The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron

“Ten days later, all challengers will be transported to the first story. When we are reuniting, we need to make sure we make the best of our crystals and enhance the overall benefits of the faction,” Bing Wuxin reiterated.

“One final question.” Su Yu rubbed his chin. “How does the capacity of one story master differ from the other?”

Deceleration of time was a condition that added to the increased difficulty as one traversed up the martial tower. The capacities of the story masters could be a possible factor too.

“Great question,” Bing Wuxin said in praise.

Su Yu was all ears, and the other students of the inner sanctum pricked up their ears to listen as well.

“But I have no idea either.”

Su Yu was lost for words.

After a pause, Bing Wuxin said, “After all, these are the bits and pieces of information overheard from the conversations of the foreign influences. It’s already a blessing that we have this much about the martial tower. What are you people still unsatisfied with?”

“Ha, you could just admit that you aren’t good at communicating with people. It’s a simple thing, but you made it difficult.”

Bing Wuxin laughed grimly. “You really think it’s as easy as you imagine? The foreign influences are on guard for the Blessed and Heavenly Lands. Putting aside our rivals from far away, the Heavenly Knife Region, the Heaven’s Craftsmen Region, and the Central Prefecture are also guarding against us like we are thieves.”

“The factions whose base is closer to us are also wary. The Purple Cloud Palace won’t even unite with us despite being in the same prefecture as we are. They understand the martial tower far better than we do, but have they offered us even a tiny bit of information? The things that I told you were all overheard stealthily. If we were honest about it, no one would give us even the slightest bit of information.”

Su Yu shook his head in disbelief. “Is that true? Let me give it a try!”

“You? Time is running out. It won’t be easy regardless of which faction you eavesdrop on.” Bing Wuxin was totally skeptical that Su Yu could obtain any more information about the martial tower. No influences with any sense would present their enemies with exclusive information at this crucial juncture. Would they?

“Who told you I’m going to eavesdrop on them?” Su Yu laughed and flew to the top of the martial tower.

As the vast majority of people had their eyes fixed on the entrance at the first story, Su Yu’s action was particularly conspicuous.

“Brothers and sisters, I am Su Yuxian, a student of the Red Blood Palace of the Blessed and Heavenly Lands. I hereby ask for your generosity in enlightening me as to the details of the martial tower. If you know anything, please kindly inform me,” Su Yu said in a pompous way.

The people were stunned for a moment. Shortly after, they all stared at Su Yu as is he was a complete idiot.

“What a madman!”

“If I tell you anything, you can call me a fool!”

“What a joke, anyone who tells you must be absurdly free…”

Bing Wuxin and the other students of the inner sanctum were flushed with embarrassment.

Holy cr*p, what an embarrassment he is!

They felt compelled to finish Su Yu off with a swing of the sword and sever all ties with him.

“For sure, I won’t let your kindness go to waste. Here’s a scarf that belonged to Miss Dongfang. If the answers you provide satisfy me, this will be gifted to you.” Su Yu actually took a scarf from his sleeve.

The disdainful expressions on the people’s faces changed drastically. Red-hot passion, subtle interest, and earnest longing were palpable in their eyes.

Dongfang Tianfeng touched the scarf that she still had in her arms in total bewilderment. She stood dumbfounded in the crowd.

“When… when did I ever give you my scarf?” Miss Dongfang obviously wasn’t happy being used by someone else.

Su Yu flashed a smile at her. “Have you forgotten, Miss Dongfang? After we had fun last night, you used this scarf to clean your sweat and left it behind.”

Dongfang Tianfeng was startled. Hold on, what does he mean by having fun?

Just as she was about to argue, she saw the looks of understanding on the faces of challengers near the martial tower.

You have confessed to it twice yourself, so what’s so strange about giving away a scarf?

When they heard that it was most likely a scarf which carried Miss Dongfang’s scent because she had used it to clean her body, some people couldn’t keep their cool any longer.

“Haha, details about the martial tower aren’t a secret after all. Brother Su, let me tell you all about it!” A seventh-grade Almighty man, who had a pockmarked face and dressed like a beggar, sniggered.

“Toad Wen, you are no match for me when it comes to knowledge and wisdom! Let me deal with important matters like imparting knowledge and enlightening the world!”

“Shameless! How can filthy people like you shoulder such monumental, mighty missions? Brother Su, that original-scented scarf, erhem, oh, I mean that scarf, I somehow feel beckoned by the great laws of the world from it.”

“Perhaps we can get a glimpse of the profound meanings of the world from the scarf, and accomplish supreme mighty deeds on the Martial Path! Brother Su, I hope to gain your support for my tenacious, dauntless conviction in treading the Martial Path!”

…….

Seeing the notion of acceptable behavior that people had being continuously lowered was fascinating.

With great ease, Su Yu acquired a large amount of information regarding the martial tower and gained an even more profound insight than most of the individual influences had.

Finally, the scarf was won by a young man who had the justice of the world in his heart. The popular scarf of the Heavenly Laws had an owner now.

“Where did you get that scarf? It looks kind of familiar!” Bing Wuxin was staring at it.

Su Yu shrugged. “Of course you find it familiar. Wasn’t it the cloth I used to clean my feet with?”

Bing Wuxin was speechless.

“Anyways, I have learned a great deal about the martial tower by now, which is more or less similar to what you’ve told us. But there are a few important pieces of information which you don’t know.” Su Yu did not hold back in informing them of what he had learned. “First, the story masters of all levels have the same power!”

Upon hearing that, Bing Wuxin was very surprised. “How is that possible? If the story masters have the same capacity, what’s the difference in the first 30 stories?”

“With the same story master, the same time distortion, and the same level of difficulty, there is no difference in passing one story and passing 30 stories. You might as well combine them into a single level.”

“Here comes the second important message: the time constraint. For the 30 stories of the same level, the higher you progress, the stricter the time constraint to defeat the story master!”

“For instance, you have to defeat the story master of the first story within an hour, but for the second story, you only get three-quarters of an hour to do so, and half an hour for the third story. It goes on in a similar fashion. When you get to the 30th story, you most probably have to kill within seconds. This is where the difficult part of the martial tower lies!”

Bing Wuxin grew grave. “In that case, we have been too optimistic. The 30 stories are in fact, a watershed moment.”

Su Yu nodded. “Yes, and there’s another thing that we have to be cautious about. The martial tower cannot defend against the disasters of books and martial arts. As well as negotiating the levels, we probably have to endure the disasters.”

The inner sanctum students had deep frowns on their faces. Holy sh*t, this is a hundred times tougher than we imagined!

If they had expected to pass with a score of 60, now their expectations had been lowered to 16!

“That’s all about the detailed information,” Su Yu said as he stood up, “The conditions are really onerous and harsh. So, we go, my brothers and sisters!”

….

After the information he had been able to give them, Su Yu’s image had undergone a tremendous improvement in the eyes of the inner sanctum students. They looked at him in a brand new way now.

“Befriending two starry sky elites in a single day, tsk tsk, we can only be envious and jealous of Junior Brother Su’s popularity!”

“In my opinion, however, Junior Brother Su really has promulgated the spirit of Zhongyao Wushang this time, by owning the second eldest daughter of the Great Oriental Family by force. His heroic feat did not let Wushang down, and he should be the perfect role model of the numerous brothers of the Red Blood Palace!”

“Apart from that, he is a quick-witted, clever person, who is great at using the strategy of spreading a wide net to maximize his chances of catching fish. We should all emulate his example!”

“Within the faction, he has Bing Wuxin. On the outside, he has Dongang Tianfeng. He’s entitled to great bliss both on the inside and the outside. Such an efficacious strategy is worth being disseminated and widely practiced.”

“I agree!”

“Bullsh*t!” The female students were flushed with anger at their previous unjust remarks and treatment of Su Yu. “Our junior brother is a man of countless strengths, immeasurable charisma, and magnificence! Why did you guys make such deplorable comments about him?”

“Tell me, are you guys spies sent by the opponents?”

The male students were nonplussed. Did they mean the magnificence of the original-scented scarf?