Chapter 72

In the tense gaze of the crowd, the door to the passage where the iron puppets were hidden gradually opened.

Before everyone's eyes, a dark and ominous opening appeared, filled with a chilling atmosphere that made everyone draw a sharp breath.

Seeing the pale faces of the rookies, Huang Feiyang gave a cold smile and announced loudly, "Remember this well: you can stay inside for no more than half an hour. Once the half hour is up, no matter how many iron hearts you obtain, it won't count, because you won't be able to get out!"

"After half an hour, we will close the iron door. At that time, whether you are dead or not, we will consider you dead inside! If you want to come out, wait for the next selection by the Lingwu Family!"

Huang Feiyang laughed coldly, thinking to himself, "By the time of the next selection, you will all have turned into bones."

Long Chen's gaze was now on the passage. There was indeed no sign of life inside, but there was a strong aura of killing, and faint sounds of metal clashing could be heard. Just from the sound, Long Chen could tell how sturdy these iron puppets were!

"Half an hour is usually enough to pass through five hundred meters, but with the iron puppets blocking the way, it won't be easy to kill as many as possible and obtain more iron hearts within the specified time..."

While Long Chen was thinking, Huang Feiyang had already announced the start.

More than fifty people, including Long Chen, rushed into the passage one after another to avoid wasting time.

"Xiaoxi, what do you know about these iron puppets?"

"Puppets are unique combat machines created by martial arts craftsmen using talisman arrays, powered by divine jade and other energy sources. Don't worry, these iron puppets are just the lowest level. In this stage, you still have a significant advantage."

Long Chen looked puzzled and asked, "Why do you say that?"

"These simple iron puppets, although physically strong, cannot use any combat techniques. The main problem is their large numbers. If you use combat techniques against them, you will eventually run out of true qi. However, with some physical strength, you can save a lot of energy. You have practiced the Starry War Body before, and your current body has been tempered by one-thousandth of dragon blood. After transforming into the Dragon Soul, it is roughly equivalent to a high-level Yellow Rank Body Tempering Combat Technique, or even stronger!"

Long Chen's eyes lit up with surprise and said, "Xiaoxi, do you mean that as long as I obtain more essence blood, my body will become infinitely stronger?"

"In theory, yes. When you can fully assimilate all the inherited essence blood, the physical strength will be a significant boost, and there will be many unexpected benefits, like the Blood Refinement and Dragon Soul Transformation!"

In Long Chen's mind, there were still 999 parts of the inherited essence blood, suppressed by the mysterious dragon jade. Long Chen knew that as he grew stronger, he would gradually uncover the effects of the inherited essence blood.

"By obtaining all the inherited essence blood and cultivating to the extreme, one can transform into an ancient divine dragon. Will I transform into one of the ten ancient blood dragons, the Ancient Blood Spirit Dragon?"

With this thought in mind, Long Chen had already entered thirty meters into the passage.

Here, the vision was already somewhat dim, but fortunately, the passage had widened several times, making it suitable for combat.

Long Chen vaguely sensed that the killing intent was approaching.

"Ten meters ahead of you, four iron puppets have already awakened due to your approach. They are coming!"

Thanks to Lingxi's reminder, several powerful forces suddenly burst out from the dark passage, rushing toward Long Chen.

Long Chen was already prepared. He had completely transformed into the Dragon Soul, with fine and complete blood-colored dragon scales for defense, and bone spurs on his elbows, knees, shoulders, and spine, as well as sharp claws for attack!

Long Chen's fingers now had nearly ten-centimeter-long sharp claws, each one like a blood-colored dagger. If used against a person, they could pierce through the chest and grab the heart!

"Many people will directly enter the second stage after fighting these iron puppets to obtain more iron hearts, which will consume a lot of true qi, leading to a disadvantage in the second stage. But with Lingxi, I will try to use physical strength. I don't believe that my body, tempered by the inherited essence blood, can't handle a few iron lumps!"

In an instant, Long Chen engaged in close combat with an iron puppet!

During the battle, Long Chen quickly saw the appearance of the iron puppet. It was a completely iron-made humanoid puppet, made of an unknown metal, but extremely hard.

The iron puppet was over two meters tall, with very thick arms and legs, possessing formidable strength. There were several black runes on its body, and when it attacked, the runes gradually glowed. Long Chen observed that the center of the runes was in its heart!

Clang!

The harsh sound of metal friction echoed wildly in the passage. Long Chen had already exchanged a punch with an iron puppet, secretly surprised!

"The strength of this iron puppet is almost between the seventh and eighth levels of the Dragon Vein Realm. And there are at least a hundred iron puppets in this passage. No wonder they say some people will die inside!"

Long Chen roared, without any pause. After shaking off the iron puppet with a punch, he relied on his speed, which far exceeded that of the iron puppet, and instantly rushed forward, colliding with the iron puppet, causing it to fall over!

"I was right. The defense and strength of this iron puppet are top-notch, but its speed and agility are lacking!"

After body tempering, flexibility increased significantly. When Long Chen's shoulder collided with the iron puppet, he found that the bone spurs on his shoulder had already pierced several large holes in the iron puppet's body, but this did not affect its movement at all!

However, this was not Long Chen's primary attack method. After knocking over the iron puppet, he suddenly stabbed his claws into the center of the runes. With a full burst of his physical strength, his claws deeply pierced into the heart of the iron puppet!

"Right, grab that hot thing and pull it out!"

Following Lingxi's instructions, Long Chen's claws quickly felt a hot stone inside the iron puppet's heart and pulled it out without hesitation!

During the pulling process, the originally fierce iron puppet suddenly let out a human-like scream and plea.

Long Chen had hit its vital point. For something without life, he showed no mercy, quickly retreating. At that moment, the iron puppet fell to the ground, motionless!

"Iron heart, one!"

Long Chen only briefly glanced at the iron heart in his hand, discovering it to be a warm, jade-like stone, containing extremely dense natural energy.

However, the natural energy in the iron heart also carried some other aura!

Immediately, he put the iron heart into his Qiankun bag. At this moment, the remaining three iron puppets had already made a clattering sound and rushed toward Long Chen!

"Having only powerful strength, but such stiff movements, how can they be my match?"

Based on the experience of killing the first iron puppet, Long Chen instead moved toward these iron puppets!

"Three attacking me at once does indeed make it a bit difficult to maneuver, but..."

Long Chen quickly moved behind one of the iron puppets. The iron puppet suddenly turned around and punched, but Long Chen clung to it like a gecko, his claws directly piercing the back of the iron puppet's heart, extracting an iron heart. At this moment, the other two iron puppets had just turned around!

"Lingxi was right. With my strong and agile body and sharp claws, I have a significant advantage in this stage. Others, without body tempering, dare not easily engage the iron puppets directly and can only use combat techniques. But it's hard to hit the iron puppet's only vital point, so their speed can't match mine!"

Thinking of Huang Xiang, Long Chen's eyes turned cold.

"Huang Xiang has practiced a high-level Yellow Rank Body Tempering Combat Technique. As long as he brings a sharp blade, killing these iron puppets should be easy! No wonder he spent time cultivating body tempering techniques; it turns out he has someone in the Lingwu Family who knows how to take advantage!"

Following the same method, the other two iron puppets also fell at Long Chen's feet. At this moment, the noise of the battle had already alarmed other iron puppets.

"Be careful, the iron puppets nearby are all coming toward you!"

Long Chen nodded and said, "I need to reach the other end of the passage within half an hour. It seems I should continue the slaughter there, and it will be convenient to leave when the time is almost up!"

With this thought, Long Chen began to rapidly advance deeper into the passage. After killing a few iron puppets, Long Chen had gradually grasped the key to dealing with them more efficiently, especially his initial collision and claw attack, and the second circling and claw attack, which were both very successful!

Just with these two moves, even with the increasing number of iron puppets attacking along the way, Long Chen could handle them with ease!

When he reached a vast hemispherical space, Long Chen saw another iron door. However, this space was crowded with iron puppets!

Long Chen's eyes swept over and found that there were at least a hundred of them.

"The Lingwu Family is really generous, using so many iron puppets for each person. With over fifty of us, the total number of iron puppets must be enormous!"

"I have already obtained 28 iron hearts on the way. With about three-quarters of the half hour left, I have plenty of time. I will slaughter these iron puppets and also train my close combat skills!"

In the battle with the iron puppets, Long Chen also discovered some shortcomings in his close combat skills.

In his cultivation, he was somewhat a late bloomer. As a child, he had also participated in body tempering, practicing body tempering boxing every day, but after a long break, he had forgotten some basic movements. Now, with so many iron puppets, they were perfect for training!

Thus, Long Chen was like a wolf among sheep, transforming into a red shadow, and went on a rampage among the iron puppets!

Long Chen was so engrossed in the slaughter that he almost forgot about the time until Lingxi suddenly said, "Hey, there's not much time left in the half hour. Do you want to go out?"

Long Chen stopped and checked his Qiankun bag, smiling bitterly. "A total of 105 iron hearts. I wonder if I can rank in the top ten."

...

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{Piaotian Literature}