Long Chen and Mu Zheng, both had been standing in front of the Ranking Hall. Other than them, there were 2 more disciples there. Mu Zheng had constantly been glaring at Long Chen as if he wanted to eat him.
Rank 2 in Strength Ranking, Chu Miao was also there. She was standing behind the elders.
"Since Mu Zheng is older, he'll go first. Long Chen will be second," Grand Elder Chu stood before the Ranking board and announced.
Mu Zheng finally took his eyes off of Long Chen and stepped towards the ranking hall. He entered the place and entered the strength room while others waited outside for him.
Mu Chen didn't have any difficulty defeating the peak Gold Core Realm puppet and he only used one move to clinch the victory.
The next opponent was the Puppet that had the cultivation of Peak Earth Realm.
Even though Mu Zheng was way stronger than last time, it still took him 10 minutes to defeat the peak Earth Realm puppet. Last time, it had taken him 30 minutes to get the victory, but this time he was 3 times faster.
In no time, the final opponent arrived. The Peak Sky Realm puppet that was the opponent that no one was able to defeat. It was clear that a person wouldn't be able to defeat the peak Sky Realm puppet. Even black-robed elders would have difficulty, but that wasn't the mission of the test.
The final puppet was only placed there to see how long a disciple can last against it.
Mu Zheng gave it all he had, but despite getting so much stronger than last time, the results were still the same. He was defeated and the Sky Realm puppet wasn't even scratched.
Even though he was defeated, he fought for over 50 minutes before being defeated. Last time he had only lasted 10 minutes, so he was quite happy about his result.
He had already guessed that it was his victory. There was no way that Long Chen would be able to defeat him now.
He proudly left the Ranking Hall.
"He looks quite confident. He was inside for longer as well. Maybe he might break the previous score record this time," An Elder muttered as he observed the facial expression of Lang Jing.
"Indeed. I'm quite inexperienced but I can still see his confidence. I wonder how well Long Chen will be able to do,"
The Elders started discussing the results amongst themselves as they saw Long Chen step in the ranking hall.
Long Chen entered the Strength Ranking room and the entrance was closed behind him.
Long Chen brought his King's sword out and got ready to battle. Last time he had attended this test, he didn't have his King's Sword and he just battled with Mountain Destroyer, but today, he was fully prepared.
The first opponent was a gold core puppet, but before he could even start fighting, its head was separated from its body under the attack of the King's sword.
In less than a second, the first puppet was destroyed as it fell down to the ground.
The Peak Earth Realm puppet came out next and instantly attacked Long Chen without giving him a chance, but Long Chen used his teleport and appeared behind the puppet as he swung his sword and cut the puppet in half.
In less than 2 minutes, he had defeated 2 puppets and he had already got to the final stage of the trial.
The peak sky realm puppet stood in front of a Long Chen.
The puppet had 2 swords. One sword in each of his hands. Long Chen hadn't fought this puppet last time and it was his first time facing it, but he had guessed that the puppet was a dual wielder.
To not fall behind, he also brought his Mountain Destroyer out of his storage ring. He had also fought with 2 swords on occasions thus he decided to use 2 swords as well.
The battle began with Long Chen attacking first, but just before his sword could clash with the swords of the puppet, he used teleport and appeared behind him as he continued the movement of his sword towards the neck of the puppet, but the puppet's reaction was much faster as it turned back and intercepted the sword.
Long Chen again used the teleport to create distance between himself and the puppet as he realized that his speed wouldn't be able to match the puppet.
"The Sky Realm puppet is indeed strong. It would be strange if he wasn't though," He muttered with a thoughtful look on his face.
As he got into a sword stance.
"Seven forms of Saint Sword..."
He started circulating his energy to use his sword skill, but before he could have enough time, he saw the puppet coming towards him.
He didn't break his stance and just teleport to the other side of the room behind the puppet.
"Fifth Form: Chaos!" Long Chen swung his sword.
A bright and destructive arc of light escaped his sword and struck the puppet that was coming towards him.
The sky realm puppet used both his swords to intercept the attack, but he still failed as he was tossed back.
The puppet crashed on the wall behind. Fortunately, the walls were strong and they were able to bear the impact.
A deep sword wound could be seen on the sky realm puppet, but there was no blood.
Without wasting a single moment, Long Chen teleported near the Sky Realm puppet, and thrust both his swords down towards the chest of the puppet. He has read that most of the puppets were powered by the energy crystals that were mostly situated in their chest.
He wanted to break those energy crystals, but before his sword could even touch the chest of the puppet, the puppet used both his hands and caught the blade of Long Chen's sword just a few inches away from his chest.
Long Chen tried to push the sword further, but he wasn't even able to move the sword. His strength was much lacking compared to the Peak Sky Realm puppet.
Furthermore, he wasn't even able to free the swords from his grip as the puppet stood up.
The puppet kicked towards Long Chen's chest who was still trying to free his sword.
Long Chen saw the kick coming and he instantly used the teleportation. He barely dodged the kick by half a second. If he was even a second late, his bones would have been broken and he would be lying on the ground in agony.
The puppet threw Long Chen's swords away and picked his sword as he attacked. This gave Long Chen the opportunity to pick his swords and he did just that as he teleported near the swords.
The battle continued like this. Long Chen tried to defeat the Sky Realm puppet, while keeping his safety.
He was getting success in staying safe. It had been 30 minutes since the battle began, and he hadn't even been touched by the puppet whereas the sky realm puppet had sword wounds all over his body. Although the puppet was like that, it's proficiency hadn't decreased even a little bit. Its speed, strength and defense had stayed the same since the beginning.
Even after all that, the victory wasn't in sight. Although he was able to graze the Sky Realm Puppet, he hadn't been able to deal heavy damage so far.
Whatever little bit of damage he was able to provide had all been thanks to his space law as he was outmatched in everything else.
Even at his full strength, he wasn't a match for a peak Sky Realm puppet, let alone now when his strength was restricted.