524 Failure
“I’d like to see you break this cage.” The wood guardian glanced at Himmel Soan.
Judging by Himmel Soan’s performance, he didn’t think the latter could break the cage. No matter how confident he sounded, he had to face reality, which wasn’t always what one wanted.
Firey activated her fire, sending it toward the cage.
“Young lady, I wouldn’t meddle if I were you. Otherwise, the test will become harder. Since he can’t break the cage now, he’ll have even less of a chance if the test is upgraded,” the wood guardian told Firey.
Firey immediately gave up on trying to help Himmel Soan. She couldn’t interfere because it would make things harder for him.
“Firey, just wait there and watch me break this cage!” Himmel Soan said confidently.
He made hundreds of strikes in the blink of an eye. The blade hit the cage, sending sparks everywhere.
Himmel Soan finally realized what was special about these vines.
The wood guardian was right. The characteristics of the wood attribute were tenacity and healing ability.
His attack on the cage wasn’t completely futile though. Each strike had left a dent in the vines. However, they healed so fast that as soon as the dagger left the surface, the dent would vanish, giving one the impression that they couldn’t be hurt.
The vines were so tenacious that he couldn’t break them in one strike, and the healing ability allowed it to mend its wounds over and over again. The two characteristics made sure that Himmel Soan would remain trapped in the cage.
“There’s only one way: destroy it in one go. I can only get out in that instant, or the cage will close up again,” Himmel Soan murmured.
The wood guardian felt a bit of respect for him. Under such circumstances, he could make quick judgments and find the optimal solution. Only someone with a strong mind could do so.
Of course, that was as far as his respect would go. Knowing what to do wasn’t enough. The most important thing was to know how to do it.
Making his attacks more powerful would be a good idea, but it wasn’t easily done.
Everybody knew one could run faster with hard training, but to do that, one needed to train constantly before improving their speed by a marginal amount.
Himmel Soan didn’t have that much time. He only had fifteen minutes. It wasn’t that easy to increase one’s force in that short a window.
“I’ll give it a go!” Himmel Soan ground his teeth and made up his mind.
He compressed his spiritual essence and injected it into the dagger.
Luckily, the dagger was a divine weapon. Ordinary weapons wouldn’t be able to withstand the influx of spiritual essence and would fall apart.
“That’s not enough!” Himmel Soan told himself.
He kept compressing his spiritual essence, and the dagger shone brightly.
“What?” The wood guardian looked at the dagger in surprise.
A great amount of spiritual essence had gathered on the dagger. Himmel Soan concentrated it on the blade, amplifying its power.
Boom!
Finally, the amount of the spiritual essence reached the highest level that Himmel Soan could control. He struck out again.
The dagger broke the cage like a hot knife cutting into butter.
“It’s working!”
The blade cut through layers of vines and was halfway through the wall of the cage in a few seconds.
Himmel Soan was elated. At this rate, he had a high hope of breaking the vine cage.
1/2 to go.
1/3 to go.
1/4 to go.
The dagger cut through 4/5 of the thickness of the cage wall. However, the spiritual essence was drained when there was only 1/5 left, and it couldn’t move any further.
“It’s still not enough!” Himmel Soan sighed.
He was so close to cutting through the cage, but his spiritual essence reserves weren’t enough. He failed again.
“What a shame,” the wood guardian said.
He thought Himmel Soan could break free with that strike, but he failed at the last minute.
I gave it my best shot but still couldn’t break the cage. Does it really match the defense ability of my level? Himmel Soan wondered.
The cage was impregnable. If a cultivator had that kind of defensive ability, they could defeat anyone of their own level.
No cultivator could break this kind of defense mechanism.
“Am I going to die here?” Himmel Soan murmured.
He began to doubt himself.
“Master, you’re the best! I’m sure this cage can’t keep you! There must be another way!” Firey cheered him up.
Her voice made his resolve firm. If he gave up so easily, he wouldn’t be Himmel Soan. There must be a way!
“I’ve used all my strength and spiritual essence. To make my attacks more powerful, I only have two options.
I can compress my spiritual essence again to reduce the area of the contact surface. The smaller the area, the bigger the pressure and the more powerful the strike. It’s like the difference between punching someone and jabbing a finger into them. My fist can push people away, but my finger can put a hole in their bodies.
Another way is to raise my speed. A ball of cotton is harmless, but if it falls from thousands of meters above, it can still crush one’s head! Himmel Soan thought about all the possibilities.
To break the cage, he had to increase the power output of his attacks. There were only a couple of ways to do that.
He thought about all the feasible methods. He could either raise his speed or compress the spiritual essence. There was no other choice.
Raising his cultivation level wouldn’t work because the vines would increase their strength accordingly.
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