Is It Wrong to Bully the Novice Village for System Rewards?

Chapter 248: To Go Up or Not, That Is the Question

As the solitary figure within the Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower continued his relentless ascent, butchering one Asura Formation Spirit after another, the atmosphere outside the tower completely solidified. The air grew suffocatingly silent.

Countless Demonic Cultivators held their breath, their eyes glued to the projection mirrors in the sky.

At this point, everything else ceased to matter. A single, burning question consumed the crowd: could this madman actually reach the absolute summit?

For tens of thousands of years, a legend had echoed through the sect. It was said that whoever conquered the 999th floor of the Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower would unlock a peerless, world-shaking inheritance!

Now, a living person was within arm’s reach of that myth. How could their blood not boil with anticipation? Even putting the temptation of the inheritance aside, just witnessing this once-in-a-millennium spectacle was worth dying for.

High above the clouds, Sect Leader Shen Honglian narrowed her phoenix eyes. She turned toward Xu Wanchuan, the Internal Affairs Hall Master standing beside her, and asked in a low, resonant voice, “Hall Master Xu, you have always been a man of vast knowledge. What is your assessment of the current situation?”

Xu Wanchuan knew exactly what she was really asking. He hurriedly bowed at the waist, answering with utmost reverence.

“Reporting to the Sect Leader. This subordinate believes that while this Big Qi possesses monstrous, heaven-defying talent, it is still physically impossible for him to reach the summit.”

“According to our oldest archives, the 999th floor seals an Asura King at the Great Ascension realm. Even completely stripped of Spiritual Energy, a Great Ascension powerhouse is not something a mere body cultivator can challenge.”

“Furthermore, an Asura King represents the absolute pinnacle of their battle-crazed race. Its physical vessel far eclipses that of an ordinary Great Ascension cultivator. Calling its body the apex of this world would not be an exaggeration.”

“The disparity between them is an unbridgeable chasm. If he does not withdraw immediately, the moment he steps onto the 999th floor, he will undoubtedly perish!”

The surrounding upper echelon of the Nether Fiend Sect nodded in solemn agreement.

“Hall Master Xu speaks the truth. For this kid to have persisted this long is already shocking enough to rewrite history.”

“If he survives, he is absolutely a flawless seedling. I only hope he understands when to retreat. Otherwise, he will only perish in vain.”

“A pity… No one can interfere with the trial. Otherwise, this old man would gladly drag him out by the collar.”

“His life or death is entirely in his own hands now. Let us hope he isn’t blinded by hubris.”

“The world is drowning in dead prodigies. A genius who doesn’t live to mature is just fertilizer. If this boy really throws his life away in the tower, it’s his own damn fault. Nothing to mourn over.”

These high-ranking Elders were ancient monsters who had survived countless bloodbaths. Their hearts were forged of cold iron. Sparing a few sighs of pity was the absolute limit of their empathy; none of them actually felt a shred of genuine worry for a disciple.

Hidden in the crowd, the backer of the massive betting pool was practically foaming at the mouth, secretly cursing Big Qi to die faster so the house could recoup its astronomical losses.

In the Nether Fiend Sect, only the strong had the right to breathe. The strong could be notorious, thousand-year-old demons or peerless young prodigies with boundless futures—but “the strong” never included corpses.

Listening to the cold-blooded chatter, Shen Xingxuan furrowed her delicate brows. Her pretty face was a complicated knot of anxiety and lingering resentment.

After a moment of hesitation, she bit her lip and transmitted a message to an older uncle from the Shen family standing nearby.

“Uncle, didn’t the Asura race go extinct eons ago? How could an Asura King appear inside The Saint Sect’s Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower?”

The elder gave her a sidelong glance, his voice echoing quietly in her mind.

“Xuan’er, there is much you do not know. The Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower was originally called the Asura Battle Tower. During the Primordial World era, it was a supreme artifact used by the Asura race to temper their young warriors.”

“Our founding Patriarch stumbled upon an ancient Asura ruin and claimed this tower. He brought it back to The Saint Sect and rebranded it as the Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower.”

“Though the Asura race is long dead, the tower still binds the souls of ancient Asuras and various other terrifying alien races, weaponizing them as Formation Spirits to test challengers.”

“As for that ‘heaven-defying inheritance,’ it’s likely just an exaggerated myth. Even if it exists, human Cultivators cannot use Asura arts. Put it out of your mind.”

Shen Xingxuan nodded, forcibly suppressing the chaotic twist in her gut.

There’s an old saying that a plague lasts a thousand years, she thought bitterly. That scoundrel Big Qi is too evil to die this easily, right?

……

Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower. Floor 998.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Following a series of deafening, thunderous impacts, a colossal three-headed, nine-armed Asura crashed to the stone floor with a furious howl. All three of its grotesque faces simultaneously vomited streams of black blood, clearly pushed to the brink of death.

THUD!

Before the monstrosity could even attempt to rise, a figure descended from the air like a crashing meteor, planting a blood-soaked boot squarely onto its massive chest.

“Go back to hell!”

With a vicious, glacial snarl, Qi Yuan’s eyes flashed with pure savagery. He drove his weight downward, viciously stomping the massive beast back into the floorboards.

In the next fraction of a second, Qi Yuan unleashed three consecutive, blindingly fast palm strikes. His hands blurred like the descending claws of a furious dragon, slamming brutally into the Asura’s three hideous heads.

Baji: King of Hell’s Three-Point Strike!

SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH!

Like three overripe watermelons caught under a sledgehammer, the Asura’s three heads violently detonated. The beast dissolved into a thick mist of blood before fading into nothingness.

Only after confirming the kill did Qi Yuan manually deactivate his third-stage Blood-Burning state. Instantly, his terrifying, tyrannical aura evaporated, replaced by a wave of crushing lethargy that left him swaying on his feet.

He was deathly pale and gasping for air. The jade crown binding his hair had long been shattered, leaving his hair a messy, sweat-drenched tangle. His tattered robes were painted with heavy speckles of blood, radiating a cloying, metallic stench.

“Hoo…”

The base stats of that 998th-floor Formation Spirit had been absolutely psychotic. Qi Yuan had to burn through nearly his entire bag of tricks just to put it down, eating several nasty blows in the process. He was running on fumes.

Even though his blood was still singing with the frenzied high of combat, his rational mind understood one cold, undeniable fact:

If I keep fighting… I am actually going to die.

Staring up at the towering, shadow-drenched staircase leading to the final floor, Qi Yuan unconsciously licked his dry, cracked lips.

One flight of stairs. That was all that separated him from the absolute summit of the Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower. One flight of stairs, and he would be face-to-face with a Great Ascension entity.

To go up, or not to go up… that was the question.