It was currently deep into the night, like around 11pm on earthly time line.

There were stars in the skies, but they were all falling one by one, some were even been shatter directly in the sky by some apocalyptic level attacks.

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Some were even been used to directly attack in this battle, the only source of light were the many various brilliant lights from several divine abilities.

Min Hong was still caught up in his thoughts when a Yao demon with a 6-Star king stage power abruptly approached him with a sledge hammer and slammed it into Min Hong.

The hammer landed squarely on Min Hong chest snapping him out of his thoughts, as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Min Hong was greatly alarmed by this outcome.

He found out that it was actually his true physical body that way here. then several questions began to race across his mind.

Caught up in his thoughts once again, the demon slammed its sledge hammer into Min Hong for the second time, this time he was blasted over ten metres backwards, coughing up another mouthful of blood, but this time with some shattered organs.

The demon didn't even give Min Hong another breath to dwell in his thoughts as he once again bolted towards Min Hong and jumped high into the air with its two arms looking to smash Min Hong from his head into the ground, like a nail being hammered into a wood.

It descended with massive momentum as he struck out the massive sledge hammer.

Boom!

Rock debris flew around in every direction as a huge amount of dust kicked up.

Then Min Hong's figure dashed out of the smoke but the other body behind the demon swung a great axe towards his waist looking to split him into two equal halves.

Min Hong had unanticipated this attack and when the axe got about an inch from Min Hong's waist, he vanished abruptly.

"Roar?" The demon was stunned when its great axe sliced through the empty air.

Then he looked ahead and found Min Hong about twenty metres (66 feet) away from him.

"Hmph!"

Min Hong who had just executed the 'One with Dao' level [Chaotic Shadow Steps] snorted in anger, when he thought about how this demon and used him to mop the floor in less than five breaths.

He looked to his side and saw the dead body of a body cultivator with a metal staff next to it and after some thoughts he decided against it.

"If I use a weapon to defeat you, that would mean I am being too merciful to you. But you do not deserve my sympathy."

Min Hong spoke to the demon as he once again executed the 'One with Dao' Chaotic Shadow Steps and vanished from sight.

By the time he reappeared, he was directly in front of the demon body wielding the great axe.

Then he sent a palm strike filled with the power of his entire body cultivation as all nine invincible dragon tattoos floated out and attached themselves to his right arm.

Then his full 5-Star King stage physical body power erupted as he slammed the palm into the demon's chest.

Eight Vengeful Palms! … First Palm Strike!

The moment his palm strike landed the demon was pushed backwards as Min Hong followed up with seven more successive palm strikes;

Second Strike! Third Strike! Fourth Strike! …

Min Hong continuously slammed his palms into the demon. One of the advantages about the 'Eight Vengeful Palms' was that it grew in momentum and force the higher it goes, until the final strike which was usually the killer blow.

So, the moment Min Hong followed up with other palm strikes, the demon had lost the initiative and was gradually pushed backwards.

Though, the only way to survive this technique was for one to break up the momentum of these successive palm strikes, but since it was a demon and not human, it was obviously oblivious to this known fact.

But even if it did, Min Hong returned the earlier favour and didn't give the demon any glimmer of time to think about a way of countering his successive palm attacks.

Min Hong sent two palm attacks to each of the demon's arms, then one towards its abdomen smashing the organs located there, another one into its chest smashing its ribcages as its chest caved in and puked out a mouthful of fowl smelling black blood mixed with some organs and then finally landed the eight strike on the top of its head, smashing its skull.

The demon bled black blood from its four orifices as it succumbed to death.

The other body flew into rage as it spun in a 180 degree turn and swung the massive sledgehammer with its right arm, trying to smash it into Min Hong's chest once more.

But as if he had read the mind of the demon, Min Hong slightly floated off the ground reducing his weight to absolute zero.

He then extended his right palm to receive the incoming hammer.

Seeing this, the demon snorted in disdain as it added more power and momentum into the attack.

The moment, the hammer made contact with Min Hong's palm, Min Hong absorbed half of its force into his arms, channelling the rest of the force into the 'One with Dao' Chaotic Shadow Steps.

Then Min Hong used the force with the chaotic shadow steps to make his own 180-degree turn, appearing on the other side (left flank) of the demon.

To outsiders watching the battle it would look like they were both dancing and suddenly made a 360-degree turn.

The demon making the first 180-degree turn and then transferring its momentum to Min Hong who completed the round turn.

Everything from the death of the axe-wielding body of the demon, to the attack of the hammer wielding demon and to their smooth salsa-like 360-degree turn happened in less than ten breaths.

Then the moment Min Hong appeared on the other flank of the demon, he sent a fist strike towards the ribcage of the demon's left flank.

Imperial Willow Fist!

The force within this fist strike was the combination of Min Hong's entire 5-Star King stage power, including half of the 6-Star King Stage force behind the sledge-hammer attack, bringing the force of the fist strike into a 7-Star King stage level.

Bam…Crack!

Min Hong's fist landed squarely on the flank of the demon, then the most mind-blowing thing actually happened.

Min Hong's fist strike actually completely separated these two bodies; one full body with an utterly bloodied and mangled abdomen, and another half body that was bleeding black blood from its four orifices.

It was a truly disturbing sight!

After the demon drew its last breaths, its body then exploded and then the entire realm rippled and then shattered like a glass that was smashed with a wrecking ball.

Then Min Hong found himself within the first floor of the Pagoda once again.

Then a deep, masculine, programmed, machine-like voice rang across the room and announced;

"Congratulations, you have cleared the first level of the Pagoda of Ascension. You may proceed through this door to receive your rewards… Once you have chosen your reward, you can choose to either continue with the trials, which you can do by entering the opposite the one you entered through." The Voice explained.

Then a thick stone door rumbled open as a room was revealed within.

Min Hong walked into the room and saw a pulpit with two weapons on it.

There was a sword and a whip gently placed on it with its name and description written atop it.

This pulpit looked more like the exhibition of a vintage and expensive product on modern-day earth.

The Whip was called the [Retribution Whip] and it was a Peak-grade Black Tier weapon.

It is had only one special effect, and that was; if one got struck by the whip, the amount of damage done would be multiplied by the amount of evil or wrong deeds the person had done in their lifetime.

But this effect was only limited to experts within the Mortal Realm of cultivation.

The Sword was called the [Yin Demon Sword]. It was also another Peak-grade Black Tier weapon.

It also has one special effect, and that was; when one got struck, the injury doesn't only affect the body alone but it strikes the soul as well.

Furthermore, only an expert who had comprehended the Yang Dao could cure the injured person. Also Limited to the Mortal Realm.

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[Thoughts: Min Hong] – "These weapons are so strong and it only increases the higher level I clear. Moreover, Old Pops had told me earlier that, my fate will only be tied to one reward in every level, which means I can only select one of the two."

"Furthermore, this Sword is very much suitable with Min Qing… (Smiles)… I guess my choice is made then."

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Min Hong then touched the sword and the energy barrier around it vanished.

The moment the energy barrier vanished, the whip beside it also simultaneously vanished alongside it.

Then Min Hong picked up the sword and stored it within his storage ring.

Then he looked opposite to where he was standing and saw another staircase spiralling upwards to another portal.

The portal led to the next level where the second trial would be held.

After readjusting himself physically and mentally, Min Hong went up the stairs and stepped into the portal.

Then just like earlier the 9-Star Qi Sea stage pressure weighed down on him as he became even more sluggish than before.

After all, he had been ridded of his physical body powers and properties.

Just like earlier, Min Hong found himself within the same battleground.

But this time, he was in a different region of the battle. He was currently standing in front of a bubbling swamp that was also belching thick poisonous gas with every burst of a bubble.

Then after about three breaths, he noticed a movement within the bubbling swamp.

Though the movement was almost negligible, to the Min Hong who had his Soul and Mental energy unlocked and had sent his mental sense which covered a span of a mile radius had already noticed that there was life within the swamp.

So, the movement it made though was almost non-existent to others, was as glaring as wave of tsunami to Min Hong mental sense.

"Hmph! So, you are not as stupid as your peers right. Trying to be cautious won't work with me, so you can come out and let's get this over with."

Min Hong spoke to the empty space and as expected, there was no response of any kind.

In fact, everything was so normal that it could make a witless or a nervy expert doubt the movement he had sensed earlier.

But with everything Min Hong had seen and passed through, there is hardly anything that could make him lose his cool and calm.

"Still not willing to come out unh?" Min Hong was getting impatient and restless.

Not to talk about the poison suffused atmosphere that Min Hong had been breathing in since he had appeared here.

If not for the Oblivion Qi within him swallowing up the poison Qi in the air and the 'steal' properties of the [Codex of Myriad Paths] converting the poison into Qi, he would most likely have been dissolved into a puddle by the sheer toxicity of these poison gas.

"Alright. I have had it with you, I guess I would have to force you out."

Instantly, Min Hong's two eyes transformed as one eye socket went empty and the other turned completely pitch black, then his forehead split open, as a golden-green eye snapped open and all the three Daos activated, sending their energies coursing through his veins and mixing with his Qi.

Then, two blackholes appeared in each of Min Hong's hand's as a fearsome, ancient and mysterious aura rippled outwards with Min Hong at the centre.

The energy ripple blasted the cloud of poisonous clouds away from Min Hong as a massive amount of mental energy surged out of the spots between Min Hong's brows, and entered deep within the poisonous swamp.

The mental energy searched for the creature within the swamp, and after ten breaths of searching, it finally found it about two metres away from Min Hong.

Immediately that happened, Min Hong threw the two blackholes to either side of the beast.

The moment these blackholes entered the swamp, they began to absorb everything around them.

Their absorption area spanned about 2-metre radius from their positions at the centre.

Then the 10-metre-wide swamp began to see its liquid gradually reduce until Min Hong finally saw the beast within the swamp

It was a humanoid demon that had gills for ribs, fins protruding out of its arms and a dorsal fin protruding out of its spine.

It had bony spikes all over it.

It had scarlet eyes, an abnormally wide mouth filled with shark-like teeth and nostrils that were also wide and they were inhaling and belching poisonous gas out of them.

It looked at Min Hong with a gaze filled with hatred as Min Hong controlled the two blackholes towards the demon.

Then they attacked it from both flanks as the demon began to fearfully evade the attacks.

(See Baraka of Mortal Kombat, [all rights to its TM] but with marine features added to it) …

Seeing that the demon only kept evading, waiting for the poison to take effect before attacking him, Min Hong who wanted to end the battle as soon as possible, so as to obtain premium rewards dashed towards the demon.

The demon retreated as Min Hong advanced, it was in its territory while Min Hong wasn't.

Thus, even with the 'One with Dao' Chaotic Shadow Steps, Min Hong still couldn't catch up to it.

Suddenly Min Hong frowned as snorted at the battle tactics of this demon.

Then a new wave of Oblivion, Chaos and Primus Qi surged out of his body, forming a third black hole.

Min Hong then urged the blackhole on the demon's left flank towards it's back, leaving the left flank open as an escape route, and seeing such a safe path the demon took it.

But it had only moved about two feet when he heard a droning sound coming from the front, as Min Hong's third blackhole abruptly appeared from within the dense poisonous gas cloud, slamming into the demon who quickly crossed its arms in front of itself.

The black hole shredded the fins on the arm and even chew off a huge chunk of its hands away.

As it was blasted backwards, it slammed into the other blackhole behind it as its dorsal fin was also disintegrated.

Immediately this happened, it instantly looked towards its right and saw the incoming third blackhole and then made a 360-degree turn, avoiding the last black hole just in the nick of time and appearing behind it.

But Min Hong was not going to let it catch its breath as he sent out massive amount of mental energy into three threads that latched onto these blackholes and moved them to surround the demon at the back, right and left, while he stood in the face of the demon.

The demon looked at the three blackholes with utter fear as he then looked towards Min Hong with scarlet eyes.

After staring at Min Hong for about ten breaths, it abruptly dropped into the swamp in a bid to use its cover to either escape or approach Min Hong unnoticed.

But as it dropped into the swamp with a plop, the corner of Min Hong's lips curled into a derisive smile as the three blackholes followed the demon into the swamp.

Then several explosions began to erupt from beneath the swamp as more poisonous gases were belched into the atmosphere.

After a short minute, the demon abruptly bolted out of the swamp with several injuries, missing chunks of skins and bones and fins.

Black blood was oozing out of these injuries as the demon approached Min Hong with its hideous appearance.

It seemed it was already fed up with being tortured by the three blackholes and had thrown caution into the wind in a bid to kill Min Hong.

"Hmph! Just what I have been waiting for…"

The corner of Min Hong's lips elongated as he sent the three blackholes hurtling towards the demon from behind.

The demon saw this and its rage intensified as two extremely sharp and long spiky bone protruded from its arms before increasing its momentum (Flying like Superman [All rights to its TM].) stabbing at Min Hong.

When this happened, Min Hong also bolted towards it in a straight line as they look set on a massive collision course.

When they finally collided, the demon stabbed savagely at Min Hong, but instead of feeling a slight resistance and seeing a fountain of blood, the demon passed right through Min Hong, coming out on the other side like a person passing through an entrance curtain.

Apparently, Min Hong had executed the 'One with Dao' level – 'Shadow part' of the Chaotic Shadow Steps.

He appeared behind the demon and snatched two of the incoming blackholes and slammed it into each other and made a 180-degree turn, all in one fluid and seamless motion in the blink of an eye;

Planetary Annihilation!

Without waiting for the demon to react Min Hong slammed the Saturn-like technique into the demon's back, as the ball ate away at the demon's flesh about a thousand times faster than the blackhole.

Then the demon turned and slashed the protruding bone at Min Hong, but Min Hong simply flashed away, reappearing about thirty metres away, and began to walk away without even turning to look at the outcome of his attack.

Then he simply snapped his fingers;

Detonate!