Chapter 113 - 110: Breaking Through

Chapter 113: Chapter 110: Breaking Through Creak, creak! At the moment when multiple figures dashed into the Copper Man Formation, the copper automatons in the formation immediately sprang into action, launching attacks on the martial artists who had entered. A large number of martial artists entered the formation; those who were quick in speed and reaction naturally managed to dodge the initial few Copper Men, but they inevitably encountered obstructions, being forced to stop and engage in battle. If they wanted to advance further, they needed to repel the Copper Men automatons in front of them and clear a path. Bang, bang, bang! For a moment, the sounds of collisions surged in the Copper Man Formation, the sounds of the young martial artists battling the automatons incessantly echoed. "Wind Splitting Palm!" In the midst of the chaos, a tall, thin youth shouted loudly and struck the neck of a Copper Man automaton with a vertical chop. Boom! However, despite taking the hit, the Copper Man automaton wasn’t affected at all. Instead, it staggered back two steps only to charge forward fiercely again, sending the tall, thin youth flying with a punch. In just a few minutes, more than twenty people were blasted out from the Copper Man Formation, losing their qualification for the assessment. Taking advantage of the chaos, some began to accelerate toward the center of the formation, as being among the first eight to break through the Copper Man Formation would grant them the status of Inner Hall Disciples of Heavenly Martial Hall, and the top two would even become disciples of the strongest Qian Hall within Heavenly Martial Hall. Although all were disciples of Heavenly Martial Hall, who wouldn’t want to join a hall of greater strength? Naturally, Qian Hall became everyone’s top choice, hence the fierce competition for ranking. Most who entered the Copper Man Formation found themselves in tough battles, with only a few exceptions. Of course, Ye Xuan was one of these exceptions. Facing the fierce attacks of the Copper Man automatons, Ye Xuan appeared quite relaxed. While others had to face the automatons head-on, Ye Xuan managed to avoid most of the attacks, and even for those he couldn’t evade, he used Finger Light in advance to stall their movements, not even letting them touch the hem of his clothes. In such intense trials, the disparity widened quickly; the leading twenty-something figures had already reached the central area of the Copper Man Formation. Here, the formation of the Copper Man automatons became denser, and the difficulty of breaking through increased significantly. Crack! Just as a young man in blue clothes stepped into the central area, the ground beneath his feet suddenly made a noise. In the next moment, the Copper Man automatons in front of him started moving violently, charging towards him in a straight line. And at that moment, a crack suddenly opened behind him on the ground, emitting a shocking wall of blazing fire shooting side by side. Boom! The young man in blue naturally didn’t dare to touch the wall of fire and had to face the attack of three Copper Man automatons head-on, and was decisively sent flying, coughing up blood. Bang, Bang! Almost simultaneously, in another direction, three assessors successively triggered traps and were beaten until they coughed up blood repeatedly. From beneath their feet, several hidden compartments appeared, moving the eliminated individuals away, disappearing into the Copper Man Formation. In just over ten minutes, the number of people in the Copper Man Formation had decreased significantly. However, even with conditions becoming extremely harsh, there still remained three figures at the forefront, completely unthreatened by the Copper Men as they rapidly maneuvered through the obstacles. Ye Xuan maintained a systematic pace of advancement. This area was rife with traps, and triggering them was highly likely; however, with his capabilities, even if he triggered a trap, he could quickly find a way to escape and turn danger into safety. Just a while ago, he had encountered the same predicament as the previously mentioned young man in blue, but he reacted swiftly, using the Wave Treading Step to avoid the situation. If it had come to a direct confrontation, he might not have been eliminated, but he would still have borne some marks. The brute force of these Copper Man automatons was not for show. "Those two, they must be the previously mentioned Long Gudu and Deng Tianyu, right?" Ye Xuan looked at two figures not far from him; their speed in the trial was only slightly slower than his, but as of now, they were still a bit behind him, though the gap between them was small. "Brother Long, it seems this assessment has brought out a dark horse. If this continues, one of us might end up having to join Kun Hall, which is not ideal..." Among the two, the handsome young man dressed in white glanced at Ye Xuan, his face showing a bit of discomfort. Naturally, with his talent and fame, being led by an obscure individual was hard to stomach. "What do you propose?" The young man in black next to him had a stern expression, but after hearing Deng Tianyu’s words, he couldn’t help but frown and turned his head to ask. "How about we join forces, take down this youngster first, and then compete for the top position?" Deng Tianyu’s eyes flashed with a cold light as he suggested. "Doing that would be somewhat disgraceful, wouldn’t it?" Long Gudu’s brow furrowed even tighter. He had always been proud, and as a rarely matched opponent among his generation, he’d never paid much mind to those of the same age. Now Deng Tianyu wanted him to team up against Ye Xuan, something his strong sense of pride couldn’t allow. "Losing to an unknown is truly disgraceful, Brother Long, can you really be content with that?" Deng Tianyu had long since figured out the other’s character and immediately scoffed coldly, discussing honor and disgrace at such a time was truly pedantic. These words undoubtedly struck a nerve with Long Gudu. Given his exceptional pride, he naturally found it intolerable for an insignificant figure to surpass him. His strength was even greater than that of Deng Tianyu. If he could take down Ye Xuan, the first place might very well be his. As for Deng Tianyu, he naturally had his own plans: eliminate Ye Xuan first, thereby removing a strong competitor. He could at least become one of the two Qian Hall Inner Hall Disciples and perhaps, with a little more calculation, even take down Long Gudu and claim the first place. "Let’s do it." Long Gudu nodded slightly after a moment’s thought, clearly agreeing to join forces. The two reached a tacit understanding and soon approached Ye Xuan. "Hmm?" Ye Xuan’s senses were extremely sharp, and he was already on guard. Seeing the two of them approach with such coordination, he immediately became suspicious. "These two guys, want to team up against me? Fine, I’ll let them taste the frustration of hitting a wall." A smile curved up at the corner of his mouth, Ye Xuan could guess what the two intended to do, their plan to take him out together was calculated quite well. With a plan in mind, when the two were only about ten steps away from him, Ye Xuan suddenly turned around without warning. He bent his fingers and jabbed continuously, unleashing the fierce Finger Light like blade edges that streaked ruthlessly through the air, tracing spirals and dispersing ripples that tore through the atmosphere. Seeing Ye Xuan strike first, both Long Gudu and Deng Tianyu’s expressions changed slightly, but they did not show any signs of panic. With a two against one advantage, there really was no need to worry. Pfft pfft pfft! The Spiral Finger Force, like raindrops, grazed past them and finally struck the ground beneath their feet, leaving multiple holes. "Mere insect tricks." Deng Tianyu scoffed mockingly at the attack, which was so weak it was hardly threatening. However, just as he was feeling smug, mechanisms suddenly triggered behind him and to his right, a scorching wall of fire and a row of crossbow bolts abruptly shot up from the ground towards Deng Tianyu. "Not good!" Deng Tianyu’s complexion drastically changed as he realized that Ye Xuan’s target had never been him, but rather to activate the nearby traps! At that moment, nearby Copper Men puppet quickly moved and encircled him, creating immense trouble in an instant. "Despicable!" He cursed angrily, quickly dodging the traps’ attack and then fiercely punched at the approaching Copper Men puppet, trying to break through. His cry of "despicable" somewhat amused Ye Xuan. The two were ganging up on him, yet they were calling him despicable, which seemed quite ridiculous. At that moment, when Ye Xuan was attacking Deng Tianyu, Long Gudu had already carried an astonishing momentum and attacked ferociously. "Tiger Roar Dragon Fist!" Long Gudu targeted Ye Xuan and then suddenly threw a punch. Intense light burst forth from his fist, merging the sound of a tiger’s roar and dragon’s chant, a colossal strange force dragged a twisted trail of light and airflow, striking towards Ye Xuan. Where the fist passed, the air was evacuated, overwhelmingly invincible, with an extremely terrifying force. Clang! Seeing the fist rapidly approaching, Ye Xuan’s expression remained unchanged, he drew the Star-cutting Saber from his back, the blade flickering with lightning, and collided fiercely with the vast punch force. Bang! A loud collision echoed, and both figures simultaneously retreated. However, Ye Xuan’s body directly leapt into the air. He moved like a specter, stepping on the approaching Copper Man puppet’s head without any disturbance in his steps, and landed smoothly. Even his landing spot was just perfect, as if he knew the Copper Man Formation by heart. In contrast, Long Gudu was forced to retreat repeatedly, his steps disordered, and soon triggered a mechanism, getting himself into quite a bit of trouble. At this moment, three elders atop a tower, witnessing this scene, had varied expressions. "This youngster is truly formidable. Others were more or less held back by the Copper Man Formation, but look at him. He walks as if on level ground, not even a scratch on him, and even touching him seems difficult," the Elder from Kun Hall remarked with a sense of marvel. "Hehe, can’t you see that this youngster’s speed, responsiveness, adaptability, all are top-notch, plus his inherent strength is strong. If this Copper Man Formation could trouble him, it would indeed be strange," the white-robed Elder stated, stroking his beard with a smile, clearly growing more fond of Ye Xuan. "It’s just exploiting a loophole. If it were a matter of true strength, he might not necessarily be able to defeat the other two." Watching Ye Xuan smoothly navigate the Copper Man Formation, the remaining black-robed Elder still had a cold expression and snorted. The white-robed Elder did not respond to this. This black-robed Elder was Deng Tianyu’s grandfather, naturally displeased with Ye Xuan, a sudden competitor, and apparently, due to some reason, this Elder Deng of Qian Hall had been somewhat disdainful of Ye Xuan from the beginning.