Hero Hall

"Begin!"

A dazzling blue light lit up from the boy's brow, then rapidly spread across his entire body. Streaks of blue-violet electricity erupted instantly, coursing around him. At the same time, his right arm swelled, blue-violet scales covering it as it expanded, while his right hand transformed into a thick claw.

Two Yellow Soul Rings rose and circled his thick right arm as he charged toward An Ping with strange footwork.

Meanwhile, An Ping had already deployed multiple Magic Barriers. As the distance closed, the First Soul Ring on the boy's arm lit up, and a blue-violet Lightning Dragon Claw shot toward An Ping.

With a thunderous boom, the Lightning Dragon Claw struck the Ice Wall An Ping had created, sending fine ice chips flying. Seeing how sturdy the wall was and that his attack had failed to shatter it, the boy changed his footing and prepared to circle around from the side.

His steps halted as Frost Chains wrapped around his legs and continued creeping up toward his torso. A burst of Soul Power failed to break the chains, which did not even look particularly thick. Fury filled the boy's face as his Soul Power surged violently.

The Electric Snakes circling the boy gradually expanded, weaving into a Lightning Net that lunged at An Ping. Naturally, An Ping would not sit and wait for death. With a flash of silver light, he appeared behind the boy and sent a Cutting Technique slicing toward him. There was no bloody scene; the boy simply dissolved into specks of blue light.

"First stage cleared. Second stage begins. Defeat your opponent, or hold out for thirty seconds."

In the second stage, nothing had changed apart from his Soul Power being slightly stronger than before. An Ping dealt with him quickly.

"Advanced Assessment, first stage. Prepare."

As the mechanical electronic voice sounded, a white light appeared where the boy had vanished. The boy from before appeared again, though he seemed slightly older.

"I see?" An Ping muttered softly.

The boy had reappeared in a Three-Ring state. His third Purple Soul Ring lit up, and this time, aside from the change in his right arm, his entire body showed signs of swelling. He charged toward An Ping, several degrees faster than before.

An Ping's thoughts raced as he quickly calculated the boy's speed. As the boy continuously approached, a thick Ice Layer rapidly formed over the ground. Ice Pillars rose swiftly along the edge of the ice, extending upward before converging inward at a certain height to form a sealed Frost Cage.

Then, with a flash of silver light, An Ping slipped out almost at the instant his Magic Barrier was shattered, leaving the boy alone inside the Frost Cage. He then swiftly drew upon Magic Power and used Shaping Technique, controlling the Frost Cage as it gradually shrank until it was roughly half a meter in diameter. He then applied Reinforcement Technique to the Frost Cage, making it even sturdier.

Even Gu Yuena's four-element Elemental Fusion had been unable to break the Frost Cage. With Reinforcement Technique added on top, the Three-Ring boy could do nothing about it. Thirty seconds soon passed.

"Advanced Assessment, second stage. Prepare."

There was no change in the boy. He was still Three-Ring, only with stronger Soul Power. The moment the electronic voice announced the start, he attacked the Frost Cage trapping him with all his strength. An Ping merely kept channeling Magic Power to reinforce the cage, and another thirty seconds quickly passed.

"Ultimate Assessment, first stage. Prepare."

With a flash of light, the boy vanished and then reappeared. He now looked to be in his teens. From the very start, he directly used Martial Soul Possession, and two yellow and two purple Soul Rings rose around him.

"Four-Ring?" An Ping muttered as he watched the scene before him.

As the Third Soul Ring and Fourth Soul Ring lit up in succession, a Thunder Dragon Head appeared inside the cage and crashed toward An Ping. Cracking sounds rang out as fissures spread across the Frost Cage.

Sensing that the Frost Cage was about to break, An Ping rapidly retreated while silently constructing a Space Barrier in front of himself. A violent explosion rang out, and the massive Thunder Dragon Head detonated before him. Ripples spread across the Space Barrier as it nearly reached its limit. An Ping hurriedly increased his Magic Power output to stabilize it.

The Four-Ring boy's speed was terrifyingly fast. An Ping's various techniques simply could not keep up with him, forcing him onto the defensive. Ice Walls, Earth Walls, Space Barriers—thirty seconds soon passed, and An Ping had little Magic Power left.

"Ultimate Assessment, second stage. Prepare." The mechanical electronic voice sounded.

With a bang, the barrier An Ping had formed from Soul Power shattered. Since Soul Power was far inferior to Magic Power in both quality and quantity, it had barely held for even a second.

With a flash of light, a Light Pillar descended and protected An Ping within it, preventing him from being harmed. Then space rippled, and the surroundings shifted once more. An Ping appeared back in the previous space.

Seeing An Ping emerge, Xie Xie came over. "An Ping, how many stages did you clear?"

Gu Yuena and Tang Wulin also looked over. Only after calming his somewhat turbulent emotions did An Ping answer, "I failed the second stage of the ultimate assessment."

Upon hearing An Ping's answer, Xie Xie wore the expression of someone who regretted ever asking.

"Come here." Wu Changkong waved them over.

Just as they reached Wu Changkong, space began to ripple again, and the scene shifted once more. They appeared in a place resembling an office.

Wu Changkong pointed at the sofas in the office. "Sit. There are some things I need to discuss with you."

After watching them sit down, Wu Changkong walked to the sofa opposite them and took a seat. "I know you must have many questions about today's examination. What I can tell you is that the opponents you encountered in Hero Hall were all Soul Masters who had truly existed in the past. Since they were simulations, they could only display around seventy percent of their actual strength. Compared to them, what do you think of your own abilities?"

"Very strong!" Tang Wulin and Xie Xie blurted out, unable to help recalling their own experiences.

Wu Changkong nodded. "There are two reasons I brought you here. First, none of you are far from reaching your Spirit Power absorption limit in the Spirit Ascension Platform. After a few more trips, you should reach that limit. Moreover, as your strength has improved, the Spirit Ascension Platform has not been as effective for training you as it was at the beginning. For An Ping and Gu Yuena, unless they encounter a large number of thousand-year Soul Beasts, it no longer has any effect at all."

"Therefore, you need another place where you can train. Hero Hall is such a place. Compared with the Spirit Ascension Platform, Hero Hall is more real, because it is your Main Body that suffers the injuries. Furthermore, once your injuries reach a certain extent, you will be teleported out. There will not be the kind of Spiritual Shock caused by physical destruction that occurs in the Spirit Ascension Platform. You can regard it as an advanced Spirit Ascension Platform."

Wu Changkong paused slightly. Only after seeing them nod did he continue, "Second, the main purpose of this assessment was not the Final Exam. Your Final Exam had already effectively ended in the Riot Period Spirit Ascension Platform. The true purpose of this assessment was that, by passing the trials here, you could join this organization. If you decide to join, you will be able to accumulate merits in the future and use Hero Hall for training."