Chapter 378: Special Training Begins

On the platform shrouded in green mist.

Li Luo held dual blades, water light swirling rapidly across their surfaces; amidst faint humming vibrations, even the air seemed to be silently sliced apart.

In an instant, the green mist was suddenly torn asunder, and over a dozen green figures shot out from within with extreme speed; in the blink of an eye, they appeared all around Li Luo. Green wooden spears whistled forth, carrying a sharp sound of wind being broken, pointing directly at Li Luo's vital points.

Facing such a fierce assault, Li Luo suddenly stepped back one pace. Starlight erupted abruptly from behind him; the next moment, his body, while swaying, transformed into several shadows, then lunged at the Green Spirit Puppets surrounding him.

The Green Spirit Puppets possessed little intelligence; facing the charging Li Luo, they naturally could not distinguish true from false, so they quickly retracted their spears and then violently thrust at the Li Luo before them.

However, all the spear shadows pierced through, and Li Luo's figure dissipated accordingly.

Rrrrip!

But on the other side, a figure of Li Luo erupted with surging Phasing Power; the blade light in his hand instantly became fierce. The blade light swept across, resembling the light trail left by light refracting across a water surface.

The blade light swirled, and within a few breaths, it severed two Green Spirit Puppets.

But at the same time, three Green Spirit Puppets rushed over at extreme speed. On their green wooden spears, emerald Phasing Power rose up, resembling green flames, and stabbed at Li Luo's vital points like lightning.

Whoosh!

Just then, the shadows beneath Li Luo's feet suddenly surged. Three shadow beams shot out violently, resembling black chains, directly binding the legs of those three Green Spirit Puppets.

The Green Spirit Puppets lost their balance and flew forward.

Li Luo tapped his toe, his figure darted out, and the blade light swept across, leaving three blade trails in the air.

By the time his figure landed, the three Green Spirit Puppets had fallen to the ground, their bodies shattered.

Student Xin Fu's figure appeared behind Li Luo. The short dagger in his hand swirled with an extremely sharp gleam in the darkness. Black Phasing Power seemed to condense into liquid, slowly swirling on the blade edge, carrying a unique corrosive scent.

In a short moment, five Green Spirit Puppets were dealt with, but neither Li Luo nor Student Xin Fu's expressions relaxed, because over a dozen Green Spirit Puppets remained, continuing to charge forward recklessly, their emerald Phasing Power rising like green ghost fires.

"Bai Mengmeng."

Li Luo took a deep breath, then called out.

Immediately, starlight Phasing Power whistled past from behind them; their figures gradually became distorted at this moment, and layers of illusions appeared beside them. A rough glance revealed their number was actually greater than that of these Green Spirit Puppets.

"Go!"

All the Li Luos and Student Xin Fu spoke out at this moment, then charged forward with tremendous momentum.

Two torrents collided within the platform; constantly, illusions were shattered, but Li Luo and Student Xin Fu's true bodies remained hidden within, methodically harvesting the Green Spirit Puppets one by one at extreme speed. By the time the final illusion was shattered, Li Luo's dual blades and Student Xin Fu's short dagger pierced into the body of the last Green Spirit Puppet, one after the other.

With all the Green Spirit Puppets slain, Li Luo and Student Xin Fu heaved a heavy sigh of relief. The two slowly sat down, wiping the sweat from their foreheads, exhaustion clearly visible on their faces.

Bai Bai Mengmeng's figure leaped to their side and said with some concern, "Why don't we stop here for today?"

Li Luo shook his head and said, "We haven't reached our absolute limit yet. Moreover, we are currently on the nineteenth layer; as long as we ascend one more layer, we will reach the Elite Layer. This is a fat prize; I want to devour it today, otherwise it would be a complete waste."

This was the fourth day of their cultivation within the Saint Wood Realm Cave. During these four days, they entered this place every day, giving their all to clear layer after layer of platforms, constantly climbing upward.

Currently, they were on the nineteenth layer; this was the result of their efforts over these four days.

Li Luo glanced toward the right side of the platform. On that platform, fierce battles were erupting; the other four Purple Radiance Squads were also fighting with all their might, attempting to climb continuously.

On the first day the special training began, actually, the five Purple Radiance Squads were most efficient with the squad led by Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan; after all, looking at all the squads, only their team possessed two practitioners of the Fourth Seal strength. Although Li Luo and Qin Qin Zhulu had reached the Fifth Seal, their respective teammates were slightly behind in strength, so in the early stages, Wang Wang Hejiu and his group actually took the lead.

On the first day, Wang Wang Hejiu's squad broke through a full six platform layers.

But Li Luo and Qin Qin Zhulu's side had only five layers; Bai Bai Doudou and Yi Yi Lisha were both at four layers.

However, this lead was only temporary. As Li Luo and Qin Qin Zhulu gradually adapted to the rhythm here in the following time, they began to display the strength of the Fifth Seal, and only then did they each lead their squads to surpass Wang Wang Hejiu and his group.

Now, among the five Purple Radiance Squads, it was actually Li Luo's squad and Qin Qin Zhulu's squad that arrived at the nineteenth layer first, while Wang Wang Hejiu's squad was at the seventeenth layer, and Bai Bai Doudou's squad and Yi Yi Lisha's squad were at the sixteenth layer.

Of course, for Li Luo and Qin Qin Zhulu's squads to surpass the others, the two strongest individuals undoubtedly bore immense pressure, but the cultivation at hand inherently requires this kind of pressure to temper oneself.

As for the "Elite Layer" Li Luo mentioned earlier, it was a phenomenon that appeared every ten platform layers. On every tenth layer, the Green Spirit Energy would become exceptionally abundant; this energy would condense into a "Green Spirit Puppet" of exceptionally formidable strength. Only by defeating it could one pass the platform and continue climbing. Moreover, defeating this high-level "Green Spirit Puppet" would yield exceptionally abundant Green Spirit Energy.

This was a rare gift.

Previously, at the tenth layer, Li Luo and the others had encountered one; however, that Green Spirit Puppet's strength was only equivalent to the first transformation of the Phasing Formation Stage, so the difficulty was not particularly high.

But the high-level Green Spirit Puppet appearing at the upcoming twentieth layer would inevitably be stronger.

Of course, most importantly, after a full day of intense high-intensity battles, let alone Li Luo and Student Xin Fu, even Bai Bai Mengmeng, who had always been positioned at the rear providing support, was somewhat exhausted.

Facing the high-level Green Spirit Puppet of the twentieth layer in such a state would surely not be easy.

But they had no other choice, because the Green Spirit Energy available each day was limited. During the cultivation of the previous days, Li Luo and the others had only ended their session after sucking dry the very last drop of Green Spirit Energy. If they did not defeat and absorb this high-level Green Spirit Puppet today while the Green Spirit Energy had not yet been exhausted, they would have to consume tomorrow's quota.

Moreover, if they chose to give up here, Qin Qin Zhulu's side would definitely advance. Regarding that fellow's competitive nature, Li Luo was very familiar; although their relationship was quite good, this was essentially a competition. If he held back here, it would not only be disrespectful to himself and his teammates, but Qin Qin Zhulu would surely be unhappy if he found out.

"Finish today's business today; break through as soon as possible, and continue to conquer higher layers tomorrow." After resting briefly, Li Luo stood up, his gaze fixed on the front of the platform. There, mist was condensing, forming a mist staircase, and the mist staircase extended, connecting to the platform of the next higher layer.

He waved his hand, his figure darted out, heading straight for the twentieth layer.

Bai Bai Mengmeng and Student Xin Fu immediately followed.

While Li Luo's squad headed straight for the twentieth layer, on a high platform, five Purple Radiance Mentors, including Xi Chan and Shen Shen Jinxiao, were also observing everyone's cultivation.

"Truly unexpected that the first to challenge the twentieth layer would be Li Luo and the others." Mentor Mi'er, with hair flowing loosely and appearing unruly, smiled and said.

"This young man is not the same as when he first entered the academy; now, even Qin Qin Zhulu might not be able to defeat him." Mentor Cao Sheng, with a rugged face, sighed.

"The advantage of Dual Phasing is gradually revealing itself."

Mentor Chu Zi nodded and said, "In one month, the representative of the One-Star Court will likely be chosen between Li Luo and Qin Qin Zhulu."

Facing the praise from the other Purple Radiance Mentors, Mentor Xi Chan did not speak, but there was some gratification in her gaze.

Shen Shen Jinxiao's expression was indifferent; he spoke calmly, "The first to challenge the twentieth layer is not necessarily the first to pass the twentieth layer. After all, the difficulty of the twentieth layer is far beyond that of the tenth. Although Li Luo possesses Dual Phasing, I feel that passing it in one attempt might still be insufficient."

The other Purple Radiance Mentors did not refute this, and Mentor Xi Chan completely ignored Shen Shen Jinxiao. The gaze of all of them turned toward Li Luo and the other two, who were gradually climbing the mist staircase to the twentieth layer platform.

After all, whether it is sufficient... ultimately, one must try to know.