NOVPUBAs the man in white finished speaking, the dense crowd suddenly split into three long lines.
Everyone consciously started to queue up, heading towards the three gateways of the Sword Tower.
Xu Zimei inquired a bit and soon understood.
The meaning of the three gateways was different, the first gateway was for searching for swords.
The second was for learning sword techniques, and the third gateway contained various oddities related to swords.
Xu Zimei thought about it and still entered the first gateway.
As he approached the entrance, a man clothed in a yellow robe was distributing identity tokens.
"Place your right hand on this stone," the man in the yellow robe said to Xu Zimei.
Xu Zimei knew about this type of stone; it was called a Shadow Retention Stone.
It had a wide range of uses, mainly for recording information.
Because within the Sword Tower, everyone has only one chance in their lifetime to receive a sword for free.
Therefore, the Sword Tower would use the Shadow Retention Stone to record the information of each person receiving a sword, ensuring they do not collect one twice.
When Xu Zimei put his hand on the Shadow Retention Stone, the entire stone emitted a pale white glow.
A token was then spontaneously produced.
"This is your identity token, regardless of whether you have found a sword or not, you will be forcibly removed in three days," the man in the yellow robe said indifferently.
Xu Zimei nodded to indicate that he understood.
After he took the identity token and walked into the first gateway, he was met with pitch darkness.
He felt a pulling force dragging his body into some space.
Xu Zimei did not resist, and the situation did not last long before his vision brightened.
He appeared in front of an ancient castle.
There weren’t only him here but also many other youths who had come to search for their swords.
With the whispered conversations among these youths, Xu Zimei also came to understand.
All the hidden swords were inside the castle.
The castle had nine floors.
The grades of the swords were different: "Cosmic Stars", "Heaven and Earth Mysterious-Yellow".
All sorts of sword weapons were available, as long as you possessed the ability to be recognized by a sword.
Then one could take it for free.
......
When Xu Zimei arrived at the castle, he could clearly feel the fragment of the True Divine Sword inside him trembling more and more rapidly.
This castle was in medieval architectural style.
The top of the castle had three oval shapes, colored a deep, dark brown.
It had nine floors, each surrounded by dozens of windows and balconies.
There were a total of four entrance doors in four different directions of the castle.
Xu Zimei followed the crowd and walked into the east door.
As soon as he stepped in, his line of sight suddenly widened a lot.
All around were countless shelves with a dense array of sword weapons on them.
And the walls were also hung with many swords.
All kinds of longswords, different in shape and style, could be found here.
Xu Zimei casually observed and found that they were all mundane weapons.
Just like mundane swords forged by ordinary forging masters, they were not suitable for vein practitioners. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
"Friend, go upstairs; the swords on this first floor aren’t very useful," a man in green clothes said to Xu Zimei with a smile.
"The higher you go, the higher the grade of the swords, but the difficulty of ascending also increases."
"Is this your first time here too?" Xu Zimei asked.
"Everyone here is here for the first time, but I had already inquired about the situation here before coming," the man in green replied with a smile.
"I am Hong Tianfu, may I know how to address you, brother?"
"Xu Zimei," Xu Zimei replied with a slight nod.
"Do you have any companions?" the youth named Hong Tianfu asked again.
"I’m alone. Why?" Xu Zimei asked curiously.
"If Brother Xu doesn’t mind, we could team up to go to the next level. It would be good to have someone to watch each other’s backs," Hong Tianfu suggested.
"What’s the use of teaming up?" Xu Zimei asked, puzzled.
"Brother Xu may not know, but as we move higher up, we will encounter swords with grades."
Hong Tianfu explained.
"According to the rules of the Sword Tower, each sword is guarded by its Sword Spirit.
We can only have the swords guarded by them if we defeat the Sword Spirits."
"It doesn’t seem like it takes two people teaming up to defeat a Sword Spirit," Xu Zimei said with a light laugh.
"But when you are fighting a Sword Spirit, Brother Xu, you must have someone nearby to guard you."
Hong Tianfu replied, "It’s the same for me."
After thinking it over, Xu Zimei agreed to Hong Tianfu’s request.
It wasn’t that he needed the companionship, but there were many areas in the Sword Tower where he needed the other’s help due to his lack of familiarity.
The two of them chatted and laughed as they made their way to the second floor.
Xu Zimei also learned about Hong Tianfu’s identity: he was an illegitimate son from the Hong Family of Ten Thousand Swords City.
Hong Tianfu was quite frank about it, revealing that due to being marginalized in his family, he had no choice but to try his luck at the Sword Tower.
...
After reaching the second level, Xu Zimei noticed a significant change in the surroundings.
The original shelves had been replaced with sealed cabinets, which held many swords.
There was a brief introduction for every sword on the outside of the cabinets.
The two did not linger; Hong Tianfu seemed to know the situation here quite well.
The sword he was looking for was on the seventh floor.
Xu Zimei wanted to find fragments of the True Divine Sword, so he simply accompanied him up.
Upon reaching the seventh floor, the scenery in front of them changed once again.
The surroundings turned into a dense jungle.
The trees within this jungle were all Sword Trees.
They closely resembled the shape of swords, and many Sword Fruits hung from these Sword Trees.
Each Sword Fruit seemed to represent a sword.
Hong Tianfu searched for a long time, carefully examining almost every Sword Fruit.
Eventually, he stopped under one Sword Fruit.
Narrowing his eyes, he observed his surroundings for a while before finally turning to Xu Zimei with a smile.
"I’m going to take the Sword Fruit now. I hope Brother Xu can protect me,
and ensure that I’m not disturbed," he said.
Xu Zimei nodded without saying much.
Then, he saw Hong Tianfu grasp the Sword Fruit, immersing his consciousness into the world of the Sword Spirit.
His eyebrows relaxed and furrowed by turns, his expression was very serious, and he stood frozen in place.
Xu Zimei had not expected anyone to come and disrupt them.
After all, the rules had been made very clear by the swordsman in white when they entered.
"No one is allowed to disturb others in their struggle," he had said.
However, not long after Hong Tianfu began his battle with the Sword Spirit, Xu Zimei sensed three figures approaching their location.
These three wandered aimlessly at first but started to move closer to Hong Tianfu.
With spiritual energy surging around them, they suddenly split off in three different directions and violently attacked.
Xu Zimei frowned slightly; to him, these three did not seem very strong.
With his right hand cloaked in spiritual energy, he simply struck out with a palm and sent the three flying away.
At the moment the three were repelled, the space above began to fluctuate.
The swordsman in white who had spoken earlier instantly tore through the void and appeared.
