Forced Battle

The time it took to take a breath was enough for Luo Zheng to run dozens of feet away. In front of him floated a colorful band of light, which was the entrance to the third level. Without thinking, he plunged into the band of light.

After passing through the band of light, the scenery changed significantly.

The lush green trees were gone, replaced by barren hillsides and a stone forest made of jagged rocks. On those hillsides were deep holes about ten feet in size, from which black poisonous smoke emerged. There was no sign of life, as if it were a dead end.

None of the trial disciples who had passed through the band of light earlier were visible now. Even Mo Can had disappeared, probably fearing that the Aristocratic Clan Disciples would pursue them from the band of light, so they had all fled after reaching the third level.

Luo Zheng climbed up a hillside in front and walked into the strange stone forest ahead.

The Crystal Shards he had were far from enough. From now on, he had to seize the time.

The Illusory Beasts in the third level of the illusion would be relatively more troublesome. These Level 3 Illusory Beasts were comparable in strength to human experts in the Marrow Refining Realm. Moreover, because Illusory Beasts were conjured using demonic beasts as prototypes, Illusory Beasts of the same level were generally stronger than humans.

Luo Zheng raised his guard and walked through the strange stone forest. Before he had taken two steps, he suddenly heard a "hissing" sound in his ear.

Something was following him.

The moment he heard the sound, Luo Zheng suddenly turned his head, but found nothing behind him except the jagged rocks.

Luo Zheng frowned, a look of doubt on his face. Was he being overly cautious?

After thinking for a while, he took another step and continued forward. But just as he passed through a stone arch formed by strange rocks, a black shadow suddenly enveloped him from the other end of the arch.

Luo Zheng's vigilance was extremely high, and at this moment, his reaction speed was also extremely fast. In this critical moment, he suddenly ducked down, pressing his entire body flat against the ground, avoiding the black shadow, and simultaneously rolled on the ground.

He saw a long tail behind the black shadow, whipping fiercely at the spot where he had just been, carving a deep groove in the ground.

By the time Luo Zheng got up from the ground, he saw a Level 3 Illusory Beast in front of him, completely black: an Earth Swallowing Python!

The Earth Swallowing Python, having failed in its attack, suddenly retreated far away, constantly weaving through the surrounding stone forest, looking for the next opportunity.

Facing an Earth Swallowing Python, Luo Zheng did not dare to be careless. He retreated a few steps, leaning his back against a rock to prevent the Earth Swallowing Python from attacking him from behind. Then, his gaze constantly tracked the figure of the Illusory Beast. As long as the Earth Swallowing Python lost patience and launched a frontal attack on him, Luo Zheng was confident he could deliver a fatal blow.

What Luo Zheng didn't expect was that this Earth Swallowing Python was very cunning. It quickly weaved around this area of the stone forest, occasionally revealing its large snake head and flicking its tongue at Luo Zheng a few times, then constantly moving again.

Luo Zheng did not blindly go after it.

This Earth Swallowing Python moved extremely fast. If Luo Zheng were to chase it, he would likely gain nothing. However, Illusory Beasts were, after all, conjured from demonic beasts, and their biggest weakness was that they had less patience than humans. And Luo Zheng had plenty of patience to wear down this beast.

One person and one snake faced off in the stone forest for about half an hour. Finally, the Earth Swallowing Python lost patience and launched an attack on Luo Zheng.

The Earth Swallowing Python actually circled behind Luo Zheng, raised its tail, and actually tried to coil around Luo Zheng, the person, and the rock together.

Luo Zheng's strength flowed, and his whole body flickered with purple light. Facing this kind of Illusory Beast, he only had one chance. If he couldn't kill this Earth Swallowing Python, it would probably tuck its tail and run away. So Luo Zheng did not resist, but allowed the Illusory Beast to coil around him.

The rock behind him quickly shattered and disintegrated under the immense crushing force of the Earth Swallowing Python. Luo Zheng was firmly coiled.

Luo Zheng knew the habits of snakes. After they coiled around their prey, they would contract their abdomen as soon as the prey breathed, and they would coil tighter accordingly. With each breath, they would coil tighter, until the prey could no longer breathe and died from lack of oxygen, only then would they begin to swallow the prey.

Before this, Luo Zheng took a deep breath.

He concentrated all the strength in his arms and legs, waited quietly for a while, and then struggled with all his might.

"Rip!"

The snake body of this Earth Swallowing Python, which was as thick as a bucket, instantly broke into several sections and scattered everywhere. Only the eyes on the snake's head showed a look of horror. In its memory, as long as prey was coiled by it, there was no possibility of escape. It had thought it could have a feast.

But the strength that this prey suddenly erupted with far exceeded its tolerance, so it was instantly torn into several sections.

After the Earth Swallowing Python's body broke into five or six sections, it wriggled on the ground for a moment, and then transformed into specks of light.

"Clink clink!"

A purple Crystal Shard fell from the strange rock onto the ground, making a crisp and pleasant sound. For Luo Zheng, the third level was the suitable hunting ground for him. He only needed to accumulate nine more purple Crystal Shards to pass the Bloodcolor Trials.

Luo Zheng picked it up, wiped it, and put it in his pocket. Then he found a direction and walked quickly.

He did not intend to enter the fourth level. Based on the strength of the Illusory Beasts in the Bloodcolor Trials, the strength of the Illusory Beasts in the fourth level should be equivalent to that of humans in the Half-Step to the Innate Realm. Since they were Illusory Beasts, they should be stronger than humans based on their innate abilities.

Although he only needed to kill three Level 4 Illusory Beasts to pass the Bloodcolor Trials, thinking of the strength Xie Lang displayed when his physical strength was exhausted, which gave him a headache, let alone Half-Step to the Innate Realm level Illusory Beasts, he still dismissed this idea.

In fact, Luo Zheng's judgment was extremely correct.

In the Bloodcolor Trials, most people would stay on the third level. Few would set foot on the fourth and fifth levels. The Illusory Beasts there were too strong, not a place where trial disciples could stay.

Luo Zheng wandered on the third level for three hours.

During these three hours, he gained a lot.

First, he encountered a Heavenly Demon Crow. The Heavenly Demon Crow kept attacking Luo Zheng from the air, but Luo Zheng couldn't do anything about this Heavenly Demon Crow. Whenever he was about to attack the Heavenly Demon Crow, it would distance itself from Luo Zheng.

Finally, being entangled by this Heavenly Demon Crow with no other option, Luo Zheng chose to fall to the ground and pretend to be dead. Unexpectedly, this trick worked. This kind of Heavenly Demon Crow liked to eat corpses. The moment the Heavenly Demon Crow approached him, he killed it with one punch.

Afterward, a huge Ancient Mammoth also came to trouble Luo Zheng. Facing this kind of large, terrifying ancient beast, Luo Zheng relied on his agile body to kill it.

Three-Headed Black Wolf...

Flame Dragon Beast...

Vajra Gorilla...

Overall, the Illusory Beasts on the third level were much more powerful than those on the second level, but for Luo Zheng, they were just slightly more troublesome. With a little thought, they were not too difficult to deal with.

In three hours, he obtained a total of eight purple Crystal Shards.

Now, in front of Luo Zheng, a Blood Boar with a green face and fangs was charging towards him.

This Blood Boar had poisonous quills all over its body, and its skin was thick and tough, making it very difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, its intelligence was very low. Besides charging at Luo Zheng with brute force, it had no other attack methods.

Luo Zheng kept dodging, waiting until the Blood Boar had exhausted most of its strength before dealing with it.

But after one dodge, Luo Zheng suddenly felt an extremely dangerous sensation! Almost instinctively, he rolled to the side.

A bright blue line suddenly appeared where Luo Zheng had been. The Blood Boar reacted slowly, charging headfirst into the bright blue line. It was instantly cut in half by the line. Before it could even scream, it disintegrated into countless light points, and a Crystal Shard dropped to the ground with a clinking sound.

Luo Zheng's face was ashen as he examined the gradually disappearing bright blue line. This line was incredibly sharp. If he had been even slightly slower just now, he would have been cut in half by this bright blue line.

"This Crystal Shard is for you."

Not far away, a young man was playing with a dagger. At the tip of the dagger, bright blue lines continuously appeared.

"Who are you?" Luo Zheng asked cautiously. His attack just now was clearly aimed directly at him.

The young man said casually, "My surname is Fang, and my name is Fang Yushu."

Luo Zheng's eyes flashed, and he understood most of it. He was also an Aristocratic Clan Disciple with the surname Fang, and he attacked him without a word. He was most likely from the same family as the three people he met on the second level.

Fang Yushu took out a handful of Crystal Shards from his embrace. They flowed from his hand onto the ground with a rustling sound, like scattered jade, making crisp clinking sounds.

Only ten were needed to ensure a trial disciple passed the assessment, but there were dozens of Crystal Shards scattered on the ground!

Luo Zheng had been busy for so long and had only managed to collect nine Crystal Shards. This guy actually got so many.

"Fight me, and all these Crystal Shards are yours," Fang Yushu said coldly.

Luo Zheng shook his head and said, "I'm not interested."

Are you kidding? He was only one Crystal Shard away from advancing. Why would he fight this guy? The fact that this guy could accumulate so many Crystal Shards in such a short time was likely due to the dagger in his hand.

In Luo Zheng's judgment, this dagger was likely a Spirit Artifact level treasure.

Luo Zheng was confident in his strength, but he wasn't blind.

Fang Yushu smiled faintly, "I'm afraid you don't have a choice. Although I wouldn't be surprised if those three idiots were eliminated, and I wouldn't feel sorry for them either, it's impossible for someone from our Fang Family to be eliminated without paying a price."

Hearing this, Luo Zheng remained unmoved. He was burying his head and walking quickly to leave, but at this moment, a bright blue thread strangely appeared in front of him.

Moreover, this thread rapidly increased, turning into a small square. That square also continuously increased, eventually becoming a huge net. This net covered an area of hundreds of meters around, encompassing Luo Zheng and Fang Yushu.

"The Bloodcolor Trials are too boring. Dealing with these unintelligent Illusory Beasts is simply an insult to my intelligence! Only a good fight can make me happy!" Fang Yushu said in a strange tone.

Luo Zheng narrowed his eyes, looking at Fang Yushu not far away. It seemed that if he didn't fight this battle today, it would likely not end well.