The frenzied momentum born of despair continued to rise, an invisible pressure spreading far and wide, pushing the air forward like a roaring wave. The blue stone bricks on the ground cracked incessantly under the powerful pressure, finger-thick fissures crisscrossing the ground like a spider web. Every now and then, fragments of the detached stone bricks were thrown several meters into the air by an unknown force, before slowly turning into dust.
Ling Yun suddenly stood up, his right leg slightly bent backward, his left leg in a horse stance. He held the telekinetic longbow in his left hand and slowly drew back the bowstring with his right. His face showed an expression of great effort. The reason for the effort was not because the telekinetic longbow was so powerful, but because for every inch the bowstring was drawn back, Ling Yun had to pour double the amount of his special power into the telekinetic longbow. When he drew the longbow to its fullest extent, Ling Yun even poured all his energy into the longbow.
The entire longbow seemed to be shrouded in dazzling light, becoming radiant and sacred. Its powerful aura resonated with the oppressive force of the moment of despair, bringing a profound sense of awe.
A telekinetic arrow, shimmering with starlight, suddenly appeared from the fully drawn bowstring. The sharp, silver-sharp, spindle-shaped tip spun with visible silver light waves, aimed directly at the bronze statue. It seemed that the overwhelming power of the arrow was about to be unleashed.
Seemingly sensing a tremendous threat, the massive bronze statue suddenly emitted a bluish-green light, and informational energy uncontrollably seeped from its interior to its surface. The statue's enormous body twitched, and then, its hundreds-of-meters-tall form shook violently with a sound like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting, as if it had suddenly come to life.
The upper limbs, which were already placed at the sides of the body, suddenly rose high, and hundreds of bronze tentacles swept softly through the air, completely blocking the upper body of the bronze statue. Then, the bronze statue's body suddenly emitted a blue light that was almost identical to that of the bronze creature, forming a huge protective light shield in front of the body.
Faced with Ling Yun's moment of despair, the bronze statue not only made a move, but actually took the initiative to adopt a defensive posture, which greatly surprised Xiao Rou. Although she knew that the bronze statue was unusual, Xiao Rou still felt somewhat incredulous when she saw a statue suddenly come to life.
Ling Yun's face remained calm as he gazed at the bronze statue's face, which was as still as a deep pool. All his spirit and strength were focused on that moment of despair, and he was oblivious to the changes in the outside world. Even if someone waved their hand in front of him, Ling Yun would not see it. In his eyes, there was only the enormous figure thousands of meters away.
Sensing that the opponent's energy seemed to be getting stronger, Ling Yun gently released his right hand. The bowstring made a soft humming sound as he shot the telekinetic arrow far away, and all the energy began to erupt instantly.
The telekinetic arrow transformed into a river of light spanning tens of meters the moment it was released, illuminating the entire plaza as if a silver sun were rising in the sky not far from the ground. This sun was streaking across thousands of meters at an extremely fast speed, crashing down like a meteor from outer space onto the enormous figure hundreds of meters tall.
As the distance increased, the River of Light expanded rapidly at an alarming speed. By the time it reached the bronze statue, the River of Light had completely transformed into an unfathomable ocean. Suddenly, a ferocious, luminous figure rose from the front of the ocean, unleashing the most powerful roar in the world at the bronze statue.
The protective light shield in front of the bronze statue only touched the sea of light light lightly before it dissipated into specks of light. Immediately afterwards, the huge figure of the bronze statue was swallowed up by the almost endless sea of light!
Ling Yun retracted his telekinetic longbow, staring nervously at the massive orb of light before him. He felt a sudden weakness in his hands and body, as if firing that arrow had completely drained his powers. However, as the warm energy flowed back into his body, the young man immediately regained his energy. He had initially thought that despair would instantly deplete all his strength, perhaps even causing a backlash, but it seemed that wasn't the case; at least Ling Yun felt he still had some strength left.
Of course, the boy's feeling was partly due to excitement. Seeing that despair could possess such immense power was a pleasant surprise even for Ling Yun. This meant that Ling Yun's power had once again experienced an explosive increase. This increase wasn't as obvious as Xiao Rou's, but it was equally rapid and then revealed itself unexpectedly, bringing Ling Yun a huge surprise.
Xiao Rou walked to his side, staring blankly at the miraculous scene before her: "Can we kill it like this? Does killing it mean we've passed the test?"
“I don’t know…” Ling Yun sighed, his worries returning to his heart. This was his biggest headache. Putting aside whether the Moment of Despair could destroy the bronze statue, what if destroying the bronze statue still failed to pass the test of the third hall? What if he couldn’t destroy it and the countdown was about to end? Thinking of this, Ling Yun’s head started to ache again. In any case, he would first see how the Moment of Despair would turn out.
Thump, thump, thump!
A tremendous, pulsating sound, like the beating of drums, suddenly resounded through the sky. With this pulsation, the square fell silent; even the faintest sound of the wind stirring the fine sand vanished. The entire scene transformed into a pantomime, the images constantly shifting. Ling Yun and Xiao Rou stared in astonishment at each other's open mouths, unable to hear a word the other uttered. It was as if a mysterious force had completely erased sound from the world.
Suddenly, as if sensing something at the same time, the two looked up at the sky and were immediately startled. They didn't know when, but the sky above the square had become pitch black. All the light waves formed by the blood-red stripes suddenly converged and formed a huge blood-red shimmering object, hanging in the black sky. Every second, the shimmering object changed.
The loud, monotonous pulsating sound originates from this.
Chapter 342 The Last Hundred Seconds
"Countdown!" Ling Yun exclaimed involuntarily. He immediately recognized what was hanging in the sky. The shimmering object was composed of several Arabic numerals, and the numbers changed every second. Starting from one hundred, it had now become ninety-eight, and even after Ling Yun finished speaking, the countdown had already reached ninety-five.
After saying this, Ling Yun realized that his voice had returned to normal, and the mysterious obstacle had only appeared for a moment before disappearing again.
"This is the time limit? We still have a little over a minute left," Xiaorou said, looking at the shimmering object. She glanced at it only once before turning her gaze back to the bronze statue, still enveloped in a sea of light that seemed to signify despair. There, only a shadow that was constantly crumbling apart could be seen through the endless curtain of light. Even a rudimentary form of a supernatural technique possessed such awe-inspiring power.
Ling Yun forced himself to calm his violently shaken mind. There were less than a hundred seconds left. What could he possibly do? He nervously tried to make a judgment, but countless possible outcomes flashed through his mind, which he then rejected one by one. The final conclusion left Ling Yun feeling somewhat frustrated. All he could do for now was wait, wait for the final change in the bronze creature. Whether it would live or die would only be revealed after the power of the moment of despair had passed.
Reason and logic told him that since the third hall had undergone such a significant change, it meant that everything the two of them were doing was correct; otherwise, the third hall wouldn't have changed at all, and there wouldn't even be a countdown. Of course, it could also be a final ultimatum due to the approaching time limit, but such life-or-death trials wouldn't have such humane settings. They are usually filled with harsh and almost insurmountable tasks; success means life, failure means death—it's that simple. Therefore, the former possibility is more likely.
The light and shadow of despair finally faded away slowly. The powerful energy, after raging for its time, finally disappeared unwillingly. Although it wanted to maintain this breathtaking spectacle, its energy was ultimately limited. When it was exhausted, that would be the moment when we saw the true result of the bronze statue. At this moment, five seconds had already passed.
Ling Yun and Xiao Rou simultaneously widened their eyes in astonishment. Thousands of meters away, the bronze creature's statue remained motionless in its blocking posture, completely unharmed. Only the almost level bluestone pedestal had vanished without a trace, as if a magical giant hand had removed the statue from the pedestal and then taken the pedestal away as well.
Could it be that the Despair Moment had no effect? Ling Yun looked at the bronze statue with suspicion and uncertainty, his mind in complete chaos. If the Despair Moment had no effect on the bronze statue, then Ling Yun found it hard to believe that with less than eighty seconds left, what attack could possibly kill it?
Or perhaps only legendary divine arts can instantly kill the opponent!
The bronze statue slowly stood up. The moment it stood up, its body suddenly emitted a bright blue light, as if a blue sun was placed inside it, making its body incredibly transparent. Even the rust-like ripples on the surface of the bronze statue and the unique metallic color of bronze were clearly illuminated.
Ling Yun and Xiao Rou could see it clearly, and couldn't help but look at each other in surprise. The blue light was not emitted by the bronze statue itself, but was the light that appeared because the information energy of the bronze statue was emitted outward after the thick metal shell of the bronze statue cracked into countless cracks. As the blue light became stronger, large pieces of bronze statue suddenly turned into copper dust that floated out of the sky.
The power of the moment of despair was not without effect. After erasing the hundreds-of-meters-high platform out of thin air, it also crushed the bronze statue into powder and then condensed it together. Only after the bronze statue made some movement did the powdered bronze start to fall down like snow.
Xiao Rou's eyes sparkled with joy as she gently grasped Ling Yun's arm: "Husband, we succeeded! You've turned it into a pile of bronze junk."
“I’m afraid not yet…” Ling Yun’s eyes flashed with golden light. His Eye of Illusion captured an even more terrifying energy body slowly emerging from the broken bronze statue. This surprised Ling Yun greatly, because he had not discovered the existence of this huge energy body inside the bronze statue when he used his microscopic perception to probe it.
Moreover, the energy body was so powerful, like a colossal creature under a searchlight. In fact, the existence of the energy body was even more powerful than the bronze creature itself. Such an obvious existence was completely undetectable by microscopic perception. This brought Ling Yun more than just shock. It meant that the opponent's methods far exceeded his own, and it was even an existence that could toy with him. In front of this huge energy body, Ling Yun had no possibility of resistance.
Aww!
A deafening roar suddenly erupted from within the bronze statue, which was not yet completely shattered. The powerful sonic force instantly shattered the bronze statue into countless scattered fragments. The shockwave, like a tidal wave, transformed into two invisible giant forces that slammed heavily into Ling Yun and Xiao Rou's chests, instantly sending them flying hundreds of meters away.
Ling Yun and Xiao Rou stabilized themselves in mid-air, their expressions changing drastically. Although the shockwave could not threaten them, the mere roar possessed such power. If that powerful being were to unleash its full strength, what kind of power would it have?
The azure light transformed into countless specks of light that drifted away and disappeared. The bronze statue had completely decomposed, and even the information energy within it vanished along with it. Just like the information carriers in the giant pillars inside the passageway, without a huge carrier to receive them, the information energy would quickly dissipate, regardless of the energy's characteristics while in the carrier. This is similar to how, if a superhuman dies, their mental field and superhuman abilities would quickly dissipate.
Suddenly, a huge, scarlet eye opened in the darkness, followed by another half a meter away. Then, above the two parallel eyes, a vertical, deep-set eye opened again. A massive head with two long horns slowly rose, and the three awe-inspiring eyes suddenly released three cold and merciless gazes, staring at Ling Yun and Xiao Rou thousands of meters away.
Its head climbed upwards again, followed by a slender neck that was ten meters long. Below the neck was a body that was fifty meters long, like a small mountain. A tail as thick as an arm swayed and extended to the sky nearly seventy meters away. Suddenly, the huge body spread out two thick shadows that were the same length as the body. In just a flash, the huge body flew into the sky.
"Humans, you have passed all the previous tests, which is enough to prove that you have great strength and are therefore qualified to face me, the great Kazar Black Dragon." A deep and powerful voice slowly echoed in the square. As a huge red beam of light shone down from mid-air, a huge black creature appeared in front of Ling Yun and Xiao Rou.
Its towering head, three strangely different eyes, enormous fan-shaped wings, imposing body, and gleaming, iron-black scales covering most of its body all proclaimed its legendary identity: a black dragon.
Ling Yun and Xiao Rou were speechless with shock. Who could have imagined that such a powerful black dragon was hidden inside the enormous bronze statue? Ling Yun suddenly realized that his microscopic perception hadn't revealed the full picture of the bronze statue's internal information; some crucial information had been missed. If the summoning was a point-to-point process, then in reality, it wasn't the bronze statue itself that was summoning, but rather this black dragon calling itself Qazar.
Ling Yun could only smile bitterly. No matter what the test was like, Kazar was clearly the ultimate master of the third hall. This big guy who had been hiding until the very end only appeared when there were less than sixty seconds left in the time limit. What was his purpose? Did he want to witness how two insignificant humans brought about their own destruction, or was he afraid that he and Xiao Rou would suffer too much from being burned to death by the sea of lava, and wanted to send their souls to heaven first?
No matter how powerful Ling Yun is, he still has the self-awareness to deal with the Black Dragon. The power that Kazar inadvertently displayed far exceeded the limits of the two of them. Unless it is a truly super special technique, it is impossible to have any substantial effect on Kazar.
"Respected Mr. Qazar, what do you mean by 'qualified to face you'?" Ling Yun faced the enormous black dragon with neither arrogance nor servility. Even without flapping its wings, the black dragon, weighing hundreds of tons, remained motionless in the air, its source of power unknown.
The black dragon stretched out a huge claw, pointed at the shimmering object in the sky, and said, "This is a countdown. There are less than fifty seconds left. Just as you imagined, in fifty seconds the sea of lava will completely engulf this place. Therefore, you only have fifty seconds to face my final test. In order not to waste time, and because you have already proven that you have intelligent wisdom, extraordinary courage, and great strength by facing me last, you are the strong ones. So I will give you the right to make the last choice."
The enormous claws suddenly swung in the air a few times, and a shimmering spatial gate appeared out of thin air in front of Ling Yun and Xiao Rou. A smile suddenly appeared on the black dragon's somewhat ferocious face: "This is a portal to space and time. You can go out from here, and then you will find yourself back at sea. All memories and experiences related to the barrier will be gone. You have never been here before. Whatever you did before, you can continue doing it. This is your first choice, and it is also my way of showing you, as Kazar, that you were able to reach this place by your own strength. Of course, you can take away the experience and power you gained here, even though you will not know how you obtained them after you leave."