Chapter 165: Individual Testing

The moment Lin Xiaobao stepped into the bamboo forest, the scene before him blurred, and the surroundings instantly transformed into an endless desert. The scorching sun above seemed ready to ignite the entire space. Occasionally, one or two unknown flying beasts streaked across the sky, letting out harsh, grating cries.

Lin Xiaobao held fast to his resolve, refusing to be deceived by the illusion. At last, he understood that it wasn’t that he didn’t need to undergo a test; rather, his test was different from others.

Suddenly, a gust of hot wind swept through, whipping the sandy ground into a frenzy. Lin Xiaobao squinted, braced himself, and planted his feet firmly into the earth, sinking up to his ankles.

At that moment, the heat formed a swirling vortex, gathering the sand into a towering sand giant several stories high, advancing step by step toward Lin Xiaobao.

With each step the sand giant took forward, Lin Xiaobao retreated one step. He knew he could not engage it directly; once he did, he would fall into the rhythm of the formation, facing endless attacks.

As the fierce winds rose, three more enormous sand giants materialized behind and to either side of Lin Xiaobao, pressing in and shrinking his sphere of movement.

Lin Xiaobao glanced up at the sky. It seemed the only way out was above, but as one familiar with the ways of formations, he knew all too well that places appearing as gateways in a formation were often the most perilous.

Within the Purple Sky Devouring Spirit Bamboo Formation, Lin Xiaobao, deprived of spiritual awareness, could not anticipate events in advance. The heavy footsteps of the sand giants sent tremors through his heart. Suddenly, he noticed the sand giant on his left moved slightly differently from the other three.

His mind immediately began to analyze the formation’s changes. The knowledge imparted by Elder Wu was proving invaluable in this battle. When the four sand giants were each less than thirty feet from him, Lin Xiaobao finally opened his tightly shut eyes, a faint smile of confidence spreading across his face.

With a flick of his will, the Seven-Color Spinning Sword appeared in his palm. As he spun his body, the sword stirred countless grains of sand from the ground, whipping up a blinding sandstorm. Lin Xiaobao shouted and, sword in hand, transformed into a streak of seven-colored light, dashing toward the sand giant on the left.

In a certain pavilion, Kuang Lizhen closed his eyes tightly, frowning slightly with a hint of disappointment. With a gentle snap of his left fingers, a beam of light shot into the Purple Bamboo Forest.

At that moment, the three sand giants untouched by Lin Xiaobao’s attack suddenly accelerated, swinging fists charged with thunderous power.

Due to their vast sizes, the three fists resembled three small mountains, striking from different directions toward Lin Xiaobao. The powerful gusts carved deep scars into the earth beneath, and the fists whipped through the air with explosive sonic booms.

Meanwhile, the sand giant Lin Xiaobao had attacked ignored the assault, its body like a massive wall moving steadily toward him.

These sand giants were illusions conjured by the formation, devoid of life or death. Lin Xiaobao’s hope of shattering them with a single strike was unrealistic. Even if he destroyed the giant before him, the slightest hesitation would bring down a thunderous counterattack from behind. Given his current strength, he could not easily break through the sand giant in front.

Was he doomed to fail?

If that were the case, even the usually calm Elder Wu would have awakened by now, furious and shouting.

But Lin Xiaobao seemed to have anticipated this predicament. Despite the dire situation, his face still bore a confident smile. With a wrist flick, the Seven-Color Spinning Sword slipped from his hand and, following his changing hand seals, instantly split into seven differently colored longswords.

The Seven Absolute Sky Execution!

With a renewed set of hand seals, the formation patterns etched on the seven longswords activated simultaneously, each sword glowing in a distinct hue—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Their lights intertwined, forming a radiant, destructive seven-colored aurora.

The aurora took shape as Lin Xiaobao advanced without hesitation. He released another surge of spiritual power into the light. Instantly, the seven-colored radiance shot out like a flowing rainbow, accompanied by the rumble of wind and thunder, targeting the sand giant ahead. Lin Xiaobao’s speed surged again, and in a flash, he stood atop the seven-colored rainbow.

At the very moment Lin Xiaobao moved forward, the three enormous fists behind him finally slammed down, landing where he had just stood.

The three fists collided, their immense forces compressing against each other before exploding with a thunderous roar. The entire space shook violently as swirling energy and flying sand filled the air.

Lin Xiaobao stood atop the seven-colored beam like an immortal descended, the aurora forming shimmering light curtains shielding his back. The sand giant in front was struck by the leading light, which pierced through it, but its advance remained relentless.

However, Lin Xiaobao was prepared for the illusionary formation. Standing on the aurora, his hands flashed new seals. Streams of spiritual energy shot into the seven longswords, which were already planted firmly into the ground.

Immediately, the seven-colored light spiraled within the sand giant’s form, and in the blink of an eye, it was shredded into oblivion.

When Lin Xiaobao’s Seven-Color Spinning Sword divided into seven, Kuang Lizhen’s eyes snapped open, a gleam of admiration shining within. He clearly appreciated Lin Xiaobao’s technique.

Those seven longswords could be called swords or formation flags. Such ingenious design and exquisite forging methods truly impressed Kuang Lizhen.

A formation flag is essentially a carrier inscribed with a formation pattern, which can release the formation space when needed. Its advantage lies in mobility and unpredictability. Simply setting a formation is only effective if the opponent is drawn into it, so formation masters often carry formation flags.

Yet formation flags have a weakness: if the formation engraved is too powerful, the flag’s endurance reaches its limit. Against experts, the flag might be shattered before the formation space can even manifest, let alone be wielded as a weapon.

But Lin Xiaobao cleverly inscribed offensive formations on each of the seven differently colored longswords. These formations could multiply the sword’s attack power many times over. Even more astonishingly, he modified the scattered formations to combine into a new, immensely powerful formation.