13 The end of the trial

As the chest slowly opened, Li Zhu had an expectant look on his face, excited to see his reward.

Finally, after what seemed like ages to Li Zhu, the bright light vanished, exposing a weirdly shaped armor, which had blood red designs all over it's shiny metal surface.

With the armor, there was a small note, with a written description.

'These are no ordinary paper and ink, otherwise there is no way they could have resisted the passage of time and ended up readable.' thought Li Zhu, who was constantly being surprised by the discoveries he was making in this small sect.

From the objects left in the tower and the tower itself, it was clear that an expert had been here, yet Li Zhu, who had been the crown prince of the Heavenly Dragon Empire, had never heard of such a figure in modern times. Because of this, Li Zhu assumed that the expert had existed hundreds or even thousands of years earlier, and the treasures were also that old.

Thinking this, Li Zhu picked up the note, which read: "Phoenix-Blood armor: An armor for bird type spirit beasts of the fire attribute. It gives the skill of healing aura to the beast which wears it, replenishing the energy of every ally around it. Although this is a very precious item, being able to boost the strength of such spirit beasts greatly, I will place it on the fourth floor. This is because summoners are far too rare, and spirit beasts which match the requirement are even fewer, having to be beasts with at least a trace of Phoenix bloodline. I hope whoever finds this item will either use it, or gift it to someone who can."

With those final words, the note ended, leaving a dumbfounded Li Zhu, with a piece of paper in his shaking hands.

Although he did not know the origin of this armor, one thing was certain, if it was used it would make a summoner much more powerful. Too bad a spirit beast with phoenix bloodline was extremely rare, so his dreams of endless healing would have to wait.

Realizing this, Li Zhu looked towards the door for the fifth floor, which was now open. The problem was, his energy was completely drained, and he could not keep fighting.

Although it was sad, Li Zhu knew that he could not continue in this state, so he picked up the armor, ready to exit the tower.

At that moment, though, a wondrous feeling came from the tip of his fingers, which were touching the Phoenix-Blood armor. The armor shined bright red, as Li Zhu felt heavenly energy being pumped into him from his arm, slowly restoring his strength.

This process went on for about a minute, before the armor finally stopped releasing energy, and it dimmed back to its previous state.

'I guess the armor still functions partially, even when not being worn by a spirit beast.' Thought Li Zhu, who was shocked that he had found the exact item he needed to continue.

The Phoenix-Blood armor had the effect of creating an aura of heavenly energy replenishment, akin to the rebirth of a phoenix. Although it was not being currently used, it still partially carried this effect, which was why Li Zhu managed to have his heavenly energy refilled.

Now ready again to keep fighting, Li Zhu walked towards the door for the fifth floor, while awkwardly carrying the bird-shaped armor. At the moment he still did not have a spatial ring, so the only way he could keep his treasures was by carrying them like such.

After he reached the fifth floor, Li Zhu surprisingly saw that the torches, which usually lit up with yellow flames, now contained a crimson red fire, probably symbolic for the change in cultivation of the illusions.

He quickly placed the Phoenix-Blood armor on the ground, before stepping forwards, towards the two illusions in the center of the room.

Seeing him approaching, the two instantly became alert, before surprisingly charging towards him, without waiting for an opening.

Although Li Zhu was not expecting this aggressive style of fighting from the illusions, he quickly composed himself, circulating energy in his trusty Blue Thunder gauntlet, which was surrounded in sparks of electricity.

The illusions were too fast, though, and the moment they reached fighting distance, they used a pincer attack, kicking powerfully from both sides.

Li Zhu was suddenly forced to block, to avoid dying under the force of third stage qi gathering realm illusions, which no doubt contained a lot of energy in their kicks, enough to crush stone, let alone his body.

He brought his arms to either side of himself, each one defending a kick, while being protected by heavenly energy, which he circulated at the best of his capabilities.

The kicks hit his arms perfectly, causing a loud cracking sound, before sending Li Zhu flying back, spitting blood. Although his right arm was fine due to the gauntlet, the left arm was completely broken, with the bones having shattered and covered in blood.

Li Zhu slowly stood back up, wiping the blood from his mouth. He now looked extremely serious, no longer daring to look down on these illusions, which had been so easy to kill just one floor earlier.

Although the pain from his left arm was gut-wrenching, Li Zhu also understood that he risked dying on this floor, if he was not careful. This was because, since the illusions were a stage of cultivation higher than him, each of their attacks contained far too much energy for him to handle, especially the parts of his body with no armor, which were everywhere but his right arm.

At the same time, Li Zhu really wanted to win the reward for this floor, not to mention the fact that he did not want to risk failing the trial, so he still chose to continue the fight, albeit ready to quit if needed.

Taking the initiative this time, Li Zhu ran to the side, provoking the illusions to follow him. Him being on the side, one of the illusions was closer to him, meaning it would reach him first, which Li Zhu hoped to use as a way to counter the numbers disadvantage.

The illusion was as fast as the wind, as it instantly reached Li Zhu, who was already prepared, with his right arm winding up for a punch.

That was a feint, though, as the moment the illusion reached him, he crouched all the way down, before charging into the illusion like a bull, ramming it with his shoulders, which he had infused with heavenly energy.

The illusion, who had been trying to dodge the fake punch, could not counter this attack, as it was flung back, into its partner, which as only a few yards away.

Li Zhu knew this was his only chance, and demonstrating his top speed reached the fallen illusions in the blink of an eye, before ruthlessly striking towards them with his gauntlet.

It was not that easy, though, as these illusions were much stronger than the previous ones, so they managed to stand back up, before quickly forming a weak defense.

Although their improvised block did not manage to stop Li Zhu's strike completely, it did lessen the damage significantly, as they managed to still stay standing.

Li Zhu, knowing the opening was gone, hastily retreated, just as the two illusions counterattacked with their own punches, which barely missed him.

'If I had been a second slower, I would not be alive right now' was the conclusion that Li Zhu reached, sensing the energy around the two punches.

The illusions followed up on their punches by charging towards Li Zhu, using the same pincer attack that had broken his left arm.

Li Zhu, though, being highly trained in combat, was not going to fall for the same trick twice, and immediately fell to the ground rotating on the spot as fast as he could catching in a hook both of the illusions' grounded legs.

The illusions didn't expect this move and for them it was too late to react leaving them to fall helplessly and hard on the stone floor leaving an opening for Li Zhu to counterattack.

Li Zhu then continued his attack by lifting his right arm up high, circulating all of his remaining heavenly energy into the gauntlet. He was relying on this strike to end the fight, so he used his full force, slamming his right arm down, hitting one illusion with the sideways fist, and the other with his elbow. The illusions were quite close to each other, so hitting them both with only his functional arm was possible in this way. As a rain of lightning formed, lighting up the whole room, the full force of this last punch hit the two illusions, that could not take it, dissipating on the spot, sealing Li Zhu's victory.

The latter did not look good, though, as he tried to use his robe as a bandage to cover up his left arm, which was bleeding profusely.

'This is the floor to stop on' decided Li Zhu, who was sure he would not come out alive, if he dared enter the sixth floor.

Although it seemed like the fight on this floor had ended quick, Li Zhu had come very close to dying many times, and if it were not for his combat skills, which he had learned through years of training as the crown prince, the result may have been different.

Li Zhu shivered at that thought, as he turned around, looking towards the chest in the center of the room.

The usual phenomenon occurred, with bright light flashing, before the lid was uncovered, to reveal a crimson red fruit, shaped like a pear but with spikes all over its shell.

"Red Demon Fruit" exclaimed Li Zhu, though by now he was quite used to being surprised in this tower, so it was mostly a subconscious reaction.

The Red Demon Fruit aided cultivation, though if one was not careful, its violent energies could cause over-filling of the Dantian, leading to an internal explosion, and death.

Li Zhu was not worried about this, though, since he knew the way to consume it correctly, and he was actually quite happy with it, since cultivation base was the aspect he was most lacking in.

Picking up the fruit and the Phoenix-Blood armor, Li Zhu slowly walked down the stairs, out of the tower, eager to get his left arm treated.

One thought remained on his mind, though, 'Having passed five floors, there is no doubt about it, i have passed the sect entrance exam, and become a member of the Flaming Saber sect!'