The Tower Opens Nine Levels: The Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion's Wealth Runs Deep

With the main body of the Night Fiend dead, the cocoon wall lost its support. The blackness began to peel away from the top, revealing the normal sky outside. Wang Hao looked down at the two items in his hand. The black crystal was ice-cold to the touch, containing an extremely massive, eerie origin and various types of devoured energies. The Star Sea Mark was as warm as jade, sealing within it the supreme inheritance of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion—the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Secret Art, which only past pavilion masters could master.

The corners of his mouth curled up as he tucked the two items into his sleeve. His movements were extremely natural, as if he had rehearsed them in his mind five hundred times.

Then he realized a problem. He wasn't wearing a shirt right now. His dragon robe had been blown to pieces by the white lightning.

Wei Zhongxian, extremely considerate, took off his own outer robe and offered it with both hands. Wang Hao took it and draped it over his shoulders. White lightning patterns were still slowly fading on the surface of his skin. Wearing the black outer robe made those fading lightning patterns stand out exceptionally, making him look even more imposing than when he was wearing the complete dragon robe.

"Imperial Lord," Wei Zhongxian's voice trembled slightly, "Have you... broken through to the mid-stage of the Sky Soaring Realm?"

"Mhm." Wang Hao rolled his right arm. The previous meridian damage had been repaired by the white lightning, and the aftereffects of the eighth palm of the Heaven Imprisoning Earth Overturning Palm had also disappeared. "And I scored a little something on the side."

Wei Zhongxian glanced at the crystal and the mark that had already been tucked into the sleeve. He tactfully didn't ask further, but the curve of his mouth couldn't be hidden. He understood his Imperial Lord too well. A "little something" that could make the emperor show such an expression was definitely not just a little.

The cocoon wall completely collapsed. The sky reappeared overhead. The eerie blood-red color above Heaven Severing Ridge had completely dissipated. Sunlight poured down through the cracks in the clouds, shining on the devastated mountain ridge.

Outside the cocoon, more than forty ancestors and the members of the Heaven's Pride Gang were waiting in full battle array. They hadn't gone far after charging out, but instead formed a battle formation outside the cocoon, ready to provide backup. When they saw the cocoon wall begin to collapse, everyone gripped their weapons tightly, tense to the extreme—whether the Night Fiend was dead or had broken through, no one knew.

Then they saw two people walk out from inside the cocoon. Wei Zhongxian followed behind, while Wang Hao walked in front wearing the black outer robe. The fading white lightning patterns on his skin looked like some mysterious tattoos. His aura was no longer at the peak of the Qi Controlling Realm, but genuinely at the initial stage of the Sky Soaring Realm.

He was alive. Over forty demigod ancestors simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. The sound was as loud as a gust of wind blowing through a pine forest.

Wanyan Gu was the first to rush up. Tucking his mace behind his waist, he circled Wang Hao three times, clicking his tongue in amazement: "Your Majesty, this tattoo of yours is so cool! Where did you get it? I want one too!"

Wang Hao glanced at him: "Your chance of surviving it is zero point one in a thousand."

Wanyan Gu was speechless.

Although he didn't quite understand, it felt very impressive.

Old Master Ren took a step forward. His gaze lingered on the white lightning patterns on Wang Hao's body for a moment, his pupils slightly shrinking: "White lightning... Kid Wang, could it be that you..." He didn't finish his sentence, but his eyes said it all—he recognized the aura of the white lightning. Old monsters who lived long enough always had some discernment.

Wang Hao said calmly: "We'll talk about it when we get back."

Old Master Ren nodded, no longer pressing the issue.

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword sheathed his bloodstained longsword. His voice was old but still sharp as he asked the question everyone wanted to ask: "Where is the main body of the Night Fiend and Xie Wujiu?"

"Dead."

The single word was like a giant boulder thrown into a calm lake, splashing silent ripples. Expressions of disbelief appeared simultaneously on over forty faces, followed by wild joy, which was then forcibly suppressed—after all, the ancestors had solid foundations in expression management.

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword fell silent for a moment, then suddenly bowed while holding his sword: "Long live Your Majesty."

Ye Guyun also leaned forward with his sword: "Long live Your Majesty."

Xiao Chen cupped his fists, his voice shaking the mountain ridge: "Long live Your Majesty!"

Qin Hongye hugged her saber. She didn't speak, but the angle of her bow was deeper than anyone else's.

Wanyan Gu directly dropped to one knee, his mace resting horizontally across his lap: "Long live Your Majesty!"

Then, the more than forty ancestors cupped their fists in unison. Their voices converged into a torrent that echoed above Heaven Severing Ridge: "Long live Your Majesty!"

This voice traveled very, very far. On the outskirts of Heaven Severing Ridge, the seven hundred thousand strong army that had just withdrawn faintly heard it. Duke of Ying sat on his warhorse, his armor still stained with the residual traces of the Night Fiend's corruption. Hearing this "Long live," he froze for a moment, then broke into a wide grin.

"We won."

As soon as these words came out, the soldiers of the central army erupted into earth-shattering cheers, wave after wave. A lieutenant general with a severed left arm lay on a stretcher, slamming his intact right arm hard against the edge of the stretcher: "I told you! I told you His Majesty wouldn't lose! Last time when the Four Pavilions besieged him, His Majesty survived, and this time too—" He didn't finish his sentence because his excitement aggravated his wound, making him grimace in pain, but his mouth remained stretched in a grin.

Amidst the cheers, Wang Hao led everyone down from Heaven Severing Ridge. He didn't fly through the air, but walked down step by step. It wasn't that he was too injured to walk; it was intentional. He wanted everyone to see—he had come down, standing tall, his body still wreathed in the lingering resonance of the white lightning, like a god of war who hadn't yet taken off his armor.

Seeing that black-robed figure from afar, the seven hundred thousand soldiers raised their cheers another notch. Some shouted "Ten thousand years," some shouted "Your Majesty," and some shouted "Victory to the Great Zhou." In the end, nothing could be heard clearly, leaving only a boiling wave of sound.

Duke of Ying spurred his horse forward. He dismounted and was about to salute when Wang Hao raised a hand to stop him: "No need. Let's handle business first."

Duke of Ying immediately turned serious: "Please give your orders, Your Majesty."

"First, clean up the battlefield. The fragments from the collapsed Night Fiend cocoon, the leftover Heavenly Secret rune fragments from Xie Wujiu, the true essence crystals scattered when the ancestors fought the eerie anomalies—retrieve all of them, leaving absolutely nothing behind. Send people specifically to pick them up, and don't worry about wasting time."

Duke of Ying nodded, silently highlighting the words "leaving absolutely nothing behind" in his mind. If His Majesty said to leave nothing behind, then it truly meant nothing; even the dust in the bristles of a broom had to be shaken out.

"Second, redeploy the defense line at Heaven Severing Ridge. Don't think it's over just because the Night Fiend is dead. The Night Fiend has occupied Heaven Severing Ridge for so long that this area has been tainted by the eerie aura. A Demon Suppression Array must be set up to completely purify it, otherwise new anomalies will breed here in a few years."

Duke of Ying nodded again, already starting to calculate in his head how many spirit stones would be needed and whether the budget could be cut. The answer was no.

"Third," Wang Hao's voice softened slightly, but his tone became even more unquestionable, "The Heavenly Secret Pavilion's main headquarters—raid it."

Duke of Ying's eyes instantly lit up. Not just him, but the eyes of a few nearby generals also lit up. They had all fought alongside Wang Hao, and they knew all too well the golden value of His Majesty's word "raid." Back when they raided the Western Regions' evil demons and the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult, the Great Zhou's national treasury had directly doubled.

Wang Hao continued, "The Heavenly Secret Pavilion is a veteran faction with a legacy of ten thousand years. Although Xie Wujiu fused its core into the Night Fiend, the main pavilion is still there, along with its various branches. Now that Xie Wujiu is dead, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion is a dragon without a head. I do not care what methods you use; within three days, empty out their main pavilion for me. The branches can be dealt with slowly, but raid the main pavilion first. If anyone resists—"

He paused and looked at Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword.

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword smoothly took over, "This old man will take some people and make the trip. The ten-thousand-year grudge between the Heavenly Secret Pavilion and the Heavenly Sword Pavilion should finally come to an end today."

Ye Guyun followed silently behind his master, his hand already resting on the hilt of his sword. The expressions of the master and disciple were exactly the same—they had waited far too long for this day.

Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction, then added, "The Heavenly Secret Pavilion's ancient texts, inheritances, spiritual herbs, spirit stones, and anomalous artifacts—register all of them and put them into the treasury. Especially the inheritances related to the Star Sea; no one is allowed to hoard them for themselves. If anyone secretly pockets anything, I will personally go and have a chat with them."

When he said the word "chat," the white lightning patterns on his skin, which had not yet completely faded, lit up imperceptibly. The generals collectively shuddered and cupped their fists, "Your Majesty's will be done!"

Having arranged everything, Wang Hao finally took Wei Zhongxian and the New Emperor Sword back to the central military tent temporarily erected on Heaven-Severing Ridge. Inside the tent, the New Emperor Sword was still hiccuping incessantly—earlier, when the Night Fiend's cocoon collapsed, it had rushed in to gorge itself. The sword's body had expanded by a full size, and countless tiny vertical pupil patterns had surfaced on the black-gold blade, making it look both eerie and gorgeous.

"Tyrant," the artifact spirit of the New Emperor Sword sounded completely drunk, "I think... hic... I've reached the eighth realm... hic... but I don't know my ranking... hic..."

Wang Hao couldn't be bothered with it. He tossed it onto the sword rack, sat down cross-legged, and took those two items out from his sleeve. The black crystal—the Nightmare Core and the condensed body of countless devoured energies. It was the size of a fist and incredibly heavy to the touch, like holding a miniature mountain. The Star Sea Mark—the carrier of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's supreme inheritance, the Myriad Phenomena Heavenly Secret Art.

Wei Zhongxian stood guard quietly to the side. Seeing his imperial master place the two items in front of him, his eyes were filled with unrestrained excitement. He was an old eunuch who had served two generations of emperors; what kind of treasures had he not seen? But spoils of war like these, he truly had never seen before.

One was the core of a peak ninth-level anomaly's true body, and the other was the supreme cultivation method mark of a ten-thousand-year-old faction. Just tossing either one out into the world would cause the entire martial arts realm to slaughter each other red-eyed, yet both had fallen into his master's hands at the same time—good heavens.

Wang Hao was in no rush to absorb them. The energy contained within the core of a peak ninth-level anomaly was far too massive; even if it was just passive residual energy, it would be enough to burst the meridians of an ordinary martial artist. Although he had broken through to the mid-stage of the Sky Soaring Realm and had the white lightning symbiote, it didn't mean he could act recklessly.

He first picked up the Star Sea Mark and closed his eyes to sense it. The moment he activated the Son of Heaven's Qi Observation Art, the Star Sea Mark lit up in his palm, and countless stellar trajectories surged out from the mark, unfurling within his consciousness. It was an extremely vast star map—no, it was more complex than a star map. Every star was a node for heavenly secret divinations, and the connecting lines between the stars formed an exquisitely intricate calculation network.

The Myriad Phenomena Heavenly Secret Art. The supreme cultivation method passed down by the Heavenly Secret Pavilion for ten thousand years. When cultivated to the grand completion stage, one could divine all phenomena in the world and foresee the future. The reason Xie Wujiu was able to predict the future was because of this very technique.

Wang Hao spent a full hour sorting through the introductory chapter of the Myriad Phenomena Heavenly Secret Art. He did not bite off more than he could chew, only taking the most basic foundational methods of heavenly secret divination and combining them with his own Son of Heaven's Qi Observation Art. The Son of Heaven's Qi Observation Art read qi, while the Myriad Phenomena Heavenly Secret Art calculated momentum; the two complemented each other perfectly. The effect of their fusion surprised even Wang Hao himself—he opened his eyes and looked at an ordinary stone a hundred spans outside the tent. In his eyes, he not only saw the stone's qi, but also a faint, extremely blurry thread of momentum concerning who would kick this stone in the future.

It wasn't predicting the future, but rather calculating probabilities.

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword was just walking in and lifted his foot to step over that stone. Wang Hao spoke up a breath in advance, "Pavilion Master, watch your step."

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword paused for a moment, looked down, and saw the stone. He took an extra step to avoid it and gave Wang Hao a strange look upon entering.

Wang Hao calmly put the Star Sea Mark away, wearing an unfathomable expression. Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword didn't pry. He cupped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, the marching arrangements for the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's main branch are ready, and all disciples of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion will participate in the battle. In addition, the casualty reports from the noble families have been tallied. Wanyan Gu... is over there causing more trouble than he's helping. Old Master Ren asked me to invite Your Majesty over to keep an eye on him."

Wang Hao rubbed his temples, "What did he do this time?"

"General Wanyan is helping tally the injuries of the wounded, but his classification method is 'still able to fight' and 'unable to fight'. Old Master Ren said that categorizing them like this holds no medical value."

Wang Hao's mouth twitched. He stood up and said, "Tell him to come see me. He doesn't need to worry about the wounded—I have a more important job for him."

"What job?"

"Moving things," Wang Hao said matter-of-factly. "The Heavenly Secret Pavilion's main branch has so much stuff. If we don't use him, who else would we use?"

Pavilion Master Heavenly Sword fell silent for a moment before saying sincerely, "This old man admires Your Majesty's way of employing people."

When Wang Hao stepped out of the large tent, the sunset over Heaven-Severing Ridge was just right. The bloody hue had completely dissipated, leaving behind a clear, bright orange sky. The mountain ridge was filled with busy soldiers; some were cleaning up the battlefield, some were treating the wounded, and others were laying the foundations for the demon-suppressing formations. In the distance, the tents of the seven-hundred-thousand-strong army stretched out like an ocean. Plumes of cooking smoke rose gently, blending with the golden light of the setting sun like a magnificent and peaceful painting.

But Wang Hao knew this peace was only temporary. Xie Wujiu was dead, and the Night Fiend was dead, but the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's power wouldn't just crumble overnight. The branch pavilions were still there, the disciples scattered everywhere were still there, and the underground factions controlled by the Heavenly Secret Pavilion were still there.

More importantly, right before he died, Xie Wujiu had said one sentence: "You calculated that this venerable one would come." At the time, he had asked if even his fusion with the Night Fiend was part of the plan, and Wang Hao had denied it.

But thinking back on it now, was Xie Wujiu's fall really just a case of Wang Hao being "fully prepared and coincidentally running into him"?

The Heavenly Secret Pavilion had laid plans for ten thousand years and was the most mysterious of the four pavilions. Xie Wujiu sacrificing his disciple, fusing with the Night Fiend, and undergoing tribulation to enter the Martial God realm—every single step he took had been far too crazy and far too rash. It was as if he had been pushed to the edge of a cliff and had no choice but to jump.

Pushed by whom?