The Death Trial

“The Elite Passage, huh...” Luo Feng’s mind stirred. The 365 blades immediately flew out through the deliberately left opening of his backpack, quickly assembling into the Duntiansuo. Luo Feng leaped, stepping onto the Duntiansuo. Once he was on the Duntiansuo, his speed and agility would be significantly enhanced. “Let’s go!” Whoosh! At a speed comparable to a car, he flew into the black passage. The passage was incredibly deep and dark. After flying for over 500 meters, Luo Feng finally saw branching paths ahead. “Nine branching paths? A maze?” Luo Feng frowned. He knew clearly in his heart that this No. 9 Relics of Civilization, as Yaorao, the personal guard, had said, and from his previous experiences, was undoubtedly a ‘trial ground’ designed to eliminate the weak and select the strong, featuring various trial contents. “Why a maze?” Luo Feng wondered. “Alright, I’ll pick a path first.” Luo Feng flew into the first branching path on the left. Just a moment later, at the end of this path, another nine branching paths appeared! “Damn it, nine after nine... If this continues, even the most skilled expert would get lost.” Luo Feng carefully observed his surroundings. All around him were ancient passages formed by intertwined black tree roots, with no distinguishing features. ... In a branching path about 300 meters from Luo Feng, a blurry black shadow seeped from the wall, tangled with black tree roots. A moment later, like a drop of water falling, this black shadow dripped down, landed on the path’s ground, gradually solidified, and transformed into a black-robed figure wearing a silver-gray mask. The same thing happened in other branching paths. In the nine branching paths ahead of Luo Feng and the nine branching paths behind him, a black-robed figure wearing a silver mask ‘emerged’ from each path. A total of 18 black-robed figures began to gather along the paths, heading towards Luo Feng. “Huh? People?” Luo Feng immediately saw a black-robed figure emerge from a distant path. This figure wore a silver-gray mask, its pupils were green, and its gaze towards Luo Feng held undisguised killing intent! “Another one!” Another black-robed figure emerged from another path. Three, four, five, six... eight, nine! Nine black-robed figures stood at the entrances of the nine branching paths ahead, their green pupils staring at Luo Feng with killing intent. “Roar~~” A roar came from behind Luo Feng. “There are nine behind me too!” Luo Feng’s mental force clearly detected that behind the passage he was in, a full nine black-robed figures were walking towards him step by step, emitting low growls. Suddenly— Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The nine black-robed figures from behind charged towards Luo Feng like lightning along the passage, and the nine black-robed figures in front did the same. Every black-robed figure was filled with killing intent. “I can’t let them trap me in the passage, or being attacked from both sides would be a huge problem.” “Charge!” Boom! Stepping on the Duntiansuo, holding a hexagonal shield in one hand and a Blood Shadow Battle Blade in the other, he charged forward like a blood-red phantom. “Break through!” Luo Feng’s gaze turned cold. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Six curved blades danced, like ethereal butterflies, streaking with light as they directly struck the first black-robed figure to rush into the passage. The black-robed figure let out a low growl, and its hands, clad in silver-gray gloves, actually met the attack head-on, attempting to block the astonishingly fast blades. “Thud!” A dull sound. Each blade carried an impact force of over 500,000 kilograms, and all six blades struck the black-robed figure at the same instant! The black-robed figure was sent flying backward like a cannonball. As it flew out of the passage, it also knocked another black-robed figure flying. “Roar~~ Roar~~” The nine black-robed figures in the rear passage were clearly not as fast as Luo Feng. However, the other eight black-robed figures at the front of the passage did not charge in individually, but instead blocked the entrance. “Those who block me, die!” “Break! Break! Break!!!” Luo Feng’s speed had already soared to its limit, an terrifying speed of over 1000 meters per second, creating sonic booms. The air was compressed and distorted into ripples by such extreme speed. Especially the six blades, which flew ahead of Luo Feng, clearing obstacles for him! The eight black-robed figures outside the passage entrance roared furiously, simultaneously swinging their right fists, clad in silver-gray gauntlets! “Better to break one finger than injure ten!” Luo Feng’s gaze turned cold. Whoosh! The instant he burst out of the entrance, the Duntiansuo sharply arced, rushing to the right. His target was singular—the black-robed figure furthest to the right! Luo Feng braced his shield with his left hand, preparing to withstand any potential attacks. “Bang!” “Thud!” Three heavy punches slammed onto the shield Luo Feng was holding. Each punch was as heavy as Mount Tai, weighing over a million kilograms! Fortunately, the three punches landed in succession. If they had struck simultaneously without any buffer, Luo Feng would likely have been shaken to death! Pfft! Blood spurted out, his left arm completely fractured! “Die!” Luo Feng’s eyes didn’t even glance at the other black-robed figures; he only stared at the black-robed figure on the far right. The six blades were like lightning, savagely slicing towards the black-robed figure’s head and neck area. “Roar~~” As the black-robed figure on the far right roared, it swung its hands like lightning. Unfortunately, Luo Feng’s flying blades were too fast, too fast... The flying blades, exceeding ten times the speed of sound, had two blades successfully cut into the black-robed figure’s neck. Pfft! The first blade only cut less than a centimeter. Pfft! The second blade, however, instantly severed nearly half of its entire neck! “Get lost!” Luo Feng, moving at over a thousand meters per second, roared, his eyes bloodshot. The Blood Shadow Battle Blade in his right hand instantly transformed into a bolt of lightning! Lightning, the ultimate speed! As Luo Feng stood on the Duntiansuo, moving at over a thousand meters per second, the full burst of the fourth stage of the Ninefold Thunderblade, carrying the ‘lightning’ artistic conception... This strike achieved Luo Feng’s strongest blow ever! The blade directly swept past the severely wounded, near-death black-robed figure. Boom! First, the battle blade slashed through, then Luo Feng’s entire body crashed through! The black-robed figure exploded. “Roar~” “Roar~~” The other black-robed figures charged furiously like lightning. Each of them ran at about 800 meters per second, significantly faster than Li Yao. Each was comparable to the Phantom Demon Katelan. Including the black-robed figure Luo Feng had sent flying, it also resumed its pursuit! A full 17 black-robed figures pursued him madly! “You’re too late.” Luo Feng, like lightning, charged into the furthest right passage! Whoosh! With a sonic boom, streaking like a phantom, Luo Feng, standing on his shield, moved at 1300 meters per second, 500 meters per second faster than the black-robed figures. So... in just a few seconds, Luo Feng had left the group of black-robed figures out of sight. However, Luo Feng continued along one branching path after another, flying for half a minute before stopping. “Nine branching paths, then nine more, then nine again, endlessly...” “It would be strange if they could find me.” Luo Feng was amazed by the maze’s design. In terms of intricacy, this maze was not intricate at all; it was quite simple. But how was such a massive maze built? “I’ve run so far, I probably won’t be able to find my way back anytime soon.” Luo Feng shook his head with a smile. “Good thing I escaped this ordeal! Those eighteen black-robed figures were too troublesome, each comparable to a peak Wargod. And the gloves they wore were also very strange.” If he had been surrounded and annihilated by the remaining 17 black-robed figures... Without wearing the Black God Set, Luo Feng wouldn’t have been confident of surviving. ... At the original battle site, the seventeen black-robed figures were all there. The shattered remains of the dead black-robed figure were scattered on the passage floor. Suddenly, as if melting, the shattered remains slowly merged into the ground and disappeared. The seventeen black-robed figures’ bodies dematerialized, turning into blurry black shadows that merged into the ground. ... At a certain core location within the No. 9 Relics of Civilization, countless crystal-clear ropes, thousands upon thousands of them, extended in one direction, while streams of light transmitted from within them, converging towards the core. ... At a wide intersection formed by intertwined dark brown tree roots, ahead were nine branching paths! “Nine more branching paths! When will this end?” Even with Luo Feng’s good temper, he couldn’t help but stop. Every intersection looked identical! “Successfully passing will earn me a Black God Set. But what constitutes ‘successfully passing’?” Luo Feng looked at the nine intersections before him, feeling a bit helpless. If it had simply told him that defeating a few black-robed figures meant passing, he could have put in the effort. But now there wasn’t a single hint. Luo Feng couldn’t help but shake his head! ... At the silent intersection, Luo Feng was still pondering what to do, without any warning... Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Like rain, streams of transparent light shot down from above. Instantly, these transparent streams of light formed a crystal room, five meters high and eight meters long and wide, enclosing Luo Feng within it. “What’s going on?” “I didn’t even have time to react, and a crystal room formed, trapping me inside?” Luo Feng looked at the crystal room, his mind stirred. Instantly, six flying blades, with sharp whistling sounds, exceeding ten times the speed of sound, simultaneously bombarded a five-centimeter diameter circle on the same crystal wall. The crystal room merely vibrated slightly. Unfortunately... there wasn’t a single crack on the crystal wall. “What material is this room made of?” “Even if it were diamond, my attack would have pulverized it.” Luo Feng felt a chill in his heart. An impact force of over 3 million kilograms, concentrated within a five-centimeter diameter circle, yet there wasn’t a single crack. How was he supposed to get out? “XXXXXX...” A mysterious voice echoed within the crystal room, speaking for a long time. Luo Feng, however, was ecstatic. The ancient civilization relic had finally spoken. He quickly lowered his head to look at his communication watch, and the translation software immediately translated the long passage— “Elite Apprentice Luo Feng, your assessment death mission has officially begun!” “During this period, you will receive food and water supplies.” “On the walls of the assessment chamber are carved the 312 fundamental secret techniques of the ‘Controller’ branch of Mental-Force Users. By learning these 312 techniques, you will have a chance to break open this assessment chamber.” Luo Feng’s gaze swept towards the walls of the crystal room. He saw that on the walls of this translucent crystal room, there were numerous complex and varied carvings, over three hundred human anatomical diagrams, accompanied by textual explanations from the ancient relic. Just by looking with his naked eye, Luo Feng felt it was incredibly complex. “But this seems to be the fundamental secret techniques of the ‘Controller’ branch of Mental-Force Users? And this is just the basics?” “Assessment death mission requirement: Break open the assessment chamber within three years!” “If you fail to break open the chamber within three years, it will be considered a failure.” “Failure means death!”