In the very center of Bright Moon County stood two towering black structures, like twin giants overlooking the entire city.
These two towers marked the location of the famed Black Dragon Pavilion—an institution with a legendary reputation across the Maple Empire.
The Black Dragon Pavilion had been founded centuries ago by the very first emperor of the Maple Empire, and its branches spread throughout the entire nation.
There was a Black Dragon Pavilion in every county of each of the empire's thirty-six provinces. It had two core missions:
First: To monitor the entire empire.
Any disturbance—no matter how small—in any province or county would be detected by the Black Dragon Pavilion and reported straight to the emperor without delay.
Second: To gather the most talented individuals across the land.
Within each Black Dragon Pavilion stood two towers known across the empire: the True Martial Tower and the Dragon-Seeking Tower.
The True Martial Tower was designed to test the combat skills of True Martial Realm cultivators. It had fifteen floors, and any cultivator who could make it past the tenth was considered a true genius across the entire Maple Empire.
The Dragon-Seeking Tower was for Sea Transformation Realm warriors and tested overall combat prowess. It had only three floors—but any Sea Transformation Realm cultivator who could pass even the first floor was already seen as a top-tier talent.
Anyone who made it through the second floor was considered an elite genius—so rare that only thirty to forty of them existed across the entire empire in a given generation, meaning an average of one per province.
As for the third floor... anyone who passed it while still in the Sea Transformation Realm would be labeled a once-in-a-generation monstrous genius, the kind of prodigy who might appear only once in several decades. Such figures were even rarer than those with awakened bloodlines spoken of in legend.
Of the two towers, the Dragon-Seeking Tower was so challenging that few even dared to try it. In contrast, the True Martial Tower saw a steady stream of challengers on a daily basis.
Right now, the area in front of the True Martial Tower was packed with over a hundred people. Aside from curious onlookers, most were confident True Martial Realm cultivators hoping to test their abilities.
At that moment, a cultivator at the ninth level of the True Martial Realm was attempting the trial inside. He had already made it past the seventh floor, but not long after stepping onto the eighth, he had been swiftly defeated and expelled from the tower.
"A ninth- level cultivator making it through seven floors? Not bad at all."
"There are plenty of tenth-level cultivators who can't even get past the seventh floor."
The crowd buzzed with discussion.
The trials inside the True Martial Tower focused solely on combat technique and had little to do with a cultivator's actual level. For an ordinary True Martial Realm cultivator, clearing the fifth floor was considered average. Making it through the sixth or seventh floor meant they had solid skills, while passing the eighth or ninth floor marked them as truly formidable.
Whoosh!
A graceful figure appeared beneath the tower of the True Martial Tower.
She had a tall, slender frame, wore a sleek training outfit, and carried a longsword. With her commanding presence and icy, breathtaking beauty, she immediately drew the attention of everyone nearby.
"It's her—Wan'er Bai."
"That proud heiress of the Bai family... she's back to challenge the True Martial Tower again."
"This must be her sixth attempt this year, right? The last few times, she made it past the eighth floor but got stuck on the ninth. Looks like she's here to try again."
Many cultivators beneath the tower recognized her and couldn't help but whisper among themselves.
There were no special requirements for attempting the True Martial Tower—being in the True Martial Realm was enough. That's why so many cultivators from Bright Moon County came to challenge it. Some did it to hone their skills or push their limits, making multiple attempts each year. Wan'er was one of them.
"Cousin Wan'er..."
In a corner of the crowd, Zihua lifted his head slightly. He wore a bamboo hat that obscured his face as he gazed at the woman before him.
Wan'er Bai was his older cousin, two years older than him. They had been very close as children. However, in recent years, because of pressure from the Retainer Faction, she had spent most of her time away from home, tempering her strength through training and combat. Judging by her current cultivation level, she had clearly broken through to the tenth level of the True Martial Realm.
Among the Bai family's direct descendants, the only two with the strength to potentially stand against Wei in the upcoming Sword Token Tournament were Huo—who was already widely recognized—and Wan'er.
"The True Martial Tower..." Wan'er stared at the towering structure ahead. "After a month of training away from home, my swordsmanship has improved. No matter what, I have to break through the ninth floor this time. If I can't even do that, how am I supposed to defeat Wei at the Sword Token Tournament?"
Wei had not only reached the peak of the tenth level of the True Martial Realm a long time ago—but he had also passed the tenth floor of the True Martial Tower a year earlier. That feat earned him recognition from the Black Dragon Pavilion and even awarded him a Tier-Yellow Token.
As for her, while she had also reached the tenth level, she was still a ways off from its peak. Her cultivation couldn't match Wei's anymore. If her technique also couldn't surpass the ninth floor, then the gap between them would be overwhelming.
Wan'er soon entered the True Martial Tower.
Just like the previous five times, she breezed through the first seven floors with ease. She spent some time on the eighth floor but managed to pass that one as well, eventually stepping into the ninth.
There, she gave it everything she had—fighting with all her might in a prolonged, intense battle.
But in the end, she still failed.
When she finally stepped back out of the tower, her body trembled slightly. Her lips were pressed together in frustration, and her face was full of unwillingness. "I gave it my all... but I still failed. I can't even make it through the ninth floor. How the hell did that monster Wei manage to pass the tenth?"
The large crowd of True Martial Realm cultivators gathered outside the tower sighed as they watched Wan'er walk out in defeat.
Just as she was about to leave, a lone figure quietly passed by her side.
"Huh?" Wan'er instinctively glanced over, but her heart stirred with something deeper.
Although the person wore a wide-brimmed hat that concealed his face, as he passed by her, she naturally felt a strange sense of familiarity—almost like closeness. This feeling puzzled Wan'er.
"Who is that? He looks to be only at the eighth level of the True Martial Realm. Is he here to challenge the True Martial Tower too?"
She had originally planned to leave, but now she stopped.
Meanwhile, the familiar figure had already entered the True Martial Tower.
******
First floor of the True Martial Tower.
Zihua stood there, looking at the open space ahead where ten battle puppets stood. A slight smile crept to the corner of his mouth.
"Five years ago, when I first challenged the True Martial Tower, I was just thirteen. I gave it everything I had but still failed at the tenth floor. Over the next two years, my swordsmanship improved a lot. At that time, I thought I could probably pass the tenth floor fairly easily. But in the last three years..."
"My bloodline awakened, my comprehension soared, and I even developed more advanced sword techniques by evolving the ones I already knew."
"Now, my swordsmanship has improved far beyond what it was back then. If I go all out, I wonder how many floors I can clear?"
Zihua felt a flicker of hope inside.
The True Martial Tower trial didn't look at cultivation levels—it judged only skill.
And that skill, quite simply, was Zihua's swordsmanship.