Chapter 141: Relentless Obstacles (New Week—Please Support with Bookmarks and Recommendations)

Whoosh!

Teleportation.

Under attacks of such intensity, Lin Zhan’s teleportation technique was improving by leaps and bounds.

With a mere shift of thought, his body swept three or five zhang away, weaving back and forth through the gaps between the towering giant war soldiers. Though the ordeal was excruciating, he was becoming increasingly nimble.

This teleportation technique was entirely different from the Wind-Rain-Cloud Movement. Once he mastered it, the Wind-Rain-Cloud Movement would become little more than a useless skill.

Cultivation techniques were themselves part of a process of gradual elimination. As Lin Zhan’s strength continued to rise, certain skills that had once been essential to his survival were no longer worth using, because faster and better alternatives had appeared.

Take the Ink Sword in his hand, for example. It truly could no longer withstand the spiritual power Lin Zhan poured into it, severely restricting his ability to fight.

The giant war soldiers’ enormous bodies seemed imposing, but their size also gave Lin Zhan more room to maneuver.

Pfft!

One sword plunged viciously into the foot of a war soldier.

Whoosh!

Another sword pierced through a gap in a second soldier’s armor and entered its body.

Crack!

A third sword struck an arm. The pillar-like spear slipped from the soldier’s grasp, bounced several times across the ground, then crashed down with a thunderous boom, sending dust billowing into the air.

At last, a column of blood erupted skyward, scattering a vast mist of crimson snow. Lin Zhan had slashed his Ink Sword across the soldier’s throat.

“Difficult. It took all that just to deal with one!”

Death caused the soldier to vanish into thin air before it even hit the ground. Of the thirty-six war soldiers, one had been eliminated.

With his first victory, Lin Zhan’s confidence soared. The more he fought, the fiercer he became, repeatedly targeting the soldiers’ vital points.

At that moment, Lin Zhan noticed something. Among the thirty-six war soldiers, one had remained at the rear the entire time, seemingly responsible for directing the others’ attacks.

Moreover, that particular commander had now returned to its original size.

Lin Zhan decided to target that one and launch a surprise decapitation strike amid the chaotic ranks of the giant war soldiers.

Within his spatial ring, Lin Zhan still kept several ordinary-grade weapons. Among the many spoils he had acquired, besides the dozen or so swords he had returned to Burial Sword Peak, there were naturally plenty of other weapons as well.

Now, he brought them all out at once and unleashed a free barrage upon the giant war soldiers. His object-controlling technique reached its fullest expression as weapon after weapon shot forth like lightning and light, aimed at their vital points.

The giant war soldiers hurriedly raised their weapons to block the attacks.

At that very instant, Lin Zhan teleported above the commander’s head. The Ink Sword in his hand transformed into the White Bone Pagoda, which descended directly over it.

Boom!

The expanding white pagoda struck the ground. Its structure was seamless and tightly sealed, leaving not the slightest gap as it covered the commander within.

Through his divine sense, Lin Zhan issued an order, and the commander was instantly crushed to death.

These were merely war soldiers evolved from an array formation. Lin Zhan showed no mercy. To break the formation, he had to kill them.

The commander swallowed by the White Bone Pagoda had no time to resist before vanishing into thin air.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

The chain reaction that followed was that the giant war soldiers attacking Lin Zhan also disappeared one after another halfway through their assault.

“Hah, hah.”

Lin Zhan put away the White Bone Pagoda and muttered, “This formation trial and the method of breaking the formation seem rather different from what I imagined.”

The first stage tested one’s powers of observation—or, to put it plainly, one’s intelligence.

The second stage tested combat ability. Although Lin Zhan had wasted quite a bit of time in both stages due to his lack of experience, he had ultimately passed them without danger.

What would the third stage test?

He did not have to wait long. Once again, he passed through the tunnel of time and space.

A door silently opened before Lin Zhan.

Before he knew it, he felt himself drawn forward and stepped inside.

The door silently closed behind him.

“An escape room!”

For some inexplicable reason, those words surfaced in Lin Zhan’s mind.

The place resembled a secret chamber, and it was covered in dust. Clearly, no one had set foot here for countless thousands of years.

The chamber was not large. Openings to four passageways could be found in the four directions.

A scene of light and shadow appeared before him, resembling a map.

At the same time, a message entered his consciousness: as long as he found the location marked on the map—the destination—he would be able to claim the inheritance and treasures waiting there.

Lin Zhan used the memory of his divine sense to record the entire map at once.

The terrain was extremely complex, much like a labyrinth, and the paths were not limited to chambers as orderly as the one before him.

Lin Zhan could easily foresee that countless obstacles must lie ahead.

What kind of treasures and inheritance would await him?

They naturally held tremendous appeal for Lin Zhan. Whatever happened, he had to give it a try.

During the second stage, when he faced the Dust-Born War Soldiers, Lin Zhan had suffered a minor injury, but he had recovered quickly.

With his Starry Physique and the transformation that had remade him from the inside out, Lin Zhan’s recovery ability was no longer what it had once been. Even the sword that Water Cold Dream had driven into his shoulder, piercing him to the bone, had healed in a very short time.

At that moment, Lin Zhan was once again in peak condition.

“Four passageways. Which one should I take?”

Lin Zhan had four choices before him. According to the map, all four routes could reach the destination, but the experiences along the way would differ.

“Take the eastern passage.”

Little Black, the sword spirit within the Nine-Star Space, finally stirred and spoke.

“The eastern one?”

Lin Zhan flashed into it without hesitation and moved down the passage.

The moment he entered, the passageway sealed itself shut.

“Why choose this one?” Lin Zhan asked curiously.

Little Black replied, “This baby estimates that it’s the most difficult, so it should be the most meaningful trial for you!”

“Meaningful, my foot! Could you stop setting me up like this?”

Lin Zhan was left speechless with exasperation.

Still, Little Black must have believed that he could handle it; otherwise, it would not have wagered both its own life and Lin Zhan’s on the choice.

After several consecutive turns, the passage gradually grew wider. Before them stretched a forest.

It was a black forest, filled with dense black plants that sent chills through the heart.

The name Netherworld Palace had always carried an ominous, sinister implication. Lin Zhan had long sensed that this place would never be as simple as what he had encountered before, and he had made ample mental preparations. Now that he had arrived here and seen the shadowy forest, with its overwhelming evil aura, the anxious heart suspended in his chest seemed to settle instead.

Heh. As expected, there was a trap.

Lin Zhan could not retreat. He raised an invisible shield of spiritual power around his entire body and cautiously entered the forest.

Knowing full well that danger lay ahead, he still had no choice but to press onward. This third stage would not be so easy to muddle through.

To reach the destination, he could only advance. There was no way back.

His vision was obstructed, and his divine sense could not extend very far. Black plants surrounded him on every side, leaving Lin Zhan to feel his way forward almost blindly.

Hiss, hiss, hiss—

The sound came from some kind of living creature writhing in the darkness—and there were a great many of them.

Lin Zhan’s scalp prickled. The Ink Sword in his hand swelled with arcs of fire and lightning, gold intermingled with silver, like a beacon ignited within the black mist. The scene before him suddenly brightened.

Whoosh!

A hideous, sinister beast’s head, its jaws dripping with saliva and only inches away, instantly fled into the distance.

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