The Blood of Youth – CH 031

Chapter 31: Tower of Ascension

The next day, Lei Wujie was awakened by the sound of a flute. The flute sounded a little ethereal and carried a trace of melancholy. His mind was caught up in the sound of the flute and travelled with it back to the world-renowned Lei Clan Fort. In the middle of the huge courtyard, there was a rather dilapidated hut, and standing in front of it was a middle-aged man in gray robes. The man was very thin, with a pale complexion. He was sitting in the courtyard, flipping through an ancient book, when he seemed to notice someone standing in front of him. He raised his head suddenly, and his face filled with anger. “What are you doing back here?” Lei Wujie snapped awake.

He stood up, rubbed his head vigorously, and looked up. Xiao Se was still sitting on the eaves of the roof, but he wasn’t playing a flute. He had plucked a leaf from somewhere and was blowing on it, making the same tune as before. Xiao Se noticed that Lei Wujie had woken up and waved his hand gently, letting the leaf get carried away by the wind. He jumped off the roof and landed on the ground.

“You’re awake?” Xiao Se asked softly.

“Where’s the owner?” Lei Wujie looked around, but he didn’t see the man with a mustache.

“The owner has left the city. He said his Meng Po soup was missing a flavor of wine, so he’s gone searching for it in the immortal mountain beyond the sea,” a waiter entered the backyard and told them, a smile on his face.

“Just who…” Lei Wujie’s brows furrowed with a frown. “Who is that owner?”

Xiao Se patted him on the shoulder. “The man just helped you to open three tiers of your Blazing Arts. No matter what, he’s an expert and a good person. No need to think so much.”

Lei Wujie scratched his head. “That’s true. Let’s go. Go challenge that Tower of Ascension.”

Xiao Se rolled his eyes. “Can you have some breakfast before you go?”

“Right, right, right.” Lei Wujie realized that his stomach was empty and nodded hurriedly. The two bid their farewells to the waiter and walked out of the Donggui wine shop. They stopped by a roadside stall selling steamed buns and sat down again. Xiao Se ordered two trays of steamed buns and two bowls of soy milk before he announced flatly, “After today, we’ll go our separate ways. Since this is our last breakfast together, I’ll treat you.”

“Xiao-xiong, you’re making it sound so depressing.” Lei Wujie took a sip of soy milk and felt a warmth permeate his stomach, making him feel incredibly comfortable.

“I’m not being depressing.” Xiao Se put down the bowl and looked at the Tower of Ascension in the distance. “It’s just that when I think about how long the journey back is, and all this effort just for five hundred taels of silver…”

Lei Wujie’s expression froze on his face, and he seemed to guess what Xiao Se was about to say next.

“This entire trip was full of pointless detours, and I almost lost my life too. Adding in interest, how about making it eight hundred…”

“I’m full! Time to challenge the tower!” Lei Wujie swallowed a whole bun in one mouthful, picked up his package, and rushed off towards the Tower of Ascension.

Xiao Se grinned, took a sip of soy milk, and didn’t say anything else.

The waiter standing beside him had a towel slung over his shoulder. He looked at the heroic youth in red as he headed for the Tower of Ascension and shook his head. “Yet another fellow who doesn’t know the height of the heavens.”

“Oh?” Xiao Se glanced at him.

“When it comes to this Tower of Ascension, who knows how many veterans of the martial world who have been training for decades have failed the challenge? What’s more, a brat like him who’s barely been weaned.” The waiter didn’t bother to hide his disdain.

Xiao Se pulled out a small piece of silver. “How about we make a bet then?”

“A bet?” The waiter looked confused.

“Let’s bet on how many floors that fellow can reach.” Xiao Se pointed at Lei Wujie’s back.

“Alright, what’s the bet?” The waiter’s interest was piqued.

“I bet on him.” Xiao Se eyed the waiter seriously. “Reaching the sixteenth floor.”

The waiter was stunned for a moment, then he burst into laughter, thinking that this guest must have lost his head to the heat of the day to be willing to give away this piece of silver so easily.

At the same time, a man dressed like a page boy was leading a tired old horse, and riding on the horse was a scholar dressed in white, his features delicate and refined. The scholar carried a bookcase on his back, while the pair strolled casually towards the Tower of Ascension.

“Little shishu, there’s a man in red up ahead who looks like he’s going to challenge the tower too.” The page boy’s tone carried a measure of rebuke. “Who told you to sleep in this morning? He’s going to beat you to it.”

The scholar laughed awkwardly. “Maybe that guy will be beaten down before he even starts?”

“Little shishu, didn’t you learn your skills from shizu? You’re trained in the Divination Arts, right? Take a look at that young man’s qi. How many floors do you think he can pass?” The page boy nodded towards Lei Wujie.

The scholar lifted his hand and made a show of smacking the page boy on his head. “Didn’t I tell you to call me young master? Don’t call me little shishu.”

The page boy ducked and covered his head, acting as if he was really smacked. “I’ll definitely tell Shizu when we get back!”

The scholar ignored him, raised his head, and observed Lei Wujie with a grin. “Well, as for this young man, I’m guessing he’ll be able to reach…” The scholar paused suddenly, his eyebrows raised with a little surprise.

“What is it?” The page boy turned to look at him.

After a long time, the scholar sighed softly and said, “Fei Xuan, I think I really overslept today.”

Not far away, inside the steamed bun stall where steam was billowing, Xiao Se frowned slightly and tapped lightly on the tabletop. He was already thinking ahead as he murmured, “Qingcheng Mountain?”

Lei Wujie had finally arrived at the base of the Tower of Ascension. There was a large gate in the middle that opened through to the other side of the tower, where several well-dressed disciples from prestigious families were strolling in. Next to it was a smaller door, and that was the entrance to climb the tower. A young man was sitting at the doorstep, and he yawned before starting to munch on a large meat bun. In between mouthfuls of the bun, he muttered to himself, “I’m really out of luck today. It’s my turn to guard this lousy tower, and I’m on the first floor even. I wonder how many delusional idiots I have to beat up today.” The sound of footsteps alerted him, and he raised his head to glance at Lei Wujie. “Hey kid, are you challenging the tower?”

Lei Wujie nodded.

The young man hummed disdainfully. “Wait for me to finish this meat bun.”

Lei Wujie was not in a hurry, so he laughed a little before he walked up to the young man and sat down beside him.

Immediately, the young man had a good impression of Lei Wujie. He had often met those pugilists who came up to him, yelling at the top of their voice as if they were about to fight in the ring. They had neither the patience nor the courtesy to wait for him. They just raised their fists and started the fight. Lei Wujie’s self-confidence and easy-going manner gave him an air of a noble-born.

“You know, it’s only been three months since I entered Snow Moon City as a disciple, and this is already the sixth time I’ve been rotated to guard the tower. Today, I’m still on the first floor. My life sucks, ah.” The young man chewed another mouthful of his bun and sighed.

Lei Wujie raised his eyebrows. “The guardians of the tower are rotated?”

“Yup.” The young man glared condescendingly at Lei Wujie. “You’re here to challenge the tower and you don’t even know about this? The first five floors are all disciples who joined us less than a year ago. The sixth to tenth floors are disciples who joined us more than a year ago. The eleventh to fourteenth floors are disciples who joined us more than three years ago. The fifteenth floor is the tower guardian elder, and as for the sixteenth floor? Apparently, there are more than ten or so martial experts who are more powerful than the tower guardian elder, but nobody knows who’s next on duty. After all, there’s only been one guy who managed to reach the sixteenth floor over the last few years. Back then, it was the third Citymaster who came in person.”

“A disciple who joined less than a year ago can guard this tower?” Lei Wujie asked.

“Of course. What do you take Snow Moon City for? I’ve only been here three months, but so what? Those pugilists who claimed to have been training in the martial world for over ten to twenty years are not even worth my time. This big brother is not bragging, but if you’re not from a martial clan with that gleaming invitation card, you had better not come to the Tower of Ascension looking for a beating. Don’t even mention a disciple of the elders on the tenth floor; I’ve never even seen anyone pass the first five floors!” The young man was finally almost done with his meat bun, and he glanced at Lei Wujie, his expression a little regretful. “You know, you have the face of a noble son, but you just don’t have the fate of a noble son. Come on, listen to this big brother. Just walk away.”

“I’ve travelled over thousands of miles to get here. I can’t just walk away.” Lei Wujie shook his head.

The young man clicked his tongue and commented, “A man of perseverance. What’s your name? Although you’re about to get beaten up in a while, we’ve made an acquaintance, after all. In the future, when we meet in the martial world, this big brother will look out for you.”

“Lei Wujie.”

“Oh, Lei Wu…” In the end, the young man didn’t munch on that last bite of meat bun. His eyes widened in astonishment. “Which Lei?”

Lei Wujie stood up, brushed off the dust on his clothes, and grinned heartily. “The Lei that you’re thinking of.”

Damn, the kid was really a noble son of a prestigious family, and one of the largest families even. Not many would dare to provoke them. But shouldn’t this Lei Clan disciple walk through that large avenue under the sun? Why did he have to come to the Tower of Ascension and pick a fight with him? The young man jumped to his feet in a panic. “This one is Xie Yanshu, from the Xie family of Lingnan.”

Lei Wujie nodded and gave him a bright smile. “Have you finished your meat bun?”

Xie Yanshu swallowed the last mouthful and nodded. “Yup!”

“Then I’m going to challenge the tower now.” Lei Wujie took a step forward.

Xie Yanshu thought of how he could lose but not lose face. Even if you’re a Lei Clan disciple, so what? I’ve been training my sword in Snow Moon City for the last three months. You think I’m scared of you? So, he took an aggressive step forward and blustered, “You want to challenge this tower? You have to get past…”

Lei Wujie didn’t let him complete his sentence. With one fist, he sent Xie Yanshu flying.

“…me first.” Xie Yanshu flew through the air but breathed out his line before he fell heavily onto the ground. A red-colored figure stepped over him without hesitation.

Lei Wujie began his challenge of the tower.

Within moments, he passed through ten floors without pause!

In the inner city of Snow Moon City, a young disciple was sweating profusely as he ran towards the Snow Sea Pavilion, crying at the top of his lungs, “Bad news, bad news!”

“What bad news?” A slightly older man walked out of the pavilion, his brows furrowed in a frown. Many other disciples who heard the shout also came rushing out.

“Someone… someone is challenging the tower,” the young disciple panted out.

The crowd scoffed at him and scolded, “No kidding. Every day, someone will come and challenge the Tower of Ascension. What’s the big deal?”

“But this guy… he got up to the tenth floor all at once!”

Everyone was in an uproar. “Tenth floor? The one guarding the tenth floor today is Han-shixiong! Could it be some martial world senior who’s come to provoke us? How could he defeat even Han-shixiong?”

“No, he’s not some senior. I heard him say he’s only seventeen years old!”

“What? Seventeen years old?” Everyone looked at each other, and they were about to ask for more details, but suddenly, the entire group fell silent. The young disciple who had come with the news was confused, but when he turned around, he immediately bowed his head. “Da-shixiong…”

Tang Lian was dressed completely in black. Instead of scolding him, he asked, “Can you describe the person you’re talking about?”

“Da-shixiong, the youth was dressed in red, and he was carrying a long package. He claimed… claimed to be from Lei Clan Fort,” the young disciple reported dutifully.

“Just as I thought, it’s him.” Tang Lian had a brief thought; his figure flashed, and he was already sprinting towards the Tower of Ascension.

“Is Da-shixiong going… to guard the tower personally?”

“If Da-shixiong goes, which floor will he guard?”

“Da-shixiong’s martial arts is only a sliver of difference when compared to the tower guardian elder. If Da-shixiong goes…”

“He’ll be on the fourteenth floor!”