Chapter 57 – Tower of Illusory Heavens: Second Layer

“Wail!”

Its body corroded by an ominous force, decaying and aging, the black cat let out another piercing shriek. It drove a surge of dark demonic energy toward the wound, attempting to halt the spread of the rot.

Alas, it was futile.

The Sky Burial Power was of too high a grade; its demonic energy could not withstand it.

Left with no choice, it severed the decaying part of its body to preserve its life.

And then… there was no “then.”

Mu Lin was not foolish enough to wait for it to heal. While the human-faced black cat struggled against the corrosive force, the bloodstained ominous sword curved around and struck at it once more.

This time, the injured black cat could no longer resist, and the longsword slashed across its neck.

“Thud…”

With a single strike, half of the human-faced black cat’s neck was severed—compared to a Sword Cultivator, this might seem weak.

But what was terrifying was that once Mu Lin’s flying sword struck the enemy, the corrosive force clung like maggots to bone, seeping into the opponent’s body.

This time, with its neck infected by the decaying power, the black cat could no longer hold out.

“Wail…”

After several agonized cries, its head tainted by the corrosive force, the black cat was beyond saving.

Just like that, its head lolled to the side, and it died.

With its death, the Illusion Realm before them gradually crumbled, and Mu Lin’s first Tower Challenge was thus completed.

This scene left Mu Lin somewhat stunned.

“It’s done? That easily?”

The ease of clearing the challenge left him puzzled—it was nothing like the difficulty others had described.

However, upon careful reflection, Mu Lin felt this level of difficulty made sense.

The human-faced black cat was actually quite powerful, and this mission was not as simple to complete as it seemed.

The challenge of this task lay in locating the human-faced black cat’s trail.

Without Chu Lingluo’s natural Sensing, ordinary Cultivators, even Mu Lin himself, would have been unable to find the human-faced black cat in Stone Mountain Village during the day.

Unable to find it, they would have had to wait until nightfall, when the human-faced cat took the initiative to attack, and then devise a way to deal with it.

But this was no easy feat. The human-faced cat was small, agile, and its body was pitch black—a natural camouflage in the darkness of night.

Even if Mu Lin could release dozens of Paper Cranes, it would be difficult to track its movements at night, let alone keep it under constant surveillance.

Its elusive nature allowed it to wreak havoc, while Cultivators like Mu Lin could only exhaust themselves trying to keep up.

If they showed any weakness, they even risked being ambushed and assassinated by the human-faced cat.

What Mu Lin didn’t know was that the human-faced black cat had another ability… In the darkness of night, if it remained still in one place for a long time, it could become invisible. This ability further enhanced its stealth during nighttime.

For ordinary Cultivators, such a creature was difficult to capture. Failure to capture it meant failing the mission. If most of the ordinary villagers died, or if the Cultivators themselves showed weakness and were caught by the human-faced black cat, the mission would end in failure.

“So, it’s not that the human-faced black cat was weak, but rather that Lingluo’s abilities were too strong, perfectly countering it.”

At this moment, Mu Lin understood why everyone wanted to team up with the strong—teaming up with the strong was comfortable and made it easier to complete missions.

More importantly, in reality, Mu Lin and his companions also needed to follow the Demon Subduing Division’s orders to carry out missions in various locations.

But at that time, they had no chance to start over.

Therefore, if an ordinary team had come to Stone Mountain Village, they would have been constantly attacked by the human-faced black cat while living in fear and anxiety.

Once they couldn’t withstand it, it would mean complete death.

If given the choice, Mu Lin would also team up with the strong, as following powerful allies could easily eliminate anomalies.

…

With the mission completed, Mu Lin was summarizing the gains and losses from this experience. However, before he could finish his thoughts, he and Chu Lingluo were ejected from the Tower of Illusory Heavens to the outside world.

“Thank you, Miss Lingluo. If it weren’t for you, our mission wouldn’t have been completed so easily.”

“You’re too polite, Young Master Mu. That black cat was eliminated by you.”

The two exchanged compliments, and having completed the mission with ease, both were in high spirits.

However, while they were in good spirits, those who had hoped to see Mu Lin fail looked quite displeased.

Especially upon discovering that the two had completed the mission in such a short time, some felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.

“They cleared the first floor of the Tower of Illusory Heavens so quickly… Could they possibly make it to the third floor?”

“Impossible, absolutely impossible. No matter how strong Chu Lingluo is, with Mu Lin as a burden, she won’t be able to reach higher floors.”

“…Hah, everyone, relax a little. The Tower of Illusory Heavens has countless missions. Perhaps they just encountered an easier one.”

“They definitely won’t complete the second floor so easily.”

“It must be so.”

…

Mu Lin paid no mind to the jealousy and resentment of others. Since the first-floor mission had been too simple, after a brief rest, they joined hands and re-entered the Tower of Illusory Heavens to begin their second mission.

“Hum…”

As a flash of white light passed, Mu Lin and Chu Lingluo felt dizzy once again.

When they regained consciousness, Mu Lin found himself and Chu Lingluo on a mountain forest path.

However, unlike before, this time they were not walking alone. Four officers dressed as constables had surrounded them in the center.

At the same time, one of the constables was reporting to Mu Lin.

“Sir, we are still two or three li away from Lin Family Village. If we quicken our pace, we’ll reach it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.”

“Phew, finally we can rest a bit.”

Since they were about to leave the forest and were not far from their destination, the constables relaxed slightly and picked up their pace a little.

But this scene made Mu Lin narrow his eyes.

“Stop!”

“??? Sir, do you have any orders?”

“Indeed, I need to relieve myself.”

Saying this, Mu Lin signaled to Chu Lingluo, causing her face to flush red. But in the end, she bit her lip shyly and said, “I… I’ll go too.”

Thus, leaving the constables to wait in the forest, Mu Lin took Chu Lingluo into the woods to relieve themselves.

A few minutes later, the two emerged from the forest, appearing no different from before.

However, once outside, Mu Lin immediately reprimanded several constables: “Stay sharp, all of you! The last stretch of a hundred-mile journey is the hardest half. Demonic Fiends are cunning and may launch a surprise attack when we let our guard down. If you don’t want to lose your lives here, keep a close watch on your surroundings.”

“Yes, sir!”

Mu Lin’s orders sent a chill down the spines of the constables.

For the sake of their lives, they immediately heightened their vigilance.

To Mu Lin’s surprise, his preparations actually proved effective.

After traveling another mile or two, “Whoosh!” “Roar!” “Growl!”—accompanied by the roars of tigers and bears, boulders rained down from above, while tigers and bears, driven by a mountain ogre, charged toward Mu Lin and his group.

Such an assault, if launched suddenly, would undoubtedly have thrown the constables guarding them into disarray.

But now, with their vigilance raised to the limit, they handled the situation with ease.

This foresight earned Mu Lin praise from Chu Lingluo.

“Brother Mu, you’re amazing! But how did you know the demonic monsters would ambush us halfway?”

Mu Lin showed no hint of pride as he replied:

“The difficulty of the Tower of Illusory Heavens increases layer by layer. In the first Tower Challenge, we had the able-bodied men of a village at our disposal, which indirectly lowered the difficulty. It was also the Dao Palace’s way of hinting that when facing Demons and Monsters, we could seek cooperation from local forces.”

“The second layer is harder than the first, but the demonic monsters here are also at the Spirit Awakening level. Since they can’t increase the difficulty by strengthening the monsters themselves, they’ll definitely add challenges in other ways. That’s why I speculated that in this trial, the Demons and Monsters wouldn’t let us enter the village. A sudden ambush halfway was the most likely scenario.”

“Moreover, this serves as a reminder: when truly subduing demons and vanquishing Evil Spirits, nothing will go exactly as we plan. Unexpected events can happen at any moment.”

“So, if we don’t want to die, we must remain vigilant at all times… After all, if I were the one designing the difficulty of the Tower of Illusory Heavens, this is exactly how I’d do it.”

(End of Chapter)