Four Divine Path Forms

The instant the azure light swallowed his vision, everything went black before Zhang Xuan's eyes. His body felt as though an invisible force were tearing at it, the surrounding space warped, and low humming sounds filled his ears.

When his eyes regained focus, his soles were crushing something brittle and hard—bone ash covering the floor sifted through the treads of his boots.

Looking around, he found himself in an open space roughly a thousand meters across in either direction. Above him, blood-red runes hanging from the vaulted ceiling flickered like millions of bleeding eyelids peering down.

"Is this... inside the Black Tower?"

A stench of decay permeated the air, mingled with the nauseating smells of blood and burning. A thick layer of bone ash mixed with bone fragments covered the floor.

In the distance, a spiraling staircase rose into view. Built from pitch-black stone, every step was covered in ancient runes that flickered beneath the faint azure light, as though breathing.

Just then, a majestic voice abruptly rang out like rolling thunder, making Zhang Xuan's eardrums tremble.

"The trial is about to begin. Mountain Master, please select the trial duration."

Zhang Xuan frowned and began calculating. The time ratio between the [Inner Landscape] and the outside world is three to one. A single trial can last a maximum of twenty-four hours. If I take the full duration, eight hours will pass outside. That's a little too long...

After pondering briefly, he declared, "Set this trial to twelve hours!"

Twelve hours in the [Inner Landscape] meant only four hours would pass outside. The remaining time would barely allow him a decent night's sleep, so Zhang Xuan considered this a reasonably sensible arrangement.

"This trial will last twelve hours. The trial is about to begin. Mountain Master, please prepare..."

That majestic voice resounded through the space once more. Then, several dozen meters away, a chilling wind rose from the ground, sweeping up great swathes of ash as though countless wronged souls were wailing within it.

Zhang Xuan's gaze sharpened. Although he had suspected as much, seeing it for himself still struck him as unbelievable—a massive body composed of nearly a thousand hideous, shriveled human heads was slowly emerging from the swirling ash!

"The Headless Corpse Buddha..." Zhang Xuan murmured, the corner of his mouth twitching.

The Headless Corpse Buddha was the only powerful creature he had killed so far. Now that the Mountain Suppressor's power had refined the monster into a Prison Suppressor to serve as his trial opponent, it did make sense.

Except...

—This is way too fucking far beyond my level! Zhang Xuan could not help cursing inwardly.

He was still swearing to himself when, a moment later, an icy sensation touched his neck.

Zhang Xuan instinctively tried to look down, only to find his vision swaying beyond his control. As the world spun around him, the last thing he saw was his own headless body falling to its knees at the Corpse Buddha's feet, its spurting blood painting a hideous totem across the ash-covered floor.

Zhang Xuan's pupils shook violently. That's... my body???

Then his vision turned scarlet, and his consciousness plunged into darkness. The terror of death engulfed him like a surging tide.

"No—!"

Zhang Xuan's eyes snapped open, and he clutched his neck with both hands. Thankfully, his head was still attached. He gasped for breath, his forehead drenched in cold sweat and his heart pounding furiously, as though he had just awakened from a nightmare.

"Celestial Master's Ordination, you fucking screwed me!" He rubbed his neck, where the pain of decapitation seemed to linger. That suffocating sensation of impending death still left him shaken.

He had thought the trial would merely simulate combat. He had never expected a genuine struggle of life and death. Although he could revive, the agony of dying was all too real.

His deafening curses did not continue for long before cutting off abruptly. It was not because Zhang Xuan had recovered his manners and chosen kindness, but because that familiar chilling wind was swirling into view again...

"So soon?" Zhang Xuan recoiled in alarm.

Fewer than ten breaths had passed since his revival, yet the Headless Corpse Buddha stepped out of the chilling wind once more. A thousand eyes across its body fixed on Zhang Xuan in unison. Countless threads of blood spewed from the mouths of its shriveled heads, striking at him like venomous snakes.

Watching the scarlet threads sweep toward him and blot out his view, Zhang Xuan's heart tightened. Those very things had just taken his head.

With his previous death to learn from, Zhang Xuan did not fall to a single strike this time. Brilliant lightning suddenly blazed in his hand, and amid its flashing radiance, he gritted his teeth and charged at the Corpse Buddha!

Yet the Corpse Buddha did not move its feet at all, merely controlling the blood threads from afar. Before Zhang Xuan could close in, they wound around him like a spiderweb, binding his limbs tight.

Shit! Zhang Xuan's heart lurched. Before he could struggle, tremendous forces surged through the blood threads.

His limbs were torn off outright. Agony instantly swept through his body, and blood sprayed everywhere. His consciousness plunged into darkness again, the terror of death following him like his shadow.

This Headless Corpse Buddha truly lives up to its strength as a Ghost King Realm existence, Zhang Xuan thought, still shaken. Had the Celestial Master's Ordination not foreseen every detail of the battlefield back then, he would not have survived even a single exchange.

He closed his eyes and reviewed every trump card he possessed.

Palm Thunder, the Golden Light Incantation, Chaotic Stars Fall, Gen Mountain Suppresses the Peaks... he carefully examined every technique and form, trying to find the best strategy against the Headless Corpse Buddha.

Like Palm Thunder, these techniques' profound and intricate incantations posed no difficulty for him. With a mere thought, he could cast them naturally. Everything fell into place like water flowing into its channel!

"Again!" Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth and faced the Corpse Buddha once more.

As the blood threads struck again, Zhang Xuan unhesitatingly cast the Ten Directions Five Thunders Golden Light Body Protection Divine Incantation.

Golden light erupted from within him, forming a protective barrier that enveloped his entire body. The blood threads struck it with sizzling sounds but could not break through.

It works! Delight rose in Zhang Xuan's heart. He then felt his five senses sharpen dramatically under the golden light's enhancement. He could now clearly track the blood threads that had previously moved as fast as thunderbolts.

Moreover, his speed and stamina had improved enormously, even allowing him to briefly hold his own against the Headless Corpse Buddha.

However, an incense stick's worth of time later, the golden light abruptly went out. Zhang Xuan felt all his vital energy drain away, and he collapsed limply to the ground. The Headless Corpse Buddha's blood threads struck again, tearing him to pieces.

After dying several times, Zhang Xuan discovered something astonishing. Even if the Four Divine Path Forms had drained all his essence, energy, and spirit in the previous battle, he would return to his original condition as soon as he revived.

It seems that after every death, the trial participant's condition resets to its initial state.

This let Zhang Xuan discover the trick—since his vital energy could be fully restored, he could use death to hone his skills.

In the trials that followed, Zhang Xuan began using the Four Divine Path Forms together...

First, he used the Golden Light Incantation to protect his body and strengthen himself.

When faced with an unexpected situation, he used Gen Mountain Suppresses the Peaks to seal his opponent's movements, buying himself a brief moment to think.

If death seemed inevitable, he used Chaotic Stars Fall to try his luck, then adapted to whatever happened. Perhaps he could escape with his life.

Finally, he seized the right moment to counterattack with Innate Supreme Unity Divine Thunder.

Through death after death, Zhang Xuan's combat skills improved rapidly, and his use of the Four Divine Path Forms grew increasingly effortless!

After his eighth death, Zhang Xuan finally understood his own limits.

With all his current energy devoted to a single technique, he could cast Innate Supreme Unity Divine Thunder twice in succession, or maintain the Ten Directions Five Thunders Golden Light Body Protection Divine Incantation for an incense stick's worth of time.

As for Gen Mountain Suppresses the Peaks, its duration depended on his opponent's strength. Against a Ghost King Realm being like the Headless Corpse Buddha, it could suppress the target for the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

Chaotic Stars Fall, meanwhile, could be used five times in succession.

That was his current limit.

"Looks like I'll have to make every bit count," Zhang Xuan murmured, watching the Headless Corpse Buddha emerge before him once again.