Last Puppet is Super Strong!

Li Yun had used the invincible properties of the tiles to his advantage. He had noticed earlier that no matter how fiercely they fought, the tiles beneath their feet wouldn't budge.

From this, he deduced that the tiles were made from some very high-rank ores and wouldn't be affected by battles at their level.

Thus, he struck the tiles with all the strength of the 6th layer of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword, which propelled him backward into the air, towards the 2nd level puppet he intended to target.

'Newton's third law is coming in clutch,' Li Yun smiled as he glided through the air.

Moments later, he landed in front of the injured 2nd level puppet, which still hadn't regained its balance, and attacked with the full strength of the 6th layer Thunderclap Dragon Sword.

Rumble!

With a rumbling sound, Li Yun's sword cleaved through the puppet's shoulder, slicing it in half. Without its sword and still unsteady from Li Yun's previous attack, the puppet was defenseless and easily split in two.

After dispatching one of the two 2nd level Qi Training Realm puppets, Li Yun turned his gaze to the remaining puppet, which was leading the three weaker puppets towards him.

'I don't know if the 1st level Qi Training puppets on this floor can use martial techniques or not, so I'll have to be cautious,' Li Yun assessed. If the two 2nd level Qi Training Realm puppets could use martial techniques, who could guarantee the 1st level ones couldn't?

'Let's finish off the other 2nd level Qi Training Realm puppet,' Li Yun chose his target and charged. Surprisingly, as he began his sprint, the 2nd level Qi Training Realm puppet stopped in its tracks. The three 1st level puppets overtook it and advanced rapidly toward him.

'It's planning an attack,' Li Yun's face darkened as he realized the 2nd level Qi Training Realm puppet had paused to execute a martial technique. Moreover, the other three puppets seemed to be attacking to prevent him from disrupting the puppet's preparation.

"Damn, are these puppets really being controlled by someone?" Li Yun almost cursed aloud at the situation. "I'll just have to kill them quickly."

As he continued sprinting, he reached the three puppets, who attacked him from three sides—one from the front and the other two from the flanks.

In response, Li Yun used the strength of the 6th layer of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword, stabbing three times at the puppets. He didn't aim for their weapons but directly targeted their bodies, aided by his right eye, which glowed with a purple light.

The three puppets, being only at the 1st level of Qi Training Realm, couldn't withstand the raw power of the 6th layer of Thunderclap Dragon Sword and were shattered into pieces upon contact with Li Yun's sword.

At that moment, Li Yun sensed a powerful attack. He turned around, and his eyes narrowed to slits at what he saw.

The last 2nd level puppet stood with its sword raised, both hands gripping it tightly, but it was the sword itself that caught Li Yun's attention.

The sword in the puppet's hand glowed with a red light. Although the glow was subtle, it enveloped the entire sword.

"How is this possible?!" Li Yun exclaimed in shock. 

From what his father had taught him, the color of Qi on weapons or bodies would only become visible when a martial artist reached the 4th level of the Qi Training Realm.

In the Qi Training Realm, martial artists used cultivation techniques to store Qi in mist form within their dantian. As their cultivation progressed and the density of Qi within the dantian increased with each minor realm, the Qi would gradually begin to manifest visibly during attacks. 

At that stage, the amount of Qi a martial artist possessed would significantly increase, allowing them to concentrate all their Qi into their weapons when performing martial techniques. This concentration of Qi would cause their weapons to glow with distinct colors, indicating the power behind the attack.

Typically, the lowest realm required to make weapons glow with Qi was the 4th level of Qi Training Realm. However, there were exceptional geniuses who could achieve this feat at the 3rd level.

But what truly shocked Li Yun was that the puppet before him, clearly at the 2nd level of Qi Training Realm, had managed to make its weapon glow with Qi—a feat that defied the normal understanding of cultivation and demonstrated the puppet's extraordinary power.

This amazed Li Yun at the potential of these puppets while simultaneously shocking him at the strength they possessed.

Seeing the red glow on the puppet's sword, Li Yun's expression grew solemn as he gripped his sword tightly.

In that moment, the puppet moved. It used a movement technique and appeared before him in an instant.

Li Yun was prepared. He knew he couldn't dodge the attack, nor could he run away. If he wanted to reach the third floor, he would have to destroy the last puppet, and for that, he would need to face the attack head-on and crush it with overwhelming strength.

"Raging Heaven."

He once again activated the 1st stage of the Heaven Raging Chaos Art, feeling unimaginable power surge through his body. But with strength came pain, which he ignored for now, focusing all his attention on the puppet and its sword.

In that moment, his right eye also began to glow intensely with a purple light. With his mind focused entirely on the attack of the puppet, his right eye began to analyze the attack of the puppet.

But this time, the task felt insurmountable. No matter how hard he tried, Li Yun couldn't find any flaw in the puppet's attack. The puppet's movements were flawless—its form impeccable, the swing of the sword precise, the timing perfectly synchronized. Every aspect of the attack was executed with such precision that it left no openings, no errors for Li Yun to exploit.

But he didn't give up and forced his right eye ever more.

His right eye strained as he focused intently, desperately searching for a weakness in the puppet's seemingly flawless attack pattern.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, and a sharp pain pulsed behind his right eye, but Li Yun refused to give up. He could feel the strain building, his vision blurring slightly under the pressure.

Yet, he pushed through the discomfort, narrowing his focus even further. In that moment, the world around him seemed to fade away as his entire being centered on the puppet's movements.

But even with his enhanced vision, Li Yun couldn't find any flaw in the puppet's attack. The discomfort in his right eye intensified, the strain becoming almost unbearable. It felt as though his eye was being squeezed in a vice, the pressure so intense that he feared he might lose consciousness at any moment.

However, just as the strain threatened to overwhelm him, something shifted. In that moment, the world around him seemed to slow down, and the puppet's attacks became clearer, each movement revealing the tiniest of details.

With his mind entirely focused on the puppet's attack, his right eye started to analyze it with newfound clarity. The purple glow intensified, casting an eerie light as his vision honed in on a subtle hitch in the puppet's motion, something almost imperceptible. It wasn't much, but to Li Yun, it was enough.

A flaw.