System Journey to Godhood

On the top of the Evil Suppression Pagoda, an elderly man was kneading his white and long beard while his eyes kept moving from one projection to another, looking unamused.

His sharp eyebrows knitted together in a furrow and his face darkened as he observed a batch of new challengers entering the pagoda.

"Has the outside world degraded to the point where even these trash have the audacity to challenge the pagoda?"

If Snowy and others had been here, they would have instantly recognized the familiar voice as the voice they heard at the beginning of the Pagoda's trial. But unlike the emotionless voice previously, there was a hint of mockery and disgust that appeared in this voice.

He soon lost interest in these "challengers" and waved his hand to shut down the multiple projections in front of him. However, when he was just about to make the projections disappear, one of the projections flickered brightly.

His expression turned bright, and his eyes suddenly lit up. He quickly glimpsed at that scene only to find a young woman, seemingly at the sixth level of the Qi Transformation stage, disarming all the sword puppets only in one move.

He froze with a stunned look. He blinked several times to check that what he saw was real and not an illusion.

"A sixth level Qi Transformation cultivator could do something like that? Impossible!"

His eyes turned deep and unfathomable; he stared intently at Snowy, trying to carefully probe her real cultivation. But no matter how hard he tried, the conclusion was always the same: the young woman was really a measly sixth level Qi Transformation cultivator.

"How can it be…"

The old man looked at the spot where Snowy stood before she disappeared from the first floor with a complicated expression. There was doubt and disbelief mixed with expectation and… joy.

With his cultivation, there shouldn't be anyone below the Nascent Soul realm that could elude his eyes. And yet, right now, she couldn't even see through a small cultivator in the Qi Transformation stage. How unbelievable. How exciting!

"Interesting…" muttered the old man.

Despite her weak cultivation, she could easily defeat several puppets who had one major cultivation point higher than her. What a gem among stones she was! A genius, truly a genius!

He remembered that several years ago, there was another girl who could pass through the first floor while only in peak Qi Transformation stage, but even so, it was only after a bitter fight that she successfully passed the trial.

The old man fell into confusion. Had the outside world really worsened? Or did it actually get better?

"Never mind, never mind…" the old man decided to ignore the problem for the time being. Maybe he could get the answer once he met with this interesting young lady. "Let's observe for a little bit longer."

As he waved his hand, one projection after another quickly vanished, leaving only the projection that showed Snowy's figure behind.

***

Snowy once again appeared in the middle of a hall, looking like the hall on the first floor.

If not because she had seen the little difference between the pillars here compared to the previous one—they were still made from white stone, but unlike the plain pillars on the first floor, tribal patterns were carved into the surface of the pillars here, she might have suspected that the teleportation formation had failed, and she was still on the first floor.

Just like on the previous floor, there were also several puppets—to be exact, twice the numbers from before—lined up neatly on the side of the pillars, as if they were there precisely to welcome the visitor.

Unlike the previous puppets made from spiritual clay, the puppets here were clad in black armor, made entirely from metal, which she recognized at first sight as Spiritual Iron, a common material for forging a Heaven-rank treasure or weapon.

Although their build was slim and lean, they looked sturdier and more endurable compared to the terracotta soldiers. Their hardness could be said to rival that of a lower Heaven-rank treasure.

The sword hanging on their waist seemed plain if you gave them a casual glance, but if you observed them carefully, you could find an exquisite rune-like pattern engraved on the blade inconspicuously and its razor-sharp edge.

"Such extraordinary pieces of craftsmanship," Snowy muttered in awe. She wondered who was the one who created these weapons and puppets. Without a doubt, they were at least at the level of a Smith Grandmaster or even a Smith King.

Suddenly, a familiar cold mechanical voice interrupted Snowy's observation.

"Welcome, Challenger! Do you want to challenge the second floor's trial?"

Without hesitation, Snowy nodded her head and said, "Yes!"

"Your task is to defeat all the sword puppets in this room. You can forfeit from the trial by saying "I surrender" but your right to challenge the trial next time will be annulled. The moment you lose consciousness during the trial, you'll be expelled immediately, and the reward you obtained on the first floor will be taken back. However, you'll retain the right to challenge the Evil Suppression Pagoda.

"I repeat. Your task is…"

Just like on the first floor, after the voice was repeated three times, it soon disappeared.

"How stingy…"

It turned out the reward she had obtained previously would be taken back upon expulsion; this was the actual reason why, aside from losing their memory, the previous challengers also came out with an empty hand.

Actually, if she thought it carefully, the pagoda might only have a fixed number of dao fragments, and if the failed challenger was allowed to take the fragments outside, it would be hard to gather them together and merge them into a complete inheritance.

If it happened, the tower would lose its purpose. So, it was actually reasonable.

The sword puppets started moving while Snowy observed them with her divine eyes.

---

Name: Sword Puppet x 40

Description: Iron puppet soldiers made from spiritual iron that could contain weak souls, seemingly an unknown grade of killing formation programmed inside them. Their bodies were as tough as a lower Heaven-rank treasure, and they were equipped with a sword comparable to an upper Earth-rank weapon.

Cultivation: Upper Golden Core

Weakness: Despite the toughness of their bodies, which is comparable to lower Heaven-rank treasure, the will that controls them is very weak and invulnerable. Any kind of technique that directly attacks the soul will be very effective against them.

---

"So it's just an upgraded version of the previous sword puppets. How disappointing…"

Snowy quickly lost interest in them because, just like the previous sword puppets, in the end, they were just scrap metal in Snowy's eyes.

Without giving them the chance to complete their formation or mount an attack on Snowy, Snowy quickly summoned her Heaven Inquisitor Pipa and sang to them their requiem of death.

Zheng, zheng—

40 translucent arrows appeared out of thin air as Snowy channeled her primordial Qi into the pipa, and with another pluck of a string, the arrows were launched toward the sword puppets at lightning speed.

Pfft—

The puppets' heads were screwed without them even noticing. The will inside them was quickly destroyed, and their bodies fell on the ground lifelessly.

Suddenly, Snowy wanted to keep the puppets' bodies for herself and tried to store them in her spatial ring. Unfortunately, she met with failure. In the end, with much reluctance, she decided to give up the thought.

"Congratulation, Challenger! You've successfully defeated all the sword puppets with one strike! For such an achievement, you'll be granted a reward!"

Another dao fragment crystal appeared in front of Snowy, and she quickly stored it in her ring.

"Do you want to proceed to the next floor?"

"Yes."

After confirming, Snowy was instantly teleported to the next floor.

---

Author Note:

Hello, my lovely reader! You must've known that I have two new books, one of them is I Became a Mech Soldier after Waking Up in the Future, I want to boost this book for a while and I hope you can support me with voting your power stones for this book! 

If the book's vote reaches at least 500 PS next week (Feb 21st - Feb 27th) I'll do a mass release for Snowy, at least three chapters at once at the end of the month (Feb 28th)!

So please do me a favor, and push your vote buttons! Thanks you all and good day!