Among those floating things, there were people with deathly pale faces who had jumped from buildings, and others who had fallen into the water, on the verge of drowning.

The expression of the one about to drown was agonizing, twisted to the point of inhumanity, perhaps due to the suddenness of the event, reflecting an extreme sense of regret.

Seeing our presence, his pupils suddenly dilated, and he stretched out a deathly white hand towards us, as if pleading for help.

Daxiong, being soft-hearted, immediately wanted to walk back, but before he could take two steps, the drowning man was sucked up into the bottomless pit above.

"This..." The hand Daxiong had extended was trembling.

Witnessing this scene truly unsettled me as well, but life and death are fated. Although we had a passing acquaintance with that person, we ultimately could not save him.

So, I patted Daxiong's shoulder and said, "So many people die every day in the world; you can't possibly save every single one, can you? Even if he fell into the water accidentally, that was still his fate."

Daxiong sighed, calmed himself for a moment, and then said, "Ah, you're right, but why would these people on the brink of death pass through here?"

I shook my head and replied, "I don't know, but I suspect there's only one possibility: that in our world, spatial-temporal rifts are distributed everywhere, or that these rifts are constantly moving. That's why people on trains, or those jumping from buildings, could possibly pass through a rift and end up here."

Daxiong then asked, "Then why do all these people specifically come here, instead of being transported somewhere else?"

I hesitated for a moment and said, "That, I truly don't know. Perhaps it has something to do with the nature of the Ghost Tower?"

Nie Chuan interrupted, "The nature of the Ghost Tower? What nature?"

I said, "Have you forgotten? The Ghost Tower doesn't actually exist; it's formed from human thought. I surmise that places like this easily become the terminus for these rifts."

Daxiong nodded, saying, "So that's how it is."

Nie Chuan, however, suggested, "But it’s also possible that the person who created the Ghost Tower needed these things to pass through here, or perhaps the creators of those rifts are the very architects of the Ghost Tower."

Hearing him say that, I agreed it made sense, but the ultimate purpose remained beyond our knowledge.

"Alright, stop thinking about it; let's move on," I urged, nudging Daxiong toward the stairs above, lest he see another person about to die, try to save them, and accidentally fall into danger himself.

Daxiong was a bit reluctant but was pushed by me onto the next flight of stairs.

As I urged him on, I said, "You aren't planning to stay here saving people all day, are you? You are a superman now. Once we get out, you can save many more living people, right?"

Daxiong always loved being flattered, so hearing this, he said proudly, "That's absolutely right, perfectly right! Haha, let's go."

But as we ascended the stairs and were about to lose sight of that floor, I glanced back one last time and let out a soft sigh.

When we reached the next floor up, we found the door tightly shut.

Listening closely against the door, the expressions of all three of us turned grim.

Because we heard the same clamor as on the first floor, this meant that this room, too, held some of the failures from the failed attempts at god-making.

These untreatable scraps, trapped in this place, immortal and unable to die, were constantly stewing here. Even if they weren't inherently dangerous figures, they must have been driven insane by the confinement.

A horde of such psychotics wielding magical power, upon suddenly seeing a few living souls enter, would surely tear them apart to eat them.

Even if they weren't eaten, they would undoubtedly devise every conceivable way to torment us to death.

In reality, there were many floors like this. When we observed the Ghost Tower from the outside, only a few floors were dark; the others were all floors teeming with demons and monsters.

At this point, I addressed the other two: "This Ghost Tower keeps climbing upward; who knows how many floors it has. Ancient texts claimed the Ghost Tower was so tall its peak was unreachable. If the Wind Power Immortal is located on the very top floor, we have no idea how many floors we'll have to climb and how many demons and monsters we’ll have to endure."

Nie Chuan spread his hands and said, "What choice do we have? We're already here. If we don't go up, is there another option?"

Daxiong also stated, "No matter how many floors there are, we'll fight until we get as high as we can, and perhaps that will grant liberation to these monsters."

I rolled my eyes at him and said, "Do you really think of yourself as a savior? Or a superman? These monsters are not as easy to deal with as you imagine."

Daxiong returned my look and countered, "Then you tell me, what do we do now?"

I was equally at a loss and fell silent for a moment.

Just then, the pagoda floating in the air suddenly lit up again, flickering in the darkness, seemingly indicating something to us.

The three of us hurriedly looked up at the pagoda, watching it slowly drift toward one side of the door.

We followed the pagoda in that direction, and in a moment, a wall stood before us.

We all froze, while the pagoda stopped near the wall, flickering without moving further.

Daxiong slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "I know! There must be a secret passage here!"

He walked up and knocked on it with his hand.

We heard a solid thud, indicating the wall was solid. For a wall like this, there was no need to search for mechanisms; there certainly couldn't be a secret passage.

Yet, Daxiong remained unconvinced and kicked the wall hard a couple of times, immediately yelping in pain and hopping around, clutching his leg.

I had no desire to mock Daxiong; I just stared at the pagoda above and asked, "What exactly do you mean?"

The pagoda flashed, then moved closer and closer to the wall, finally vanishing right into the structure.

All three of us started, thinking, How did that thing do that? Daxiong just kicked it twice, and the wall remained immovable. Now it looks like it’s made of water—you can pass through it as you please?

Before we could figure it out, the pagoda emerged from the wall again.

It went in and out several times like this, and finally, I perceived a pattern.

Because I noticed that every time the pagoda phased into the wall, it enveloped its entire body with Nenli ( - psychic energy).

Could it be that only by using Nenli can one pass through the secret entrance in this wall?

With this thought, I tried enveloping my entire body with Nenli and then reached out to touch the wall with my hand. Sure enough, this time my hand slipped into the wall as easily as if it were water, passing right through.

Daxiong and Nie Chuan were astonished, staring at me as if I had been somehow sliced apart.

I winked at them to show I was fine, then said, "I'll go in first to check and be right back."

With that, I pushed my entire body through the wall.

Upon entering the wall, the surroundings instantly turned pitch black. I tried to reach for my flashlight, but once I pulled it out, I couldn't ignite it at all.

Fortunately, the pagoda was floating ahead, bobbing along, preventing me from suffocating.

The pagoda led me forward about five or six meters, and then I found myself in a corridor. Dim, yellowish lamps were lit on both sides of this corridor—this must be the secret passage we were looking for.

This secret passage was separated from our previous location by a wall more than five meters thick, which is why when we knocked, it felt completely solid.

I assumed that only someone adept at enveloping their body in Nenli could control this passage now; the other two couldn't get in.

However, upon reflection, that didn't seem right. A wall over five meters thick shouldn't be an issue for the three of us.

So, disregarding what the pagoda intended, I gathered three layers of Nenli in my hand and blasted it toward the wall surface.

There was a loud boom, and the wall ruptured, creating a large hole with dust billowing everywhere.

When the dust settled, I saw Daxiong, covered head-to-toe in white dust, staring blankly at me from the other side of the breach.

He immediately started cursing, "You couldn't give a warning before blasting a hole in the wall? I had my ear pressed right up against it listening for you!"

I managed an apologetic smile and said, "My apologies. I know you’re upset, but now that we’ve found the secret passage, shouldn't we be happy?"

Hearing this, Daxiong grumbled, then snorted and crawled through the hole, sweeping his flashlight around.

Nie Chuan clambered up close behind him, and the two entered the secret passage one after the other.

Daxiong then complained, "Damn it, if it’s a secret passage, shouldn't there be a proper entrance for people to use? Burying it behind five meters of solid wall—what’s the point?"

I patted his shoulder and said, "This passage was designed for those who can skillfully use Nenli. You aren't within its intended parameters."

Daxiong was speechless for a moment, only managing a grunt.

I looked at the pagoda floating ahead and said, "But we also have to thank this pagoda. Otherwise, even knowing this wall-phasing technique, we never would have realized there was a secret passage behind five meters of solid wall."

The pagoda flickered, seemingly trying to communicate something to us, but communication between people and a pagoda remained difficult.

We observed the surroundings and found that the secret passage was generally normal, except that it was quite damp and carried an inexplicable stench.

Daxiong suddenly asked me, "Do you think those immortals and monsters need to excrete waste?"

I suddenly understood the implication of his question and replied, "Are you suggesting this is their sewer system?"

Nie Chuan covered his nose and said, "I think it’s possible."

I frowned slightly and replied, "It doesn't matter. The excrement of immortals is fragrant; maybe it even tastes good."

Daxiong gagged and said, "Stop talking! It's already disgusting enough!"

I gave an awkward smile and said, "Since that's the case, let's not hesitate any longer. Let's sprint at our fastest speed. The Ghost Tower may be high, but even the world's tallest building isn't a thousand meters. Even if the route is circular, it won't exceed ten kilometers. Running ten kilometers now would take an hour at most. We can just endure it until we get through."

Daxiong nodded and said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."