Aotian crossed the desert terrain and calmly approached the guardian puppet.
When he was a hundred steps away, a yellowish cubic barrier rose, blocking all access routes ahead and preventing him from getting closer to his opponent.
A blue screen appeared before him.
[Congratulations on finding the floor guardian!]
[Do you wish to challenge it?]
"Yes," Aotian replied calmly.
[Set the difficulty.]
[Unlocked difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard, Extreme, Saint, Immortal.]
He looked at the options with composure and smiled, a faintly mischievous gleam in his eyes.
'This will be interesting…'
The truth was that the puppet he had created was far from ordinary.
Lately, Aotian had been trying to merge the heritages of formations, forging, alchemy, and talismans with the puppet arts he had acquired — and his endeavor had been successful.
Although he hadn't yet reached an almost perfect level, since he still lacked some delicate knowledge about the art of puppet crafting, the result was already remarkable and fully usable.
But what made the creation even more abnormal… was that Aotian had made them to be personally controlled by him — or more precisely, by the outer elders of the Puppet Pavilion, who granted bonuses to the puppets' combat power.
He had far too many minds, so releasing a few to handle such tasks was no problem.
Leaving an outer elder controlling each puppet scattered across the tower floors was simple — and excellent for studying and gathering data about puppets, which could later help him reach the near-perfection of this art.
While he was thinking, another screen appeared before his eyes.
[Details of the 1st Floor Difficulties.]
[Difficulty: Easy
Requirements: Survive for 10 minutes in combat
Reward: 1 Achievement Point, 10,000 Contribution Points]
[Difficulty: Medium
Requirements: Survive for 5 minutes in combat
Reward: 2 Achievement Points, 20,000 Contribution Points]
[Difficulty: Hard
Requirements: Survive for 1 minute in combat
Reward: 3 Achievement Points, 30,000 Contribution Points]
[Difficulty: Extreme
Requirements: Land 10 hits
Reward: 4 Achievement Points, 50,000 Contribution Points]
[Difficulty: Saint
Requirements: Land 5 hits
Reward: 5 Achievement Points, 100,000 Contribution Points]
[Difficulty: Immortal
Requirements: Land 1 hit
Reward: 6 Achievement Points, 500,000 Contribution Points]
Aotian's lips curved into a smile, fully revealing his questionable taste.
He had designed the difficulties to trick the disciples. Although the higher levels seemed easier, the truth was that the higher the level, the more hellish it became.
If the screen were honest, it would show this:
[Easy - Survive 10 minutes against 1% of Aotian's combat ability]
[Medium - Survive 5 minutes against 2% of Aotian's combat ability]
[Hard - Survive 1 minute against 5% of Aotian's combat ability]
[Extreme - Land 10 hits against 10% of Aotian's combat ability]
[Saint - Land 5 hits against 50% of Aotian's combat ability]
[Immortal - Land 1 hit against 100% of Aotian's combat ability]
It looked simple, but one had to remember — Aotian was an absolute monster in combat.
Under the condition that everyone was in the same cultivation realm, due to the tower's restrictions, even 1% of his combat ability was a nightmare for the disciples.
Especially the Immortal level. Imagine fighting a puppet that used sword intent, mastered spells of all elements, and still possessed superhuman instinct and battle experience.
Aotian was almost certain that he would be the only one capable of clearing the Immortal level. Surviving a strike was possible for some talented and well-prepared disciples, but landing a strike… that was simply absurd.
"Set the difficulty level to Immortal," he commanded aloud.
[Good luck, challenger.]
The message appeared and then disappeared.
Aotian turned his gaze toward the still puppet in the distance and took a step inside the yellow barrier. This time, he wasn't blocked and crossed it with ease.
The puppet, which had previously remained motionless, mechanically turned its head toward him, revealing a smooth wooden face with no human features.
'Very nice.' Aotian nodded to himself, satisfied with his creation, then grew serious.
Although it was he himself controlling the puppet, he still wanted to fight seriously, without holding back.
It had been a long time since he fought using his main body — except with Rihai — and now it was time to stretch his bones.
Even when he used his avatars, he usually trained against himself, and when he fought real enemies, he tended to crush them with sheer brute force.
'I need to find a few balanced opponents other than myself,' he thought, but soon dismissed the idea and focused.
He and the puppet stared at each other for a few seconds — and then moved at the same time.
Swords appeared in both their hands, emanating a fiery and sharp intent. Due to the tower's restrictions, the intent could only form a prototype of sword intent.
Clang!
The blades clashed, and more swords flew from their storage rings, crossing through the air like flexible fish before colliding with one another, trying to break through the defenses and wound their opponent while simultaneously protecting their masters.
A second sword appeared in both the man's and the puppet's hands, and once again they clashed, engaging in dual-blade combat.
But it soon became clear that the puppet was beginning to fall behind. Even when a spell was used, one came from Aotian to counterbalance it and continue pressing forward. Gradually, the puppet lost both swords and space, being forced back by Aotian.
This was due to two issues.
First, although both were Aotian, the puppet's body was actually being remotely controlled by an avatar, which caused a slight delay in its movements. If both intended to raise their hands at the same time, the puppet would be just a bit slower.
The difference seemed minimal, almost imperceptible, but in such a balanced battle, it was enough to decide victory or defeat.
The second problem was that the puppet still wasn't perfect. Small deficiencies in energy manipulation and mechanical gears slightly compromised the precision of its movements. That flaw, however tiny, was enough for Aotian to turn the tide in his favor.
Of course, such "flaws" only existed in his eyes. To anyone else, the puppet possessed an exceptional physical body, energy conduction, and agility, capable of destroying opponents of the same or even higher level.
It was the complete opposite of the common puppets found outside the sect, which were made only to bolster numbers or intimidate weaker opponents.
As the battle dragged on and a cloud of dust filled the field, the puppet was cornered.
At that moment, Aotian emerged from the dust with his right hand shaped like a claw.
On each finger, a light of a different color gleamed.
'Five Element Claw!' he recited mentally, lunging at the puppet, which raised its sword to defend itself.
Clank!
The sound of something breaking echoed. The black blade in the puppet's hand shattered into pieces, while Aotian's claw continued mercilessly, piercing the puppet's chest.
BOOOMM!
A loud explosion rang out, and the puppet was thrown far away, crashing outside the barrier.
It rolled several times across the ground before finally stopping, leaving a long trail in the sand behind it.
When the dust settled, the puppet calmly stood up, revealing its black body and robes without a single scratch.
Then, it walked back into the barrier and became motionless once more.
Aotian wasn't surprised.
There were restrictions on the first floor that prevented the use of energy beyond Qi Refinement, as well as physical limitations — imposed by gravity — that blocked bodily strength beyond that level.
Thus, it was only natural that the puppet's resilient body remained intact after a blow limited in power.
Putting that aside, Aotian looked at his own hand, watching the elemental energies fade from his fingers.
'Higher quality roots really are different. There's enough space to condense and channel multiple types of elemental energy, allowing for much more efficient attacks with the five elements. Although it's still not as fast as a single-element attack, it's already much better than before.'
He reflected and nodded, satisfied, feeling several times stronger than before upgrading his roots.
His gaze then turned toward the blue screen that appeared before him.
[Congratulations! You are the first disciple to clear the Immortal difficulty challenge on the first floor.]
[Reward: 6 Achievement Points, 500,000 Contribution Points]
[Rewards have been added to your disciple token. Do you wish to make your achievement public?]
"Yes," Aotian replied calmly. That was precisely why he was there.
[Congratulations! You are currently ranked 1st on the leaderboard!]
[Attention, you have completed the first floor. You are being teleported to the second.]
…
Outside the tower, the disciples still hadn't left.
They were all sitting and chatting, watching the light panel at the tower's entrance, anxiously waiting for results.
From time to time, figures would suddenly appear at the exit, severely injured.
Those disciples were quickly carried away to be treated by the elders.
However, when they came out of the infirmary, they looked even paler and more dispirited than when they had gone in — even though they were clearly healed.
When questioned about the reason, their answers — accompanied by teary eyes — were unanimous.
"I lost five thousand contribution points just to get healed…"
"My injuries were lighter, so I only spent four thousand."
"I was nearly dead and spent fifteen thousand points to be healed! Damn it, I'm going after that psychotic scorpion and cutting it into pieces later!"
"You met that damned scorpion too?! It made me spend twelve thousand points to recover."
"That scorpion made me spend sixteen thousand points as well!"
What began as a session of complaints soon turned into a hate club against the psychotic scorpion of the Hundred Thousand Beasts Tower.
An elder passing by, hearing the curses, pretended to act normal, but inside he was sweating bullets.
'Ahem… it must be just a coincidence. That scorpion wouldn't be that resentful for being tricked, would it?' Aotian thought, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Soon after, he shrugged. The scorpion was the spiteful one — it wasn't his fault.
While everyone argued, a shout echoed through the crowd.
"Hey! Look! The ranking changed!"
Everyone turned their eyes to the panel.
The light screen, previously empty, now displayed a single name shining in golden majesty.
[{Ranking} Name — Floor — Score
Details]
[{1st} Long Aotian — 2F — Achievement: 6 Points
Floors: 1F {Immortal}, 2F {None}]
"It's Senior Brother Long! Damn, he's the first one to complete a floor! Looks like he's not trying to stay low-key anymore," A younger disciple exclaimed in awe.
"Yeah, Senior Brother Long hadn't made a move in a long time. Some even started to doubt if he was still the strongest in the sect. Looks like he's going to shut a lot of mouths this time." Another disciple beside the young man, an older one, nodded in satisfaction.
"Father, what's that word in front of Senior Brother Long's floor?" asked the young man, revealed to be the son of the man beside him, confused.
"I don't know. Maybe it's the difficulty he cleared? 'Immortal'… judging by the name, it shouldn't be easy, but since he was the first, perhaps it's not that high either. Still, being the first is an achievement on its own," the man answered thoughtfully.
Conversations like this spread throughout the crowd, as admiration for the powerful and discreet disciple began to flourish once again.
But what none of them knew yet… was the true meaning of clearing the Immortal difficulty.