Chapter 108: Utter Confusion

After returning from the Enforcement Hall, they established this rule and immediately summoned the most capable people under each elder, swiftly setting up this trial for Lin Hao to challenge.

At this moment, they were all utterly baffled.

At first, everything had seemed fine. Each elder had sent out the strongest person under his command, especially after seeing that the first challenger was Chong Shi, the beloved disciple of the Third Elder.

None of them had really taken Lin Hao seriously. They had merely regarded it as an entertaining spectacle.

Surely none of them would lose to a mere Lin Hao.

But after witnessing Lin Hao actually kill Chong Shi, the expressions of the elders became rather complicated.

The Enforcement Hall Elder was particularly conflicted. As he watched Lin Hao on the screen, he did not know what reaction he ought to have.

Everyone had known that Lin Hao possessed five spiritual roots, and they had even heard that his five spiritual roots were somewhat unusual. Yet even the Sect Master, along with the others in the Qingcheng Sect, had paid little attention to them.

They had never encountered anything like this before and had no experience to use as a reference.

Now, after witnessing this battle, everyone's expression had changed.

Not only did the five spiritual roots fail to hinder Lin Hao's cultivation, they could actually provide him with assistance.

A thoughtful look appeared in everyone's eyes.

So five spiritual roots were not necessarily useless after all. Take Lin Hao, for example. He had clearly fallen to the ground at the end, and if he had not possessed an earth spiritual root to aid him, he absolutely could not have killed Chong Shi.

One had to understand that during trials or battles, a single move like that could cost someone his life.

Just like Chong Shi—he had not considered that Lin Hao possessed other spiritual roots. Because he had overlooked that point, he had ultimately lost his life.

Lin Hao, on the other hand, had survived precisely because of his earth spiritual root.

Several elders imagined what they could do if they possessed five spiritual roots themselves, and flashes of light passed through their eyes.

They all reassessed Lin Hao, though a trace of unease had also crept in. They began wondering whether the people they had sent to the upcoming trials would truly be able to deal with him.

For a moment, the entire hall fell into a tense silence.

Everyone stared intently in Lin Hao's direction.

Moreover, news that Lin Hao had broken through the first trial had already quietly spread throughout the entire Qingcheng Sect.

Everyone was following the matter closely.

Meanwhile, Lin Hao was rushing toward the next trial without pause.

After traveling for roughly a kilometer, he finally reached it.

Flying through the sky atop the Cloud-Swallowing Sword, Lin Hao spotted a huge flying ship floating motionless in the distance.

As he drew closer, he saw three identical-looking people standing on the ship with their arms folded, radiating an arrogant and imposing air.

When they saw Lin Hao approach, their expressions became sharp and severe.

The person standing in the middle looked at Lin Hao with disdain and said, “You actually managed to pass the first trial. It seems that useless fool Chong Shi has already perished. You do have some ability, but I advise you to surrender here and now. Don't waste any more time.”

Hearing this, Lin Hao smiled faintly.

“Surrender? That word does not exist for me. Today, I will break through every trial one by one. Senior Brothers, feel free to make your move.”

With that, Lin Hao looked confidently at the three men before him.

Seeing how arrogant he was, the three exchanged a glance.

Lin Hao heard only a furious roar.

In the next instant, a pair of wings grew from the back of each man. They flew toward him, and their hands transformed into razor-sharp claws.

Lin Hao's pupils widened in alarm. He stared in astonishment at the three figures flying toward him.

They were not human.

They were beastmen.

Judging by their appearance, they belonged to the avian beastman race.

Beastmen were exceedingly rare. For one of them to cultivate to such a level was no easy feat.

Most beasts capable of cultivating into human form possessed the bloodlines of divine beasts. Only after inheriting that bloodline could they slowly cultivate into human shape.

Yet the three before him were not completely transformed beastmen. They appeared more like half-beastmen.

Half-beastmen were likely born from the union of humans and beasts. If they possessed a noble bloodline, they could even inherit part of a divine legacy.

Their cultivation was entirely different from that of spiritual cultivators and martial cultivators like Lin Hao. Carrying an inherited bloodline within them, they could cultivate far more easily than humans.

Looking at the three identical avian beastmen before him—with wings on their backs and their hands transformed into claws—Lin Hao's expression grew solemn, and shock continued to surge through his heart.

“Caw! Caw!”

The cries of birds rang beside Lin Hao's ears as the three beastmen quickly surrounded him.

They beat their wings, stirring the spiritual energy around them, and charged at Lin Hao. His clothes became disheveled, while his hair whipped across his eyes.

Even standing atop the Cloud-Swallowing Sword, Lin Hao began to lose his balance.

He immediately lowered his center of gravity and steadied the sword. Looking at the three half-beastmen before him, he decided to strike first.

With a sudden flare, a mass of flame shot toward the three of them.

“Lotus of Strange Flame!”

Whoosh!

A towering blaze surged toward them.

Lin Hao had originally believed that the flames would burn away the feathers on their bodies. However, the three men opened their mouths and let out a sharp cry.

Immediately afterward, ice blades poured from their mouths. One stream of razor-sharp blades after another shot toward Lin Hao's Lotus of Strange Flame.

On one side, Lin Hao's flames roared. On the other, the three half-beastmen's ice blades whistled through the air, forming two opposing extremes.

Lin Hao continuously waved his hand, causing the Lotus of Strange Flame to swell brighter and larger. Meanwhile, the ice blades kept flying from the three men's mouths, gradually forming a wall of ice.

The wall blocked Lin Hao and the lotus of flame within it.

When the Lotus of Strange Flame collided with the ice blades, sizzling sounds rang out.

At first, the ice blades did begin to melt. But after a while, the flames gradually weakened as well.

Seeing this, Lin Hao waved his hand again and intensified the strange fire's attack.

With a loud bang, the ice blades finally shattered.

Lin Hao burst free and landed directly on the ground.

The three half-beastmen were struck by the rebounding ice blades, but they did not suffer serious injuries. They simply flapped their wings and dodged away.

When they saw Lin Hao land, they folded their wings and descended to the ground as well.

The instant all three touched down, Lin Hao's expression suddenly changed. He raised the Cloud-Swallowing Sword and launched an attack first.

As soon as one of them landed, a flash of sword light slashed off a section of his feathers.

The beastman whose feathers had been cut flew into a rage and shouted, “Surround him!”

The other two immediately transformed into enormous half-beastmen, and the three of them surrounded Lin Hao.

The injured beastman transformed his hand into a claw and reached toward Lin Hao.

Lin Hao raised the Cloud-Swallowing Sword to block.

A clear metallic ring echoed through the air.

The claw was astonishingly hard. The Cloud-Swallowing Sword could not injure it at all.

For a moment, one claw seized the Cloud-Swallowing Sword while the other lunged toward Lin Hao's throat.

The beastman clearly intended to tear out his windpipe.

Lin Hao was greatly alarmed and dodged to the side, but he still felt a chill along his neck.

He immediately kicked the half-beastman away.

With a sweep of the Cloud-Swallowing Sword, a sword beam forced the beastman to release his claw and sent Lin Hao flying backward as well.

After landing, Lin Hao touched his neck. Feeling something strange, he looked at his hand and saw it covered in blood.

His heart pounded wildly.

That had been close—far too close.

His head had nearly been severed from his neck.

Deep fear flickered through Lin Hao's eyes. He had just been terrifyingly close to death.

If he had been even slightly slower, his head might already have been lying on the ground.

Looking at the half-beastman's claws, Lin Hao could not help but regard them with newfound respect. They were truly terrifyingly sharp.

“Whoosh…”

Lin Hao had only just steadied his breathing when he sensed a cold wind sweeping toward him from behind.

Every hair on his body stood on end. Feeling the chill at his back, he instinctively dodged.

With a tremendous crash, Lin Hao had barely landed when he turned around and saw that the place where he had been standing had become a massive crater.

Looking closely, he realized that another half-beastman had spat out an enormous ice spike and hurled it at him.

If he had been even a little slower to dodge, the ice spike would have pierced straight through him.

Lin Hao quickly found a corner that appeared relatively safe and took up position there.

As he watched the three half-beastmen advancing menacingly, he began to think.

Normally, ice-based abilities were restrained by fire-based ones. However, the ice blades of these three half-beastmen clearly originated from their own bodies. Because of the dominance of their inherited bloodlines and the differences between their species, their ice blades were nothing like ordinary ice techniques.

They were not afraid of Lin Hao's strange fire. At most, the two sides were evenly matched—and there were three of them.

For the moment, Lin Hao truly could not think of any way to subdue them.

At present, his strongest ability was his fire spiritual root. As for his water and wood spiritual roots, he had only just begun cultivating them. He could not use them to create a massive crater as he had during the first trial.

With his current strength, he could only create a small pit in an instant. These three opponents would certainly be difficult to deal with.

He discarded that idea at once.

But if he continued fighting them head-on, he would eventually lose. There were three of them, and he could not afford to engage in a war of attrition against them with his spiritual power.

Moreover, when Lin Hao saw their incomparably sharp claws, he frowned again. Even the Cloud-Swallowing Sword could not harm them, which showed how formidable they were.

Those claws could completely stand against his Cloud-Swallowing Sword.

If that was the case, then he truly possessed no other advantage against them.

“See? My people are still the best. Lin Hao is about to be subdued!”

At that moment, in the great hall, a fat old man standing to the Sect Master's right stroked his beard and spoke smugly.