As soon as I entered the Exquisite Pagoda and the center of the killing array, the other candidates disappeared from my vision.
All around me was a world faded in black. Above was the night sky carpeted with stars and below was the ground made with hard black rock. Not too far away, a smoky gray shadow slowly congealed into a warrior holding a long staff.
I instinctively knew this was the enemy, and without giving it a chance to react, I lunged forward in an instant.
Bam!
A hard fist imprinted itself its chest as a dull bang resounded. The shadow warrior's chest immediately collapsed as it spat gray blood and fell over, dead.
"Well, that was easy." I murmured in astonishment. In truth, it was no surprise, considering how the shadowy figure was only at the early Second Stage of Body Training while I was at the Peak of the Third Stage. Not to mention, my strength greatly surpassed those of the same stage as well. Instead, it would've been strange if I didn't get a one-hit-kill.
Just like that, the first floor was easily passed.
"Mm? Someone entered the second floor so quickly." Outside, several elders were startled saw the runes and symbols on the second floor immediately move and light up only moments after the trial started.
They nodded their heads in approval. Unfortunately, the Exquisite Pagoda was completely sealed from the outside. The elders also weren't Xiantian experts, so they had no way to see what was happening inside. They could only see who passed from the floor they were kicked out of.
"Very good. We have some good talents in this examination."
Just as the elders were about to continue making remarks, their eyes bulged slightly in shock, "How can this be? Only a few breaths of time has passed!"
The third floor suddenly lit up!
"Could it be that Lin Ming?" A short-haired old man asked incredulously.
"It should be Wang Yanfeng. Even if Lin Ming has a Peak Third Stage cultivation, he only has a third-grade talent and an ordinary background, so the techniques that he uses are also ordinary." A bearded elder speculated.
"You can't say that. Techniques have their eventual limits as well. As they say, strength can break ten thousand skills, but with just skill alone, the most that can happen is their combat ability is raised a level. The end result will not be good." A gray-haired elder interjected.
However, when the bearded elder was about to bootlick Wang Yanfeng once more, another elder suddenly stood up in disbelief, "Holy crap!"
Meanwhile, inside the Exquisite Pagoda.
A young man holding a purple spear was humming a tune to himself as he leisurely cut down on two large figures.
♫ There's always gonna be another mountain... ♫
Slash!
♫ I'm always gonna wanna make it move... ♫
Bam!
♫ Always gonna be an uphill battle... ♫
Thud.
♫ It's the climb... ♫
At this moment, two Iron Armor Bears were lying down on a pool of their own blood. These bears were actually equal to a peak Third Stage martial artist. Their bodies were covered in thick plates of bone armor which was hard to penetrate, thus the 'Iron Armor' in its name. However, their weakness lay in their joints where their armor didn't connect, and that was how I managed to cut them down. My years of deboning experience and my months of deboning vicious beasts finally came in handy.
"Wooh, that was some good warm-up." I let out a long breath, "They don't call me 'Jack the Ripper' for nothing in my past life."
[Nobody calls you that.] A mechanical voice retorted.
"Quiet, you."
I then waved the purple spear to flick the blood away. Although the Exquisite Pagoda prohibited the use of personal items, with the system being a part of me, how can that possibly be a problem? Even if the magic array sealed my spatial ring, it didn't prevent me from buying Penetrating Rainbow once more from the Shop or taking it out from my inventory.
The only difference, however, was that because I was in a killing array, the purple spear was an illusion as well. It would eventually disperse upon leaving this place. However, despite this place being an illusion as well, it was fundamentally different from an illusion array. Killing arrays were also illusions, but unlike an illusion array where I can shatter its illusions if I kept my heart and mind and stood my ground, standing still would lead to my death instead.
The enemies were also very realistic. This was most likely because the souls of certain vicious beasts were also a part of the array, making it as if I were fighting with the real thing.
Soon, the two Iron Armor Bears finally vanished into dust.
Fourth floor, passed!
Outside, the elders were astounded. Even Muyi and Qin Xingxuan were surprised.
"Xingxuan, did you expect Little Brother Lin to reach the fifth floor?" Muyi asked curiously.
Qin Xingxuan nodded with a complicated gaze, "Mm. We've been sparring partners for three months, so I definitely expected him to reach that far. But I never imagined that he would reach it so quickly."
Muyi nodded, "You seem to have a lot of confidence in him."
She continued with a sigh filled with complex emotions, "Before, even though I could never compare to him in inscriptions, I could still say I was confident in my fighting ability. However, after observing him for three months, I can only say that his speed of growth is something that truly defies the heaven's will."
"I see... no wonder that Senior chose Little Brother Lin." Muyi said as went quiet.
The fifth floor of the Exquisite Pagoda.
At this time, ten vicious beasts congealed in front of me. Two of them were second-level vicious beasts which were equivalent to Fourth Stage martial artists, while the other eight were first-level vicious beasts comparable to the Peak Third Stage.
Until now, I have only consumed a minor amount of true essence and I was basically at my peak condition. Facing against the ten vicious beasts which were more or less stronger than me individually, I actually wasn't feeling as nervous as I thought. Instead, I was feeling a strange feeling of excitement. As if I was ready to take on the world and let loose!
I couldn't help but give a wild grin as I fixed my gaze forwards, doing my best impersonation of one of my favorite anime characters, Madara Uchiha!
"Let's dance!"
In a flash, I suddenly appeared beside one of the eight lackeys, a silver tiger. Without even giving it a chance to dodge away, I rapidly slashed from its belly upwards!
Shwick!
A dull vibration traveled through my arms as the spearhead cut open the tough flesh of the silver tiger, and in the next moment, blood splattered as the silver tiger flew for a few meters before landing with a heavy thud.
Instant kill!
A moment later, the other nine vicious beasts burst into a rage as they ferociously lunged towards me without fear of death. However, their movements in my eyes were nothing more than a bunch of clambering chihuahuas. As I weaved among them, I rapidly closed in on the weakest link of the party and my next target, a small but nimble gray beast, a wind wolf.
It was unwise to take on the whole group simultaneously. Although I could probably handle them all altogether, this was still my first major fight against a group of enemies. I wasn't skilled and experienced enough to handle them all without suffering any injuries and without wasting time.
My current goal was to win by an overwhelming landslide. Naturally, the best way to do so was to reach higher floors. What easier way to do so than picking off the weakest link and work my way up, annihilating the entire group one by one?
Nevertheless, it was still easier said than done. As soon as I closed in on the wind wolf, one of the second-level vicious beasts came blocking in from the front while the other closed in from the back.
However, it didn't really matter. As soon as my distance was only nine feet apart from the wind wolf, I rapidly activated 'Galewing Flow' and burst with a blurring speed as I pierced the purple spear into the wolf's neck!
Another instant kill!
As the saying went, an inch longer is an inch stronger. No matter how far the nimble wolf dodged, as long as it was within a certain distance, killing it was as easy as taking candy from a baby!
As soon as I entered the Exquisite Pagoda and the center of the killing array, the other candidates disappeared from my vision.
All around me was a world faded in black. Above was the night sky carpeted with stars and below was the ground made with hard black rock. Not too far away, a smoky gray shadow slowly congealed into a warrior holding a long staff.
I instinctively knew this was the enemy, and without giving it a chance to react, I lunged forward in an instant.
Bam!
A hard fist imprinted itself its chest as a dull bang resounded. The shadow warrior's chest immediately collapsed as it spat gray blood and fell over, dead.
"Well, that was easy." I murmured in astonishment. In truth, it was no surprise, considering how the shadowy figure was only at the early Second Stage of Body Training while I was at the Peak of the Third Stage. Not to mention, my strength greatly surpassed those of the same stage as well. Instead, it would've been strange if I didn't get a one-hit-kill.
Just like that, the first floor was easily passed.
"Mm? Someone entered the second floor so quickly." Outside, several elders were startled saw the runes and symbols on the second floor immediately move and light up only moments after the trial started.
They nodded their heads in approval. Unfortunately, the Exquisite Pagoda was completely sealed from the outside. The elders also weren't Xiantian experts, so they had no way to see what was happening inside. They could only see who passed from the floor they were kicked out of.
"Very good. We have some good talents in this examination."
Just as the elders were about to continue making remarks, their eyes bulged slightly in shock, "How can this be? Only a few breaths of time has passed!"
The third floor suddenly lit up!
"Could it be that Lin Ming?" A short-haired old man asked incredulously.
"It should be Wang Yanfeng. Even if Lin Ming has a Peak Third Stage cultivation, he only has a third-grade talent and an ordinary background, so the techniques that he uses are also ordinary." A bearded elder speculated.
"You can't say that. Techniques have their eventual limits as well. As they say, strength can break ten thousand skills, but with just skill alone, the most that can happen is their combat ability is raised a level. The end result will not be good." A gray-haired elder interjected.
However, when the bearded elder was about to bootlick Wang Yanfeng once more, another elder suddenly stood up in disbelief, "Holy crap!"
Meanwhile, inside the Exquisite Pagoda.
A young man holding a purple spear was humming a tune to himself as he leisurely cut down on two large figures.
♫ There's always gonna be another mountain... ♫
Slash!
♫ I'm always gonna wanna make it move... ♫
Bam!
♫ Always gonna be an uphill battle... ♫
Thud.
♫ It's the climb... ♫
At this moment, two Iron Armor Bears were lying down on a pool of their own blood. These bears were actually equal to a peak Third Stage martial artist. Their bodies were covered in thick plates of bone armor which was hard to penetrate, thus the 'Iron Armor' in its name. However, their weakness lay in their joints where their armor didn't connect, and that was how I managed to cut them down. My years of deboning experience and my months of deboning vicious beasts finally came in handy.
"Wooh, that was some good warm-up." I let out a long breath, "They don't call me 'Jack the Ripper' for nothing in my past life."
[Nobody calls you that.] A mechanical voice retorted.
"Quiet, you."
I then waved the purple spear to flick the blood away. Although the Exquisite Pagoda prohibited the use of personal items, with the system being a part of me, how can that possibly be a problem? Even if the magic array sealed my spatial ring, it didn't prevent me from buying Penetrating Rainbow once more from the Shop or taking it out from my inventory.
The only difference, however, was that because I was in a killing array, the purple spear was an illusion as well. It would eventually disperse upon leaving this place. However, despite this place being an illusion as well, it was fundamentally different from an illusion array. Killing arrays were also illusions, but unlike an illusion array where I can shatter its illusions if I kept my heart and mind and stood my ground, standing still would lead to my death instead.
The enemies were also very realistic. This was most likely because the souls of certain vicious beasts were also a part of the array, making it as if I were fighting with the real thing.
Soon, the two Iron Armor Bears finally vanished into dust.
Fourth floor, passed!
Outside, the elders were astounded. Even Muyi and Qin Xingxuan were surprised.
"Xingxuan, did you expect Little Brother Lin to reach the fifth floor?" Muyi asked curiously.
Qin Xingxuan nodded with a complicated gaze, "Mm. We've been sparring partners for three months, so I definitely expected him to reach that far. But I never imagined that he would reach it so quickly."
Muyi nodded, "You seem to have a lot of confidence in him."
She continued with a sigh filled with complex emotions, "Before, even though I could never compare to him in inscriptions, I could still say I was confident in my fighting ability. However, after observing him for three months, I can only say that his speed of growth is something that truly defies the heaven's will."
"I see... no wonder that Senior chose Little Brother Lin." Muyi said as went quiet.
The fifth floor of the Exquisite Pagoda.
At this time, ten vicious beasts congealed in front of me. Two of them were second-level vicious beasts which were equivalent to Fourth Stage martial artists, while the other eight were first-level vicious beasts comparable to the Peak Third Stage.
Until now, I have only consumed a minor amount of true essence and I was basically at my peak condition. Facing against the ten vicious beasts which were more or less stronger than me individually, I actually wasn't feeling as nervous as I thought. Instead, I was feeling a strange feeling of excitement. As if I was ready to take on the world and let loose!
I couldn't help but give a wild grin as I fixed my gaze forwards, doing my best impersonation of one of my favorite anime characters, Madara Uchiha!
"Let's dance!"
In a flash, I suddenly appeared beside one of the eight lackeys, a silver tiger. Without even giving it a chance to dodge away, I rapidly slashed from its belly upwards!
Shwick!
A dull vibration traveled through my arms as the spearhead cut open the tough flesh of the silver tiger, and in the next moment, blood splattered as the silver tiger flew for a few meters before landing with a heavy thud.
Instant kill!
A moment later, the other nine vicious beasts burst into a rage as they ferociously lunged towards me without fear of death. However, their movements in my eyes were nothing more than a bunch of clambering chihuahuas. As I weaved among them, I rapidly closed in on the weakest link of the party and my next target, a small but nimble gray beast, a wind wolf.
It was unwise to take on the whole group simultaneously. Although I could probably handle them all altogether, this was still my first major fight against a group of enemies. I wasn't skilled and experienced enough to handle them all without suffering any injuries and without wasting time.
My current goal was to win by an overwhelming landslide. Naturally, the best way to do so was to reach higher floors. What easier way to do so than picking off the weakest link and work my way up, annihilating the entire group one by one?
Nevertheless, it was still easier said than done. As soon as I closed in on the wind wolf, one of the second-level vicious beasts came blocking in from the front while the other closed in from the back.
However, it didn't really matter. As soon as my distance was only nine feet apart from the wind wolf, I rapidly activated 'Galewing Flow' and burst with a blurring speed as I pierced the purple spear into the wolf's neck!
Another instant kill!
As the saying went, an inch longer is an inch stronger. No matter how far the nimble wolf dodged, as long as it was within a certain distance, killing it was as easy as taking candy from a baby!
