Chapter 354: Guardian Puppet
The tunnel stretched on for miles beneath the earth, descending at a subtle, imperceptible decline.
With every few hundred paces Shen Yu took, the pale grey sand scattered across the stone floor took on a richer, rust-like tint, deepening gradually into a dark, visceral red.
Aside from his own rhythmic, controlled breathing, the silence was absolute.
Shen Yu remained completely detached from the stifling atmosphere.
His Qi circulated smoothly along his widened, resilient meridians, humming like a coiled viper ready to strike at a fraction of a thought.
As he walked, he continued to monitor the faint spiritual threads connected to his companions.
Though the sheer subterranean depth and dense mineral walls dulled the resonance, the feedback from Lixue and Li Na remained clear, were moving across the surface above, alive and unhindered.
But he was not able to feel through the talisman where young Lu An was because of the spiritual interference.
After walking for nearly half an hour, the narrow tunnel began to widen exponentially.
The vaulted ceiling arched hundreds of feet upward into the gloom, and the cool draft that had guided his path suddenly dispersed into a vast, cavernous expanse bathed in a deep, blood-red luminescence.
Shen Yu stepped out onto the edge of the cavern, his golden eyes sweeping across the terrain.
Dominating the center of the colossal hollow was a massive, circular arena, an ancient battle ring spanning nearly three hundred meters across.
The ring was constructed of jagged obsidian slabs reinforced with heavy, crimson-tinted iron bands, weathered by the gouges, scorched scars, and petrified bloodstains of countless ancient clashes.
Surrounding the ring were two towering stone monoliths, each deeply etched with grotesque carvings of multi-armed asuras locked in vicious mortal combat.
Far across the expanse, situated at the very end of the arena, was an arched stone doorway leading deeper into the subterranean network, the only visible exit.
The moment Shen Yu’s boots touched the edge of the obsidian ring, the two monoliths flared to life, illuminating the cavern with violent, blood-red runes.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
From the shadows behind the central pillars, the harsh clinking of iron chains reverberated against the stone walls.
A massive, statuesque figure carved from dark, blood-streaked stone stepped down onto the arena floor.
Its hollow eye sockets ignited with sinister crimson flames as it raised a colossal, rusted greatsword.
A suffocating aura exploded outward from its frame, an ancient guardian puppet radiating the undeniable, peak power of the 9th Stage of Foundation Establishment.
THUD!
The passage behind Shen Yu sealed with a heavy slab of falling rock, leaving the blood-soaked battle ring as the only path forward.
Looking at the guardian blocking the exit, Shen Yu did not retreat an inch.
Instead, a cold smirk touched his lips as his golden eyes meticulously scanned the construct.
Noticing that the sentinel possessed a cultivation base matching his own, Shen Yu deduced the mechanism, the trial scaled dynamically to the entrant’s realm, likely governed by an internal core formation or runic matrix within the stone body.
It strongly resembled a classic "mirror trial," where the construct mimicked the intruder’s strength and techniques.
To test whether it would duplicate his every move, he would have to draw its first strike.
With a casual flick of his wrist, a lethal, eight-foot polearm materialized in his grasp.
Forged from the calcified spinal column of an Abyssal Blood-Wyrm, its dark, ribbed shaft pulsed with a rhythmic, subterranean vitality.
The spearhead was carved from a single, unbreakable crimson fang, perpetually weeping a fine, microscopic mist of corrosive blood-Qi.
He had acquired this Earth-grade polearm long ago as the reward for completing his very first quest.
Though he had rarely found occasion to use it until now, he had continuously nourished the weapon with the essence and vitality of high-tier spirit beasts, steadily paving the way for it to evolve into a Heaven-grade armament.
Settling into the opening stance of the Rising Swan Spear Technique, Shen Yu shifted his weight with mesmerizing poise.
The art was an exceptionally deceptive style designed to captivate the opponent while mimicking the fluid, airborne grace and sudden, predatory ferocity of a swan taking flight.
The spearhead dipped and weaved in a delicate arc, appearing weightless and harmless in the stagnant air, yet hiding an unyielding killing edge beneath its ethereal rhythm.
Before he could initiate his cadence, the stone puppet moved first.
BOOM!
The arena floor fractured beneath the puppet’s violent surge.
Shattering any notion of a mirror trial, the construct did not attempt to copy Shen Yu’s elegant, avian posture.
Instead, it unleashed an entirely alien, brutal martial style.
The puppet closed the distance with terrifying velocity, bringing its colossal greatsword down in a savage, overhead executioner’s slash.
A crescent of jagged, blood-colored blade Qi tore through the obsidian tiles, howling with the phantom shrieks of long-dead warriors.
’Not a mirror trial,’ Shen Yu registered with cool clarity.
Rather than meeting the brute kinetic force head-on, Shen Yu stepped into the sweeping footwork of the Rising Swan.
His body seemed to drift upward on an invisible thermal updraft, executing Phantom Steps as his silhouette dissolved into the air.
The rusted greatsword crashed into empty air, pulverizing the stone where he had stood a microsecond prior and sending shards of jagged obsidian flying across the arena.
Gliding weightlessly along the construct’s left flank, Shen Yu flicked his wrists.
The spearhead traced a dazzling, spiral curve, like the sweeping wing of a diving swan, striking cleanly toward the sentinel’s exposed flank.
CLANG!
The strike glanced across the blood-streaked ribcage, deflecting off dense defensive runes with a spray of sparks.
Instantly adapting with joint-defying speed, the sentinel spun, driving its massive stone fist toward Shen Yu’s skull with enough concussive weight to collapse a hillside.
Shen Yu’s golden eyes remained serene.
Instead of retreating, he leaned back in a seamless, sweeping dip, letting the stone fist whistle harmlessly through his hair.
As he spun within the pocket of the attack, his Qi surged through the pitch-black shaft, setting the crimson streaks ablaze with luminous, searing golden-pink light.
Reversing his grip mid-spin, Shen Yu snapped the spear upward in the technique’s signature counter.
The reinforced butt of the spear hammered into the puppet’s exposed elbow joint with pinpoint precision.
CRACK!