Chapter 49 Part 2

Mu Cheng pressed his lips together without speaking.

Lian Yunzhi already knew his answer. Lian Yunzhi smiled with relief, lowered his head to cut off his long hair, watched it turn into a vine strip, placed it in Mu Cheng’s hand, then leaned in to kiss Mu Cheng.

“Wait for me to come out.”

.

Only after entering the “Near Heaven Tower” did Lian Yunzhi discover it had a whole other world inside. The tower had countless floors, each with cultivation chambers, a scripture pavilion, and demon beasts conjured from spiritual power in various tiers. Plus the time flow—one year per day upward—this was simply every cultivator’s dream training ground.

But when Lian Yunzhi finally encountered a Void Refining cultivator and witnessed his death firsthand, he understood where everything in the tower came from.

Almost the instant the Void Refining cultivator was torn apart by a high-tier demon beast, his body decomposed, every inch of spiritual power within him injecting into the tower and transforming into packs of new demon beasts. His primordial spirit was torn, and every book he had read, every technique he had seen, became tomes on the “Near Heaven Tower”s shelves.

Countless high-tier cultivators’ corpses nourished this tower.

But Lian Yunzhi wasn’t afraid. He merely slowed his steps, no longer rushing upward tirelessly. Instead, he calmed his mind, read the scriptures, secluded himself in cultivation, killing the same-tier demon beasts that dispersed and reformed over and over.

His days slowed down.

One day, when he suddenly realized he had stared at a single page of a technique manual for half a shichen, he knew he had begun to miss Mu Cheng.

Yet the moment he realized he was “missing” him, the longing grew like rampant weeds.

Reading scriptures, he missed Mu Cheng. Practicing spells, he missed Mu Cheng. Meditating quietly, he missed Mu Cheng. Slaying demon beasts, he still missed Mu Cheng. He missed Mu Cheng every moment.

But when he calmly counted, he found he had only been inside for three months.

Only three months?!

Lian Yunzhi was stunned.

So he berated himself, forced himself to calm down, and continued cultivating.

He entered a higher floor.

New, never-before-seen high-tier demon beasts pounced at him. He killed them one by one with his dagger, sword, and vines, watching them disperse. Clutching the bloody hole in his forearm, dragging his bitten leg, he stepped into the scripture pavilion step by step. Leaning against the bookshelf, he tilted his head back to swallow pills. As the pain eased, he casually pulled out a book—a formation manual. Lian Yunzhi missed Mu Cheng.

He quickly scanned all the scriptures on that floor with his divine sense, entered meditation, sat quietly, and cultivated. He left the safe zone, facing the reforming demon beasts again. He battled them over and over until he could slay them effortlessly without strain, then advanced to the next floor. He stepped up the stairs one by one. He missed Mu Cheng.

The pills ran out quickly. The higher the floor, the more terrifying the demon beasts. Lian Yunzhi clutched his blood-drenched waist and hid in a cultivation chamber. His blood stained his robes and the prayer mat, but even casting a cleansing spell felt exhausting. He curled up on the ground, feeling pain, loneliness. He missed Mu Cheng.

He climbed floor by floor, his cultivation rising floor by floor: Void Refining mid-stage, late-stage, peak. He broke through to Body Integration! He faced the thunder tribulation alone, enjoyed the joy of successful advancement alone. He extended hundreds of vines dancing in the air, stretching. He barbarically shredded the demon beasts on that floor. He threw back his head. He missed Mu Cheng.

He had already reached Body Integration initial stage. Was ascension far away?

Not far.

Next came Body Integration mid-stage, late-stage, peak. Great Ascension initial, mid, late, peak. Tribulation Transcendence! Ascension!

But the path to advancement grew harder and slower the further he went. His initial prediction was correct—he’d need at least fifty years here to ascend. But only eleven years had passed!

Thirty-nine years still to go?!

The joy of successful advancement vanished. Lian Yunzhi felt anxious, sad, angry. He even regretted his earlier decision—he had overestimated himself. He hadn’t known longing could torment like this.

He lashed out massive vines in a frenzy around him. The pitiful spiritual-power-formed demon beasts tore apart and reformed, reformed and tore apart again. His vines inadvertently pierced through a demon beast’s belly.

His vines suddenly stiffened in midair.

He slowly turned his head.

The demon beast, ravaged countless times by him, turned back into spiritual mist upon death—but the mist no longer reformed. It was absorbed by the vines.

Lian Yunzhi’s eyes widened bit by bit.

Then he curved his lips and burst into laughter.

Ha!

How stupid was he? He had forgotten he was Spirit Capturing Grass!

He was Spirit Capturing Grass—why cultivate like a human cultivator?!

Lian Yunzhi transformed into a miniature version of his true form, flailing his vines to capture every wisp of spiritual mist from the demon beasts. His cultivation surged wildly within him. He even ran back to the previous floor, killed demon beasts he had slain countless times before, and absorbed their mist again.

Lian Yunzhi’s cultivation skyrocketed.

Body Integration initial, mid, late!

He stopped, feeling his body on the verge of bursting from spiritual power again. He returned to the cultivation chamber, digesting and sorting it bit by bit like ants moving a mountain.