A Chaotic World

Gasps of horror could be heard from the crowd as they saw the speed at which iron puppets rushed towards Lu Tianzi.

Even Lu Tianzi narrowed his eyes in wariness.

Having carefully observed Nancheng Wei's performance at the eighth difficulty level, Lu Tianzi had thought that the ninth level would not be too different.

But reality proved him otherwise.

Both the speed and power behind the iron puppets were on a completely different level than that of the eighth level.

After all, the seventh and eighth levels of the Iron Soldiers Combat Array were catered towards sect members at the Peak Essence Building realm, but the ninth and tenth levels were actually catered towards those who had broken through to the Essence Condensation realm!

Lu Tianzi knew that if he tapped on his Spiritual Essence cultivation, he would definitely be able to crush the ninth level with absolute power.

However, doing so was out of the question.

As long as he was living among the demons, he had to exercise restraint and only tap on his Slaughter Essence cultivation.

This meant that whatever he was unable to achieve with absolute power, he would have to make up for it with absolute skill.

The first iron puppet arrived before him, sending a punch straight towards his face.

This iron puppet's punch carried with it the sound of the wind as it cut through the air, threatening to directly smash away any hopes of survival.

With a single look, it was obvious to Lu Tianzi that this attack had definitely far surpassed the strength level that Advanced Essence Building realm martial artists could take head on.

But instead of attempting to dodge the punch, Lu Tianzi actually stepped forward, bringing his body closer to the iron puppet. Driving his Slaughter Essence to the limit, Lu Tianzi stretched out his palm to contact the iron puppet's punch from the side, pushing it away from its original trajectory.

Using the momentum of the pushing motion, Lu Tianzi spun around and slammed his other palm into the side of the attacking iron puppet. This caused the iron puppet to lose its balance, stumbling away from Lu Tianzi and breaking the flow of the formation.

It might sound simple, but this was a complex set of movements that required a monstrous level of calculations and on top of that, had to be executed with absolute precision.

Stepping forward just a moment too early would have allowed the iron puppet to react and alter the trajectory of its punch.

Using just a little more strength in the push would result in the iron puppet moving out of position, preventing the follow up strike from connecting.

On the other hand, using too little strength would be unable to alter the trajectory of the punch, causing the iron puppet's attack to continue forward towards him.

Apart from those, there were still dozens of other minute details that had to be considered. Without a heaven defying level of perception and control, other martial artists could only dream of achieving this.

Yet when Lu Tianzi managed to do so, it seemed as though Lu Tianzi had simply spun around and the iron puppet had gone ahead to miss Lu Tianzi on purpose!

"Huh? What happened to the iron puppet? Why did it just step past that guy?"

"Strange, is there something wrong with the Iron Soldiers Combat Array?"

"Are you okay? Have you ever heard of there being anything wrong with the Iron Soldiers Combat Array?"

"If it is not a problem with the array then what was that?"

The crowd watching had no idea what just happened, and Nanqing Haowen similarly fell into deep contemplation as he watched on. Even though he had his guesses, Nanqing Haowen was unable to confirm it immediately either.

The second iron puppet arrived right as the first one passed by. In fact, there was only a fraction of a second between the arrivals of the first and second iron puppets.

If not for how Lu Tianzi handled the first iron puppet with ridiculous ease, he would certainly have to face both of them at the same time.

The second iron puppet struck out with a powerful kick that could easily cause heavy injuries to any ordinary Advanced Essence Building realm martial artist who took it on directly.

This time, everyone focused as they prepared for how Lu Tianzi would react.

Lu Tianzi had the same look of calmness on his face as he did.

As the kick flew towards his head, Lu Tianzi tilted his body slightly to the side and with impeccable precision, struck upwards with his palm just as the kick arrived.

His palm struck the underside of the iron puppet's leg and pushed it upwards, causing the kick to flash past the top of Lu Tianzi's head with barely any gap in between.

Lu Tianzi's short hair rustled from the passing wind as he immediately followed up by striking out with his other hand.

With his first strike, the iron puppet had been lifted into the air, and the momentum from the kick had also caused the iron puppet to leave its back exposed.

Now that the iron puppet was airborne had its back facing towards Lu Tianzi, there was simply no way for it to defend again Lu Tianzi's second strike.

Bang-!

A loud clap resounded out as the second iron puppet was sent flying to the very edges of the formation!

Just like with the first iron puppet, Lu Tianzi had only required slightly more than a split second to take care of the second puppet!

Not just that, even the third, fourth, fifth, and other iron puppets were taken care of with similar ease. Of course, the iron puppets were not destroyed, and thus would return for subsequent rounds of battle.

Lu Tianzi's movements were smooth and fluid, as though he was moving in slow motion as he easily resolved the attacks of the iron puppets.

However, that was just how it looked on the surface.

In actual fact, Lu Tianzi's movements were extremely quick. It was just that his movements were smooth and fluid, devoid of any unnecessary actions. Thus it gave off the illusion that he was moving around in a relaxed manner as compared to the iron puppets.

"The Law of Water," a deep voice exclaimed from the back of the crowds.

Hearing the familiar voice, everyone turned around to look at the originator of the voice.

An elderly man dressed in the white robes of the Nine Suns Sect stood at the back, his eyes deeply fixated on Lu Tianzi who was still fighting in the Iron Soldiers Combat Array. The roots of his long black hair had already started to grey, but his body still emanated a strong sense of vitality.

"Elder Diansheng!"

Everyone greeted in surprise, including Nanqing Haowen. They had been so engrossed in Lu Tianzi's performance that they had actually failed to notice the arrival of an elder of the Nine Suns Sect!

"Mm," Elder Diansheng acknowledged their greetings with in a manner that lacked much interest, before turning to Nanqing Haowen. "Is this the kid discovered by that lass Nanlan Qianxue?"

"He is indeed Nanlu Tianzi," Nanqing Haowen answered. "Nanlan Qianxue met him in the recent Beast Hunt and invited him back as a guest."

"I see," Elder Diansheng nodded.

As an elder of the Nine Suns Sect, he was present as well when Nanlan Qianxue tried to convince the upper echelons of the sect to hold a separate selection test for Lu Tianzi.

At that time, Elder Diansheng had not thought much of it. But now he realised that he might have far underestimated the matter.

"Despite only being at the Advanced Essence Building realm, this kid has actually touched on the world laws!" Elder Diansheng muttered under his breath.

Nanqing Haowen widened his eyes in astonishment.

It was common knowledge that the Essence Condensation realm was where martial artists finally gained the qualifications to have even the slightest chance of coming into contact with the world laws.

But that was only the slightest of chances. Many Essence Condensation realm martial artists never succeeded in taking that elusive step.

While the elders of the sect had shared their own valuable experiences, what worked for one individual might not necessarily work for another individual.

As a result, even Nanqing Haowen himself was still fumbling in the dark, clueless as to how to even start comprehending these world laws.

Yet the Advanced Essence Building realm martial artist before him had already touched on the world laws?

Was that for real?

Indeed, Lu Tianzi was currently relying on his understanding into the Law of Water to overcome the sheer might of the ninth difficulty level.

Back when he was training in the rock chamber with his master Xihuang Yuanfeng, Lu Tianzi had finally gleaned some further insights into the Law of Water after a long period of trying. And even that was only possible because of his natural affiliation towards the Law of Water.

Just like all other world laws, the Law of Water was not one dimensional in nature.

Fire could exist in the form of a raging inferno, but also in the form of warm embers that drove away the harsh cold.

Earth could exist in the form of a destructive landslide, but also in the form of a source of life for all plants.

Similarly, water could be in the form of rushing tides, but it could also be in the form of a dampening medium that served to weaken the power of incoming strikes.

Lu Tianzi was using this exact concept.

Martial artists needed to reach the Essence Condensation realm before they could start touching on the world laws. But once they managed to do so, their understandings into the world laws would no longer be limited by their Essence energy.

This allowed Lu Tianzi to incorporate his comprehensions of the Law of Water into his moves even though he was only tapping on his Advanced Essence Building realm cultivation of the Slaughter Essence system.

By dampening the force of the opponent's attack and redirecting it, Lu Tianzi was actually able to use the power of an Advanced Essence Building realm martial artist to block the attacks of the iron puppets.

After resolving the attacks of the iron puppets, Lu Tianzi would then strike out with pinpoint precision, disrupting the momentum of the iron puppets and breaking the flow of the formation.

This way, the ninth difficulty level of the Iron Soldiers Combat Array actually did not pose a threat to him at all!

In a way, it could be considered as cheating, but Lu Tianzi cared not about that.

The other party had come to him in such an aggressive manner that Lu Tianzi felt that Nancheng Wei needed to be put in his place.

After all, Lu Tianzi was not just preparing to join the Nine Suns Sect. Apart from that, he was intending to enter the Inner Sect as well.

Since that was the case, how could he allow a mere Outer Sect member to treat him with such blatant disrespect?

Indeed, as Nancheng Wei watched from the side, he fell into a state of shock.

As a Peak Essence Building realm martial artist, he had no qualifications to touch on the world laws, but that did not mean he had not heard of it before. With an elder of the Nine Suns Sect personally confirming that Lu Tianzi had touched on the world laws, there was no longer any room for doubt.

This finally explained how Lu Tianzi was able to last through the ninth difficulty level with relative ease despite his low cultivation level!

If one looked closely enough, the speed of each individual iron puppet would slow down for just an instant when Lu Tianzi closed in on it. This was the dampening effect born from understandings into the Law of Water, a feat that was possible only for someone who had comprehended the world law.

In fact, when martial artists' understandings of the world laws rose to an exceptional level, it was even possible to defeat their opponents without even moving, simply by relying on galvanising the power of the world laws!

Bang-!

With another loud clap, Lu Tianzi created a huge opening in the formation of the thirty six iron puppets.

Grabbing that opportunity, Lu Tianzi directly leapt out of the Iron Soldiers Combat Array and landed outside in a single step.

"Huh? Why did he leave the formation? Is he giving up?"

"He did not seem to be experiencing any problems, so why would he give up?"

"Have you become idiots after watching? He has already lasted for sixteen minutes in the Iron Soldiers Combat Array!"

"Brother Nancheng only lasted fifteen minutes in the Iron Soldiers Combat Array. So not only did this Nanlu Tianzi challenge a higher difficulty level than Brother Nancheng, he even lasted longer?"

At this point, the winner of this challenge was already obvious to all.

Lu Tianzi had not only beaten Nancheng Wei, but he had done so in a manner that completely exceeded everyone's expectations, stunning all who were present!