At the entrance of the relic—
By the line of towering stone tablets—
The instant the fifth tablet lit up in golden light—
A wave of uproar exploded through the crowd.
"He passed the fifth trial!"
"No way! That fast? Has it even been a full minute!?"
"Not a chance—maybe forty or fifty seconds at most!"
"The fifth trial was supposed to be a fight against a Tier 3 Xuanbird, wasn't it? Those things are no joke! He just… finished it that easily!?"
"If I'm not mistaken, Miss Di took about forty or fifty seconds for that stage too, right?"
"Unbelievable…"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…"
The murmurs rose like waves.
Even the young woman who had been calm and expressionless since the beginning—
her face now revealed a trace of genuine surprise.
But Zhao Xuan himself had no idea what was happening outside.
At that very moment—
He was struggling to hold his ground inside the sixth trial, facing three Tier 3 Xuanbirds attacking in perfect coordination.
Their teamwork forced Zhao Xuan onto the defensive, relying purely on Iron Body (Tekkai) and his incredible physical endurance to withstand the assault.
Within moments, his skin was covered in vivid red claw marks.
But that situation didn't last long.
As the three Xuanbirds dove at him again,
Zhao Xuan suddenly countered.
His eyes sharpened—his fingers became like steel.
"Shigan! (Finger Gun)!"
A gleam of killing light—his strike shot forward like a dragon.
Pierce!
One Xuanbird screeched in pain as the blow hit squarely,
its body flung backward before dissolving into a shimmer of white light.
With one gone, the remaining two were easy prey.
Zhao Xuan repeated the motion—
two quick thrusts, two sharp cries—
and the last of them vanished.
Sixth trial—cleared!
A flash of white light surrounded him,
and in the next instant, Zhao Xuan was transported into the seventh trial.
Meanwhile, outside the relic—
The sixth tablet flared brightly, glowing gold.
"He passed the sixth trial!"
"Finally! That means he's up against six Tier 3 Xuanbirds next!"
"He seems to be slowing down a bit. The fifth trial took under a minute, but this one took about ten!"
"I think Miss Di only needed five minutes for the sixth…"
The crowd buzzed with speculation.
Not far away, the young woman—Di Ruqing—showed a flicker of disappointment.
She shook her head lightly,
then turned to leave.
But just as she took her first step—
A stunned voice erupted from behind her:
"H-he passed! He passed!!"
"Passed? What passed?"
Di Ruqing froze for an instant.
Then, as if struck by a thought,
her pupils shrank sharply—
a wild, impossible idea flashing through her mind.
She whipped her head around—
her gaze landing on the stone tablets.
And there, the seventh one was glowing.
Her breath caught in her throat.
At that same moment, the area outside the relic exploded with chaos.
"He passed?!"
"What's happening!? How is that possible!?"
"It's been—what, thirty seconds!? Less than half a minute, and he cleared the seventh trial!?"
"Wasn't the seventh one supposed to have six Tier 3 Xuanbirds?"
"What in the world…!?"
Every face was frozen in shock.
Their minds went blank.
They weren't surprised that Zhao Xuan could defeat Tier 3 Xuanbirds—
after all, he had already made it this far.
What stunned them was the speed.
Thirty seconds.
That wasn't a victory—
that was domination.
It could only mean one thing—
In the previous six trials,
Zhao Xuan had never even used his full power.
That realization sent chills down everyone's spine.
Here's what had really happened—
The moment Zhao Xuan entered the seventh trial,
six Xuanbirds launched their first assault in perfect formation.
He blocked the strike using Iron Body,
but one claw barely grazed his cheek,
leaving behind a thin red line.
Zhao Xuan froze—
then his expression darkened.
"You can hit me anywhere," he growled,
"but never—my face."
Rage surged.
In the next instant, his Azure Dragon Fruit power awakened.
A deep, ancient draconic aura burst from within him—
and under that crushing pressure,
the six Xuanbirds froze mid-flight.
Their wings trembled.
Their movements slowed.
That was all the opening Zhao Xuan needed.
One step.
One thrust.
"Shigan!"
Six flashes of light.
Six cries fading into silence.
And just like that—
Seventh trial, cleared.
Outside—
The crowd was still reeling from the shock when suddenly—
The eighth stone tablet lit up in gold.
A stunned hush fell over the area—
followed by a roar of disbelief that echoed through the mountains.
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