Now that he had a lead, Chen Xu planned to see if there was anything he could use to temporarily strengthen himself.
The skeleton hero slot granted by Raise Skeleton at level 40 had not been used yet, so he decided to use it now and see if any surprises would appear.
【Raise Skeleton (40+4): Summons a skeleton. If a corpse is consumed for the summoning, an extra bonus is granted based on the quality of the corpse. Current enhancements: Cold Enhancement, Aura of Cold, Special Curse. Skill: Bash】
【skeleton hero: Bone Guard One (Level 19)】
【skeleton hero: Bone Guard Two (Level 19)】
【skeleton hero: Bone Guard Three (Level 9)】
【skeleton hero: Not yet transformed】
He selected a skeleton soldier from the Undead Kingdom at random and used the transformation slot.
【skeleton hero transformation successful. Obtained skeleton hero. Type: dual-claw assassin. Please name.】
"Bone Guard Four."
Chen Xu decided to continue using the Bone Guard naming system for the skeleton hero names, otherwise, he would have to rename Bone Guard One, Two, and Three, which was a waste of brain cells.
【skeleton hero: Bone Guard Four (Level 1)】
【Skills: Insidious Trap, Dark Cloak, Dissipate】
【Insidious Trap (Level 1): The skeleton hero has rich experience in trap making and can set up corresponding traps based on the terrain and different enemies.】
【Dark Cloak (Level 1): The skeleton hero releases a magical cloak filled with dark energy to shroud itself. This greatly increases Magic Resistance and reduces presence.】
【Dissipate (Level 1): An assassination technique of a certain fire elemental assassin from ancient legends. (Because the fire elemental race is naturally hot and bright, the success rate of this assassin's hits was never high until one day, through elemental dispersion, it comprehended the technique of active dissipation. From then on, a King of Assassins was born.) It allows the user to turn their body into elemental particles and reorganize within a hundred-meter range.】
From its skill set, Bone Guard Four was an assassin specializing in assassinations. It was short, only 1.5 meters tall, but its dual claws were exceptionally large, nearly reaching the ground.
However, the assessment tomorrow did not seem like a scenario where one could perform backstabs. As for the traps, there likely wouldn't be an opportunity to set them up either.
"Bone Guard Four, how many types of traps do you know?"
"My Lord, that is a difficult question to answer. A trap master can instantly set up targeted traps based on the environment and the enemy. Many traps are even designed for a specific target and used only once. Therefore, I cannot say for sure how many types I know."
As it spoke, Bone Guard Four demonstrated its skills on the spot by the edge of the Dragonfall Swamp in the Undead Kingdom, setting up a soul enhancement trap. This trap would temporarily strengthen the soul of anyone who triggered it, even causing it to briefly leave the body, forcing them to face the residual dragon pressure of the Dragon Tomb in their soul form.
Anyone with slightly weak mental strength would likely be turned into a fool instantly.
Chen Xu nodded and then asked, "Then, do you know any traps specifically for the moon?"
Bone Guard Four was completely stunned and stood there lost in thought.
It wasn't until Chen Xu waved a hand in front of its eyes that it snapped back to its senses. "My apologies, My Lord. I simply did not expect that My Lord was already facing enemies at the level of gods. With my current abilities, it is probably, likely, a bit impossible."
Seeing Bone Guard Four's troubled expression, Chen Xu realized he hadn't expressed himself clearly, causing a misunderstanding.
"It is not the actual moon. Rather, it is someone who has received the favor of the moon or holds a portion of its authority?"
"Oh, My Lord, there is actually not much difference. For deities at the level of the moon or the sun, their love for their favored ones is incomparable to other gods. The only difference between targeting their favored ones and targeting the gods themselves is the degree of their partiality."
Chen Xu did not quite understand and frowned slightly.
Seeing this, Bone Guard Four continued, "The moon and the sun are naturally born gods, and they have countless believers who have raised thrones of faith for them to become gods. Therefore, for those who receive their favor, they can bestow divine power without regard for the cost, depending on their level of partiality. Other ordinary gods of faith are only unsparing with their power when they are competing for faith."
Now Chen Xu understood. It was like a tycoon who had nothing but money and could afford to be willful.
"Then just treat them as a moon-favored one who has received a tiny bit of favor and set up every trap you can think of there." Chen Xu pointed toward the center of the entire Undead Kingdom, the Overlord's Castle.
【Overlord's Castle: The castle of the Lord of the Undead, currently empty. (Newborn Lord of the Undead contender, please arm your castle as soon as possible. When the castle descends onto the front lines of battle, the aura of the Lord of the Undead will provide great encouragement to your soldiers.)】
"You can use the pile of spoils next to the castle however you want. Be quick."
"Yes, My Lord."
Then, Chen Xu contacted Xuan Chu and had him arrange for some Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Mages to enter the castle. Tomorrow, this would be Chen Xu's surprise move.
...
The next day, at the Hour of the Dragon.
The three sticks of incense outside the wooden huts had burned out, and the participants from each team were standing outside, waiting for the assessment.
Before long, a gust of wind blew by, and three cultivators in different styles of attire arrived with the wind, landing in front of the large tripod.
The leader pulled a stick of green incense from his sleeve and inserted it into the tripod. With a swipe of two fingers, the long incense ignited.
The three bowed three times toward the tripod, and the leader pulled out a token. He activated the token and stamped his foot on the ground, causing the floor beneath the tripod to rise slowly.
With a point of his finger toward the surrounding arenas, the ten arenas slowly converged toward the center, eventually fitting together to form a single circular field.
The daoist put away the token and took out a mirror, carefully placing it over the smoke rising from the green incense. The mirror actually hovered without falling. Then the three bowed again, and the mirror rose into the air along with the smoke, only stopping once it reached a height of over five hundred meters.
"Everyone, I am the current successor of the Tianxin Path, Fang Yuan. This platform is the site for the final assessment. The format of the assessment is very simple." Fang Yuan took out another stick of green incense from his sleeve and inserted it into the tripod. "The ones who light this stick of Tianxin Incense will be those who pass the assessment."
Fang Yuan stamped his foot again, and ten sets of stairs rose from the edge of the arena, facing the ten wooden huts.
"Everyone, please enter."
The ten teams stepped onto the arena one after another.
Seeing that everyone had entered, Fang Yuan nodded to his two companions. Understanding his intent, the two of them flew toward the north and south of the arena respectively. Fang Yuan also rose with the wind, and with a flash in the air, he actually created a clone. The original body and the clone each flew toward the east and west.
"Invoke the Sky's Hearing, witness the paragons, the Tianxin Assessment begins!"
...
In the distance, within the guest mountain of Tianxin Island, a crowd of people was watching the water screen in the sky.
"The fight has started! It's started!"
"Go, Ling Zilong of the Shuanghua Sect! I put a hundred bets on you! Whether I can reach the Foundation Establishment stage depends on you!"
"Hmph, if you ask me, the rogue cultivators are the ones to watch this year. I have high hopes for that Bone Path successor and the Bright Moon Fairy."
"Hehe, it's fine if the Bright Moon Fairy wins too, I placed bets on her as well."
...
The people from the four great sects on the arena had already set up their formations, holding their ground and beginning to accumulate their momentum.
Aside from Chen Xu and Chang Shu, the captain of the other rogue cultivator team actually took out a crystal zither and began to play it right there on the arena. The rest of the team even began to dance to the music.
Chen Xu watched with a look of utter confusion and turned to look at the others in his team. "Is this also a form of immortal cultivation technique?"
Everyone shook their heads, indicating they had never seen it before.
The other sect teams remained focused on maintaining their formations, not daring to strike blindly.
"Big Brother Chen." Shen Mengqi looked at Chen Xu. "You do not practice immortal cultivation, and my talent only works on immortal cultivators. So today, I must trouble Big Brother Chen to act as a free agent and adapt to the situation on the field. I will lead the other senior brothers to strike together."
A mist drifted from Shen Mengqi's body, gradually enveloping the other members of the team. Chen Xu discovered that when he looked at them with his mental detection, the mist felt like a single person.
Just as Chen Xu was marveling at this, the performance over there seemed to reach its climax. They weren't just dancing to the music anymore; they were even singing loudly.
Seeing that the other teams had no intention of moving yet, and the Tianxin successor hadn't mentioned a time limit for the assessment, Chen Xu decided not to wait any longer and break the stalemate.
As for his target, he chose the singing and dancing rogue cultivator team. He was afraid that if the performance finished, something strange might happen.
Thus, Chen Xu walked over slowly, and when he was ten paces away, he shouted, "Chen Xu of the Bone Path, here to seek guidance!"
Before his voice had even faded, a massive white bone palm arrived first, slapping straight toward the zither player.
The man's face flashed with a look of annoyance, and he was forced to stop playing. He switched to using true qi to activate his spirit zither, forming sound waves to block the giant palm.
"A good move! Take this, Bone Long Punch!" Then, the palm changed into a fist and struck out again.
"You brute, do you think I, Dong, am easy to bully?" As he spoke, he prepared to place both hands on the zither to play a sound wave killing technique.
But before his true qi could be unleashed, a massive skeleton foot descended from the sky, trampling him into the ground. Before he could recover, the fist from earlier arrived, sending him and his zither flying off the stage together.
Chen Xu showed no mercy, repeatedly controlling the giant palms to slap the others while using his powerful mental strength to lock down their divine senses, making their reactions sluggish.
In less than seven breaths of time, the entire group had been swept off the arena by Chen Xu.
Dong Xiaoxiang climbed up from the ground, first carefully wiping the dirt off his beloved zither before putting it away. Then, he shouted at Chen Xu on the arena, "Where did you come from, you brute? You are simply unreasonable! You... you... hmph!"
Looking up from below, Dong Xiaoxiang remembered that there was a Heavenly Pupil Mirror watching everything happening here, so the curses in his mouth could not be uttered. He could only let out an angry hmph and turn to leave.
Chen Xu was completely puzzled, but at that moment, the other sect teams saw that Chen Xu had already made a move. They no longer maintained their defensive postures and each chose an opponent, beginning a chaotic brawl.
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