Another Trial on the Heavenly Bridge

"Li Dui's here."

"Li Dui."

A group of more than a dozen people, men and women alike. Some spoke, others nodded, all greeting Li Dui.

After returning their greetings one by one, Li Dui asked, "Jie Kui, did you make it?"

Jie Kui was the name of the three-eyed man with long arms.

"Like hell I did." Jie Kui tossed his head, then continued, "On average, only a little over four people in each batch make it through the third level. How many batches will it take for someone from the War Axe Secret Realm to make it through the third level within thirty years?"

A woman nearly three meters tall, with a row of breathing holes on each cheek, chimed in, "What, Li Dui? You're confident you can make it through the third level?"

Li Dui smiled. "Ha! I'm somewhat confident. But I'll have to try before I know for sure."

The woman with the breathing holes had only been joking. No one had taken her seriously.

They hadn't expected Li Dui to answer like that.

Li Dui and the others hadn't made any effort to keep their voices down.

Quite a few people nearby changed their expressions. Some were surprised, others scornful, but most were simply unconvinced.

Some had even started scoffing.

Jie Kui was right. Every ten thousand years, a new batch of geniuses arrived in Chaos City. The number of people who passed the third level of the Heavenly Bridge within thirty years could be counted on one hand.

The only one guaranteed to pass the third level was the top genius of each batch. Even the nine people in the second-tier secret realms, the Mad Axe Secret Realm, wouldn't boast carelessly.

Their batch of geniuses was relatively mediocre. So far, only two had passed the third level of the Heavenly Bridge.

Just as the various groups were reacting in different ways, Bafen's voice rang out.

"Du Ke, a member of the God Origin Secret Realm, has passed the fourth level of the Sky Void Heavenly Bridge."

"Whoa!"

The discussion in the plaza immediately grew lively.

"Thank goodness. At least someone in our batch made it through the fourth level. It would've been embarrassing otherwise." Jie Kui clapped his hands, moving straight on to a new topic.

"Exactly. At most, one batch out of every thousand fails to produce someone who can pass the fourth level. Good thing Du Ke came through for us. Otherwise, we'd have lost face." A blue-haired man who looked much like an Earthling chimed in.

This inexplicable sense of collective pride. If I went all out, wouldn't you all be over the moon? Li Dui chuckled inwardly.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten what Li Dui had said earlier. They chatted back and forth.

Soon, Bafen announced that another genius had passed the third level of the Heavenly Bridge.

The current results for this batch of geniuses were one person at the fourth level and two at the third.

More and more people gathered in the plaza. Nearly all 877 geniuses had arrived.

"Li Dui, you may enter the Giant Axe Heavenly Bridge." Guardian Bafen's voice rang out.

The area around Li Dui and the others fell silent. Many people wore expressions of anticipation, ready to watch the show.

Without another word, Li Dui entered the Giant Axe Heavenly Bridge.

Someone eager for a spectacle called out, "Lord Guardian, could you show us footage of Li Dui's attempt?"

Bafen nodded in agreement. With a wave of his hand, a virtual screen appeared in midair, broadcasting Li Dui's live attempt.

At the end of the third level of the Giant Axe Heavenly Bridge,

the white mist stirred and spoke.

"Choose your opponent. You may choose a warrior, a Spirit Reader Controller, or a Spirit Reader Illusionist. Defeat your opponent to pass the third level of the Heavenly Bridge."

"Warrior." Li Dui kept his answer brief.

Black liquid transformed into a man in black.

"Passing the third level is the bare minimum for a Universe Rank genius. Come on. Defeat me and prove that you deserve to be called a genius." The man in black spoke sharply.

"Wuu—" Li Dui swung his blade, the sound of it cutting through the air serving as his reply.

The man in black charged, bringing his battle axe down in a furious strike.

Li Dui stepped forward and twisted his body. The long blade in his hand flashed brilliantly as he met the blow head-on.

"Clang!" With a deafening crash, the man in black was sent flying by the strike. Li Dui staggered back more than ten steps as well.

"Whoa!"

"Oh!"

"Huh?"

Exclamations of surprise and admiration rang out across the plaza almost simultaneously.

One look at that head-on exchange was enough for the geniuses present to understand. Li Dui's Law Comprehension had to be at the peak of the third level.

In other words, he had already passed the third level. Even if he slipped up and lost in battle, he could pass it with another try or two.

Li Dui had no idea he was being broadcast. Even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared. More than ten years ago, after passing the second level of the Heavenly Bridge, he had studied the Giant Axe Chaos Stele once more.

Now he had a clear idea of what level of Law Comprehension the first three diagrams on the Chaos Stele corresponded to.

At that moment, he was displaying exactly the same level of mastery as the man in black.

The power of the laws surged across the Heavenly Bridge. Blade and axe clashed again and again.

The Heavenly Bridge was very precise. The Gatekeepers at each level had fixed Law Comprehension, secret techniques, skills, and experience. Everything was exact and consistent.

The only way to pass was through sheer strength: superior mastery of the laws, a more formidable secret technique, or stronger mental faculties. There was no room for tricks.

And "sheer strength" excluded physical prowess. Even if you had Ten Thousand Times Gene in the real world, it was of no use here. You were given only an ordinary body.

Above an island, beyond a bank of mist, a petite yet somehow menacing female powerhouse was also watching the broadcast.

On the screen, Li Dui suddenly unleashed a fearsome blade technique. The man in black struggled to block it, but the blow shattered both his arms. Li Dui closed in and struck again, cutting him in half at the waist.

He had passed the third level of the Heavenly Bridge.

The petite female powerhouse nodded slightly, then gave a faint shake of her head.

Below, those who had connections with Li Dui were already cheering.

Everyone else looked over at him. Even Du Ke, who had just passed the fourth level, was quite surprised. He hadn't expected the outermost Battle Axe Secret Realm to produce someone like this.

The white mist dissipated from the Heavenly Bridge. Li Dui continued upward.

Every three levels of the Heavenly Bridge marked a major hurdle.

At the fourth level, the scenery on the bridge changed. It was no longer wreathed in white mist. Instead, flames drifted through the air in every direction.

At the end, a massive flame flickered and spoke.

"Choose your opponent. You may choose a warrior, a Spirit Reader Controller, or a Spirit Reader Illusionist. Defeat your opponent to pass the fourth level of the Heavenly Bridge."

"Warrior."

A tongue of flame flew out from the great blaze, slowly transforming into a figure wearing a red battle suit and a mask.

The red-clad figure's voice was somewhat shrill. "You're very good. But this is where your journey ends."

Li Dui had no interest in chatting with a temporary virtual opponent. He attacked at once, opening with the same strike that had defeated the third-level Gatekeeper.

This secret technique had actually come from comprehending the crack in the first diagram of the Giant Axe Chaos Stele. That strike alone, if unleashed at full power, was enough to pass the fourth level of the Heavenly Bridge.

But he couldn't pass the fourth level. That would draw too much attention. So Li Dui suppressed the strike's power, keeping it just strong enough to trade blows with the fourth-level Gatekeeper.

As for the tenfold points reward, Li Dui didn't particularly care. Even if he passed ten levels in a row and earned over a million points, so what?

Why were points important? Because the manuals that could accelerate Law Comprehension were incredibly expensive.

But Li Dui didn't need that kind of thing at all.

Aside from that, whether physical items or secret techniques—including Auxiliary Lifeforms—as long as you didn't try to enjoy things two or three levels above your own, the prices were quite reasonable.

Li Dui was far stronger than his apparent level suggested. If he really needed points in the future, he could always visit the Xueluo World. He could follow Luo Feng's example and hunt Domain Level city lords all over the place.

Each Xueluo Crystal was worth 600 points. He could collect several thousand, or even ten thousand. Wouldn't that be like having millions of points saved up? When he needed to spend, he could take some out and sell them to the Martial Arena.

Li Dui believed that in terms of absolute strength, he was considerably stronger than Luo Feng had been at the time. If Luo Feng could do it, he should be able to as well.

Li Dui's blade work was broad and sweeping, yet fast, its movements graceful and strikingly beautiful.

For a time, he seemed to keep the red-clad figure on the defensive.

A thought surfaced in the minds of many geniuses in the plaza: Could he actually pass the fourth level?

As they stared intently at the virtual screen, the various groups launched into heated discussions.

"Ah!" The red-clad figure let out a roar and suddenly knocked Li Dui back with an axe strike.

"This ends now. Take this!" The red-clad figure raised his battle axe.

This was it. Li Dui widened his eyes, wanting to see whether the red-clad figure's move differed from the one he had comprehended.

Blade and axe collided, and Li Dui retreated sharply.

"Good. That's exactly it. The execution is a little different, but the power is the same." After blocking the move, Li Dui immediately understood.

That meant his approach to creating this secret technique was correct. Of course, this strike couldn't really be considered a secret technique he had created. It would be more accurate to say he had learned it.

He had simply learned it in a more open-ended way, rather than by studying a manual of secret techniques.

But it had also given him the confidence to create more secret techniques of his own, ones better suited to him.

After "struggling" against seven or eight axe blows, Li Dui was "finally" killed by the red-clad figure's axe.

"Phew."

Many people in the plaza felt relieved. Not everyone wished others well.

Li Dui "revived" in the center of the plaza, and in that moment, all eyes were on him.