The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

“Great Immortal, I have no objection to you making the decision, but how do we deal with that vampire monster?” Faris said.

Lu Wenjun turned to look into vehicle number 4: "Reinforcements... are out of the question."

In the few minutes they spent gathering intelligence, another batch of UFOs appeared. Even the two cunning and resourceful ghosts had turned into fish, and carriage number 4 had become a veritable seafood market.

One of the teardrop-shaped slots on the back of his hand had been emptied while analyzing the UFO, and there was still one full slot left, meaning he only had one more analysis opportunity. Analyzing another spell to see the effect was one option, but Lü Wenjun had no interest in these phantom spirits in front of him.

The first ability test is a necessary expense; the second opportunity requires careful selection. And besides...

There are other ways, though.

"Reiyumi-kun, there's something I'd like to confirm. Can a Phantom Spirit exist independently if it's too far removed from the Original Tome?"

“No, that won’t work.” Ling Gong shook her head. “Phantom spirits are like words and images in a book that use magic to haunt things. If they’re too far from the original text and lose their magical supply, they’ll disappear naturally… Why are you asking this?”

“Let’s confirm the feasibility of the plan.” Lu Wenjun smiled slyly. “Let’s conduct an experiment first. Ling Gong, please summon two little foxes for backup. Faris, get ready to open the window when I signal you.”

"Hey, you can't—"

Lu Wenjun raised his right hand, aiming at the strange creature hopping around on the barbecue grill. Judging from its appearance, it was probably a mythical creature known as the "Mothman," with no obvious weaknesses. However…

He pointed his left palm at Mothman and whispered, "Come!"

A mysterious light from outer space ignited, and the Mothman, like a magnet drawn to a magnet, flew across the carriage. Its face was filled with astonishment, and it was about to spread its wings and struggle when a fox spirit slapped it against its face. Ling Gong said, "Stop!"

Mothman, dazed and confused after being possessed by the fox, was easily captured by Lü Wenjun. Faris suddenly realized what was happening and pointed to the car window: "Open!"

With the car window slammed open, Lü Wenjun and Faris together tossed the Mothman out of the window! The Mothman, propelled by the fox, plummeted towards the sky! The window closed! The end!

Five seconds later, three notifications appeared on the crystal screen:

[Lü Wenjun +300 points]

[Tenyinin Rei Gong +300 points]

Good Faris +300 points

Lu Wenjun clenched his fist excitedly: "The ultimate truancy duo is complete!"

"This works?!" Linggong exclaimed in surprise.

"Just tell me, has the problem been solved? Have the obstacles been cleared?"

"No, no, that's definitely not what this exam was originally intended for, is it?"

Lu Wenjun patiently explained, "Why should we follow the question setter's line of thought? This is real combat, and real combat only looks at the result. If we go in side by side, we will only be defeated by the phantoms in front of us, but by using combination techniques to outsmart them, we can steadily advance and win. This is the wisdom of a magician."

"You make cheating sound so righteous!"

Faris slapped his thigh: "How can this be called cheating? Our new method is highly efficient, low-cost, and safe, and it can eliminate phantom spirits in a completely natural and pollution-free way. It has obviously far surpassed the outdated combat extermination method! This is the choice of a new era of magicians!"

"A thousand words are not as good as one action. What do you mean, Reiko?"

Linggong struggled with her conscience for half a second before resolutely saying, "Let's go, Wenjun!"

Lu Wenjun leaned out and pointed his palm at the Chupacabra at the end of the carriage. He realized that this time it was "not going to work" and seemed to be beyond his ability.

Without hesitation, he bit his thumb, raising the bleeding fingertip high. The vampire monster Chupacabra, smelling the blood, immediately leaped onto its chair and rushed over, catching a beam of extraterrestrial light in mid-air.

The fox perches. It opens the window. It leaves.

Chupacabra, fly free!

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Damn, your method is so technically advanced!"

"Please stop laughing, it's so mean... hahaha!"

[Lu Wenjun +1000 points] [Ten'in Reiko +1000 points] [Gude Faris +1000 points]. The notice appeared prominently on the crystal screen again. The dwarves in carriage 5 looked at the terrifying announcement, then at the three demons laughing maniacally behind the door. They felt a dark cloud of misfortune descend from the sky, and death loomed over them.

How can we fight like this?

If you encounter a strong opponent, at least you can fight gloriously for a while. But if you encounter these three, you won't even have a chance to fight and you'll just fall into freefall. What's the point of fighting then?

At this moment, Lü Wenjun poked his head out and shouted, "You little dwarfs over there!"

The dwarfs' expressions suggested they had heard a death knell tolling.

"The three of us magicians are invincible when we join forces. No matter how much you struggle, you will not escape death!" Lu Wenjun laughed as if the Demon King of Terror had descended to earth. "But I am kind-hearted and cannot bear to see unnecessary casualties. I will give you ten seconds to choose."

"Are you going to be buried with that lousy job, or will you submit to me?"

In less than ten seconds, just three seconds later, the dwarves all collapsed to the ground, howling, "We surrender! We surrender!!"

Lu Wenjun stepped forward and said kindly, "I like intelligent dwarves. If you want to live, do as I say."

"Is this an entrance exam?" Faris stared in disbelief. "I feel like we're witnessing the birth of a great demon king."

Linggong glanced at him, thinking to herself, "How dare you say such a thing, you number one lackey under the Demon King?"

Two minutes later, the door of carriage number six was suddenly pushed open, and two rows of shield-wielding dwarves stood on their companions' heads to form a shield wall, while crossbow-wielding dwarves raised their crossbows behind the cover.

Amidst the horrified gazes of the students and phantoms, a rain of arrows from the dwarven vanguard descended from the sky, launching a relentless, militarized attack on the phantoms in the carriage.

Lu Wenjun stood at the rear of the legion, hands behind his back, and shouted: "All you phantom spirits at the back, listen up! Surrender and you will be spared!"

Chapter 6 Dimensional Reduction Attack

Flying Train No. 444, driver's cab.

[58th place, Mr. Wu Ping, give me back my head, arms, and feet!]

[Ranked 57th, Miss Brolalala, you don't eat beef either?]

……

Here stands a crystal-clear monitoring wall, hundreds of projection crystals stacked together, broadcasting the situation in each carriage in real time. Mingxiao twirls her ballpoint pen, occasionally adding rankings and comments for the newly graduated students. She somewhat regrets adding this step, because her hand will probably be very sore after writing comments for 128 people.

"What do you think?" Professor Ji Chuanjun asked.

Ji Chuanjun wore a gray long gown and simple cloth shoes. Her long white hair had a smooth, jade-like texture. She looked like a well-developed female college student from the Republican era, or a young female lecturer. The way she held her hands behind her back while speaking further reinforced this impression of a proper scholar.

Mingxiao put down his pen for a moment and gestured towards the surveillance wall. Three images were enlarged and occupied the center of the wall, while the rest were shrunk and moved to the edges.

The first two pictures show a strong man passionately fighting with a hairy monster, and Lu Wenjun and his two companions running side by side.

"Velsa's strength and weakness are both his naiveté, making it difficult for him to win in this test; Faris should have been eliminated in the first round, so his advancement is truly unexpected; Miss Ten'in is having a lot of fun; as for Lü Wenjun..."

She pulled up the video of the eight-foot-tall man and the woman in red shoes still chasing outside the car, and smiled subtly: "I really want to throw this bastard out of the car."

"He can become a very powerful magician," Ji Chuanjun asserted.

"Wow, it's rare to hear you give such a high evaluation."

Professor Ji was known for her strictness on campus; even those reckless repeat students dared not say a word to her. She believed that magicians should have the ability to solve problems in any situation and advocated for the all-round development of talents, which is why this entrance exam started so suddenly.

It's rare to find a professor who praises people like this; getting a B+ in her class is considered excellent.

"The other trainees focused on their own techniques, but he actively used the characteristics of his enemies and allies to solve problems. Although his thinking was unconventional and risky, it was a reasonable strategy in the testing environment."

Mingxiao nodded: "But he's also a guy with secrets. The professor sensed the fluctuations in carriage number 4 earlier, right?"

Ji Chuanjun laughed: "The major clans and sects in ancient countries always protect their own, and it's almost impossible to let their descendants go out without bringing something with them."

"What a model student from the East," Mingxiao stretched. "It's a real pity. He's intelligent and has a secret; in previous years, he would definitely have been number one. But this year's class is just..."

They all looked toward the last picture.

Train No. 9 was filled with blood, and the scene was littered with severed limbs and remains.

The slender, ghostly figure was nailed into the carriage wall, half of the slit-mouthed woman's head rolled in the pool of blood, and a savage tried to crawl away but was grabbed by withered claws and dragged back into the blood inch by inch.

So much blood came from the dying body in the center of the carriage. The "Jersey Demon," with his horse-headed, red-eyed man, lay in the pool of blood, his body covered in gruesome wounds.

The machete and long nails fell one after another, the heavy sound of breaking bones drowning out the screams. Then the horse's head was severed with a single blow, and there was no more sound at the scene.

"I designed those three phantom spirits to be the standard for a group battle boss, and one of them was taken down so easily..." Mingxiao clicked his tongue in amazement, "Can she really still be considered an alternate-level spirit?"

"After all, she is a true witch, a rare find in this era," Ji Chuanjun said.

Mingxiao quickly added the score, and a second later, a conspicuous announcement flashed above each carriage.

[Persika Nacht Holler +20000 points!]

·

"The powerful phantom spirit gave such a high score," Lu Wenjun exclaimed.

“The first place winner has 28000 points, while the three of us combined have less than 8000 points. Seeing this score difference makes me feel hopeless,” Linggong said.

The battle in carriage number 6 has just ended, and the carriage is filled with eliminated trainees who have been turned into slimes. The evil carriage boss, Granny High-Speed, was just thrown out of the window by the "Come Stop Open" combo, and then added 1000 points to each of Lü Wenjun and his two companions.

The current trio has a total score of 7610, but each person scores just over 2600 points. In contrast, the first-place Pershka has a score of 28000, and the second-place Vilsa has 9000 points, making the difference in strength between the three obvious.

Lu Wenjun stared at the scoreboard in thought, then suddenly said, "We might lose."

Faris was shocked: "The situation is looking very good, why did Your Majesty surrender first?"

"Because I calculated the score," Lü Wenjun said. "We have already attacked three carriages, each with a powerful guardian spirit plus some minor or mechanical spirits. The powerful spirit is divided equally among the three of us, 1000 points each, for a total of 3000 points. With the remaining minor spirits, the maximum score for one carriage is about 4000 points."

Pershka's scoring frequency was exactly 4000, 4000, 20000. The first two carriages completely wiped out the phantoms, and the third carriage defeated an extremely powerful phantom. Lingyu, if you were planning the test, where would you place the strongest phantom?

"Around or behind carriage number 8 where the original text is located." Reiko answered, then paused, "Ah..."

“而我们已经在6号车了。按照最悲观的猜测，那位佩尔希卡同学是一路打穿了11、10、9号车，现在恐怕已经在8号车厢看原典了，不愧是NO.1。”

The dwarves didn't understand, and chuckled awkwardly, "Boss, does that mean we can disband now?"

"No, line up and be the vanguard, or I'll throw you all out one by one."

The dwarves wailed, but did as they were told. It wasn't that no one had tried to rebel, but that damned magician was incredibly agile; even a crossbow bolt shot from behind could be dodged.

The last dwarf who attempted to sneak up on the knee was personally tied to the flapping wings outside the carriage by the Great Demon King Lü Wenjun, and is still howling in the cold wind. No dwarf wants to follow in his footsteps.

“I’ll go in with the dwarves first, and you guys can prepare in advance.” Lu Wenjun began to plan. “If the boss in the next carriage is a small-sized phantom, we’ll try our old method.”

“What if it’s a big guy?” Faris said.

"Then I'll hold them off, and let the dwarves deal the damage. We'll fight however we can," Lü Wenjun said. "Time is short, let's begin the battle now! Dwarf suicide squad, advance!"

Commander Lü Wenjun led the dwarves forward with great strides, the dwarves displaying a tragic and resolute air of facing certain death. Ling Gong hurriedly followed, but before she could even step into carriage number 7, she bumped into Lü Wenjun's shoulder.

"Aren't we supposed to move forward, Wenjun?"

“I don’t think this is a problem that the dwarven suicide squads can solve,” Lu Wenjun said in a low voice. “What we need now are probably dwarven space marines…”

Ling Gong squeezed forward and was immediately hit by a stench so strong it felt like she was in a garbage dump.

The carriage was utterly dreary, devoid of passengers and seats, save for an enormous wolf crouching at the far end. It occupied almost half the carriage, its dark blue fur resembling decades-old faded blue paint, the fur on its head standing on end, a rotten cheese color.

It smelled the three people's scent, slowly got up, and its eyes revealed a greedy light.

"B-Boss, are we really going to fight this?!" The dwarves trembled as they spoke.

They couldn't help but be afraid; even the three magicians themselves were a little apprehensive. This phantom was clearly different from the previous frightening creatures. When they were captured by the Eight-Foot Master, they could at least console themselves with a comical transformation spell, but if this thing were to bite them…

Will that guaranteed transformation technique really take effect in time...?

"I am of limited knowledge and can't say anything other than how terrifying it is. Can you two figure out its true nature?" Faris said softly.

"Blue fur and... a head resembling cheese?" Reiko was also puzzled. "I can't figure it out."

"Have you ever heard of the term 'cheese head'?" Lü Wenjun asked softly.

“In our area, it refers to Wisconsinians, the place that makes cheese,” Faris said. “Speaking of which, the Wisconsin state flag is blue… Oh my god, could this be the ‘Bradley Beast’?”

The strange wolf slowly rose and leisurely closed the distance. The entire carriage trembled slightly when its paw slammed down. Lu Wenjun stared intently into the wolf's eyes, pulling the two of them step by step backward.

He had been chased by wolves in the mountains before and knew that you should never run away immediately if you are targeted by a wolf. These animals are cunning by nature; if you run away, the wolf will know that you are no threat and will pounce on you to tear you apart.

“The Braden Beast was a wolf of enormous size that was first sighted in Wisconsin in the early 20th century and subsequently caused a series of animal cruelty incidents around Braden Road,” Lu Wenjun explained. “Rumors say that it not only devoured animals but also specifically removed certain organs from their carcasses, which shows its brutal nature.”

“To be honest, I’m a little scared,” Faris said.

Reiko swallowed hard. "It doesn't sound like a very strong urban legend, so it should be fine, right...?"

"I can't say for sure, but it's one of the most famous werewolf stories in modern times!"

Suddenly, the beast Braden roared, its tail lashing out like a rough iron whip, turning the foremost dwarf shieldbearer into a bloody pulp!

The dwarven crossbowmen raised their crossbows and fired in rapid succession, the black iron bolts whistling through the air. However, the arrows that had previously been sure to kill were as weak as toys before the giant wolf. Most of the bolts were deflected by its tough fur, and only three bolts pierced the forehead of the Braden beast, failing to penetrate the skull completely, only splattering a few drops of blood.

The injury only fueled the beast's ferocity. It struck the dwarf chieftain down with a single claw, pinning him to the ground like a mouse. The sharp claw tore through his breastplate.

It opened its enormous mouth, and its bloodthirsty roar sounded almost like mockery.