In the darkness, a white light descended from the sky, and then an ethereal figure appeared before Ye Bufan.
It was an old man with long white hair. Ye Bufan immediately recognized him as a ghost cultivator. Due to the ancient tower, Ye Bufan couldn't sense the opponent's cultivation level.
"Cultivator," the old man opened his eyes and looked at Ye Bufan, as if he could see through Ye Bufan completely.
Ye Bufan clasped his fists and said to the old man, "Junior Ye Bufan, has come to challenge the tower."
"Defeat me, and you can proceed to the next level," the old man said to Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan nodded. The true qi within his body erupted instantly, transforming into an invisible sword qi that charged towards the old man. The old man vanished in an instant.
"Please proceed to the second level." The old man's voice echoed.
"That simple?" Ye Bufan looked around in confusion, not expecting it to be easier than he had imagined.
Ye Bufan walked to the second level. To his surprise, the difficulty of the second level was also very simple. However, Ye Bufan noticed that while the difficulty of each individual level seemed fixed, the difficulty between consecutive levels increased exponentially.
If the difficulty coefficient of the first level was two, then the second level's coefficient would be four, the third level would become six, and the fourth level would be eight.
Soon, Ye Bufan reached the fourth level in just a few minutes.
"Damn, you're already up here?" Nangong Yi looked at Ye Bufan in disbelief. Immediately, the surroundings went dark, and Ye Bufan and Nangong Yi were instantly separated into two spaces, unable to sense each other's existence.
The old man with long white hair reappeared before Ye Bufan. Ye Bufan cupped his fists and bowed to him. The old man nodded, his eyes devoid of any emotion.
Ye Bufan soared into the sky and swung his sword at the old man. The old man raised his guard, then dissipated.
Immediately, the space before Ye Bufan restored. He saw Nangong Yi in a space, constantly throwing punches at the air. A spatial energy barrier separated him from Nangong Yi.
Seeing this, Ye Bufan did not disturb Nangong Yi and proceeded upwards, heading towards the next level of the ancient tower. The subsequent levels became increasingly difficult, but Ye Bufan cleared them one by one.
Outside the ancient tower, in the underground city, people soon noticed the situation within the tower. The higher one went, the fewer people there were, especially as they reached the seventh level, where attention began to focus.
"Someone is challenging the tower. They've already reached the seventh level." Major first-rate families sent people to gather information.
For martial artists, each level was extremely difficult. The difficulty of each level precisely demonstrated a martial artist's strength. Those who could reach the seventh level possessed at least the strength of a Martial Saint or even a Great Martial Saint.
The various families had firsthand information about which Martial Saints in the underground city could reach which level. However, this person had ascended to the seventh level in one go, appearing as if from nowhere, which greatly shocked the major clans.
Ye Bufan, at this moment, was naturally unaware of the situation outside. He continued upwards, finally reaching the ninth level.
From the seventh level onwards, Ye Bufan found the battles gradually becoming more troublesome, but he could still cope. By the eighth level, he had used almost two-thirds of his strength.
Upon reaching the ninth level, Ye Bufan unleashed his full power and passed the ninth level, finally arriving at the tenth level.
"Look! It's the tenth level! Someone has cleared the tower to the tenth level!"
The lights of the tenth level of the ancient tower illuminated, and the entire underground city erupted. Everyone was guessing who had broken through to the ninth level.
"Only a few people in the entire underground city have the capability to reach the tenth level. It's either that person from the City Lord's mansion, or one of those two from the Tang family or the Zhao family." The major clans speculated.
Below the ancient tower, the Tang and Zhao families became the most excited, almost starting a fight.
"As a Great Martial Saint, Tang Yao is naturally capable of reaching the tenth level. What is Zhao Ningxuan from your Zhao family?"
"Go to hell! Our Zhao family is a descendant of the Heavenly Master's Mansion from ancient times. Our martial arts skills are far superior to your Tang family."
Below the ancient tower, the two groups almost came to blows, but were eventually pulled apart by their own family members.
"Hahahaha, I say, is there any need for you to argue? No matter how much they break through, aren't both your families still ranked below our Nangong family?" A middle-aged man's hearty laughter rang out.
The Tang and Zhao family members turned to look and frowned.
"Nangong Yingli, why are you back in the underground city?" The leader from the Tang family was an elder who looked at Nangong Yingli with vigilance.
Nangong Yingli was Nangong Yi's father and the current head of the Nangong family.
"I heard that a Meridian Protection Pill has been refined in our Nangong family's alchemy shop downstairs, so I came to take a look," Nangong Yingli said proudly.
"What?" The elders of the Tang and Zhao families exchanged glances.
The Nine Great Families of the capital had been making efforts in alchemy in recent years. The medicinal formulas obtained from the underground city by the various families were taken back by their alchemists for refinement. After refinement, they could be given to martial artists, or sold to the City Lord's mansion, thus generating income. It was a huge profit.
The strength of the alchemists in each family was actually similar, so in this regard, all families almost started from scratch, with almost the same progress.
The Nangong family's leading refinement of the Meridian Protection Pill meant they would begin tackling the formulas for the next pills. In this way, the Nangong family was highly likely to gain the favor of the City Lord's mansion.
The leading elders of the Tang and Zhao families snorted coldly, both thinking of transmitting this news back to their families as quickly as possible.
"I wonder which level our Nangong Yi has reached, and when he will rendezvous with Nangong Huahao," Nangong Yingli chuckled.
Hearing Nangong Huahao, the faces of the Tang and Zhao family members became even more grim.
Nangong Huahao and Nangong Yingli were from the same generation and were currently a cause of concern for other families. Nangong Huahao, as a genius of the previous generation of the Nangong family, had a physical defect that had prevented him from breaking through his Great Martial Venerable cultivation for many years.
Later, with the appearance of the Marrow Cleansing Pill, Nangong Huahao broke through his physical limitations, and his cultivation level soared, from the sixth level of the ancient tower to the eighth level.
Inside the ancient tower, after Ye Bufan entered the tenth level, everything changed.
Here, the old man with long white hair had actually condensed into a physical form and appeared before Ye Bufan.
"Young man, welcome. You are the first person in many years to reach the Cultivation Layer," the old man smiled at Ye Bufan. At this moment, Ye Bufan finally felt the opponent's strength - Core Formation stage!
"Cultivation Layer?" Ye Bufan looked at the old man in confusion.
"Levels one to nine are the Body Refining Layer. After level ten is the Cultivation Layer," the old man explained to Ye Bufan.