Chapter 1296: The Trial Begins

Lin Huang slept especially well that night, mostly because Bai was watching over the house.

Bai was a grade-8 virtual god-level fighter, but with his current pseudo-mythical-level power, he was practically unrivaled by anyone weaker than a True God.

If a True God did show up, he would sense it within his territory as well, so he did not have to worry.

Nevertheless, he was not disturbed at all that night.

When he woke up the next morning, it was already almost seven o’clock.

Upon emerging from the tent, Lin Huang saw several dozen abyssal monster corpses piled up nearby.

Clearly Bai was careful enough to chase away the humans who approached as opposed to killing them.

“So many Abyssal Tribes approached us?” Lin Huang was quite surprised.

“It just so happens that abyssal monsters show up quite often here,” Bai explained. He did not add that it was partly because his territory was too large.

Every Abyssal Tribe that came within a hundred kilometers of the tent was stabbed right through the heart by the blades made of multipurpose particles.

Most of the monsters that accidentally wandered over here died before they even knew what was happening.

Lin Huang took his own sweet time to pack up his tent and keep the beast corpses into his space storage before he took out breakfast for reheating.

After breakfast was reheated, Lin Huang gave Bai a portion this time as well.

“I slept pretty well last night. Thanks for that!”

Bai accepted breakfast and nodded slightly.

The two chatted idly as they ate breakfast.

It was mostly Lin Huang talking and Bai listening, though.

After breakfast, Lin Huang cleaned the place up for a bit before turning Bai back into a card.

Slowly, Lin Huang walked to the edge of the Swordfiend Abyss entrance and looked downward. He could only see twenty to thirty meters below him, and everything beyond that was covered by a layer of clouds. Not only could he not see through it, even his Telekinesis could not penetrate it. There was no way he could tell how deep this Swordfiend Abyss went.

He mused it over for a while before contacting Xiao Hei with his consciousness.

“Theoretically, I’m only an imperial palace-level. If I use a Substitute Card, a grade-2 card should be good enough, right?”

“That’s right. As long as you don’t gather your Godhead, your combat level will remain transcendent.”

“Then I’ll take ten grade-2 Substitute Cards.” Lin Huang was unexpectedly careful. “Give me two Position Swap Cards too.”

He looked at the twelve new cards in his hands and took out a Cloning Card he had exchanged earlier. Shattering it, he summoned a clone of himself.

“Before I return, wait outside Swordfiend Abyss. Try to keep a low profile and not cause trouble. If I encounter a threat I can’t escape, I’ll swap positions with you.”

The clone nodded and sat down cross-legged at the entrance to Swordfiend Abyss.

Lin Huang arranged it this way because he knew that grade-2 and grade-3 Escape Cards may not be able to escape the restrictive laws of the Great Heaven ruins. He could only escape if he had a grade-5 card.

A Position Swap Card would be a different matter, however. It had nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the user’s combat level. After all, its rule allowed the user to swap positions with his clone.

Even if Lin Huang was trapped in a Lord’s cage, the currently imperial palace-level Lin Huang still only needed a grade-2 Position Swap Card to get him out of there. He had nothing to worry about in a mere Heavenly God’s ruins.

Besides, the biggest advantage of using the Position Swap Card was the fact that it was instantaneous. The moment he used the card, the swap would immediately be completed.

It was only after Lin Huang planned his escape route that he looked back down at Swordfiend Abyss.

“If Sword11 wasn’t lying about Swordfiend Abyss, I should be able to pass the first test with relative ease.” Having muttered that to himself, Lin Huang leaped off the cliff and into Swordfiend Abyss.

At almost the exact time. It felt like Lin Huang’s flight abilities had been completely sealed away. He was falling freely to the bottom of the abyss.

Lin Huang was not too panicky about it, though. Sword11 once mentioned that even Heavenly Gods couldn’t fly here once they jumped in.

His body pierced through the clouds and continued to fall rapidly. Lin Huang felt as though he was actually getting faster and faster.

Unlike when parachuting, his fall met no air resistance whatsoever.

Nevertheless, the entire fall did not last that long. Within two to three minutes, Lin Huang could see the ground.

The second before he landed, his body could finally move again.

With a somersault, he planted his feet steadily on the ground. He did not even leave any footsteps on the floor.

Once he steadied his footing at the bottom of Swordfiend Abyss, Lin Huang immediately looked around him.

That was right. He did not just reach his Telekinesis out to scout around.

Sword11 had specially warned him about that.

Lin Huang swept his gaze around him, but all he could see was a valley. There were cliffs that reached into the clouds on either side, but he could not see the peak.

Soon, Lin Huang’s gaze was attracted by several dozen corpses lying around not too far away.

All of the bodies looked perfectly intact, and even their expressions were extremely realistic. Some were shocked, others despairing, and some even looked completely normal, as though they had not noticed a thing.

Some of the corpses even emanated an aura that made Lin Huang wary. They had probably been heavenly god-level powerhouses when they were alive.

Sword11 had emphasized that trying to touch these corpses before passing the trial was nothing short of suicide.

Lin Huang quickly looked away from the corpses and turned his gaze to the cliffs instead.

This phase of the trial could be found on those cliff walls.

Just as Sword11 said, the walls were covered with all sorts of slash marks.

Some were casual and half-hearted, leaving scratches as thin as a hair. Some were several meters deep and very clearly carved. Others had engraved poetry there, elegant and graceful, while yet others used the wall as a canvas for their paintings…

These messy-looking scratches and slashes were actually the scariest part of the entire Swordfiend Abyss.

That was because every mark retained the Sword Dao of a sword cultivator.

Those who left those marks ranged from transcendent to ninth-rank Heavenly Gods. The Sword Daos left here also ranged from the lowest nuance level