The Limit: Climbing the Life God Tree, Complete! Slaughter Body Tempering from the Asura God Sword?

Time...

Slipped quietly away amid endless pressure and monotonous climbing.

In the blink of an eye, another year and a half had passed.

By now, Lu Xuan's clothes had long since been soaked through with sweat and blood.

He panted heavily and looked up.

Only the final three steps remained before he reached the very top of the Life God Tree.

It seemed a mere three steps away, yet an impassable chasm seemed to lie across his path.

The pressure of life here had already condensed into solid crystals.

Every breath felt like swallowing razor blades. This was the greatest difficulty Lu Xuan had encountered so far.

"Break... for me!"

Lu Xuan's eyes were bloodshot, and a beastlike growl rumbled from his throat.

"Asura Domain, Asura Hell!"

With a thunderous surge, terrifying murderous energy like mountains of corpses and seas of blood erupted from his body.

Pure white light forcibly tore a rift through the viscous pressure of life.

Drawing on that ultimate aura of slaughter.

Lu Xuan lifted his right leg, which weighed like a thousand tons.

His first step came crashing down!

The stairs shuddered violently, and countless fine, bloody gashes instantly split open across Lu Xuan's skin.

"Life Domain, Endless Vitality!"

Without the slightest pause, dazzling emerald light erupted from within Lu Xuan.

Vast vitality instantly circulated throughout his body, frantically repairing his flesh, which teetered on the verge of collapse, at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Amid the relentless alternation between destruction and rebirth, he clenched his teeth until they shattered.

He planted his second step firmly down!

Only one final step remained to the top!

At that moment, the pressure above poured down like a celestial river.

It sought to utterly crush this mortal who dared lay his hands on the realm of the gods.

"Water and Fire Dragon Kings Torso Soul Bone-Dragon King's Protection!"

Lu Xuan threw back his head and roared, and a dazzling blaze of red and blue light erupted from his chest.

Accompanied by two ancient dragon cries that shook heaven and earth, the phantoms of two enormous dragons, one ice and one fire, spiraled out, shielding his body firmly between them.

With the dragons' roars and an unyielding will.

Lu Xuan pressed against the divine light filling the sky...

And planted his third step heavily upon the very top of the Life God Tree!

The moment both his feet settled, all the pressure instantly receded like the tide.

A vast, majestic voice brimming with boundless vitality thundered throughout the entire space:

[Life Nine Trials, First Trial: climb the Life God Tree. Time taken: two years. Perfectly cleared!]

[Rewards: affinity with the God of Life increased by 10%; Soul Power increased by 5 levels!]

As soon as the voice faded, a dazzling pillar of emerald-gold light descended from the sky, completely enveloping Lu Xuan.

The dried-up meridians within his body were instantly filled with immense energy.

His Soul Power climbed steadily like a boiling river.

Without any obstruction, his Soul Power soared straight from its original level of 73 and came to a steady stop at level 78!

Feeling the oceanlike power surging within him, Lu Xuan's lips curved in satisfaction.

The realm of a level-80 Soul Douluo was already within arm's reach!

However, before the smile on his lips could fully bloom.

Two utterly different yet equally supreme divine wills descended simultaneously without warning.

One was bone-chillingly cold and filled with an aura of slaughter: [Asura Nine Trials, Second Trial: Slaughter Body Tempering. Time limit: three years.]

Immediately afterward, a gentle yet unquestionable voice rang out: [Life Nine Trials, Second Trial: cross the Sea of Life. Time limit: five years.]

"???"

The smile on Lu Xuan's face instantly froze, his head full of question marks.

He looked up at the sky, utterly speechless.

Had the Asura God and the Goddess of Life planned this together?

Did they even have to team up to issue Divine Trials?

A single Divine Trial was already enough to peel a layer of skin off someone, and now two had come at once. Did they really think his ability to withstand pressure had no limits?

Lu Xuan drew a deep breath and clenched his fists.

Did they really think he was such a pushover?

In a fit of anger... he got angry for a moment.

There was nothing he could do.

In this era, when one could not survive the final battle without becoming a god.

These two divine seats were what he had to rely on.

When standing beneath another's eaves, how could one refuse to bow one's head?

Once I ascend to the upper realm, I'll definitely get them back!

Standing atop the Life God Tree, he gazed into the distance, looking down over the entire life space.

Due east of him, an emerald-green ocean had appeared at some unknown point.

At first glance, that stretch of sea was calm and glittering, seemingly without any danger.

At another first glance, there really did not seem to be any danger.

It seemed he would have to step into it himself to learn just how terrifying this "Sea of Life" truly was.

As for the Asura God's "Slaughter Body Tempering"...

Lu Xuan frowned. Could he have to make another trip to Slaughter City?

Full of questions, Lu Xuan waved goodbye to the woman in the green dress and stepped into the teleportation array leading out of the space.

Light flashed, and he returned to the outside world, back to his room, which he had not seen in so long.

"Finally back..."

Lu Xuan let out a long breath and toppled straight onto the soft bed as though his bones had vanished.

He stretched his utterly exhausted body to his heart's content.

Turning his head, he looked out the window.

It was a rare, brilliantly sunny day outside. Warm sunlight spilled through the glass onto the quilt, making him drowsy.

Suddenly, a dazzling streak of bloody light cut across the previously clear sky without warning.

Immediately afterward, a long, dark-red greatsword silently came to a hovering stop outside the window.

"Oh, it's the Asura God Sword..."

Lu Xuan mumbled groggily, about to close his eyes.

The next second, his eyes flew open, his pupils contracting sharply.

"Huh? The Asura God Sword?!"

Lu Xuan sprang out of bed as though electrocuted, rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and stared fixedly outside.

There was the Super Divine Artifact, radiating sky-high murderous energy, using its hilt just like an old friend dropping by for a visit.

It tapped "knock, knock, knock" against the windowpane, seemingly signaling for Lu Xuan to hurry up and open up to let it in.

Lu Xuan swallowed, hurried out of bed, and pushed the window open.

Without standing on ceremony, the Asura God Sword darted inside with a whoosh and hovered in the middle of the room.

It bobbed up and down.

Then it swung its blade from side to side, looking for all the world as though it were greeting Lu Xuan.

"Uh... hello!"

The corners of Lu Xuan's mouth twitched, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

This Super Divine Artifact possessed an extremely high degree of sentience. Since it had come to him of its own accord, asking it about the Second Trial certainly couldn't go wrong!

Acting on that thought, Lu Xuan cleared his throat and, treating a dead horse as though it could still be saved, ventured a question:

"May I ask... are you here to help me complete my Asura Second Trial?"

The Asura God Sword hovered in midair, the bloody light on its blade flickering faintly, seemingly falling into a brief daze.

A moment later, its hilt dipped sharply downward in an extremely humanlike "nod."

Clearly, it was here to serve as Lu Xuan's "sparring partner" for the Second Trial.

Lu Xuan: ...

Looking at the dark-red greatsword nodding frantically before him, Lu Xuan sank into a long silence.