Immortal Ascension Tower - Book 1: Reborn! [CH 1 - 75]

Chapter 28 - The Traitor Is Revealed...

Xiao Wu dashed through the corridors of the Maze. She could hear panting and heavy breathing coming from behind her so she turned: pretty much everybody except for Fu Yin and Solomon were tired from the long journey.

"Everybody, stop! We need to rest in order to get ready for the 'pressure' trial!" Fan Lai shouted and everyone stopped and threw themselves on the ground. Su Tan fell down especially hard and 'by chance' fell beneath Xiao Wu and let out a delighted scream.

"Brother Yin" Xiao Wu dodged to the side and spoke to the white haired boy "Is this 'pressure' trial connected to the pressure from martial cultivation? Will they now test our cultivation?" Hearing that, the boy nodded

"Indeed. You seem to be slowly understanding the structure of this maze: the first challenge was the 'corridor of death', a way to test one's resource gathering and concentration; the second trial was the trial of the 'dark room', to play with the pressure of having your life on the line. These two mainly test one's wits and state of mind. The last one" Fu Yin threw her a gourd full of water "Is to test our overall strength! But this is by far the easiest of the three trials. If a person passes, everybody does as well! So relax and enjoy the show as this is my time to shine!"

The boy with pale blue skin grinned and winked at her. Xiao Wu stuck her tongue out but also smiled: she really enjoyed staying with this new big brother... She was hoping that Cheng Hao could also give him a hand, with such talent, he should have no problem reaching the Reverend stage or, perhaps, even the legendary Ageless realm! A realm that hadn't been seen in their continent for hundreds of years...

"Fu Yin, stop flirting and get over here! We have to study some countermeasures in case we meet those guys from before!" Fan Lai's voice rang out "Sure thing, Leader!"

Fu Yin winked at Xiao Wu "Will be right back, Sis!" He then leaped towards Fan Lai and Solomon who examining a piece of paper with a map showing a special section of the maze. As soon as he approached, Fu Yin smiled smugly towards Solomon as the red haired man gritted his teeth.

A few hours passed and Xiao Wu spent most of that time chatting with her companions. She spoke a bit with Da Bing about spirits which, being still a kid, fascinated her, talked with Yan Rui and Tai Long about what they called 'the spring of youth' and then approached the guys she hadn't got the chance to speak with.

She found out that Liang Ran spoke a different language so she had no choice but draw symbols on the ground to communicate. He did the same and they soon began a debate wether a sword or a spear would be better in close combat.

The dark skinned boy was a huge fan of the spear while Xiao Wu's weapon of choice was the Black Dragon Sword so the debate soon grew to be an elaborate argument.

Although Liang Ran assured Xiao Wu that a spear would be three times as strong than a sword in one on one combat, Xiao Wu retorted that the longer edge of the sword's blade would allow one to fight multiple opponents coming from multiple directions with much more ease compared to a spear.

Although they only used hand signs and pictures drawn on the ground, the debate went on for a whole hour before they both agreed that the two weapons were too different in their specialty to truly decide which one was better. Liang Ran and Xiao Wu both laughed out aloud as they looked back and saw meters upon meters of the ground had been drawn by them.

They then shook hands and drank a cup of wine together (Although Xiao Wu drank juice) to consolidate their friendship.

She also got the chance to speak a bit with Baba, although she was the only one speaking, and tried to approach Solomon without succeeding.