Chapter 41 – When Jun De Tries, Even The Heavens Blink
As the last shadow dispersed, Jun De felt his body being lifted up, and the world around him turned white. For a moment, there was nothing but silence. There was no ground beneath his feet, and no sounds reached his ears.
After a moment, the white light receded like a curtain being drawn back, and he found himself in another location. This room was a wide, circular stone platform that floated in an endless sky of deep, gray clouds.
A warm current surged through his meridians as the Tower’s energy flooded into him. His wounds closed in seconds, and the bruises from the battle against the shadows of the first floor vanished as if they had never existed.
His Qi, once depleted and sluggish from exhaustion, roared back to life. His Dantian was full, and his energy was in perfect balance again. Even his mental fatigue dissolved, replaced by rested clarity.
Jun De barely had a moment to take in his surroundings before the air shimmered across from him, and another figure stepped into existence.
He froze in surprise as he saw that his opponent was him.
“I have to fight myself?” Jun De whispered.
The person across from him had the same height and the same face. But where Jun De was standing calmly and had an expression of surprise, this version of himself crackled with barely restrained aggression.
His Doppelganger’s eyes were wild and angry, his stance full of coiled strength and eager violence. Its fists were clenched, and Jun De hadn’t even had time to understand what was expected of him when it lunged forward.
Jun De couldn’t avoid the attack. The phantom version of himself moved like a striking snake; his movements were precise, fast and utterly confident. Each of its movements was familiar to Jun De; they were his own, after all, but they were much smoother and more refined.
His double’s steps were tighter, and its combat instincts were honed to perfection. Everything about it seemed more natural than Jun De.
Jun De was immediately forced to use Luminous Step to gain some distance, his heart pounding as he tried to come to grips with fighting against himself.
“What the hell is this?!”
His opponent may have been his exact duplicate, both in appearance and cultivation, but the way it acted was completely different. There was no glimmer of higher thought behind the eyes of his double; they only held instinct, drive and the desire for combat.
It was almost as if it was a version of Jun De that had been born in the world of Jianghu, where only the strong survived, and you had to fight for everything.
The alternate version of Jun De rushed in again, this time leading with the Falling Star Palm, only its attack seemed more focused than Jun De’s; it didn’t hesitate or waver. It flowed like starlight, piercing and bright.
Jun De used the Heavenly Deflection Art to redirect the force, but his double’s palm cracked his defence, and Jun De stumbled back, gasping and spitting out a mouthful of blood as his opponent’s Qi slammed into him.
The duplicate moved with terrifying ease, like a sword drawn by instinct. It transitioned between techniques effortlessly, using Luminous Step to shift angles, Heavenly Deflection to absorb Jun De’s counters, and the Falling Star Palm to punish him again and again.
There was no hesitation, and not a single motion was wasted.
The First Floor involved fighting shadows with the same cultivation as himself, but they lacked the instinct and coordination required to be a serious threat on their own. It was only their superior numbers that had thrown Outer Sect Disciples from the Tower.
The Second Floor was just a fight against a single opponent that had similar cultivation but possessed a combat ability that seemed honed by a lifetime of battles.
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Jun De coughed, spitting out more blood as he staggered backward and tried to calm his raging Qi. Each of his opponent’s attacks did more than just batter his body; it flooded his meridians with foreign Qi that damaged them and caused the energy in his Dantian to roil.
The doppelganger didn’t slow or show any mercy. It surged forward with another combination, this time using Luminous Step to feint to the left, then crash into his ribs with its knee. Jun De tried to twist to lessen the blow, but it still drove the air from his lungs.
‘I think I’m starting to prefer the Array!’ Jun De thought.
Before he could recover, the clone’s palm struck again. This time, its palm contained even more Qi, and when Jun De blocked it with his arm, the impact sent him skidding back. Losing his balance, Jun De rolled across the ground until his momentum slowed enough for him to regain his footing.
“Come on, Jun De! You know those moves! If you don’t get up and fight back, they’re going to stuff you into the Array until you get your shit together!” Jun De cursed.
For the first time since he had arrived in this new world, Jun De began to understand that maybe things couldn’t always be easy. Maybe he would have to put in effort to fight back in order to survive.
It was hard. Jun De had been born and raised on Earth, where things weren’t that dangerous. He had a good family, had done well in school and, while he hadn’t been popular, at least he hadn’t been bullied.
His life on Earth had been thoroughly average.
‘This was supposed to be your second chance, moron! You wanted to live a good life, to do all the things that you hadn’t been able to do before. Are you willing to just roll over and not even try to fight for it!?’ Jun De shouted at himself.
The clone tilted its head in confusion as Jun De silently berated himself. But it only stopped for a moment before vanishing and reappearing beside him with the Luminous Step. The Clone gripped Jun De by his hair and flipped him over with superhuman strength before slamming him onto the stone floor with a loud ‘crack.’
Stars exploded behind Jun De’s eyes, and his breath came in a short, broken gasp. The pain in his ribs warned him that something was broken, and for the first time, Jun De thought that he might die here.
‘Shouldn’t I be kicked out?’
Jun De lay there with blood in his mouth, staring at the grey sky above, but nothing happened. Instead, his clone approached with calm footsteps.
A few thoughts went through Jun De’s head at that moment. He saw Elder Shen looking at him with pride after he left the Inheritance Site.
He could picture Mei Lian and Lin Yue outside the Tower when he arrived with Elder Mu. They had been battered and bruised but so happy with themselves because they had made the top ten.
Jun De even imagined Elder Mu, who had been so sure that he would reach the top of the Tower.
But mostly, he thought about the Ninefold Refinement Array and how it would be waiting for him if he failed. He would need to leave the Tower with broken ribs and a battered body, walk back to the Nine-Treasure Pagoda, and re-enter the Array.
“That’s not going to happen!” Jun De shouted just as the clone’s palm was about to strike his head. Jun De rolled aside, and the duplicate’s palm shattered the ground where his head had been.
Rather than retaliate, Jun De did something he hadn’t done in a fight before. He watched and analyzed his opponent.
Then he emulated it.
“You’re me, after all. If you can do it, so can I.”
Page Break
Outside the Tower, the sun arced across the sky as time passed. More Disciples entered the Tower, some brimming with confidence while others re-entered, already knowing what to expect. They were all cast back out, falling onto the courtyard, dazed and disappointed.
But many who re-entered found they had improved and lasted a bit longer. It may have only been a single breath or two, but they were elated, and even more Disciples returned to try again.
The only person who had entered and remained inside was Jun De, and his name was spreading through the Outer Sect like wildfire.
Not only had Jun De beaten the First Floor, but he had advanced even further.
“He’s staying on the Second Floor?”
“I thought for sure he would be booted after a few breaths of time!”
Their disbelief deepened as they thought about what sort of person possessed the talent to not only complete the first floor on their first attempt but progress to the Second as well.
Mei Lian and Lin Yue sat in the courtyard near the ranking board, recovering their energy and healing their injuries before their next attempt in the Tower. Lin Yue watched the board like a hawk, her eyes locked onto the name at the top.
“Senior Brother Jun is still in there.” She whispered, half to herself.
“He won’t be coming out until he reaches the top.” Mei Lian confirmed.
By the time the sun began to dip toward the horizon, the pair had recovered and re-entered the Tower once again. Their second attempt was longer, and both found that not only had they become stronger, but their understanding of their techniques had deepened.
When they returned to the courtyard, they collapsed next to each other while smiling as they saw their names had climbed in the rankings a bit more. Others were doing the same, and the scoreboard shifted and changed as some people’s names rose and others fell.
Days passed, with everyone doing their best in the Tower. No one aside from Jun De had beaten the First Floor, but a few were coming close. The discussion in the crowd was about who would be the next to reach the Second Floor and what challenges waited for everyone there.
After three days, the scoreboard changed once again as there was a bright flash of light from the Tower.
Jun De had completed the Second Floor.
