Chapter 120: Luck-Raising a Future Overlord in the Cultivation World(Student Liu, who works everywhere)

"Has Senior Sister Qu not returned yet?" Zhou Chen rushed over from the foot of the mountain, his voice urgent.

Mu Yunjin’s delicate face, still possessing the soft contours of youth, was clouded with worry. She gazed into the distance and shook her head.

Zhou Chen’s brows knit together, his heart burning with anxiety. "Where on earth could Senior Sister Qu have gone? Why has there been no word for several months?"

"I don't know. But Senior Sister should be fine; it is just that the Five Sects Tournament is about to begin." Mu Yunjin’s lovely brows furrowed slightly.

Zhou Chen exhaled a breath of relief and sighed, "As long as Senior Sister is safe, that is what matters. As for the tournament, we can only wait to see what Sect Leader Luo decides."

Mu Yunjin looked away, lowering her eyes. She pressed a hand against the scorching dragon scale hidden beneath her collar and said in a firm voice, "I will participate in the Five Sects Tournament on her behalf."

Zhou Chen’s sigh caught in his throat. He looked up, stunned. "Senior Brother Mu, what did you say?"

***

"The door here is open too; let’s go up!" Qu Aiqiu emerged from the secret dungeon passage and spoke to Xiao Yan, who sat upon her shoulder.

Xiao Yan tilted his head curiously to look upward, though an invisible barrier still obscured his view.

He rolled his round eyes and chirped, "Then I’m heading back in!"

"Very well." Qu Aiqiu nodded, and Xiao Yan returned to sit cross-legged within her sea of consciousness.

Gazing at the mysterious entrance to the third floor, Qu Aiqiu cautiously cast several defensive shields upon herself.

*Step, step, step.*

Su Xichen, his blue robes stained with blood, sat silently upon a purple meditation cushion. His eyes were tightly shut, but his ears twitched.

The faint sound of footsteps reached him, as clear as if the person were walking directly before him.

A trace of exhaustion flickered across his sculpted, cold features. He flicked his wide sleeve, and the scene before him transformed in an instant.

The festering pus and blood that had pooled on the black and red floor tiles vanished, the rotting, swollen corpses were consumed by a burst of flame, and the reflection of the infinite void’s stars was projected into the room, making it look like another galaxy.

When Qu Aiqiu entered, she saw only the beautiful sight of the reflected stars.

"The top floor is certainly different; the scenery is much prettier than the levels below!" She smiled as she looked around, though she did not let her guard down.

Xiao Yan blinked his eyes and agreed, "It is indeed prettier than the previous levels."

Qu Aiqiu scanned the room and asked, puzzled, "Still no sign of Su Xichen. Could he have truly run off on his own?"

"Master, did you find the secret passage to the third-floor dungeon?" Xiao Yan was more concerned with the cultivation manual than Su Xichen’s whereabouts.

Qu Aiqiu shook her head. "There seems to be no sign that the secret passage on this floor has been breached."

Xiao Yan’s delicate brows furrowed, his large eyes scouring the surroundings. "Master, let’s hurry and find that dungeon entrance!"

"Right!" Qu Aiqiu did not waste time, beginning an exhaustive, carpet-like search.

Better to rely on oneself than others; who cares where Su Xichen went!

With a dignified posture, eyes like cold stars, and brows sharp as swords, Su Xichen gently stroked the red jade platform before him. The carvings on the stone were uneven, and as his cold fingertips touched the characters, an ancient painting twisted and manifested in the air before him, vivid and lifelike.

As the painting fully revealed itself, the exhaustion between Su Xichen’s brows deepened.

He coughed softly in discomfort and transformed into a streak of purple light, diving into the painting.

Seven days later.

Qu Aiqiu discovered a clue beneath a golden pillar carved with dragons and phoenixes. She successfully twisted the pillar, revealing the entrance to the dungeon.

"So it was here! Master, you are truly amazing!" Xiao Yan said with genuine admiration. As time passed, his curiosity and respect for Qu Aiqiu only grew.

"It was just a bit of luck. If Ao Qian were here, she probably would have spotted it at a glance," Qu Aiqiu said, not daring to be arrogant; she knew her own limits well.

Xiao Yan simply took this as modesty.

A set of wide, bright stone steps came into view, and Qu Aiqiu descended with some surprise. "Is this the grandeur of the top floor?"

The stone walls on either side were paved entirely with ten-thousand-year-old mystic jade. The ancient ferocious beasts carved into the surface seemed to be pacing through the black mist, baring their fangs and growling, as if she were standing right beside living, ancient monsters.

Qu Aiqiu swept a wary glance over the walls and continued her descent with a solemn expression.

The great hall suddenly opened up—magnificent, gilded, and extravagantly decadent. Rare treasures and exotic stones, worth tens of thousands of spirit stones outside, were casually embedded in the floor tiles to serve as pedestals for the three red jade platforms in the center.

She paused in surprise. "There are three red stone platforms here!"

Xiao Yan’s senses locked onto the central platform, his eyes hazy. "Master, why does the indentation on the second red jade platform look so familiar?"

Qu Aiqiu hurried over. "There’s an indentation? Is the second platform not just the remaining part of the cultivation manual?"

Xiao Yan shook his head. "Not entirely."

Qu Aiqiu reached the center of the platforms. Her lips parted in disbelief. "This is the shape of a key!"

"Indeed... Master, don't you have a key as well?" Xiao Yan suddenly recalled the item Qu Aiqiu had obtained some time ago.

As he spoke, Qu Aiqiu produced the silver key.

"It’s... identical!" She was both shocked and stunned.

"Does Master want to try it?" Xiao Yan asked, deeply intrigued.

Qu Aiqiu glanced at the other two platforms, her expression skeptical. "I will try, but since there are three platforms, I suspect all three may need to be activated."

With that, she inserted the silver key into the indentation. It fit perfectly.

Suddenly, the silver key shimmered with white light, and the entire hall shuddered for a few moments. However, it was fleeting, and the hall quickly returned to silence.

Qu Aiqiu, wearing an "as I thought" expression, reached out to retrieve the key, but it seemed fused to the stone. No matter how much spiritual power she exerted, she could not budge it.

Xiao Yan remarked, "Master, it seems you were right. Once the other two platforms are unlocked, we should be able to open the passage and escape!"

Qu Aiqiu stopped trying to pry the key loose. "Fine, I’ll go study the other two platforms."

Before she could even turn her head, she thought of Su Xichen and couldn't help but curse, "That scoundrel Su Xichen must have left! All the arrays and secret passages in the Red Tower have been breached; he couldn't have failed to reach this floor. If he didn't want to take me with him, why bother with such clumsy excuses to swindle my storage bag? For a generation’s Master of Nine-Sword Peak, he certainly lacks character!"

Inside the ancient painting, Su Xichen remained silent.

Xiao Yan comforted her, "Master, don't worry about him. We can get out on our own!"

After venting her frustration, Qu Aiqiu felt much better. She replied to Xiao Yan within her consciousness, "You're right. Fortunately, the cultivation techniques set up in this tower are the same as what I’ve been studying. We just need to wait a little longer, and we’ll be out of here!"