Chapter 79: A Bond of Fate, But Not Much of One

“Immortal fate? Treasure Tower? Enter and you’ll receive an opportunity? How absurd. Do they take all cultivators for fools?”

Looking at the dark-green wooden tower before him, with three sheets of white paper pasted to it, Qi Yuan could not help laughing.

He did not believe a single word written on those scraps of paper.

Out in the wilderness, a so-called wooden tower that could bestow opportunities had appeared for no reason. Nine times out of ten, it was using that pretext to harm cultivators.

As for the remaining possibility, perhaps there really was a little opportunity inside, but it would usually demand an enormous price, one ordinary people could not bear.

It was just like those unofficial histories and storybooks. If one or several lovely beauties appeared in some ancient temple in the barren mountains, they were definitely either female ghosts or fox demons, without exception.

Qi Yuan could imagine it clearly. If he believed the words on these scraps of paper and entered the wooden tower for the sake of some so-called opportunity, the only thing waiting for him would be death and the scattering of his Dao.

Either some strange demonic beast would devour his flesh, blood, and soul, or an evil cultivator would refine him into a vicious ritual implement or pill.

He shook his head with a light laugh, closed his eyes, gripped the few remaining attack talismans in his hand, and leaned against the trunk of a peach tree.

Time passed. More and more cracks appeared on his cheeks and neck, and the fleshy sprouts reaching out from within them kept licking at him.

The places they licked were coated in a slippery fluid that seeped into his skin, forming new, tiny cracks.

Qi Yuan felt an unbearable itch all over his body. Fleshy sprouts kept breaking through his skin from within his flesh, and his entire head was almost occupied by them.

With nothing restraining them, the fleshy sprouts grew smoothly and rapidly. The earliest ones had even developed into thin little tentacles.

Unable to hold back, Qi Yuan scraped a hand across his face, tearing off a large handful of fleshy sprouts. One small, dark pit after another appeared on his face.

“Ah…”

Under the intense pain, Qi Yuan could not help letting out a pained roar. What little consciousness he had left was extremely clear. If he still could not find a way to eliminate these fleshy sprouts soon, he would quickly enter a state of Aberration.

He turned his head and looked at the wooden tower not far away, only about a zhang tall. His resolve to die was already set.

Rather than let these fleshy sprouts continue spreading and developing, he might as well enter the wooden tower. Perhaps it could end everything at once and spare him some pain.

At that thought, he dragged his badly wounded body to the front of the wooden tower.

As though sensing his approach, a door silently appeared on the tower’s surface.

The door opened, as if welcoming him inside.

With a head covered in fleshy sprouts, Qi Yuan endured the sharp pain coming from every part of his body and slowly entered the tower.

The instant kill he had expected upon entering did not happen. On the contrary, the inside of the tower was peaceful and quiet. Qi Yuan even felt that the fleshy sprouts on his head had become much more obedient.

He did not know what material the wooden tower’s interior was made of. Stepping on it felt solid beneath his feet, yet it also seemed as though he stood in a vast, empty space.

Only the large expanse of constantly flowing radiance overhead reminded Qi Yuan of where he was.

Looking as far as he could, he saw all kinds of treasures within the radiance.

Spiritual herbs, talismans, ritual implements, jade slips…

Qi Yuan seemed to catch several lumps of golden material flashing past as well. They moved so quickly that he could not make out their details. He could only vaguely sense the astonishing spiritual power upon them.

If only he could obtain one or two of them.

Just as Qi Yuan’s thoughts began to wander, a beam of white light drilled out from the radiance and flew toward him.

Behind that white light, two more followed. The three beams of white light rapidly approached in a triangular formation.

Before Qi Yuan could react, the three beams struck him. Immediately afterward, he found himself outside the wooden tower.

“What is this?”

Qi Yuan looked at the three objects that had appeared in his hand, disbelief in his eyes.

One was a first-rank Evil-Repelling Talisman, capable of expelling and purifying weird entities. One was a first-rank Nourishing Origin Pill, capable of rapidly promoting wound healing and recovering injuries.

The last was a cultivation method jade slip, Giant Ape Transformation. With a brief sweep of his spiritual sense, Qi Yuan knew that this cultivation method was of excellent quality, far better than the several cultivation methods he practiced.

Qi Yuan was overjoyed. He had not expected the so-called opportunity advertised on the wooden tower to actually be real!

Not only had he not died inside, he had instead obtained the Purification Talisman and healing pill he needed most. The desperate situation he was in had been resolved by more than half in an instant.

Without the slightest hesitation, he forcefully crushed the Evil-Repelling Talisman in his hand. A soft white glow fell over his cheeks and neck.

As the white light swept past, the arrogant fleshy sprouts on his cheeks instantly withered and retreated back into Qi Yuan’s body.

“The Aberration on my body is finally under initial control. There is no longer any danger of Aberration.”

“Although I’ll still have to return to Cangxing City to resolve the root problem, at least I no longer have to worry about my life.”

Sensing the changes on his cheeks and neck, Qi Yuan let out a long breath. His heart relaxed a great deal.

After using the Evil-Repelling Talisman to purify the fleshy sprouts on his face, he immediately took the Nourishing Origin Pill bestowed by the wooden tower.

The Nourishing Origin Pill’s effect was astonishing. Not long after he took it, his wounds gradually closed, forming an enormous scar.

Once his injuries had eased, Qi Yuan immediately went to the front of the wooden tower and knelt on both knees.

“Thank you, Senior, for saving my life!”

When he entered this peach blossom forest, his injuries had been severe, a Aberration had invaded him, and his life had been hanging by a thread.

Under those circumstances, he had entered the wooden tower with a resolve to die. Yet he had never expected light to appear at the end of the tunnel. Not only had he suffered no harm inside the wooden tower, he had instead received an enormous opportunity.

Because of this, his heart was filled with gratitude toward the Treasure-Seeking Tower and the existence behind it.

After kneeling for a long while, Qi Yuan stood up and carefully examined the dark-green wooden tower.

At this moment, the entire wooden tower was sealed tight, as if the door from before had never appeared at all.

Qi Yuan circled the wooden tower once but found no trace of its entrance.

Seeing that the wooden tower remained tightly closed, he understood in his heart that the opportunity had already arrived and that he could not enter it again.

Although he already knew that the wooden tower contained a great number of treasures, Qi Yuan had no other thoughts.

First, he had his own principles. Although his cultivation level was not high, the wooden tower had just saved his life. He could not do something as ungrateful as repaying kindness with enmity.

Second, the objective facts lay plainly before him. The tower possessed so many treasures, dared to place them in the wilderness, and openly displayed them before cultivators. That meant there was powerful strength supporting the wooden tower from behind. It was not something a Qi Refining cultivator like him could covet.

He continued waiting for over two hours. Seeing that the wooden tower showed no further movement, he stood, bowed deeply to the wooden tower in thanks, then turned and left without hesitation.

Lu Yuan’s divine sense watched everything that happened to Qi Yuan, and he felt a bit of admiration.

“Unfortunately, you have your principles, and I have mine…”

“You have a bond of fate with the cave abode, but not much of one…”

“The rewards you brought were still decent, but the opportunity I bestow has its own standard of measure. Your reward naturally corresponds to an opportunity of the appropriate level.

“As for wanting more opportunities, that’s absolutely impossible.”

“Getting something for nothing makes people happy. Paying a price only adds worries…”

“This bond of fate is now over. We’ll meet again if fate allows.”

Lu Yuan watched Qi Yuan quickly leave the cave abode and sighed inwardly.

Next Chapter >