Chapter 94: Trial of the Fist
Lu Tianzi cursed in his heart as the fragrant scent from Nanlan Qianxue's body assaulted his senses, almost causing him to lose control over himself.
So this was the Trial of the Heart!
When the previous scene dispersed into grey smoke, Lu Tianzi's state of mind had completely recovered.
However, even though he understood that this was likely still part of the trial, the figure before him both looked and felt completely real. It was to an extent that his primal instinct as a man was stopping him from resisting.
As long as he just reached out right now, he would be able obtain this beautiful girl of perfect proportions!
Just the soft touch of her fingers already felt so good on his face. In that case, just how heavenly would it feel to completely obtain her body?
At this moment, Nanlan Qianxue actually took another step forward to sit down on his lap.
The soft touch of her naked body caused Lu Tianzi to freeze up even more. Seeing this, Nanlan Qianxue only giggled in response.
Lu Tianzi immediately felt a stirring in his loins as he fought to resist the temptation before him.
But no matter how hard he tried, he found himself unable to look away. It already took everything he had just to stop himself from reaching out to carress the beautiful girl before him.
Nanlan Qianxue slowly wrapped her arms around Lu Tianzi's neck, gently leaning into his embrace.
Her long black hair sensually flowed past his arms, leaving traces of water from having bathed in the stream.
Wait… traces of water?
Lu Tianzi frowned as he turned his gaze towards his arms.
There was no doubt about it, his arms were dripping wet right now. Even without looking, he could feel the sensation of water on his skin.
Yet why was it that he could not feel the natural affiliation that he had with the element of water?
Lu Tianzi's understanding into the Law of Water had already reached a particular level that he could slightly manipulate water when it was in its purest form.
But at this moment, Lu Tianzi was simply unable to establish any sort of connection with these little droplets of water on his arms.
This realisation finally cleared up his mind once more.
That was not water on his arms, just like how the figure in his lap was not truly Nanlan Qianxue.
Everything here was nothing but an illusion!
"What's wrong?" Nanlan Qianxue gently whispered as she moved in to kiss Lu Tianzi.
"No, I do not belong here," Lu Tianzi stopped Nanlan Qianxue and firmly pushed her away, causing her to fall back into the flowing stream.
At that moment, everything around him once again turned into a cloud of grey smoke, causing Lu Tianzi to let out a sigh of relief.
When the smoke eventually cleared up, Lu Tianzi found himself standing before the entrance of a seven storey pagoda.
Above the entrance was a signboard written with four simple words – Trial of the Fist.
Lu Tianzi relaxed upon seeing these words.
It seemed like he had finally cleared the Trial of the Heart.
Now that he was about to enter the Trial of the Fist, everything was going to be much more straightforward.
Especially since people in the outside world were unable to see him at all, Lu Tianzi no longer had to restrict himself to the Slaughter Essence system and could finally go all out without any reservations!
With a sweep of his spatial ring, two weapons appeared in his hands, both of which were at the Peak Essence Condensation rank.
One of them was naturally the Torrential Blade that he had obtained from Nanqing Zhengxian.
As for the other weapon, it was actually the sword that used to belong to Hu Yuanbo!
Back then when Lu Tianzi had temporarily subdued the Lord of Ivory Rock City, he had taken Hu Yuanbo's belongings along with him. Among them was naturally Hu Yuanbo's main weapon – the Sword of Ivory Rock!
After Lu Tianzi became an inscription master and learnt more about weapons, he had discovered to his surprise that it was actually a Peak Essence Condensation rank weapon as well.
Right now, these two were the highest ranked weapons that Lu Tianzi possessed!
With a sword in his right hand and a sabre in his left, Lu Tianzi carefully entered the pagoda before him.
Lu Tianzi stepped into a huge empty chamber that occupied the entire first storey of the pagoda.
Standing by the walls of the chamber were twenty eight different martial artists. All twenty eight of them possessed the same identical look on their faces, giving off a slightly creepy feeling.
Each of them was holding onto a different type of weapon. These included the sword, spear, sabre, staff, axe, and many others.
Greeted with such a sight, Lu Tianzi could not help but frown.
Could it be that he had to fight all twenty eight of them?
But at this moment, only one of them stepped out and brandished his weapon to face Lu Tianzi.
Lu Tianzi realised to his surprise that this martial artist before him was only at the Intermediate Essence Building realm.
No, it was not just him.
Sweeping out with his perception, Lu Tianzi realised that all twenty eight of them were at the Intermediate Essence Building realm!
Lu Tianzi could not help but let out a grin at this point.
It was said that the Nine Suns Trial was a test of talent. Was this the advantage that had been given to him because of his relatively young age?
If that was so, then this was going to be a walk in the park!
With a roar, Lu Tianzi slashed out with his sabre.
There were no tricks to his attack. It was nothing but the simplest and most straightforward frontal slash.
His opponent reacted immediately, bringing up his halberd to block.
But how could a mere Intermediate Essence Building realm martial artist possibly stand up to Lu Tianzi's strength?
Upon contact with Lu Tianzi's Torrential Sabre, the halberd instantly splited into two, but even then it did not manage to slow down Lu Tianzi's attack by a single bit.
Slash-!
Blood spurt out from the martial artist as the Torrential Sabre directly cleaved him into two!
However, instead of falling to the ground, the martial artist turned into a cloud of grey smoke that dispersed into the air.
At this moment, two other martial artists charged out from their positions and headed straight towards Lu Tianzi!
"Come!" Lu Tianzi roared as he turned to face his new opponents.
With a single slash of his Torrential Sabre, both of them similarly dispersed into grey smoke.
Killing intent came from all around him as three martial artists charged out from three different directions.
In this manner, Lu Tianzi would be given no time to rest as his opponents kept going at him!
But no matter how many of them there were, how could mere Intermediate Essence Building realm martial artists ever pose a threat to Lu Tianzi?
It did not take long before Lu Tianzi had defeated all twenty eight martial artists, turning them into nothing but grey smoke.
At this moment, a door at the far end of the chamber slid open, revealing a staircase that led up to the second storey.
Lu Tianzi did not hesitate, heading straight for the second storey without taking the time to rest.
He had barely expended any energy dealing with these twenty eight martial artists, and simply did not feel the need to waste any time resting.
When Lu Tianzi reached the second floor, he was greeted with a similar sight.
Twenty eight martial artists stood by the walls, each holding onto a different weapon.
But this time, all of them possessed a cultivation level at the Advanced Essence Building realm, one boundary higher than those who were on the first storey!
Even so, Lu Tianzi laughed it off with a shake of his head.
By now, he could roughly guess what he would be facing from now on.
Seven storeys of the pagoda, seven different boundaries.
If the first storey of the pagoda comprised martial artists of the Intermediate Essence Building realm, then the following six storeys should be martial artists with the cultivation level of the Advanced Essence Building realm onwards, all the way up to Peak Essence Condensation realm!
In each storey, he would first be faced with a single opponent.
If he managed to obtain victory, Lu Tianzi would have to face two opponents at once, then three, then four, five, six, and finally seven at once.
Only when he defeated the group of seven would he finally clear that storey of the pagoda.
Lu Tianzi grinned in excitement, his heart filled with anticipation for the coming battles.
It had been some time since he had the chance to truly go all out, and even Lu Tianzi himself did not know exactly how strong he was right now.
In any case, battling multiple Essence Condensation realm martial artists should be more than enough to push him to the limit!
As for defeating a group of seven Peak Essence Condensation realm martial artists, Lu Tianzi was honestly not too confident of doing so.
But apart from that, any opponent below the Essence Condensation realm was simply irrelevant to him!
This meant that before the fourth storey of the pagoda, Lu Tianzi was confident of steamrolling his way through!
And the result was just as he had expected.
First storey of the pagoda – Intermediate Essence Building realm, cleared.
Second storey of the pagoda – Advanced Essence Building realm, cleared.
Third storey of the pagoda – Peak Essence Building realm, cleared.
In a single breath, Lu Tianzi had effortlessly blown past the first three storeys of the pagoda!
But now that he had reached the fourth storey, Lu Tianzi would finally begin facing Essence Condensation realm martial artists.
Naturally, Lu Tianzi had the fullest confidence of being able to defeat Primary Essence Condensation realm martial artists.
However, they were already good enough to start posing a threat to him. Thus Lu Tianzi wanted to take this rare opportunity to further hone the skills that he currently possessed.
Facing his first opponent, Lu Tianzi actually started off the fight by putting away his weapons.
He shall begin by practising the Flowing River Silent Strides!
After Lu Tianzi obtained this movement technique, he practised it diligently, and was now able to perform it with relative ease. In fact, he had even managed to incorporate within it his own understandings into the Law of Water, further augmenting it to a higher level!
Now, it was going to be the very first time that Lu Tianzi would be using it in a fight!
Lu Tianzi was intending to use this chance to further refine the improved art, as well as adjust the finer details so that it would better suit his current level of Essence energy control and perception, both of which had skyrocketed due to his work as an inscription master!
If the other members of the Nine Suns Sect were to learn of what he was doing, they would surely be exasperated to the point of vomiting blood.
The Nine Suns Trial was more of a ranking competition than anything else.
Every member of the Nine Suns Sect would be rewarded in accordance to their rank, and obtaining a high rank was also a form of prestige for each of them.
Thus, everyone else was trying their best to conserve their energy, taking as little risk as they could to obtain the best result possible.
Yet here he was, using the trial as a training ground!
As long as he just slipped up once, even if it was only the slightest of mistakes, Lu Tianzi could possibly incur an injury that might impact his ability to fight later in the trial. This would naturally mean that his final ranking would end up being far lower than he could have possibly gotten.
Such a risk was one that no one else would dare to take!
However, Lu Tianzi was different from them. In contrast to the other sect members, Lu Tianzi was not just striving to go as far he could.
He was aiming to clear the entire Trial of the Fist!
Lu Tianzi clearly understood that as he was right now, he barely stood a chance of accomplishing that.
Thus, he had no other choice.
Only by honing every technique to perfection would he stand a good chance of winning against a group of seven Peak Essence Condensation realm martial artists in the final stage of the trial!