Yan Lie's expression immediately changed. He angrily said, "Feng Yu, rankings don't mean everything. If you have the guts, let's have a duel. Do you believe I can beat you until your brains spill out?"
Feng Yu glanced at him. "Body cultivators are just body cultivators, only good for fighting and killing."
Yan Lie was instantly enraged and was about to say something.
Suddenly.
A voice rang out.
"Fourth floor trial: Tribulation!"
Without any warning, the fourth floor's trial descended instantly.
The mode looked exactly like the second floor's.
Li Shuang's eyes, however, sparkled brightly.
This time.
The Heaven and Earth Smelting Furnace still provided information.
Consistent with her vague suspicions, this time the Five Elements Crystal had become intermediate-grade!
The previous primary-grade Five Elements Crystal had already given her immense gains.
What about this intermediate-grade Five Elements Crystal?
Wouldn't it be even more astonishing?
To get the crystal, the key was for her to sever five source lines, just like on the second floor!
Li Shuang quickly calculated.
It was impossible to sever all five source lines at once, like last time.
Five tribulations descended simultaneously, and last time she had to exert all her strength to sever them all at once.
This stage's difficulty would surely increase linearly.
If she still used that method, she would likely be eliminated instantly.
This time, she had to sever them one by one.
With power, break all laws!
In this stage, as long as she could get the intermediate-grade Five Elements Crystal, that would be a victory.
As the trial began, the participants no longer had the mind for verbal sparring.
As before, the Soul Golden Altar gave three days for preparation.
Everyone seized the time, desperately trying to comprehend.
Li Shuang took a deep breath, and the Black Abyss Sword appeared in her hand.
"Lili," Li Shuang softly called in her mind.
Lili instantly responded.
She crisply answered, and Lili's soul body transformed into a dragon, coiling around the Black Abyss.
Li Shuang instantly activated the power of the Hidden Dragon Stone.
After her battle with Ren Gu that day, Li Shuang had once again activated the power of the Hidden Dragon Stone in the Soul Prison.
By now, the Hidden Dragon Stone was fully recharged.
As her cultivation increased, she could now perfectly utilize the power within this Hidden Dragon Stone, its might far surpassing what it was two years ago.
Of course.
If she were to fight Ren Gu again now, she wouldn't need to use all her trump cards to win.
Even if her spiritual power cultivation was only at the early stage of Nascent Soul, one sword would be enough to deal with Ren Gu.
Li Shuang chose to activate the power of the Hidden Dragon Stone from the very beginning.
With the powerful soul enhancement, her swordsmanship reached its peak.
Even so.
It took her a full day to sever the first source line.
After that, Li Shuang raced against time to tackle the second source line.
This stage only had ten days in total.
If she wanted to obtain the Five Elements Crystal, she couldn't relax for a single second.
Besides Li Shuang.
The remaining eight people all chose the method of enduring for ten days to pass.
Even You Lan was no exception.
You Lan looked at Li Shuang's choice, a hint of unwillingness flashing in her heart.
But she quickly composed herself and focused on comprehending the Five Elements.
It wasn't that she didn't want to choose the method of breaking the Five Elements with force.
She knew her own limitations.
Seven years ago, she felt she had made great progress, and when she reached the fourth stage, she also wanted to sever the Five Elements source lines.
The result was.
It took her a full three days to sever the first source line.
Knowing there was no hope, You Lan could only switch to another method of passing.
Because of this single misjudgment, when facing the Five Elements Tribulation, she was unprepared and almost failed at this stage.
Now, seven more years had passed.
But the further one progressed in cultivation, the slower the progress became.
Even though she was almost never idle, her progress in these seven years was still quite limited.
She hadn't succeeded seven years ago.
The probability of success seven years later was still extremely low.
Rather than gambling on an incredibly slim chance, she might as well steadily proceed to the fifth floor.
She didn't know if she could succeed this time either. But this was no longer something she could focus on. This stage was no small matter; if she was distracted, she risked being eliminated early.
Time passed.
From the fourth day onwards, people began to be eliminated.
By the fifth day, only five people remained on the altar, including Li Shuang.
After that, almost every day someone fell from the golden altar.
By the seventh day, only Li Shuang and You Lan remained on the golden altar.
At this point, Li Shuang had forcibly severed three source lines, seemingly making good progress, but the situation was actually getting increasingly difficult. She had to deal with the manifested tribulations while continuing to sever the source lines. If she made even a slight mistake, elimination was her only path.
You Lan only needed to deal with the Five Elements Tribulation, but her situation was not very good either.
Two people, two paths.
Li Shuang's path certainly yielded greater rewards, but also carried greater risks. If she ultimately failed to pass, all her efforts would be reset.
In front of the water screen, everyone watched with great interest.
"Have you noticed that Li's swordsmanship seems different from the beginning?"
"I noticed it too. Originally, her swordsmanship was only cold. Now it's becoming more and more varied."
"She must have absorbed the Five Elements Crystal and gained some insights."
"Gaining insights right after absorbing it. What kind of monster is this?"
"Is this the peerless genius personally cultivated by the City Lord?!"
Time advanced to the tenth day.
Li Shuang had completely absorbed the primary-grade Five Elements Crystal. Her spiritual root was naturally determined; she had an ice spiritual root, and ice was the extreme of water. Sometimes, she could resonate with water elements, but she could sense other elements but not directly control them. However, not being able to control them didn't mean she couldn't draw on the advantages of other elements for her own use.
Could ice elements not possess the explosiveness of fire?
Could they not transform into the sharpness of metal?
Could they not possess the entanglement of wood, the solidity of earth, and the variability of water?
The extreme of the Five Elements was not the end of the Dao, but the beginning of the Dao.
Only five hours remained. But she still had one complete source line unsevered. She had exhausted her strength in severing the source lines. The continuously descending Five Elements Tribulation was putting increasing pressure on her. She simply couldn't hold on much longer.
Only five hours were left.
Only the last source line remained.
If she had chosen You Lan's path, she would have passed this stage smoothly.
But now. Was this the end?
Li Shuang dodged with difficulty, but as layers of sword rain fell, many new wounds instantly appeared on her face and body.
She... was about to collapse.
Li Shuang looked at the last source line with some unwillingness. Clearly, only this one line remained, yet it was going to block her from the threshold of victory?
Li Shuang's expression suddenly became dazed.
She remembered the river that Lin Qingling had conjured.
She remembered the red sun that Elder Ling had pierced.
She remembered all the beings on the Sixth Great Dao Mountain cheering for her.
And in her mind... the surging insights into the Five Elements.
"Li is about to collapse!"
"She still has one last source line unsevered!"
"What a pity, she chose the wrong path."
"Wait! Look!"
Within the water screen.
Li Shuang raised the sword in her hand, her eyes astonishingly bright at this moment.
At this moment, the trajectory of a sword naturally appeared in her mind.
Heartless Sword Art: Second Form!