"SQUEEEEEEE!!!"
With one final, unwilling shriek from the Ironhide Boar, Zhao Xuan's finger thrust pierced straight through its throat—ending its "sinful" life once and for all.
He exhaled deeply, still tense.
He hadn't killed it out of cruelty—
he'd killed it out of fear.
Fear that if he let it escape again, it would go ruin more spiritual medicine inside the relic.
"No, no, no—just killing it isn't enough!"
Even after dealing with the boar, Zhao Xuan still felt uneasy.
Although most Tier 2 beasts didn't dare approach the relic's entrance—thanks to the Ironhide Boar's long-term territorial presence—
...the area wasn't far from where Tier 3 beasts roamed.
"What if another Tier 3 beast just wanders over, touches the entrance, and accidentally enters the relic?"
It wasn't the thought of fighting such a creature that worried him.
He was worried that it would do the same damn thing as that boar—
charging in and devouring the relic's precious spiritual cacti.
"I'd better just clear the relic trial, claim the Relic Heart, and close off the entrance for good."
Without another word, Zhao Xuan stepped out of the relic and reappeared outside.
He reached toward the hollow beneath the giant tree once more—
and touched the glowing orb inside.
A thought.
A flash.
And in the next instant—
He was back inside the relic trial space.
The first trial's guardian was a Tier 3 Desert Golem—
the same kind of statue-like creature that the Ironhide Boar had rammed itself to death against earlier.
Zhao Xuan frowned as the enormous stone figure slowly trudged toward him, each movement sending ripples through the sand.
"Huh…" he muttered, rubbing his chin. "If I remember right, there were five stone tablets outside. That means five stages. First stage is a Tier 3 Desert Golem… Don't tell me the fifth one's going to be a Tier 4?"
He sighed. "Forget it. One step at a time."
Then—
Tatatata!
He dashed forward, head-on.
A mere Tier 3 golem wasn't enough to intimidate him.
After all, he'd turned an armored boar into a football—
this pile of rocks wasn't going to fare any better.
"Ha!"
With a sharp swing, Zhao Xuan unleashed a Rankyaku—the blade of compressed air slicing forward like a crescent moon.
BOOM!!
The strike landed squarely, shaking the entire golem.
It staggered a few steps, then raised its massive arms and swung them down toward him.
Zhao Xuan sidestepped easily, the attack missing him by a wide margin.
"Tsk. Pretty sturdy for a rock head," he muttered. "That kick wasn't weak—ordinary Tier 3s would've been crippled. And all it left was a palm-sized crack?"
He smirked. "Fine. You're tough. That just means you'll make a good training dummy."
His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Let's see how many hits you can take before you crumble, my stony punching bag!"
Then he dove back in—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
One kick.
Another.
And another.
Dust exploded into the air with every impact.
After nearly thirty kicks—
Crackkkk…!
A fissure spread across the golem's chest, growing wider by the second until—
KRAAASH!!
The Desert Golem collapsed in an explosion of shattered stone.
A clear chime echoed in Zhao Xuan's mind.
"Ding! You've completed an excellent training session. Your mastery of Soru, Rankyaku, and Armament Haki has improved!
+10 proficiency points to each ability."
As the message faded, a beam of white light enveloped him—
—and transported him to the second stage.
This time, three Desert Golems stood before him.
"First stage: one golem. Second stage: three. So the third and fourth stages will probably have six and nine… which means the fifth might really be a Tier 4 golem," Zhao Xuan muttered, brow furrowing.
The three golems began to move, slow but coordinated.
Still, they were far too sluggish.
"Too slow… way too slow."
To Zhao Xuan, they might as well have been stationary targets.
He didn't even bother activating his Azure Dragon Fruit ability—
just relied on the Six Forms and his Armament Haki to smash them apart.
The third trial came next—
six golems this time, as he predicted.
Again, Zhao Xuan used his speed advantage, weaving between them and breaking them down one by one with hit-and-run strikes.
The fourth trial followed suit—
nine golems, all falling under his relentless assault.
And then—
He arrived at the fifth trial.
The moment he entered, he froze.
Standing in the center of the arena was a colossal Desert Golem, towering over ten meters high.
Its body radiated a suffocating aura of power.
Zhao Xuan's face darkened.
"Grass…" he swore under his breath. "(The plant kind… totally the plant kind.)"
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