Gu Guanyu's response to Bai Qi's antics was a mix of laughter and cursing. And acting on that, he suddenly roared, "I will kill you, fucking bastard!" while rushing after the cloaked, screaming, and frantically running figure.

"Heh." Bai Qi smirked as he noticed the giant-like figure running after him with shouts while waving his sword. Bai Qi could not help but note.

With one escaping and the other cursing and waving a sword, the pair descended to the 5th floor of the tower.

While cultivators above the Sage realm practically never slept, they still wished to seclude themselves somewhere. And considering that the [Void Palace] towers were for a single elder and the disciples that followed it, the presence of dormitories, or private rooms, wasn't surprising.

With all towers built in the same way, the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th floors were the ones that had a few separate rooms meant for the disciples. This factor affected the 5th floor itself, as in place of the half or entire floor wide area, the 5th floor only had a reduced, not bigger than 10 square feet, the open zone around the stairs surrounded by four doors.

With such a small open space around the stairs, it wasn't surprising that there was not a single enemy waiting for them. Actually, before they left the control room, they had sensed a few on the floor. But when the fighting started, the looting attackers either retreated or ascended.

{Senior plans to follow after me until the entrance?} Bai Qi asked via qi transmission, and after getting a positive answer, added, {Then, maybe add some more fun? Let's see what do the ones on the 4th floor have prepared.}

The 4th floor of the towers served as a lecture hall but not the common hall as in desks and lecterns. In turn, it was one where the void itself showed its secrets to the willing. The walls were made of an almost transparent corundrum, while several formations would allow the disciples to examine, test, and even summon a part of the void when the entire tower moved into it.

Thus, the entire floor was just a single room, and while some seatings were present, the attackers made sure to move them out of the way by now.

Bai Qi thought as he appeared in the room while calling for help.

"An elder of the [Void Palace]! The bastard killed everyone!" Bai Qi informed the alarmed, weapon at the ready, cultivators and showed no intention of stopping, rushing towards the stairs leading to the 3rd floor.

"Get back, you coward!" One of the men shouted, But Bai Qi did not plan to run anyway. He just made a show of doing that, using the moment to confirm the lack of anyone on the 3rd floor.

So as the four cultivators dressed in short purple tunics and carrying the same kind of weapons, long jade-like rods, turned to face Gu Guanyu, Bai Qi took out the two sabers from before and stood along with them.

"We are of the [Thunder Mysteries Cult]." One of the cultivators, a robust, young man, almost as high as Gu Guanyu proclaimed.

But the [Void Palace] elder showed no signs of responding in kind but in place, raised his sword.

While Bai Qi was interested in how these cultivators used their rods in combat, he wasn't planning to risk. Thus, as soon as the four concentrated on Gu Guanyu, he slightly backed and raised his sabers as if he would also attack.

*Slash* *Splatter*

Half a step, a slash from behind, and the unprepared cultivator's neck were severed.

"Damned jackal!" Two furious shouts resounded, and the third member of the [Thunder Mysteries Cult], a woman thin as a needle, launched against Bai Qi directly.

*Swoosh* *Splatter*

But now, with them distracted by Bai Qi, it was Gu Guanyu's turn to do the same.

*Clash* *Clang* *Clang* *Slash*

With only a single opponent remaining for each, Bai Qi and Gu Guanyu immediately attacked.

Bai Qi was using the two sabers he got from the [Sha Zhu Company] member, and so, he half-imitated the latter, creating a web of intercrossed slashes.

As for Gu Guanyu, he fought following his build. Each of his slashes carried an enormous amount of force behind them. And in less than a dozen slashes, a snap sounded, and the rod flew out from his opponent's split hand.

A minute later, both Bai Qi and Gu Guanyu had dispatched their respective enemies. The [Thunder Mysteries Cult] were far more potent, but most of their fighting style depended on skills. Otherwise, why would they have lost so quickly?

"I am going ahead." Bai Qi shrugged and began moving towards the stairs.

"Send them up here." Gu Guanyu instructed Bai Qi as he motioned to the first disciple to appear, Dong Xia, to approach.

***

Understanding that the [Void Palace] elder had planned for something, Bai Qi did not comment on anything, just nodded in agreement. And after cleaning the sabers with the hem of the sand-colored cloak, rushed down.

While showing the perfect blend of terror, cowardice, and alarm, Bai Qi descended to the 1st floor. He met 11 cultivators of different levels, but none weaker than the 1st level of the Warrior Lord realm, and to each, he half-pleaded to go stop the crazed killer of elder that had appeared.

And if not because neither of the present ones was of the [Sha Zhu Company] to recognize Bai Qi's ruse, the strategy would have failed. And a plan there was, as after alarming the entire tower and reaching the exit, Bai Qi did not run out.

After confirming with his senses that the hostiles were engrossed in a fight against the nine [Void Palace] presences, Bai Qi took off the cloak.

Bai Qi said to himself and then, using a concealing talisman and covering himself with one of the brown robes of the [Earth's Demon Sons], moved towards the basement.

***

A few minutes later, Gu Guanyu and his disciples had dealt with the hostiles and arrived on the 1st floor. There was no sign of Bai Qi, at least one that they could feel, so they proceeded with their plan.

Bearing improved awareness, the [Void Palace] members, because of their training, and Bai Qi, because of his proficiency, neither of them had problems using their senses inside the towers. Reduced to a minimum distance and with no ability to scan outside, they still weren't blind as the invaders.

The materials used for the towers also blocked the usage of techniques and skills for any cultivator below the Warrior King realm. And regretfully, for most of the unorthodox cultivators that formed up the thousand and a half nobodies gathered for the siege, most of them had a minimum understanding of physical combat. It wasn't so surprising, though, with the innate cultivation for most of the born on this plane was the Spirit realm one, and it already allowed to utilize qi techniques.

For Bai Qi, his situation would have been the same if not that he had started as someone with no cultivation, and until recently, he had constantly fought either with weapons or barehanded.

And for the [Void Palace] disciples, training inside the towers had always been a part of their lives. After all, they not only lived in them but also studied the void when the structure submerged into it. And with some of these void-voyages taking weeks, it was logical that no master would allow them to avoid the so common sparring matches.

Adding a third advantage to the already present ones was the small amount of space inside, which limited the number of attackers. And thus, allowing each tower's Elders and disciples to clear them out, with ease and without suffering losses, at the start of this new plan.

Bai Qi was very well aware of this, and so while he showed off for a bit and helped Gu Guanyu with a few opponents, he could have stayed back as well, with no changes.

But the real battle was yet to start, and it would be far more dangerous and bloody than the one for the tower. After all, all of the [Void Palace] advantages when outside wouldn't apply.

"We only encountered 29 people, and I had sensed 32 inside before we left the control room. Thus, at least three exited and alarmed everyone outside." Gu Guanyu stated to his disciples as he cleared his mind from all distractions like Bai Qi's location.

"And Master, I think they prepared for us to rush out. What do we do?" Fu Cai, a 2nd level Warrior Lord disciple, asked while poking out the destroyed door. He felt dozens of gazes and qi turbulences, so his words weren't ones of panic but a fact.

"There is no doubt of that. As soon as we are in range, everyone will attempt to send an attack. After all, didn't the last opponents mention something about a bounty for each elder or disciple head?" Dong Huang, the younger brother of Dong Xia and Dong Wei, spoke up in a carefree tone. It wasn't that he had a death wish or was dumb.

Dong Huang felt no need to worry about what would happen anyway. His thoughts were on how to avoid the first wave of attacks, and he considered that the rest should do the same, not stand around and discuss it. This facet was one that Gu Guanyu liked in the young, just turned 17 years old, man. Still, the elder had always attempted to encourage discussion not because of idle chatter but to confirm that one's answer was the most suitable one.

"Discussions are good, but the current timing isn't right. The plan is as it follows..." Gu Guanyu would have liked to discuss it. And make the disciples discover it, or at least a semblance of it, by themselves, but he had no time indeed.

***

None of the bosses, heads, sect masters, and so on of the forty-three groups that, by persuasion, loyalty, or greed, joined the [Seven Souls Sect] attack on the Palace would risk themselves and lead from the front while restricted. Thus, there were neither leaders nor true cohesion among the over a hundred cultivators near the [Void Palace] 32nd tower.

Still, the objective of everyone was the same, to grab some kills and the rewards that came with them, and so they even organized a kind of alliance. And after a lengthy discussion that had started as soon as the tower's occupants began their descent, they decided that command should go to the leader of the most numerous group. And at that moment, it was a power called [Gray Gate]. Their current leader, a pig-faced, robust if not directly fat, 5th level Warrior Lord wasn't dumb at all and, from the start, made everyone open distance from the tower.

This Bu Zan reasoned that this was either an attempt to retake the tower or a break-out. For the former, they could prepare and retake it later, as traps would not work anyway while the [Unstable Qi Flow] formation was active. As for the latter, the most likely one, the [Void Palace] members would have to leave the tower, and then Bu Zan's group could meet them with a barrage of long-range attacks before closing for the kill.

Initially, the method did not carry much appeal to the individual groups. But after adding two details, Bu Zan made everyone accept the plan.

These details were;

Any deaths occurring because of the first barrage would have their rewards split among everyone.

And the individual groups would have a pick of the remaining opponents based on their numbers.

Thus, now that they sensed, and even saw, a few people gathered near the doorway, every one of the one hundred eleven cultivators prepared to act. And almost the same thought crossed the minds of everyone who had only heard of Bu Zan, the [Young Bear Warlord], of the half-mercenary half-robber group that controlled the [Gray Gate] mountain -

***

"Wait for the barrage to end, and rush out!" Gu Guanyu called to his disciples before stepping first out of the 32nd, his own, tower. While he did not expect to meet an organized group waiting for them, he did prepare countermeasures. And now, it was time to see if they would be enough. After all, if they weren't, the dozens of aura slashes, stone fists, ice spears, and what more that flew towards him would be the last thing he saw.

Gu Guanyu's hands started forming seals since he felt the interference of the tower's inside disappear. And before the first attack crossed half of the distance, he finished and boomed the last part of the mantra he had been reading along with the seals, "and the Void breathes!"