Chapter 87: 6th to 9th floor - 87
Zhou Fan nodded at the clerk's words and eventually bought the sword for 15 mid grade spirit stones. He then went up to the 6th floor and repeated the process, this time buying another healing pill.
When he arrived at the 7th floor, Zhou Fan saw that the color scheme had once again changed. This time, it was purple and gold.
Besides the color change, there was another difference that didn't show up on the previous floors. In front of the entrance, two male guards stood menacingly. They held spears and wore armor with formations on it.
With a brief glance, Zhou Fan was able to tell that they were at the 5th level of the nascent soul realm.
Behind them was a rope connected to two poles that stood out of the ground. The rope was red and seemed to be made of fur. It blocked the path past the guards.
Zhou Fan walked up to the guards and only stopped when they crossed their spears in front of him.
"Unauthorized access is unallowed. Who are you?" The guard on the left said.
"My name is Zhou Fan." Zhou Fan said. "What authority is needed to access the further floors?"
"In order to access the seventh and eight floors, you must be at the nascent soul realm and pay a fee of 20 mid grade spirit stones every time you enter." He responded.
Zhou Fan was surprised at the steep price. It cost the same as a core formation sword with inscriptions just to enter the 7th and 8th floors.
"Of course, you must also be a celestial." The guard suddenly said.
Zhou Fan was in the perfect disguise of a celestial, so there was no doubt he would pass that check.
Zhou Fan reached behind his back and condensed 20 mid grade spirit stones before he handed them to the guards. He then released the pressure of a ninth level nascent soul realm cultivator.
Without another word, the guards let him through. As he entered the real part of the store, Zhou Fan saw a different layout than that of the first 6 floors.
Instead of the basic store design, Zhou Fan saw a single carpeted line that branched off into other sections later on. On the sides of the carpet were square glass containers with formations on them. Inside the containers were items at the nascent soul realm, this time with a plaque that stated the price of the item.
The very first item he saw, a small dagger with formations on it, cost a high grade spirit stone. Although he hadn't been told the exchange rate, he could assume that 100 mid grade spirit stones were equivalent to a single high grade spirit stone.
Zhou Fan continued walking forward on the purple carpet, seeing miscellaneous items throughout, until he came across a fork. There were five paths ahead.
Above the paths, there was a hanging sign. The hanging signs said weapons, pills, formations, talismans, and others.
First, Zhou Fan went down the weapon path. Unlike before, there were many different types of weapons, but they were categorized in a certain area.
There were both weapons that were cheaper than the dagger and more expensive. As he reached the end of the path, Zhou Fan saw two things. One, more paths that likely led to the other areas, and two, a giant weapon that seemed similar to a ballista or a catapult back on earth.
Zhou Fan wasn't sure how they got it in, but it almost reached the roof with its height. Looking at the price tag, Zhou Fan saw the whopping price of 50 high grade spirit stones! Right next to it, there was another sign that said each ammo was a high grade spirit stone.
Zhou Fan was about to call one of the workers to ask what the weapon was, but he noticed another plaque that had an entire paragraph of words.
It read 'Special weapon of mass destruction created by forgemaster carl. Only ten were ever made before forgemaster Carl passed away. When used, it has the firepower to decimate an area of 100 miles with flames. Can kill nascent soul cultivators if they are unprepared. Can kill innumerable amounts of core formation cultivators even if they are prepared. Use with caution.'
Reading the plaque, Zhou Fan was amazed at its power. It seemed that the technology of the Zhou World had increased a lot in the last ten thousand years.
Zhou Fan continued to look around the 7th floor until he saw everything. He bought a strengthening pill this time. He had considered buying the big weapon, but it had no use to him.
After finishing up on the 7th floor, Zhou Fan made his way to the 8th floor. At the entrance, he was once again stopped by guards. Although he didn't have to show his strength, he did have to pay a high grade spirit stone for entry.
Like the previous floors, the 8th floor was just an upgraded version of the 7th floor. In fact, the layout was exactly the same. The only difference was the clerks and the items. On the 8th floor, Zhou Fan didn't see a single other person. It was expected at this point. Even if nascent soul cultivators weren't extremely rare, they were still an uncommon sight.
In the entire celestial lands, Zhou Fan estimated there to be at most 500 nascent soul realm cultivators.
After buying another healing pill, Zhou Fan started to walk up to the final floor. As soon as he stepped on the floor, he was greeted by a small dark tent with a single other person. The person behind the counter was dressed in a cloak with his head lowered.
"Welcome to the 9th floor. Firstly, who are you?" The man in the cloak asked. His voice was deep and rough.
"Zhou Fan." Zhou Fan answered.
"There is no soul formation cultivator named Zhou Fan in the celestial lands. In fact, there's not even an upcoming nascent soul realm cultivator named Zhou Fan. Who are you really?" The man asked aggressively.
Chapter 88: Test - 88
"My name is Zhou Fan." Zhou Fan once again said towards the cloaked man.
"Okay then "Zhou Fan", what is your intention by coming here?" The cloaked man asked with an aggressive tone of voice.
"I'm just looking around." Zhou Fan responded without taking his eyes off of the man.
"Oh really. So, are you a beast or a supreme beast? I would assume a beast since you've changed form, but who knows what supreme beasts are capable of." The man said.
"Neither." Zhou Fan answered.
"You're not very cooperative. Guess we'll do this the hard way." The cloaked man said as he turned his body and swung his arm at Zhou Fan, shooting out an arrow made from water.
In response, Zhou Fan pulled out his black adamantium sword just out of its sheath and deflected the arrow without moving an inch.
'A soul formation cultivator huh.' Zhou Fan thought.
It seemed that the store was big enough to have a soul formation cultivator at the top floor. In fact, it was likely that the man in front of Zhou Fan was the owner.
After seeing that his water arrow didn't affect Zhou Fan, the man in the cloak stopped holding back. With his last attack, he had been simply probing Zhou Fan. From now on, he would fight to kill.
The man in the cloak pushed his hand forward and a powerful wind transformed into the head of a dragon and attempted to push Zhou Fan into the wall.
Zhou Fan responded by creating a barrier, but allowing himself to move backwards and crash out of the ninth floor. It was also to be noted that the man had attacked more with the intention of pushing Zhou Fan back than doing damage.
Zhou Fan's protected body flew through the walls of the ninth floor and stopped around 20 feet away from the store when the wind dragon head dispersed.
The cloaked man shot out of the pavilion and towards Zhou Fan like a bullet. Before he arrived he pulled a sword out from his back. As he arrived in front of Zhou Fan, he attempted to pierce him using his momentum.
However, Zhou Fan moved a bit to the left and completely dodged his attack. The cloaked man stopped moving forwards and turned around, shooting out a wind blade towards Zhou Fan with his sword.
On earth, the attack would have nearly broken space, but in the Zhou world everything was stronger, including space itself. Zhou Fan once again dodged the attack and moved around the cloaked man.
They continued to play cat and mouse as the shoppers evacuated the pavilion and the entire city was in a state of alert. Battles between soul formation cultivators were not to be taken jokingly. Especially in the heart of the celestial lands.
As the army was dispatched and soul formation cultivators were waking up from seclusion, Zhou Fan started to put some pressure on the cloaked man.
Unlike before, where he dodged the mans every attack, the cloaked man was now dodging his every attack. His cloak had many holes and cuts as he frantically tried to dodge Zhou Fans increasingly speedy attacks.
Eventually, one of the slashes connected with the man's hood, revealing his hidden face. Seeing it, Zhou Fan paused for a moment. The man in front had features of a celestial, but his face was messed up. It was as if someone dropped a boulder on it then poisoned it.
It didn't exactly look as mashed up and disgusting, but it was obvious that he had a serious injury. Even his once white hair started to turn a shade of green.
His eyes, however, were a dark red that seemed more evil than cosmic.
Even after seeing his face, Zhou Fan only stopped for a moment. He slashed out a few more times and caused a couple more injuries. At this point, the man could no longer do anything but try to survive.
It was at that moment when Zhou Fan stopped slashing out. The man was confused, but Zhou Fan's figure suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of his face at a speed he couldn't fathom. A punch landed on his chest as he was sent crashing to the ground, unable to get up.
Zhou Fan stood in the air victoriously. He had stopped the battle because he had already seen what the man had to offer. He had only battled him in order to see the strength of the celestials.
The man was at soul formation three, so he was a fairly good target. Although he had tested the man's strength, he wasn't done.
Now that the army was coming and the soul formation cultivators were awakening, he might as well test the full strength of the celestials. That included Anna.
Zhou Fan stood in the air for around 3 minutes before someone appeared in front of him. This time, it was a woman in a green outfit that carried a bow.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" She asked with a frown.
"I'm here to fight." Zhou Fan answered.
"Fine then." She said before she stopped talking.
She pulled her bow back and formed a green arrow on it. The arrow was made of both wind Qi and wood Qi. She shot it directly at Zhou Fan eye, but he simply moved away.
Zhou Fan looked at the girl and assessed her strength. She was a level 5 soul formation cultivator with at least wood and wind affinities.
When she saw her arrow dodged, she moved back and gained some distance before shooting similar arrows at Zhou Fan in succession.
Zhou Fan moved around the air and dodged every single arrow that came. As the last arrow reached him, he grabbed it with his hand, did a twirl, and threw it back at the girl.
Faced with the unexpected attack, the girl was only able to dodge a part of the attack and the arrow ended up cutting off her ear.
Zhou Fan saw that but didn't feel bad. It wouldn't take too much to heal the ear.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment