Chapter 764

Cultivator Hao did not rush to agree but observed first.

Ao Pan, with his hunched chest and back like an old ape, moved forward slowly.

His posture was calm, but he still occupied the leading position in first place. He had already obtained five bronze items.

However, the bronze long whip he was most proficient in using had worn out too much and was no longer in use.

What he used most was a bronze long staff.

Ao Pan's martial arts foundation was very solid, and he could use all eighteen types of weapons.

In second place was Tie Zheng.

This Jin Dan-level martial cultivator was in the process of collecting his fifth bronze item.

Surrounding him were four weapons: a bronze saber, sword, long spear, and sickle.

They cooperated tacitly, advancing and retreating freely, occasionally performing combo moves or joint attacks.

Tie Zheng wore a bronze beast mask, and his mastery of spiritual sense control was not inferior to a mechanism cultivator of the same cultivation level!

Lu Zeng was in third place.

He held a bronze long spear and had just begun a battle with the fifth bronze saber.

He used four weapons, including the bronze hammer, in turns.

The bronze saber's swordsmanship had reached the realm of "no move is better than a move." It suddenly slashed over, looking unremarkable, yet Lu Zeng was caught in a flaw.

He could only sigh, let go of the bronze long spear, and roll to avoid the blade.

He gripped his hands in the air and smashed toward the bronze saber.

In an instant, the bronze hammer that had been floating by his side actively placed itself into his hand.

Bang.

He didn't hit it, but he forced the bronze saber back.

Seeing this scene, Cultivator Hao felt it was very interesting: "Tie Zheng, as a Jin Dan-level martial cultivator, uses the Profound Weapon Armor like a mechanism cultivator. And Lu Zeng, as a mechanism cultivator, fights in close combat like a martial cultivator."

"It seems their identities don't match, but in reality, both of them are consciously training themselves and tempering their own weaknesses."

"They are all preparing for the third level."

The top three were occupied by three Jin Dan-level cultivators, which fully reflected the important significance of cultivation level.

Becoming a Jin Dan was a qualitative change; possessing a Jin Dan provided a comprehensive improvement for a cultivator.

The fourth place was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Zhang Wangxing smiled, full of confidence: "Come, let me see what the fourth bronze item is?"

Relying on the "Blood and Flesh Variable Sutra," he did not engage in normal combat but relied on the strange and variable advantage of his physical body to directly imprison the bronze item.

This precisely restrained the performance of the Profound Weapon Armor.

After all, the Profound Weapon Armors in the first few rounds basically fought in close combat.

Only from the sixth item onward would the Profound Weapon Armor display spell-like attacks.

Zhang Wangxing made full use of his strengths and took shortcuts three times in a row, which greatly boosted his confidence.

"I can restrain the first five Profound Weapon Armors. The real difficulty is the sixth one!" He was full of ambition.

Zhang Wangxing also knew the relevant intelligence about the Nine-Layer Profound Weapon Armor trial.

The strategy he set for himself was to quickly refine the first five Profound Weapon Armors, causing his own strength to skyrocket, and then fight the sixth Profound Weapon Armor with all his might.

Since he participated in this Xingyun Trial, everything had developed according to his vision.

Now it was the fourth Profound Weapon Armor.

A huge bronze mace appeared before Zhang Wangxing's eyes.

"So thick and large..." Zhang Wangxing's eyelids twitched, and he showed a look of difficulty.

The bronze mace sensed Zhang Wangxing and slowly pressed toward him.

Zhang Wangxing gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and bared his chest: "Come on, hit me!"

The next moment, the bronze mace smashed hard onto Zhang Wangxing's body.

Blood spilled, and his skin and flesh deformed violently like mud, surging upward in an attempt to cover the mace.

The mace pulled back fiercely, bringing with it countless fragments of rotten flesh.

The intense pain made Zhang Wangxing grimace, sweating all over from the pain.

He braced himself, opened his arms, and threw himself onto the mace.

"Merge with me!" Zhang Wangxing roared.

The mace was naturally unwilling, constantly stabbing and smashing, bringing a series of huge injuries to Zhang Wangxing!

"I..."

"You..."

"So... the mace also restrains me!"

Zhang Wangxing was in so much pain that his whole body was twisting, hissing as he gasped for air, and he could only continue to persist.

Below Zhang Wangxing, in fifth place, was not Ban Ji, but the Rust Disaster Craftsman.

Surrounding him were bronze sabers, swords, and so on; on the surface of every Profound Weapon Armor, there were signs of rust.

When Cultivator Hao checked the Rust Disaster Craftsman's situation, his brows furrowed subconsciously.

He loathed the other party from the bottom of his heart. In fact, this was not his individual prejudice, but almost all cultivators in the Profound Armor Cave disliked the Rust Disaster Craftsman.

"This person possesses lower-grade aptitude and can rust other things."

"The formation inside the cave is difficult to restrict the use of his aptitude, so he also took a shortcut—by rusting the bronze items, he greatly reduced the difficulty of subduing them."

"Therefore, this person is ranked among the best."

The Nine-Layer Profound Weapon Armor's Xingyun Trial was intended to promote the Profound Weapon Armor, let more people use it, and let more excellent cultivators establish close ties with the Profound Armor Cave.

But the Rust Disaster Craftsman damaged the Profound Weapon Armor, which violated the purpose of the Profound Armor Cave's event. Therefore, everyone secretly felt disgust toward him.

The sixth place finally fell to Ban Ji.

Cultivator Hao saw Ban Ji holding a mace and chain hammer alone, occasionally using flying knives, and currently fighting a pair of nunchucks.

He watched for a few moments and then laughed.

"Ban Ji uses these weapons, clearly all carrying the shadows of saber and sword moves."

"I understand a little now."

"Why you asked me to operate behind the scenes and arrange bronze sabers and swords for him."

Cultivator Hao looked back again and couldn't help but show a strange expression.

He discovered that the top five cultivators all had sabers or swords, but when it came to Ban Ji, there wasn't even one.

"These bronze weapons are arranged by the formation and deployed randomly."

"Sabers and swords are the most common, so there are the most of them."

"Ban Ji practiced sabers and swords hard, yet he didn't encounter a single one. More importantly, the bronze items he obtained don't even have a decent one."

"If there were something like a mace or axe, he could barely use saber and sword moves. Yet he doesn't have those either. How bad is this luck?"

Cultivator Hao watched the battle.

Watching Ban Ji use flying knives, chain hammers, and maces against nunchucks, the strange look on his face deepened slightly.

"Let me see, what is his fifth bronze item?"

Cultivator Hao used his permissions to secretly check what followed.

"Uh... it's a shield." And after that... still no sabers or swords!

"Did this kid do something that angered both heaven and man?" Cultivator Hao even felt a bit of sympathy for Ban Ji.

Ban Ji urged the weapons, but what he performed were sword moves and saber moves. Such a battle made him look incongruous, and every movement seemed to be affectionately calling out: "I want a saber and sword, I want a saber and sword!"

Ban Ji had also practiced other weapons, but the problem was that the time he allocated to martial arts was almost entirely concentrated on sabers and swords.

In the heat of battle, he didn't have time to think too much, and his body subconsciously performed saber and sword moves.

There was really no help for it; he had practiced them too well!

Cultivator Hao thought to himself: "However, as long as Ban Ji waits for a period of time, he will be able to enter the third level."

"When he reaches the third level, he will at least be able to obtain a blank Profound Weapon Armor."

"He also specializes in the Upper Dantian and has abundant spiritual sense. With his foundation, it is very likely he will obtain two items. This means he will eventually be able to obtain a saber and sword."

"The Ban family wants me to secretly help him; they should want him to have good results in the second level."

"The more bronze items obtained in the second level, the better the final results in the third level usually are."

"Only by collecting nine items is one qualified to obtain the top spot in the Profound Armor Cave."

"I understand. The Ban family wants Ban Ji to obtain the top spot, helping him catch up with the geniuses of the first wave and squeeze in among them."

Thinking of geniuses, Cultivator Hao skipped the seventh and eighth places, his gaze subconsciously jumping to Unlike Ning Zhuo on the other side.

Unlike Ning Zhuo was holding a saber and sword, fighting a bitter battle against a pair of gauntlets.

Cultivator Hao saw at a glance that Unlike Ning Zhuo was at a disadvantage and couldn't help but think: "Our Xingyun Trial here counts by fives in the second level. As long as a certain number of cultivators obtain five Profound Weapon Armors, the third level will automatically open, and those with fewer than five will be eliminated."

"According to Unlike Ning Zhuo's current progress, I'm afraid he won't make it in time."

"He is quite bold to be able to learn while practicing."

Cultivator Hao thought again: "However, if he really intends to intercept Ban Ji, according to his strength, I'm afraid he can only do this. After all, in the third level, the formation still prohibits cultivators from using other means; they can only use these Profound Weapon Armors and the power of their physical bodies."

"In other words, Unlike Ning Zhuo is actually very confident that he can sharpen his spear at the last minute and, after learning, stop Ban Ji."

"Such confidence... perhaps this is the difference between a genius cultivator and us ordinary people."

Cultivator Hao put away his thoughts, sent a secret spiritual sense message, and formally agreed: "Okay. I can do this favor."

"However..." He showed a strange look.

He had just checked once and found that almost all cultivators had a saber or sword, or both. There weren't many sabers and swords left, and they all had special properties to varying degrees.

The Profound Weapon Armors collected in the Profound Armor Cave partly came from their own forging, and the other part came from the feedback of countless cultivators.

If the Profound Weapon Armors they returned were of high value, the Profound Armor Cave would also gift other treasures as compensation.

Every Xingyun Trial, the Profound Armor Cave would send out many Profound Weapon Armors. But every year, cultivators would return here to fulfill their promises and return the Profound Weapon Armors they had forged to the Profound Armor Cave.

The formation would randomly draw some Profound Weapon Armors from the arsenal and deploy them to the participating cultivators as opponents.

The remaining Profound Weapon Armors were basically quite special and could not be deployed at will.

"These sabers and swords are generally very strong, and even Jin Dan cultivators find them difficult to face. If arranged for Ban Ji, can he handle them?"

"Actually, the bronze shield he is about to face next is very high quality. In the second level of this Xingyun Trial, there is only this one shield. Shield-type Profound Weapon Armors are often very helpful in the third level."

Cultivator Hao thought for a moment and felt there was no need to tell Ban Jie, adding unnecessary time and twists and turns.

He immediately took action in secret, used his permissions to mobilize the formation, quietly inserted the two bronze saber and sword items into the original sequence, and incidentally disrupted all the bronze items everyone was supposed to face.

Cultivator Hao was not worried either.

Doing this to this extent was actually within the tacit permission of the higher-ups.

After all, the higher-ups were also human and had descendants and friends who needed to be taken care of. This level of opening a back door was just right; even if it were exposed, the price Cultivator Hao would have to pay would not be that great.

Unlike Ning Zhuo slashed diagonally with the saber and thrust straight with the sword tip. Left and right, one hard and one soft, they attacked the gauntlets simultaneously.

The bronze gauntlets struck first despite starting later. The left fist drew an extremely precise and short arc, avoiding the saber blade.

Unlike Ning Zhuo immediately changed his move, changing the diagonal slash to a downward chop. As a result, the bronze gauntlet was very precise, landing on the force-exerting node of the bronze saber's changing move.

With a muffled bang, Unlike Ning Zhuo's saber momentum vanished instantly.

When Unlike Ning Zhuo attacked with the sword on the right, it was brushed by another bronze gauntlet along the sword body, using a clever force to deflect the bronze sword outward, and the sword tip missed.

There was both hard-on-hard and exquisite unloading and guiding; the bronze gauntlets, one hard and one soft, alternating light and heavy, pressed Unlike Ning Zhuo into a disadvantage.

Unlike Ning Zhuo frowned, feeling quite tricky.

He had already changed his offensive many times, but the bronze gauntlets were only "flustered and at a loss" at the beginning, and then they "adapted" and pressed Unlike Ning Zhuo back down.

This made Unlike Ning Zhuo have an illusion, feeling that the bronze gauntlets were owned by someone, only that the owner was completely transparent and could not be observed with the naked eye.

But Unlike Ning Zhuo also knew that this was just an illusion.

"This is a higher realm of martial arts!"

"The previous bronze sword and saber were only at the apprentice level. The sword only had basic moves, and the saber was stronger, not only having basic saber moves but also combo moves and small routines."

"And when it comes to the bronze gauntlets, the martial arts realm has already left the apprentice level and reached the craftsman level."

"The bronze gauntlets not only master various move combinations but can also change moves on the spot according to the opponent, which is me."

"Martial apprentices only practice on their own, focusing on practicing every move to be standard and proficient, and combining them with each other."

"Martial craftsmen incorporate a certain degree of tactical thinking, sensing the opponent and engaging in tactical games."

"I understand, so it's like this."

The many life experiences Unlike Ning Zhuo obtained by using the Burning Boat Soul-Crossing Technique possessed a huge amount of tactical games.

Unlike Ning Zhuo reviewed the old to learn the new, and his understanding was very profound.

He himself was also capable of improvising, could create reality from illusion, and was a flexible and autonomous person. The bronze gauntlets before him were equivalent to teaching him hand-in-hand.

He was not a beginner either; it was more like recovery and re-learning.

Therefore, he mastered it extremely quickly.

"Take my saber and sword combo attack!" Unlike Ning Zhuo used the left saber and right sword, performing the Wave-Breaking Star-Pointing Style.

The bronze saber broke waves in three layers, and the bronze sword assisted with consecutive stabs, knocking one of the bronze gauntlets down.

Unlike Ning Zhuo could have taken advantage of the victory to pursue, but he stopped in place, letting the bronze gauntlet float back and regroup.

After fighting for another few dozen breaths, Unlike Ning Zhuo finished laying the groundwork and suddenly performed the Silk-Entangling Mountain-Collapsing Style.

The bronze gauntlets were left and right, unable to resist, and one of them was slashed to the ground by the bronze sword.

Unlike Ning Zhuo let the gauntlets go again, stopped moving, and let them attack again.

After another few rounds of offense and defense, Unlike Ning Zhuo finished laying the groundwork again.

Saber and sword combo attack—Water-Splitting Moon-Lifting!

Clang, clang, clang...

The saber and sword were like a storm, hitting the bronze gauntlets, making consecutive crisp sounds and emitting a large amount of sparks.

The bronze gauntlets could not resist and were both knocked down.

This time, Unlike Ning Zhuo did not hold back, immediately abandoned the saber and sword, grabbed with both hands, pressed on the back of the gauntlets, and quickly refined them for his own use.

Several cultivators who saw this scene widened their eyes slightly.

The third saber and sword combo attack, which they were least optimistic about, actually had the greatest power in actual combat!

"Time to speed up." Unlike Ning Zhuo estimated the time, put away the gauntlets, and continued on his way.

Soon, he encountered the fourth Profound Weapon Armor—it was a bronze shield.