Chapter 291: The Ninth Floor

Kael took the fourth step.

WHUUUM!

The pressure intensified. His Early Tier 5 body groaned under the strain, his muscles tightening reflexively.

Fifth step.

WHUUUM!

The air itself felt like it weighed tons.

Sixth step.

CRACK.

Kael coughed—cough—and blood spattered from his lips.

Hhhh... hhhh...

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His vision blurred momentarily before clearing.

"There better be something good on this damn ninth floor," he murmured through gritted teeth.

He stopped as he closed his eyes.

The stairs resist mana. They resist soul power. But do they resist aura?

He began circulating his aura—drawing the body cultivation energy from his marrow, pushing it through his blood, radiating it outward through his pores. The shimmering layer of distorted air around his body thickened—hummm—solidifying into a proper skin-tight barrier.

WHUUUM.

The pressure hit his aura and was reduced to a managable level.

Kael opened his eyes.

It doesn’t resist aura. Should have tried that since.

He took the seventh step. Eighth step. Ninth. His aura absorbed the weight, distributing it evenly across his body.

He climbed steadily and slowly until he finally reached the top.

His legs gave out. Thud. He collapsed onto the ninth floor, gasping. Hhhh... hhhh... Even with aura protection, the cumulative pressure had drained him.

He lay on the stone floor for a full minute before pushing himself up.

The ninth floor was small unlike the expansive libraries, gardens, and training grounds below, this chamber was barely 15 meters across. A private space.

The walls were covered in murals.

Kael stood and examined them. The paintings depicted a single figure—eight feet tall, massively built, covered in scars that crisscrossed every inch of his skin. The murals showed him in various scenes: shattering a mountain with his fist. Standing alone against an army of cultivators, their attacks scattering against his body. Crushing a dragon’s skull with his bare hands. Walking through a sea of corpses, unmarked and unscratched.

Golgoth. The World-Breaker.

The supreme body cultivator of the Void Realm. Kael studied the murals carefully.

In the center of the chamber sat a coffin.

It was carved from dark stone and sealed tight. Runic inscriptions lined the edges, glowing faintly with residual energy.

Kael approached it. He pressed his palms against the lid and pushed but the lid didn’t budge.

He pushed harder.

He channeled aura into his arms. The shimmering energy coated his limbs—hummm—reinforcing his physical strength.

He pushed again.

GRRRRR... CRACK!

The seal broke. The lid slid sideways—grind—and fell to the floor with a heavy THUD as dust billowed upward.

Kael looked inside.

A figure lay in the coffin. Young—maybe twenty-five in appearance. Handsome, with sharp features and closed eyes. His body was muscular, well-proportioned, and perfectly preserved. Not a single sign of decay. The coffin’s preservation runes had kept him pristine for five thousand years.

Kael examined the body with his Spirit Eyes.

Dead.

But the body’s density was impressive. But it wasn’t Golgoth. Kael had read the murals—Golgoth’s body seemed to be as hard as Artifact grade weapons. This figure’s body was strong, perhaps equivalent to a Tier 2 and Tier 1 weapon, but not beyond.

This isn’t Golgoth. Maybe a disciple. A successor who inherited this chamber but wasn’t the World-Breaker himself.

On the figure’s right hand was a storage ring.

Kael reached in and carefully removed it.

"Sorry," he said to the dead body. "But this will be more useful for the living. And thank you—if there’s something useful in here."

He slipped the ring onto his own finger and fed his mana into it. The runic defenses activated—fzzzt—resisting his probe. Ancient locks, designed to prevent unauthorized access.

Kael’s Spirit Eyes analyzed the inscriptions. They were complex but degraded—five thousand years of slow decay had weakened them considerably. He traced the runic pathways, found the stress points, and applied precise bursts of mana.

The defenses shattered. The storage ring’s interior opened to his perception.

Oh.

Mountains of coins. Literally mountains—piled high in the ring’s internal space. Gold, silver, and copper coins inscribed with symbols Kael didn’t recognize. The currency of the Void Realm. Valuable to historians, perhaps. Useless in the outside world.

Beyond the coins: several Tier 1 weapons. Swords, spears, axes. Decent quality but nothing Kael needed. He already had Shadow Slayer blades—a Special Grade weapon. Tier 1 was garbage by comparison.

Then his eyes caught the important items.

A small collection of manuals. A few herbs—still intact, preserved by the ring’s internal environment. And something else.

A gauntlet.

Kael pulled it from the storage ring. It materialized in his hands radiating a strong aura that pressed against his skin. The gauntlet was forged from a dark metal he couldn’t identify, covered in ancient runes so dense they overlapped like spider silk. Even his Spirit Eyes struggled to fully analyze the inscriptions.

Special Grade.

He turned it over in his hands. The runes pulsed—flicker—responding to his aura. His Spirit Eyes gradually decoded the properties.

Aura Amplification: Multiplies the user’s Aura output by 150% when worn.

Impact Nullification: Absorbs 40% of kinetic energy from incoming physical attacks and converts it into Aura for the wearer.

World-Breaker Strike: The gauntlet’s ultimate ability. Concentrates all stored Aura into a single punch capable of shattering defensive formations and barriers.

Kael’s eyes widened.

Wow. This is insane. A 150% Aura output multiplier. That will increase the power of any attack I use with aura.

He continued searching the ring. His fingers closed around a small vial, filled with a thick, silver liquid that seemed to glow from within.

Marrow-Forging Essence. A refined liquid that, when absorbed, permanently increased bone density and marrow output. Essentially—a Tier 5 body cultivator’s dream supplement.

Kael set the vial aside carefully and returned to the manuals. He scanned the first—a body cultivation technique. Comprehensive, well-structured. But Kael already had the Void Body Refinement technique.

The Void Body Refinement grows alongside me. It uses Void energy to temper the body, making it stronger than cultivators at similar tiers. This manual might be good, but it can’t replace what I already have.

He set it aside. The second manual he would examine later.

Kael bit his thumb. A drop of blood welled up. He infused it with his soul essence and pressed his bleeding thumb against the gauntlet.

Vvvvm.

The gauntlet absorbed the blood instantly. The runes blazed—flicker-flicker—brighter than before. The metal warmed in his hands. He felt the bond form—a thread connecting his soul and body to the gauntlet’s internal framework.

He slipped it onto his right hand. It fit perfectly—adjusting to his hand size, the runes dimming to a steady pulse. The aura amplification activated immediately—shimmer—and Kael felt his aura output surge.

He clenched his fist. The runes flared. The air around his knuckles distorted.

Kael stored the Marrow-Forging Essence, the manuals, and the remaining herbs in his system storage. The coins and Tier 1 weapons he left in the ring—he might find a use for them later.

He looked at the coffin one last time. The young man inside lay peaceful.

"Well, I must say thank you," Kael said again.

He turned and descended.

The pressure on the stairway was nothing with his aura active alongside the gaunlet’s boost. He walked down effortlessly—step, step, step—past the eighth floor, past the seventh.

Rue sat cross-legged on the seventh floor, meditating near the empty pool. Her eyes opened as he approached.

"You’re back," she said. "What did you find?"

Kael raised his right hand. Rue’s green eyes widened.

"Pretty," she said.

"Pretty?" Kael raised an eyebrow. "This is a Special Grade weapon."

"Still pretty."

Kael shook his head with a wry smile.

"Let’s go. We’re done here."

They descended through the pagoda. The cultivators on the lower floors watched them pass with wary eyes.

They exited the pagoda into the Holy Ground’s valley.

Two techniques. One Special Grade gauntlet. Marrow-Forging Essence. A map of the Void Realm. Body cultivation breakthrough.

Not a bad haul.