Third Trial

Flying Wild Goose Venerable flew into a rage from humiliation. "Wine Maniac, don't push people too far! How have I delayed Liang Bo's talent?"

Wine Daoist sneered. "You still have the nerve to say that? Back then, Sun He was such a talented child. He passed the second floor of the True Martial Tower just over a year after entering the sect, and you took him as your disciple. And what happened? More than twenty years have passed, yet forget advancing to the Earth Origin Realm—he has not even passed the fourth floor of the True Martial Tower. Is this the fine disciple you taught?

"And Zhao Ke, your other disciple—his talent was stronger than Luo Qian's back then, and he began cultivating five years before her. Now Luo Qian has passed the fifth floor of the True Martial Tower and ranks among the top four Human Origin Realm disciples, while Zhao Ke has only just passed the first trial of the fourth floor.

"As for Wu Qing, Wang Hui, Liu Ziying, and the others, which one of them was not exceptionally gifted back then? Yet after becoming your disciples, they have all faded into the crowd. And you still dare deny that you are poor at teaching disciples?"

Flying Wild Goose Venerable was left red-faced by the tirade. In the end, he simply covered his face and left.

For a time, of the five people who had come to fight over a disciple, three had already turned and departed. Although Sword Venerable had not left, he had also made his stance clear: he would not compete with Wine Daoist for a disciple.

Only Cuckoo Wind Venerable remained standing there. He sneered. "Old drunkard, you truly have quite the silver tongue! With nothing but that tongue of yours, you made Brother Longwind, Brother Blazing Flame, Sword Venerable, and Flying Wild Goose Venerable all withdraw willingly. But I have neither friendship with you nor any debt of gratitude to you. As for teaching disciples, I consider myself no worse than anyone. What is more, I am an expert with the saber. When it comes to guiding Liang Bo, I am the more suitable choice. So what words do you intend to use to make me withdraw?"

Wine Daoist shook his head. "Why would I need words to make you withdraw? Cuckoo Wind, when you and I fought back then, I broke one of your legs, and you broke one of my arms. After all these years, I have been wanting to experience your skills again."

"Fine. You and I will battle atop Mount Langya!" Cuckoo Wind Venerable did not waste any words. He rose into the air and flew toward the outskirts of the city.

Wine Daoist took a deep breath and likewise gave chase toward the outskirts.

Inside the True Martial Tower, just as two supreme Heaven Origin Realm experts were about to erupt into a great battle over Liang Bo, this "peerless genius," Liang Bo had just passed the second trial on the second floor.

Unlike the first trial, the puppet warrior in the second trial wielded a blood-red short sword. Its blade was only around twenty centimeters long, while its hilt was even shorter, just ten centimeters. Held in the hand, the entire short sword resembled a dagger.

As the saying went, the shorter the weapon, the greater the danger. Those who dared use such short weapons were usually agile martial artists, able to advance and retreat with ease.

This puppet warrior's advantage lay precisely in its nimble movement technique.

During the battle, Liang Bo discovered that even after raising the proficiency of the movement technique martial skill Flowing Light to its maximum level, he was still slightly inferior to his opponent in speed. In terms of strength, he did not hold much of an advantage either. Thus, he fought this battle with particular difficulty.

In the end, gritting his teeth, he simply transferred part of his movement technique proficiency to Wave Stacking, sacrificing some speed in exchange for an absolute advantage in strength.

However, although this gave him the upper hand in strength, and his saber technique was also slightly more advanced than his opponent's, just as he had relied on speed to defeat his opponent in the first trial, this time it was his turn to be suppressed by his opponent's speed.

Throughout the battle, the puppet warrior's figure was everywhere around Liang Bo. He gripped his long saber, possessing tremendous strength yet constantly forced to fend off attacks.

Fortunately, he wore the Red Dragon Armor, which provided excellent protection over most of his body and allowed him to ignore some of his opponent's attacks. Moreover, a puppet warrior was ultimately only a puppet warrior. It might possess some intelligence, but it did not understand human schemes and stratagems. In the end, Liang Bo deliberately revealed a flaw to lure it into attacking, then seized the chance to defeat it.

"Phew! I finally passed the second trial." Liang Bo let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Compared to the first trial, he had relied somewhat on a trick to pass this one.

Without the Red Dragon Armor, it would have been very difficult for him to achieve victory. If his opponent had been a real human or a cunning member of the Demon Race, it would have been even harder to fool them into taking the bait.

This also showed that, with Liang Bo's current strength, passing the second floor was still somewhat of a stretch.

More importantly, he had discovered one of his shortcomings: his combat experience was severely lacking. This had not mattered much when he could crush his opponents with absolute strength, but now that their strength was comparable, this flaw had become rather obvious.

Otherwise, he would not have fought so hard.

Still, no matter what, he had passed the second trial. Next came the third trial.

Liang Bo transformed into a streak of flowing light and swiftly left the palace of the second trial, heading toward the palace of the third trial.

"Strike the rune core in my chest, and you may pass this trial!" The puppet warrior of the third trial held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other as it spoke to Liang Bo.

By the usual pattern, the three guardians of each floor were roughly on the same overall level. However, each had its own specialty. The puppet warrior of the first trial favored strength, while the second favored agility. Thus, the third trial should favor defense.

Looking at the enormous shield in his opponent's hand, large enough to conceal its entire body, Liang Bo could not help frowning. What method should he use against such a turtle shell that excelled at defense?

After hesitating for a moment, Liang Bo decided to first try the agility route and see whether he could use a stronger movement technique to suppress his opponent.

He adjusted the proficiency of the movement technique martial skill Flowing Light to its highest level. His strength immediately decreased somewhat, but his speed surged by a great margin.

"Chirp!" Liang Bo transformed into a streak of flowing light and charged at the puppet warrior. At the same time, the long saber in his hand slashed out rapidly, its edge aimed directly at the puppet warrior's neck.

The puppet warrior calmly turned its body, shifting the shield in its hand across to block before itself.

"Clang!" After a tremendous crash, Liang Bo felt his arm go slightly numb. Yet the puppet warrior merely had its shield pushed back half an inch before easily dispersing the force, while its body did not retreat in the slightest.

Liang Bo frowned. His figure flashed again as he circled toward the puppet warrior's flank, preparing to attack an area not protected by the shield.

However, no matter how fast he moved, he could not move faster than his opponent could turn. After all, he had to shift his entire body in order to reach the puppet warrior's side, whereas the puppet warrior only needed to turn its body slightly to shift its shield across. The difficulty of the two was simply not comparable.

Thus, Liang Bo quickly discovered that trying to circle around and attack his opponent's flank or back was utterly unworkable. With every attempt, he could only watch helplessly as his opponent used that enormous shield to protect its body.

"So it really is a turtle shell?" Liang Bo gave a bitter smile.