Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

The last projection responsible for forming the hand seals quickly retreated.

A flash of lightning appeared beneath Xilun's feet, and his body leaped more than ten meters, his right hand grabbing out of the air.

The flying Thunder Spear shattered the remaining white light of the shield-bearer and fell back into his palm.

The spear tip is pointing downwards.

Boom!

The golden thunder eagle descended from the sky, shattering the last projection along with the ground within a radius of several feet.

The gray-white stone ground trembled violently.

Three beams of white light slowly rose up and then converged into a silver number in mid-air.

Eight.

Xilun's chest rose and fell slightly, and the wound on his palm, cut by the sword, was rapidly healing under the power of the array.

He glanced around.

The eighth floor is clearly not over yet.

Sure enough, the silver numbers only stayed for a few breaths before dissipating again.

The broken stonework splits apart to both sides, revealing a narrow ancient path covered with bluestone.

On both sides of the road are bottomless cliffs, with dark clouds hanging low above and fine rain falling with the cold wind.

Xilun stepped onto the ancient road.

The three-person battle formation just now was only the first level of the eighth stage.

According to the rules of the Linglong Tower, there are three battles on the eighth floor. Each time a challenger passes a battle, the projection will adjust based on the methods revealed.

The second enemy appeared quickly.

This time, it was two projections whose physiques and strengths were close to perfection.

A man wields a heavy hammer, his body covered in black rock armor.

The other man was unarmed, yet his movements were as fast as a ghost, specifically seeking out gaps in Xilun's energy conversion.

The battle lasted for a full quarter of an hour.

The ancient road crumbled one after another under the heavy hammer.

Xilun constantly adjusted his position using the Canglang Step, first using thirteen spear shadows to force back the fist cultivator, then forcibly withstanding a heavy hammer projection, and using the Thunder Eagle to tear open the rock armor on the opponent's chest.

That hammer blow nearly shattered his left shoulder bone.

The intense pain caused Xilun's vision to go black.

But he didn't stop.

Inside the Linglong Tower, one need not worry about hidden injuries in reality; such an opportunity for unreserved combat is extremely rare.

He even took the initiative to suppress the Thunder Eagle, relying solely on his spear skills and the Overturning Sea Technique to suppress the two projections.

Each clash of forces made his understanding of his own power clearer.

The initial sluggishness of the tide gradually became smoother under the pressure of life and death.

The Thunder Spear is sometimes as fierce as thunder, and sometimes as dense as rain, making the most of the narrow terrain of the ancient road.

When the final shot landed, the head of the hammer-wielding projection was completely shattered.

Taking advantage of Xilun's temporary exhaustion, the remaining fist cultivators thrust their five fingers like knives towards his back.

Xilun turned around and released his spear with his right hand.

The gun barrel slid across his palm.

He gripped the butt of the gun at an almost impossible distance, and using the force of his body rotation, he thrust the gun tip into the fist cultivator's throat.

A burst of white light.

Xilun knelt on one knee, supporting himself with his palm on the Thunder Spear, panting heavily.

Even if the body simulated by the array does not actually die, the mental exhaustion cannot be avoided.

After fighting continuously until now, his focus has been stretched to its limit.

The rain gradually stopped.

Xilun straightened up.

At the end of the ancient road, a figure appeared silently.

The man was dressed in an extremely old-fashioned black short coat, and was not tall, even somewhat thin.

He kept his head down, his right hand gripping a plain, black spear.

There was no lightning.

There were no unusual phenomena.

There was no suffocating pressure or overwhelming force.

But the moment he saw him, the skin on Xiren's back instinctively tensed up.

Gun repairman.

Moreover, he is an extremely dangerous gun mechanic.

When those projections appear, the formation will at least reveal its general aura.

The person before him seemed to have completely absorbed his strength, not even a trace of it leaking out.

This is not weakness.

Rather, it was the control over power that reached an extremely terrifying level.

Xilun slowly raised the Thunder Spear.

The black-clad gunman opposite also looked up at the same time.

His face was still shrouded in white mist, and only a pair of emotionless eyes could be seen.

The figure vanished in the next moment.

Xilun's brow and thunderous eyes suddenly contracted.

Too fast!

Before he could even see the other man's starting motion, the dark spearhead was already in front of his chest.

Xilun instinctively thrusts his spear horizontally.

clang!

The two spears clashed.

There was no violent shockwave as I had imagined, nor any ear-piercing roar.

The black-clad gunman's power was condensed to an almost terrifying degree, with all the impact concentrated at the point of contact between the gun tip and the target.

Xilun's wrist suddenly sank downwards.

The Thunder Spear nearly slipped from his grasp.

The black tip of the gun grazed the shaft like a venomous snake lurking in deep water, aiming straight for his throat.

Xilun used the Canglang Step to dodge to the side, while simultaneously sweeping the back of his spear across his opponent's waist and abdomen.

The black-clad gunman only took half a step forward.

That seemingly insignificant half-step was precisely the area where the spear's sweeping attack was most difficult to exert force.

His left hand pressed down on the shaft of the Cang Lei spear, while his right hand gently pushed the long, black spear forward.

puff!

The spear tip pierced Xilun's shoulder.

An intense, unbearable pain flooded my mind.

Xilun ignored the wound, and three golden lightning patterns instantly lit up.

Thunder Eagle spreads its wings.

A burst of violent lightning force erupted from the Thunder Spear, attempting to shake off the opponent's hand.

Before the lightning appeared, the black-clad spearman released his left hand and retreated with the momentum of the spear, his black spear drawing a perfect arc on the ancient road after the rain.

The spearhead lifted a raindrop that had not yet hit the ground.

The drop of water was enveloped by the force, transforming into a thin, almost imperceptible line.

Silen Ray sensed danger and immediately turned his head.

The water grazed my cheek, leaving a bottomless hole in the rock wall behind me.

"Control of strength..."

Xilun's expression grew increasingly serious.

This man may not be stronger than Tinos, but his marksmanship far surpasses that of any opponent he has ever faced.

There were no unnecessary movements.

Not a single ounce of energy was wasted.

Every shot landed precisely in his most vulnerable spot.

The black-clad gunman didn't give Xilun time to think.

One wrong step, and they closed in again.

One shot, three changes.

The spear tip first touched the center of the brow, then dipped halfway down to pierce the heart, and finally rebounded with the force of Xilun's parry, suddenly stabbing towards the right rib.

Xilun took three steps back.

The Azure Thunder Spear transformed into a dense barrage of spear shadows, colliding wildly with the jet-black spear on the narrow ancient path.

Dangdang Dangdang!

Sparks mixed with lightning kept splashing down the cliff.

Ten moves.

Thirty moves.

Fifty moves.

Xilun had pushed the Azure Thunder Spear Technique to its limit, unleashing the ninefold tidal force of the Overturning Sea Technique in succession, while the Thunder Eagle circled overhead, pouncing and killing.

However, the black-clad gunman never revealed any special trump cards.

He just drew his gun.

Thrust, block, seize, stab, collapse, pick.

All of them are the most basic marksmanship techniques.

Yet these basic movements, in his hands, seemed to have been honed through countless trials, each one striking the weak points of Xilun's strength.

Siren suffered bloody holes in his chest, shoulders, and thighs.

If the formation hadn't prevented the challenger from truly dying, he would have already lost his ability to fight.

On the other hand, the black-clad gunman only had a scorch mark on his sleeve from the lightning.

The gap is too big.

It's not a difference in strength.

It's not a difference in marksmanship level.

Xilun took a deep breath, his eyes showing no sign of defeat, but rather an unprecedented focus.

He was no longer in a hurry to win.

The power of the Overturning Sea Technique slowly receded, and the phantom of the Thunder Eagle re-merged into the spear.

Since brute force alone cannot suppress them, then let's decide the outcome with spearmanship.

The black-clad gunman seemed to sense his change and paused for a moment for the first time.

The two stared at each other from more than ten meters apart.

Below the ancient road, clouds and mist surged.

The next instant, the two charged forward simultaneously.

The Thunder Spear drew a line of blue-white lightning.

The jet-black spear, however, shone without any light.

The two spear tips met precisely in the middle of the ancient road.

Xilun's arm muscles tensed, and nine layers of surging energy flowed continuously along the gun barrel.

The first eight layers of surging energy were slightly dissipated by the slight vibration of the opponent's spear tip.

When the ninth level erupted, the black-clad gunman finally took half a step back.

Only take half a step back.

A flash of lightning appeared in Xilun's eyes, and he used the momentum to thrust his spear forward, aiming straight for his opponent's chest.

However, the black-clad gunman suddenly released his right hand.

The jet-black spear spun half a circle around the Thunder Spear before being grasped again by the left hand.

His body passed right next to Xilun.

The spear tip, like a black lightning bolt, pierced through Xilun's left waist and abdomen, and then exited from his right chest.

Xilun froze.

The Thunder Spear in his hand stopped less than half a foot away from the opponent's heart.

Almost.

But this is a matter of life and death.

The black-clad gunman withdrew his spear.

Before the intense pain overwhelmed his consciousness, Xilun saw the other person gently twist their wrist, and all the blood on the tip of the gun fell off.

His movements were almost identical to those he used when he defeated the first projection on the eighth floor.

It turns out that the formation had been reading his spear technique from the very beginning.

This last enemy not only had far superior marksmanship, but also knew all the habits he had previously revealed.

A white light quickly engulfed everything in front of them.

Outside the tower, the runes representing the eighth floor flashed intensely.

Silen's name continued to jump up.

sixteen.

fourteen.

twelve.

It eventually stopped at tenth place.

The square was deathly silent.

The gray-robed deacon stared at the stone tablet, his gaze lingering for a long time.

Although Xilun did not manage to completely conquer the eighth level, he had already completed two of the battles.

According to Linglongta's calculations, his score just surpassed that of Randall, who was originally ranked tenth, officially placing him in the top ten.

The tower gate opened.

Xilun emerged from the white light, his face slightly pale, but without any injuries.

All the disciples watching focused their attention on him.

Someone subconsciously looked at the stone tablet, then at the boy who had just returned from the Blackwater Abyss, and their throat bobbed slightly.

"tenth……"

"He's only been back for two days."

"Moreover, he has not yet reached the third-tier extreme realm."

The whispers quickly turned into a hushed murmur.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the inner courtyard.

Celia didn't care about their new ranking.

He looked back at the eighth floor of the Linglong Tower, his mind still replaying the final shot.

The projected figure's strength was at most comparable to his own, but its marksmanship left him almost powerless to fight back.

If they were to meet in real life, the opponent's strength would probably be no weaker than Tinos'.

It could be even more dangerous.

"Whose projection is that?"

Xilun looked at the gray-robed deacon.

The gray-robed deacon flipped through the records, then shook his head after a moment.

"The projections from the eighth floor onwards of the Linglong Tower are partly from the early inner court disciples and partly from the battle traces of powerful individuals collected by the monastery."

"Only the elders can verify his/her specific identity."

"Who did you meet?"

"A gun mechanic."

Xilun said:

"With a long, black spear."

The gray-robed deacon paused slightly, as if remembering something, but ultimately said nothing.

"The enemies in the Linglong Tower are just projections. If you want to know the answer, you must first pass through the eighth floor completely."

Xilun nodded.

He remembered the opponent's last shot, and he also remembered the reason for each of his failures.

He might not be able to win next time.

But at least it won't be such a complete defeat.

Xilun picked up the Thunder Spear and left the square amidst countless complex gazes.

On the stone tablet behind them, the name of the tenth person still gleamed with a faint silver light.

Weston.

This name, which had been silent for so long, finally entered the ranks of the ten strongest people in the inner courtyard of the Holy Light Monastery for the first time.

-

a few days later.

Inside the cave on the cliff, the blue-black energy flowed slowly along Xilun's arm and merged into his palm.

A fist-sized mass of air was continuously compressed between his five fingers.

After being tempered to seventy percent, the power of the Overturning Sea Technique has become extremely solid.

Logically speaking, as long as the current speed is maintained, it will take another seven or eight months to complete all the tempering and step into the third-order extreme realm.

But when Xilun tried to compress the energy further, a thin, dark red line suddenly emerged from the depths of the energy.

That thin line was extremely faint.

If it weren't for the Moon Memory Meditation Technique, which made his mental perception far superior to those of others of the same level, he would have been almost completely unaware of it.

Xilun's gaze darkened, and the power in his palm suddenly dissipated.

The dark red thread, like a startled creature, twisted in the airflow before quickly disappearing.

He closed his eyes and re-examined his dantian.

The power of the Overturning Sea Technique is like a deep blue lake slowly rotating, with ancient water energy sinking to the bottom.

Three golden lightning patterns floated around the aura, occasionally bursting out with tiny lightning flashes.

Everything seems perfectly stable.

However, deep within the energy, there were many dark red particles that were difficult to see with the naked eye.

That is the power of an evil god.

At the bottom of the Blackwater Abyss, the remnants of the eight-armed evil god were summoned by its true form, and the thirty-six blood locks loosened for a moment.

Later, in order to deal with the Black Soul Mercenary Group, he took the initiative to unlock a blood lock and borrowed the power of his severed limbs.

Although the black energy was eventually suppressed again, some of the evil god's power still merged into the meridians and was brought into the dantian by the Overturning Sea Technique.

Previously, the degree of qi tempering was not high, so this effect was not obvious.

Now that the energy is nearing perfection, all the tiny impurities are beginning to show.

Xilun attempted to freeze the dark red particles with his profound yin chill.

As soon as the chill approached, the dark red particles quickly dissipated and merged into the surrounding energy.

Once the chill subsided, they slowly gathered in another location.

Even the Thunder Dragon's Heart could not completely erase it.

That power originated from the same source as the severed right arm. As long as the severed arm remained, the evil god's power that had entered the body seemed to have taken root.

"If this continues, our strength will never be fully utilized."

Xilun opened his eyes.

The closer one gets to the extreme, the greater the impact of impurities in one's energy.

If forced compression is attempted, not only will the final 30% of the tempering process fail, but the power of the evil god may even be allowed to invade the internal organs.

He pondered for a moment, then stood up and put away the Thunder Spear.

The Golden Thunder Vortex Meridian has been unable to break through the fourth stage for a long time, also because the internal organs are not strong enough to withstand it.

Since the Overturning Sea Technique has temporarily hit a bottleneck, I will first use thunder magic to temper my body and try to find a way to deal with the power of the evil god.

On the north side of the Holy Light Monastery, there is a cliff that is shrouded in thunderclouds all year round.

Thunderclap Cliff.

There is a natural lightning-attracting vein buried underground in this area, and lightning strikes the sky every afternoon.

Disciples who cultivate thunder magic only need to pay a small contribution to enter stone platforms of different heights to temper their bodies with thunder.

When Xilun arrived at the foot of the cliff, it was drizzling.