The Enigma of the Ancient Tower

"Whoa! Golden Legendary!!"

A 1.9% drop rate, that's quite something!

Chen Yi launched himself off the bed, standing up in excitement.

After reading the trait's effect clearly, he became even more thrilled.

"Special attack against foreign races! My attacks deal agonizing pain to them, but their attacks don't hurt me! They can't even deceive me; I will always stay clear-headed against foreign races!"

It should be known that in this third simulation, Chen Yi planned to use the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to slay demons and nourish the banner. Then, he would let the banner feed its power back to him, just like Old Liu did, to break the limits of his innate aptitude and rapidly increase his cultivation.

With this trait, slaying demons would be both safe and effortless!

Moreover, this trait wasn't just targeting the demon race, but all foreign races—any non-human group was considered a foreign race!

Although Chen Yi still had no idea what other races existed in this world besides the human and demon races.

"Now all I'm missing is the Ten Thousand Souls Banner. However, going to the Chixin Sect is also quite important. I need to see if 'I' can uncover more clues related to the massacre at Luoding Village..."

The golden trait had to be equipped.

In the simulation, traits could not be changed at will; they could only be adjusted during the annual trait draw.

If he happened to encounter the demon race, not having this trait equipped would be a massive loss.

It was just that the seven traits currently equipped all felt very necessary.

After weighing his options back and forth, Chen Yi decided to swap out Hard Work Always Pays Off.

This trait only guaranteed that repeating a task wouldn't result in zero gains. It was a safety net, but it couldn't push his upper limits.

[You have replaced Hard Work Always Pays Off with The Strictest Father to Foreign Races.]

[Before leaving Baiyun County, you visited the Yuelai Inn and gave the landlady a sum of money, asking her to look after Da Chun.]

[Under Shen Qingshan's recommendation, you joined the Chixin Sect.]

[Your innate aptitude is not high, which means your potential is limited.]

[However, your cultivation is surprisingly decent. Joining the Chixin Sect can still bolster the sect's overall strength.]

[Therefore, your current status is not a disciple of the Chixin Sect, but rather a sect retainer.]

[The former would formally acknowledge a high-realm martial artist within the sect as their master and focus primarily on cultivation.]

[The latter does not need to take a master, but can still learn the sect's cultivation techniques and receive cultivation resources. At the same time, however, they must take on certain duties and contribute to the sect's development, management, and the like.]

[Out of respect for the Shen family, the Chixin Sect arranged for you to be a patrolman. You only need to follow the patrol squad and take a stroll around the sect's perimeter every day.]

[You can spend the rest of your time cultivating on your own or doing other things.]

[Every month, the Chixin Sect issues you one Spirit-Guiding Pill and ten low-grade crystal stones as cultivation resources.]

[You can learn the sect's low-tier techniques freely, but mid-tier techniques and above require you to earn contribution points to exchange for them.]

[Contribution points are not difficult to obtain. For a duty-bound retainer like you, arriving at your post on time every day and completing your tasks will automatically earn you one contribution point.]

[Year Three. Twenty years old.]

[Commencing trait draw...]

[Draw successful!]

[Foreign Languages Are Important (Green): Your language talent is maxed out. You can master other languages at an extremely fast pace. If you study in bed, your learning efficiency is doubled.]

[Do you wish to adjust your traits?]

[Yes / No]

[You selected No.]

[It has been a year since you arrived at the Chixin Sect, and you have become thoroughly familiar with everything about this sect.]

[Just as the bandit from before had mentioned, because the majority of people in the Chixin Sect practice the external martial art Heart Fire Technique, the side effects of the technique cause them to grow more red hair the more proficient they become.]

[In the Chixin Sect, people are basically identified by their hair.]

["Hmph, a mere ant with but a single strand of red hair!"]

["Oh! It's actually a senior with half a head of red hair! This junior pays his respects!"]

["Is this an elder with a full head of red hair? So elegant!"]

[The above are common phrases used by the people of the Chixin Sect.]

[Over the past year, your cultivation efficiency has been much higher than it was in the county town.]

[On one hand, taking the Spirit-Guiding Pill on time every month has accelerated your accumulation of spiritual energy.]

[On the other hand, it is due to the environment.]

[The locations where martial arts sects establish their headquarters are all places where the essence of heaven and earth converges, which allows for higher efficiency in cultivating internal martial arts.]

[Additionally, martial artists in the Spirit Gathering Realm still need to practice external martial arts to enhance their vitality. If their vitality fails to keep up, their spiritual energy cannot be improved either.]

[Your main purpose for coming to the Chixin Sect is not actually to cultivate, but to investigate what connection the sect has to the massacre at Luoding Village.]

[So far, you have not found any useful intelligence.]

[There is only one strange anomaly.]

[There is an ancient tower within the sect. Every time you follow the patrol squad past this place, your Spider Sense activates, giving you goosebumps all over.]

["Senior Brother Lin, what is inside this tower?"]

[You ask the captain of the patrol squad.]

["This is the place where the Patriarch of our Chixin Sect is in secluded cultivation. Do not go in and disturb him without a good reason. Trespassing without prior announcement will lead to severe consequences! There was a reckless fool before who barged in and was mercilessly struck down by the Patriarch!"]

[The Chixin Sect is a young sect, so the founding Patriarch is still alive.]

[Is it because trespassing is forbidden that your Spider Sense is triggered?]

[Year Four. Twenty-one years old.]

[Commencing trait draw...]

[Draw successful!]

[Silent Step (Green): When you intentionally control your footsteps, you can move without making a sound. When you remain perfectly still, spiritual sense cannot detect your presence.]

[Do you wish to adjust your traits?]

[Yes / No]

"This trait is useful. It can help me investigate clues in the Chixin Sect. But which one should I swap out..."

Chen Yi couldn't help but feel a bit conflicted.

After looking them over, it seemed that Demonic Aura didn't have much room to shine at the moment, so it could be temporarily swapped out.

[You have replaced Demonic Aura with Silent Step.]

[One day, when you patrolled past the ancient tower, you noticed that your Spider Sense did not react.]

["Oh right, Qingzhou recently organized some sort of sect exchange conference. The Patriarch took a group of outstanding disciples and headed out."]

[You felt this was an opportunity.]

[You had already searched most places within the sect; this ancient tower was the only place you had never entered.]

[Since your Spider Sense did not react, it meant there was no danger inside.]

[After dark, you quietly approached the ancient tower. Your Spider Sense still showed no reaction, indicating that it was safe to enter.]

[Mustering your courage, you climbed up to the third floor and slipped inside through a window that hadn't been tightly shut.]

["There's absolutely nothing in here. Is this really a place for secluded cultivation?"]

[The tower had a total of seven floors. You strolled from the first floor all the way to the seventh, only to find that every single floor was completely empty, without a single piece of furniture.]

[However, the floors were very strange.]

[The ground of every level was engraved with complex patterns that seemed to follow some sort of specific rhythm or rule.]

["Is it an array?"]

[Having stayed in the Chixin Sect for a few years, although you had never formally studied array formations, you would occasionally sit in on the lectures given by senior array masters, so you had gained a basic understanding of them.]

[The style of the array patterns on each floor of this tower was vastly different from the array patterns you usually saw.]

["A person really needs to study more. You only regret reading too little when the time comes to actually use that knowledge..."]

[Just as you were carefully observing the details of the formation, intending to use "Photographic Memory" to memorize it all so you could study its purpose later...]

[The formation beneath your feet suddenly lit up!]

[At the same time, your "Spider-Sense" began to go off like crazy!]

["Not good!"]

[In a split second, you darted aside, leaped out the window, and stood perfectly motionless on the tower's eaves.]

[Because out of the corner of your eye, you clearly saw two figures materialize within the formation!]

[Rather than continuing to run, it seemed safer to use "Silent Step" and stay hidden outside.]