The Brilliant Fighting Master

At first, Jiang Chen assumed that there were other people in the Ninefold Palace who wanted to become the Realm Lord before him. However, this was obviously implausible, so Jiang Chen just held the Heavenly Fault Sword and walked carefully.

When he turned the corner, a person pounced at him and his ironlike fists were thrust at him. Jiang Chen was already on guard, and he managed to easily dodge and take a clear look at the person who had attacked him.

“Xihai Longquan?” When Jiang Chen had had a clear look at his appearance, he was quite surprised. This was a person who had died around 100 years ago and was one of the Nine Heavens Realm’s most outstanding and renowned people.

Before Jiang Chen had come here, he had asked Nan Gong about who had entered the Ninefold Palace, and he had also seen their pictures and read about their pasts in order to know them well.

Every era had its leading person, and Xihai Longquan was one of the most renowned and impressive men of his time. No one in the whole world could rival his iron fists. Moreover, he had been the youngest Star Venerable then and he reached such a realm when he was in his forties. At that time, this was an outstanding feat! However, it was a pity that he was too fond of fame, and he entered the Ninefold Palace because he wanted to become more famous and he never appeared again.

Jiang Chen was surprised to see a person, who should have been dead, appearing before him. However, when he observed him carefully, he noticed that it was just his body which was left behind, and he had turned into a walking corpse. His eyes were flickering with red light and his face was pale. His whole body was utterly pale, while his clothes were tattered, and he seemed like a beggar. But despite all of this, his movements were bold and tyrannical. He didn’t have any consciousness left, and he took Jiang Chen for an intruder. He attacked him viciously and all his punches were trying to take his life.

Could it be that all the people who died in the Ninefold Palace will become a part of its trial?

Jiang Chen couldn’t help but wonder whether he would also end up like this, but he quickly shook his head and attacked with his sword.

“Senior, I’m sorry for affronting you.”

Xihai Longquan was really outstanding, but everything had changed with the passage of time, and martial techniques were progressing ceaselessly. Jiang Chen managed to easily block his punches and subdue him. When Jiang Chen had just started wondering whether he should destroy the corpse, Xihai Longquan lowered his head, closed his eyes, and stopped moving.

Did the Ninefold Palace already give birth to a Spirit? If that wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t occur this quickly, would it?

Jiang Chen clearly knew that it was difficult to have Xihai Longquan stop in time because many variables were included in the fight, and, unless someone was watching from the sidelines, it would be difficult to judge when the fight had come to an end. Jiang Chen shouted several times into the void, but he didn’t get any response.

So Jiang Chen just continued proceeding forward and turned another corner. An iron gate appeared before him, and he managed to open it just by pushing. After Jiang Chen got inside, the iron gate closed by itself.

This time, Jiang Chen didn’t bother with even turning his head around, and he observed the scenery before him. It wasn’t a long tunnel as before, and it was an extremely expansive room with an open view, and he could clearly see every corner, which was illuminated by the fire ignited by him shortly after entering this room. Jiang Chen could clearly see that there was a circular plaza here, and it was formed by stones of varied shapes and sizes. But they were arranged orderly and symmetrically. There was a giant compass hanging in the middle of the plaza.

Jiang Chen was confused by such a sight and didn’t understand the purpose behind this. However, when he stepped into the plaza, it seemed like something was activated, and the stones started transforming, while light emitted from the gaps between them. The hanging compass started revolving quickly, and after its reached a high speed, its revolving needle came to a stop. The plaza immediately turned into a sea of flames, which engulfed Jiang Chen.

“Those are Alien Flames!” Jiang Chen didn’t care about them at first, but when he discerned that those were Alien Flames able to refine everything, his expression changed drastically. Jiang Chen tried to summon the Sky-burning Evil Flame to defend against them. However, he found himself incapable of controlling it, and the evil flame just hid in the deepest part of his body. Jiang Chen tried to leave the plaza, but it was obvious that it wouldn’t end as he wished.

What is this? Jiang Chen felt like the test would surely not kill him on purpose, and there were surely some rules at play here. So, he must keep his cool. Jiang Chen managed to quickly notice what was strange about this plaza. The whole plaza and compass formed an ancient formation. There was a shining bluestone not far from him, and he used his full speed to quickly go over to it and step on it. At that instant, the Alien Flames disappeared, but before he could rejoice, the plaza’s temperature started dropping sharply, and it quickly reached freezing point.

Jiang Chen witnessed the stone wall being frozen by mysterious ice, and it started spreading toward the plaza. But it didn’t really matter because he had already gotten experience in this, and he quickly looked for a shining stone. However, he didn’t manage to find it.

Jiang Chen suddenly had another idea and lowered his head and observed the shape of the stone beneath his feet, as well as the strange characters written on it, before he jumped onto a stone similar to it. The mysterious ice didn’t stop spreading, but the stones in the plaza changed once again, and their transformation speed was becoming quicker as time passed. The shining stone appeared after this, and, after Jiang Chen stood atop it, the mysterious ice stopped spreading.

Sigh! Jiang Chen heaved a sigh of relief. Since this place had released the Alien Flames a moment ago, this mysterious ice was surely anything but simple, and since it could let him feel cold, it could surely kill anyone at one of the three Venerable Realms.

They are trying to teach me knowledge about ancient formations. Jiang Chen finally realized what was happening. The light was a signal, and as he continued, the trial would only become more difficult. So, he must bear in mind its rules and patterns.

It was fortunate that one of his strong points was that he had a highly retentive memory, and he had also good attainment in formations. He thought back to the two previous transformations and bore them in mind firmly.

The compass’s needle revolved once again. The plaza didn’t experience any obvious changes, but a tearing sound of a formless yet extremely sharp wind echoed out, and when it streaked near his body, it managed to leave a cut on him even though he possessed a divine body, and blood flowed out of the cut. Jiang Chen didn’t bother with treating the wound. He started moving quickly among the stones, which were also moving according to a complex pattern. As the trial proceeded further, the ancient formation’s knowledge displayed before him would be broader and vaster.

After an hour had passed, Jiang Chen’s head had become drenched with sweat, and he was exhausted. After the trial came to an end, Jiang Chen lay on the ground with his face filled with satisfaction. After he had gone through such a trial, his attainment in formations reached a whole new level. It wasn’t a question of how much it rose, and what was important was the gate to another new field was opened before him. He didn’t have just superficial knowledge of ancient formations like before, and he had mastered most of their principles.

Ancient formations were more useful than modern formations by much, and Jiang Chen could now set a million miles ancient teleportation formation, as well as a killing formation which touched upon spatial power. Moreover, what was important was Jiang Chen knew that it could still be considered just a superficial knowledge.

Did all Realm Lords need to learn such knowledge? Jiang Chen thought. He was looking forward to the next part of the Ninefold Palace.

Jiang Chen quickly managed to find a stone gate on the other side, and after he opened it and went inside, a great palace constructed in an expansive room appeared before him. Jiang Chen managed to see here other people who had tried to pass the Nine Heavens Realm’s trials. There were three people here, and they were all stronger than Xihai Longquan by much. Jiang Chen needed to use both swords as well as Heavenly Lightning to dispose of them.

As Jiang Chen continued forward, he ran into varied trials, and their difficulty was slowly becoming higher. After Jiang Chen pushed open the eighth gate, he noticed that his body had already sustained heavy injuries. But, just as he thought of recuperating for a while, he discovered a shocking object. It was the Four Qi’s cultivation method!

This was obviously the object that he required the most now, and he really ended up getting timely help.