Dao Ye is going to ascend

Chapter 776 The Mystery Within the Tower
On the gray stone platform, various incense sticks and wooden talismans were surrounded by a swirling sound, creating a harmonious blend of different sounds.

Since entering the Xuanhuang Great World, Li Yuan has almost never stopped listening to the sounds, many of which are related to the Sin Realm, but only one is about the Tower of Heavenly Sin.

Moreover, it was only after learning about the Tower of Heavenly Sin from the information provided by the Five Decays Daoist that he was able to hear about it.

[...Legend has it that within that divine tower, guarded by the Golden Immortal of Judgment, lie all the heretical demons and extraterrestrial cultivators from the Xuanhuang Three Thousand Worlds who have defied the sacred path since ancient times...]

Li Yuan retrieved this listening material, categorized the various listening materials, and further increased the proportion of listening materials.

Unfortunately, another month or so passed, and they still hadn't received any information about the Tower of Heavenly Sin, let alone about the River Styx.

"Is it to obscure the secrets of heaven?"

Seeing the seventh-tier incense flames dissipating from the wooden tablet, Li Yuan understood.

Just as he was hesitating about whether to use a higher-level incense offering, the demonic shadow that was projecting outwards emitted an unusual fluctuation.

"Ok?"

Li Yuan opened his eyes and focused his mind. With the blessing of the weapon-wielding talisman, he was able to sense a faint, strange aura emanating from the void.

"Whoo~"

In the next instant, a Taoist priest dressed in black and white robes emerged from the void.

This person's aura was as fleeting as smoke, seemingly illusory, yet he stepped towards the gate of the Heavenly Sin Tower. Surprisingly, the Three Saints Sect cultivators guarding the gate seemed completely unaware.

"wrong!"

Li Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he looked toward the location of the tower gate.

The Three Saints Sect cultivators guarding the tower gate had all fallen to the ground, including the two seventh-realm cultivators!
"This is a nightmare!"

Using the shadowy figure lurking in the shadows, Li Yuan 'saw' the Taoist priest dressed in black and white robes.

This Taoist priest was as ethereal as smoke, illusory and unpredictable. In reality, he was like a black and white mist, seemingly human but without any human presence, mouth, nose, or facial features.

It looked exactly like the nightmare demon he had seen in the Heavenly Demon Record...

"No wonder those two seventh-realm cultivators fell so easily; this is at least a seventh-realm dream demon!"

Li Yuan focused his mind and became increasingly cautious.

The rank of the Dream Demon is far higher than that of the Ape Demon and the Snake Demon. According to the Records of Heavenly Demons, the Dream Demon can be classified as one of the 'Nine Great Inner Demons'.

This is an extremely terrifying demon that can silently enter a cultivator's dreams and devour their cultivation and achievements without a sound.

"Nightmare!"

With the help of numerous demonic shadows, Li Yuan could sense the restlessness and apprehension of the demons around him, but none of them dared to make a rash move, all of them keeping their eyes on the figure of the dream demon.

In the blink of an eye, the nightmare had stepped into the tower gate without being stopped at all.

"So simple?"

Li Yuan frowned slightly.

While the nightmare demons are indeed ferocious and bizarre, the Tower of Heavenly Sin is, after all, the central hub of the Sin Realm. Could it be that there isn't a powerful figure from the Ten Realms overseeing it?

Li Yuan was on guard, and the demons around him were more composed than he had imagined. It wasn't until much later that a few fifth-realm ape demons cautiously followed him into the tower gate.

After that, the demons lurking in various places also made their moves one after another, some turning into wisps of black smoke, others into tiny specks of dust, all disappearing into the tower gate.

'These demons must have special communication channels...'

The thought flashed through Li Yuan's mind, but he did not act rashly. Instead, he urged the demonic shadows to sneak into the tower gate.

But what made him frown was that the demonic figures lost contact as soon as they entered the tower gate. They seemed to be still alive, but he couldn't sense them.

"It's not just a concealment spell; it's probably a grand formation, or perhaps the Tower of Heavenly Sin inherently possesses a divine ability to isolate the inside from the outside..."

Li Yuan focused his attention on the Listening Wooden Talisman.

As expected, as the group of demons entered the Tower of Heavenly Sin one after another, several related listening sounds appeared among the interwoven sounds on the gray stone platform.

[...Although the Nightmare Demon 'Nightmare Three' was forced to enter the Tower of Heavenly Sin by the order of the Five Decays Daoist, he was extremely wary of this divine tower, which was said to have even suppressed the Demon Lord. However, to his surprise, the guards here were far more lax than he had expected...]

All six listening sounds matched the demons he had just seen. To his surprise, these demons didn't seem to be in any danger…

"Is the defense truly lax, or are we luring them into a trap? Or perhaps..."

Various thoughts flashed through Li Yuan's mind, but he waited for another half day.

Only after most of the demons around had gone inside, and the cultivators guarding the tower gate showed signs of waking up, did he sneak in with the shadows.

……

"Om~"

The moment he stepped through the tower gate, Li Yuan was momentarily disoriented, as if he had once again experienced the illusion of traversing between two worlds.

The next instant, a bone-chilling cold suddenly surged through him, causing him to shiver and rub his arms.

"Um?!"

Li Yuan suddenly snapped back to reality and realized something was wrong.

Let alone now that he has broken through to the fifth realm, even before he entered the Dao, he was already immune to heat and cold, so how could he possibly feel cold?

"Crack!"

The moment Li Yuan's thoughts raced, he felt his hands and feet sink, as a pair of dark shackles appeared, and the biting coldness emanated from them.

At the same time, he felt a heavy weight from the inside out, and his cultivation level was actually suppressed back to the point of barely entering the Dao!
"really……"

Li Yuan was startled but remained calm. He looked around and found himself in a prison cell.

The prison was made of some unknown material, yet it filled him with a sense of dread and terror. He amplified his senses to the limit and could faintly hear the sound of shackles outside the prison.

Clearly, there is more than one such prison.

"No wonder the security was so lax..."

Li Yuan shook the shackles on his hands and feet, looked around the cage, which was only a dozen feet in diameter, and after a few glances, he saw a stone tablet.

"Om~"

Almost at the same time that Li Yuan saw the stone tablet, a faint white light emanated from it.

[Dingzi No. 541236289]

[Criminal 1: Unauthorized entry into the realm of sin, sentence of three thousand years]

[Criminal Two: Trespassing on the Heavenly Sin Tower, sentence of six thousand years]

[Criminal Three: Cultivation Beyond the Realm, Sentence of Nine Thousand Years]

……

[Criminal Nine: Cultivation of unorthodox and demonic paths, sentence of 13,000 years]

Total sentence: 112,000 years

[Punishment: To be whipped three thousand times by heavenly lightning every month]

"...Three thousand lashes a month, for 112,000 years?"

Looking at the flowing words on the stone tablet, even Li Yuan couldn't help but gasp: "What beast decided on this punishment..."

ruthless!
Too bad!
Before he had even finished reading the inscription, the thought of whether or not to self-destruct his Shadow Demon form had already crossed Li Yuan's mind.

He composed himself and continued looking down.

During their sentence, prisoners must daily inhale and exhale magical energy to sustain the law; otherwise, their sentence will not be reduced, and their punishment of whipping will be doubled...

[Sacrifice magical power for one year: Reduce sentence by one year (maximum 20,000 years)]

Offering sacrifices of magical treasures, spells, supernatural powers, Taoist weapons, fundamental laws, laws of heaven, etc., can also reduce the corresponding sentence (up to 100,000 years).

(End of this chapter)