Tempest of the Stellar War

 Everybody’s eyes were popping out. Many had been in the Disciple level for a long time. Although the Knife Mountain trial was only held once per week, but they had seen it often enough. Yet, nobody had crossed 80m!

As the wave of fire blasted to the skies, the entire trial arena transformed. Everybody could feel the dense wave of heat. This type of environmental change would definitely affect one’s performance.

Whoosh…

Wang Zheng immediately stepped forward. More accurately, he had not even paused. A lightning quick response time!

Everybody’s hearts were in their throats. Would he fall into the magma and be incinerated, or would he…

Stabilize!

They had not even processed matters, and Wang Zheng was already continuing. The change had happened in about half a second, and was actually not too bad. Such a trial’s demands of martial art standards was not high. The most important was to regulate output and a stable manner. Emotional fluctuation could severely affect one’s arts. In such an environment, the smallest flinch would see a quick end.

But compared to some small thing like magma, Bonehead seemed way crueler!

When Wang Zheng rushed for the second knife tip, it suddenly disappeared. This was asking for his life!

The speedy Wang Zheng paused briefly in mid-air, as though floating. When the knife tip reappeared, he treaded lightly, whoosh…

Such a display of arts was already at the pinnacle. Mouton was clear that even if he had made it to 80m, the sudden change along would have caused him to falter at the first step.

This was impossible. Could this guy be from the higher levels?

Impossible. Those from a higher level could not participate in the trials of a lower level. This…

Mouton looked at the stone plaque. The name on top was… still Mu!

Wang Zheng’s expression was still serene. This meant he was serious. For such a trial, it was fruitless to practice it for a million times. Each time required the same amount of focus. The slightest lag would cost one’s life. Bonehead’s training required not for one to win, but to make no mistakes.

And just as he said, each failure saw Wang Zheng suffer horribly.

But, besides to Bonehead, Wang Zheng would definitely uphold his reputation to outsiders!

The 10m that was a matter of life and death had been passed in a flash. He was past 80m…

Was he still continuing?

Bubble bubble…

The magma suddenly became even more vigorous, waves of fire splurting beside Wang Zheng. This was completely unavoidable, and Wang Zheng took magma over his body. Those parts turned charred in an instant.

At this time, the slightest interruption would have seen anybody fall. Mouton’s face was whiter than a sheet.

It was normal for humans to feel pain, and pain inevitably affected one’s focus. This environment was indescribable.

But just like that, that black-metal-masked punk was actually still advancing, as though he felt no pain.

Nobody noticed that Wang Zheng was actually smiling to himself. Suddenly, things had turned interesting.

88m.

Could he actually break 90m???

Everybody only had eyes for the waves of magma. Although Mouton’s body was still present, his soul had already left.

Only Tree suddenly noticed the stone plaque. On it, Mu’s name was disappearing, and a new name emerged.

90m!

The bubbling magma suddenly quietened, but… F*ck, why wasn’t there a single knife tip left?

He was still calmly surveying his surroundings, just as back in the days with Bonehead, but he saw not even a single way to proceed. If his martial arts were strong enough, he could force a super-far jump into the air, but fuck, this was only a Basic Point Blade Technique.

Plomp!

Assuming the coolest pose he could, Wang Zheng dropped into the lava.

Vaporized into ash, he reappeared in the trial hall.

His limbs were all intact, and the burns had all been healed. This was much more humane than Bonehead, who had often allowed the pain to continue for a time after each failure, in order to aid his memory.

Wang Zheng’s inventory of time had grown by 200 hours, and a 16 Point martial art – Icy Soul Arts!

Not a bad haul, he had not wasted his money.

The whole hall was quietly watching the man in the black metal mask. That black metal mask did not reveal much, which made him seem cooler. But the sharp look in the eyes seemed to be taunting the world.

Uncomfortable under all the stares, and seeing the trial was over, Wang Zheng beat it promptly.

Nobody made a sound throughout the entire ordeal. Tree came to with a jerk, and quickly followed.

When the two had disappeared from the trial grounds, the entire trial hall erupted.

The Saint Mu’s trial record had actually been broken!

Furthermore, it was by a Basic Point Blade Technique! Who on earth was this cool customer Charcoal?

A man or a monster?

In the din of the hall, nobody paid any attention to Mouton anymore, for the first time. After a good while, he stood up. He knew that this person must be an expert in the real world as well.

Real world ability would unquestionably influence strength in Saint. Although he had just come in, but that composure and decision making spoke of something darker in him, perhaps even a top-class Milky Way assassin.

A chilling air of murder had hung about him.

Meanwhile Wang Zheng, oblivious to these assassin speculations, was happily checking through his spoils. He needed to earn a lot of money, so he could properly treat Aina and Lin Huiyin when they met.

Martial arts could not be sold, but even if he did not use it, he could give it to Yan Xiaosu and the others. It seemed like a waste. Yan Xiaosu’s ambitions lay elsewhere, and it would be wrong to force him. But Meng Tian, Zhang Shan… they were a different story.

Tree looked quietly at Wang Zheng. “Brother Charcoal, you’re amazing. You even broke Mu’s record. You really turned all heads back there.”

Wang Zheng made some unintelligible response. What was this Mu, and all this mummery? None of it was his concern. All he cared about was one thing.

Perhaps sensing Wang Zheng’s indifference, Tree could only force a laugh. “Brother Charcoal, I have things to do. I’ll leave first. Thanks again for saving me.”

“Oh don’t worry about it. You brought me good luck. Here, let’s add each other as friends. If somebody bullies you next time, I’ll help you beat him up.” Wang Zheng said easily. Keeping an eye on the big picture was important, but the details should not be neglected as well.

Tree really did not know what to say. Experts were not uncommon in Saint, but to have ability at this level, and to be so… It was really a rare sight.

Wang Zheng headed for the training room. He wanted to try out the Icy Soul Arts. His first awakened ability X was of the ice type. Perhaps when stimulated with a similar art, there might be some interesting results.

But after just half an hour, Wang Zheng gave up. The Icy Soul Arts did not have much of a result.

This was related to his body affinities. Primordial Regression Technique belonged to the 5 affinities’ circulation, but the Icy Soul Arts were clearly leaning towards the Water affinity. This was not complementary to Wang Zheng’s balanced power, and he could not hold it well.

Although the 8 Point Blade Techniques were very basic, they were the foundational arts of the 5 affinities.

Wang Zheng was not disappointed. At least he had achieved some general understanding of its use. Actually, specific-affinity arts could lead to a loss of balance for those like Wang Zheng. It could warp one’s affinity, and might even lead to an even stronger resultant ability X.

The two different systems might produce fantastic results. This would probably be very helpful to Meng Tian.

Although not being able to bring the martial arts out heavily discounted its use, but as long as one honed the martial arts that suited one’s own affinity, even if it could not be brought out, one’s ability X would continue to improve. The world of Saint could not completely inhibit such changes, and this was the reason why many continued to stay.

Wang Zheng thought that he should seek out Meng Tian first of all.