An iron bull that’s bigger than a house appeared a few meters in front of Ryu. The bridge was thirty meters wide but this bull filled it up perfectly. It had bulging muscles that looked tougher than steel. The gigantic horns above its head were abnormally thick. Each one of its leg were thicker than twenty thick tree trunks combined. This bull was definitely stronger than Ryu in his normal state. The bull took one step and the shockwave from doing so caused Ryu throw up a bit of blood. Instantly he retreated to the back of the bridge with the shabby sword in his hand to avoid more internal injuries.

With a war cry the bull charged forward at the dominating dragon. Their sizes looked roughly the same but that’s due to the fact the dragon has wings and a tail. If we are talking about weight, the iron bull definitely outclasses it by fivefold. The bull galloped slowly at first but the moment it was within reach of the dragon, he charged forward with new found strength that was many times faster than before.

Ryu braced himself for impact the moment he saw the two terrifying beasts clashed. The dragon with its ego, stood from where it was before and caught the bull by its horns. This was a shocking sight to behold, no matter what reputation the dragon had, its limbs were at most two meters in circumference while the bull’s were nearly ten meters. Like hitting an indestructible and unmovable wall, the bull was stopped.

However, the dragon didn’t stop there. With a deafening roar, the dragon lifted the bull up until it was standing on its hind legs and bit at the bottom of its neck. The bite was swift and vicious, more than half of the iron bull’s throat was ripped out. Then with a simple kick, the bull’s head detached from its body. The lifeless body fell backwards with a heavy thud while the head remained in the dragon’s claws.

Looking as if it’s not satisfied, the dragon then proceeded to lift the bull’s giant head above his own and with a grunt, the horns along with the head was split into two by the dragon’s immeasurable arm strength. Then with a mighty roar once again, he breathed out a huge stream of blue flames that completely and utterly incinerated the bull’s head. Not even the horns remained, the dragon’s hands that held the head were completely fine though. This demonstrates how tough his nearly indestructible body was.

Slap! With a casual swing of his tail, the dragon knocked the body of the bull over the bridge. This tail was not even one tenth the size of the bull, how was it able to accomplish such an amazing feat? The monstrous beast that could incinerate all in its path locked eyes with Ryu.

“Why didn’t I cultivate more in the last trial?” Ryu said with regret. Right now the environment around him has no Qi at all, making it next to impossible to cultivate. Although one’s Qi reservoir does produce Qi over time, it’s only enough to keep one alive.

Without hesitation, Ryu charged forward. Failure is not an option to him. The dragon looked at Ryu with amusement, he can literally squash him like an ant. The dragon sat down, blocking half the bridge and crossed its arms. Only the deadly tail is moving about at this point. Obviously he is toying around with Ryu now, he’s daring Ryu to try to get past him with him using just his tail.

Ryu leapt up in the air when he’s just a hundred meters away from the dragon, he knows that he’s within range of the dragon’s tail now. Throwing the sword at the dragon’s face, Ryu ignited fire beneath his feet and over his palms which were pointing in the same direction as his feet. The fire was much weaker than he is used to but it’s still propelling him forward through the air. Ryu was utilizing all his Qi to fuel the fire, the maximum output possible. He will deplete his whole reservoir in five seconds. The tail swung forward, ready to squat Ryu away like a mosquito.

“Freeze!” Ryu shouted all of the sudden as he looked intently at the incoming tail. The moment Ryu spoke, all the fire that was propelling him extinguished and he fell forward. The force driving him was gone so he could only count on the previous momentum.

The dragon’s tail didn’t stop moving but it slowed down exponentially. As Ryu was getting pulled downwards by gravity, the tail slowly missed him just by a few inches. This was Ryu’s specialization, Time Dilation! Just because his Qi is restricted to level 19 at the moment doesn’t’ mean he can’t utilize his specializations. Especially when the condition is that the user will be without Qi.

“Looks like I made the right call.” Ryu sighed to himself in relief as he slowly approached the silver crystal from mid-air. After using the specialization once, he understood how it worked better. When using it, all his Qi from his primary reservoir will be depleted and won’t regenerate until that skill is not used anymore. It’s best to use the specialization when he is almost out of Qi because the skill doesn’t discriminate when one has one percent of their Qi or all of their Qi at the moment.

This was why the Infinity Tome saved his life because both his Qi reservoirs were depleted before and he was bleeding out from his stab wound. Just as Ryu was about to touch the prize he felt an incredible force from behind. Before he could comprehend what was going on he felt every piece of his bone and organs getting crushed. The dragon tail simply swung back at a superhuman speed. The Time Dilation skill only affects an area of two by two meters.

Ryu’s conscious faded and the last thought that ran through his mind was regret. He let his friend down, his grandpa down and himself down.

Suddenly he was in a huge luxurious hall. His devastated body was restored and he was back to his original cultivation, there was no more restrictions on his Qi. However as he looked downwards at his tome, there was no change to its complexion. The brilliant radiance it had was still missing.

“Did I pass the second trial?” Ryu asked himself as he checked his body out for injuries. He found none obviously.

“Hi there handsome.” A seductive voice came from the side. Ryu turned around and noticed a group of half-naked and gorgeous ladies staring at him. Most were young, slim and had large breasts with tiny waist lines. Various ethnicities and styles were displayed, there were women with blond, red, purple, blue, green, silver, black, and even pink hair with equally amount of different skin tones. Some were standing, some were lying down and some were approaching him. They were perfect in every way and most men in Ryu’s position would pounce them right away. Their gestures and behavior suggested they wanted to do something lewd with Ryu.

Without hesitation Ryu lightly repelled the ladies with his aura and proceeded to the end of the hall. The pretty and enticing ladies yelled out seductively after him. As he approached the end of the hall, the aroma and ladies increased. There were even multiple groans and grunts. In fact they seemed to be more naked as he reached the end of the hall.

“Don’t go, come stay with us.”

“We’ll make you feel pleasure out of this world.”

“Make love to us!”

“Take us like a true man!”

Ryu ignored the invitations from the sexy ladies and did his best not to look at them. Just when he was meters away from the end of the hall, a group of naked women threw themselves at Ryu from all directions.

“Excuse me.” Ryu said simply as he summoned forth a tornado around him which prevented anyone from touching him. This also blocked out any sound from outside. The women kept trying but none could reach Ryu, they could only watch him walk to the end helplessly.

The moment he reached the end of the hall, the scenery changed once again.

He was still in the same hall but this time it was full of various food. Endless tables full of luxurious cooked food and decadent desserts were all around him. The smell it self-made him salivate unconsciously. However for someone like him who had walked down the path of cultivation, he had long since stopped eating food since he could provide the energy the body needs with his Qi.

Half way through the hall, the arrays of mortal food stopped and countless Qi enriched herbs and medicines appeared. Looking at them closely Ryu was shocked, these herbs were not any less potent and powerful than the Five-Colored Lightning fruit. There was flower with dazzling pink petals that froze everything within a meter of it. There was a crystalized bamboo stick that was dripping drops of liquid from its tip. Beneath it formed a small pond so rich in Qi that Ryu had no doubt he could probably cultivate five times faster than his usual rate if he bathed in it.

However, Ryu reminded himself the reason why he was here. It was to pass the trials and use the reward to repair his Infinity Tome. The last obstacle was a table full of refined spiritual pellets. In all of Alexis’s collection, none came close to this. The sheer amount of Qi radiated by one is enough to last one person a lifetime.

Ryu sighed in amazement and walked towards the end. Whoever created this trial must be an extreme expert that outclasses even Alexis who was in Sovereign Domain by Ryu’s estimate.

Once again he reached the end of the hall. The scene changed once again. Hills and mountains of gold coins, gems, and rare ores were stacked around him. This makes Alexis’s wealth look like pocket change! The amount of gold coins alone must be in the trillions, enough to buy a continent. The radiance from the gold was making his eyes hurt.

There was a small hill made of purple opal that had visible streams of Qi flowing through it. Even regular people can see the beautiful streaks of Qi that runs rampant over its surface. Recalling what he was told, set items that work in sync need to be made from the same vein of ores. This must be worth a fortune!

After passing the mountains of gold, gems, and ores came the equipment. There were dozens of racks containing one item each. There was a spear with an illusionary tip. The blade kept blurring out, Ryu couldn’t tell if it was moving at supersonic speeds by itself or another mystery. There was a sword handle with no blade. The moment Ryu walked past it, a Qi blade appeared. It was so forceful that Ryu was sure that it could cut through anything. There were more priceless equipment that top tier experts would die for but Ryu paid them no attention.

Ryu casually walked to the end of the hall once again. The next hall was the interior of a palace. Countless maids instantly greeted him and a butler asked for orders. This confused Ryu a bit but he ignored the comfort they offered and moved forward. The design of this place could rival that of an emperor’s residence.

“Sir you look tired, why not get a massage from one of our expert?”

“You look like you could look a rest, come here and sleep on our emperor sized bed. We guarantee you’ll feel better.”

However these words fell on deaf ears and Ryu moved on to the next hall. Unexpectedly it was empty. Ryu was literally walking through an empty room which made him suspicious, he was waiting for surprises that might come his way but none came.

The next hall was also empty, so was the next one after that. In total there was three empty halls.

After reaching the end of the third empty hall he came back to the boundless and endless white plane he was at in the first trial.

“Congratulations for passing our trials little one.” A warm and gentle voice came from behind.

Ryu quickly turned around and saw a young man, no more than thirty, dressed in a simple robe standing in front of what looks like three coffins. The silver crystal that emitted enough Qi to devastate countless cities was right in the middle of the three coffins. There was no lid on the coffins and Ryu could see one young man that resembled the one that just spoke, a middle aged man and an elder woman. The crystal’s Qi was somehow linked to the body that resembled the young man.

Taking a closer look, there was two more crystals, one red and one blue, beneath the silver crystals. They were also linked to a coffin each.

The young man that spoke was made of light, looking closely Ryu realized that the young man isn’t alive and is simply a complicated Qi projection. He couldn’t figure out where the source of Qi is coming from at all.

“My name is Na’Vi, second prince of the Sha-Ah-Ri monarchy. Welcome to our resting place.” He said with a light smile. The room darkened and Ryu found himself inside what looks like the sacred temple.

Ryu stood beside Na’Vi and the three coffins in the center of the temple. Along the edges of the temples were numerous humans that sat against the walls. They were lined up neatly.

“These are the previous challengers before you. Don’t worry, they are not dead. They are simply in a spiritual coma. They’ll be freed once you choose your reward.” Na’Vi said gently.