Chapter 456 - Crushing the Scene

Chapter 456: Chapter 210: Crushing the SceneAfter handing Auli over to the Black Pupil, Lu Hong decided to temporarily leave the bronze greatsword by her side, firstly to guide Auli’s training, and secondly as a form of protection. Once everything was arranged and he was ready to depart, the tavern owner stopped him. No matter how few people were in this town, there was always someone who had seen him come in with a young girl, so they needed to see Lu Hong leave with the young girl as well; otherwise, the finger would immediately be pointed at the Black Pupil’s secret branch.

The tavern owner had a solution for this, and after a short wait, a short-statured woman came through the secret passage into the tavern’s kitchen.

She fiddled with Auli’s appearance for a while, and soon she was disguised to look exactly like Auli.

"You guys really have a way," Lu Hong couldn’t help but give the Black Pupil a thumbs up.

The Black Pupil woman, pleased with the praise, happily wrapped her arms around Lu Hong’s arm. "Big brother, then let’s get going. Once we get out of town and into the forest, I will leave on my own, no need for you to worry."

"Okay, thank you." He had to admit, the woman’s disguise was 90% similar to Auli’s. If one did not observe carefully, it would indeed be hard to tell them apart.

After performing a bit of theatre, Lu Hong bid farewell to the Black Pupil spy and set out straight for the second checkpoint.

What he needed to do now was break through the simpler checkpoints ahead as quickly as possible. The further he went, the more people would be held up, and at that point, robbing and murdering for wealth would become commonplace—that was exactly the scene Lu Hong was hoping for. To break through the Third Transition quickly, he had to use killing to gain more experience.

No matter what, if he didn’t break through the Third Transition, Lu Hong would definitely not leave the Canglan Path.

Compared to the first checkpoint, the second checkpoint of the Power God’s Path was relatively simpler; this one was a duplicate challenge. The challenge was to fight against one’s own duplicate, who only possessed the same physical strength as the original, and the magic power would not be considered. The reason for this simplicity was because the Power God’s Array did not properly reduce magic power, which was the biggest loophole in the previous few challenges. With equal physical strength, one could easily deal with the duplicate by relying on a slight advantage in magic power, making it quite normal to break through the challenge. Of course, there were also those who wanted to challenge themselves and chose not to use magic power—and then, well, they would simply not be able to defeat it.

As for our Lu Hong, he was not willing to take advantage of this; he chose to give up using his vital energy and relied purely on brute physical strength to confront his duplicate.

It was the first time that Lu Hong had seen someone who looked exactly the same as himself, so he did not rush into the fight and instead moved closer. Seeing that the duplicate did not take the initiative to attack, he stared curiously at it.

He had to admit that, well, he was quite handsome; no wonder so many people liked him.

Just when Lu Hong was feeling a bit smug in his heart, the duplicate’s pupils suddenly burst with a sharp light, and it threw a punch straight towards his face.

"What the fuck?" Lu Hong exclaimed in shock and quickly raised his arm to block.

The moment the duplicate’s fist hit Lu Hong’s arm, he was struck with the illusion of being hit by an ancient beast.

He was sent flying back, crashing into the granite wall behind him.

"Cough, cough..." Just one punch had damaged Lu Hong’s internal organs, and the arm that blocked the duplicate was completely shattered, turned into powder—without a single sensation of pain, that arm was essentially rendered useless.

What the hell was this? Wasn’t it supposed to be just a duplicate? At that moment, Lu Hong felt bewildered. Was he really that physically powerful? Had the duplicate somehow cheated?

Lu Hong’s guess was indeed correct. As soon as he entered the second checkpoint, the Power God Temple’s core of fate began to wildly absorb magic power. The elders responsible threw in years of accumulated magic power, creating the monstrosity that now stood before Lu Hong.

Climbing out of the wall with difficulty, Lu Hong once again scrutinized the duplicate before him. The other’s strength was definitely not at his own level currently. Why was it so much stronger?

Fortunately, the duplicate that had incapacitated Lu Hong did not pursue him, giving Lu Hong enough time to think.

After much consideration, there was only one possibility.

The Power God’s Array had copied the Lion Heart bloodline that was not fully stripped from Lu Hong’s body and had greatly duplicated the power of the Lion Heart bloodline. Hence, the duplicate before Lu Hong possessed his own strength, plus the power of the Lion King’s strength, which had been augmented to an unknown level.

Looking down at his limp left arm, Lu Hong internally cursed. If Piao Miao had not schemed against him in the past to extract his bloodline, how strong would he be now?

Regret was one thing, but Lu Hong’s main concern remained on dealing with the duplicate before him. He moved slightly and inched closer step by step.

When he approached within two meters, the duplicate’s pale pupils once again burst with a fierce light, its fist creating a sonic boom as it struck towards Lu Hong.

This time, Lu Hong had learned his lesson. He dodged the attack and circled around for a counter-attack.

But the duplicate reacted faster, retracting its fist and landing a roundhouse kick squarely on Lu Hong’s chest.

Poor Lu Hong was sent flying like a cannonball, smashing through the wall built by the array and tumbling out of the second checkpoint.

The trialists lounging at the town entrance, basking in the sun and idly waiting for death, jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of a flying figure.

Incredulous onlookers stared at Lu Hong lying unconscious on the ground, having been flung out from the second trial. This was the first time since the founding of the Holy Light path that someone had been ejected from the second trial.

"What was he doing in there?" the trialists exchanged glances, "Is the second trial that difficult?"

"I remember it being quite easy to pass!"

"Yeah!"

The trialists weren’t the only ones confused; the stir caused by Lu Hong being beaten and thrown out also alarmed members of the Black Pupil group, who were arranging accommodations for Auli.

"Bro, are you sure he’s Baron Lu Hong?" a Black Pupil member asked the tavern owner doubtfully.

"Uh... he should be," the tavern owner recalled the divine weapon Lu Hong had presented, and once again confirmed, "That divine weapon he carries cannot be faked; the heads gave me methods to identify divine weapons."

"But... how could he be thrown out of the second trial?"

"How would I know?" the tavern owner rolled his eyes, "Surely, Baron must have triggered the core of some formation, right?"

"That must be it." The Black Pupil members accepted this explanation but followed up with, "Should we help him? Baron’s chest seems to be caved in. Could he die?"

"Don’t!" the tavern owner immediately interjected, "We can’t show too much association with him. Anyway, there’s an old Priest in town who loves to meddle; let’s wait for him to do the healing."

"That old man? He’s asleep all day; we can’t just leave Baron lying there until evening, can we?"

"Just sneak up and smash his windows."

Following the tavern owner’s suggestion, a Black Pupil member managed to wake the old Priest up.

"Damn it! Which little bastard! Smashing my windows in broad daylight!" the Priest cursed as he stormed out of his cabin, "I curse your offspring to be born without an anus!"

As he cursed, he also spotted Lu Hong lying unconscious not far from the second trial’s exit.

With a heart intent on saving others, the Priest quickly ran to check on Lu Hong.

Lu Hong was in terrible shape. His caved-in chest had nearly stopped his breathing.

The Priest didn’t hesitate and gently lifted a single palm.

A burning Holy Light rained down from the sky directly into the Priest’s hand, transforming into a soft liquid that spilled over his palm and dripped onto Lu Hong’s chest.

As the holy liquid was absorbed, Lu Hong’s collapsed chest and shattered arm miraculously healed at a visible speed and returned to their original state in an instant.

Still, Lu Hong didn’t wake up.

Seeing the external injuries healed, the Priest was satisfied with his work and retracted his skill, then dragged Lu Hong back to his residence with some effort.

The Black Pupil members were stunned by this series of actions.

"That... do you dare believe that this old man is actually a Third Transition Peak warrior?"

"Who am I supposed to ask?" The others rolled their eyes. Although it was hard to believe, the skill cast by the Priest was indeed the ultimate move of a Third Transition Level Twelve Priest: Sun’s Invocation.

Naturally, the power was much less than that of the legends, but that did not detract from its authenticity.

The trialists living in the town were equally shocked. Anyone who could be stuck in this trial—any Second Transition Late Stage fighter with rich combat experience—wouldn’t be loitering and waiting for death here. Who had ever seen a Third Transition Peak warrior? And particularly one from the arduous priest system.

Speaking of the healing system, it had to be said that advancing in the healer profession after the Third Transition was much more difficult than combat professions. Their advancement relied entirely on their personal understanding of their profession. This understanding was enigmatic and varied from person to person, making it impossible to leave behind any cultivation records to provide shortcuts for the next generation.

Thus, every Third Transition healer was a living treasure. They could receive the best treatment anywhere they went and be kept and nurtured by others.

A peak healer like the Priest could easily refill an army of a hundred thousand men to full strength and send them back into battle without much trouble.

With such a universally valuable talent, why would he hide away in a small town on the Piao Miao path, idly awaiting his end? This question lingered in the minds of every trialist.