Tang Sect's Test, Part 2

Gloxinia felt that energy wrapping him up again. This time, though, the feeling was far stronger and lasted longer.

Gloxinia hastily circulated his soul power and sped up his blood flow when he felt the sensation that he was being pulled apart. He could now clearly hear his own heartbeat continuously accelerating.

Each powerful beat of his heart fended off the pain, allowing him to calm down and steady himself.

After some unknown period of time had passed, another light flashed and Gloxinia lost control of his body. He was enveloped with a sense of weightlessness.

'Not good!'

He didn't hesitate to release and expand Basquias downwards to latch onto something while he frantically took in his bearings.

The first thing he felt was the world spinning around him. He then felt a strong pull on his body. Basquias had finally attached itself to something. As three other lights descended near him, he pulled on Basquias and cushioned his fall to the best of his ability.

The elastic force of the blanket disappeared just as he gently landed on the ground.

Tang Wulin, Xie Xie and Gu Yue were nowhere to be found. He was alone now, and astonished to discover that this place was somewhat familiar to him. The ground was white and there was no sky, yet, there seemed to be no boundaries to this world.

This place resembled the inside of his head when using the head key!

It was different, of course. It was missing the memories that were inside it and it was also seemingly boundless, making it seem much larger.

"Welcome to the Hall of Heroes. First trial, medium difficulty. Name: Gloxinia. Age: 9."

"Test objective for the first round: survive for thirty seconds."

Without even giving Gloxinia a second to understand what was going on, a beam of light appeared in front of him, revealing a pretty girl. She had gentle eyes and wore a kind smile.

"Begin!" The electronic voice announced.

The girl's eyes lit up and a powerful light enveloped her body. As the light grew brighter, a yellow ring rose from beneath her feet.

Gloxinia saw her figure flicker and in an instant, she appeared right in front of him. She struck out a palm straight toward his stomach.

In response, Gloxinia simply leaned to the side and backed up a bit, sending Basquias in it's spear form towards the girl.

A three-legged cauldron materialized in front of her all of a sudden. Too quick for Gloxinia to even react, the cauldron descended with an eruption of black gas.

The ground trembled and a loud rumble resounded, causing Gloxinia to quickly fly up to play it safe.

At this time, Basquias already arrived at the girl.

With a delicate palm being sent out, the girl attempted to divert Basquias and redirect it elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Gloxinia is already much higher in soul power than her, not to mention that Basquias was much more powerful in the first place.

Thus, her life was easily taken.

All this had in reality only taken a few seconds to complete, thus it wasn't until about 20 seconds later that a voice was heard echoing throughout the place.

"Thirty seconds have passed. First trial over."

"The second trial begins. Defeat your opponent or survive for another thirty seconds." Gloxinia was a bit speechless at this, after all he expected to get at least a minute break after a round..

A figure appeared with a flash of light. Surprisingly, it was the same girl as before. This time, she appeared to be slightly older. Not only that, she also had two spirit rings rising from her feet.

"Begin."

With the voice speaking once more, the girl didn't actually rush towards Gloxinia, instead she summoned her seemingly second martial soul which resembled a flute.

Wuu!

As the whistle of the flute blew through the arena, rings appeared around Gloxinia, which later constricted and tried to trap him in place.

In response, Gloxinia simply flew up once more and broke out of them quite easily, the rings weren't all that tough.

Thus, a repeat of the first round happened and the girl was defeated once more.

"Opponent defeated. Advanced test, first trial. Defeat the opponent or survive for 30 seconds."

For the third time, the girl appeared, once more looking older and having 1 more ring on her person.

This continued until the Advanced test, third trial, where he unlocked a new, extra test, "Extra test, trial 1."

A boy who resembled Tang Wulin appeared in a flash of light, he seemed to be around 13 years old and had 3 spirit rings floating around him.

At first glance, this would seem easier than the Advanced test, third trial he had just taken, where he fought the girl when she had 5 spirit rings.

But, Gloxinia was neither ignorant nor stupid, so he easily figured out that this boy in front of him, was most likely none other than Tang San, the main protagonist of Douluo Dalu and the current Asura and Sea God!

"Begin."

With that, both boys moved at the same time.

Gloxinia flew upwards at speeds not possible for a spirit elder and gained the high ground while Tang San pointed his hand downwards and propelled himself upward using his Bluesilver Grass.

Not only that but he also waved his sleeves and many small metal needles came flying at Gloxinia, causing him to have to dodge and move right in front of where Tang San was headed!

Of course, Gloxinia had noticed this and ordered Basquias to attack Tang San at that moment.

As a trail of yellowish-gold was left behind, Basquias arrived at Tang San, who simply used his first spirit skill, Bind!

As Bluesilver Grass slowed Basquias down for a bit, Tang San got close enough to Gloxinia to attack him in close combat.

As he swung his right fist, a mysterious energy flowed down his arm, adding even more strength to his already strong attack.

As Gloxinia turned to face the fist, a smirk couldn't help but break out, a fake was a fake after all. The real Tang San he saw in the novels would never make the mistake of overconfidence!

Utilizing his advantage of having a flying martial soul, Gloxinia dodged underneath him and punched his gut, causing Tang San to spit a bit before he tried punching Gloxinia again.

Unfortunately, Basquias had already broken out of the Bluesilver Grass by now and arrived in front of Tang San.

Piercing Tang San's head, a huge hole was formed and he dissipated into light particles.

"Extra test, trial 1 passed. Ejecting contestant."

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Tang Wulin stumbled out of a flash of light, his face green and purple from bruises. He truly made for a sorry sight.

When he looked up, he saw Xie Xie standing relatively close, his appearance even more haphazard than his own. Xie Xie's complexion was truly unsightly.

"How many trials did you pass?" Tang Wulin asked him thoughtlessly.

Xie Xie's face darkened. "One trial. This test is too hard, my opponent was way too powerful! There wasn't anything I could do against her. She surpassed me in both explosive power and speed, and even in close combat ability! I was helpless to defend against her even with my twin martial souls."

"What about Gu Yue and Gloxinia? They still haven't come out?" Tang Wulin asked.

Xie Xie nodded. "In the end, they're the strongest! How many trials did you pass?"

A bitter laugh escaped Tang Wulin's lips. "Just two trials. I passed the second trial only because I'm good at taking a beating."

From when they had entered until now, Wu Zhangkong hadn't moved an inch from his previous position. The screens here were different from those of the spirit ascension platform; they didn't show everything that had occurred within the test, so all he could do was wait patiently.

Another minute passed before a pale-faced Gu Yue stumbled out of a flash of light. Tang Wulin, who just happened to be standing right in front of her, saw shock in her eyes.

"How many trials did you pass?" Xie Xie asked.

"Advanced, two trials. The final level was too hard, and I was defeated What about you guys, has Gloxinia not come out yet?"

Tang Wulin and Xie Xie stood there, utterly speechless. They truly felt that comparing themselves to others could only lead to madness!

Gathering his bearings, Tang Wulin responded, "No, Gloxinia still hasn't come out yet. Maybe he's in the final trial!"

At that moment, another flash of light appeared and a Gloxinia with seemingly no exhaustion visible on his face or body appeared.

As the first to see him, Xie Xie quickly asked him, "So how many trials did you pass?"

"Ah me? Haha, I didn't do so well..' at this point, Gloxinia purposefully dragged it out and made an obviously fake sad expression, 'After all, I only managed to pass all the trials after so long.."

As Xie Xie and the rest heard his words, shock appeared in their eyes, even Wu Zhangkong's eyes had shock in them!

In the history of the Tang Sect, when had a 9 year old passed all the trials in medium difficulty?

The answer was; none!

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Words: 1576

Author's Note: Sorry for the late upload, my club today dragged on a lot longer than usual.

Thank you for so many collections and powerstones!