"Thank you!" Lian Shao panted, his eyes filled with genuine gratitude.
If Jiang Wang had not lent a hand, he would have completely lost this chance at the Seven-Star Tower mystic realm.
Unlike Lian Que, who controlled his own fate token, his opportunities were few. Places like the Tianfu mystic realm, where the Lian family held fixed quotas, rarely came around to him.
The quota for the Seven-Star Tower mystic realm this time was one he had earned through his own competition, and he treasured it deeply.
Jiang Wang only said, "If you want to thank someone, thank Lian Que!"
Lian Shao froze for a moment, then answered, "Understood!"
Helping Lian Shao had been a casual act on his part; Jiang Wang had already intended to switch star positions on a whim.
The Tian family members had gathered together, united under Tian Chang's command. If he ended up in the same place as them, it would inevitably be somewhat disadvantageous. It was not that he feared them—if he had to compete with scattered stragglers anyway, why would he deliberately choose to compete against a natural alliance of nineteen?
He had come to the Seven-Star Tower mystic realm to seize life-extending treasures, not to challenge himself.
Besides, the Dizhou star position he now occupied ranked thirtieth among the Disha star positions after all—far better than the Dixing star position.
Surveying the whole situation at this moment, Lei Zhanqian's burst of Dragon and Snake Rising from the Land had already reduced the field by thirty-two people by this point. It had directly completed the so-called "qualification verification" for everyone.
In other words, of the one hundred and eight people who held quotas for the Seven-Star Tower mystic realm, only sixty-eight would ultimately succeed in entering the Seven-Star Tower.
A testament to how fierce the competition was.
Tian Huanzhang was completely unmoved by everything happening before his eyes.
Even though Lei Zhanqian displayed a momentum that brooked no refusal, even though Jiang Wuxie, Li Fengyao, and the others had all displayed formidable strength, the Tian family's gains from this trip seemed difficult to guarantee...
He remained unmoved.
Because this so-called "Year of Radiance" was not entirely genuine.
Or to put it plainly, the Tian clan itself could not be certain what the harvest from this Seven-Star Tower mystic realm would be; they had merely been using this opening of the Seven-Star Tower to build momentum.
Their true purpose did not lie in the Seven-Star Tower at all.
On the contrary, the more experts appeared this time, and the fiercer the competition, the more satisfied he was.
The rain of starlight still poured down from the sky, and the Seven-Star Tower shone upon the night, drawing down starlight to envelop all the participants on the star positions of the valley platform.
At that very moment, something extraordinary happened.
A mighty force suddenly descended upon this place from across the vast sky.
The rain of starlight pouring from the jade ladle was still falling, yet it no longer fell upon the Seven-Star Tower. Instead, it was gathered and condensed by some force into a single powerful beam of light which, in an instant, reversed direction and shot straight toward Ji City!
Or more precisely, toward that building within the Tian manor in Ji City... the Fubi Tower.
The Seven-Star Tower above Seven-Star Valley began to tremble faintly at this moment. Deprived of its constant supply of star power, it showed signs of collapse!
And what was worse, if the Seven-Star Tower collapsed at this moment, all the cultivators participating in it might lose their way within!
One must understand that in ordinary years, when the star power was not abundant enough to meet the requirements, the Seven-Star Tower simply would not open.
Tian Huanzhang's face changed drastically. He had known nothing of this either: "What on earth is going on over at the Fubi Tower? Is he trying to ruin this Seven-Star Tower mystic realm?"
It was not that Tian Huanzhang was possessed of any great benevolence, but rather that if the Seven-Star Tower went wrong this time because of the Tian family's actions, the Tian family would bear the brunt of it and inevitably pay an extremely heavy price!
Consider who was participating in this Seven-Star Tower mystic realm!
The Ninth Prince of mighty Qi, a strong contender for the position of Qi's heir.
Lei Zhanqian, the prodigy of the Lei family, regarded by Old Master Lei as the family's hope.
Li Fengyao, the legitimate daughter of the Li clan of Shimen, holder of the famed bow Shuangsha.
As for Fang Chong, first-rank steward of the Four Seas Merchant Alliance, and Chongxuan Sheng, young master of the direct line of a premier aristocratic family and friend of... these were of secondary importance.
The Tian family could not afford such consequences. At least, the Tian family of today could not.
"Go ask the manor what on earth has happened, and what madness has seized him now!" Tian Huanzhang had completely lost his composure and roared aloud.
At this very moment, inside the Fubi Tower.
Tian Anping, bare-chested and barefoot, looked up at the sky. The night outside Seven-Star Valley was not as dark as it was within the valley, and the sky held more than just the seven stars of the Big Dipper.
Of course, from the narrow "well-mouth" of the Fubi Tower, the stars one could see were few—scarce, one might even say.
That beam of light, condensed from the vast star power it had intercepted from the Seven-Star Tower, came shooting straight in.
Like an arrow, it "pierced through" the circle at the top of the Fubi Tower.
And then—it stopped right there.
How could "light" possibly stop?
This unbelievable thing actually happened.
That beam of light extended no further. As if passing through that circle had been its entire purpose.
Having traveled so far and wide, it had found its way home. It had reached its end.
"As if my heart had been pierced through." Tian Anping covered the position of his heart with one hand, murmuring softly.
He seemed to be in pain, his brow knotted tight, his expression one of great suffering.
Yet his eyes remained fixed firmly on the sky, without a single blink.
For every question in this world, the sky holds all the answers.
He thought, and he searched.
And then he smiled.
Tian Anping casually picked up a simple shirt from the floor and draped it over himself, concealing for the moment the heavy bruises and layered wounds covering his body. As if they had never existed.
He rose to his feet and gazed up at the vault of heaven.
"So that's how it is. So that's how it is."
On his face was a childlike, innocent joy.
"How marvelous. How marvelous..." he sighed in admiration.
And at that moment, the clamor outside the tower reached his ears.
"Tian Anping, do you have any idea what you're doing?"
"What madness is this, at such a critical moment?"
"Are you trying to destroy the Tian family?"
"Your great-uncle Huanzhang is about to go mad inside Seven-Star Valley! What do you think you're doing!"
All manner of... all manner of voices—scolding voices, complaining voices... voices of fear.
These people, this world, were truly so noisy.
Tian Anping did not like noise.
Inside the Fubi Tower.
He stood perfectly straight, his smile gone, his expression turning flat.
His thin lips parted slightly, and his voice carried out beyond the tower.
"Tell Tian Huanzhang that if he comes to make noise again, I will kill him."
Instant silence.
The people outside the tower were clearly not satisfied, but no one could express that dissatisfaction.
The sound of departing footsteps, the whistle of wind, and the low, anxious murmurs of "What do we do now?"
"The deliberations of the mediocre."
Tian Anping tugged the corners of his mouth in boredom, clearly not intending to explain anything further.
He tilted his head back, gazing at the vault of heaven, and slowly closed his eyes.
In the instant his eyes closed.
That beam of light stretching across the sky was extinguished at the same moment.
The annihilation of "light" came even faster than its appearance.
The strange tableau of "an arrow through the heart" atop the Fubi Tower vanished in a flash.
Tian Anping closed his eyes, and his spirit had already leaped into a mysterious place.
This place had once barred its doors against him.
He had never truly beheld it.
And yet he had still found it.
And he had broken down its doors and entered.
...
Outside the Fubi Tower.
"We're saved!"
"It's recovering..."
"At last we can breathe easy."
Such voices rose intermittently.
The sound of breathing, of sighs, of faint, almost imperceptible complaints...
The Fubi Tower remained silent throughout, standing in their midst.
Inside and outside the tower, two different worlds.
Separated by a single wall, as if by a chasm between heaven and earth.