Gateway of Immortality-Chapter 777: Entrance Blocked
He flew at full speed the entire way.
Along the route, he encountered all kinds of ferocious beasts and came across a few hidden places similar to thatched huts. However, he never again came across an opportunity as perfect as with the Red-Tailed Cranes. He hadn’t found a single proper chance to act.
Qin Sang made a point to avoid other cultivators. After a long and winding journey, he finally saw the Sky Tower clearly.
The Sky Tower stood on a flat, open expanse that resembled a square.
There were no other structures in the open space; the tower stood there alone. But Qin Sang quickly noticed that ruins of ancient structures lay scattered among the surrounding mountains. There were many broken walls and collapsed buildings.
Due to the lack of any protective barriers, they had long been destroyed.
However, the traces that remained showed that these must once have been massive ancient halls. This was clearly an important area of Seven-Kill Hall.
The scene before him matched what he had seen in the crystal he got from Du Han.
The difference was that this time, no ancient corpse had fallen from the sea of clouds.
After waiting fifty years, he had finally returned to this place!
What had really happened back then inside the Sky Tower? Why had I fallen from the tower, only to wake up mysteriously in Xijiang?
The Two-Headed Hou had already returned to the Primordial Unity Ring to rest. Qin Sang stood atop a mountain peak, and as he took in the scene below the Sky Tower, the joy in his eyes faded. His expression shifted to one of confusion and suspicion.
On the open ground below the tower, dozens of cultivators had gathered. None of them were entering the Sky Tower, nor were they leaving.
Some stood in small groups, others sat alone in meditation.
Qin Sang scanned the crowd but did not see Xiang Yi or the others.
From time to time, the cultivators glanced up at the entrance of the tower. Their expressions showed varying degrees of impatience, yet none dared to force their way inside.
At the tower's entrance stood an old man, like a gatekeeper.
Qin Sang shifted his gaze to him. Judging by his attire, the man was clearly a witch cultivator.
His aura was faint and restrained, lacking any imposing pressure. He stood motionless before the entrance.
From a distance, he looked no different from an ordinary elderly man with no cultivation.
That made Qin Sang all the more wary.
This person was most likely a Spiritual Infant grandmaster of the witch race. Otherwise, the surrounding cultivators wouldn’t be quietly waiting outside, not daring to take a single step forward.
After all the trouble he went through to reach the Sky Tower, he had never expected to be greeted by such a sight.
Qin Sang's heart sank. His mind raced with doubts. "Did the witch race enter Seven-Kill Hall just to seize this place? Are they planning to monopolize the Sky Tower and prevent anyone else from entering? That would be far too domineering."
He looked toward the cultivators gathered outside the tower and noticed that many of them were also from the witch race.
These people were unable to enter the tower yet still refused to leave. Clearly, the situation was not so simple.
After a moment of thought, Qin Sang flashed down the mountain and soon arrived at the edge of the open ground. A few people in the square glanced at him, then lost interest and turned away.
Qin Sang scanned the area and approached an elderly woman with a kind expression. Bowing, he asked, "Senior... My surname is Qin. I wish to enter Sky Tower. Why are so many Daoists waiting out here?"
"No need for such formality, Daoist Qin. I am surnamed Su. You may call me Daoist Su."
The old woman smiled warmly, then discreetly pointed toward the man at the entrance. "We’re in the same boat as you. We came too late and can only wait. I heard that in the beginning, the grand witch priest and the Devil Lord entered the Sky Tower one after the other without restricting anyone else.
"Later on, some other seniors of the witch race arrived. For some unknown reason, they blocked the entrance and refused to let anyone pass. They left that elder behind to guard the entrance and said they’d allow entry later. Someone tried to defy them and paid a heavy price..."
Qin Sang asked more questions and pieced together the situation.
In the beginning, the Devil Lord had confronted the witch race.
The grand witch priest dispersed the other Spiritual Infant experts and entered the Sky Tower alone. The Devil Lord followed closely behind.
But the other Spiritual Infant cultivators didn’t have it easy. Reports said they were ambushed by Spiritual Infant experts from the human race.
Those human Spiritual Infant cultivators were likely acting on the Devil Lord’s orders, tasked with monitoring the witch race’s movements. Battles had broken out in several places, shaking the surrounding mountains.
Whether there had been any casualties remained unclear.
Later, for reasons unknown, the Spiritual Infant cultivators of the witch race returned and all entered Sky Tower one after another. At the same time, several human Spiritual Infant experts followed them in.
As for the Devil Lord and grand witch priest who entered first, neither of them had reappeared.
No one knew what was happening inside the tower. Upon seeing so many Spiritual Infant experts enter and the entrance sealed afterward, some people even welcomed it.
With such powerful cultivators clashing inside, even the smallest aftershock could be fatal to them. Waiting until things settled before entering might not be such a bad idea.
After thanking the old woman, Qin Sang walked to the edge of the square, frowning slightly.
He was different from the others. The Sky Tower was tied to the secrets of an ancient teleportation array. No matter how dangerous it was inside, he couldn’t afford to back away.
But now that a Spiritual Infant cultivator was guarding the door, even if he was in a rush, he had no choice but to endure.
There was still time before Seven-Kill Hall closed. He could only wait and see when entry would be permitted.
"I never thought that after rushing here in such haste, I would end up stuck at the entrance. Had I known, I might as well have lingered longer on the way, searching carefully. I might have even found another spiritual fruit." Qin Sang sighed inwardly.
It was no longer realistic to turn back now. All he could do was wait.
After a moment of thought, he recalled how busy he had been earlier. He had yet to subdue the Golden Jade Lock he had just acquired. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to refine the astra, so he would have one more means of protection upon entering the Sky Tower.
With that in mind, Qin Sang slipped into the forest. Once he was out of sight from the other cultivators, he left behind a malevolent corpse to keep watch and found a quiet spot where he set up an isolation array.
He first took out the Golden Radiance Armor.
The armor was covered in dents. Fortunately, with his level of skill in artifact refinement, repairing it wouldn’t be difficult. He also had suitable materials inside the Thousand-Jin Ring. However, it would take some time, which he didn’t have at the moment.
He sat down cross-legged, focused inward, and examined the Golden Jade Lock.
Inside his dantian, the Golden Jade Lock was wrapped in Pill Fire. Under the steady refinement of the fire, all remnants of its previous owner had already been erased, leaving it an unclaimed treasure.
Qin Sang quickly familiarized himself with the astra’s properties and began refining it further with his spiritual consciousness and true essence.
Time passed quietly.
Before long, Qin Sang suddenly opened his eyes, put away the Golden Jade Lock, and stood up.
At the edge of the forest, the malevolent corpse was facing off with two individuals. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
One of them was the elderly woman he had spoken with earlier. The other was a middle-aged man.
The malevolent corpse was only at the Foundation Building Realm and had been casually refined by Qin Sang. Either of the two could have easily destroyed it, yet they hadn’t. They waited patiently outside, showing no signs of hostility.
Sensing the situation, Qin Sang pondered briefly, then deactivated the array and walked out calmly.
"Daoist Qin," the old woman greeted him warmly as soon as she saw him.
"Daoist Su." Qin Sang nodded, then looked toward the other person. "And this is?"
To his surprise, the middle-aged man turned out to be a witch cultivator.
The man stepped forward and introduced himself proactively. "Daoist Qin, my surname is Di. Forgive the intrusion. Daoist Su and I have come to invite you to join us in entering the Sky Tower together."
