Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

Shi Ri looked as if he had been pulled out of a pool of blood; he was almost covered in blood, with wounds of all sizes and depths all over his body, and in some places, you could even see the white bones.

But the next moment, a faint earthy yellow light shone from his body, and a warm and resilient healing power of the earth surged from the depths of his body, quickly repairing his injuries.

He looked up, his gaze piercing through the settling metallic dust. He saw an oval energy gate emerging on the wall of the gear maze.

The edges of the door rippled slightly like water.

exit!

Joy flashed in Shi Ri's eyes; he was finally about to clear the game!

He rushed toward that door!

Looking at the time, there were still 10 seconds left until the 5 minutes he and Liu Nian had agreed upon!

in time!

Shi Ri plunged into the pale blue light.

hum-

Another familiar, slight dizziness from the spatial shift and the flood of light filled my vision.

When the Sun-Eating Beast's feet touched solid ground again and its vision returned—

What he saw was not the third-floor corridor he had expected.

Instead, it was... a familiar human face with a slightly helpless smile.

Liu Nian was standing not far in front of him, looking at him with a leisurely expression that seemed to say, "I've been waiting for you for ages."

Shi Ri was stunned for a moment, his mind unable to process what was happening.

"Failed?" he blurted out, his voice filled with disbelief.

Did I go over time? No way!

Liu Nian shrugged, his tone tinged with a hint of helpless mockery: "There's nothing I can do. Which of the three paths did you choose at the beginning?"

Shi Ri subconsciously replied, "I chose the far left one." As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately realized what he had said.

Liu Nian nodded: "I chose the middle one."

"so what?"

Liu Nian said, "The middle path is still a maze... I can't possibly walk through it in 5 minutes..."

He was helpless too!

He and Shi Ri are actually the same; they are both extremely bad at mazes and puzzle-solving!

Unfortunately, he chose the maze...

So after hearing the system notification that he had cleared the Sun Devouring level, he simply quit.

Fortunately, the trial mechanism of the "Nine-Layer Corridor" is relatively merciful. The progress will not be completely reset after failure. They will still start the challenge from the second "Precision" corridor and will not need to go through the first floor again.

Having gained experience this time, the two easily passed through the first stage of the gear maze and then both chose the leftmost passage.

This time it went quite smoothly.

As for the gatekeeper boss, the Blade Cutter, Liu Nian dealt with it much more easily than he dealt with the Sun Devourer.

He didn't need to move at all. He just waited for the opponent to attack him, then unleashed that metal storm, and that was it. The steel cell shield exploded, and the BOSS was gone.

[Hint: Liu Nian, Shi Ri, you have successfully passed the second level of the corridor: 'Precision'.]

[Comparison of completion times: Liu Nian - 5 minutes 21 seconds; Shi Ri - 5 minutes 31 seconds.]

Synchronization rate...94%

The third-level corridor will open in 10 seconds.

[The Trial of Virtue: Resonance.]

……

Two days later.

Neither of them expected that this one instance would take two days!

Failure, start again; adjust, try again. The cycle repeats itself.

Shi Ri felt that the difficulty increased dramatically as the game progressed, while Liu Nian thought the opposite: the further along the way, the easier it became...

Of course! Because he's constantly grinding for attribute enhancements, the stronger he becomes, the more difficult the monsters in the dungeon will be!

The bosses guarding each level have surprisingly high health.

From 12 million to 18 million, then to 25 million... As the number of layers increases, the life pools of these steel behemoths become increasingly unfathomably deep.

Furthermore, the stacked life effect of [Heart of Steel] yields significantly higher returns when facing these behemoths.

A single battle often results in a permanent increase in health by millions.

When the [Chaotic Dimensional Demon Tomb] on the eighth floor, with a blood volume of forty million, turned into countless iron filings in the fist's energy, Liu Nian glanced at the astronomical number in his status bar:

Health: 96,000,029.

Compared to before, his health has doubled! Naturally, the difficulty of this dungeon has also skyrocketed!

Meanwhile, Sun Devourer was really unlucky... He felt that this monster was ridiculously strong!

He even used Elune's Heart, and only just managed to kill the monster at the last possible moment...

Fortunately, there's only one hurdle left. I just need to grit my teeth and get through it.

But he never expected that this final hurdle would get him stuck!

Because this final level is a perfect mirror image battle between the two sides and each other, the Sun Devourer can't beat it, no matter what!

Finally, we reached the ninth floor.

This time, the two were transported to a pure white, boundless, tranquil space. Beneath their feet was a smooth, mirror-like white floor that reflected their figures, above them was a soft, unobstructed white light, and all around them was nothing but absolute silence.

[Hint: You have entered the 'Ninefold Corridor'—the Ninth Corridor: Eternity.]

[Rules: Face your true self and overcome yourself. The trial participant will face a complete mirror image of another trial participant.]

[Victory condition: Completely defeat your opponent's mirror image.]

[Synchronized Timer: Off. There is no time limit or synchronized timer for this level. This challenge will not be included in the final completion score. The first player to win the challenge will have priority in choosing the rewards.]

As the notification tone faded, the pure white space rippled slightly.

Before the Sun Devourer, a familiar figure slowly coalesced and took shape—black hair, a calm face, and a body that, while not particularly imposing, contained a chilling power.

It was a perfect mirror image of Liu Nian, even replicating the unique indifference in his eyes.

Opposite Liu Nian, the air distorted, and a powerful, muscular demon bear warrior with dark brown fur and amber-colored wild flames burning in his eyes slowly stepped out of the void.

It was a reflection of the sun-devouring creature, it roared, its claws gleaming coldly.

"Tsk," Devourer of the Sun cracked his neck, looked at the "Liu Nian" opposite him, licked his fangs, and said, "I've wanted to fight you for real for a long time, but I never thought it would be here. Haha, come on! Let's see how long you can last!"

Liu Nian glanced at the "Sun Devourer" opposite him, whose fighting spirit was boiling, and nodded slightly: "Alright, let's see what you're capable of!"

Battle breaks out!

On Liu Nian's side, Mirror Image of the Sun roared and activated its full berserk transformation. The power of the three elements—earth, fire, and lightning—swirled around its body, making it resemble a maddened ancient beast as it fiercely pounced on "Liu Nian"! Its sharp claws tore through the air, accompanied by elemental shrieks!

Meanwhile, on the other side of Devouring Sun, the mirror image of "Liu Nian" moved with extreme simplicity. Facing Devouring Sun's ferocious attack, he merely turned slightly to the side, and his right fist, with a speed that seemed slow but was actually faster than the visual capture, struck Devouring Sun's crossed arms.

"Bang--!!!"

The muffled sound was like the beating of a giant drum. The momentum of the Sun-Eating Charge came to an abrupt halt, as if the person had crashed into an invisible iron wall, and was sent flying backward at an even greater speed. The armor on both arms shattered inch by inch, and blood splattered from the gaping wounds on their hands.

-43,553,859!

A shocking damage figure appeared.

Just a simple punch!

The sun-devouring creature crashed heavily onto the white ground, sliding dozens of meters before coming to a stop, its eyes filled with horror.