A Chaotic World

In the Grand Mirror Courtyard, around twenty minutes had passed since the Outer Sect members entered the Grand Mirror. By now, the first few Outer Sect members had already completed their trial.

Most of the Inner Sect members were already done recovering from the trial as well, and were now casually chatting with each other as they awaited the final results.

"Stop looking at the mirror so intently. It might be a long time until he finally steps out of the Grand Mirror," Nanqing Haowen laughed as he sat down beside Nanlan Qianxue.

"Who are you talking about?" Nanlan Qianxue's tone was cold as she answered.

"Yeah, continue pretending like you don't know what I am talking about," Nanqing Haowen shook his head disapprovingly. "How far did you go this time anyway?"

"I only managed to clear the fifth storey," Nanlan Qianxue answered, her eyes still stuck on the Grand Mirror.

"Heh, that's the Intermediate Essence Condensation realm eh?" Nanqing Haowen nodded in understanding. "I guess jumping two boundaries to achieve victory is too difficult even for you."

"What about you?" Nanlan Qianxue directed the question back to him.

"I cleared the fourth storey," Nanqing Haowen sighed. "As for the fifth storey, I lost at the final part."

Nanlan Qianxue did not ask further.

Both of them had the same cultivation level at the Primary Essence Condensation realm.

However, Nanlan Qianxue was seventeen years old while Nanqing Haowen was twenty three years old. This meant that the difficulty level for Nanqing Haowen would naturally be higher.

In general, it was understood that every five years difference in age would result in an increase in boundary in terms of their opponents' cultivation realm in the Trial of the Fist.

For example, sect members at the age of fifteen to nineteen would face opponents starting from the Intermediate Essence Building realm. However, sect members at the age of twenty to twenty four would face opponents starting from the Advanced Essence Building realm.

This meant that for both Nanqing Haowen and Nanlan Qianxue, they had been stopped by Advanced Essence Condensation realm opponents.

However, since Nanlan Qianxue was younger, being able to achieve the same result as Nanqing Haowen naturally showed that her level of talent was higher.

"Where do you think Brother Nanlu will be stopped at?" Nanqing Haowen asked.

"Stop?" Nanlan Qianxue let out a faint smile. "Don't you think it is about time for someone to clear the Trial of the Fist?"

Hearing Nanlan Qianxue's words, Nanqing Haowen was stunned for a moment.

"Do you mean to say that you believe Brother Nanlu has a shot at clearing all seven storeys? Is this a joke? If even you aren't able to do so, how can he…?" Nanqing Haowen frowned as he eyed Nanlan Qianxue suspiciously.

After receiving no reply from Nanlan Qianxue, Nanqing Haowen could only let out a sigh and shake his head once more.

Brother Nanlu really was quite something, being able to poison the cold Nanlan Qianxue to such an extent…

---

At this moment, Lu Tianzi had already reached the sixth storey of the pagoda.

This meant that he was now facing Advanced Essence Condensation realm opponents. These were the exact opponents that had stopped Nanqing Haowen and Nanlan Qianxue!

By now, Lu Tianzi had started to rely on his Essence energy from both cultivation systems.

It was simply impossible for him to contend with Advanced Essenced Condensation realm opponents with just his Peak Essence Building realm cultivation level in the Slaughter Essence system.

But even so, he was flitting around the battleground, dodging every single attack that was being thrown at him.

Lu Tianzi's movements were extremely strange to look at.

His feet were only moving very minimally, yet he seemed to be able to elegantly glide around the chamber, as though there was an invisible river current flowing through the area, carrying him around as he willed.

His movement looked as smooth as silk, yet was still fast enough to outpace all these Advanced Essence Condensation realm opponents.

His seven opponents were simply chasing after shadows, not even close to catching him at all. Even when they did, there would only be the tiniest fraction of a chance for them to pull out one or two hasty strikes.

It was impossible to put much strength behind such attacks, and thus they were easily nullified by Lu Tianzi's own parries that fused together Essence energy of both cultivation systems.

This should be good enough!

Lu Tianzi thought to himself before switching gear, choosing to finally go on the offensive instead.

Bang-!

His sword slash caught an opponent by surprise, completely blowing an opponent away and sending him flying into the walls of the chamber.

Six others immediately slashed down where he stood, but Lu Tianzi had already glided out of the way, rapidly chasing after the one whom he just clashed with.

When Lu Tianzi arrived before his opponent, his opponent had yet to even recover from the previous attack. He was wide open as Lu Tianzi slashed out once more, creating yet another puff of grey smoke.

One down.

By now, the six others had charged up from behind him, but Lu Tianzi simply glided out of the way.

As Lu Tianzi was right now, it was almost impossible for his opponents to guess which direction he would be moving in next.

He had honed his movement technique against the opponents in the previous two storeys, and finally managed to transform the Flowing River Silent Strides into a completely different technique altogether!

As long as he did not get careless and maintained a certain level of awareness regarding his surroundings, he was basically untouchable against his current opponents.

It did not take long before the last of the Advanced Essence Condensation realm opponents fell.

This time, Lu Tianzi was left slightly breathless by the end. It was no longer as simple as dealing with opponents under the Essence Condensation realm.

Dodging around was one thing, but he truly had to exert himself if he was intending to end the fight.

Lu Tianzi sat down in meditation. It was only after he had recovered to his peak condition did he dare to proceed up the stairs.

The seventh floor of the pagoda – Peak Essence Condensation realm.

When his first opponent stepped out, Lu Tianzi let out a deep breath as he tightened his grip on his weapons.

Lu Tianzi was no longer intending to waste any energy on honing his techniques.

He knew that he needed every bit of energy within his inner world in order to have a chance to defeating his final seven opponents.

Without hesitation, Lu Tianzi glided forward, slashing out with the Sword of Ivory Rock.

Bang-!

His opponent actually parried it perfectly with his spear, not losing out to Lu Tianzi at all in terms of strength!

As expected of a Peak Essence Condensation realm opponent!

Lu Tianzi had already expected as much, and was not too surprised by this outcome. Instead, he immediately followed up with the Torrential Sabre.

But his opponent pushed out with the spear, creating distance between them and thus easily escaping the range of the sabre slash.

With a gap created between them, his opponent immediately took advantage of the long reach of the spear by thrusting the spearpoint straight towards Lu Tianzi's head.

Lu Tianzi did not think much of it and was about to parry it with his blades when the spearhead trembled slightly, forming dozens of spearlight that pierced towards him!

Not good!

Lu Tianzi immediately drove his Essence energy, gliding out of the way at top speed.

The dozens of spearlight shot out from the spearhead, ruthlessly impaling the floor where Lu Tianzi was just standing.

Even though he had promptly glided out of the way the moment the multiple spearlight formed, Lu Tianzi still only managed to dodge by a hair's breadth.

If not for his enhanced Flowing River Silent Strides, Lu Tianzi would have certainly been hit by that attack just then!

It seemed like usual attacks were not going to work…

Lu Tianzi finally realised that without using the Eternal Wraith Sword Art, his offensive capability was still far from being able to stand against Peak Essence Condensation realm opponents.

But this was exactly why he had learnt it in the first place, to make up for his shortcomings!

Steeling his resolve, Lu Tianzi slashed out with his sword.

Howling Wraith Sword!

Facing the illusory aspect of the Howling Wraith Sword, even this powerful opponent blanked out, confined by the horrors of a ghastly apparition.

But just before Lu Tianzi's sword struck him, his opponent drove the Slaughter Essence within his inner world and managed to forcefully break through the illusion!

What?!

Seeing his opponent raise his spear to block his sword strike, Lu Tianzi was suddenly overcome by a sense of shock.

This was the first time that someone had managed to react to the Howling Wraith Sword!

In the end, even though the Howling Wraith Sword was an exceptional technique, the gap in cultivation level between Lu Tianzi and his opponent could not be completely ignored.

Slash-!

Holding up the spear in front of his chest, his opponent looked down in shock at the huge gash across his abdomen.

Seeing that the Howling Wraith Sword was not going to be able to end it, Lu Tianzi had completely abandoned the sword slash at the last moment, choosing to strike with the Torrential Sabre instead!

Having only just forcefully broken out of the illusion, his opponent had been too preoccupied with blocking Lu Tianzi's sword slash to react to the sudden change.

As a result, Lu Tianzi had taken him down in a single effective strike!

Poof-!

His opponent disappeared into a puff of grey smoke, but Lu Tianzi knew that he had far more work to be done.

Even though it was the difference of just a single boundary, Peak Essence Condensation realm opponents were far stronger than Advanced Essence Condensation realm opponents.

Against these powerful enemies, just being careful was no longer enough.

Lu Tianzi had to continuously think of ways to exploit any openings he saw. Only then would he be able to safely get through this!

He was already left slightly breathless after defeating a single one of them. But the Trial of the Fist left the challenger no time for rest before clearing each storey.

Two opponents immediately charged out from both sides, striking forth with perfect synergy.

Damn it!

Lu Tianzi could only grit his teeth and continue fighting.

This time, he did not emerge unscathed.

After defeating the two opponents, Lu Tianzi was already left with a few cuts. Thankfully, they were just shallow cuts, and would not affect him in a huge way.

However, this was just the start of his problems.

As Lu Tianzi went on, the injuries on his body continued to pile up.

Finally, when facing six opponents, he suffered a deep gash on his left arm from a sword strike.

After he finally struck down the last of the six, Lu Tianzi could only smile wryly as he looked at the blood flowing down his left arm.

This last battle had taken him far too much effort, and now that his arm was in such a condition, would he really be able to beat the last group of opponents?

If he failed to do so, would he still be able to rank highly in the Nine Suns Trial?

Lu Tianzi had no doubt that his current results in the Trial of the Fist had already far exceeded most other sect members. Even though he had never seen the leaders of the Inner Sect members, with such a result he probably would not be too far off from them.

However, the Nine Suns Trial was not only about the Trial of the Fist.

In the Trial of the Heart, Lu Tianzi might not have been tripped up by the first part, but he had almost succumbed to temptations in the second part. This caused him great frustration and regret whenever he thought about it.

With that, Lu Tianzi knew that he now had to go as far as he could in order to ensure a high rank in the Nine Suns Trial. Only then would he receive greater attention from the sect and thus, more cultivation resources.

Lu Tianzi turned and looked at the seven opponents who were charging forth towards him. All of them were brandishing their weapons and had their Slaughter Essence driven to their limits.

Letting out a deep breath, Lu Tianzi steeled his resolve.

If these seven opponents were all geniuses in their own right, then there was no chance whatsoever for Lu Tianzi to win.

Thankfully, they were only comparable to average martial artists, and only possessed regular weapons. This was what allowed the challengers of the Nine Suns Trial to jump ranks and achieve victory.

And this was also what gave Lu Tianzi his only remaining chance at victory.

Lu Tianzi was not too worried about being injured in the trial.

The Inner Sect members who exited the Grand Mirror had no injuries whatsoever on their bodies despite their inner world being in disarray.

This meant that these injuries on him were probably only temporary.

The Nine Suns Trial either had a way to heal these injuries, or that these injuries were an illusion to begin with, just like in the Trial of the Heart.

In that case, now that he was finally facing his final seven opponents, now was the time for him to go all out without anymore reservations!