Chapter 258 Shadow of Death

The statue shattered to pieces and a human-headed creature with a snake’s body and four limbs suddenly came to life!

Lin Xun narrowed his eyes, increasing his vigilance.

Following another peculiar buzz, a simple, unadorned blade appeared in Lin Xun’s hand.

At that moment, the creature had already fixed its sinister blood-red eyes on Lin Xun.

His four stout arms resembled rocks as they grabbed a strangely shaped blood-red blade around ten feet long. Even by just standing there, he exuded a bloodthirsty and violent aura.

“The first battle is against an expert from the Snake Spirit Clan!” the ice-cold, empty voice echoed across the arena.

Boom!

Before the voice died away, the Snake Spirit Clan expert let out a deafening roar. Brandishing the blood-red blade, he charged toward Lin Xun.

Instantly, heaven and earth changed. An indescribably frightening aura enveloped Lin Xun. He seemed to see specks of stars descending from an endless sky like falling comets about to wipe out the world and turn the universe to dust!

The scene was terrifying yet…familiar!

Isn’t that Star-Gather?!

As such a thought flashed across his mind, he felt a sharp piercing pain shooting throughout his body. He felt like his spirit was being shattered and his body split into two yet he couldn’t do anything. Everything darkened before him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

……

Lin Xun didn’t know how long it took him to wake up, but when he did, he found himself standing in the arena again, surrounded by the bizarre statues. It was as if nothing had happened.

However, his face blanched with terror when he looked at the human-headed snake statue.

The battle floated across his mind like the tide. It was so clear that it felt like a nightmare engraved deep in his mind.

That blade…is so terrifying!

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The more Lin Xun thought about it, the more chilling it felt. When the blade struck him, he felt death for the first time. It was so intense and so frightening. It was incredibly hard to imagine unless a person experienced it for themselves.

“Star-Gather…that guy knows the Star-Gather move…and its power is more than double that of mine!”

Lin Xun was completely shaken. His first battle ended in a second and he was defeated by a blade art he was most familiar with!

This utterly shocked Lin Xun. During the split second that he was killed, the feeling of terror, suddenness and despair made Lin Xun realize for the first time what it was meant by life and death could be decided in a split second!

It’s too terrifying…

If it happened in real life, how would I be able to resurrect?

Resurrect?

Wait!

Lin Xun suddenly realized a problem. According to the rules, he would be given a quarter of an hour to rest and adjust after each battle.

In other words, he would have to start the second battle soon!

“No, I have to quickly figure out what exactly is being tested at this level. If every expert represented by the one hundred statues in the arena is as powerful as the Snake Spirit Clan expert, I have no chance of winning…”

Lin Xun drew a deep breath, trying hard to calm himself down. He quickly tried to think of a solution. “The Hundred Battles secret realm, one hundred battles, the test should be related to battle, but cultivation, combat skills, technique, experience may also be the key to the test.”

“So, what exactly is being tested?”

“Based on the strength of the Snake Spirit Clan expert, I am no match for him even if I have the strength to fight back. This means that the fighting technique is not being tested. The difference in strength between us is too great. This is only the first battle and there are another ninety-nine battles. Regardless of how superb a person’s fighting techniques are, it’s still impossible to win against absolute strength.”

“If that’s the case, then it's testing combat arts?”

“Yes!”

“Star-Gather!”

A thought suddenly struck Lin Xun’s mind. He realized a key point. The Snake Spirit Clan expert coincidentally used the Star-Gather move which he was very familiar with.

As Lin Xun pondered, time flew by. Soon, following a buzz, another sculpture shattered to pieces and another strange creature came to life.

It was a well built man of at least ten feet tall. His facial features were perfectly sharp like they were carved by a knife. His face was fair but his eyes glowed a mysterious blue hue and his body emanated wisps of mist-like black flames.

“The second battle is against the Demon Spirit Clan expert!”

When Lin Xun heard the ice-cold voice ring again, he tightened his grip around his blade. He was fully ready. Qi roamed around his body like bubbling lava.

“Die!”

Amidst the chilling voice, the Demon Spirit Clan expert strode forward. His slender fair hand suddenly transformed into a blade as he lightly drew it across the air.

His motion was clean, direct, precise and extremely simple, yet it emanated a tyrannical power that reached straight into a person’s heart!

Lin Xun was unable to evade or block. His vision blurred as he seemed to see countless stars falling from the eternal night sky, like a starry river descending upon the world.

The terror, despair and aura of death again flooded his heart. He trembled all over, and his mind was similarly being impacted.

Immediately, endless pain struck him. Everything darkened before him and he died once again.

……

When he woke up, his face was overcast and troubled.

Although he had been resurrected once again and his body and spirit were unscathed, the feelings of fear, despair, and helplessness from death lingered in his mind!

Every time he was distracted, he would think about how the Snake Spirit Clan expert and Demon Spirit Clan expert killed him. The scenes were like shadows left in his mind that he couldn’t expel!

Lin Xun knew that if he couldn’t get rid of those shadows of death, they would become inner demons in his mind. As they accumulated, the more dangerous it was for him. In the serious case, he could completely collapse and lose his mind and cultivation!

The two deaths made him understand why the rules stated that even if he failed all one hundred battles he could still successfully pass as long as he could persevere to the end.

The reason was that the impact of deaths would continue to accumulate. The more he failed, the more difficult it was to withstand the impact and he could be easily eliminated.

Therefore, if he continued to fight like that, it would be impossible for him to survive to the end.

What else would he have to fight if his fighting spirit and mind had collapsed?

if he didn't want to lose his mind, he would have to admit defeat!

This was the most terrifying aspect of Hundred Battles. Compared to it, the previous two levels of the Great Azure Cloud Path weren’t worth mentioning at all.

“Why is this level so cruel and brutal? Which bastard came up with the idea of this level back then? They are crazy...”

Lin Xun’s face grew more overcast as he came to that conclusion. Even though he had made sufficient preparations, he still felt powerless when he faced the Hundred Battles Secret Realm

If the third level of the Great Azure Cloud Path is already so difficult, won’t the next levels be even more brutal?

Buzz~

An undulation reminded Lin Xun that the third battle was about to begin.

This time his opponent was a giant standing on a blue tortoise and had snakes hanging around his ears. His body was completely covered in black scales. He was called the Blue Scale Clan expert.

Having learned from the previous two battles, Lin Xun unhesitatingly made a move. He swung his blade and launched his strongest trump card—Star-Gather!

However, Lin Xun was again killed immediately in that brief exchange. Again, he was defeated by Star-Gather!

……

“Damn, it’s impossible to pass,” Lin Xun cursed when he was resurrected.

He was exasperated. He had high hopes that he would easily pass the third level of the Great Azure Cloud Path now that he had reached the perfect realm of the Human Dipper Stage and had a good mastery of Star-Gather.

Who would have thought that reality would be so cruel!

The most troublesome thing for Lin Xun was that every time he failed, he felt like he was being killed in real life. The feelings of death and fear constantly accumulated in his heart like lingering spirits. They constantly corroded and battered his mind and consciousness.

In cultivation, this was called inner demons!

If he could get rid of the inner demons, even if he failed every time, he could likely withstand the impact to the end and successfully pass the third level. But how would it be so easy to expel the inner demon?

Many cultivators in the world would be unable to get up after encountering a setback on their cultivation path. They would lose themselves, their minds, their cultivation or perhaps lose their lives.

Why?

They couldn’t defeat the inner demon!

Lin Xun was facing that kind of danger. The most terrifying thing for him was that his setback was to face death and experience death!

Although he could be resurrected, the impact from the shadows of death was real!

The inner demons continued to accumulate as he died. It was easy to imagine what terrifying impact it had on Lin Xun.

However, Lin Xun wouldn’t so easily admit defeat. After realizing the seriousness of the problem, he forcibly discarded all the distracting thoughts in his mind and began to think of a solution.

Instead of sitting still, it was better to fight with everything he had!

Instead of complaining about how cruel the level was, it was better to accept it and change it!

The worst people were those who admitted defeat after suffering setbacks and failures without giving it their all. How could such people become true cultivators?

“Star-Gather…death…inner demons in the mind…”

Lin Xun stood motionless in the arena like he had become a statue. But inside, he was frantically finding a solution.

“Inner demon is caused by death, and death is caused by the Star-Gather. If I want to defeat and expel the inner demon…I have to start from Star-Gather!”

Lin Xun grasped the key problem. “But, how do I start?”