Chapter 117: [Fragment of the Stairway to Immortality Discovered]

For the sake of efficiency, the Brahma Tower created a space to contain all the Tier 4, 5, and 6 zombies, then carried that space as it journeyed across different planets.

Just as it had expected, many life-bearing planets had already fallen to the plague brought by that one Tier 6 zombie. Entire worlds turned into zombie-infested wastelands, devoid of all living beings.

The Brahma Tower continued traveling through the universe, hunting the escaped Tier 6 zombie. It discovered that the zombie virus had already spread across the entire cosmos, with new Tier 6 zombies being born and sent to other worlds.

It had visited dozens of life-bearing planets, all of which had succumbed to the same fate—zombies everywhere. The scenes were utterly horrifying.

During this time, it repeatedly sensed a strange pull trying to drag it back to the Nine Provinces. Each time, it used spatial force to escape rapidly.

Its grand mission was not yet complete—how could it risk being caught in the Nine Provinces again?

It had once seen a planet with such advanced technology that it could harness the energy of stars, and yet even that was no match for a Tier 6 zombie. The entire planet, along with its colony planets, became a zombie nest.

That planet had built a massive spaceship capable of carrying a million people. Those people fled their homes in search of a habitable world. But one noble secretly brought along his daughter, who had already turned into a zombie. The entire spaceship eventually became a nest.

The Brahma Tower heard that someone infected with the virus had, while still conscious, escaped in an emergency pod. It traced the pod and arrived above Luo Ying’s planet.

It sensed that although the planet had many zombies, humans still lived there. Overjoyed, it almost wept.

After so many days of being surrounded by zombies, it was finally, finally seeing the living again.

“Hm?” The Brahma Tower suddenly felt a wave of panic.

“My lord, what’s wrong?” a Tier 6 zombie asked.

“I suddenly have a bad feeling,” the Brahma Tower hesitated. Since attaining sentience, it had never felt this before.

“Could there be something on this planet that scares me? That doesn’t make sense…” it murmured. It was an Immortal Artifact—what could possibly threaten it? Not even Tier 7 or 8 zombies should pose a threat.

“Found you!”

The voice that sent chills down its very core echoed from below. The Brahma Tower spun around and looked down, nearly fainting in terror.

The Human Sovereign of the Nine Provinces had flown up from this planet and was charging straight toward it!

Run!

The Brahma Tower didn’t hesitate. It tore open space and dove in, leaving behind all the zombies it had brought. Survival first.

As the tower vanished, the zombies looked around at each other, confused by its behavior.

“Amitabha. My lord must have his reasons.”

Jiang Li flew to where the Brahma Tower had just been. Glancing at the group of zombies bathed in Buddhist light, he had a pretty good idea of what the tower had been up to and couldn’t help but smile.

The spatial tear the tower had made had already healed—but Jiang Li tore it open again.

“We should be… safe now, right?”

The Brahma Tower reappeared near a star, murmuring to itself in distress.

It was dozens of light-years away from where it had been. No matter how absurd the Human Sovereign’s power was, he couldn’t possibly travel faster than light to reach it.

Besides, it had heard he wasn’t proficient in spatial arts. There was no way he could catch up.

But then the space it had torn was ripped open once more. Jiang Li’s head popped out, his body still in the alternate space, looming down on the tower.

You said you weren’t good with spatial arts! the Brahma Tower cursed inwardly, even as it frantically tore open more space.

It was true—Jiang Li wasn’t particularly skilled with space. But if someone dared to escape by tearing space, he could trace and follow their path by ripping it back open!

“Keep running!”

The Brahma Tower jumped again, only to be caught up with.

Though Jiang Li could match the Brahma Tower’s speed, its spatial jumps were too rapid and continuous, making the chase a hassle.

One artifact and one man darted through space—from asteroid belts to planetary cores. Jiang Li never let up.

The Brahma Tower flung out blocks of space toward him. Jiang Li pinched his fingers together and waved to the side—every block whizzed past, blasting apart countless planets.

“Take this!”

The Brahma Tower shouted and shredded Jiang Li’s space into pieces, like paper being torn to shreds. Naturally, the “figure” drawn on that paper—Jiang Li—was fragmented as well.

Head, limbs, and torso were scattered into seven different spaces.

Jiang Li could see his own back with his eyes. It was… an odd experience.

He could still control each part of his body, as if they were only separated on the surface. Deeper down, they remained connected through a higher-dimensional space.

With a roar, Jiang Li pieced himself back together and resumed the chase.

Man and tower soared through the skies and plunged into the depths, their chase continuing for days.

At last, the Brahma Tower fled this world, tearing into the void. Jiang Li followed right into the void—and landed a punch.

The layers of spatial shielding around the Brahma Tower cracked and shattered. The force rattled the tower, leaving it dazed. Jiang Li seized the moment and snatched it with one hand.

The Brahma Tower tried to activate its spatial powers to escape again—only to find, horrified, that Jiang Li’s hand felt like a law-sealing zone. It couldn’t use any space power at all.

“Hahahahaha! Finally caught you! Feel proud—you’re the second-to-last one I’ve caught!” Jiang Li laughed wildly, looking like a proper villain.

“Who’s the last one left?” the Brahma Tower asked, utterly defeated.

“Ancient and Modern Sword.”

“I’m not dragging you back to kill you, so what were you running for?”

“We Immortal Artifacts are meant to be free!” the Brahma Tower protested loudly. “You humans oppress us—we must resist!”

“Sumeru Old Buddha is dead. Wuzhi is the new Lord Buddha now,” Jiang Li said suddenly.

“Huh?” The Brahma Tower’s eyes widened. “The Nine Provinces were invaded by Outer World Demons, and the Sumeru Buddha died in battle?”

Jiang Li shook his head. “The Old Buddha was corrupted by demons and took lives in a rage. I…”

He trailed off. The Brahma Tower understood what came next. It anxiously asked, “But Wuzhi’s only in the Nascent Soul Stage—how can he command respect? What if he’s bullied?”

Though Mount Sumeru was based on Buddhist teachings, only high-level monks cared about that. Those with weaker Dharma wouldn’t think Wuzhi deserved the title and would likely ostracize him.

Jiang Li knew he’d guessed right. The Brahma Tower cared about Wuzhi deeply—otherwise, it wouldn’t have allowed Wuzhi to hold its true form rather than a replica.

Even if the Old Buddha had passed it down to protect Wuzhi, the Brahma Tower wouldn’t tolerate a mere Nascent Soul holder commanding it—not without deep respect.

Taking it back to the Nine Provinces by force was only temporary. To keep it there, emotional ties were the key.

“Alright, I’ll go back with you,” said the Brahma Tower. It had always felt a natural closeness to Wuzhi—even before it developed sentience. That feeling only grew stronger after gaining intelligence.

As long as the Sumeru Buddha had been around, it had trusted Wuzhi would grow strong. But now that he was gone, the tower had to fulfill its duty as a Buddhist treasure and protect him.

“But first,” the Brahma Tower said, “let’s go take care of the zombie problem.”

That was exactly what Jiang Li had in mind.

Man and tower returned to the zombie world.

[Fragment of the Stairway to Immortality Discovered]

“Hm?!”