Within an instant, Su Ping had made it all the way to the fortieth dragon bone!
He gradually began to feel more difficulties as he went on. His body was finally being hurt, although mildly. The illusions had become too strong for his mind to handle and had inflicted actual harm on him.
Su Ping kept going after taking a deep breath.
One step at a time but forward.
Yuan Linglu was transfixed; she still sat on the dragon bone, far behind.
She had been like that since Su Ping made it to the thirtieth dragon bone. He had climbed twice as many dragon bones as she did!
She was well aware that the higher they went, the heavier the burden would be. He was so further away from her that she began to wonder if they were taking the same test or not.
Forty-five… forty-eight… fifty!
Soon, Su Ping was standing on the fiftieth dragon bone. The demonic figures had become more threatening and the entire world was bleeding. He was in a veritable hell.
Anyone else would have lost it by that point.
Su Ping saw some strange and freaky monsters that were like vipers entangling him. The touch was cold and sleek.
Break!
Su Ping squinted his eyes from which a glint of killing intent arose.
All the monsters and demonic figures were crushed. His killing intent had crushed them all, like a sharp blade!
Su Ping moved on with determination.
52… 55… 60!
Kill them!!
The killing intent in his eyes became more profound.
65… 69…
Destroy them!!!
Even Su Ping’s face was twisted. He unleashed all the killing intent he had buried in his heart, as well as all the negativity, the desperation, the cruelty, the violence…
He was so violent that he had become a monster.
Frightened by this vicious burst, the monsters and demons around him withdrew and vanished into thin air.
Su Ping soldiered on. Soon after, he made it to the eightieth dragon bone!
Buzzing!
Su Ping almost fell to the ground. Then, he felt that a twisted thing was crawling out from under his feet, right from the piles of internal organs.
Su Ping gazed at that thing coldly.
That twisted creature stopped and then disappeared.
Su Ping looked ahead and went on.
82… 85…
More horrifying illusions assaulted him.
“Scram!!” Su Ping shouted. His voice scared away some of the terrifying illusions but as he continued, those illusions once again inched closer to where he was.
The cold touch felt as substantial as it could
get.
Su Ping kept going, paying no regard to those sensations.
He had made it to the ninetieth dragon bone!
There, he heard a threatening call approaching him. Out of instinct, Su Ping stepped to the side but that thing had managed to touch his neck nonetheless. Pain.
He put his hand on his neck. There was blood.
Once again, the illusions were inflicting substantial harm to him!
Su Ping had been trying his best and yet, no matter how determined he was, he was no longer able to fend the illusions off.
Am I at my limit?
Su Ping took a pause and breathed in.
A beam of crimson glow was revealed in his eyes. This time, the killing intent was not visible in his eyes. Taking its place was pure coldness.
Whoosh!
Behind him, a pitch-dark field emerged out of nowhere.
In this field, many hideous and evil shadows rushed out from the inside. If you saw the deepest part of the field, you could make out mountains of dead bodies, an ocean of blood, and countless strange bones everywhere.
That was an area from the Chaotic Realm of the Undead!
But that area was reflected in the field behind Su Ping!
…
Yuan Linglu’s sensations had become numb while she remained on the seventeenth dragon bone.
Her mood transitioned from astonishment to confusion to calmness as she witnessed how Su Ping climbed to the ninetieth dragon bone. Still, once the dark field appeared behind him, she recovered her ability to show expressions. Her pupils were contracted by the shock.
“Force Field!!”
She could not help but blurt out the two words.
She had never been in so much shock before.
This young man had just learned the use of Force Fields!
He was able to manifest a Force Field!!
That was beyond comprehension!
Yuan Linglu had heard from her grandpa that sometimes not even legendary battle pet warriors were able to understand the Force Field principles. Only the more powerful legendary battle pet warriors, like her grandpa, could have learned it!
But this young man, who was at the sixth-rank just like her, had learned how to use Force Fields…
Yuan Linglu’s astonishment was mixed with bewilderment.
No words could describe what she was feeling. ‘Behind an able man, there are always other able men.’ She had always thought that she was among the “other able men.” It turned out that she was the former.
Those in my way shall die!
Su Ping looked down on the world with a cold gaze.
Be it hell or the netherworld, I shall be the ruler!
At this moment, Su Ping felt he had become free from inhibitions. He could finally unleash all the violence and anger he had been harboring and concealing. He felt he was in a comfortable environment.
A feeling akin to what people would perceive when soaking in a hot spring. But he was soaking in a killing hot spring. He could release all his energy at will while he was there!
As he got all the violence off his chest, Su Ping saw how many monsters and demonic figures that had been scared before were at the moment coming back to him ready to fight. Su Ping suddenly remembered an ancient mountain of skeletons he had seen in the Chaotic Realm of the Undead.
The mountain had been made with skeletons of creatures that had once been above the legendary rank. Kill them!
Behind him, many huge skeletons appeared out of nowhere and they roared to frighten away the illusions.
Whoosh!
Su Ping was still going.
Around him were the monsters, the demons, and the skeletons. He was the king of hell walking in the mortal world!
No more illusions emerged from the dragon bones. Su Ping enjoyed a smooth ride to the one hundredth dragon bone; the demonic figures re-emerged after he climbed the next five dragon bones.
Two more dragon bones. The demonic figures had become real and tangible. Not even the skeletons coming out from the dark field behind Su Ping were able to stop the illusions.
Phew.
Su Ping came to a sudden stop. The craziness and wildness in the depth of his eyes gradually receded.
This is about it.
Su Ping stopped there. He could tell that he could climb up several more dragon bones by exerting his full strength, but that wasn’t necessary. He could roughly determine where his limit was.
He turned around and saw the girl sitting on a dragon bone in the distance.
That gap was enough to secure his win.
Su Ping breathed in relief. Then, he noticed that he could see some views of the Chaotic Realm of the Undead in the dark field behind him.
He was surprised. He had sensed the presence of such a scenery while he was climbing, but he wasn’t in the mood to observe back then. As he then had time to check carefully, he realized that the views inside the dark field were closely linked to his mind.
He tried to focus his mind on some other views he had seen; the scene in the dark field changed accordingly.
When he thought of an ages-worn bronze temple he had once seen, the temple appeared in the dark field as well. The temple recreation in the dark field was also ancient, seemingly able to seal off space and time. What skill is this?
Su Ping could tell that the views inside the dark field could emit some energy, which, while not as powerful as the authentic energy in the Chaotic Realm of the Undead, was still threatening.
Su Ping studied this for a while. All of a sudden, he felt tired and drowsy.
Alerted, Su Ping noticed that the dark field was fading away, taking away the scenes and views inside as well. He frowned and thought for a while. He supposed that the dark field was also linked to his willpower, something like a manifestation of his consciousness.
He would have to ask Joanna about the details. She had to be well-enough informed about the subject.
While Su Ping was absorbed in his thoughts, a beam of golden light appeared next to the dragon skeleton. The dragon king’s soul emerged. It was sizing Su Ping up and down with curiosity and solemnly.
Su Ping asked the dragon king’s soul, “Have we passed the test?” The dragon king’s soul gazed at him and nodded. “Yes. Thou art the winner this time.” Su Ping nodded.
In the distance, Yuan Linglu finally came back to her senses. She was filled with complicated feelings but she was not going to admit defeat yet. This time, Su Ping did beat her, and by a large margin. However, they still had to go through their physical strength test. That was her last chance.
This time, the dragon king’s soul didn’t even cast a single glance at Yuan Linglu. The dragon king’s soul gazed at Su Ping fondly and said, “Thy willpower is strong, almost equal to the peak of the legendary rank, and even better. I hope thy strength is well-matched to thy will!”
Su Ping was surprised. Equal to the peak of the legendary rank?
He was aware that his willpower was stronger than that of other battle pet warriors at the same rank, but he didn’t have the slightest notion about how much stronger it was. It never occurred to him that his willpower could be that much better.
The legendary rank had a wide range. His willpower could compare to one at the peak of the legendary rank right then?
He hadn’t even reached the titled rank yet.
But that wasn’t hard to understand given the many times that he had died in the cultivation sites. Having gone through the endless interactions of life and death, his will power had been progressing by leaps and bounds. However, the willpower-strengthening effect with repeated deaths would be diminished from then on.
That was to say, it would be hard for him to enhance his willpower by a large margin in the future.
He would have to think of another way.
“I suppose there aren’t many others like me, right?” Su Ping asked the dragon king’s soul.
The dragon king’s soul nodded. If it weren’t for the fact that it saw Su Ping with its own eyes, even the dragon king’s soul would have had doubts. The dragon king’s soul had remained hidden elsewhere during the test; it had been stunned by the results. But the dragon king’s soul had managed to calm down since then, hiding the joy it felt.
After all, the dragon king was above the legendary rank. It had to act like one.
“If so, then why don’t you just give your legacy directly to me? We don’t need other tests.” Su Ping grinned.
Yuan Linglu was taken aback; she became incensed by his request. How shameless of him!
She bit her teeth. She could not wait to defeat
him.
The dragon king’s soul was surprised to hear Su Ping uttering those words. The dragon king’s soul cast a glance at Yuan Linglu in the distance and replied, “Thou art marvelous but rules are rules. Thou needn’t worry. I will still choose thou even if thou lose to her in physical strength, provided that the gap is small.” “Sure,” Su Ping said. Yuan Linglu was relieved to hear that the dragon king’s soul didn’t change its mind because of Su Ping’s request. She was both grateful and stressed for it at the same time.
She was falling behind Su Ping by a large margin in the first test. That was to say, she had to defeat Su Ping completely in the physical strength test to get a chance.
“I must resort to my strongest skills… even the taboo skill!” Yuan Linglue said to herself. She took a deep breath and a glint of coldness rose in her eyes. “Next is the physical strength test. Thou can use everything, including your battle pets. The victor will be deemed qualified,” announced the dragon king’s soul and its voice was just as calm and majestic as before. With that said, the dragon skeleton disappeared and a vast land with swamps, plants and everything emerged.
Su Ping and Yuan Linglu landed on that territory.
“Me versus you?” Su Ping raised his eyebrows.
It never occurred to Yuan Linglu that the physical strength test was to fight against Su Ping. Good, she thought. If she could kill Su Ping in the fight, then nothing else would matter. The dragon king’s soul would have to choose her even if it didn’t want to!
“Get ready,” said the dragon king’s soul.
Su Ping summoned the Little Skeleton.
Yuan Linglu got her battle pets out.
A dragon, a pet of the demon family, one of the element family… and a battle pet that Su Ping had never seen before; it had yet to be included in the Illustration of Battle Pets.
That was a human-shaped battle pet with a height of about five meters and with six wings. The battle pet was completely dark colored, similar to a Fallen Angel, another battle pet of the demon family. But Fallen Angels merely had four wings. Besides, there were two rows of crimson eyebrows that were glaring on the chest of this battle pet. “Go,” said the dragon king’s soul. Su Ping sized Yuan Linglu’s battle pets up and down.
He had to admit that her battle pets were all the best of the best. The dragon was a Starburst Dragon, which ranked No.2 among all dragons and was even rarer than the Inferno Dragon. A Starburst Dragon at its prime was said to be able to defend against the average beast kings!
But this Starburst Dragon was still growing. Even so, it surely had a strength equal to the titled rank already.
Su Ping could tell that Yuan Linglu had been training her battle pets well. The one that worried him the most was the human-shaped battle pet.
That battle pet had to be a mutated kind, or one that couldn’t be found on the Blue Planet.
Su Ping was not in the mood to prolong the fight. He said to the Little Skeleton, “Finish them all.”
The Little Skeleton looked up at him and nodded as a reply.