The Heaven-Mending Stone in Hand, the First One!

Four breaths later, the guard on the left spilled water all over the ground.

"Okay. Thunder will handle the explosives, poison will handle the infiltration. Alternate between them to conserve resources."

Su Zhan stepped onto the fifth step.

A new batch of guards was alerted. Levels five through eight—four in total.

The Blazing Dragon Venerate transformed into a small fire Fire Dragon, two zhang long, and coiled around the nearest guard.

The Fire Dragon's purpose wasn't to burn it dry—but rather to continuously output high temperatures, drawing the guard's attention. Its water-based body, upon contact with the flames, would instinctively mobilize all its Principle powers to suppress the fire, leaving no energy to attack Su Zhan.

Contain.

Taking advantage of this opening, Su Zhan used a combination of lightning and poison to shatter the other two. The fourth was penetrated from under his feet by the Law-Eroding Poison of the Myriad Poisons Divine Farmer's Canon —it dissipated before he could even draw his sword.

Up.

Level 9. Level 13. Level 20.

Su Zhan's attack rhythm became increasingly refined.

Each time a group of guards is triggered, he has three steps: use the Dragon Lord to restrain one, strike one with lightning, and poison one. If there is a fourth, Immovable Wisdom King Wall to withstand its attack, and deal with the first three after the first three are dealt with.

Within forty breaths, Su Zhan advanced to the forty-first step.

Halfway done.

He scattered the forty guards. His Law Power was depleted by about thirty percent.

"The question is..."

[Nine Heavens Divine Lightning]: The guards above are getting stronger and stronger. All of them above level 40 are at the third Martial King Third Level. The consumption of each lightning arc has increased from 20% to more than 30%. At this rate of consumption, my Law Power out.

Su Zhan stopped on the forty-first step and took a breath.

He looked down at his feet—scattered water of Principle flowed across the steps. This water had lost its support of Principle and had become Ordinary Grade water.

Ordinary Grade water.

"Old poisoner."

[The Myriad Poisons Divine Farmer's Canon]: Hmm?

Are there any remaining elements of the Principle in these scattered waters?

[The Myriad Poisons Divine Farmer's Canon]: There is some. Very faint, but it can be extracted.

Su Zhan bent down and put his hand into the puddle at his feet.

The purple qi of the Myriad Poisons Divine Farmer's Canon seeped into the water from his palm—like a straw, it extracted all the remaining fragments of Principle from the water.

After being filtered by the Poison Codex, the fragments transformed into a small stream of pure Principle Energy.

Su Zhan fed this energy to the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning.

[Nine Heavens Divine Lightning]:... Good idea. Although there's only a little in each puddle, the water scattered by the forty guards combined can replenish about 10% of the thunder arc reserves.

"Then we'll fight while we eat." Su Zhan continued charging upwards. "Each time we break one up, we collect the remaining energy on the spot. The stronger the one above, the more residual energy is scattered."

Fight on one side and eat on the other.

Output and recycling occur simultaneously.

Level 50. Level 60. Level 70--

The top of the stone platform is getting closer and closer.

The remaining guards' auras grew stronger and stronger. The ten guards on the last ten steps were all at the Martial King Third Stage Peak.

Su Zhan's Law Power was maintained at around 60% through the strategy of "fighting while being attacked," which was sufficient.

Level 72.

All six guards drew their swords simultaneously.

Su Zhan was forced to Five-Method Fusion for the first time.

Dark gold, purple gold, crimson, emerald green, and cyan-purple—five colors of light shone simultaneously on his body.

He didn't summon the Dharma Form; instead, he poured all five Principle into his fist simultaneously.

One punch.

The two guards in front of them didn't even need to boil over when they were touched by the five-colored fists—they exploded into water mist.

The remaining four were pushed aside by the aftershock of the punch and crashed into the railing of the steps.

Before they could regroup, Su Zhan fired three poison bullets with his left hand and followed up with three lightning arcs with his right.

Six breaths. All six were annihilated.

Level 78.

Nine left.

Su Zhan took a breath and looked up at the top of the stone platform.

The Heaven-Mending Stone was there. A deep blue light flowed gently above it, as if waiting for him.

The strongest guard at the top— Martial King Third Stage Peak —wielded a giant water sword that was larger than the other guards' swords. The blade of the giant sword was condensed with extremely concentrated water elemental Principle, and its sharpness was probably no less than that of a true Principle Weapon.

"The last nine. Take them all in one go."

Su Zhan slammed his foot on the step.

They rushed forward.

Finally, all nine Water Guardians moved simultaneously.