Already knowing that it was impossible for her to make it through the first floor of the tower with her current strength, Lu Dongli didn’t show the slightest bit of nervousness as she made her way up the spiral staircase alongside other disciples who also happened to be visiting the ascension realm tower for the first time, though a clear difference between her and them was the simple fact that these disciples looked nowhere near as relaxed as her. On the contrary, every single one of them was sweating nervously as they deliberately slowed down their ascent up the stairs. Allowing her to overtake them with ease.

And as she found herself about to reach the top of the spiral staircase where she would find herself being moved to a unique first floor that others couldn’t access, she ran into two female disciples lingering on the very edge of the boundary. One struggling to try and pull the other along, while the second did her best to hold on to the thin edge of the staircase.

"Junior sister, are you sure we can beat the first floor working together? I heard that the challenge will get harder the more people join and with someone like me around, it might not be possible for you to make it through the first floor..."

"Don’t worry! I know what I’m doing, with my strength we are sure to pass through the first floor of the tower without any issues!"

Listening in on their conversation as the junior sister tried to pull the older one inside with even greater force, Lu Dongli could not help slowing down for a bit upon noticing the strength of this junior sister. Realizing that she had barely stepped into the Second Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, even weaker than her who had just started cultivating less than a week ago.

Still, considering how young this junior sister was, it wasn’t that surprising. On the other hand, the one refusing to step forward and enter the first floor was a slightly older girl who had already reached the Seventh Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

For the stronger one to be talking about letting down the weaker one was a bit surprising to her, as Lu Dongli found herself drawing closer to unique pair...

"Aaah?!"

But just as she was about to pass by the unique pair of two, the stronger one seemed to suddenly lose her grip on the thin edge of the spiral staircase and was pulled backwards by the forceful tug of the younger one. Flying directly towards the unsuspecting Lu Dongli who had been passing by alongside the younger one-

"Huh?"

Thud~

Catching her completely off guard, as she hadn’t been expecting to suddenly get ambushed from behind just as she was about to pass the boundary that would take her to the first floor of the tower... And so, she alongside the two unique disciples ended up fulfilling the team up condition for the tower as all three of them ended up entering the exact same first floor together by tumbling forward and essentially tripping over the last few steps onto the grass covered plains of the first floor of the tower.

The arrival, having changed somewhat from when Xuan Hao had passed through the place in the past, as one would now essentially end up being teleported directly to the edge of the staircase leading to the first floor of the tower upon entering, something that saved the disciples entering the tower a bit of time.

However, an unfortunate change that Xuan Hao wasn’t aware of that had taken place alongside this new change, was the fact that the first floor of the tower had essentially turned into a new kind of challenge that one couldn’t leave unless one failed the task itself or died.

Leaving and entering the tower’s floors freely had essentially become a right only granted upon reaching the second floor of the tower.

In turn, this sudden and unexpected change had also resulted in many newer disciples who originally wanted to challenge the ascension realm tower deciding against it until they broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm with only a rare few Qi Condensation Realm disciples feeling daring enough to take on this challenge at the Qi Condensation Realm.

After all, even if death inside the ascension realm tower wasn’t real, the pain one went through was very real and something most newer cultivators couldn’t endure. Especially younger ones who had no experience when it came to real fighting outside the training grounds of the sect.

In a way, the ascension realm tower had turned into a kind of challenge that these disciples set for themselves to overcome and get used to real battle outside the sect.

"Ouch! That huuurt!"

"You don’t say! You landed directly on top of me!"

"And both of you landed on top of me" Listening to the two troublemakers who had landed on top of her, Lu Dongli decided to remind the pair of the innocent victim they had ended up dragging along with them.

"Aaaah! Sorry!"

"Oh? No wonder the landing was so soft..."

Something that should have made the two of them reflect, but it only seemed to work on one of the two, as the younger one seemed to make a rather inappropriate remark while jealously looking towards the place she had landed.

Knowing that it was best not to argue with the child, Lu Dongli just rolled her eyes in response as she got up to her feet and turned her attention towards the floating words that had seemingly appeared in front of her after she entered the first floor of the tower alongside the other two.

[Welcome to the Ascension Realm, Group Challenge]

[Participants: 3]

[Current Floor: 1]

[Task 1: Kill 20 Qi Condensation Realm Demon Beasts at the Seventh Stage]

[Task 2] Kill 5 Qi Condensation Realm Demon Beasts at the Eighth Stage]

[Reward: 1 Ascension Coin, The Passage to the Second Floor reveals itself]

[Note: Floor Boss Strength and Normal Demon Beasts Strength, Increased]

Reading through the few lines of texts floating in front of her, Lu Dongli could not help frowning as the already impossible challenge had just become even more impossible thanks to it turning into a team challenge instead of a solo one.

The original task that should have been to kill 20 Qi Condensation Realm demon beasts changing into one that required those demon beasts to have reached the Seventh Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm while also adding a new task calling for the death of another five demon beasts at the Eighth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

And that was without mentioning the increase in strength that the floor boss had also received.

If the floor boss had already been close to or comparable to some weaker Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators in the past, wouldn’t it have directly broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm now that its strength had been boosted?

Just thinking about challenging a demon beast at the Foundation Establishment Realm with her current strength gave her a headache. Especially so when she realized that the reward for the now far more difficult challenge hadn’t increased but stayed the same.

Even if she didn’t think it was possible to clear the first floor of the tower with her current strength and wanted to use the opportunity to test her strength in real combat. Now it was impossible for her to even dream of getting to the boss, as those demon beasts she had to hunt down first would likely do her in before that.

Not that she feared pain, as there was still an inbuilt safety mechanism within the tower that allowed one to end things with only a bit of pain and leave the floor one was on, but she was kind of looking forward to hunting down a few of the weaker demon beasts before facing off against the floor boss in an epic battle.

Oh well, I could always just end things ahead of time and try again, the pain shouldn’t be anywhere near as painful as that damnable cold qi...

Silently thinking this to herself as she prepared to take her leave immediately after getting up on her feet and create a bit of distance between the two culprits behind her current situation, Lu Dongli closed her eyes about to end it and make her way out of the tower in the most effective way she could think of, when suddenly-

Bang!

She felt something heavy colliding with her body. Sending her flying across the ground in a far from painless manner. Only coming to a stop after sliding a good seven meters across the grass.

"A... Snake...?"

Only to open her eyes and see a snake, one that looked different from any snake she had ever seen before, as it almost seemed like it had just bulged up and become larger. Making it look a bit comical and easy to spot even with its general green color helping it blend in with the surrounding terrain.

Sssssss...?

Even more surprising, the snake in question didn’t seem to realize it had hit her, as it turned around with what could only be described as a bewildered look plastered all over its comically small head compared to its large body.

The presence it exuded making it clear it had reached the Eighth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, while the appearance suggested that it had only recently been granted this boost in strength that had in turn also turned into the main suspect when it came to what had caused the sudden change its appearance...