"I knew it was going to be difficult, but they said it wouldn't focus on Cultivation. I felt like I would pass this without needing my real skills. Why the heck is that Corpse Puppet be so strong in a trial that is not supposed to focus on Cultivation? That's the only reason my calculations are off," Long Chen muttered as he shook his head.
"Whatever, I'll use what I have. If I can't use physical strength, then I'll use the only skill I can use now and a little bit of brain," he let out as he placed his sword back in his storage ring.
*****
"He's keeping his sword back? Is he giving up? I expected more fighting determination from his son. This was a disappointment," The Temple Master let out as he saw Long Chen keep the sword back.
"Giving up is not the solution here, little guy," He muttered.
****
" Is he giving up?"
"His journey in the Temple Sacrifice is over."
"I expected more from him,"
All the Elders were disappointed at what they saw. They expected Long Chen to at least put up a fight, but watching the son of an Elder be scared was not what they were expecting.
The disciples that were watching outside also started chattering themselves. Most of them were mocking Long Chen for being a coward. They said it in a low voice, though so that Elder Mu Yun wouldn't hear their conversation.
****
Long Jun also glanced at the screen inside his cell.
"Huh, I guess that's as far as someone from your bloodline can go. It is pretty good, though. I didn't expect the son of your cousin to reach that far. It must be because of the great teaching of the Ghost Temple. If it were your son, he would've died as soon as he stepped inside the Hall of Death, though," The woman said to Long Jun as she chuckled.
****
Long Chen kept the sword back in his storage ring as he looked at the corpse puppet, but his eyes still looked determined. There was no hint of him having given up on the battle.
"Sword Art of Vajra!" Long Chen let out as he used most of his Qi in an effort to form an even bigger Vajra Sword than he was yet capable of.
A Vajra Sword was formed before Long Chen that kept getting bigger and bigger until it was five meters long and half a meter wide.
"Cut my enemies!" Long Chen thundered as he moved his hand towards the Corpse Puppet.
The Vajra Sword slashed down towards the head of the Corpse Puppet. The Corpse Puppet that had been standing there still since the battle began finally moved as he dodged the sword with Lightning-fast speed.
He managed to dodge the attack of the Vajra Sword by a hair's width.
Long Chen knew that it was a possibility, so he had started moving with the Vajra Sword as well. While the Corpse Puppet was focused on dodging the Vajra Sword, Long Chen appeared near him as he held the hand of the Corpse Puppet.
Long Chen used his footwork and turned his body as he fully utilized his Physical strength to throw away the Corpse Puppet towards the sky.
The Corpse Puppet flew towards the wall, but Long Chen had intentionally applied all the force he could to throw him on the other side of the wall. The Corpse Puppet crashed on the other end of the wall. The wall was now separating Long Chen and the Corpse Puppet.
"That Corpse Puppet can't fly, and he can't break the wall either. This fight is over," Long Chen let out as he smiled.
"You used your brain for once. I'm surprised. Good work, though," Xun appeared near Long Chen and praised him.
"I always use my brain," Long Chen replied casually, to which Xun simply rolled her eyes.
Long Chen started leaving that place as he walked back to find the right path to the exit.
Another hour passed away as Long Chen walked through the maze, trying to leave it. During this hour, Long Chen reached a lot of dead ends and found a lot of traps. Sometimes he was attacked by arrows that came out of the walls, and the other times he found beasts that attacked him.
Long Chen realized that there were traps at all dead ends of this maze.
After another hour of struggle, Long Chen finally managed to reach the end of the maze. His clothes were torn off at a lot of places. His clothes were also covered in blood, and he also seemed like he was injured. His wounds were clear, but his injuries weren't major.
"Finally, I'm at the exit. This maze sucks," Long Chen muttered as he finally left the mage and entered a room.
He found himself in a room that had a small fountain of clear water.
"You have cleared the Maze. This is a resting place. You can rest for half an hour and tend to your wounds," the mysterious voice again sounded in Long Chen's head that informed him that this was a clear room.
Long Chen moved forward and took a sip of the water that was coming out of the fountain. He drank the water and felt somewhat relaxed and refreshed.
He sat down near the fountain and started resting.
"I wonder how many trials are still left," Long Chen muttered as he sighed.
"I feel like I have been here for over half a day already, and I haven't seen any other disciple after we separated in the first room. Are we going through different trials? This must be because of the doors in that corridor," Long Chen muttered as he frowned.
"That's what I believe as well," Xun said as she nodded her head.
"It shouldn't be this way, though. It was supposed to be a trial between disciples, right? How can it be an equivalent trial when they all face different trials?" Xun asked in confusion.
"The world isn't fair, I guess. It's impossible to accommodate everyone in the same trials with the huge number of the disciples that are taking part in it. Some will definitely get an easier trial at the beginning, while others will get a tougher trial. As the numbers decrease, it will become easier to have all the disciples on the same trial. Hopefully, they will have that at the beginning," Long Chen replied as he looked towards the roof.
"Times up," He let out as he saw a door opening appear on the wall in front of him.
He stood up and left the resting room.
Long Chen entered a room that seemed like a big chessboard.
There were white and black boxes on the ground that seemed similar to the boxes of a chessboard. The only difference was that instead of it being an 8x8 pattern, it was a 9x9 pattern.
" Long Chen also saw 17 black-clothed humans standing on his side of the board in separate boxes, leaving an empty spot that seemed like it belonged to the king.
"Finally, someone is here. Kid! Hurry up and get on that spot so that we can begin! I'm getting tired of standing in this room. Let's start so that I can defeat and kill you. I want to leave as fast as I can," Long Chen heard a voice.
Long Chen looked towards the front and saw the same formation there. There were 17 similar looking white-clothed humans standing there. There was another person there who was standing in the King's spot there.
He was a disciple of the Ghost Temple that Long Chen had seen before. That disciple was a peak sky realm Cultivator, so it was evident that he was really strong.