Chapter 1981 – Trial Difficulty

“What? Even the Guild Leader is going to train?”

“I wonder how far the Guild Leader can reach?”

“Didn’t the Guild Leader say that he would wait for us on the second floor’s training ground? That means he has to pass through the first floor!”

“This trial is so difficult I wonder how the Guild Leader will clear it?”

As Shi Feng approached the first-floor training ground, Zero Wing’s members stopped their respective training and turned to look at Shi Feng, curious to see his performance.

By this time, they had all attempted the training ground’s trial already, so they knew that its difficulty was frustratingly high. Hence, they couldn’t believe that Shi Feng would succeed.

As Shi Feng got increasingly closer to the boundary of the training ground, he did not make any preparations at all—unlike everyone else. Instead, he stepped straight into the training ground, his gait not faltering even in the slightest.

The moment Shi Feng entered the training ground, four beam attacks suddenly appeared and flew straight at him.

The beam attacks of the training ground appeared with no warning at all, making it impossible for players to take preemptive action to evade them. Players had to rely on their sight and quick judgment to dodge the attacks.

Of course, dodging four of such sudden attacks would not be a problem at all for the expert players present, so long as they gave it their all.

However, despite seeing the beam attacks, Shi Feng gave no indication of wanting to dodge them. Instead, he maintained his pace, continuing to walk forward, straight into the attacks.

Xiu... Xiu... Xiu...

In the next moment, Zero Wing’s members saw the beam attacks pierce right through their Guild Leader.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, even after the four beam attacks faded out of existence, Shi Feng still did not get sent flying backward. His pace hadn’t even faltered. The beams had apparently passed through Shi Feng to no effect.

“What’s going on?”

“I didn’t see the Guild Leader making any evasive maneuvers!”

“How did the Guild Leader do it?”

The spectating crowd was stunned as Shi Feng kept moving forward.

The beam attacks that had repeatedly given Zero Wing’s members a terrible beating actually had zero effect against their Guild Leader. Shi Feng did not even sidestep the attacks. Right now, it looked as if Shi Feng was merely taking a leisurely stroll through his backyard as he walked toward the central magic array. The beam attacks would always miss their mark by just one or two centimeters, as if they were actively avoiding Shi Feng, and bypass him ineffectually.

When Shi Feng crossed the 50-yard mark and faced 20-plus beam attacks simultaneously, one of the beams suddenly altered its trajectory just as it was about to reach Shi Feng. However, despite this abrupt change, Shi Feng reacted to it calmly and simply slashed it with one of his swords.

In the end, the beam attack got sliced through cleanly. It did not even manage to slow Shi Feng’s advance for even a heartbeat.

Following which, as Shi Feng continued advancing, the number of beam attacks that abruptly altered their trajectories increased as well. By the time he neared the 100-yard mark, the number of transforming attacks had already reached eight. However, this increase was trivial to him. It just meant that he needed to swing his swords a few more times, at most. From a spectator’s perspective, it would look as if the beam attacks were attracted to his swords, as if they all automatically headed toward the weapons.

“Are you kidding me? Did the difficulty of this training ground change?”

Zero Wing’s members were at a loss for words as they watched Shi Feng’s leisurely progress through the training ground.

The players who were formerly members of adventurer teams, in particular, found themselves doubting their own eyes right now. Before today, they had rarely ever seen Shi Feng fighting in person. Most of their knowledge regarding Shi Feng came from battle videos.

Now that they were seeing Shi Feng in action with their own eyes, however, they doubted their senses.

Meanwhile, after Shi Feng crossed the 100-yard mark, the attacks he faced were no longer limited to straight beams and beams that abruptly altered their trajectories. Slashing beams joined the onslaught.

The addition of the slashing beams instantly increased the surface area under threat by a significant margin. Moreover, the slashing attacks contained great power. When Shi Feng tried blocking one with his swords, he found himself stumbling back several steps.

So, this is the first-floor training? Shi Feng deflected a slashing attack with Killing Ray, surprised by the change in attack patterns.

The first-floor training was much more difficult than the Extraordinary Tower’s initial entry test.

If the trial before the 100-yard mark trained players’ dodging capabilities, then the trial past the 100-yard mark focused on players’ offensive and defensive capabilities.

While Shi Feng was entertaining such thoughts in his mind, the number of slashing attacks had very quickly increased from one to four. The difficulty of the trial now already rivaled that of Rhinebeck’s trial, which Shi Feng had undergone to obtain the Sea God’s Legacy.

However, despite the high difficulty, Shi Feng, who had already reached the Ascension Realm, had no problem controlling his body’s instinct to dodge and block the incoming attacks. This was also the most rudimentary usage of the Realms of Truth—the skillful utilization of one’s own body. Instead of moving just his arms and legs, he had to employ his entire body. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to dodge and block all these beam attacks.

Following which, under everyone’s gaze, Shi Feng started advancing toward the central magic array at flying speeds. The numerous beam attacks couldn’t hinder his progress at all.

After a short moment, Shi Feng finally set foot on the central magic array. Shock filled the eyes of Aqua Rose and the others, who were spectating outside the training ground, at this sight.

Although they had long since expected that the first-floor training ground wouldn’t pose a problem for Shi Feng, they still had not imagined that he would clear it so effortlessly.

“That’s it for the demonstration. You’ll have to rely on yourselves to get through,” Shi Feng said as he glanced at the flabbergasted crowd behind him. He then teleported to the second-floor training ground.

The first-floor training ground provided very thorough training for players to master the Truth Realm. If not for him having already reached the Ascension Realm, he would’ve most likely had a difficult time reaching the central magic array, as even the slashing attacks had started altering their trajectories suddenly toward the end of the trial. Trying to defend against such attacks was extremely challenging. Merely moving one’s arms and legs wouldn’t be enough to cope with these attacks. One needed to coordinate their entire body with their weapons in order to effectively block and deflect these attacks.

The difficulty was doing so was extremely high. At the very least, if Shi Feng were still in the Truth Realm right now, he would have an even chance of receiving a direct hit from the changing slashing attacks. In other words, if one had just entered the Realms of Truth and barely had any attainments, clearing the first-floor trial would be impossible.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng’s demonstration allowed everyone to understand that reaching the central magic array wasn’t exactly impossible. After all, Shi Feng had done so—and in a very leisurely manner at that. From start to end, he had not made any large movements at all.

“Is the Guild Leader really human? He actually got through such a challenge!” After snapping out of his daze, Seven Light was bursting with excitement and motivation.

“So, this is the Sword King’s strength?” Watching Shi Feng’s leisurely display had likewise ignited Stubborn Bone’s fighting spirit.

In the past, although he knew that there was a massive gap in strength between himself and the peak experts of the various superpowers, he had attributed this disparity to the difference in Basic Attributes. He had believed that there wasn’t much difference between them when it came to combat standards. In hindsight, he found his thoughts laughable.

The difference was not limited to just Basic Attributes. Even his combat standard was inferior by leaps and bounds. Moreover, aside from Shi Feng, he was also inferior to the Guild’s Vice Guild Leader Aqua Rose, the main force’s commander Fire Dance, and the healer Violet Cloud.

Only, the gaps between him and the three women were not as gigantic as the one between him and Shi Feng.

However, it was precisely because of this discovery that he became keen on the training ground before him. In the past, he did not know how far behind he actually was, but now he knew.