Encountering Hake

"Behind this door are several interconnected mazes. The order of the mazes should appear randomly. Hake must be trapped in one of them."

Gu Ding floated in the void. After being teleported through the pyramid, he found himself in the third labyrinth. He radiated his soul power but still couldn't find Hake's presence, so he began to solve the labyrinth.

This maze was filled with irregularly shaped grid-like bricks. Gu Ding stood still, knowing that a single wrong step could have dire consequences.

Upon careful observation of the bricks on the ground, Gu Ding quickly discovered that some of the gaps between these bricks concealed Heavenly Dao Patterns.

He quickly discovered the key to the maze: stepping on certain blocks to complete the puzzle of the Heavenly Dao Patterns. One wrong step could trigger an attack from the Heavenly Dao Patterns or trap him.

Gu Ding quickly found a solution and, with several leaps, completed the piecing together of the Heavenly Dao Patterns.

The brick he was finally standing on slowly sank into the ground. An ordinary person, seeing this, might think they had made a mistake and quickly run away. But Gu Ding knew he hadn't made a mistake; the brick was sinking because he had cleared the maze.

Sure enough, after his body sank completely into the ground and his eyes went through a period of darkness, he soon saw the light again.

As soon as Gu Ding entered the maze, his expression suddenly turned into ecstasy, because he finally sensed Hake's presence in the maze.

"Over there!" Gu Ding looked in a distant direction. But he didn't take any immediate action; he just gazed into the distance.

The entire maze was filled with energy fluctuations and booming sounds of impact, where a powerful figure was striking something.

Not long after Gu Ding appeared, the crashing sound suddenly stopped, and a dark figure flashed in front of Gu Ding, launching an attack with lightning speed.

A semi-transparent black crystalline dagger pierced through space and appeared eerily in Gu Ding's chest, heading straight for his heart.

Gu Ding's pupils suddenly contracted, and he immediately retreated, simultaneously pointing a finger at the side of the dagger, causing the attack to deviate from its original direction.

"Boom!"

The black beam of light shot from the dagger pierced through hundreds of kilometers and slammed into the distant mountain rocks.

Gu Ding looked down at his right hand. The bones in his fingers, which had just touched the dagger, were already somewhat twisted. His arm trembled slightly. His left arm also had a cut, bleeding profusely and showing no signs of healing.

"This guy..."

Gu Ding repositioned the fractured finger, and the finger quickly returned to its original position. However, his right arm still felt slightly sore and swollen.

He looked up at his opponent, a familiar face, now slightly ferocious. His steps were unsteady, and he was shrouded in black mist.

Gu Ding lowered his gaze slightly. The Black Dagger in Hake's hand was almost solidifying, and the source of the black mist was that dagger.

He immediately realized that the Hake in front of him had already had part of his consciousness taken over by the Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade.

The reason it attacked him earlier was because the Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade's consciousness had gained the upper hand, but now Hake is struggling to regain control of his body. The two have entered a stalemate.

"Hake?" Gu Ding called out tentatively.

"Roar!" Hake looked up at him, his eyes carrying a hint of warning, telling Gu Ding not to come closer.

Clearly, in this clash between Hake and Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade still had the upper hand.

"Hake, I know you're here. You have to hold on. I'll take him down first and then get you out of this maze. We have a way to expel this Will Projection of the Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade's will." Gu Ding's biggest worry was that Hake would give up. Once the Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade completely dominated Hake's consciousness, Hake's true self would definitely be erased, and Hake would become a puppet of the Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade.

"Quick... run away... something's strange here..." Hake suddenly murmured intermittently.

"Something's strange?" Gu Ding frowned slightly. Logically speaking, Hake shouldn't have been corrupted by the Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade so quickly. The strange thing he mentioned should be the reason for his condition.

Just then, Gu Ding noticed that under the light from the sky, his shadow was projected onto the ground, and the shadow began to slowly wriggle, transforming into a human shape...

Gu Ding also noticed that the entire ground was covered with a large number of Heavenly Dao Patterns, and he didn't have time to decipher them.

The dark figure stood on the ground and slowly condensed into a human shape. Its appearance was nine-tenths similar to Gu Ding's, except that its skin was dark and its clothes were also completely black.

Gu Ding immediately understood what Hake meant by the strangeness. The Heavenly Dao Patterns on the ground could produce such a bizarre effect, pulling the figure away. He was also secretly speculating about the Combat Strength of this dark figure. At the same time, he became wary; if this dark figure knew his own moves, then he was not to be underestimated.

But Gu Ding's conjecture was quickly confirmed, because the black shadow, after taking shape, opened its eyes and locked onto Gu Ding the moment it did, and then suddenly pounced on him with both feet.

Hake also lost control of his body at this moment and pounced on Gu Ding from the other side.

Like two hungry wolves, their eyes were sinister as they stared at their prey, baring their bloodthirsty fangs.

Gu Ding grinned. Since emerging from the Gate of Purgatory, he had hardly had a satisfying battle. This time, both the demonized Hake and his own shadow were excellent opponents. Stimulated by both, his fighting spirit soared like never before.

Seeing the dark figure throw a punch, Gu Ding also threw a punch, fist to fist!

"Boom!"

A loud explosion rang out, and Gu Ding staggered back three steps, while the dark figure was sent flying backward. In just one exchange, Gu Ding was certain that his opponent's strength was at the level of Second Sequence Heavenly God.

Having just repelled the shadowy figure, Hake pressed forward again. His Combat Strength was similar to that of the shadowy figure, also at the level of Second Sequence Heavenly God, but the dagger in his hand was incredibly sharp. Clearly, this Will Projection carried some of the characteristics of the Soul Slaughtering Blood Blade Main God Artifact, a main artifact. In a direct confrontation, Gu Ding would only suffer losses.

Gu Ding dared not be careless this time. He was made of flesh and blood, and his arm had just been scraped, with no way to stop the bleeding. If he were to get a hole in his body, it would likely severely affect his Combat Strength.

He slightly turned his body to avoid the dagger that Hake was about to slash at his throat, then grabbed Hake's wrist, trying to take the dagger away.

With his wrist seized, Hake's attack was immediately halted, and Gu Ding reached out towards the dagger...

~~~

[The National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) begins tomorrow! Twelve years of hard work culminate in this moment. Wishing all the students taking the Gaokao tomorrow and the day after the exam the best of luck in shining brightly, overcoming all obstacles, achieving high scores, and gaining admission to Tsinghua, Peking University, Harvard, or Oxford!!! Also, best wishes to all the students taking the Gaokao this year, especially those from Lilang!] (To be continued~^~)