'The trial is starting already? Couldn't you at least let me prepare?!'
Su Ling'er instantly dodged, avoiding the figure. Only then did she get a clear look at the monster.
"AWOOO—!"
A wolf's howl came from the monster.
It was a wolf demon, a size larger than a common demon wolf. Its fangs were bared, and its beastly eyes were locked onto Su Ling'er.
'Okay, it's not strong. I can still react in time.'
'But... with this Wooden Sword? You don't actually expect me to use this Wooden Sword to fight a demon wolf, do you?'
'Without using Spiritual Power or my Cultivation, relying only on mortal martial arts?'
'Am I supposed to just punch and kick this demon wolf? But I haven't even undergone Body Tempering, and my physique isn't strong at all!'
'Or... is Senior Brother telling me to... "persuade it with virtue"? To go up and reason with it?'
'Tell it to drop its butcher knife and instantly attain Buddhahood?'
'But it's a demon beast! Can it even understand human speech?!'
'What if it understands me and asks, "Where is this Buddha?" How am I supposed to answer that? I'm practicing Cultivation, not Buddhism!'
The demon wolf suddenly moved.
It sprang forward on all fours, so fast it was hard to react, and pounced at Su Ling'er again.
A foul stench washed over her as Su Ling'er's pupils constricted.
In that instant, the Spiritual Power inside her reacted instinctively to the threat, nearly bursting out to form a defensive shield!
She bit down hard on her lip and took a sudden, desperate half-step to the side, barely avoiding the attack.
The wolf's claws grazed the corner of her robes, tearing away a piece of fabric.
'That was close...'
However, the demon wolf gave her no time to rest, lunging at her again with its massive, blood-red maw wide open.
Su Ling'er looked at Lin Qingfeng, who wasn't far away.
'Seriously, is he really not going to help me?'
'Why are you... why are you just watching like it's a monkey show on the street?! So I'm the monkey here, is that it?!'
'I'm done for! I'm so done for!'
She had no choice but to swing the fire-poker-like Wooden Sword forward. At least it was a stick, which was better than fighting the demon wolf bare-handed!
The thrust was unremarkable, with no Spiritual Power to augment it and no fancy moves.
She was already prepared for the Wooden Sword to shatter, at which point she would immediately drop it, flee, and drag her Senior Brother in front of her for protection.
But then came a soft "SQUISH," the sound of a sharp blade sinking into flesh.
The Wooden Sword's two attributes, [Sever (Tier 1)] and [Evil-Slaying (Tier 1)], activated instantly!
Su Ling'er froze.
She looked down. The Wooden Sword had easily slashed the demon wolf's face, and had even popped one of its eyes out!
'Wait... what did I just do?'
'Didn't I just... poke it casually?'
'How... how was it like cutting tofu?'
'This Wooden Sword is that powerful? Is this still a Wooden Sword? But why can't I sense anything special about it?'
The demon wolf reeled from the pain in its face and took two steps back.
Su Ling'er seized the opportunity, sidestepping into the demon wolf's blind spot, and stabbed the Wooden Sword straight down into its head!
"SQUISH!"
Once again, the Wooden Sword easily pierced the demon wolf's head, sinking all the way to the hilt.
The demon wolf's body convulsed a few times before it collapsed to the ground, silent and still.
Blood slowly trickled down the wooden blade and dripped onto the ground. Then, the demon wolf's corpse dissolved into a wisp of green smoke and vanished without a trace.
Su Ling'er flicked the blade clean and stared at the Wooden Sword in her hand in disbelief.
Not a single drop of blood stained the blade, yet it still looked as plain as a fire poker.
'But that strike just now... it was sharper than refined steel!'
'What's going on?'
'Could it be that this Wooden Sword isn't a common item? But if it's not, why would they be given to disciples for free?'
Before she could figure it out, Lin Qingfeng's voice came from the side:
"Not bad. Your movements are agile, and you have the foundation of a mortal Martial Artist. But you must understand that the struggle for the Great Dao is always decided by a hair's breadth. If your Dao heart had wavered for even a moment just now, your journey might have ended right here."
'If she died right after entering, Su Ling'er's result would be just clearing one floor, and that would have to be recorded by Mr. Qian.'
'On the Demon-Locking Tower's trial rankings, she'd be dead last!'
'Even those players aren't so pathetic that they'd die after clearing only one floor! Even if she isn't embarrassed, I would be for her.'
'Besides, if Su Ling'er saw her rock-bottom score, would she develop some kind of mental block?'
'But probably not... Her aptitude is already so poor, she should be aware of her own standing. Still, you never know...'
'Oh well. At least she passed the first floor.'
Meanwhile, Su Ling'er gripped her Wooden Sword and said nothing. The subsequent trials in the Demon-Locking Tower confirmed her suspicions.
The second floor had rat-like demon beasts, the third had a single tough, thick-skinned demon pig, and the fourth had thirteen swift-moving demonic monkeys.
Relying solely on the Wooden Sword in her hand and her mortal martial arts, Su Ling'er turned peril into safety time and time again.
But by the fourth floor, her stamina was genuinely starting to fail.
Even with the Wooden Sword, she was beginning to struggle. Yet, she never dared to reveal her true Cultivation.
All the while, Lin Qingfeng stood to the side without a word, his eyes completely vacant.
This was because he was browsing the forums. His Little Junior Sister was fighting too slowly, and he was getting bored.
'The fifth floor will have a mini-elite monster, so I might need to watch how Junior Sister handles that. But for the rest of the time, isn't it better to browse the forums and study some badass quotes?'
Finally, Su Ling'er arrived at the fifth floor of the Demon-Locking Tower.
The world before her eyes suddenly twisted, transforming into a dark, damp cave.
"DRIP... DRIP..."
Water dripped from the stalactites on the cave ceiling.
Her back was already soaked with cold sweat, and her stamina was draining rapidly. She had a strong premonition that the monster on this floor would be more terrifying than all the previous four combined!
"SCRAPE... SCRAPE..."
A scraping sound echoed from the shadows deep within the cave.
The shadows moved!
A giant scorpion emerged, dragging its rock-like body forward.
Its carapace had a deathly gray sheen, and its two giant pincers glinted with a cold, metallic light as they opened and closed.
But the most fatal part was its raised tail hook, the poisonous stinger at its tip glowing with a faint purple light.
A Rock Armor Scorpion!
Su Ling'er's heart sank to the abyss. Against a demon beast of this level, it was impossible for her to win without using her Spiritual Power!
The Rock Armor Scorpion had spotted her too.
Its six terrifying compound eyes swiveled in unison, locking onto the tiny human as one of its giant pincers repeatedly scraped at the ground!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
It easily gouged shallow pits into the hard rock floor.
It was a threat display!
Su Ling'er looked at its indestructible rocky carapace and knew with perfect clarity that if she kept up her act, she would definitely die!
'Mortal martial arts are nothing but a joke in front of a monster like this!'
'The only way to survive is to use my Cultivation!'
'But... if I use it...'
Her gaze subconsciously flickered to Lin Qingfeng. He was still standing there, body stiff, eyes vacant, showing no reaction.
'Huh? What's he up to now? Why are his eyes so lifeless?'
'Could it be... that there's a Demon King in this Demon-Locking Tower that can possess people from a distance?!'
'But that's not right! I didn't see any demon beasts that powerful on the previous floors!'
'Then... that leaves only one possibility!'
'He's acting! He's just pretending!'
'He's deliberately putting on this act to see if I'll expose my Cultivation when I'm cornered and think he's distracted!'
'What should I do?'
'Sect Leader, what should I do?'
'If I expose myself, the undercover mission fails on the spot.'
'I might be eliminated as an outsider by this demonic sect, refined into a living elixir, used as material for a blood sacrifice, or turned into fertilizer for Human Origin Soil...'
'If I don't expose myself, I'll be torn to pieces by this Rock Armor Scorpion right now! It's just a question of dying sooner or later.'
'No! I can't expose myself!'
'I can only take a gamble!'
'Gamble that I'm still useful to this Senior Brother, and that he won't really let me die!'
Su Ling'er's eyes became resolute!
And the Rock Armor Scorpion's body became a gray bolt of lightning as it charged violently forward!
'So fast!'
Su Ling'er sidestepped, barely avoiding the charge, and the giant pincer collided head-on with the Wooden Sword in her hand!
"CLANG—!"
A deafening crash of metal against wood exploded outwards!
A tremendous force traveled up the sword, splitting the webbing between her thumb and forefinger and nearly knocking the Wooden Sword from her grasp!
The Wooden Sword didn't break, but it also didn't cut through the demon beast like butter, as it had before.
It only left a shallow gash on the pincer, from which white smoke drifted, accompanied by a "TSSS-TSSS" sound.
But this was merely negligible corrosion to the giant pincer. The weapon that had been so effective against the demon beasts of the first four floors was now useless!
The Rock Armor Scorpion spun around and slammed into Su Ling'er, who was still off-balance from blocking with her Wooden Sword, sending her flying into the stone wall!
"BANG!"
"PFFT—!"
Su Ling'er spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Her vision swam with black spots, and it felt as if all her internal organs had been violently rearranged. Even breathing sent waves of excruciating pain through her.
'It hurts so much...'
She struggled to get up, but her body refused to obey.
The Rock Armor Scorpion closed in, step by step, its poison-laced tail hook raised high, aimed right at her face!
In Su Ling'er's eyes, the reflection of the poisonous stinger, shimmering with a purple glow, grew larger and larger until it filled her entire vision.
'It's over...'
'Am I going to die? Is Senior Brother really not going to save me? Is this... how it ends for me?'
'Three years of Cultivation, and I'm still at the third layer of Qi Refining. In the end... I couldn't even glimpse the threshold of Foundation Establishment...'
'My master's instructions... the hopes of the Righteous Path... I've failed them all...'
'And that True Tome... I haven't even had the chance to comprehend a fraction of its mysteries, and now I'm going to turn to dust along with it...'
'I can't accept this... I really can't accept this...'
Just then, she heard her Senior Brother's voice.
"Stop!"
Su Ling'er's eyes snapped into focus. 'Stop?'
'What does he mean? He can control the demon beasts here?!'
'Could it be... that this was all just a play he orchestrated!'
However, the Rock Armor Scorpion's movement didn't pause in the slightest. Its lethal tail hook continued its whistling descent, stabbing straight down!
'No way?! It's not listening to you?!'
'It's not human, so what's the use of shouting "Stop!" at it!'
'It's over... it's over... I'm really going to die...'
'Senior Brother! I'll haunt you even as a ghost—!'
Su Ling'er's mind went blank, and in her despair, she squeezed her eyes shut...