Trial

As he was adapting to his strength, several streams of information suddenly appeared in his mind.

Ye Cang absorbed them at lightning speed and soon grasped the basic information about the Virtual Battle Tower.

"So that's why there was such a strange figure as 11.2 floors. There was another layer to it."

Among the information transmitted to his mind was an explanation of how the tower's floors were counted. Successfully clearing a floor meant it was recorded as one completed floor.

If the trial was not cleared, the participant's performance would be used to assess their progress.

Fan Zhuoqun's 11.2 floors meant that he had successfully passed the first eleven trials and performed exceptionally well in the twelfth.

After about half a minute, the electronic prompt sounded again.

"Ye Cang, no combat assessment records found. Please select your combat suit and weapons within one minute. The first-floor trial will begin in one minute!"

At the same time, rows of weapons and combat suits, interspersed with images, appeared before Ye Cang. Most of them were the same types he had seen in shops outside.

In addition, he had one extra option: psychokinetic weapons.

After glancing over the choices, he found that with his current cultivation, the weapons and combat suits available reached only Grade Six. The psychokinetic weapons were the same.

Without hesitation, he chose the God Slaying Sword he had used before, an ordinary Grade Six combat suit, and a Grade Six King Slayer Flying Sword.

By the time he had finished choosing, half a minute had passed. Ye Cang hurriedly began familiarizing himself with the weapons he had just received.

But just as before, they felt no different from the weapons outside.

If he hadn't remembered lying down in the Virtual Battle Pod, he might not have been able to tell whether he was in his room or had been transported to some special location.

"Ancient civilization's virtual technology is astonishingly powerful!"

Ye Cang couldn't help marveling again.

Beep!

The prompt sounded.

"First-floor trial of the Virtual Battle Tower commencing. Please kill the early-stage junior Beast General Blood-Eyed Jackal within ten minutes!"

As the electronic voice rang out, a white pillar of light descended from the sky about ten meters in front of him.

Within it, a dark silhouette rapidly took shape.

Three seconds later, a gigantic jackal-like beast stood before him, about five meters tall, its pupils blood-red.

Its gaze brimmed with murderous intent as it stared fixedly at Ye Cang.

"Begin!"

The Virtual Battle Tower gave him no time to prepare. The instant the beast finished taking shape, the battle began!

Whoosh!

In a flash, the Blood-Eyed Jackal was right in front of Ye Cang, its jaws gaping as it lunged to bite him.

Amid the gust of wind rushing toward him, Ye Cang could even smell the stench of blood.

Clang!

Ye Cang easily blocked the attack with his sword.

"Nearly twenty thousand kilograms of force!"

From that first clash, Ye Cang immediately estimated the strength of the manifested Blood-Eyed Jackal.

He was slightly startled.

Judging by the beast's explosive power and speed, its combat strength rivaled that of a mid-stage junior General.

"The first floor is already this formidable. I wonder how strong the beasts on the later floors will be."

Awooo!

The Blood-Eyed Jackal roared angrily and lunged in from the side again.

This time, Ye Cang simply willed it.

A King Slayer Flying Sword pierced through its skull in an instant.

It was too weak to be worth fighting.

Before his eyes, the Blood-Eyed Jackal's body dissolved into streams of data. The electronic prompt sounded again.

"First-floor trial complete. The second-floor trial will begin in one minute!"

One minute later.

The arena expanded by twenty or thirty meters.

Another beast appeared.

It was a Steel-Tusk Wild Boar!

Ye Cang tested its strength and found that it had reached thirty thousand kilograms, with combat strength rivaling that of a late-stage junior General.

Whoosh!

The King Slayer Flying Sword shot out again, and the Steel-Tusk Wild Boar died instantly.

"Second-floor trial complete. The third-floor trial will begin in one minute!"

The third floor!

A Gold-Striped Saber-Toothed Tiger!

Forty thousand kilograms of force, matching an early-stage intermediate General.

It was still killed with a single sword strike.

The fourth floor!

As the trial floors climbed higher, the combat strength of the generated virtual beasts grew ever more formidable.

By the ninth floor!

The Winged Poison Spider that appeared had reached the standard strength of a peak General.

One hundred thousand kilograms of force!

A hundred tons of strength!

It was immensely powerful.

But Ye Cang now had 73.2 tons of strength, plus another 70 tons from his psychokinetic power. Even a casual sword strike carried a full 143.2 tons of force.

The peak Beast General couldn't withstand ten strikes. He sliced off all its limbs, then blew its head apart with a single sword strike.

"Ninth-floor trial complete. The tenth-floor trial will begin in one minute!"

As he listened to the electronic voice, Ye Cang recalled the information he had received.

The first nine floors tested how well a General could bring out his ordinary strength.

Starting with the tenth floor, the beasts' combat strength doubled. They were designed to match martial artists who had at least fully mastered a General Grade battle skill and begun comprehending its intent.

That was why most of the Generals at the Divine Firmament Martial Arts Hall were stuck on the tenth floor.

Only a mere few dozen had managed to pass.

One minute later.

Boom!

A white pillar of light descended from the sky, and a beast just over three meters tall slowly took shape.

"Gale Mantis!"

Ye Cang was slightly startled at the sight of the beast.

Not only was this monster as strong as any other beast of the same grade, it was several times faster.

Under normal circumstances, it could utterly crush other beasts.

Whoosh!

A dark blur flashed, and the Gale Mantis was already in front of Ye Cang. Its forelimbs were like blades as they slashed mercilessly toward his neck, aiming to take his head in one blow.

"So fast!"

Ye Cang exclaimed in surprise, swinging the God Slaying Sword up to meet it.

Clang, clang, clang...

The sounds of real clashes of strength rang out.

In just a few seconds, the two had exchanged dozens of blows.

Shock flashed through Ye Cang's eyes. The Gale Mantis's strength was in no way inferior to his own.

And he was already unleashing the full power of his perfected Aurora Sword Wings!

With the boost, his strength had reached 216.4 tons.

"The tenth floor is already this terrifying. There are still eight more floors after this. Just how strong would a General have to be to clear them all?"

Even as he marveled, Ye Cang fought with all his might.

For a time, the three-hundred-meter-wide arena was filled with the figures of the two locked in a fierce exchange of blows.

"Training here can actually improve my swordsmanship and movement technique experience!"

He happened to glance at his system panel, and the changes there startled him even more.

After just one minute of fighting, he saw that his swordsmanship and movement technique experience had each increased by eleven or twelve points.

"Now that's a pleasant surprise!"

Seeing this, Ye Cang gave up on the idea of finishing off the Gale Mantis at once.

At this rate, ten minutes would be enough to save him a hundred or two hundred points of Life Energy.

"Die!"

Excitement flashed through Ye Cang's eyes as he launched a furious flurry of sword strikes at the Gale Mantis, his body darting nimbly as he honed his swordsmanship and movement technique.

Meanwhile!

In the waiting room outside the Virtual Battle Pods.

"Heh! It's been so long. Could that kid still not have reached the tenth floor?"

A smile crossed Fan Yongfeng's face as he glanced at Hong Chen.

"Your nephew remembers that the tenth floor has a Gale Mantis. Against that kind of beast, even if someone has mastered a General Grade battle skill, without comprehending its intent, they can't restrain the Gale Mantis's speed. In the end, defeat is inevitable."

Fan Zhuoqun spoke calmly, a trace of contempt in his voice.

"Heh! Exactly. Someone from a small city, with no Lineage to teach him—perhaps he doesn't even know what intent is."

Fan Yongfeng continued smiling as he looked at Hong Chen.

"Venerable Hong, if you ask me, there's no need to waste any more time."

"You transfer the money, and I'll leave. That way, when the final score comes out, you won't be embarrassed."