Chapter 220: Who Is This Person?
At that moment, the pillars of lava that had been continuously erupting beneath Shen Daoxing’s feet began to weaken, gradually subsiding until they erupted no more.
Shen Daoxing landed, his feet finally touching the ground.
It seemed he was about to reach the other side.
But just then, Shen Daoxing raised the Great Ming Demon Sparrow high in his hands, walked over to an inconspicuous spot, and suddenly stabbed downward.
"ROAR!"
An incredibly bizarre monster’s cry echoed throughout the entire space, and the crowd was so startled they immediately covered their ears.
Meanwhile.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Dozens of lava pillars shot toward the sky without any warning.
"CRACK! CRACK!"
The scorched black earth beneath the lava pillars suddenly fractured, and countless fissures instantly spread out like a spiderweb.
"ROAR!"
The terrifying monster’s roar sounded once more.
A monster the size of a small mountain, formed from lava, surged out like a tidal wave. It opened its cavernous maw and lunged menacingly at Shen Daoxing.
No one had expected such a monster to be hidden beneath the scorched-brown earth.
The crowd looked at Shen Daoxing, dumbfounded:
"What is he doing? He could have just gone to the next level. Why would he provoke a monster like this?"
"We’re done for! We’re screwed! We haven’t gotten any benefits, and now we’re all going to die here."
The crowd instantly panicked.
"I forfeit!"
Suddenly, someone looked up at the sky, held up their Jade Token, and shouted.
Immediately, a ray of colorful light descended upon him, and in the blink of an eye, he was teleported away.
Facing the aggressive, mountain-sized lava monster lunging at him, Shen Daoxing felt no panic. Instead, he was filled with surging excitement, eager for a fight.
He raised the Great Ming Demon Sparrow high. The light from the Seven-Colored Profound Platform within him flared brightly. CRACKLE! A few black arcs of electricity flashed, and Venerable Power silently emerged, gathering upon the Great Ming Demon Sparrow.
"Venerable Taboo, Kunlun Duanyue!"
"Sever!"
Shen Daoxing’s sword descended.
A single strike that could sever mountains and cleave heaven and earth.
Everything in its path was annihilated, and the entire space distorted.
As if it had been simply erased, the lava monster’s menacing maw vanished into an empty void. A whole section from its middle was suddenly gone.
"CRACKLE!"
Black arcs of electricity flickered, and the entire space warped as if it had been snapped in two.
"I forfeit!"
"I forfeit!"
"I forfeit!"
Under the pressure of the giant lava monster, many of the young geniuses from across the land gave in to their fear, raising their Jade Tokens and shouting to forfeit.
But at that exact moment, the lava monster was erased through its middle, splitting into two halves.
Then.
"RUMBLE!"
With a tremendous crash, the mountain-sized lava monster collapsed.
"It’s dead!"
"???"
"???"
...
The young geniuses who had raised their Jade Tokens froze. A wave of immense regret washed over them, but it was too late. A beam of light shot down from the sky, fell upon them, and they were teleported out.
The young geniuses who had yet to withdraw all felt a sense of relief that they hadn’t acted impulsively, but as they looked at the youth across from them holding the massive, dark sword, their primary feeling was one of utter shock.
"Who is that guy? How can he be so ferocious?"
Someone suddenly asked.
"Ziyi, do you know him?"
The speaker asked his companion.
His companion shook his head, then turned to the person on his other side. "Do you know him?"
That person also shook their head and asked the next one.
After asking all around, it turned out that no one knew him.
"Just who is this person?"
The crowd was stunned.
"He... he seems to be the guy who came with Dugu Sheng. He’s Dugu Sheng’s subordinate."
Someone suddenly said, having remembered something.
"What? A mere subordinate is that ferocious?"
The crowd was once again astonished.
With the fall of the lava monster, the constantly erupting pillars of lava suddenly stopped all at once.
The crowd froze for a moment. Then, a few of the bolder individuals cautiously advanced. Once they confirmed the lava pillars would truly no longer erupt, they confidently made their way to the other side.
"It’s safe! We can cross!"
Instantly, the crowd erupted into activity, scrambling toward the other side. They vied to be the first to climb the Celestial Ladder and rush to the third level.
Shen Daoxing did not rush off. Instead, he slowly walked over to the lava monster’s corpse.
He prodded it a few times with the Great Ming Demon Sparrow, and a spot of white light emerged from the lava monster’s corpse.
Black arcs of electricity crackled around it. The white dot would expand, then shrink, then stretch and deform, as if space itself were constantly warping.
This was Venerable Power.
Without hesitation, Shen Daoxing reached out his hand.
The white dot, as if seeing its master, zipped over on its own. It merged into Shen Daoxing’s body and entered his Seven-Colored Profound Platform.
CRACKLE.
The black arcs of electricity around the Seven-Colored Profound Platform grew denser.
Shen Daoxing felt he had grasped a profound and ancient power capable of destroying anything.
After absorbing the Venerable Power, Shen Daoxing finally turned and headed for the Celestial Ladder. He reached it and ascended the steps. When he reached the top, his surroundings blurred, and when they came back into focus, he had arrived on the third level.
Compared to the first and second levels, the space on the third level was much larger. It was pitch-black and dotted with specks of light, like a boundless, starry sky.
Shen Daoxing stepped onto a transparent floor, causing ripples to spread out.
And in the middle of this space, Shen Daoxing saw a giant character for "Strength."
Below the character was a massive bronze gong, floating in mid-air. Beside it was a mallet as large as a full-grown adult.
This seemed to be a simple trial of strength.
Immediately, a burly man stepped forward. He walked up to the mallet, reached out with both hands, gave a light shout, and easily lifted it.
He then swung the mallet, spun his body in a full circle, and slammed it into the bronze gong with a BANG.
A deafening clang from the gong echoed throughout the space.
As the sound rang out, a beam of light suddenly shot down from the sky, and a majestic Celestial Ladder began to appear, descending from above.
But when the Celestial Ladder was only halfway revealed, the sound of the gong faded. The ladder instantly retracted, and the beam of light vanished.
Then, the giant character for "Strength" lit up in the sky. It shifted and changed, revealing a single large word: Failed.
The crowd watched as a single speck of starlight in the empty sky suddenly flared, growing larger and larger. In an instant, a massive fireball flew over and slammed into the burly man with a BOOM.
Instantly, the burly man was launched high into the air. With a cry of "Aaaah!", he shot into the sky, shrinking until he finally vanished, gone to who knows where.
The onlookers were all startled.
A moment later, another person boldly stepped forward. He was a man of small stature, but despite his size, he easily lifted the mallet.
"BANG!"
The mallet struck the bronze gong, and a deafening sound rang out.
A beam of light shot down, and the majestic Celestial Ladder once again began to slowly reveal itself from top to bottom.