Chapter 322: Chapter 322: Battle Space, The Disciples’ Challenge
Mo Ying entered her own secret chamber.
The stone door closed automatically.
The space inside the chamber wasn’t large; it was circular, with a diameter of about five meters. The walls were blue and white in color and were inlaid with many gemstones.
“Welcome to the Battle Space.”
“Your consciousness will enter an immersive battle world where you can choose from three difficulty levels of combat environments—lower, middle, upper—to fight against your opponents.”
“Now, as darkness falls, please close your eyes and make your choice.”
The cold mechanical voice echoed within the chamber, causing Mo Ying’s surprise.
As the voice faded, the chamber was suddenly shrouded in darkness.
Mo Ying’s expression grew tense as she noticed three rings of light appearing in her line of sight, with the characters “lower,” “middle,” and “upper” written inside them, respectively.
After a moment’s thought, she clicked on the character “lower.”
“You have chosen the easy mode.”
The mechanical voice continued to sound.
Whir!
Brilliant light radiated.
Mo Ying found herself in the midst of a canyon.
On both sides were towering rock cliffs shrouded in mist, resembling the Immortal Realm. On the other side of the canyon, there was a raised platform.
“Destroy the crystal on the platform to end this trial.”
“Alternatively, should you ‘fall’ in the Battle Space, you will also exit this trial.”
“Should you successfully pass, you will receive an infusion of spiritual energy.”
“Please begin your performance.”
The mechanical voice issued one instruction after another.
Mo Ying recollected her thoughts and glanced at herself, noticing that her body seemed solid yet emitted a glow that made her appear ethereal.
Therefore, she knew she was within the Battle Space.
“What a miraculous spiritual artifact to create such an immersive secret realm. It must be at least Spirit Treasure Level, right?”
Mo Ying murmured.
Crack!
From the high platform at the end of the canyon, fissures opened up, and a group of crystal creatures made entirely out of crystal rushed out—fifteen in total.
“Lower Rank Demon Soldiers?”
Mo Ying shook her head and swung her Breeze-riding Sword in a sweeping motion. A dazzling Sword Qi slashed through the crystal creatures, splitting them all in half.
Bang, bang, bang!
They fell to the ground like shattered ice sculptures, with bits of light flying out and converging on the platform, displaying a number.
“Fifteen?”
Mo Ying eyed the number.
“This is the lower difficulty, so the crystal creatures are at the Lower Rank Demon Soldier Level. Does this mean if I’d chosen the upper difficulty, High-rank Demon Soldier Level creatures would have appeared?”
“If that’s the case, isn’t the difficulty too low?”
Mo Ying felt it was rather uninteresting.
However, the fissures in the platform soon released more crystal creatures. This time, thirty of them appeared, all on the same lower rank level.
“This is too boring. I might as well just charge up and shatter the crystal on the platform.”
Mo Ying used the “Light Body Technique” to increase her speed.
The entire canyon was only ten miles long.
It seemed short, but before Mo Ying could get far, she already encountered the thirty Lower Rank Demon Soldiers.
Rip!
It was still just one sword strike.
All the crystal creatures were cleaved apart and collapsed on the spot.
The number on the platform increased to “forty-five.”
Whir!
Soon after, the fissures in the platform spat out a large batch of crystal creatures, their number shooting up to fifty-five!
“Using the human wave tactic, huh?”
“Too bad, this move is ineffective against someone in the Element Gathering Realm like me.”
Mo Ying shook her head lightly, wielding the Breeze-riding Sword and instantly releasing three bursts of Sword Qi, shredding all the crystal creatures to pieces.
The number on the platform changed to “one hundred.”
At that moment, the sequence of numbers transformed into a figure that stepped out from the platform, condensing into a heavy-pressured crystal Demon General that was azure blue, shaped like a beast, with a row of fins on its back.
“Lower Rank Demon General, interesting.”
A small smile played on Mo Ying’s lips.
Apparently, all that had just been an appetizer.
Now, it was time to get to the main event.
Swoosh!
The crystal Demon General crossed half the distance in a flash, wielding its sharp claws in a pincer attack aimed directly at Mo Ying.
Clang!
The Breeze-riding Sword parried the claws of the crystal Demon General, and then Mo Ying cast the “Glittering Sword Qi” at the Perfect Stage, splitting the crystal Demon General in half with a single strike.
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Crack!
It turned into a gigantic pinpoint of light.
On the platform.
A crystal spirit similar to the low-rank Demon General level one from before emerged, its eyes devoid of emotion as if controlled by some mysterious force, it charged at Mo Ying.
Its strength was not to be underestimated.
However, with a single move of “Backstab,” Mo Ying circled to the back of the crystal Demon General and, with a slash of her longsword, dispatched it.
The number on the platform changed to “two.”
“Interesting, it looks like the more I kill, the more spirits will appear, and the stronger they’ll get. This is getting more and more exciting.”
Mo Ying began to laugh.
Then the third, fourth… until the tenth crystal Demon General was cleaved by Mo Ying, the number “ten” in the sky finally transformed, becoming a middle-rank Demon General about three meters tall.
“As expected!”
Mo Ying’s expression darkened.
She was merely at the first layer of the Element Gathering Realm, and it was only with the amplification of the Spiritual Artifact and Spells that she had managed to consecutively slay so many low-rank Demon Generals of the same realm.
Now, faced with such a formidable middle-rank Demon General, for the first time, she felt tremendous pressure.
Clang!
The middle-rank crystal Demon General didn’t give Mo Ying any chance to breathe; as soon as it took shape, it pounced to attack her.
Mo Ying brandished her sword to block, but she was knocked back by the force.
In terms of strength, she was slightly lacking.
“Swift Sword!”
Mo Ying utilized that wisp of Swift Sword Intent; her moves became more graceful, yet her speed increased significantly.
In the blink of an eye, she unleashed dozens of Sword Qi strikes, forcing the middle-rank crystal Demon General to retreat explosively and hit it with a Vitality Bullet. Finally, it shattered and transformed into the number “one” on the platform.
“More coming?”
Mo Ying was astonished.
It seemed that once the number reached “ten,” a high-rank Demon General level crystal spirit would appear.
By that time, even if she risked her life, she would be no match for it.
Whoosh!
She flew swiftly and finally landed on the platform, where she saw a deep blue crystal hanging in the air.
Mo Ying quickly swung her sword and cleaved it apart.
“Congratulations for completing the lower difficulty combat test. Your score is one hundred eleven, currently ranking first.”
“Note, this score is based on the number of crystal spirits slain, one point for each, regardless of cultivation level.”
A mechanical voice sounded.
In the next moment, Mo Ying felt the world spinning around her and finally found herself back in the luminous secret chamber.
Mo Ying did not continue to fight.
Because she noticed that she was actually feeling tired, and her Spiritual Energy had been greatly depleted, just as if she had really been fighting in the battle space.
“Now that’s odd.”
Mo Ying complained.
Although it was a virtual fight, she felt as if everything that had just happened was real, even feeling a sense of fatigue in her body.
She pushed open the stone door and appeared on the fourth floor.
“Oh man, I’m exhausted!”
“How many points did you guys get?”
“I scored a hundred.”
“Same here, but after the intense fight just now, I’ve successfully broken through to the eighth layer of Body Refinement. Quite the unexpected joy.”
Long Tianxing and Qiao Jiaxi were lying on the ground, taking deep breaths to regulate their condition while sharing the gains from their recent experience.
“Hey, Senior Sister Mo Ying, how many points did you get?”
“One hundred eleven.”
At the sound of Mo Ying’s voice, everyone stood up.
Huo Yunjie, with the Cold Light Sword on his back, muttered, “If I knew earlier, I wouldn’t have rushed for speed. I should have fought more and scored more points.”
Just now, he had scored zero!
Because Huo Yunjie hadn’t made a move at all, so he didn’t destroy any crystal spirits, he simply reached the crystal at the fastest speed and smashed it with one punch to pass the test.
“You all chose the lower difficulty, didn’t you?” Mo Ying asked.
“Yes!”
Long Tianxing nodded, “Thankfully it was only lower difficulty, but fighting against a hundred lower-rank Demon Soldier level crystal spirits in succession is quite tiring. Unfortunately, later on, I pushed through with severe injuries, braved the attacks of the low-rank crystal Demon General, and smashed the crystal to get through successfully.”
“You’re better off than me; I got killed by the low-rank crystal Demon General and did not clear the test, but because of that, I managed to break through my realm.” Qiao Jiaxi felt a bit of regret.
“Let’s rest for a while and then try the middle or upper difficulty combat to see what it’s like.”
“Besides, we still don’t know how to pass the test of the fourth-floor Combat Zone.”
“I think we need to pass the test at middle or upper difficulty.”
“Maybe it’s related to the score.”
“…”
The disciples began to discuss.
While they were diligently cultivating, elsewhere, the Thousand Faces Demon Monarch, maintaining his cloud shape, carried out his duty earnestly.
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