CHAPTER 512: CHAPTER 512. ENCOUNTERING THE OTHER TEAM

In the inner courtyard of the palace, where the trial artifact was placed, the two robed officers monitored the holographic screen. Although they couldn’t see what happened inside the trial, the screen displayed each team’s progress.

Most of the kingdom officials had left the courtyard. Only a few with the highest ranks remained. King Huang Ti and Prime Minister Zhu Yao were among those who stayed in the courtyard to follow the progress. Two weeks had passed, and the distinction between the four teams started to show.

"Prince Huang San is in the lead...," Zhu Yao uttered.

"It appears to be so," King Huang Ti remarked.

Huang Ti’s words sounded unemotional, but Zhu Yao could see the glint in the king’s eyes. Huang Ti was secretly pleased with the result.

Not everyone in the courtyard shared his feelings, though. Senior Minister Pu Zhang was among the officials remaining in the courtyard, and he was not happy with this result. He didn’t dare to show it, though. All he could do was pray that Prince Huang San’s team stumbled upon another team. When that happened, they would be done for, no matter how far ahead they were in the lead.

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Either it was a cruel fate or the Gods listened to Pu Zhang’s prayer, such an incident occurred the next day. By that time, Huang San’s team had already solved five trial stages and was inside their sixth.

In this sixth stage, they were back into a world filled with the wood elements. It was different from the previous one, though. The previous stage was a jungle with tall trees. This time, it was a bamboo groove with high and tightly packed bamboo trees forming a fence. They couldn’t see or pass through the bamboo fence and couldn’t fly higher than the bamboo trees.

They tried cutting the bamboo to clear up the way, but those frail-looking plants refused to be cut.

This stage was a maze, an even more troublesome maze compared to their first trial stage. In the first trial stage, the maze only limited the movements of the water required to solve the challenge. This one limited their movements.

Another thing they noticed from these bamboos was they blocked their Martial Sense. They couldn’t sense someone if that person stood behind the bamboo fence. Luckily, the telepathic connection between them during this trial still worked, so they could know each other’s position.

The solution to the challenge inside this trial stage was again the metal element, but it was a different metal than before. The metal to solve the challenge in this stage was a plain-looking small metal cube. Xin Wuming was the one who found it.

If not for his eyes for detail, he might have missed the metal cube. The cube was on the ground with the other rocks. What distinguished it was its artificial cube shape and metallic shine.

As for the exit point, Huang San found a small garden with a contraption that utilized water. Gears and levers made of bamboo turned as water passed through the contraption. Hearing the description, Amon was sure that was where they should bring the metal cube.

Amon used the same trick as before to solve the maze. He stayed at the starting spot to draw all the paths everyone else took. This gave him an idea about what the maze looked like. After Xin Wuming and Huang San found the two elements, he didn’t yet see a path that linked the two together. So, he asked Xin Wuming to retrace his path and bring the metal cube to where Amon was before they followed Huang San’s path to the place with the water and bamboo contraption.

It was during this time they encountered people outside their team. The first encounter happened to Wu Di. He was walking in Huang San’s direction. He didn’t want to retrace his path back to their starting point. It didn’t matter anyway. If Amon and Xin Wuming brought the metal cube to Huang San and solved the challenge, he would be transported to the next trial stage even if he was still lost. Hence, he had no problem trying his luck inside the maze.

A man wearing a soldier uniform walked out of a corner of the bamboo fence. Wu Di and the man noticed one another at the same time.

Wu Di was at first bewildered as to why a stranger was inside this place. He then remembered there were other teams inside this trial. Remembering that, he also remembered seeing this man before. The man was among the participants on Princess Huang Er’s team.

The two froze on their spot without doing anything. Both were using their telepathic connection to inform their respective team.

"How many are there?" Amon asked after receiving Wu Di’s news.

"Uh, I only see one," Wu Di informed.

"His cultivation?" Amon asked.

"Beginning Mystic Stage," Wu Di answered.

"You are stronger than him. Take him out! If you fail to do it within one minute, run!" Amon instructed.

It seemed the man also received a similar instruction. Because when Wu Di lunged at him, he did the same.

The man unsheathed the sword beside his waist. Wu Di unfastened the long glaive tied to his back. The two swung their weapons at each other. The clash immediately showed who was stronger.

The man recoiled from the impact, but he appeared to have expected the result. Instead of staggering back, he utilized the recoil to jump back. He kicked the bamboo fences around the place to jump gracefully from one spot to another, keeping himself on the move as Wu Di’s glaive came swinging.

"Damn it! You are weak, but you have a good movement art," Wu Di complimented.

Wu Di remembered Amon’s words. It didn’t seem he could defeat this man in less than one minute. He could try using Saintly Ape to boost his speed but preferred to save it for later during an emergency. Hence, Wu Di turned around and bolted from there.

"Don’t think you can leave!" the man exclaimed. He followed Wu Di while maintaining a distance.

"You need to lose him," Amon told Wu Di when Wu Di informed him about the development. "As long as he is near you, he can draw his other teammates toward you. They outnumber us and have two Spirit Stage cultivators. You will be done for if one of them comes to your place."

"You think I don’t know that?" Wu Di complained. He sent his thoughts to An Guan, "Tutor An Guan, where are you?"

"I am too far from your place. I won’t make it in time," An Guan said.

"Ah...! Screw this!" Wu Di exclaimed. He used Jet Dash. His body shot toward his opponent.

The enemy was surprised by Wu Di’s sudden burst of speed but not flustered. His body swayed as if a leaf in the wind. He utilized the momentum produced by Wu Di’s forceful rush and rode that momentum to escape impact.

"What kind of weird movement art is that?!" Wu Di exclaimed in frustration. His glaive slashed at light speed. The slashes left marks on the bamboos and the ground even when they couldn’t inflict damage.

"You can continue to dream about hitting me!" His opponent taunted.

Wu Di used Jet Dash again. But this time, it was not toward his opponent. He shot to the side, right into the intersection he was passing.

His opponent realized he had been tricked. The slashes persuaded him to put a safe distance away. When he was moving away, Wu Di instead dashed in a different direction. The bamboo fence blocked sensing. If he lost sight of Wu Di, he might not find the guy again.

He kicked the bamboo by his side to propel him back and rushed toward the intersection Wu Di had disappeared into. Just as he made the turn, he saw Wu Di slashing at him.

Wu Di didn’t flee. He just pretended to. He stopped his Jet Dash once he entered the intersection and lay in wait for the enemy to approach.

The enemy was too close to dodge this time. All he could do was use his sword to block the slash.

*CLANG!*

Wu Di was already stronger than him, to begin with. His block was also performed in haste. Thus, he lost grip of his sword from the impact.

Wu Di wasn’t done. He didn’t waste time to pull his glaive back for a follow-up attack. His left hand let go of the glaive and clenched into a fist. This fist rushed toward the enemy’s chest. Explosive energy accompanied that punch. If the fist connected, it would undoubtedly cause incredible damage.

It failed to connect, though, because a block of stone suddenly came in between. Wu Di’s Ignition Fist crashed into the stone. The impact resulted in a powerful explosion, shattering the stone and throwing his enemy away.

"Hua Yang, are you alright?" A woman appeared not far away.

Hua Yang, who was sent flying by Wu Di’s Ignition and hit a fence wall, caught his breath before replying, "Gao Min, thank goodness you arrived. Otherwise, I might be a goner already."

"Shit!" Wu Di cursed. Not only did he fail to take out his opponent, but the enemy reinforcement had also arrived. Wu Di sensed the newcomer woman had the cultivation of the Peak Mystic Stage.