On the light screen, Jinzhua Shenluo Peak managed to evade the massive rock hands in mid-air every time. He could even toy with the dark-red rock giant, and initially, the countless rays of light shooting down couldn't even touch him.
But…
As the ancient secret pattern diagram descended continuously, the distance grew shorter! This forced Luo Feng to exert more effort, occasionally getting clipped.
“Severance, Burn Divine Power First Level!” Luo Feng finally couldn't hold back.
“Haha, this soldier from the Milky Way, he finally used the secret technique of Burning Divine Power.”
“He really has patience, waiting until now to unleash his divine power secret technique.”
“As a soldier of a special legion, having the First Level of Burning Divine Power Secret Technique as part of the foundational inheritance is expected.” The four commanders smiled as they saw the scene on the screen.
Once the divine power secret technique was activated, Luo Feng’s attack, defense, speed, and evasion all immediately surged by another level.
What was previously strenuous and clumsy instantly returned to ease. Dealing with the rock hands, the dark-red rock giant, and the countless rays of light simultaneously in mid-air—effortlessly!
Several minutes passed.
The ancient secret pattern diagram descended lower and lower, gradually forcing Luo Feng to lower his flight altitude. He couldn't hover right next to the diagram; if he did, he wouldn't be able to dodge the ‘rays of light’ at all.
“This soldier from the Milky Way, this second layer poses no threat to him.”
“Indeed. Although he might suffer a bit in the final moments of the second layer, his divine body hasn't even been significantly consumed so far; it has no impact.”
The commanders commented this way.
In the second layer of Wuqi Tower, within those nine small worlds.
“When will this end?”
The youth in dark-red armor was desperately fleeing. The ancient secret pattern diagram had descended to merely a million kilometers above the ground. At such a low altitude, flying higher was impossible. The rock hands emerging from the ground fissures could easily engulf the youth in dark-red armor the moment they appeared.
“Bang, bang, bang~~” At such close range, rays of light bombarded him continuously. The youth in armor completely ignored them because, at this stage, there was no possibility of evasion. His entire focus was cautiously fixed below.
“Whoosh!”
A rock hand emerged, and the youth in armor immediately tried to evade.
“No!” The youth dodged with all his might but found his speed insufficient. The hand, a million kilometers wide, only partially emerged from the surface fissure before snatching him.
“My divine body has lost too much, my strength has decreased too much; I can’t even evade when going all out,” the youth thought mournfully, even as he desperately controlled his weapon to attack the rock hand from within.
“Roar~~” The dark-red rock giant instantly charged forward, maniacally striking the youth in armor with its massive palms.
He was struck over twenty times in an instant!
Swish!
He finally escaped the rock hand and shot upwards, only to be met by the continuous rays of light from the high altitude.
“This won’t do,” the youth in armor felt his divine body weakening further, the decay accelerating.
“Peng!”
A rock hand just beginning to emerge from the underground fissure hadn't even fully grasped the youth when he was directly blasted into annihilation by the incoming rays of light, leaving behind only some battle armor, mechanical stream treasures, and other falling debris.
Another soldier perished!
About half a minute after the youth in dark-red armor perished.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”
The small worlds of the three surviving soldiers among the top five instantly dissolved. The rock giant transformed into a crimson essence and flowed back into the earth's fissures; everything vanished.
The three surviving soldiers were utterly stunned.
“Ha! I’m still alive! I’m still alive!”
“I had given up all hope.”
“It’s over, haha, it’s finally over.”
“If it had lasted a moment longer, I would have been finished.” The three surviving soldiers laughed and cried; they had endured unimaginable torment, struggling to hold on until the end. Among them, the strongest had less than a tenth of his original power remaining! The weakest had less than one-thousandth of his previous strength. Just a moment longer, and they would have perished!
They had survived through sheer difficulty.
The three soldiers quickly snapped out of their joyful excitement.
“What do we do? Our divine bodies are so weak now, our strength so fragile! This is only the second layer of Wuqi Tower; there are still the third, fourth, and fifth layers ahead—how can we possibly survive?”
“Right, our strength is already this diminished.”
The three soldiers were filled with worry.
“If we are weak, other soldiers are weak too! That makes it fair. Perhaps Wuqi Tower will provide treasures to restore our divine bodies.”
“What do you mean other soldiers are weak? Look, that soldier from the Manghe Legion is still overpowering the dark-red rock giant.” As one soldier pointed into the distance, the other two followed his gaze.
Indeed, among this batch of five soldiers that included Luo Feng.
Luo Feng, in particular, remained at his peak strength until this moment. Especially after activating the First Level of Burning Divine Power, he could even suppress the dark-red rock giant. He frequently used the dark-red rock giant as a ‘shield,’ not just to block the rays of light, but even to intercept those rock hands.
“He’s this strong!”
The three surviving soldiers sighed in amazement.
Suddenly, whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three beams of light descended, enveloping the three surviving soldiers, and instantly, they vanished.
“Heading to the third layer of Wuqi Tower.” Luo Feng glanced over. “In the previous batch of five soldiers, two died, and the remaining three had their strength severely depleted. I estimate our batch will be similar.”
As the ancient secret pattern diagram continued to descend, the encounters for Luo Feng and his batch grew increasingly severe. Eventually, soldiers began to perish!
A moment later, it ended.
Luo Feng's batch also concluded with exactly three survivors.
“We survived.”
“Haha, we survived.” The other two soldiers were ecstatic, but upon seeing Luo Feng, they instinctively retreated several steps away.
Luo Feng glanced at them, his gaze settling on the tall, thin figure of ‘Xu Zhong,’ and chuckled softly, “Not bad luck; you’re still alive.”
Xu Zhong’s heart hammered with terror, filled with regret. He knew this terrifying soldier from the Milky Way held grudges.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three beams of light descended, enveloping the three of them, and they were instantly teleported away.
The third layer of Wuqi Tower was a vast grassland.
As the three figures of Luo Feng and the others appeared.
“The fourth batch has arrived.”
“The fourth batch, like the third, had three survivors.”
Voices echoed around them.
As soon as Luo Feng appeared, he swept his gaze across the distant surroundings. He saw figures scattered in the distance—soldiers and alien beasts, quite numerous. At a glance across the vast grassland, including himself, there were as many as 11 soldiers present.
“Eleven soldiers?” Luo Feng mused. “The third and fourth batches each had six survivors. It seems the other five soldiers must be from the first and second batches.”
“The third layer of Wuqi Tower is gathering all the soldiers?” Luo Feng silently observed.
Luo Feng carefully scrutinized the soldiers surrounding him.
Instantly, the survivors from the third and fourth batches turned pale with fright. They immediately teleported away to a safe distance, then went on to continuously cast seals to suppress spatial fluctuations across the surrounding vast area.
“Huh?”
“What is this…”
The surviving soldiers from the first and second batches were bewildered. None of them were fools; they could clearly see that one look from the soldier of the Manghe Legion had terrified the soldiers of the third and fourth batches into fleeing far away, indicating their strength was on an entirely different level.
“We should move away too.”
“Soldiers from the third and fourth batches, every single one of them behaved this way. This soldier from the Manghe Legion must be incredibly terrifying.”
Although the surviving soldiers from the first and second batches didn't know exactly how terrifying Luo Feng was, out of caution, they all teleported far away and then sealed off the surrounding space as well.
This scene made Luo Feng shake his head and smile faintly.
Time passed, day after day.
By the sixth day, another batch of soldiers arrived—a total of two survivors. A moment later, the sixth batch arrived, consisting of three surviving soldiers.
In the blink of an eye, nearly two months had passed.
On the grassland of the third layer of Wuqi Tower, a total of Wu (The number here seems missing/corrupted in the original Chinese, assuming a placeholder count based on context) soldiers had gathered. Some new arrivals were acquainted with a few soldiers from the earlier four batches and already understood the horror of the soldier from the Manghe Legion; many also kept a significant distance away. However, some who were still confident did not retreat.
“A mere tribal warrior scares you all this much,” a giant plant life form, adorned with winding, vibrant flowers—the largest of which possessed eyes and a mouth—spoke dismissively. “Before I joined the army, I killed over ten thousand tribal warriors.” As it spoke, the plant life form provocatively glanced at Luo Feng.
“With your divine body nearly a hundred million kilometers tall, possessing such mass, we don’t fear you either,” some soldiers stated from a distance.
The surrounding provocations and fear—Luo Feng ignored them all.
He simply stood there.
Finally, as the last two soldiers arrived, the grassland world of Wuqi Tower’s third layer finally stirred into action.
“Rumble~~~” Above the grassland, a massive vortex, resembling water surface ripples, suddenly appeared.
All forty surviving soldiers looked up.
Buzz~~~
Space and time vibrated like ripples. Regardless of where they stood on the grassland, all forty soldiers, including Luo Feng, were instantly transported directly beneath that massive vortex.
“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”
The vortex high above suddenly dropped numerous light screens.
These screens completely enveloped a vast area of the grassland directly below, with a diameter of approximately one billion kilometers, isolating that region from the outside world. The diameter of the vortex above also reached one billion kilometers.
Whoosh~
In the center of the water-surface-like vortex high overhead, a giant eye suddenly appeared. This immense eye looked down, and for a moment, every being below, including Luo Feng, felt their souls freeze.
“Wuqi Tower!” An ancient voice echoed in the minds of every soldier. “The first three layers carry the risk of death.”
“Survive the first three layers, and there will be no more mortal danger.”
“Starting from the fourth layer, there will be inheritances, rewards, and so on. The higher you ascend, the greater the benefits you will reap.” The ancient voice continued. “Of course, you must all survive these three layers.”
Fifth Update: First Chapter!