Foot.]
Tian Mo reached out. He didn't use medicine. He didn't use needles.
He raised his foot and stomped hard on the boy's left heel.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the General roared, raising his fist to strike Tian Mo.
"Look," Tian Mo said.
A jet of green, foul-smelling gas shot out of the boy's mouth. The green veins on his chest vanished instantly. The boy gasped, his eyes fluttering open, the vortex of Qi dissolving into a calm breeze.
The General's fist stopped an inch from Tian Mo's face. He looked at his son, then at Tian Mo.
"The toxin was using his Qi as fuel," Tian Mo explained, his voice indifferent. "By striking the heel, I forced the gas out through the 'Gushing Spring' point. He'll be fine in an hour."
General Ba Yuan, a man who had led millions, fell to his knees in front of Tian Mo. "Master... I... I am a fool. You have saved my bloodline. Ask for anything! Anything!"
Tian Mo pulled the iron key from his sleeve. "I don't want your fortune, General. I want the Imperial Archives of the Alliance. I want the doors opened for me tonight. No questions asked."
The General nodded frantically. "Consider it done! I will personally guard the door while you study!"
Tian Mo turned back to his students, who had just returned from the tower. "Li Feng, Ling'er. Tonight, we go to the library. There is a specific 'Shadow' I need to find."
The eyes of the entire Myriad Kingdom Alliance were now fixed on the man from the Hung Kingdom. The trash teacher had become the most sought-after master in the world, and he hadn't even started the combat rounds.