After stepping onto the wooden platform, Lin Xuan wasted no words and swung his sword straight at the wooden puppet!
Brilliant sword light swept across the wooden platform toward the bronze-armored wooden puppet at tremendous speed. The puppet reacted swiftly too, abruptly thrusting both fists forward to meet the sword head-on!
Boom!
As it turned out, this was no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Beneath that pure white sword light, the wooden puppet was blasted away, shattered to pieces.
One strike, defeated!
Immediately afterward, a sword formation diagram slowly imprinted itself into Lin Xuan's sea of consciousness.
"Is this the reward for defeating the bronze-armored wooden puppet?"
Lin Xuan froze. The reward was actually a sword formation diagram?
Without dwelling on it, Lin Xuan stepped down from the wooden platform, closed his eyes, and began comprehending it.
The first reaction of everyone who witnessed this was that the bronze-armored wooden puppet was far too weak, wasn't it?
They had thought this legendary Ancestral Tree Trial should be extremely difficult, yet someone had defeated it so easily?
"I'll do it!"
Watching the bronze-armored wooden puppet gradually restore itself, someone finally could no longer hold back after seeing Lin Xuan defeat it and earn a reward so easily. Following Lin Xuan, he leaped onto the wooden platform.
He was a burly man with bulging muscles and a broad saber on his back, looking exceedingly fierce.
"It's Blade Demon Qin Wu from the Silver Frost Empire!"
"Blade Demon Qin Wu? The one from the Yama Blade Sect?"
"That's right, a top-ten genius among the Silver Frost Empire's younger generation."
"They say Qin Wu comprehended embryonic blade intent half a year ago. His strength is even more unfathomable now."
"Hiss... I'm looking forward to the Seven Kingdoms Grand Competition more and more."
The burly man who had stepped onto the platform was no ordinary figure. Someone recognized him the moment he stepped up.
Those from other kingdoms who did not recognize him also realized he was no ordinary challenger upon hearing the words "embryonic blade intent."
On the platform, Qin Wu swung the massive blade in his hands. Amid howling gales, he hacked viciously at the wooden puppet!
The bronze-armored wooden puppet's move was exactly the same as the punch it had used to meet Lin Xuan's sword light head-on!
Boom!
The massive blade collided with both fists, unleashing a metallic roar!
Qin Wu grunted. He felt a terrifying force travel from the massive blade into his hands, and his entire body flew backward uncontrollably as the surrounding scenery raced past!
Scrape...
Blasted away, Qin Wu had no control over his body at all, leaving a long trail of blood across the ground.
The sight made everyone's eyes widen.
Qin Wu... had lost?
And he had not even lasted a single move against the bronze-armored wooden puppet?
He had been blasted straight off?
The cultivators who came from the Silver Frost Empire, just like Qin Wu, found this impossible to believe.
Had it been someone else, that would have been one thing, but this was Qin Wu!
A genius ranked among the Silver Frost Empire's top ten.
Then, everyone turned their gazes in unison toward Lin Xuan, who sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, comprehending something.
So it wasn't that the wooden puppet was too weak at all?
Rather... Lin Xuan, who had challenged the bronze-armored wooden puppet... was too strong?
Both had taken just one move. One had defeated it, while the other... had been defeated...
Lin Xuan, who was comprehending the sword formation diagram, could not be bothered with any of this.
Afterward, others who refused to believe it still stepped onto the platform to challenge it, but they all met the same fate as Qin Wu, or even worse...
So everyone present soon understood one thing.
The bronze-armored wooden puppet was far stronger than they had imagined.
Never mind defeating it; even finding someone who could withstand a single move from it was difficult.
So far, only Lin Xuan had managed it.
No one else, not even Qin Wu, a top-ten genius of the Silver Frost Empire, had withstood so much as one punch from the bronze-armored wooden puppet...
As time passed, more and more people gathered here, with more and more geniuses arriving from every direction.
The arrival of one young man in splendid robes, in particular, sent the entire crowd into an uproar.
"Prince Jinyang!"
Unlike Qin Wu earlier, whom almost only cultivators from the Silver Frost Empire recognized, with few among the other six kingdoms knowing him.
Prince Jinyang was different.
The Great Jin Empire ranked third among the Seven Moon-Reflecting Kingdoms, and Prince Jinyang was the ninth son of the Great Jin emperor, as well as the undisputed foremost genius of the Great Jin Empire. His illustrious reputation had even spread to the other six kingdoms.
But before everyone could finish marveling, another heavyweight genius appeared!
She was a stunningly beautiful woman with an ancient zither on her back.
"Fairy Yunyi of the Spirit True Empire!"
The Spirit True Empire ranked fourth among the Seven Moon-Reflecting Kingdoms. Though her background was inferior to Prince Jinyang's, Fairy Yunyi's fame was no less than his!
She cultivated neither the sword nor the blade, but the Dao of zither music. Ever since making her debut, she had firmly held the title of the Spirit True Empire's foremost genius, and no one had ever shaken her position!
Her appearance also brought a somewhat intrigued look to quite a few eyes among the crowd.
Not long ago, Prince Jinyang's challenges to the younger generation of the Spirit True Empire had caused quite a stir.
Starting with the tenth-ranked genius, Prince Jinyang had challenged his way through the Spirit True Empire's geniuses, winning battle after battle. Just recently, Gu Yu, the Spirit True Empire's second-ranked genius, inferior only to Yunyi, had been defeated by Prince Jinyang in three sword strikes! For a time, it caused a sensation throughout the seven kingdoms.
Gu Yu was a genius second only to Yunyi in the Spirit True Empire. People had considered that he might lose, but never expected such a miserable defeat...
Against Prince Jinyang, he had not even managed to last three moves...
After that battle, Prince Jinyang's fame soared.
Everyone knew that the next person Prince Jinyang challenged would surely be Fairy Yunyi, hailed as the Spirit True Empire's foremost genius.
That was indeed the case, but just as Prince Jinyang was about to challenge Yunyi, the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm unexpectedly opened, delaying their battle...
Yunyi's arrival made Prince Jinyang raise an eyebrow, and his gaze held a hint of provocation as he looked over.
Yunyi, however, never so much as glanced at Prince Jinyang from beginning to end.
Prince Jinyang had defeated nine great geniuses of the Spirit True Empire in succession. Even Gu Yu, ranked second among its younger generation, had lost to him in three moves.
The outside world generally believed that Prince Jinyang had the greater chance of winning their impending battle. What people did not know, however, was that she had never regarded Prince Jinyang as an opponent...
Ever since comprehending zither intent, Yunyi's sights had long ceased to be confined to this little corner of the world, the Seven Moon-Reflecting Kingdoms.
Whether Prince Jinyang or that person from the Dawn Empire, both were pitifully weak to her.
Of course, the outside world knew nothing of this, which was precisely why they looked forward to her battle with Prince Jinyang.
Seeing Yunyi ignore him, Prince Jinyang snorted coldly. If the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm hadn't suddenly opened and disrupted my plans, you would already have lost to me. Why put on airs?
The two did not immediately start fighting, leaving quite a few onlookers who relished trouble somewhat disappointed. Soon, however, a faint anticipation rose in them again.
Although they had not fought directly, the upcoming Ancestral Tree Trial would likely bring an indirect contest between them.
Their appearance instantly made them the focus of attention here. Only a small number of people occasionally glanced toward Lin Xuan, who was still comprehending.
Several times as many people had gathered here now as before. Most had only recently arrived and had not witnessed Lin Xuan defeat the bronze-armored wooden puppet with a single sword strike. Thus, in their eyes, Prince Jinyang and Yunyi were the people here most likely to defeat it.
What they did not know was that before they arrived, someone had already... defeated the bronze-armored wooden puppet.
The bronze-armored wooden puppet, which seemed invincible to them and against which few could withstand a single move, had been utterly unable to withstand Lin Xuan just a short while ago. Just as it crushed them, Lin Xuan had crushed it with ease!
The bustle here reached its peak with the successive arrivals of Prince Jinyang and Fairy Yunyi. The first to step onto the platform was Prince Jinyang.
Since arriving, what he had heard most was how powerful the bronze-armored wooden puppet was, how few could withstand a single move from it, let alone defeat it, which was all but impossible.
But in Prince Jinyang's view, it was not that the bronze-armored wooden puppet was too strong, only that those who had challenged it before were too weak.
"I hear the wooden puppet's strength changes according to the challenger's cultivation realm. Whatever realm the challenger is in, the wooden puppet will be in the same realm." Regardless of whether the puppet could understand him, Prince Jinyang murmured to himself, "In other words, it's in the same realm as me..."
"What a coincidence. Within the same realm, I have yet to encounter a single worthy opponent."
With that, Prince Jinyang's eyes flashed, and a spear abruptly appeared in his hands!