Chapter 82

In the dim, chaotic space, only Zhuge Xiang was floating. Lu Yuling and all the others had disappeared. Zhuge Xiang clearly understood that he must have fallen into some kind of illusionary array. From the words of the white giant wolf, it seemed that only by passing through six trials could one break out of the array. He was merely at the first level of the Body Tempering Realm, and this array was such that even disciples at the Pulse Channel Realm could not break through the fourth level.

The space in front of him twisted, and Zhuge Xiang braced himself. Suddenly, a gray demonic wolf appeared before him, a low-grade two-star demonic beast with strength comparable to the first level of the Body Tempering Realm. It glared at him with blood-red eyes and pounced directly at Zhuge Xiang.

The Ghostly Phantom Flash skill activated, and four illusions of Zhuge Xiang appeared, confusing the gray giant wolf. At the same time, Zhuge Xiang appeared behind the giant wolf, and with a fierce swing of his attack sword, several sharp sword beams slashed at the wolf's neck, severing it completely. Blood splattered, and then the blood and the wolf's corpse turned into a gray mist, completely dissipating.

"Ding, killed a low-grade two-star demonic wolf, gained 420 experience points."

The system's prompt made Zhuge Xiang slightly stunned. The false demonic wolves in this environment could actually give him experience? What was even more surprising was that this so-called Sixfold Illusionary Realm had already been passed through the first layer? Wasn't it too easy?

Before Zhuge Xiang could ponder why the illusion was so easy that even Pulse Channel Realm disciples couldn't pass it, the second wave of attacks came. Two distorted spaces appeared, and this time, there were two two-star demonic wolves, with the same strength as before.

Ghostly Phantom Flash, attack, and attack again...

Although the two low-grade two-star demonic wolves attacked from both sides, with Zhuge Xiang's current strength, dealing with two such wolves, who had no equipment or skills and were only equivalent to the first level of the Body Tempering Realm, did not take much effort. He gained another 840 experience points, and the second wave of attacks passed.

The third wave of attacks came, and the strength of the demonic wolves remained the same, equivalent to the first level of the Body Tempering Realm, but the number increased to four.

Although Zhuge Xiang was equipped with magical artifacts and had a five-star attack sword and powerful skills, the four demonic wolves still gave him a hard time. The appearance of four wolves made Zhuge Xiang's expression turn serious. He vaguely understood the terrifying nature of the Sixfold Illusionary Realm.

With four demonic wolves, Zhuge Xiang relied solely on the Ghostly Phantom Flash movement skill, using no offensive skills. It took him the time of a cup of tea to kill the wolves. Low-grade two-star demonic wolves were enough to pose a threat to Zhuge Xiang, and the increase in numbers was not a simple one plus one equals two.

He took a breath recovery pill and a blood recovery pill as soon as the four wolves were killed. Zhuge Xiang, holding his attack sword, focused and waited. Sure enough, the fourth wave of attacks appeared, with the same strength but the number increased to eight, eight low-grade two-star demonic wolves staring at Zhuge Xiang.

The Sixfold Illusionary Realm, this was the Sixfold Illusionary Realm. Zhuge Xiang finally confirmed that the demonic wolves in this illusionary realm had the same strength as his own, but the number doubled with each layer. Initially, there was one, then two, four, eight, sixteen, and finally, thirty-two in the sixth layer?

No wonder Pulse Channel Realm disciples couldn't pass the fourth layer. Although demonic beasts were generally weaker than human cultivators due to their lack of skills and equipment, this weakness was not significant. One or two, or even three or four, could be handled, but once there were eight demonic beasts of the same strength, it was not so easy to handle. And the numbers would continue to double, sixteen, thirty-two, which was terrifying to think about...

The fourth layer, the layer no one had ever passed, appeared. Eight low-grade two-star demonic wolves surrounded Zhuge Xiang. His Ghostly Phantom Flash steps became even faster. Although he could create four illusions, being surrounded by eight wolves still put unprecedented pressure on him.

Under the attack of eight wolves, he could barely dodge. This was thanks to the powerful Ghostly Phantom Flash movement skill. Otherwise, fighting eight two-star demonic beasts head-on, Zhuge Xiang had no confidence.

He continuously took breath recovery pills, focusing on dodging. The Ghostly Phantom Flash skill was used repeatedly, looking for opportunities to strike each wolf individually. Zhuge Xiang finally passed the fourth layer, but it took him nearly half an hour.

He had only a short time to rest before the fifth layer appeared. As expected, sixteen distorted spaces appeared, and sixteen gray demonic wolves, all low-grade two-star, faced Zhuge Xiang.

Gripping his attack sword tightly, Zhuge Xiang's eyes showed unprecedented fighting spirit. Sixteen low-grade two-star demonic beasts? This was the most intense battle Zhuge Xiang had faced in over half a year. Moreover, the sixth layer was even more terrifying. The pressure from the current situation and the worry about the sixth layer was enough to crush anyone.

"Come on!" Although the situation was dire, Zhuge Xiang was full of fighting spirit. He swung his attack sword and charged forward. No matter how dire the situation, each wolf was worth 420 experience points. Killing all of them would yield nearly 7,000 experience points, a rich reward.

His Ghostly Phantom Flash steps never stopped, and he took breath recovery and blood recovery pills. With his defensive aura activated, he focused on the attacks of the sixteen wolves and launched a powerful counterattack, using the Violent Step skill. Despite the wolf claws and teeth tearing into his body, creating one wound after another, he fought with a life-or-death determination, cutting down the wolves one by one.

Relying on his over 500 defense points and the effects of the blood recovery pills, Zhuge Xiang endured, continuously swinging his attack sword and using the Violent Step skill. Blood splattered...

"Ding, killed a low-grade two-star demonic wolf, gained 420 experience points, obtained a Fusion Jade."

The fifth layer of the illusionary realm ended in just two cups of tea, even faster than the last time. However, with the end of the fifth layer, Zhuge Xiang was completely drenched in blood. Over twenty wounds on his body were healing rapidly, some from wolf teeth and others from wolf claws. This was the result of swallowing seven or eight blood recovery pills. Otherwise, relying solely on defense or blood recovery pills, Zhuge Xiang would not have survived...

During the intense battle, Zhuge Xiang did not pay attention to the system prompts. It was only when the last wolf was killed that he noticed the system's notification. Something dropped? Taking advantage of the brief moment, Zhuge Xiang quickly opened his inventory space.

Forty-eight grid spaces appeared in a semi-transparent state before him, visible only to him. The sixteen wolves had dropped three blood recovery pills, four breath recovery pills, and a piece of pale golden jade.

Just sixteen low-grade two-star demonic beasts had dropped so much? Compared to the beasts he had killed in the past few days, the drop rate of items had increased by dozens, even hundreds of times.

It seemed that the method to increase the drop rate of items not only involved killing higher-level monsters but also killing a large number of monsters. It made sense; killing higher-level monsters was a display of strength against the odds, and the battle was naturally very difficult. Similarly, killing a large number of monsters was also a display of strength against the odds. The current hardship he faced was no less than facing a single mid-grade two-star demonic beast alone.

Zhuge Xiang ignored the breath and blood recovery pills and focused on the pale golden jade. "Fusion Jade (Special Consumable): Can fuse any two pieces of equipment of the same part to enhance the equipment's quality. The success rate is inversely proportional to the quality of the equipment. If the fusion fails, both pieces of equipment will disappear."

Fusing any two pieces of equipment of the same part? This meant he could fuse two pairs of boots, two pieces of armor, etc. The higher the quality, the lower the success rate. Opening his inventory, Zhuge Xiang took out a Blood Refining Blade he had been reluctant to discard, along with the Slashing Blade and the Attack Sword, a total of three weapons.

With very little time to rest, Zhuge Xiang hesitated for a moment and began to fuse the Attack Sword and the Slashing Blade. Although these two magical artifacts had higher quality and a lower success rate, Zhuge Xiang was taking a gamble.

The path of cultivation was fraught with danger. A single misstep could lead to irreparable consequences, so one must be cautious. However, to advance further in cultivation, it was not enough to be merely cautious. At times, one must also be bold, daring to risk life and death.

If the fusion failed, relying on just the Blood Refining Blade, Zhuge Xiang knew he could not survive. But he took the gamble. Otherwise, with thirty-two wolves, even with the Attack Sword, Zhuge Xiang had no absolute confidence.

The Fusion Jade emitted a golden glow, wrapping around the Attack Sword and the Slashing Blade. Then, the system prompt sounded in Zhuge Xiang's mind: "Fusion started, countdown 300 seconds..."

"Damn it!" Hearing the voice and seeing the thirty-two distorted spaces appear, Zhuge Xiang couldn't help but curse. The fusion actually took a full five minutes?

A pack of wolves howled, and thirty-two demonic wolves appeared before Zhuge Xiang. At this moment, he had only the Blood Refining Blade in his hand...