Chapter 295: Danger Lurks All Around
Just as the sense of danger enveloped him, the enormous statue’s eyes suddenly opened, and a frightening beam of light shot towards him with no forewarning.
In this critical moment, Jiang Chen closed his eyes and the Boulder’s Heart coated his consciousness in a protective layer.
The beam of light shot straight into his eyes in an attempt to break through to his consciousness from there.
The mental defenses of the Boulder’s Heart, however, obstructed this beam of light.
Jiang Chen felt his consciousness waver strongly as it was nearly shattered by this single blow. His muscles tightened in response. He felt that he was about to freeze spontaneously.
“This is bad!”
The ominous feeling grew even stronger in Jiang Chen’s mind as he restrained the horror in his heart, picked up his feet, and frantically ran forward.
He knew that he couldn’t afford to spend even a second longer in this place.
The beam of light that shot out from the statue’s eyes was capable of breaking through to the soul, attack it directly, and then completely solidify a person into metal and thus into a humanoid sculpture!
Jiang Chen was now a hundred percent certain that those humanoid sculptures weren’t poured out of metal at all, but were candidates who had once appeared on the tenth floor.
It might have been decades ago, centuries ago, or even millennia ago.
The legacy realm of ancient times had seen generations upon generations of people, and countless must’ve braved the magnetic golden mountain as well.
Those randomly scattered sculptures were definitely practitioners who had once passed by here and hadn’t been on their guard against the metallic eyes of this statue.
This was simply too frightening.
Jiang Chen ran up a few hundred steps in one go, slowing down only when he was far, far away from the statue.
A trace of fear still remained when he thought of what had just transpired.
If his reaction had been even a little bit slower just now, or the defenses of the Boulder’s Heart a tad bit weaker, then he would’ve surely joined the ranks of those sculptures.
Even with the speed of his reaction and the Boulder’s Heart absorbing most of the light beam attack, the remnants had been enough to make him feel like his body was as heavy as lead, his muscles immediately stiffening as well.
There had likely been less than five percent of the original strength left in the light beam attack after it had broken through the defenses of the Boulder’s Heart. Yet those less than five percent had nearly been enough to hold him in place! This frightening might was enough to cause cold sweat to pour from Jiang Chen’s body.
He circulated the fire spirit power from the Lotus within his body, slowly refining the remnants of the energy beam attack in his body.
Of the five elements, the fire of the south was the antithesis of the metal of the west. The power of fire was a natural enemy of the power of metal.
Beneath the refinement of the fire Lotus, the traces of metal power that had sneaked into his body was gradually cleansed and Jiang Chen’s body slowly recovered itself.
“The beauty of the tenth floor was just a ruse alright. Although not as frightening as a magnetic storm, but the vicious golden eyes of the statue are more terrifying than any magnetic storm.”
Jiang Chen’s heart still palpitated in fright.
There was at least a warning to the magnetic storm as there was always some forewarning before a twister formed.
However, this vicious statue was far too wicked. Its eyes had suddenly flashed open and the beam had shot straight into his soul. The attack had been as fast as light and had caught him off-guard.
If it hadn’t been for Jiang Chen training the Boulder’s Heart to the point of being able to deploy it in a heartbeat, that vicious gaze likely would’ve invaded his soul and turned him into a sculpture.
Frightening. All too frightening.
Counting the steps, he’d walked precisely one third of the ten thousand steps in front of him.
“Could it be that there are three tests on the tenth floor, and that the vicious golden eyes of the status is merely the first?”
Jiang Chen postulated, feeling that was indeed likely.
If that truly was the case, then the path up to the second test would be relatively safe.
Indeed, things were as Jiang Chen had predicted. Nothing much happened to him between the three-thousandth and six-thousandth step.
“It looks like the intent behind the tests to the tenth floor is more deliberate than the previous nine floors. Those on the previous nine floors were all random, but there are noticeable signs of the tests being planned for the tenth floor. Therefore, what will be the second test?”
Jiang Chen also knew that there was no way back now that he had made it this far.
He walked up a full six thousand steps and neared the completion of two thirds of the way according to his calculations.
If things really were as he’d concluded, then he wasn’t too far from where the second test was.
Jiang Chen’s gaze suddenly froze as soon as he followed this thought through to the end.
There was a large ravine in front of him, as though an ancient divinity had lifted a giant axe and viciously carved it into the mountain.
This long ravine was like an enormous scar on the side of the mountain. Grotesquely shaped rocks lay at the bottom, giving rise anxiousness in any onlookers at first glance.
Jiang Chen stood in front of the ravine and looked in the distance. If this were the outside world, a third level spirit realm practitioner who could fly for a brief period of time could make it past this ravine.
However, thanks to the restraining force of the mountain, Jiang Chen estimated that he’d have to split his journey into three, four smaller trips before he could go over the ravine.
But, grotesquely shaped rocks dotted the surface of the ravine and there was no place he could push off from at all.
“Could this be the second test?” Uneasiness grew in Jiang Chen’s heart as he looked at the intersecting rocks beneath him.
If this ravine was the second test, then all would absolutely not be as serene as it appeared on the surface.
This serenity could be harboring an exceedingly frightening test.
“So what of it, time waits for no one.” Jiang Chen’s thoughts moved as he immediately called upon six vines of the fire Lotus, forming a platform over the ravine.
Since there were no platforms on either side of the ravine, Jiang Chen planned on using the Lotus to form temporary platforms.
He needed to leap three or four times to clear this ravine and his lotuses could help him push off a total of six times.
That would be more than enough if he didn’t run into any accidents.
The Rat King wasn’t as unbridled as before at this moment and also hopped onto the first fire lotus with Jiang Chen.
Whoosh, whoosh.
His figure cutting through the air, Jiang Chen landed on the second lotus with another leap. The enormous size of the petals was enough to accommodate several adults, so it was more than enough to support Jiang Chen.
Suddenly, one of the grotesque rocks below shook and emitted a piercing sound.
That piercing sound suddenly tore the peace in the ravine, and all the rocks began to shake, like ancient creatures awakening from their slumber.
Their bodies twisted as they transformed into different beings, surging upwards from the bottom.
Although these beings all looked different, all of them were shaped like weapons, exuding a frightening killing intent.
“Kill him, kill him!”
“How dare a human blaspheme the magnetic golden mountain?! Kill!!”
“It’s been a long while since a human last barged into the tenth floor, kill! Kill! KILL!!”
The golden monsters shrieked and shrilled with stilted language. And just like the cries of wild beasts, they were extremely irritating to the ear.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Countless of grotesque rocks squirreled out of the ravine, transforming themselves into weapon-shaped monsters with a shudder of their bodies, before lunging straight at Jiang Chen with extreme ferocity.
It looked like these golden monsters had a primal hatred towards humans. They seemed to have specifically been instilled with the thought that they had to kill any human they saw.
Jiang Chen’s body was surrounded by thousands of golden monsters in a mere second.
Clang!
Jiang Chen’s nameless blade swept out as it brushed off two golden monsters from the front. His body leapt upwards again with the aid of another fire lotus as his blade struck out once again.
That mighty stroke was enough to rip four monsters into shreds and metallic fragments rained down into the ravine below.
However, killing four monsters was just a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of them present. It made no change in the situation.
The countless numbers of golden monsters closed in on Jiang Chen like locusts. He dodged and weaved but was still unable to evade them all.
Furthermore, his body was midair and had no place to push off from. Having used up all of his momentum, he was about to descend!
But, the distance of his jump was not yet enough to reach the third fire lotus.
His position was quite awkward. If he were to descend now, he’d be doing so in the empty space between the second and the third lotus.
Without leverage, a free fall was inevitable unless he grew wings.
Fortunately, Jiang Chen didn’t panic in the face of danger and the nameless saber danced like a crazed demon, blocking all golden monsters that tried to attack him.
Although the monsters numbered so many, they weren’t enough to contend with Jiang Chen one on one.
However, he also found it hard to expand his full strength as he hung in midair.
Seeing that he was about to fall into the ravine and into the nest of the countless golden monsters, Jiang Chen’s heart raced as he used his spirit ocean to the limit.
He recalled the third fire lotus vine and it grew bigger, shooting towards where Jiang Chen was descending at. The petals opened and dragged Jiang Chen away with them like a maw.
This sudden development surprised all of the creatures.
“Kill him, kill!”
All of the creatures exploded towards the third fire lotus.
The fire lotus vine was as like a water snake as it weaved and twined before suddenly flinging Jiang Chen towards the fourth lotus.
The strength of this throw was unbelievably fast and stunning, leaving the creatures no time to react.
“Cleave!”
A creature in the shape of an enormous golden axe chopped straight toward the fourth fire lotus, like it was a small mountain in itself. Judging from its momentum, it wanted to tear through the fire lotus along with Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen was rather ticked off by these golden monsters.
He formed a seal with his hands as the three lotuses in front swiftly gathered towards him. Their vines turned into flaming red ropes as they latched onto the golden axe creature, restraining it in midair.
The petals of the four lotuses opened at the same time as four gouts of flame rushed out, akin to four fire-breathing dragons, and cooking the creature alive.
Beneath the power of the flames from the lotuses, the creature was swiftly burnt to a crisp.