Chapter 292: Chapter 292: The Trial, Leading the Battlefield Alone
The Tiger Flame expert directly answered the question about Fan Changcun’s whereabouts.
He didn’t even ask who Lu Chao and Sun Shijin were or how they had managed to get here. He was already on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.
"Of course, Old Fan might have passed the seventh floor, but he still won’t be able to get back."
"Hahaha..."
Laughing, the Tiger Flame expert flopped back down, crushing the skeleton behind him to dust.
His meaning was clear: Elder Fan might have passed through the seventh floor, but the path back was undoubtedly still through the Martial Arts Illusion Realm.
Fan Changcun couldn’t even get past the Martial Arts Illusion Realm on the 6th Floor, let alone the one on the seventh.
However, upon hearing the Tiger Flame expert’s answer, Lu Chao let out a long sigh of relief. At least Marshal Fan was still alive.
Lu Chao looked back at the Tiger Flame expert, who was slumped on the ground in the midst of a breakdown. He slowly walked over and asked, "Were you the only one with Marshal Fan?"
"No, there are three more over there."
Hearing this, the Tiger Flame expert pointed directly to a pile of bones.
Just as Lu Chao looked over, the man let out a sinister chuckle. "They’re already dead. Soon they’ll be nothing but bones, just like all the others here. Terrifying skeletons."
A shiver ran through Lu Chao, but he still walked over. Sure enough, he saw three desiccated corpses.
"Surprising, isn’t it? Unexpected? How did the bodies dry out so fast, you ask?"
"Because they died the very first time they challenged the Martial Arts Illusion Realm."
"All three of them died inside the Illusion Realm and were then thrown out. I was the one who dragged their bodies over there."
"I’m stronger. I didn’t die in the Illusion Realm. I even challenged it twice."
The Tiger Flame expert was still laughing as he spoke, his mind clearly unravelling.
He’d been trapped here for at least half a month, surrounded by nothing but bones and dark trees. Unable to leave, unable to advance... it had been bearable when Fan Changcun was with him, but now he was all alone.
In his despair, the Tiger Flame expert was truly on the brink of insanity.
"Hey, how did you two get here?"
"It wasn’t until recently that Old Fan managed to break through the 6th Floor of the Forbidden Land. Your Soldier Dao is incredible."
"But it’s fucking useless. You can’t get out. You just can’t get out."
The Tiger Flame expert’s crazed words made Sun Shijin’s expression grow darker and darker, a sense of immense dread washing over him.
He wasn’t afraid of his current surroundings, of course, but... ’Can we really not get out?’
Lu Chao, however, remained perfectly calm.
For him, no despair could be more terrifying than the time he died at Lu Dingtian’s hands, his soul trapped within the Life-taking Star-devouring Bone.
He spoke calmly.
"Elder Sun, let’s try the Martial Arts Illusion Realm first... and see just how terrifying it really is."
Just because the Tiger Flame expert couldn’t get out didn’t mean he and Sun Shijin were also trapped.
Instead of trying the seventh floor of the Forbidden Land right away, Lu Chao had to first see if he could pass the Martial Arts Illusion Realm. If they really couldn’t get out, then breaking through the seventh floor would be meaningless.
And so, Lu Chao and Sun Shijin walked back to the Barrier together and touched it at the same time.
The Tiger Flame expert’s crazed voice echoed in their ears, "Time to collect more bodies. Two more corpses for the pile."
In his eyes, Lu Chao and Sun Shijin were already dead men walking.
「At that moment...」
Lu Chao stepped back into the 6th Floor’s Illusion Realm, but the aura he sensed had changed. It was now filled with the essence of the Martial Dao and a palpable killing intent. Following the method he’d used before, Lu Chao immediately connected with the Martial Dao aura.
With a low hum, Sun Shijin vanished from his side.
Lu Chao found himself on what looked like a desolate battlefield. His gaze sharpened. ’The Soldier Dao Battle Array from the First Floor of the Forbidden Land?’
Before he could get a clear look... "KILL!"
The Soldier Dao Battle Array before him let out a terrifying battle cry, and the entire formation charged crazily toward him.
Lu Chao stood his ground, facing the onrushing Soldier Dao Battle Array...
’My opponent in the Illusion Realm is the Soldier Dao Battle Array from the first floor? Does it want me to wipe out the entire formation?’
While he was still thinking, the Soldier Dao Battle Array had already launched its full assault.
Lu Chao had no choice but to draw his Sword and fight back, plunging into the Soldier Dao Battle Array.
Amidst the slaughter, Lu Chao made a quiet assessment...
’Each illusion soldier possesses powerful Martial Techniques. Their techniques are all different, yet they flow together seamlessly.’
’And the illusion soldiers are at the Postnatal First and Second Layer. The level must have been deliberately set to something I can just barely handle. The soldiers Elder Sun is facing must be much stronger than mine...’
This so-called Martial Arts Illusion Realm must formulate its rules based on the challenger’s cultivation level.
In other words...
No matter their cultivation level, everyone who enters the Illusion Realm faces the same relative difficulty.
For example, since Lu Chao was at the Second Layer of Transformation, his opponents were set accordingly. The Tiger Flame expert from before was at the True Fate First Layer, so his opponents were scaled to match that level.
It would be the same for Sun Shijin.
The soldiers he faced were at the Postnatal First and Second Layer. The ones Sun Shijin was facing were likely at the Postnatal Seventh and Eighth Layers.
’No, this isn’t a test of the Martial Dao, like that Tiger Flame expert claimed.’
’It’s a test of one’s ability to kill...’
’It’s testing whether a Soldier Dao expert can fight an army alone. The Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land requires more from a Soldier Dao practitioner than just knowing how to command troops. They must also be able to withstand the charge of an army by themselves.’
Lu Chao continued to fight as he analyzed the situation further...
And that explained it. Why you had to arrange troops to get in, but engage in a slaughter to get out. It wasn’t that the creator of this Forbidden Land was sick in the head; it was that their standards were incredibly high.
Anyone who breaks through the 6th Floor must be both a commander and a warrior.
Able to command armies with ease, and also to dominate the battlefield alone.
At this thought, Lu Chao immediately mobilized the Dragon General Bone’s aura from his Life-taking Star-devouring Bone.
The next moment... ROAR!
He let out a roar imbued with a Dragon General’s might. The Sword in his hand was replaced by a long spear, and he charged into the enemy ranks with the Dragon General’s Bone Fury Dragon Spear Slash.
This was not an unfamiliar situation for Lu Chao. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to fight an entire battlefield alone...
As the former Great Martial Emperor Star, now possessing the Life-taking Star-devouring Bone, he was nothing short of ferocious in the face of this challenge.
It was just... kill, kill, kill!
After a wild slaughter, the entire Soldier Dao Battle Array lay annihilated before him!
Lu Chao took a deep breath, gripping his spear. ’It’s probably not that simple. There must be more challenges.’
Sure enough, the Illusion Realm distorted, and the four Soldier Dao Battle Arrays from the second floor of the Forbidden Land appeared. They were still illusionary troops, and Lu Chao still had to face them all alone.
And of course, Lu Chao charged forward without hesitation.
But his gaze fell upon the illusionary Commander of each of the four Soldier Dao Battle Arrays.
’Perhaps I only need to kill the Commanders to pass.’
With a low roar, Lu Chao stopped engaging the ordinary illusionary soldiers and instead charged toward the four Commanders.
On the battlefield, it was a matter of course: to catch the bandits, first you had to catch their king.
