Ch185 - The Path of ‘Climbing the Tower’.

Translator-Rhapsodite

Editor- Koneko, Proofreader- Spring Flower 

After realizing this, the nurse felt her heart pounding uncontrollably, her palms were sweating and her voice trembled with nervousness.

“Sh-should we go now?”

She suggested.

Bei Quan smiled. 

Then, he chose a spot with sparse tree roots and sat down, “No rush.”

He waved to Wei Fuyuan and patted the space beside him, “Come on, let’s take a rest for a while.”

The nurse: “!!”

Jiang Nan’an and Luo Yun: “??”

It was really hard for them to understand how Bei Quan could remain so calm after the tense announcement earlier.

Wei Fuyuan didn’t ask anything and sat directly next to Bei Quan. “Come on, Xiao Jiang, sit down and talk.”

Bei Quan patted the ground on the other side, “Anyway, as that loli voice said, there’s no time limit for ‘climbing the tower.’ So, why not take this opportunity to rest? Let’s recharge and replenish our energy!”

Jiang Nan’an thought Bei Quan made a good point, so he stopped overthinking and sat down to rest. 

The nurse sister and Luo Yun exchanged a glance, looking quite confused.

But neither of them had the courage or strength to act alone, so naturally, they clung to the legs of the big shots and didn’t dare to answer back.

When they leaned in, Bei Quan specifically reminded them to sit close to the wall, so that in case any monsters suddenly appeared, they wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked from behind.

So, the female nurse and Luo Yun could only stand on one side, one on the left, and the other on the right, cautiously sticking to the outside of Jiang Nan’an and Wei Fuyuan. They were just like two chicks with fried feathers, sitting upright nervously while not daring to move. 

Bei Quan gestured for Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an to take out the supplies they had obtained along the way and to start drinking water and eat some biscuits.

After they felt they had rested enough, Bei Quan calmly took out the remaining half of the roll of gauze, pricked his finger, and began to write symbols on the gauze.

The nurse and Luo Yun were both amazed at Bei Quan’s ability to draw symbols.

“You…are you a Taoist priest?” 

From her perspective, even if she tilted her head, she could only get a rough look. As for what was specifically written on the talisman, she couldn’t see clearly.

Of course, even if the written spell was placed directly in front of her eyes, the nurse sister would not be able to understand it.

“Hmm.”

If she relied solely on her imagination, she could only imagine scenes like those in ancient Hong Kong horror movies – such as sticking a charm on a zombie’s forehead or something like that. 

The nurse’s lips twitched twice, wanting to continue questioning but she was feeling a bit timid. She decided it was for the best and reluctantly closed her mouth.

On the other side, Luo Yun was also very curious about Bei Quan’s process of drawing talismans.

Unfortunately, Wei Fuyuan was too tall and overly caring towards Bei Quan.

He kept a close eye on every move of his lover and even attentively helped tidy up the completed talismans. He was truly an exemplary boyfriend, demonstrating filial piety. 

Luo Yun’s physique was originally weak which made Wei Fuyuan’s broad shoulders almost completely block his line of sight. He stretched his neck to look for a while, but could only see the white edge of the gauze.

It wasn’t until most of the gauze was completely used up that Bei Quan finally let out a long sigh.

“Almost done, let’s go.”

With that, he stood up and walked towards the large tree in the center of the Immortal Tower. 

The others quickly followed suit.

Looking at the tree’s shape alone, its root system was very developed. The part that was exposed above the ground was as high as seven or eight stories, twisted and entangled, almost completely covering the trunk.

In addition to the huge and somewhat terrifying root system, the tree also had many beard-like aerial roots. The shorter ones were only as long as a palm, while the longer ones extended from the treetop to the ground, reaching a height of ten stories.

They hung down like curtains, easily blocking the line of sight. 

Bei Quan and the others chose to climb from the East side.

From the viewpoint of an ordinary person, each place to climb looked pretty much the same, but Bei Quan insisted that this was the result of his calculations. The East side was where the main entrance was, so it would be relatively safer.

Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an, of course, didn’t raise any objections. The nurse and Luo Yun just mindlessly followed along doing whatever the others said.

Before climbing, they also decided on the order. 

As the ‘MT’ in the team, Jiang Nan’an naturally took the lead.

T/N – is the main bearer of monster hatred in team copy operations.

As for the second position, it was filled by the female nurse. That’s what the girl herself requested.

She was afraid that if she ended up at the back, even if she used her ability to teleport, she might not be able to grab the first position. So she voluntarily suggested being in the second position. 

The nurse’s request was so sudden that she couldn’t think of a perfect reason in her haste.

After speaking up, she couldn’t help but regret it, worried that her intentions would be noticed by others.

Fortunately, Bei Quan, Wei Fuyuan, and Jiang Nan’an were surprisingly easygoing and readily agreed to her request. Luo Yun, being a gentleman, believed in the principle of ‘ladies first’ and found this arrangement quite reasonable.

Next, Luo Yun was in the third position, followed by Wei Fuyuan, with Bei Quan requesting to be at the rear. 

After deciding on the order, they began to climb the tower.

The first half of the journey went surprisingly smoothly.

The surface of the tree roots was hard and rough, twisted and coiled in various peculiar shapes. They had a natural slope, providing good friction for climbing, with plenty of places to grip and step on.

Even the nurse, wearing an inconvenient long skirt, or the slender and seemingly weak Luo Yun, didn’t find it too difficult to climb. 

With Jiang Nan’an and Wei Fuyuan occasionally lending a helping hand, the two of them were able to keep up with the team and had already climbed up to the height of about four floors.

However, climbing trees was still physically demanding.

When they were about fifteen meters off the ground, both the nurse and Luo Yun felt tired.

“Um…can we take a break?” 

The girl looked up at the layered and seemingly endless canopy of trees, then looked down at her feet, feeling a slight weakness in her legs.

She didn’t consider herself afraid of heights. But looking down from a completely safe height and looking down from a dangerous situation where one wrong step could lead to death, were completely different psychological experiences.

The nurse’s voice trembled involuntarily as she spoke, “I…I’m feeling a bit tired.”

She didn’t want to appear fragile, but the physical fatigue was undeniable and couldn’t be ignored. 

Luo Yun also leaned against a tree and nodded in agreement.

“Let’s take a break…” he gasped, pleading. “Just for a little while, please.”

So, Bei Quan and the others stopped and found suitable spots to rest and drink some water.

After ten minutes of climbing, Jiang Nan’an was still at the highest point. 

The nurse was only half a body’s height below him, while Luo Yun was a bit further behind, and Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan were still at the bottom.

The nurse had never been good at fighting and had always been in a protected position since entering ‘Tianyuan City’. Even in the face of so many dangers and knowing that she would soon face a life-or-death situation, the girl couldn’t maintain her vigilance after the intense tree climbing exercise.

She was truly exhausted, both physically and mentally.

When she finally had a chance to ‘rest’, she completely relaxed, leaning her head against the hard and rough tree root, half-closing her eyes, almost falling asleep. 

And at that moment, the nurse suddenly felt a faint vibration on her cheek.

If she were to describe it, this feeling was like standing against the wall and feeling the chassis of the computer in the next room running silently through one wall.

She couldn’t even distinguish for a moment whether this faint vibration was her illusion or whether it truly existed. And if it did exist, what meaning did it represent?

But soon, she could no longer ignore this strange vibration. It was becoming stronger and stronger. 

Not just the female nurse, but everyone was shocked.

“What… what is this?”

Luo Yun exclaimed in panic.

The next moment, a tree root as thick as an adult’s thigh suddenly came to life and violently moved, like an excessively thick whip, swinging in the air with a tremendous arc. 

“Ahhh!”

The nurse and Luo Yun couldn’t dodge in time and were both pushed away by the suddenly rampaging tree root, flying out like two marbles.

Fortunately, Jiang Nan’an and Wei Fuyuan reacted quickly.

Jiang Nan’an lunged forward, grabbing onto the girl’s arm and then performed an ‘upside down golden hook’, crossing his legs as he got them caught on another tree root. 

T/N-refers to a person kicking a ball into the goal while in the air, with their head down and their feet up.

Meanwhile, Wei Fuyuan grabbed onto a long cluster of air roots and swung like Tarzan, barely able to catch their teammate Luo Yun, who was falling.

However, the crisis was not yet resolved.

In the blazing light of the torches on the walls, Bei Quan, Wei Fuyuan, and Jiang Nan’an could see the true form of that ‘tree root’. 

It resembles a giant earthworm, its body was as thick as an adult’s thigh in diameter and at least thirty meters in length.

Its skin color and texture were just like tree roots, allowing it to have a natural camouflage.

It was so well hidden, if it didn’t move on its own, even if someone stepped on it, they might not realize it was a living creature.

The only part that distinguished it from a tree root was the head of an earthworm. 

Its head was like an enlarged round pot, swollen and bulging, with a diameter as large as a small basin. The  design of this monster was clearly inspired by the ‘doomsday worm’ in classic horror movies.

It didn’t have any structures like eyes, ears, or a nose. But only at the end, which could be considered its ‘mouth’, was a deep hole filled with layers of sharp teeth, as if it could swallow a person’s entire head.

———No sooner said than done!

The large earthworm suddenly flipped in mid-air, its head swiftly rotating, and launched towards Jiang Nan’an and the nurse hanging upside down from the tree. 

“Fuck!”

Jiang Nan’an was going crazy. He was currently holding onto the nurse with both hands, relying on his feet to stabilize himself and maintain balance. He couldn’t free his hands to deal with this big worm!

However, at that moment, Jiang Nan’an suddenly felt his hands lighten— the nurse had disappeared into thin air!