Chương 92: The First Trial, Black-Iiron Puppets

"Fifth Grade. This man's cultivation has already entered the Fifth Grade Five Palaces Realm!" Su Zhe sensed the man's surging blood qi and thought to himself. Su Zhe's current cultivation was at the middle stage of Fourth Grade. On top of that, thanks to his own fortuitous encounters, his physical body and blood qi were far stronger than those of an ordinary middle-stage Fourth Grade expert. Now that he was sensing the powerful aura of a Fifth Grade martial artist, Su Zhe began weighing things in his mind.

In the path of martial cultivation, each stage was like a whole new world. The gap between them was practically a chasm.

"A Fifth Grade martial artist… is definitely strong. But if I used every method I had…"

"It's hard to say who would come out on top." Su Zhe pondered silently. Lu County was too small. Sixth Grade Li Shanyun and the Seventh Grade Yushen were too far above Su Zhe. He had no way to compare himself to them. But this Fifth Grade martial artist before him, while powerful, did not give Su Zhe the same oppressive feeling he had felt when facing Yushen. So he could not help but start comparing them in his heart.

"Hmph!" Qin Tian snorted resentfully and withdrew his hand. But he still shot Su Zhe a deep look. The violence in his eyes was hidden, but not gone. Su Zhe's face remained expressionless, but he quietly committed this matter to memory.

"This man is far too narrow-minded. Maybe it has something to do with what he's been through."

"The Five Gates and Seven Noble Clans… have all kinds of ties to Zhu Jian Shanzhuang (Sword-Forging Manor)…"

"His clan has a Sixth Grade martial artist holding the fort, so he does have the capital to be arrogant."

"If you were from some other family, I might have needed to rely on Master Yushen. But you just had to be from the Qin family… Blame your own bad fate." Su Zhe thought to himself. A narrow-minded person like this had to be dealt with as early as possible.

"Thank you, senior!" Su Zhe cupped his hands and bowed to the Sword-Forging envoy.

"Not bad. You know your manners."

"No need to thank me. This is part of my duty." The Sword-Forging envoy was an old man, and his blood qi had already begun to decline.

"Elder Qian may be acting out of duty, but Su still has to offer his thanks." Su Zhe spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly. Envoy Qian gave Su Zhe a long look, then nodded. A bit of appreciation for Su Zhe rose in his heart. He knew when to advance and when to retreat. He understood proper etiquette. And his talent was extraordinary. No wonder… Manor Lord Yushen had taken him in as a disciple ahead of time.

"Open!" Envoy Qian sank his qi into his dantian and waved his hand. Rumble! A heavy sound rang out. Several vermilion gates of Zhu Jian Shanzhuang slowly opened. Everyone held their breath and could not help looking inside. Behind the gates was a dark passage. The passage was dim and gloomy, like a road leading into the underworld. On both sides stood rows of armored puppets. They were pitch-black from head to toe, as if forged from top-grade black iron. They were tall and imposing.

Their eyes were hollow, yet seemed almost alive, radiating a chilling killing intent. Whenever a faint breeze passed, the armor plates on the puppets shifted slightly, sending out sharp metallic clinks that echoed through the air. Anyone who stepped inside would feel as if they had entered an army formation of thousands of soldiers, enough to make the heart tremble. No one knew who had placed these puppets here, or what mysterious thing they guarded.

Just looking at them was enough to inspire fear and make people hesitate to advance.

"This trial… is actually the Black-Iron Puppets!"

"Black-Iron Puppets have the strength of peak Third Grade Mortal Weapons!"

"Black-Iron Puppets… They aren't martial artists, but a martial Yang Spirit expert left a wisp of Yang Spirit inside them. That's why they can kill enemies on the battlefield… Still, Black-Iron Puppets are dead objects in the end. A martial artist of the same level with deep mastery of martial techniques can easily defeat one!"

"Black-Iron Puppets… may not be as strong as martial artists of the same level, but… look at that number. They're packed together so densely… Once you charge in, you'll have to deal with at least several hundred of them. An ordinary martial artist might not be able to make it out of that passage!" Discussions instantly broke out all around. Su Zhe and the other two naturally would not let this chance slip by. They pricked up their ears and listened. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road.

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"These Black-Iron Puppets… are no mere peak Third Grade Mortal Weapons!"

"The black iron is mixed with Fourth Grade precious material, meteoric iron… When they unleash their full strength, they can reach half-step Fourth Grade…"

"Even though a Fourth Grade martial artist can fight many at once, that corridor is a hundred meters long, with one Black-Iron Puppet every meter."

"If someone wants to force their way through, an ordinary Fourth Grade will probably have a hard time."

"Shixiong Xiao and Brother Yu are only at the Third Grade. This first trial alone will be difficult for them to pass!" Su Zhe thought silently. Sure enough. When Xiao Xunhuan and Yu Yi saw this scene, their faces turned ashen. Among Third Grade martial artists, they were indeed quite outstanding. And these Black-Iron Puppets were dead objects. Even if they fought three or four of them alone, they would not lose. But a hundred or so… They might very well die inside the passage!

"As you can all see, if you wish to enter Sword-Forging Manor, this first trial is the Black-Iron Passage."

"Make it through, and you pass. The less time you use, the better your result."

"All of you had better think this through carefully. The Black-Iron Passage is not so easy to cross. If you die inside, Zhu Jian Shanzhuang will not be responsible." Envoy Qian spoke in a loud voice, a playful look in his eyes. He swept his gaze over the martial artists taking the assessment. The path of martial cultivation required courage and blood. If they did not even have the guts to try… Then entering Zhu Jian Shanzhuang would be nothing but a joke. Sure enough.

As soon as Envoy Qian finished speaking, quite a few people showed hesitation, as if they did not dare step forward. Some even turned deathly pale.

"You two, we are fellow disciples. This passage isn't simple."

"In a moment, Su will choose a passage first. Follow behind me."

"I'll forcefully destroy the puppets. That way, the two of you will face less pressure and the difficulty will be lower." Su Zhe lowered his voice and spoke to Yu Yi and Xiao Xunhuan. The two nodded heavily. Neither rejected this kindness from Su Zhe. Someone like Yu Yi had his own pride, too. But pride and throwing your life away were two different things. What stood before them exceeded their abilities by far. If they rashly entered, there was only one word waiting for them: death.

"Everyone, you may choose any passage and begin the trial." Envoy Qian smiled faintly, stroked his beard, and announced loudly.

"Su is coming!" The moment Envoy Qian finished speaking, Su Zhe let out a long roar. He activated the Flood Dragon Method, his figure moving like a flood dragon as he chose the first passage and stepped inside. Su Zhe was too fast. The crowd had yet to react. Xiao Xunhuan and Yu Yi each used their movement techniques and followed closely behind. The moment they entered the passage, the Black-Iron Puppets all moved at once. In that dim place, the Black-Iron Puppets stood in chilling silence.

Suddenly, their gemstone eyes shifted and light burst forth, as if a demonic power was stirring inside them. Then they swung their fists. The wind from their punches howled like vicious dragons lunging forward. Su Zhe's expression was cold. In his right hand was the Smelting Hammer; in his left, the Star Hammer. He stood as steady as Mount Tai.

"If I want to achieve my goal, hammer techniques are far more useful than sickles, podao blades, and the like!" The thought flashed through his mind. Facing the puppets' attacks, he showed no fear at all. In the next instant, Su Zhe let out a fierce shout, gathered all his strength, and brought down a hammer. The force of the hammer was like thunder crashing from the heavens. With a deafening boom, the Black-Iron Puppet shattered under the tremendous force and instantly became a pile of scrap metal.

Dust rose everywhere. Su Zhe stood proudly, his gaze burning bright, like a war god descending to the world and shaking all directions with his might.

"Whoa!"

"Hiss!" Everyone sucked in a cold breath. Avoiding the Black-Iron Puppets and advancing through the passage was not difficult. But what did Su Zhe do? With just one strike, his hammer technique erupted with overwhelming power and directly reduced a Black-Iron Puppet to scrap metal!

"Such… such terrifying strength!" The same thought appeared in everyone's mind. Boom! Boom! Boom! Su Zhe held twin hammers in hand, smashing one puppet with each blow. Like an enraged mad dragon, he pushed forward all the way. All he left behind were the broken remains of Black-Iron Puppets scattered across the ground.

"Shidi Su… Brother Su… has gotten stronger again!" Xiao Xunhuan and Yu Yi were shaken to the core. Xiao Xunhuan, in particular, was even more shocked. Back during the battle at Yandang Mountain, Su Zhe had slain Wang Hai, then killed the ghost-masked man Yang Dingtian, and massacred five hundred evil cultists! Xiao Xunhuan had personally witnessed Su Zhe's might. But now… Only a month had passed since the battle at Yandang Mountain. Yet Su Zhe had become even more terrifying.

"This kid is fierce! Born with divine strength! His hammer technique is invincible!"

"No wonder Manor Lord Yushen values him so much and accepted him as a disciple early!"

"There's no comparing. No comparing at all… A monster like this will sooner or later become a true disciple!" The other martial artists taking the assessment all sighed in frustration. Monsters and geniuses were unreasonable existences by nature. If someone was too proud and insisted on competing with a monster like Su Zhe, the only final result would be the collapse of their own martial heart. Among the crowd, there was also a skinny, sallow-faced young man staring at the scene with his mouth hanging open.

This person was none other than Yuan Ba, the genius of the Lu County Canal Gang.

"This Su Zhe… is actually this terrifying… For ordinary people entering the Black-Iron Passage, using movement techniques to dodge would probably be best… Who could possibly charge through like Su Zhe, sweeping everything aside?"

"With one casual hammer strike, he turns a Black-Iron Puppet into scrap!" Yuan Ba was dumbfounded. In terms of combat strength, Black-Iron Puppets were naturally not as agile as martial artists. But their advantage lay in their numbers. And Black-Iron Puppets were forged from black iron. How could flesh and blood compare? To put it simply, their combat strength was inferior to a martial artist's, but their toughness was far beyond one. From this, one could see just how terrifying Su Zhe's destructive power was!

If that hammer landed on a person, being badly crushed would probably be considered getting off lightly. If their luck was poor, there might not even be enough left for a proper burial. Being able to set up a cenotaph would already count as a great fortune.

"I… I am inferior to him… In the past, I was actually able to be mentioned in the same breath as him…"

"Looking at it now, that was my blessing." Yuan Ba closed his eyes and sighed quietly in his heart. He and Su Zhe were both from Lu County. Furthermore, the Canal Gang's leader, Zhang Yunshun, was on good terms with Sun Tiexin. But because Yuan Ba had been unconvinced by Su Zhe and thought Su Zhe's reputation was too loud, he had refused to interact with him.

For this matter, the Canal Gang's leader Zhang Yunshun had even scolded Yuan Ba, saying that his heart was higher than the heavens, but his fate was thinner than paper. But Yuan Ba had not listened. Now, looking at it, Yuan Ba had been ridiculously wrong. If Yuan Ba had befriended Su Zhe earlier, perhaps he could have been like Xiao Xunhuan and Yu Yi, following behind Su Zhe safe and sound as they crossed the first trial! But now…

Even though Yuan Ba was unwilling to admit it, he had no choice but to admit— with his own strength, passing this trial would be incredibly difficult!

"They're just Black-Iron Puppets with the strength of peak Third Grade Mortal Weapons. What's so impressive?"

"I, Qin, can also break them with force. It isn't that Su Zhe is too strong. These Black-Iron Puppets are simply too weak!"

"That Su Zhe is just showing off and looking down on all the heroes under heaven!"

"I, Qin, will make him understand that there is always someone stronger, and always a mountain beyond the mountain! A dragon from the countryside of Lu County is nothing more than a loach here in Sword-Forging Mountain City!" Seeing Su Zhe steal the spotlight like this, Qin Tian immediately felt displeased. He raised his arm and shouted,"That Su Zhe is too petty. He only protects the people he knows. I, Qin, am different!"

"If anyone lacks confidence, you may follow behind me and attempt the trial!" As soon as Qin Tian said this, he strode forward, his body turning into a blur as he chose a passage and charged inside. Boom! A Black-Iron Puppet raised its fist and attacked. Sword light flashed in Qin Tian's hand. He lifted his sword, planning to block the strike. Su Zhe had taken all the glory by using raw strength to break through ten thousand methods. As the number one on the Linwu Ranking, Qin Tian naturally had his own pride.

He was unwilling to rely on movement techniques to pass the trial. He wanted to imitate Su Zhe and win fame for himself! Bang! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere. Qin Tian's expression suddenly changed. Blood qi surged wildly inside his body, and it felt as if all his organs had been shaken out of place. He cried out in his heart:"No! Not good!"

"How are these Black-Iron Puppets only peak Third Grade in combat strength?"

"They're almost at Fourth Grade… They could be called… half-step Fourth Grade! How did Su Zhe possibly sweep through them like that?" Qin Tian's face turned deathly pale as he silently cursed his bad luck. But time waited for no one. Before Qin Tian could react, because of the disturbance from his battle, the surrounding area was suddenly packed with Black-Iron Puppets…