Braving the Sky Bridge

A month later, Gulanxiu slowly opened his eyes and murmured, "I've nearly finished organizing the insights I gained from comprehending the Chaos Tablet. It's time to test myself on the Sky Bridge."

With a thought, Gulanxiu used his Light Brain to log into the Virtual Universe, then teleported to the Sky Bridge Plane using his clearance.

The Sky Bridge Plane was an endless ocean... its waters surging and crashing.

There was only one beautiful island in the ocean. Along its edge were forty-five harbors... from each harbor stretched an endless bridge, reaching toward the ends of the world... as if it would connect with the distant horizon. The forty-five bridges spanned the entire sky above the ocean.

Mist hung faintly over the waves, obscuring whatever might lie beneath the water. It curled around the bridges... everything seemed like a dream.

Gulanxiu suddenly appeared in the plaza at the center of the island.

He looked around and saw a few people on the island, but he didn't know them well. So when they saw him, none of them came over to greet him.

Just then, a man wearing a black Star Robe and sporting four ears walked over. Smiling, he said to Gulanxiu, "Hello, Gulanxiu! I'm the Sky Bridge's Guardian, Bafen. You can call me Guardian."

Gulanxiu nodded. "Hello, Lord Guardian!"

"Let me explain," Guardian Bafen said with a nod. "This Sky Bridge Plane was created for the forty-five Chaos Tablets in Chaos City..."

"Over countless ages, our Human Race has studied the forty-five Chaos Tablets... and so forty-five schools of thought have taken shape in Chaos City."

Guardian Bafen sighed. "Since you're studying the Giant Axe Chaos Tablet, naturally you belong to the Great Axe school. Those who study the same Chaos Tablet can still have varying levels of insight. Only those with sufficient strength are granted another chance to study their Chaos Tablet. Strength is measured by how far you can advance on the Sky Bridge. The Giant Axe Sky Bridge has thirty-two levels. Every level you pass earns you another chance to study the Chaos Tablet, so work hard!"

Gulanxiu nodded to show he understood. He already knew all this from the original story, so Bafen didn't need to explain much.

Bafen continued, "Since you understand, go ahead and try the challenge! No one's on the Giant Axe Sky Bridge right now."

Gulanxiu nodded, then flew toward the Giant Axe Sky Bridge. A short while later, he reached the end of its first level.

"Choose your opponent. You may choose a Warrior, a Mental Master Controller, or a Mental Master Illusionist. Choose any one of them. Defeat your opponent to pass the first level of the Sky Bridge." A voice came from the enormous cloud of mist before Gulanxiu.

"I choose a Warrior!" Gulanxiu said firmly. As soon as he finished speaking, a man in a black robe and mask appeared before him.

The man held a giant axe just like Gulanxiu's. In a cold voice, he said, "Begin!"

The moment the man finished speaking, Gulanxiu charged in, swinging his giant axe toward the man's waist.

The man met him with the same opening move, sweeping his giant axe horizontally!

Boom! A tremendous crash rang out where their axe blades collided, and the force of the impact sent them both flying backward.

The no-frills clash of brute strength made Gulanxiu's blood surge with excitement.

He spun halfway around in the air, then steadied himself. Before his opponent could regain his footing, he charged again.

Gulanxiu spun the giant axe in his hands like a windmill, raining furious blows down on the black-robed man.

Though he was on the defensive, the man remained calm. He blocked and parried with his axe, defending himself flawlessly.

However, the black-robed man on this first level was still somewhat inferior to Gulanxiu in his understanding of the Laws. Though he barely managed to block every attack, Gulanxiu drove him back step by step!

Gulanxiu, meanwhile, found himself fighting more smoothly with every passing moment. The evenly matched battle made it feel as if his blood were on fire.

His opponent's comprehension of the Laws was inferior to his, but his application of them was more refined.

As they fought, Gulanxiu continually corrected the flaws in his use of secret techniques. His movements grew smoother and smoother, and his overall strength improved by about a level.

The black-robed man had already been weaker than Gulanxiu. Now that Gulanxiu was growing stronger with every exchange, he gradually began to falter.

"That's enough," Gulanxiu said. He twisted his waist and swung his axe in a vicious slash.

The black-robed man could no longer withstand his attack. Gulanxiu cleaved him in half at the waist, and he vanished from the first level.

Holding his giant axe, Gulanxiu continued toward the second level of the Sky Bridge. He reached it shortly afterward. As before, he chose to fight a Warrior; since they were both Warriors, he could learn more from his opponent.

This time, however, his opponent was far stronger than Gulanxiu, both in his understanding of the Laws and in his use of the Axe Art.

Against him, Gulanxiu could no longer fight with the ease he had shown on the first level. He managed to block only five axe strikes before being cleaved in half at the waist and ejected from the Sky Bridge.

Back in his residence, Gulanxiu slowly opened his eyes and murmured, "I only passed the first level? The opponent on the second level was already that strong. How ridiculously powerful must the opponents on the later levels be?"

To be honest, Gulanxiu wasn't satisfied with passing only the first level. In the original story, Luo Feng hadn't even passed the first level on his first attempt. In their group, only Wild Man Rong Jun and Death God Bolan had passed the first level the first time they tried.

By that measure, Gulanxiu's performance seemed pretty good. But one had to remember that Luo Feng and the others had just finished the Universe Peak Genius Battle! Most of them were still at Star Level, and those who had reached Cosmic Level had only broken through during the three years after the Genius Battle ended.

Gulanxiu, however, had been at Cosmic Level for more than a hundred years. So there was little point in comparing his strength to Luo Feng and the others at that time.

Just then, Gulanxiu received an email in the Virtual Universe.

He took a quick look. It was a notification that points had been credited to his account. Passing the first level of the Sky Bridge earned Gulanxiu one hundred points, but since this was his first time in Chaos City, the amount was multiplied tenfold. He had received a total of one thousand points. On top of that, he had been awarded starting points for joining the Fourth Secret Realm of the Axe Fighting Arena, bringing the total in his account to 1,100 points.

Feeling suddenly rich, Gulanxiu decided to buy some things to equip himself, just in case anything went wrong when he hunted Chaos Beasts.