Volume 3: Star Tower Chapter 7: Tracing the Past (Part 1)
Autumn is a season of harvest.
In front of the Sushiwenxing Tower the next morning, sixty-four two-star peak warriors from the four academies of the Changyuan Leng family did not stand in a neat row next to their respective instructors, but they were all equally quiet.
A tense atmosphere spread among more than sixty young people.
There was no ceremony at the scene, nor was it the grand scene that Tang Zheng had expected.
However, around the Su Shi Wen Xing Tower, many residents of the capital city brought their children to watch. The outer circle, which was crowded with thousands of people, also maintained a very tense silence.
The last few pages of the information provided by Leng Buchen basically talk about how to keep a calm and peaceful state of mind during the period before the opening of the Star Tower.
After all, in all the years of visiting the Su Shi Wen Xing Tower, there were students almost every year who collapsed in front of the Su Shi Wen Xing Tower before the tower was even opened because they were too nervous to eat in the morning.
In a situation like this, it is hard to say whether there will be another chance next time.
Even if the Aristocratic Academy arranged it for him again, it would take at least a year...
Soon, an old man with a flowing white beard came out from the Su Shi Wen Xing Tower. When they saw him coming out, the four instructors winked at their students at the same time, asking them to concentrate.
The old man with white beard was also mentioned in Leng Buchen's information.
Every Tower of the Past and Present has a tower keeper, and this tower keeper must be at the peak of the two-star level. He cannot be too strong, nor too weak.
For those who can enter the Star-Seeking Tower, the peak of two stars is definitely not the end of their martial arts training, but these tower keepers are still very respected by everyone.
"The Sushiwenxing Tower is about to open. Warriors who heard my name, please prepare to enter the tower..." As the white-bearded old man said this, the towering Sushiwenxing Tower behind him, starting from the first floor, began to bloom with dazzling brilliance.
The place where the old man with white beard walked out was just a small door.
After he finished saying this, a golden door above the small door, which was ten people tall, slowly opened behind him, and dazzling rays of light shot out from the golden door like the sun rising.
Then, the second layer, the third layer...
Tang Zheng had always thought that setting off fireworks in broad daylight was a stupid thing to do, but the layers of starlight that lit up in the Su Shi Wen Xing Tower made him realize that some fireworks could make the sky and the earth lose their luster, and the sun and the moon lose their light.
The crowd of onlookers not far away all let out bursts of exclamations. For most of them, it was not the first time to see the opening of the Star Tower. Only a small number of them came to the capital city specifically to watch the ceremony. However, the layers of the Star Tower that lit up still made them crane their necks higher and higher, until they reached the peak that was already invisible deep in the clouds...
When everyone lowered their heads again, they discovered that because the opening of the Star-Seeking Tower was too dazzling, their eyes could not adapt to the surrounding light for a while. It was broad daylight, but it looked like night!
The dazzling Star-Seeking Tower seemed to have fourteen colors of light flowing around it...
About thirty breaths later, the Star-Seeking Tower dimmed again.
Soon, they discovered that it was not as dark as they thought, but that slowly, the starry sky appeared in the circle of sky from the top of the tower to the outside!
In the starry sky, there are only fourteen stars, emitting dazzling light.
At this moment, the old man with white beard spoke: "Please invite the seventh-rank martial artist, Shi Changsheng, to enter the tower."
A warrior who was dressed very simply but had five swords of different styles hanging around his waist stood out from the crowd, took a deep breath, and walked towards the Sushiwenxing Tower.
When he stood in front of the tower, a beam of light descended from the top of the tower, and then the Star-Seeking Tower began to light up layer by layer...
However, this brightness is different from the brightness just turned on. It is a soft warm light that seems to be able to soothe people's nervous emotions.
But looking at this warm light, all the warriors present became even more nervous than before.
Because, even Tang Zheng and his group, who didn't have much time to prepare, knew what this meant...
Standing at the entrance of the Star Tower, one is undergoing the process of "tracing the world". It is said that all the experiences in a person's life will emit a certain special power that can be sensed by the Star Tower.
"Tracing the World" has nothing to do with the warrior's own strength. No one even knows what it is related to. It may be rich experience, or a firm mind, or something else...
Some even say that when a warrior peeked at his neighbor's sister taking a bath when he was a child, it would leave a certain mark in the star power, which could be sensed by the Star Tower. Perhaps this experience would be particularly compatible with a certain main star.
Looking back to the past, it is not difficult to understand the literal meaning, but no one can explain the specific principle.
All you need to know is that those warriors with the best results in "Tracing the World" over the years have almost all become famous figures in the history of Xingyao Continent.
"It's lit up one layer, two layers... five layers now. It's pretty good. It just takes a little longer to light up..." Instructor Zou, who was leading the team, stroked his chin and looked at the first warrior standing in front of the Star Tower. He nodded after seeing the result of "Tracing the Past".
Generally speaking, among the warriors admitted into the aristocratic academy, few have their tracing results below the third level.
Leng Zhan achieved the amazing result of lighting up eleven floors of the Star Tower in one go, overpowering Qin Rong, the eldest son of the Tianqin family, who had also achieved the amazing result of lighting up ten floors of the Star Tower.
You know, the Tianqin family is one of the seven top families!
A person like Leng Zhan should have been quickly promoted to three stars and then made rapid progress in strength, but he insisted on indulging himself in the Thunder God Art and staying in Yisu Academy, which made the Changyuan Leng family love and hate him.
Gradually, as he insisted on introducing the main star needed for the Thunder God Technique, he failed again and again, and the star veins were damaged again and again. The Leng family even thought of giving up on him.
The Tower of Tracing the World and Asking the Stars lit up on the fifth floor. Then, the beam of light around the first warrior who "traced the world" shrank until it became a very thin line. The warrior standing in the middle disappeared from everyone's sight.
And above their heads, a new, tiny star appeared in the starry sky...
"Go in, go in." A whisper came from the crowd behind.
"When the Star Tower opens this year, the first warrior will be able to light up the fifth floor. That's really great."
"How many times have you come here? Most of them should be three or four floors..."
"Well, the third and fourth floors account for half, the fifth to eighth floors account for a small half, and the remaining nine floors and above, that's only a few a year. Those top families' Star-Seeking Towers should be able to see more than ten floors, but it's hard to say for our Leng family."
"Who said that? Isn't the Cold War just above the tenth level? He lit up the eleventh level."
"Leng Zhan is different. He is the prince of the Leng family! Can a prince come to 'Trace the Past' every year?"
"That's true..."
Seeing that the first warrior had entered the tower, the old man with white beard stroked his beard and called out the second name.
The following ones were relatively ordinary, basically around three or four stories high, none lower than three stories, but none higher than four stories either.
Above the Sushixing Tower, the starry sky, which originally only had fourteen main stars, gradually became richer with the entry of new stars...
However, their Changyuan Leng family is not the only rising star gradually entering the starry sky.
Warriors from eighty-one families, at the same time, looked up at the same starry sky!
Although only seven warriors from the Changyuan Leng family have entered the Sushiwenxing Tower, there are already hundreds of new stars in the starry sky...
When all the warriors from all the aristocratic families have entered the tower, the sky above each aristocratic family's Star Tower will be filled with thousands of stars!
At that time, the bright starry sky above the Su Shi Wen Xing Tower and the different brilliance of the stars shining were truly a wonderful and stunning sight!
It’s a pity that such beautiful scenery only appears once a year.
It is said that even if a warrior who is not from an aristocratic academy gets the opportunity to come to the Star Tower by chance, he or she will not be able to light up even one layer when he or she goes to the Star Tower.
Because of the existence of the Tracing the Worlds and Asking the Stars Tower, it is easy to see at a glance which relatives were admitted into each aristocratic academy in which year.
Later on, all kinds of "second generation" who were not willing to put in the effort to cultivate stars and just wanted to live a careless life were gradually rejected by the aristocratic academy, so as to avoid being embarrassed by being taken to the Star-Seeking Tower.
"Please welcome the warrior Feng Yuan from Sanqing Academy into the tower." The old man with white beard quickly announced the name of the eighth warrior .
Although it was Feng Yuan's name that was called, the first people to look up were Tang Xiaotang and the others.
Tang Zheng, Jiang Wuyan, Xiaotang and Meng Fenghua all have a relationship with Feng Yuan, deep or shallow...
When the Qintian Sect where Feng Yuan was located was about to reap the fruits of victory at Tangjiabao, Tang Zheng paid a "huge" price in exchange for the sword of Ghost Grandpa!
He didn't even have to go there, but he just used a sword to make Emperor Qintianzong kneel down in submission, and never dared to say a word again for the rest of his life.
Feng Yuan, the son of the Qintian Sect who experienced that accident, probably would not laugh because of the stimulation he received. What's more, on a personal level, Tang Zheng and A Zhi both had a grudge against him for killing his brother.
Jiang Wuyan and Feng Yuan began to be compared with each other almost from the day they were identified as the sect leaders. The Qintian Sect and the Zhaixing Sect were far apart from each other, and the competition between the two of them had always been undercurrents.
"Feng Yuan..." Four people spoke at the same time, repeating Feng Yuan's name.
Today, Feng Yuan was wearing an autumn robe embroidered with purple and gold threads. The dark-patterned satin looked very delicate. Among the more than sixty warriors, his demeanor was quite outstanding. The eyes of several girls stayed on him for a long time.
Feng Yuan walked to the front of the Star-Seeking Tower, and a beam of light fell down as well. However, it was completely different from the previous one. The first, second, and third floors gradually lit up within two breaths...
Many of the people watching not far away gasped, "So... fast? Even... three floors in a row?"
And just as they were marveling at Feng Yuan lighting up three floors in a row, the fourth floor of the Su Shi Wen Xing Tower also lit up with starlight!
