Volume 3 Chapter 12: A Black Flower Blooms in the Temple
The yellow perimeter wall wasn't that far away. While suppressing a bit of anger, Wen Xuanyu advanced towards the half kneeling black-armored student half kneeling up ahead, a nine-jointed steel mace in hand.
If not for his desire to compete fiercely with that unknown opponent in the Direct Spear Strikes Trial stone temple and the suffocating feeling of falling behind, how could he possibly end up in his current state? His entire body was in pain, to the extent where even when facing this 'Blazing Bird' student whose name had never appeared on the rankings, strength not all that outstanding at all, he still wasted so much time, tangling about each other for so long.
However, right now, the wound on the other party's left leg was already too much for him to handle, it was time for this battle to end.
Even so, right at this time, his ears suddenly picked up a peculiar vibrating noise. He immediately jumped to his left, at the same time turning around.
A black-armored student wielding a black long blade was already standing less than twenty steps from where he was.
"You wanted to attack me from behind?" When he saw the other party's stance, Wen Xuanyu immediately released a cold shout. Shortly afterwards, he saw the symbol on the other party's chest. The expression in his eyes became slightly cold. "Silver Fox... if my memory serves me right, you've appeared on the board before as well."
"Black Bat? I remember seeing you on the list too." Lin Xi looked at the soles of his feet with a bit of regret. Just now, he indeed wanted to launch a surprise attack. Had it succeeded, the 'Blazing Bird' kneeling on the ground clearly didn't have much strength left, so he would've been able to seize two golden pentagon emblems in one go, saving him quite a bit of strength. Only, what he never expected was that the small stone-like object his foot landed on was actually half an eggshell of an unknown creature. Just like that, a mistake he never expected completely ruined his hidden attack because of a lack of final effort.
"Come then." Wen Xuanyu faced Lin Xi, standing firmly. He didn't know that the other party was precisely the unknown opponent in that spacious stone palace. He only looked at Lin Xi with icy arrogance, saying, "Out of all those five emblem accomplishments you withdrew with, I reckon you didn't obtain all of them through ambushes."
Lin Xi shrugged his shoulders in an indifferent manner, and then began to quietly approach this opponent who was most likely not weak.
Suddenly, his eyes became somewhat 'happy' as they glanced towards Wen Xuanyu's back.
Wen Xuanyu subconsciously moved, turning his head slightly to look in that direction, but there was not a soul in sight.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Right at this time, Lin Xi's footsteps stepped fiercely on the mountain rocks, on the sturdy earth of the forest, sending smoke and dust everywhere. Like a gust of wind, his waist, abdomen, arms, and wrist simultaneously exerted force. The black long blade drew out a treacherous arc, hacking viciously at Wen Xuanyu's neck!
This truly ferocious blow made even the body of the half kneeling black-armored student who still couldn't get back up go cold, but Wen Xuanyu didn't show the slightest bit of flusteredness. He only took half a step out with his left leg, fiercely exerting force. The black mace in his hands struck out, blocking before the opponent's blade with incomparable precision.
Dang!
A sharp and clear noise rang out.
Lin Xi held his breath. While his body was shaken by the tremendous force, already somewhat losing his balance, he took a sliding step while in a falling motion. At the same time, he fiercely twisted his body, with a turn of his hand, his blade hacked at Wen Xuanyu's neck again.
Dang!
Another sharp and clear sound rang out. Wen Xuanyu, who didn't have time to turn around, instead shifted the mace to his back with a turn of his hand, once again blocking this blade with incredible precision, and then like a dragonfly gently touching the water surface, took several steps forward. Meanwhile, Lin Xi turned around, stopping rigidly in place. His left hand was also holding the blade's handle, both hands on the grip.
The other party's strength left him so shaken that even his right hand that was gripping the blade felt a bit numb, his martial skill even more so extremely tyrannical. However, Lin Xi calmly focused on his opponent, not showing the slightest trace of fear, only recalling Tong Wei's teachings, waiting for a suitable opportunity.
Wen Xuanyu also continuously took deep breaths. The two intense movements just now triggered the leftover injuries from yesterday, so he needed time to ease this type of pain as well, or else it would affect his following movements. Even though the other party's martial skill and speed were great, there was still a bit of difference between them in terms of cultivation. Even with the black armor's suppression, Wen Xuanyu didn't believe he couldn't defeat this 'Silver Fox'.
Suddenly, Lin Xi moved.
He gave Wen Xuanyu's side a glance again, and then with powerful momentum but light steps, his entire body charged at Wen Xuanyu, the black long blade in his hands smashing over like a streak of lightning.
"You're even going to use such lowlife moves?"
A hint of mockery appeared at the corners of Wen Xuanyu's lips. His right leg stomped into the ground, sinking slightly into the earth, and then his entire right leg fiercely exerted force. Afterwards, from his waist to his abdomen, and then his arm, a perfect string of eruptions happened. The enormous power that was transmitted into the black long mace in his hands smashed down on Lin Xi's black long blade.
Dang!
Lin Xi's body shook fiercely, and then while borrowing this momentum, he fell backwards. Now that he had already attained proficiency with the Green Luan Twenty-Four Forms, he easily made a beautiful flip through the air.
However, for Wen Xuanyu, aesthetics were useless. His left foot that had all that strength accumulated stepped heavily into the ground. Immediately afterwards, he prepared to launch his body outwards, deliver a blow straight to Lin Xi's face.
Yet right at this moment, his mind suddenly tightened, the center of his back inadvertently going cold. Right when he couldn't help but turn his head slightly, a black pike was already stabbed fiercely into his body.
A wave of tearing pain and the powerful impact immediately made his body lose balance, drop forward.
Lin Xi landed, took a sliding step to the side, and then a blade smashed down viciously.
"You two!"
Wen Xuanyu was filled with incomparable wrath, but he already didn't have any time to control his body. Lin Xi's heavy blade smashed straight down into his right shoulder, making him fall heavily onto the ground. Without the slightest hesitation, before he even began to tumble outwards, another vicious attack hacked down, smashing into his right leg joint.
"I admit defeat!"
Before the black pike descended upon his body once again, following another muffled groan of pain, Wen Xuanyu roared out in anger. He removed two golden pentagon emblems, and then threw them out into the distance. "However, this type of ambush is definitely not something I can accept!"
"There is only victory or defeat on the battlefield, what acceptance is there to speak of."
Lin Xi shrugged his shoulders, not getting upset at all, completely undisturbed. It was because for him, even if it was a sneak attack, it was still an opportunity he waited for and brought about.
He didn't immediately pay the two golden pentagon emblems Wen Xuanyu threw out any attention, instead giving the Black Flower Pike wielding Jiang Xiaoyi a smile, saying with a chuckle, "Seems like your luck isn't bad. Not only did you pick up a weapon you're fond of, you also smoothly completed a five emblem achievement."
When Jiang Xiaoyi heard this, he gave the Black Flower Pike in his hands and the four golden pentagon emblems on his shoulder a look, also laughing and saying, "It really isn't bad. My previous opponent was also quite formidable, but fortunately, I picked up the weapon I'm most adept with."
"With this, my luck isn't bad either, I also managed to obtain another five emblem withdrawal achievement." Lin Xi smiled. At this time, the half kneeling 'Blazing Bird' also decided he might as well throw over a golden pentagon emblem.
"Utterly shameless, no sense of glory!" While watching these two 'share the booty', Wen Xuanyu became even more indignant. He really wanted to get back on his feet, but Lin Xi's final blow landed perfectly on where he was hurt, the intense pain making his face go pale. His entire body was covered in cold sweat, even sitting up was completely impossible.
"Let's go." Lin Xi nodded in Jiang Xiaoyi's direction. Because Jiang Xiaoyi felt like he could learn some stuff from Lin Xi's footwork and swordsmanship, the two originally arranged to meet near the yellow perimeter wall, so they didn't waste time either. After picking up the golden pentagon emblems, they quickly headed towards the yellow perimeter wall.
"They are also planning to train inside?" Wen Xuanyu saw the direction Lin Xi and Jiang Xiaoyi were headed in, but the intense pain prevented him from sitting up. He could only do his best to stabilize his breathing, ease his pain a bit faster in this way.
...
Almost without any pause, Lin Xi directly charged in the moment he arrived at the spacious and quiet stone temple entrance.
It was because if he even hesitated for a bit, then memories of the pain brought about by the spears would start to overwhelm him, instead make him more fearful and nervous.
The best way to forget this kind of fear was instead to face this fear head-on before the body even had time to think about it.
However, the moment he stepped into the stone temple's earth, a layer of cold sweat still suddenly covered his back... because his cultivation increased, the speed and distance this step took him were both considerably greater than normal. It wasn't as apparent when facing enemies, but in this extremely familiar great hall, he instead suddenly felt a bit out of sorts, making his movements slightly rigid.
However, the spears that pierced over shortly after quickly made him forget this type of feeling. He quickly brandished his blade, doing his best to rely on his body's intuition as he charged towards the bronze rear door without stopping at all.
Golden sparks of steel striking flickered from time to time in the dusky stone temple.
Lin Xi fell onto the ground again and again, each time taking some time to rest, and then rising back up.
His current strength was already much greater than a few days ago, only after taking tens of steps was he struck once. In a distance of a hundred steps, he only fell three times in total.
This type of charging strength, in Jiang Xiaoyi's eyes, was already extremely inconceivable. Of course, his impression of Lin Xi was even better than this, which was why he was only a bit shocked.
Just like before, the first time, Lin Xi charged as if he was gambling with his life. This time, when he finally fell heavily into the ground, about to faint from dizziness, Lin Xi saw the marking he left in the earth previously.
Roughly a hundred and fifty steps!
With his current true strength, when he approached this limit where he almost died from the pain, he already traveled a hundred and fifty steps in this hall. Compared to yesterday, he already traveled close to twenty steps further!
This naturally had to do with his cultivation and improvements in constitution, but similarly represented an improvement in willpower and martial skill.
"Return!"
While holding back his excitement, Lin Xi forcefully shouted out this word.
...
While still shaking a bit from the pain of his last attempt, Lin Xi once again stood before the great hall's entrance.
While approaching his limit, his body's perception of pain became even sharper. When he recalled the reasoning Luo Houyuan told him, Lin Xi understood that as time went on, his body's memory of the pain he just felt would decline. That was why after taking a deep breath, while gripping the black border army long blade in hand, he rushed in like a gust of wind again, charging into the stone temple without looking back.
Dang!
Dang!
Dang!
The black long blade continuously made contact with the incoming spears. Lin Xi's footstep sounds were like continuously falling raindrops, mixing together with the sharp and clear noises.
Jiang Xiaoyi, who was completely unaware that Lin Xi already underwent the trial once, nor did he know that he already watched this once, suddenly felt his breathing stop.
Twenty steps, thirty steps... fifty steps... a hundred steps!
Lin Xi's entire being seemed to have become a gale, a black whirlwind that couldn't be stopped. After continuously charging over a hundred steps of distance, he actually rushed straight through, not even a single spear able to touch his body!
Moreover, this still wasn't the end. Lin Xi was still continuing!
Perhaps because of Luo Houyuan's words, telling him to work a bit harder, perhaps because Xu Shengmo didn't know that his cultivation had increased quite a bit, thus didn't add to his training weight, allowing him to enter with his condition being a bit more carefree... Lin Xi just felt like his condition today was extremely good, especially when he struck down those incoming spears one after the next, giving him a powerful feeling of confidence.
The fear he felt inside seemed to also be cut away with each swing of his blade. His movements became more and more flowing, his mind also becoming increasingly concentrated.
Ah!
Jiang Xiaoyi's cry of surprise rang throughout the spacious great hall.
He saw that Lin Xi already reached at least a hundred and seventy something steps of distance. From his perspective, that bronze rear gate was already within Lin Xi's reach!
Because he was too filled with shock and because the amount of time he held his breath was too long, he couldn't control his cry of alarm from sounding. In this spacious great hall, it was exceptionally loud.
Lin Xi's body became slightly sluggish, startled by the sound, only then did he suddenly discover that the bronze great gate was already not far from where he was.
Ssss!
Almost as if by intuition, when he saw four to five black spears stab viciously at him, he forcefully took a deep breath. His legs stamped firmly into the ground, and then his entire body shot towards the bronze gate, smashing over!
Black spears pierced through the air, a black long blade danced about, all the while his body was moving horizontally through the air; in the limits of the overcast hall, it was as if a black flower bloomed in the air!