CHAPTER 68: HEAVEN PIERCING PAGODA II

As they stepped inside, the group was separated according to the number of trials each had completed.

Tian Lei opened his eyes—only to find the red light of teleportation fading away. He wasn’t sure where he had ended up, but the floor beneath his feet was solid and smooth. Without hesitation, he walked forward.

Soon, a storefront came into view. Behind its wide counter stood shelves upon shelves filled with strange goods.

Suddenly, a translucent screen flickered to life before his eyes. Lines of text scrolled across it, showing countless items alongside their token prices.

Tian Lei scanned through it quickly. His gaze sharpened when he noticed an entire section dedicated to Divine Rank treasures. Without wasting time asking questions, he navigated directly to the weapon section—searching for something worthy of his strength.

He didn’t lack for techniques, nor was he in need of cultivation resources. What he did lack, however, was a weapon strong enough to unleash his full power.

So, he began browsing through the listings—and soon, his eyes stopped on something that made his pulse quicken."A soul weapon, huh..." Tian Lei murmured.

His master had once told him about soul weapons. They were in an entirely different category from ordinary arms. Such weapons grew alongside their wielders, and they almost never chose a master unless the wielder met their exacting standards. They were like living entities—ones that chose their own fate and their own master.

Right now, within this pagoda, there were over a hundred such rare treasures."If others outside knew this, they’d do anything to break in and snatch one for themselves," Tian Lei muttered.

Most likely, this was the first—and most important—floor to reach: the place where the soul weapons were stored for purchase. With all his tokens, Tian Lei could only afford a single soul weapon. After that, he’d have just enough left to buy a few Heaven-rank or lower treasures.

"Since no one knows about Soul Weapons also inside the Pagoda, it’s safe to assume I’m the first one to arrive here," he murmured, though his excitement quickly turned into a dilemma. He didn’t know which soul weapon would choose him—or if any would at all. The hall held everything: swords, spears, halberds, dual blades... even stranger forms.

It was a gamble. If he picked a weapon and it refused him, it would simply sit in his spatial ring, gathering dust.

After pacing a moment, he decided to try for a sword, after all he have comprehended the Sword Intent which is an sign of his Talent in Swords. But just as he was about to make his choice, a small glowing option appeared beneath the display section:

[Would you like to test if the soul weapon resonates with you?][Price: 100 tokens]

"That’s perfect," Tian Lei grinned. "I can check before wasting my pick."

He chose to test a black greatsword—massive, broad-bladed, its edge gleaming with a dull, ancient luster. As he grasped the hilt, the sword manifested in front of him, heavy and silent. For a moment, he thought he felt a faint vibration... but then, nothing. The weapon dissolved back into light.

[You are not suited for this soul weapon.]

"What?" Tian Lei frowned in confusion, staring at his empty hands. "Well, it was only one sword..."

He moved on, eyes landing on an ice-type soul weapon—a longsword of clear crystalline steel, faint frost curling off its blade. But then once again no resonance and then he moved on to next sword.

Tian Lei tried every sword-type weapon in the section—single-edged, double-edged, curved, straight, longswords, and even exotic styles.

Not a single one resonated with him.

His expression darkened. That only meant one thing—he had no talent for swordsmanship at all.And worse... every attempt had eaten away at his precious tokens.

Letting out a long sigh, Tian Lei turned away from the sword racks. "Fine... let’s just check the other sections before I run out completely."

Almost without thinking, he wandered into the bow section. He had never even touched a bow in his life—yet the moment his hand hovered over one particular weapon, a faint hum of connection filled the air. The runes on the bow’s limbs flared to life, and his token counter instantly dropped as the pact was formed.

The bow was beautiful—an elegant longbow forged from a silvery-white wood, with faint streams of frost curling along its surface and arcs of lightning flickering between its tips. An ice-and-lightning hybrid—rare, dangerous, and devastating in the right hands.

The moment the bond completed, a flood of information surged into Tian Lei’s mind:

[ Heaven Eyes – Your vision sharpens beyond mortal limits, allowing you to perceive distant or concealed targets. ]

[ Qi Arrow – Condense your energy into pure arrows, eliminating the need for physical ammunition. ]

Tian Lei’s lips curved into a slow grin."Looks like I’ve been an archer all along... who knew?"

He rested the bow lightly in his hands, feeling the faint pulse of its spirit through the grip. A thought lingered in his mind, unspoken at first—until curiosity got the better of him.

"But... if my greatest talent is in archery, and I’ve already formed Sword Intent... I wonder how long it would take me to form a Bow Intent," he murmured under his breath.

Weapons each had their own will, their own path of mastery—whether it was sword, spear, blade, or bow. Sword Intent had taken him only a few hours to touch upon, the endless repetition shaping his spirit until it resonated with the sword’s essence.

Yet now, as he stared at the icy-lightning longbow in his hands, a strange certainty took root in his heart.This wasn’t just a weapon he could use—this was the weapon.And for the first time, he felt like he had stumbled upon his true calling.

And then he looked at his remaining tokens. They were not high enough to purchase advanced treasures, but it could be exchanged for certain spirit-ranked resources.

After some thought, he once again went back to resource section and then went to seeds section. The list of available seeds was short, yet a few caught his attention immediately.

The Yin–Yang Fruit Tree—famed for producing paired fruits that could harmonize opposing energies.The Five Elemental Tree—its fruits infused with the quintessence of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Without hesitation, Tian Lei traded his token and left with five seeds of each. With that, all his tokens were now spent.

Without wasting a moment, he entered the Frozen Heart Tree Realm, the cold, crystalline air carrying the scent of ancient frost. There, he planted three seeds of the Yin–Yang Fruit Tree and three seeds of the Five Elemental Tree. The frigid yet vital energy of this realm would temper their growth, molding them into unique, frost-hardened variants unlike anything in the outside world.

As for the remaining two seeds of each type, he planted them in his Golden Fortune Realm, where the pure, abundant qi would accelerate their growth in a normal direction—just as they were originally intended to develop.

The two realms would shape them in their own ways—one under the biting embrace of ice and stillness, the other under the nurturing radiance of fortune’s pure qi. And with both at his disposal, Tian Lei could only grow stronger.

After spending the last of his tokens, Tian Lei stepped out of the pagoda. If he wanted, he could have left the Immortal Secret Realm altogether... but instead, the moment his feet touched the ground, he activated the Vanishing Reaper Art and vanished into the chaos.

All around, mayhem reigned—cultivators clashing in desperate bids to claim each other’s tokens. Unseen, Tian Lei slipped through the fray until he found a suitable spot. There, his form morphed into that of an Ice Dragon, his scales glinting like frozen sapphire. With a roar, he dove back into the battlefield.

He didn’t kill most of them—just knocked them unconscious with precise, crushing blows—then stripped them of their tokens. In short order, he had not only regained the number he’d spent, but even surpassed it.

Only the Holy Devil Sect cultivators met a different fate. Finding a group of them recuperating in hiding, stealing from the fallen, he showed no mercy. Their lives ended in a sweep of icy claws, and their treasure rings now rested in his possession.

Leaving the scene behind, Tian Lei then went to some distance before shifting back into human form. At the same time, he changed his clothes entirely and slipped on a plain mask—ensuring that even if someone had not been knocked by dragon form, they would never think its him Tian Lei, who is already inside the Pagoda.

Moving without drawing attention, he stepped back into the pagoda. He once again appeared back on the same floor, where his eyes settled on the highest tier his tokens could afford—the Mythic Grade section.

What he chose was the Frozen Darkness, a sword forged in shadow and frost. Its sleek, blackened blade glimmered faintly with a layer of icy radiance, as if night and winter had merged into steel. Though Tian Lei’s true expertise lay in the bow, he decided to wield this blade for now, keeping his archery talents concealed as a hidden trump card.

{A/N : After Heaven its Divine then Ancient and then Mythic rank }