Chapter 358: He Passed the Trial???

He learned it from the golden skull's mouth.

Transmigrants, with their weak attack, defense, and HP, can endure fighting bosses with tens of millions of HP because ordinary NPCs or bosses almost always have single-digit HP.

This truth also made Jiang Li understand why those bosses with millions of HP and millions of attack power could never one-shot a human.

"Alright, we should head up! Thank you for your help!"

Jiang Li waved one hand and directly recalled the golden skull.

He looked up, knowing no one could help him, and climbed straight up.

But he had a headache.

When he fell, it seemed to have taken several hours—climbing back up would take a day or two…

…

Inside a blacksmith's shop in a frontier town, voices of argument rang out.

"Lans—how dare you! How could you let him descend into the valley for the trial? Do you know what that means? Do you know he is our hope?"

Long Long Lisha's face flushed with anger.

Almost everyone in the tavern was drenched in blood.

Long Long Lisha and the two tavern patrons fought for two days and nights with all their strength against their pursuers before finally escaping.

Worried for Jiang Li's safety, Long Long Lisha hid for a day, then couldn't resist coming to find Lans.

But the moment she found Lans, the pursuers appeared.

Fortunately—Lans was among the top two warriors of the age, so now everyone in the frontier town knew there was an extraordinary Sword Saint in their town.

He killed over ten men with a single strike, and that one sword cut off half the mountain's peak.

And Lans warned those men: if you don't possess such strength, don't dare disturb us.

The surviving black-clad men didn't even dare to utter a threat—they fled immediately.

This was the legendary reputation of the former Empire's First Sword Saint.

Time had dulled everything.

People had nearly forgotten the fame of Nolande's former First Sword Saint.

But because of this, neither Lans nor Long Long Lisha and the others could remain in the town.

Because originally, Long Long Lisha and the others had fled the imperial palace under charges of treason.

So despite being awed by Lans's power, the townspeople dared not harm him or his companions.

Yet the townspeople still surrounded Lans's blacksmith shop.

"Thud, thud!"

Lans took two sips of wine.

"Hope!?"

"Only you fools think he is the hope. Haven't we already lost hope many years ago?"

"The current Crown Prince—has already passed the trial. If anyone is Nolande's hope, it is he."

Long Long Lisha said: "Lans—even if you want him to pass the trial, you must at least tell him the crucial secrets!"

Lans scratched his head and said: "I forgot!"

"Because of you, I can't even live here anymore. I can't stay in my own country—I'm leaving abroad. Don't come looking for me, you idiots!"

Lans lazily stood up and began packing his things.

Long Long Lisha and the others felt despair.

They had spent over a decade planning for the hope in their hearts.

Since Jiang Li was a child, they had begun laying plans, contacting those who still held a sliver of loyalty to Wang Cheng, even cultivating a decent faction within the Nolande Imperial Palace.

Their goal was for Jiang Li to grow up, infiltrate the palace, and strike when the time came. They had envisioned every possible future, even failure—but they never imagined they'd be betrayed by their own.

Tears welled in Long Long Lisha's eyes as she swiftly drew her great sword—

"Lans, today you leave with your cultivation—or you die with him! You've extinguished our hope, so come die with him!"

"We'll join you in death after we kill you!"

Then Long Long Lisha charged at Lans with her great sword.

The two tavern patrons behind her showed no mercy—they charged after her without hesitation.

"Boom!"

The powerful aura from their bodies shattered the blacksmith shop.

People outside the shop were blown backward, tumbling like rolling gourds.

A fifty-meter radius around the blacksmith shop became a bare, empty space.

Long Long Lisha's body was covered in blue soft armor; the two tavern patrons were fully clad in Black Dragon Battle Armor, their aura sharp and fierce.

But Lans still looked like an old man.

"Why bother?"

"Is it worth dying for a hope that doesn't even exist?"

"Shut up—you're not worthy to speak of hope to us."

"What is hope? Hope is the future. Lans, unless we die at your hands today, you must give us an answer!"