Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 531: Blocked by the door

"No. The store doesn't require anyone to pay for it. It is free for everyone to attempt," Huiyin explained with a knowing smile. "However, the tower itself prohibits subsequent attempts. Three days must pass first before one can attempt again should they exit the tower before completion."

Aurelia nodded in understanding. She took a deep breath, steeling herself before stepping into the line.

The cultivators around her were a motley crew. A rough-looking mercenary with a scarred face was arguing with a delicate-looking sect disciple about the drop rate of manuals and artifacts in the Green or Blue Chest reward after clearing a floor.

"I'm telling you, you must climb higher than Floor 2 to get a Blue Chest. You keep leaving after clearing Floor 2. How can you get a better reward?" The sect disciple calmly said.

"Bullshit! Floor 2 is where it's at! I can comfortably finish the challenge and defeat the Floor Guardian with ease! I can even drink a Heavenly Dew Soda while doing so!" The mercenary argued.

Aurelia listened with a frown. They spoke of challenges, chests and rewards all within combat and life-and-death struggles as if they were discussing the price of cabbage at a market. So, clearing a floor rewards a chest? Is this an inheritance tower? The terminology wasn't alien to her, yet she couldn't wrap her head around the reason why someone would remain on a lower floor when advancing to higher floors gives better rewards.

As she was about to line up at the back, the sudden arrival of a group in azure robes caused a stir.

"It's Young Master Yan Wei! Is he going to challenge the tower again?"

"Yeah. He said he wants to climb higher than Floor 6 today. He's now prouder and confident after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage and joining the exploration of the Argent Covenant Anchor."

Aurelia couldn't help but glance behind her. She immediately spotted the young man leading them with a haughty smirk on his face. He was adorned in high-quality robes that shimmered with wind-attribute spiritual energy, and the artifact cap Lin Mo had sold him sat jauntily on his head, looking both ridiculous and strangely fitting for the arrogant young master.

Yan Wei scanned the crowd, basking in their attention. His gaze swept over the line, pausing momentarily on Monk Huiyin, whose lack of presence made him seem like part of the scenery, before landing on Aurelia.

His eyes narrowed slightly. As a newly minted Foundation Establishment cultivator with a Solid Foundation, his senses were sharper than before. He could tell that this cloaked woman wasn't simple. She stood with a stillness that screamed discipline, unlike the loose posture of the rogue cultivators around her.

"Hmph. A new face?" Yan Wei muttered loud enough for his entourage to hear. "The fame of the Shopkeeper truly knows no bounds. Even foreign vagrants are coming to test their luck."

One of his lackeys, a sycophantic disciple, laughed. "Indeed, Young Master! But what can a vagrant do? They probably don't even have a deck for the Celestial Duel!"

Aurelia's expression remained impassive under her hood, though her hand twitched towards her blade. Vagrant? This child knows nothing of the Supreme Sun's light.

Then, a more gentle female disciple admonished him, "Shut up. Do not tarnish the reputation of our Azure Gale Sect. We are not such snobs. Am I right, Young Master?"

Yan Wei glanced at his junior sister, Chen Suyun, and nodded, "Indeed. We are now children of convenience. We must spread it, even to vagrants like her."

"Peace, Benefactor," Huiyin whispered, sensing the spike in her aura. "He is… spirited. But he is one of the store's most loyal patrons. His arrogance is merely the froth on the wave."

Aurelia could only calm her chest before taking a step back. She couldn't reveal her identity yet.

Suddenly, Yan Wei's brows furrowed as he recognized the thin, bald monk.

"Oh! You're Monk Huiyin, the Towerbreaker. Shopkeeper said you went back to the west and you never posted on the Bulletin Board again. Are you here to break your records? Wanna compete with me?"

With a smug grin that showed off his pearly white teeth, Yan Wei pointed a thumb at himself. "I've been grinding. My Azure Gale Steps have reached the realm of perfection thanks to the use of the Premium Cultivation Room and fighting those foreign invaders. I bet I can clear Floor 7 faster than you can say 'Amitabha'. That is your recorded height, no?"

Huiyin chuckled dryly. He bowed slightly, his palms pressed together.

"This poor monk seeks not to compete, Benefactor Yan. The tower is a mirror. I only wish to see if my reflection has changed since my last visit. However, seeing your spirit so high is… heartening. It seems the Shopkeeper's influence has indeed given you a new purpose."

But true enough, his name and record have been immortalized for his first clear of floors four to seven. One could still see it when interfacing with the door to enter the tower. He was the top clearer back then until Xiaoyu broke past the eighth, ninth and the tenth floor, fully clearing the Conduit Tower.

Yan Wei blinked, clearly expecting a retort or a lecture. Being met with serene encouragement seemed to throw him off his rhythm.

"Tch. Boring. It would've been better to provoke Zhou Rui. But that guy went ahead and joined whatever his sect master planned to create." He scoffed, adjusting his cap. "Fine, watch me then. I'll set a record that will stand until the Shopkeeper himself decides to climb again!"

With a swirl of his azure green robes, he marched towards the tower entrance, his fellow disciples trailing behind him like a flock of eager ducklings. Chen Suyun gave Huiyin and Aurelia an apologetic nod before hurrying after her senior brother.

"He has energy," Aurelia noted. "But his foundation is... surprisingly solid. Artificial, perhaps? Bolstered by pills?"

"Enhanced," Huiyin corrected gently. "But the effort to refine that enhancement is his own. That is the way of the store. It gives you the tools; you must provide the will. Now, Benefactor Lia, the line is moving. It is your turn."

Aurelia looked ahead. The massive, obsidian doors of the Conduit Tower loomed before her.

Up close, the spatial fluctuations were dizzying, a rhythmic thrum that resonated with her Golden Core. She felt a flicker of anticipation, a warrior's instinct responding to the promise of a challenge.

"I will see for myself what this 'mirror' reflects," She whispered.

As she stepped forward, she was suddenly stopped by the red holographic panel of the door.

[Error: Cultivation has exceeded the accessibility threshold]

[Note: Only Foundation Establishment Stage or below can challenge the tower.]

Upon seeing that, Aurelia's lips twitched. Why did the monk not tell her about this?

Now, she's standing in front of the line in slight embarrassment with the onlooking patrons behind her.

"Aiyah! Apologies, Benefactor Lia! This poor monk's memory is as porous as a sieve," Huiyin exclaimed, slapping his bald head with a palm that echoed with a dull thud. "I had forgotten. Your cultivation… it has already blossomed into the Core Formation Stage, has it not? This tower, the Jade Hollow spire, was the first to appear. It is a testing ground for those still building their foundations. It cannot contain a presence as profound as yours."

The mutterings of the crowd behind them ceased instantly, replaced by a heavy, stunned silence. The rough mercenary who had been arguing about chest drop rates dropped his jaw. The sect disciple next to him widened his eyes until they looked like saucers.

"Core Formation?" Someone whispered, the words trembling in the air. "That vagrant woman is a Core Formation expert? An Elder-level figure?"

Even Yan Wei, who was just about to enter with the swagger of a conqueror, halted. He spun around, his neck craning so fast it nearly snapped. His haughty expression crumbled, replaced by a look of genuine, if begrudging, shock.

He had sensed she was not simple, but to be a Core Formation expert? That placed her above him, above his Senior Brothers, and on par with the Elders of his sect. And she was standing in line like a commoner?

"Hmph. A Core Formation disguising herself to mock juniors? How… eccentric," Yan Wei muttered, though his voice lacked its usual bite. He adjusted his cap before vanishing as he entered the tower.

Left with that awkwardness, Aurelia found herself wanting to find a hole to hide her face. She's now regretting joining the monk in this journey. She even recalled what Yan Wei said earlier: Monk Huiyin is the Towerbreaker. That infamous figure from the Temple of Unending Spring.

She now believed her identity had long been compromised and she must've been being played by the bald monk.

"You forgot?" She hissed at the monk, keeping her voice low. "You dragged me into a line to face a door I cannot open?"

"Patience, Benefactor. It is a lesson in humility," Huiyin replied with a serene smile that made Aurelia want to unsheathe her sword and test his 'Iron Shirt' or whatever defense he had. "But worry not. The path of convenience is never a dead end. If this door is closed, another is open. The Abyssal Forest Conduit Tower. It accepts those up to the Nascent Soul Stage. And its challenges… they are said to be far more rigorous."