Breaking Through the Trial Tower

Chen Hao understood that this was the second floor of the Trial Tower. Each floor completed increased the Trial Tower level by 0.3, while completely clearing a floor increased it by one.

He recalled the earlier battle against the Mang Bull herd. If he had not been practicing the Flowing Light Movement, he would have slaughtered every last Mang Bull long ago.

Still, he could feel that under the pressure of more than two hundred Beast General Level Mang Bulls, his Flowing Light Movement had become extremely proficient.

Measured against the ranks of Basic Movement Technique, it should have reached the perfect level of Basic Movement Technique.

That was the effect of a secret manual. Mere proficiency in the Flowing Light Movement already rivaled a perfect-level Basic Movement Technique.

If he could train the Flowing Light Movement to perfection, his combat strength would definitely rise another level.

"Student Chen Hao, congratulations on completing the first-floor trial. Next is the second floor, A-stage trial. Your objective is to kill fifty Junior Beast General Level Iron Armored Scorpions within ten minutes. Good luck."

Iron Armored Scorpions were a common type of monster in desert regions and the most numerous among scorpion-type monsters. They were relatively small and extraordinarily fast, capable of attacking prey in groups of several or even a dozen at once. This made clearing the tower exponentially more difficult.

In the desert, dark-red armored scorpions burrowed out of the sand one after another. They were about the size of small poodles, with dark-red carapaces and gradually lengthening, pointed tails. No one would doubt their strength. Then, one dark-red Iron Armored Scorpion after another transformed into shadow remnants and pounced toward him.

Seeing the Iron Armored Scorpions charging at him, Chen Hao was not nervous at all. In his view, Iron Armored Scorpions were far easier to deal with than Mang Bulls.

Although Mang Bulls possessed roughly the same strength as Iron Armored Scorpions, their size exceeded that of the scorpions by several orders of magnitude.

When they charged, their impact was several times, even dozens of times greater than that of Iron Armored Scorpions. Faced with such force, Chen Hao had no choice but to rely on his movement technique to evade as much as possible, avoiding direct collisions with them.

After all, his body in the Trial Space was inferior to his body in the outside world. Even though the Iron Armored Scorpions were extremely fast, as long as Chen Hao could clearly see their trajectories, they were no longer a threat.

He did not even need to use the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade. A casual slash was enough to split one apart. What he needed to avoid was the simultaneous attacks of the Iron Armored Scorpion swarm.

But that was precisely what Chen Hao excelled at, since his Basic Movement Technique had already reached perfection.

His Flowing Light Movement was also highly proficient. Combined with the perfect second level of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade, he could swiftly kill the Iron Armored Scorpions with a perfect-level Basic Saber Technique.

Yet Chen Hao did not do so. Instead, just as on the previous floor, he slowly honed his movement technique. Only when nearly ten minutes had passed did he personally dispatch all fifty Iron Armored Scorpions.

"Time used: nine minutes and thirty-one seconds. Fifty Elementary Beast General Rank Iron Armored Scorpions killed. A-stage passed. Congratulations, Student Chen Hao." The Iron Armored Scorpion corpses on the ground then vanished, and his condition was restored.

"Student Chen Hao, congratulations on completing the second floor's A-stage trial. Next is the second floor's B-stage trial. Your objective is to kill one hundred Junior Beast General Level Iron Armored Scorpions within thirty minutes. Good luck."

Chen Hao's expression did not change. One hundred Iron Armored Scorpions were no different from fifty. Unlike large Beast General Level monsters, whose charges were difficult for the Trial Space's matched body strength to withstand,

Iron Armored Scorpions were small. Though incredibly fast and elusive in their movements, they also lacked the advantage of a collective charge.

Increasing their numbers merely made their attacks continuous. After all, Iron Armored Scorpions were not the Zerg Race; they could not focus their explosive attacks on a single point and unleash terrifying power.

No matter how simultaneously the Iron Armored Scorpions attacked, their force still arrived in sequence. They could not truly combine into one. With equal physical attributes, Iron Armored Scorpions were actually less dangerous than Mang Bulls.

The Iron Armored Scorpion swarm likewise vanished from where it stood, leaving shadow remnants as it lunged fiercely at him.

Chen Hao tightened his grip on the shield in his left hand and held his saber in his right. He pushed off hard with his left foot and shot forward, charging straight at the Iron Armored Scorpions.

Twenty-nine minutes later, he saw an Iron Armored Scorpion that was not quite dead. He walked over and thrust his saber through it.

"Time used: twenty-nine minutes and fifteen seconds. One hundred Elementary Beast General Level Iron Armored Scorpions killed. B-level Assessment passed. Congratulations, Student Chen Hao." As the Iron Armored Scorpion stopped struggling, the electronic voice sounded.

As soon as the announcement ended, all the Iron Armored Scorpion corpses vanished at once, and his condition was restored again.

"Student Chen Hao, congratulations on completing the second floor's B-stage trial. Next is the second floor's C-stage trial. Your objective is to kill ten intermediate Beast General Level Iron Armored Scorpions and one hundred ninety Elementary Beast General Level Iron Armored Scorpions within fifty minutes. Good luck."

Chen Hao looked somewhat depressed as he emerged from the trial room and saw Zhao Ruo approaching him with a delighted expression.

"Senior Sister, why are you here? You look so happy. Did something good happen?"

"Your Combat Power Amplitude reached 10.5, right? You just arrived here, yet you're already this impressive. I couldn't even clear the first floor. Once you raise your battle record points, your ranking points will increase quickly. Based on Combat Power Amplitude alone, you can already rank in the top ten of the Training Camp." Zhao Ruo's voice was full of envy.

Chen Hao was taken aback. Top ten in the Training Camp? It seemed he was doing fairly well after all, and his earlier frustration faded somewhat.

After all, Golden Vultures were not slow and could fly. If he could not kill them in a single strike, they would definitely fly into the air.

In that case, it would be difficult to kill them all within the allotted time. It seemed quite a few people in the Training Camp had fallen at that floor.

There probably were not many who could pass the third floor's A-level Trial. It seemed he did not need to belittle himself, and once his movement technique grew stronger, he would likely be able to clear the entire third floor.

After all, his Force Exertion Level had reached 3.5. Once his movement technique rose to the Artistic Conception level, clearing it would no longer be a problem.

"There's one more thing. Your instructor came to the compound looking for you. Your teacher is quite a beauty, so hurry back."

Chen Hao was somewhat surprised. He had not expected Jiang Fang to arrive so quickly. It seemed his movement technique and saber technique would soon be taken care of.

In the past, many readers of Devouring did not think much of Jiang Fang as Luo Feng's teacher, since Jiang Fang had not taught Luo Feng very much.

Luo Feng himself had never truly embarked on the path of Artistic Conception. Instead, he had relied on cheats all the way through.

In Chen Hao's view, this had to do with Luo Feng's disposition. Luo Feng's heart was like a blade.

Thunder God possessed the heart of a child, while Hong embraced all things, his heart boundless.

Of the two, Thunder God and Hong found it easier to emulate nature through cultivating their states of mind and enter Artistic Conception.

The many Martial Artists on Earth had also largely been influenced by those two and followed the path of Artistic Conception.

Only Luo Feng remained at the first realm of Artistic Conception: understanding his own nature, his heart like a blade. He walked that single path to the end, directly toward his true heart.

Jiang Fang's Artistic Conception Saber Technique might bring Luo Feng some insight, but it could never make him comprehend Artistic Conception.

Artistic Conception was more like a spiritual secret manual created by Earth's Martial Artists through emulating nature in order to cultivate their minds. Take Jiang Fang: for a God of War who had comprehended Artistic Conception, as long as her physical attributes reached Peak God of War,

her chances of breaking through to the Planetary Level would be very high. After all, breaking through to the Planetary Level required synchronization between control of one's body and one's spiritual power.

Control of the body and the strength of one's mental power were both indispensable.

Just as Luo Feng first broke through as a Spiritual Thought Master rather than through his physical attributes, only after his Mental Power reached the Planetary Level did his physical attributes break through to the Planetary Level.

I got engaged today and took her parents home, so it was already ten at night. I can only post one chapter today. I'll make it up over the next few days. I'm truly sorry, everyone.