Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 1614: Chapter 1614. First to Fourth Floor.

The tower’s first place, other than those spoiled pills and dagger, had nothing else that could be considered worthwhile. Moreover, since Yasenia had given her maids free reign, they were sweeping everything so quickly that it felt more like a stroll than an obstacle course.

The girls were quite amused as well because, each time a maid managed to do something of relative importance, they would run back and stand in front of Yasenia with sparkling eyes, waiting for their "good job kiss."

Yasenia, of course, did not have a single objection to giving her beautiful girls a kiss on the forehead.

"...Hm."

Yasenia looked at the dagger in her hand, tilting her head. "Another dagger in the second floor?"

It could be a coincidence, but as she kissed Eve’s forehead for carrying the dagger back, Yasenia began to suspect the daggers.

Eve’s usually stern expression softened like melting icecream. ’Young Miss’s lips~, hehehe.’

Tatyana looked at the dagger and nodded. "You are also suspicious."

"Of course. This empire seems to have some kind of affinity for daggers. Could it be that daggers were used as family ornaments or seals?"

Andrea shook her head at Yasenia’s words. "Then, the seal we encountered would not have worked, right?"

Evelyn shrugged. "Having one or the other might’ve been a preference. It’s not like family seals are usually shaped identically."

Those words were not completely wrong, so Andrea didn’t insist. Yasenia spoke. "We’ll know more the higher we climb. Now..."

Looking to the side and seeing the queue of adorable maids waiting for their turn for praise while holding treasures and other items, Yasenia laughed. "You are all so lovely, hahaha. Come here."

So, Yasenia hugged and gave a kiss to each of them, picking their items and analyzing them with her lovers.

"Third floor... it is the same as the first and second. Some sort of obstacle course with traps and such..."

Moving seamlessly, the maids dismantled the traps and, like in the first and second floors, got a dagger as a reward.

Evelyn asked. "Do these daggers refresh from somewhere?"

"Why would you ask?"

Evelyn sorted her thoughts and explained. "Well, it has been quite a long time, right? The traps in this tower should be refreshed automatically depending on in which event they were used. If that’s the case, these daggers might not have that ceremonial feel because they were rewards that could later be modified individually."

Angel, still hung on Yasenia’s back, muttered. "So... this is a place of family scions to test their mettle and get these daggers, which could later be transformed into family seals or other items of similar significance?"

A nod of Evelyn’s head showed her agreement with Angel’s words.

Tatyana muttered. "That’s not a bad guess."

"Well, we will know once we reach the top-most floor. Or, perhaps, since this pagoda has nine towers, the next floor will be different."

"That can also be right." Tatyana smiled. "Dividing things in threes is the way of us cultivators!"

"...Is it?"

Tatyana shrugged. "One made two, two made three, and three was the source of all things."

Yasenia blinked. "That’s... the sentence referring to the source of the world, right? One refers to the Dao; two to Yin and Yang; and three to their harmonized energies: Yin, Yang, or a mix of both. From there, all things were born."

"Yes. So, those who follow the traditional Dao usually like to separate things in threes." Tatyana laughed. "Of course, that could not be the case. Such beliefs are more of Valeria’s generation and before. Nowadays, cultivation has separated from past constraints, becoming far more varied."

"I guess you are right. There are far too many cultivation paths one can follow."

Anna spoke softly. "Young Miss, the entrance to the fourth floor is in that direction."

Yasenia’s group followed. Once there, they became a bit... confused.

"Why are there so many golem-like puppets lying on the ground in such an unsightly manner?"

It was as if someone had taken an orderly battalion of golems and thrown them to the sky without activating them. The way they landed looked exactly like how the beings in front of them were strewn across the ground.

"So, what do we do then?"

Yasenia stepped forward. "What else? Step forward. If these things are alive, we kill them. If they are not, we steal... pick them up."

Kali chuckled. "Why do you want them?"

"Their strength should not be low since the formations below could, even if for a little bit, hold my maids back. That means that this place tested Transcendence Realm cultivators at the very least."

The girls blinked, realizing that her words were quite truthful.

Without any further delay, the maids stepped forward bravely. When they did, the golems on the ground flinched, and then, as if shaking off their rust, a screeching sound of metal moving echoed around.

"...Noisy."

Cecile complained, her silvery eyebrows furrowing gently.

Anna looked around with a hum and spoke. "Restrain them. Kill two of them as well to see their reaction."

With her orders, all 250+ maids flashed forward and swept through the thousands of golems. The sound of metal being pummeled and ropes rubbing against their surfaces governed the space.

Anna and Eve came back dragging one golem each. "Young Miss. In case only the person who destroys these things gets a reward, please do the honors."

Yasenia nodded and stepped forward. Once in front of the over 2-meter-tall metal golem, Yasenia’s tail lashed out from behind her.

BANG!

The golem’s body crumpled, flying back and smashing against a distant wall. Yasenia was startled. "Wow. Quite tough."

That strike had carried all of her physical strength without holding back, together with some Spiritual energy. It was, in a way, the strongest attack Yasenia could release in her "normal" state.

Everyone looked at the golem that thudded against the ground, and as if to confirm Yasenia’s words, the crumpled metal golem pushed against the ground with staggering motions.

Evelyn whistled. "I agree with steal... I mean, picking them up. Any golem that can resist Yasenia’s current strength is worth having!"

To avoid making the same mistake, Yasenia activated [Celestial Dragon Body] and [Immortal Breaker Body]. Then, her tail lashed out again.

The second golem was not as lucky as the first one. The massively enhanced strength made sure to expand the golem’s metal body, the force causing it to explode violently, it’s shards scattering around like rain.

"That’s better."

Yasenia smiled faintly and looked around. The rest of the girls did the same, and a second later, the shards that had scattered suddenly disappeared.

"Hm?"

A sensation caused everyone to look up, and from the ceiling, a circular formation lit up, summoning a brand new golem. This one, unlike the reddish-colored ones around them, was perfectly white and pristine.

However, its imposing nature did not last long, as the poor golem fell from the "ceiling" and crashed onto the "floor" unsightily.

Evelyn puffed a laugh. "Now we know why the golems were scattered around like toys in a child’s room."

After a few moments, that golem jumped agilely, showing none of the rusty movements of its other companions. Then, its sight locked onto the nearest maid, and it attacked with a sword.

The nearest maid, Selena the red lamia, summoned her massive shield to block it. A loud clang echoed around, the shockwave powerful enough to bounce around the place.

After having its first attack parried, the white golem sped up and released a flurry of attacks. Selena’s lower serpentine body didn’t even move as her heavy shield perfectly parried every single one of the brutal sword strikes.

Yasenia looked at Tatyana. "Assessment?"

Tatyana laughed. "Its strength is at around the Fourth Level of Transcendence Realm. However, its durability is equal to that of a strong Sixth Level Transcendence Cultivator. A perfect training dummy."

Yasenia agreed. "Aster will have a hard time against one of these."

Andrea coughed. "Isn’t it a bit too strong for him?"

Yasenia smiled, amused. "We can tweak it a little. Aster still has not understood an Intent Domain, but without taking that into account, his strength should be enough to face an average Second Level Transcendence being. With practice and mastering his innate strength, facing Level Threes should not be a problem."

Andrea blinked and agreed. Yasenia was quite harsh when training Asterion, but seeing his growth-hungry smile each time he was beaten down, Andrea always sighed. ’In that sense, he truly is identical to her mother.’

That smile was one Andrea had seen on Yasenia whenever she found something that challenged her strength.

Yasenia spoke to her maids. "All of you, retreat. We’ll see if this thing has infinite spawns. Make sure to pick one of them while returning."

The maids moved quickly, untying all golems, and each picked up one on their way back.

When everyone got behind Yasenia, she took a deep breath and puffed out her flames.

WHOOSH!

Blue, starlit flames surged forward like a tsunami, engulfing everything in front of them. The Celestial Flames were ridiculously destructive, and just a few seconds later, the ceiling got lit up with circular formations.

Tatyana looked at those formations and then glanced at the far end of the room covered in flames. "Oh? There is a timer and some sort of counter."

Yasenia did the same, ignoring the constantly spawning white golems that fell to their death. "Hm... I can see some symbols, but they are different from our numbers."

"Yes, but that one is ticking at the rate of seconds; the others are jumping each time a golem dies. So, if we just count how the numbers change... It is a sequence of nine instead of ten like ours."

Yasenia nodded and quickly extrapolated the symbols. "So... the trial lasts for 30 minutes."

Andrea chuckled. "I don’t think it was done to last for thirty minutes of constant destruction and formation..."

"Speaking of which, maids, go change half of those rusty ones you picked with new white ones."

Having around 130 of each of them was enough to dissect how they were created and replicate the functionality of these golems.

30 minutes passed by quickly. During this time, the golems had stopped spawning at the 20 minute mark, though.

Once it was done, the "floor" at the end of the fourth floor opened, and then it closed again.

Everyone blinked. Yasenia realized. "Wait, since the reward should’ve fallen from that aperture, doesn’t it mean that it got stuck inside because the tower is flipped upside down?"

The girls laughed and then walked forward. Yasenia glanced at the now-closed ceiling and pondered. "Do we... force it open?"

Tatyana tapped the ground a few times, and the ceiling opened again. "I could see how the formation opened it, so there is no problem opening it again. Take that treasure chest..."

Yasenia’s eyes lit up. "Treasure chest!"

Inside, there was another dagger, a few pill jars, and one cultivation technique. "Oho~. Let’s see."