Point out any errors I made in the chapters, as I'm very lazy and sometimes can't be bothered to reread them. Also, give your opinions on something I should change or add.
Reminder: You can find the link to all of Feng's current equipment (Up to the public release. I might make one for the Advanced chapters after this) in the Auxiliary Chapter posted on Ko-fi some time ago for if you want to see the items' attributes and skills, along with anything else Feng currently has.
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System: Please choose the difficulty of the trial. The higher its difficulty, the more rewards will be granted to the player upon completion.
Without hesitation, Feng said "God Mode!"
As soon as he spoke out, choosing the highest difficulty possessed by the World Summit Trial, the entire Legendary Shrine begun to shake. Moments later, even the mountain itself shook as the God Mode trial of the World Summit was challenged by a player.
Inside the Legendary Shrine, the throne Feng was standing on transformed, turning into a black vortex that sucked Feng into it, sending him to the trial space.
System: Difficulty chosen. God Mode Tier 1 World Summit Trial selected. Player will be transported to the trial space.
Feng's vision darkened following his choice, and he felt the entire world around him spin. Sometime later, Feng's feet finally seemed to be standing on solid ground.
He appeared in an empty dark gray space with nothing anywhere for as far as the eye could see. The sky was a dull gray as well, only a shade lighter than the featureless ground. It looked like quite a depressing place.
Reflexively inspecting the surroundings for anything that could be useful or an environment he could take advantage of in a fight, Feng noted that there was truly nothing here.
While Feng was looking around, a dark fog gathered some ten meters in front of him, taking a humanoid shape. After a moment of manifesting, a second Feng was formed from the black fog, staring directly ahead at Feng.
This Feng, however, had an odd aura that greatly surpassed the original's despite him feeling like a normal person, and Feng's senses warned him of the presence. Using the Eyes of Truth, Feng attempted to identify the creature that had imitated his appearance.
But the top-tier Identification Skill surprisingly failed, only receiving question marks upon selecting the being. Despite expecting such a result since he was aware of the details pertaining to the trial, Feng was a bit displeased by the Eyes of Truth not succeeding in giving him any details.
Thinking that he'd have to go into the fight with no information on the creature that was clearly more powerful than himself, Feng prepared to fight, when he suddenly remembered another of his observation skills, deciding to try using Eros Vision as well.
To his delight, the perverse skill actually worked.
[Ye Feng (Trial creature)]
Tier: 5
Level: 99
Gender: Male
Race: Human (Bloodlines: Apex Rank Draconic-Voidling Bloodline, Peak Rank Savitarian Carnation Bloodline)
Title: None (Swordsmanship Great Grandmaster)
Age: ???
Penis Length: 4-7 inches
Virgin: No
Mental State: Normal
Physical State: Normal
Stamina Remaining: 100%
Affiliation: Forces of Light, Guild Leader of the Zero Wing Adventurer Guild, ⋏⟟☊⟒ ⏁⍀⊬
Relationship Status: Lovers with Demon Mariabelle, Adventurer Thoughtful Rain, and Adventurer Aqua Rose. Unknown sexual relationship with Personal Guard Anna. Unknown dynamic with Great Demon Celestina.
Favorability: None
Sexually Attracted: 0%
Fetish: ???
Feng frowned at the revealed info, not having expected the God Mode trial to be this difficult. This wasn't his first time taking on the trial of the World Summit, having attempted it before during his previous life.
The World Summit Trial was the greatest opportunity on the entire World Summit and had been incredibly famous due to there being rumors that a Legacy or something else related to the Demon Empress could be obtained from the trial, and that one would gain clues to how to surpass the power of God's with it, reaching the realm of Ancient Gods, or possibly even higher.
After news of it spread, every expert across the entirety of Feng's God's Domain swarmed to the World Summit, wanting to get their hands on the treasures left behind at the top and grow stronger.
As a fairly famous treasure trove that had many top-tier items and astonishing opportunities to increase one's strength, the World Summit had already been a very famous location for the experts and powers of God's Domain, but it had mostly been Demon Players and powers belonging to the Dark Forces that got the most out of it due to the high difficulty of regular players getting to the World Summit; while the rest made a trip there whenever they had an opportunity.
However, following the World Summit Trial's reveal and information about the immense possible rewards spreading everywhere, not only the various apex experts and Super Guilds, including the Five Great Super Guilds, even powers from the Greater God's Domain tried their hand at challenging the trial, arriving in droves at the World Summit regardless of the cost after God's Domain's connection with the outside world grew more stable.
Although the dark powers attempted to monopolize the trial and prevent others from attempting it using their home ground advantage, in the face of all the powers across God's Domain and from outside it coming together, the only thing the dark powers could do was up the pressure on them and try their best at passing the World Summit Trial first.
Zero Wing, too, attempted to clear the World Summit Trial, but none succeeded for some time; mostly due to Feng being busy with other matters during its discovery and everyone trying to beat the great trial.
The main trial of the World Summit that was left behind by Celestina had three possible difficulties to choose from: Hell Mode, Asura Mode, and God Mode, similar to many other trials and some dungeons in God's Domain, and the trial itself had phases whose difficulty depended on which mode was chosen, with Hell Mode having two phases whereas Asura and God had three.
Of course, the higher the difficulty players pick, the greater their gains would be if they managed to beat it. Unfortunately, beating Hell Mode does not count as truly clearing the trial, so the rewards were many times less valuable.
In the first phase of the World Summit Trial, players, in their peak condition, would face a version of themselves that was higher-tiered and more powerful, possessing all of their equipment, skills, and abilities, except even stronger.
Their combat standards varied depending on the difficulty, with Hell Mode Trial Creatures being in the Truth Realm, the ones in Asura Mode having Ascension Realm standards, and in God Mode supposedly on the Transcendental Realm level; while the Trial Creatures' attainment in the Realms of Refinement was the same as the challenger's.
Facing a being on par with you in combat standards, possibly even more proficient than yourself, which was a tier higher than you or perhaps even stronger, one could imagine how difficult the World Summit Trial was and why it remained uncleared for so long. Furthermore, outside power like summoning tools or Magic Scrolls were prohibited in the first phase, with only some tools and Consumables being allowed depending on their type.
Shock was what all players felt upon learning of the first phase's details when the initial wave of players charged to the World Summit Trial and its information became more well-known about the Hell and Asura Modes. Even in the easiest option of the trial, Tier 4 players had to fight a Tier 5 version of themselves, while Tier 5 players faced a Tier 6 one.
Tier 6 players weren't able to pick Hell Mode, and could only choose between Asura and God Model, which were both impossibly hard.
The Trial Creatures were two tiers higher than the trial taker in Asura Mode, Tier 4 players, of which very few could make it to the Legendary Shrine, would encounter a Tier 6 god-ranked player as their opponent in their form, while Tier 5 players similarly fought a Tier 6 version of themselves, however, that one would have power on par with a real Tier 6 God.
There was a large difference in strength between Tier 6 god-ranked players and Tier 6 Gods, though it was mostly in attributes and superior Mana, along with the overall abilities of a genuine God being much greater.
A regular Tier 6 player would easily get destroyed by a God, and normally a group of Tier 6 experts was needed to defeat a Tier 6 God. Tier 5 players, even if they were top-tier experts, would not have the power to defeat such a creature.
Though it wasn't completely impossible, with some apex experts across the Greater God's Domain and Universal God's Domain having succeeded the feat of killing a God while at Tier 5 even without their opponent being weakened through foreign means.
But the circumstances in the Asura Mode Trial were significantly different than for other Tier 6 Gods, the Trial Creatures having high combat standards and all the abilities possessed by the players, except even more powerful.
Even those among the strongest would not be able to put up much of a fight against such an opponent, let alone achieve victory.
Meanwhile, the creatures Tier 6 players had to fight were on another level, having the strength of Ancient Gods, an incredible level of control over Mana, and Mastery over a Law. If the challenger had mastered any Law or Laws, the Trial Creature would have the same level of Mastery, and if the player did not, the duplicate would have Mastery with the Law of Darkness.
Fighting something like that was practically impossible, and even apex experts would find themselves helpless since the Trial Creatures' strength would always be higher than theirs, while also having the same combat standards and abilities.
Thus it was validly believed that the Asura Mode trial wasn't possible to beat for a while.
Hell Mode, on the other hand, had its two phases cleared by a few experts. With a one-tier difference, although the trial was still incredibly difficult, it wasn't a gap the experts of God's Domain could not bridge.
Only being in the Truth Realm, experts could easily surpass the Trial Creatures as anyone capable of reaching the highest Legendary Shrine at that stage of the game would have a higher attainment in the Realms of Truth, and things like Consumables, special tools, and abilities were used to overcome the difference in strength.
Thanks to the support from the powers backing them, several players, including a few from Zero Wing, managed to beat the Hell Mode difficulty of the World Summit Trial, obtaining some rewards, but it didn't count as an actual clearance of the trial since it was only on Hell Mode.
From those guild members, Feng came to learn some more details pertaining to the World Summit Trial and the great rewards they won.
Apart from a few Legendary items including equipment, a weapon, and some Consumables, as well as a Fragmented Divine Artifact piece of equipment, the Tier 4 experts had acquired a Legacy Guidance for the Tier 5 and Tier 6 promotion which had provided immense help to those players towards reaching higher tiers; some who originally didn't have much hope in progressing further or reaching Tier 6 managing to get promoted to godhood.
Those legacies, although quite useful to those who had succeeded and for the guild as a whole due to it being possible to use the Legacy Guidances multiple times, allowing other players to learn from it as well, weren't that valuable to Tier 6 players like Feng; and it definitely wasn't the knowledge for going past the realm of regular Gods like what was originally said.
Everyone assumed that those were just the minimal rewards for Hell Mode, believing the real treasures were obtainable through the higher difficulties. However, no one could even get past the first phase of the Asura Mode trial, let alone clear the entire thing.
Even Aqua and Snow failed in their attempts, not managing to defeat such powerful versions of themselves despite their powerful equipment and other means, the two women who had been Extrasensory Realm experts unable to win with their high combat standards at the time.
The worst part about the trial, though, was that attempting it counted as players using up their chance to enter a Legendary Shrine, so for all those who failed, not only could they not go into the main Legendary Shrine anymore and try taking on the World Summit Trial again, they could not even enter any other Legendary Shrine on the World Summit for the next six months.
Having only one shot at the trial, Asura Mode was deemed completely impossible and most players gave up on it, switching to challenging other Legendary Shrines in order to not waste their opportunity.
As for God Mode, there was no need to even think about it.
Most of the players who chose God Mode ended up dying instantly to the Trial Creature without being able to put up a fight, whereas according to the few apex Tiers 6 experts who managed to survive for more than two seconds in the first phase spoke of an opponent who moved too fast for them to perceive, attacked with so much power they could not resist, executed a Bronze Combat Technique with every movement, was capable of using the challenger's Silver Combat Techniques, wielded Mana on par with Primordial Gods, and had Mastery over every single Law.
It was unknown how accurate any of this information was since the battles inside the World Summit Trial could not be recorded, but no one was willing to throw away their shot on simply confirming an insane rumor; very few having the strength required for staying alive long enough to see the God Mode Trial Creature's power to begin with.
Hence, the attempts at clearing the World Summit Trial slowed to a crawl, with only some new experts who wished to try their luck at beating the trial, those who couldn't go to any other Legendary Shrine once most of them ended up getting cleared out by other players, or certain experts who wished to test their skills and possibly improve against a stronger opponent of similar combat standards entering the trial.
That was until more players from the Greater God's Domain learned of the treasures at the World Summit and the rewards for clearing the trial. The powers from the outside then put all their effort into getting more of their experts into Feng's God's Domain and having them clear the World Summit Trial, even if they were making huge losses to make such a thing happen.
Through brute force using their means from the Greater God's Domain, a few experts eventually managed to barely succeed in passing the first phase of Asura Mode. But they then all got curve stomped on the second phase, leaving the World Summit Trial uncleared for much longer.
Feng then came along after he finally found the time and opportunity, attempting the World Summit Trial as well and clearing it after a lot of effort, obtaining the incredible rewards from the Asura Mode difficulty.
At the time, he had faced an incredibly powerful version of himself in the first phase that had higher attributes than him, being only a bit inferior to Primordial Gods, along with all his skills and Combat Techniques used by Feng while displaying Ascension Realm standards.
Its Mastery over the Destruction Law was also on par with his, so Feng had very little advantage, needing to use tools and other means to defeat the duplicate.
From what he guessed, the most likely method intended to pass the first phase was to simply have astronomically high combat standards, being at the Beyond Transcendental Realm or even the Fate Realm in the Realms of Truth, or be so high in the Realms of Refinement that the clone could not match the challenger, like the Unthinking Realm; as Feng had heard that the Trial Creatures could at most replicate combat standards at the Extrasensory Realm.
The only way to defeat the Trial Creature was to be so strong it could not properly imitate your strength, possess some method that it could not copy, or use enough outside power to make up for the difference in strength.
None of those could be applied by regular experts, which made passing the first phase an implausible feat for them. Feng himself had greatly struggled to defeat his duplicate and move on to the second phase, only managing to do so after fully using the tools he had on him and burning through some powerful Consumables.
He had used up a large amount of his resources and ended up significantly weakened in order to clear the trial, but it was all completely worth it in the end once he received the rewards for clearing the Asura Mode World Summit Trial, making it no longer accessible to players in any Mode.
Though, it left him wondering that if Asura Mode was so hard to clear, how difficult would God Mode be, and considering the amazing rewards he had received, what one would obtain for clearing the highest offered difficulty level.
Thus, Feng had decided to challenge God Mode in this life, being confident of succeeding while at Tier 1.
After all, the power of his opponent depended on Feng himself. The lower Feng's tier, the lower the Trial Creature's would be as well, and its strength would be limited, too. Since the difference in tiers increased exponentially with each tier, lower-tiered players would find it easier to make up the difference.
This was the reason various powers had preferred to send Tier 4 and Tier 5 experts for the purpose of clearing the trials.
Although Feng knew that the duplicate would possess all his attributes on top of the boost from increased tiers as well as have all his skills and abilities, both his own and the ones from Feng's equipment, he felt that it still wouldn't be too difficult and a task he could manage.
Feng's belief stemmed from thinking that the Trial Creature would only be three tiers higher than the challenger, following how the increase from Hell to Asura Mode had been. At Tier 4, his opponent would possess the boost in attributes and overall power from being a Tier 4 creature, but Feng's attributes had already reached the Tier 5 standard, while his Physique and Concentration were both high in Tier 4 ranks.
The increase in Basic Attributes would not be something that Feng could not make up for due to it not being so immense considering his current strength, and the clone should, at most, have Tier 4 Peak Physique and Concentration, along with any other stats being not so large it was impossible to bridge for Feng.
What would cause Feng the most trouble was the clone possessing a Mana Body and its control over Mana would make it very difficult for Feng to even fight it, much less actually kill the Trial Creature. Between his own abilities and other means, though, Feng believed that he'd be able to manage something.
Skills would be another issue since the replica would also possess everything Feng had, including his equipment's abilities. Fearing his own power, Feng had given the Seven Luminaries Ring and the Wraithwood Sigil to Black Flame in advance, not wanting to have the items on him for the Trial Creature to clone.
If the Tier 4 Feng were to use a Tier 5 Flame Domain on him, Feng would be screwed, unable to counter since the Trial Creature would be able to utilize much more of the skill's power. There was also the Tier 5 Forbidden Domain.
Overall, even with the immense help the Fragmented Legendary Seven Luminaries Ring would be in a fight, it would do more harm than good for Feng if the duplicate were to possess it as well, despite that meaning he would lose his strongest defensive skill, Absolute Domain; which too might cause problems for him in the fight since the Trial Creature could use it in a critical moment.
An equally problematic item to be up against for Feng was the Wraithwood Sigil. If both him and his clone were to summon the Ghost Tree, Feng would be at a bigger disadvantage as a Tier 4 version of himself wouldn't have much trouble taking down a Superior Mythic ranked Ghost Tree, but Feng would find it difficult to kill it even in a one-on-one fight, so there was no need to mention him fighting both the Ghost Tree and the Trial Creature.
And Gloomsong Gale would naturally be useless against a stronger opponent who possessed the same skill, the clone being able to throw everything back at him even if Feng used the skill as a counter.
In spite of having to give up on the items to make sure he doesn't get destroyed by the powerful skills, Feng was still confident of winning as he started the God Mode trial.
The moment he laid eyes on the Trial Creature that had his appearance before him, Feng instantly had a bad feeling. It didn't emanate any aura and seemed like a regular person, which was the feeling Feng normally gives off, but something about the duplicate made alarm bells go off in Feng's head.
Listening to his instincts, Feng used the Eyes of Truth to appraise the other him, but due to the Trial Creature also copying the Nightwalker's Cape, the Nightwalker Passive Skill blocked the Eyes of Truth. Due to Feng's low tier and poor utilization of it, the strongest Identification Skill of his God's Domain was unable to see through the disguise of a Legendary item, while the Trial Creature being stronger to him naturally made seeing its stats more difficult.
As he was about to give up on discovering more about it and fight the duplicate while ignoring the odd feeling of bad premonition, Feng remembered Eros Vision, and attempted to use the Unique Identification Skill as well.
It actually working and revealing the Trial Creature's information to him surprised Feng, not having expected it to do anything after the Eyes of Truth failed. The things his Subclass Identification Skill showed him, though, shocked Feng even more.
Unexpectedly, the clone was Tier 5.
This development vastly surpassed Feng's prior expectations. Tier 5 was an entirely different story than Tier 4. Aside from the significantly greater attributes, Stamina, Physique, and Concentration, the amount of Mana a Tier 5 being possessed and could utilize to enhance its power was on an entirely different level compared to Tier 4 creatures, and depending on how high ranking the Trial Creature's Tier 5 Mana Body is, Feng's death might already be set in stone.
Facing a Tier 5 opponent at the Transcendental Realm standard who could also do everything he could but was much stronger, Feng was no longer as sure of his victory.
Before Feng could ponder on it any longer or think of a plan, however, the system announced the start of the trial's first phase.
Feng's senses instantly flared up, warning him of immense danger, and he instinctively bent backwards. A swordlight passed right in front of Feng's eyes, its aim to instantly decapitate him being clear as the Tier 5 Trial Creature had suddenly appeared next to Feng and slashed its sword.
Knowing that he'd get killed in the next attack without having enough time to respond, Feng gritted his teeth and improvised on his initial plan, activating two Berserk Skills in order to make up for the difference in attributes.
Power of Darkness!
Soulharvest Synergy!
Feng's aura skyrocketed, his attributes greatly increasing from the Berserk Skills, which allowed Feng to dodge the incoming slash in the nick of time. Distancing himself from the Trial Creature eyeing him, Feng felt cold sweat cover his back.
The attacks were incredibly fast, leaving him with little to no time to avoid its slashes. If not for his instincts warning him in advance, there was a very high likelihood of Feng getting one-shotted by the Tier 5 replica.
But the Trial Creature gave Feng no time to think, activating Power of Darkness as well, and dashing towards him with Wind Blade. Even with the powerful Soulharvest Synergy activated to increase his strength, Feng had not shortened the gap between them too much, only getting to the point where Feng could keep track of its movements a bit.
It arrived in front of Feng in the blink of an eye, the replicated Pandemonium Lashblade cutting through the air towards Feng's heart, but Feng managed to react and dodge the blow thanks to the Trial Creature's speed decreasing by 30% as it reached him.
Feng attempted to get further away from the duplicate's striking range, but it didn't let up on him, continuously attacking as it tried to kill Feng. Each slash and strike from the Tier 5 being resembling him felt life-threatening to Feng, its power being too much for him to face head-on.
Running away from the Trial Creature was about the only thing he could do, the clone being immensely strong with a Berserk Skill activated and not something Feng stood a chance at competing with, so he took full advantage of the few aspects he could leverage which the clone did not have the ability to match.
There were only two advantages that Feng possessed in the first phase over his replication that had all his equipment and abilities, the first being that the Trial Creature did not get any of the souls stored within the Pandemonium Lashblade during its formation, the World Summit Trial not being able to replicate such things.
Hence, it could not use Soulharvest Synergy, giving Feng a massive advantage in terms of potential and an opportunity to bridge the gap in their strength slightly by sacrificing nearly all the souls stored within the Demon Sword as he activated the Berserk Skill, whose cooldown had been reset by the system upon Feng entering the trial.
He only left Lancelot's, the Mechanical Slayer's, the Infant Silver Dragon's, and the Moon-howling Silver Wolf's souls in the Pandemonium Lashblade, using up all the remaining Superior Mythic ranked and any other souls that he had not previously burned through in the 100th Divine Shrine after going Threefold Berserk.
Meanwhile, in order to not have a limited duration on his Berserk state, Feng didn't activate Blade Liberation, achieving Twofold Berserk without using his Legacy Berserk Skill and relying on just Power of Darkness and Soulharvest Synergy.
There was no rule against using two Berserk Skills from his equipment as long as they weren't of the same type, which was possible with a skill like Soulharvest Synergy that improved the soul of the wielder, which enhanced all his other aspects as a result, so it was completely possible for Feng to use it in tandem with a regular Berserk Skill.
However, Feng had never attempted to do so in the past due to the huge risks.
A strong soul required an equally strong vessel to house it.
If Feng had activated Soulharvest Synergy and used powerful souls to fuel the Berserk Skill while being only Tier 1 and having a weak Physique whose rank was much lower than the souls he was absorbing, without having already been in a state of Twofold Berserk to improve his body, there would have been significant risks to his wellbeing.
Having a soul which your body did not have a sufficient level of power and durability to support could cause many problems such as lack of physical control, making it difficult to exercise its functions or possibly move it at all in more extreme cases, difficulty in controlling one's own strength and Mana as a whole, or, in the worst case scenario, the physical body could fail to withstand the strain of a very powerful soul, resulting in the physical form to collapse in on itself; killing the body and possibly the soul along with it.
Feng was only Tier 1 and his Physique had previously been very weak, making using the soul Berserk Skill on its own or for Twofold Berserk a risky endeavor. Additionally, Soulharvest Synergy had a long cooldown of five days, requiring souls within the Pandemonium Lashblade to be consumed for its usage.
If he absorbed an amount of souls that would not put his life at risk, the boost in power he'd get would not be of that much use to Feng, while the improvement that would significantly help his strength might cause problems for Feng.
It was simply not worth the cost to use it all the time for the purpose of achieving Twofold Berserk, Blade Liberation being more efficient and sustainable even though it greatly shortened the duration to only around half a minute and would put Feng in a Heavily Weakened state after its duration ends.
Now, though, Feng couldn't afford to fall into such a weakened state, while simply using one Berserk Skill to fight would not accomplish anything against someone who had the same Berserk Skills as him, and would actually receive a greater boost to its attributes than Feng himself due to the clone having greater base attributes to enhance with a Berserk Skill.
Soulharvest Synergy thus came in clutch, Feng's current Physique and overall being upon reaching the level of Higher Beings in Life Rating after absorbing the Draconic-Voidling and Savitarian Carnation Bloodlines having become powerful enough to support a strong soul that's been powered by over a dozen Superior Mythic ranked souls and multiple collected from Archaic Species Mythic monsters.
Even with just Power of Darkness active, or no other Berserk Skills at all, Feng was no longer at risk of his soul being too strong for his physical body.
Furthermore, as it is a skill with no set duration, how long Soulharvest Synergy lasts depending on the quality of souls sacrificed, Feng could potentially have a massive boost in attributes for multiple hours, allowing him to put up some sort of fight against the Tier 5 Trial Creature.
Feng's second advantage was that the trial did not copy the items in his bag or anything that isn't equipped by Feng, including the Destroyed Yog-Sothoth that was on his back as it wasn't an actual equipable item, but simply an item that Feng was carrying on him.
Thanks to it, Feng was managing to survive this fight despite the incredible speed of the Tier 5 version of himself, its speed dropping once the Trial Creature got near him, along with Feng stealing some Agility from the clone.
Apart from the broken sword, Feng also had access to a wide range of Consumables and items that he had prepared beforehand for this fight in his storage.
Though, he wasn't getting any opportunities to make use of them now.
And the warmup soon ended.
Thundering Flash!
When Feng jumped back from it after barely dodging another flurry of attacks again, the replica didn't instantly chase after, instead using the chance while Feng had yet to completely regain his footing to slash forward and use Thundering Flash.
A sea of thunderbolts flew at Feng through the air as they crackled and moved at lightning speed. His senses screamed danger, Feng feeling that each of those lightning bolts carried power at the Tier 5 Basic standard.
Faced with such a powerful AoE skill, Feng would normally have to use an Invincibility Skill like Absolute Domain to protect himself, but now he didn't have the Aura of Earth available to use nor Gloomsong Gale, only possessing Fortress as a possible option. However Feng could not use up his only Invincibility Skill on something like this, knowing that the fight was only starting and that the Trial Creature had multiple extremely powerful skills to heavily damage or instantly kill him with.
Having no other chance to consider the situation as the sea of lightning was about to reach him, Feng slashed forward and used Thundering Flash as well. Unlike the Trial Creature which had thrown out the huge amount of thunder across a wide range in order to prevent Feng from dodging, Feng focused the lightning bolts into a compact space in front of him, creating a narrow beam of Thundering Flash that collided with the sea of thunder.
The Thundering Flash executed by the Trial Creature was naturally many times more powerful both due to the attribute difference and the Mana control it had. As Feng's replica, the Tier 5 duplicate could control Mana at the Advanced Master Magician standard, so its utilization of skills like Thundering Flash far surpassed Feng's, and even more so due to the clone having a powerful Tier 5 Mana Body.
When the condensed Thundering Flash struck against the giant spread out sea of thunder, it was instantly broken apart, the lightning bolts getting dispersed quickly by the opposing skill as it continued towards Feng, albeit greatly weakened by Feng's counter.
Seeing that a part of the Thundering Flash heading right for him had not been completely blocked, Feng followed up with Thunder Flame Explosion, slashing upwards at the thunderbolts and creating an explosion that got rid of the rest that was about to hit him, with a cloud of dust rising from the impact.
Thankfully using Thundering Flash and Thunder Flame Explosion, whose power was slightly enhanced with Dragon Fire, was enough to block the incoming skill from the Trial Creature, while the lightning bolts that were going past him could only turn a little under its control to attack Feng from all sides, the Swordsman being able to deflect them all using Sword's Orbit, his strength during Twofold Berserk enough to strike down the powerful lightning, and remain unharmed.
Before Feng could celebrate over the successful neutralization of the Trial Creature's Thundering Flash, a bright swordlight cut through the dust and ripped apart the ground as it arrived in front of Feng, its sudden appearance and speed not giving him much time to react.
Feng recognized the attack as Earth Splitter at first glance, and going by the danger he sensed from the incoming swordlight, Feng guessed that his replica had used it at maximum power, charging up Earth Splitter all the while for as long as the skill's power could be enhanced while he had been busy protecting himself from the Thundering Flash.
The attack was already only a few yards away from him, making dodging this powerful Earth Splitter impossible at the speed it was coming towards him, and forcing Feng to defend against the swordlight.
Slashing out with his own Earth Splitter, Feng executed Ten Extreme Slashes and Strength Combination, adding Chop and Double Chop into three of his slices in order to block the incoming attack. Feng's Earth Splitter didn't even slow down the one fired off by the Trial Creature, shattering upon coming into contact, resulting in Feng's ten slashes colliding with the powerful swordlight in the next moment.
Earth Splitter was a Tier 2 skill which Feng had pushed to the highest level, and with the increase of the Swordsmanship Great Grandmaster Title and the Pandemonium Lashblade's effect at Tier 2 Level 9, it becomes a skill with power on the Tier 4 Basic standard.
Such an attack would not normally cause any trouble to Feng, but when charged to its maximum by a Tier 5 being with significantly higher attributes than himself, Earth Splitter became a threat to Feng.
Him possessing lower attributes and throwing forward Earth Splitter without any charge naturally could not achieve anything against the Trial Creature's attack except decrease its power by a bit, whereas Feng's basic strikes did not have the power to block it.
Hence, upon Feng's Ten Extreme Slashes merging into one point and colliding with the swordlight, he was forced to retreat by several steps, Feng's HP dropping by a little over 1%.
For the first time ever since his second reincarnation, Feng took damage; his HP bar decreasing by a visible chunk.
The fact that the cause of him losing HP was a version of himself four tiers higher and much stronger was a silver lining in the entire thing as Feng's no-damage streak playthrough was unfortunately ended by the Trial Creature.
Though, Feng didn't have the time to lament over the irrelevant statistical achievement, not that he would have cared much in the first place.
Without even having a chance to properly stabilize his footing, Feng faintly felt grave danger from behind. It was very sudden and unexpected since he should have sensed the threat sooner, but Feng didn't doubt the instinct and immediately reacted decisively to a possible attack that could potentially one-shot him.
Mysticsteel Body!
Void Shield!
In the exact moment that the barrier from Void Shield formed around Feng, it received an impact, a slight crack forming on the barrier. The Tier 5 Feng had appeared behind Feng out of nowhere using Instant Strike and attacked with Double Chop while Feng was thrown off balance by its Earth Splitter.
A surprised expression appeared on Feng's face, whereas the Trial Creature frowned, both not feeling good about the outcome of the sudden attack.
Being Feng's strongest Defensive Skill that isn't an Invincibility Skill, as well as a skill from the Legendary item Nightwalker's Cape, Void Shield reduced the damage it and Feng took from Tier 5 sources by 90%. Double Chop was a very basic skill that, even when enhanced, could only boost one's power by a small amount.
The Trial Creature managing to create cracks in the shield by merely using Double Chop and Strength Combination hence greatly surprised Feng, the attack clearly having passed Void Shield's defensive threshold.
That being said even though Feng's Strength and Agility were very high, his Endurance and HP were relatively low, at least when considering the attributes in this fight and when standing in opposition to the Tier 5 replica's immense Attack Power and Strength; so Void Shield slightly cracking from the hit despite Feng activating Mysticsteel Body wasn't all that unfeasible.
Nonetheless, it bought him some breathing room since the Trial Creature would still need a few seconds to completely break through Void Shield.
On the other hand, the clone was surprised and displeased by the fact that Feng had sensed it and managed to respond in time to activate a defensive skill.
To make sure its sneak attack worked, the Trial Creature had avoided giving off even the faintest amount of its presence, even choosing to use Double Chop instead of a powerful skill within its arsenal like Moonchaser out of consideration that Feng would sense the change in Mana and atmosphere, and easily detect the approaching danger.
Although Feng's ability to sense danger was incredible, and both his intuition and instincts comparable to an Unthinking Realm expert, the Trial Creature had the exact same properties, its abilities being even greater due to the difference in their tiers. Furthermore, the duplicate's attributes were much higher.
Along with it using Instant Strike, the Trial Creature's attack should have been too hidden and fast to react to.
Yet, Feng had responded in time, blocking the strike that the clone had intended to instantly kill or heavily injure the challenger with.
Not wasting this opportunity even though its initial ambush failed, the two swords held by the Trial Creature lit up like miniature suns, striking forward with Flame Burst. Feng didn't even have the time to react or do anything, the duplicate utilizing Instant Strike's huge boost in Attack Speed to execute twenty slashes in an instant.
All twenty cuts of Flame Burst's attack count were used up within a single moment, the attacks all landing on a single spot with immense force, causing the barrier around Feng to shatter without any resistance as if it was made of flimsy paper and Feng to stumble backwards from the impact.
The replica gave its original no chance to regain his footing or defend himself, stepping forward and slashing at Feng with incredible speed during the three-second duration of Instant Strike using Chop.
Feng attempted to predict the attack's trajectory and block it with his sword, but the Trial Creature's blade changed directions at the last moment and bypassed his defense, striking Feng's chest from an impossible angle.
Receiving such a powerful blow, Feng was sent flying over a dozen yards, his HP dropping by over 20%. Feng landed on his feet and slid backwards some more from the Tier 5 being's attack, feeling pain in his chest. A black cut had appeared across Feng's Chestplate, the wound extending to his body as it continued to spread and grow larger with each second.
He didn't have time to inspect it any further, though, the Trial Creature appearing in front of Feng using Ethereal Blitz without giving him a break. Stabbing towards Feng's heart, the copied Pandemonium Lashblade erupted with a bright silver light.
A chill ran down Feng's spine upon seeing his duplicate use Moonchaser, the skill's power pushed to Tier 5 by the Swordsmanship Great Grandmaster Title, and its true strength being used by the Tier 5 creature. If the clone's Moonchaser landed, Feng was sure that he'd be killed, having no chance at surviving such a powerful attack.
Just as the Demon Sword was about to make contact with Feng, he disappeared, teleporting behind the Trial Creature with Instant Strike in order to avoid its attack. Moonchaser exploded out at the same time, causing the space in front of the replica to shatter.
Launching an assault of his own, Feng activated Flame Burst and executed Ten Extreme Slashes again on the Trial Creature's back.
However, despite sensing Feng's attack, the clone didn't bother to put any effort into dodging or defending against it, instead swinging around the Abyssal Blade to strike at Feng without looking.
Golden lights began to surround the pitch-black sword, a holy aura of immense strength coating its entire blade that now resembled the glorious sun.
'It chose to use both back to back?' Feng's expression changed when he saw the bright gold light coming from the Magic Weapon, shocked that the Trial Creature was using Moonchaser and Worldly Purification one after the other.
Worldly Purification was even more powerful than Moonchaser, being Feng's strongest learned skill that he had properly upgraded to the Tier 4 Peak standard.
Although both Swordsmanship Great Grandmaster and the Pandemonium Lashblade could upgrade the power of sword-type skills up to a maximum of Tier 5 Basic standard, there was a large difference between a sure kill skill at the peak of Tier 4 with power already nearing Tier 5 getting enhanced and a skill at Tier 4 Basic standard being artificially boosted to Tier 5 power.
Hence, even when the two are upgraded to the next tier, Worldly Purification was still much stronger than Moonchaser.
When used by a Tier 5 being like the Trial Creature, it became even more powerful and dangerous for Feng. If the previous attack could instantly kill him, this Worldly Purification had the power to evaporate his soul.
What actually surprised Feng was not the skill's power, but the fact his duplicate was using both of their strongest skills right off the bat at the start while Feng still had means to avoid them instead of saving them and waiting for a guaranteed strike that he couldn't survive through as easily, which was what Feng is doing and why he didn't use Moonchaser to strike the Trial Creature right now.
And it had even used them in quick succession, attacking Feng in such a subpar way by blindly slashing behind itself, all the while Feng was in the middle of an attack.
Feng would soon learn the reason for both, immediately discovering the Trial Creature's dismissal towards his current attack.
Ten slashes of Flame Burst converged to a single point and cut across the clone's back, but the strike barely made the Tier 5 version of Feng flinch, as if a bug had attacked it instead of Feng, whereas the damage it received didn't even amount to 1% of its HP.
Its arm did not pause in the slightest as the Trial Creature slashed backwards with Worldly Purification, the speed still being great due to Instant Strike's effects having not yet ended. The Abyssal Blade reached Feng in the next moment, slicing through his arm and chest without any resistance as the sacred power destroyed everything around them.
There was no joy on the Trial Creature's face in spite of having landed its attack, though, noticing that its sword had just passed through Feng without doing any harm. Furthermore, the thing standing before it had no aura or mass. Obviously, it was a formless doppelganger.
Feng stood 2,000 yards away from the clone, having activated Divine Steps instants before the replicated Abyssal Blade had reached him and switched with the farthest doppelganger.
Watching the huge cloud of dust in the distance that looked as if a bomb had exploded, Feng had a solemn expression on his face. The difference in their strength was much greater than he had initially thought.
Unless he faced the Trial Creature in its basic form while he was in Twofold Berserk, and used his strongest skills combined with Silver Combat Techniques in quick succession to weaken it before going Threefold Berserk, Feng had no chance of killing the Tier 5 him.
But there was a much bigger problem. Even now, several seconds after the duplicate had landed an attack on him, Feng was still losing HP. A black, infection-like mass, was spreading across and inside his chest.
Void Erosion was destroying his body even further, doing continuous damage as it spread, corrupting the wound and making it impossible to heal naturally. Feng had previously acquired this ability after absorbing the Draconic-Voidling Bloodline and he had tested out its effects against some of the Guardian Bosses on the Divine Staircase.
As the strength of his opponents increased, however, Void Erosion's effectiveness dropped significantly due to his low tier and poor utilization as a result. Its power was simply not sufficient to do much against those monsters, their high-ranking Physique and Mana Bodies allowing them to shrug off Void Erosion without it affecting it much.
Used by the Tier 5 version of Feng, Void Erosion was many times more powerful, and it was extremely lethal to Feng when the clone landed a heavy blow. With his Life Rating, Feng could regenerate 2% of his HP every five seconds through natural recovery, but the Void Erosion was stopping it and even decreased Feng's HP by large amounts every second.
He also didn't have enough Mana to fight back the erosion.
If Feng allowed the Void Erosion to continue, the Trial Creature wouldn't have to do anything else. He was sure to die within a few minutes.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, Feng activated the Blood Emperor's Armor's new Active Skill, Ultimate Blood Flow. Feng's HP jumped up by five times and instantly began recovering, his HP bar going back to being completely full, fighting against Void Erosion's effects, and even the damage inside his body began receding.
The power of a Legendary item's recovery abilities was truly incredible, all the damage he had sustained being quickly regenerated. With Ultimate Blood Flow active, Feng could combat Void Erosion even with his small amount of Mana.
In order to further reduce the damage and quickly neutralize the black corruption within his body, Feng even switched to the Elemental Lord Title, increasing his Mana and improving his control over it; along with taking out a Peak Mana Recovery Potion.
Feng's eyes and attention never left the cloud of dust though, drinking the potion while making sure to watch the Trial Creature's location for any movements.
Surprisingly enough, though, it didn't attack, the clone's previous onslaught of attacks coming to a stop. A few seconds later, Feng immediately understood its choice to not attack him.
As soon as Divine Steps ended, a pitch-black object flew through the air at a fast speed, reaching Feng in the blink of an eye. Seeing the incoming Pandemonium Lashblade thrown by the Trial Creature, Feng swung his sword, deflecting the demonic weapon upwards.
It only made sense for the duplicate to wait until Divine Steps' duration ran out before attacking since Feng could just switch with another doppelganger to dodge whatever attack it threw at him, biding its time until the skill ended instead to launch a powerful attack.
Out of consideration for whatever the Trial Creature had planned by tossing the Pandemonium Lashblade at him, Feng deflected it up, wishing to send it flying away through the air. The immense force placed behind the throw through the replica's enormous strength and Precision Throw surprised Feng, being much greater than expected, with Feng barely managing to block it with his own sword covered in Flame Burst.
Suddenly being face to face with his own face surprised Feng even more, the Trial Creature teleporting in front of him by using Spatial Shift not something he had considered, but Feng had no time brood over it as the duplicate's other sword was close to cutting his neck in the premeditated surprise attack.
Knowing the wound would be fatal if the clone sliced his head off or heavily damaged his throat, Feng attempted to move his head out of the way, but a heavy mental pressure, sudden heaviness, and black chains restrained Feng and slowed down his movements.
Emperor's Haki!
Dragon's Authority!
Abyssal Curse!
Abyssal Bind!
The Trial Creature used four control skills at the same time, hitting Feng with them, causing Feng's reaction to be just a tad bit too slow even though Mysticsteel Body made him immune to control skills. The simple difference between him and the Tier 5 creature had caused them to be strong enough, managing to slow him for a moment.
Feng naturally attempted to do the same and activated those four skills on the Trial Creature as well, but despite it not having any control removal type skill active, it seemed less affected than Feng. The chains from Abyssal Bind turned into dust the moment they made contact with the Tier 5 monster, Abyssal Curse not affecting the clone due to the it only being a Tier 3 skill, while the mental pressure from Emperor's Haki and Dragon's Authority barely seemed to register.
Nevertheless, in this fight, a slight delay made a world of difference, especially when the Trial Creature and its attacks became slower the closer they were to Feng, allowing Feng to just barely crane his head back enough for the hit to not be fatal.
A bloody cut appeared on Feng's neck, the clone's Abyssal Blade slicing deep into his throat, slashing across and passing onward without fully decapitating Feng.
Hurriedly stepping back, Feng retreated while covering his neck to stop the bleeding. Although he had moved in time to not get his head cut clean off and survived the blow, the slice across his neck had caused a lot of damage to Feng, taking away over 30% of his HP even after he had Mysticsteel Body and Ultimate Blood Flow in effect.
Not even ten seconds have passed since the Trial Creature had begun seriously attacking, and Feng already had one foot in the grave.
His neck and throat were getting further fucked up by Void Erosion, causing damage that was difficult for even Ultimate Blood Flow and Feng using his Mana to heal. It would normally mean certain death for Feng, thankfully, though, his Vitality was incredibly high and got boosted even more by the regenerative skill from his Chestplate, so Feng would survive as long as he had a chance to recover.
But the Trial Creature wasn't intending on giving Feng that time to heal up, grabbing the previously thrown Pandemonium Lashblade's hilt with its left hand and swinging it down at Feng, the power of thunder and fire surrounding the Demon Sword.
Feng didn't have the spare energy to endure his replica's Thunder Flame Explosion, making blocking or dodging impossible. He, unexpectedly enough, simply turned his back to the duplicate and ran.
Even the Trial Creature was shocked by his choice, continuing its downward slash at Feng's wide-open back nonetheless without hesitation. Suddenly, however, Feng exploded with speed, creating a distance of over five yards between them in an instant as he left a trail of electricity behind.
Moreover, several dozen more Fengs had appeared in front of the Trial Creature, all turned towards it and launching attacks in retaliation.
God Speed!
Phantom Stride!
The doppelgangers blocked its way, using various skills like Thundering Flash and Thunder Flame Explosion to attack the Tier 5 clone, some appearing behind it with Instant Strike and striking from a blindspot.
They were all completely ignored, though, the Trial Creature disregarding the weak doppelgangers that possessed merely 1% of Feng's attributes and continuing with smashing down with its Thunder Flame Explosion.
All the attacks thrown by Phantom Stride's doppelgangers had zero effect on the Trial Creature, their combined force not managing to affect or cause any noticeable damage to the Tier 5 being. Its power was much more evident after executing the skill while shrugging off all those attacks, every doppelganger within range getting instantly turned into ash by the explosion.
Having created some distance between them using God Speed's huge boost in Movement Speed, Feng remained safe out of the blast zone. He moved quickly to get even further away from the Trial Creature in order to buy time for his HP and physical injuries to recover, creating many doppelgangers along the way.
Feng even chose to use an Advanced Bronze Footwork Combat Technique that was comprised of making several steps with each instance instead of the normal amount and greatly boosting his speed, along with leaving behind realistic afterimages to the point one can't distinguish the real him.
In Feng's case, he actually did create genuine doppelgangers with each step during Phantom Stride's duration, simply needing the Stepping Reality Combat Technique for the number of steps one makes while executing it.
Through such a method, he hoped to stall the Trial Creature for as long as possible, having all the following doppelgangers formed after it had killed most of them with Thunder Flame Explosion possess only Drago Buster, immediately casting the Draconic Spell upon spawning.
However that was wishful thinking on Feng's part since the duplicate was nearly catching up with him even without God Speed active, and any doppelgangers that stood in its way instantly got cut down. The Trial Creature's copied Pandemonium Lashblade extended out with its Splitting effect to over four yards, bisecting any doppelgangers that appeared as the Feng replica executed Sword's Orbit as a Silver Combat Technique.
Most of the doppelgangers were sliced up, but the few who didn't get caught up within the clone's Sword's Orbit managed to activate their Drago Buster in time, causing dozens of giant blue Magic Arrays to appear in the sky.
The Trial Creature attempted to similarly ignore them, but Drago Buster was a Tier 4 Draconic Spell, so even though they were much weaker than the real deal since doppelgangers were casting them under Feng's control, the Tier 5 replica of Feng could not simply receive so many of them without taking some amount of damage.
Hundreds of blue meteors rained down on the duplicate, decent damages appearing above its head that when totaled up, decreased the Trial Creature's HP by a visible amount. Given enough time, the dozens of doppelgangers that were being consequentially created each second to replace the ones that disappeared after three seconds could considerably damage the clone within Phantom Stride's duration.
Keeping that in mind along with the fact it could not catch Feng under regular circumstances due to the Destroyed Yog-Sothoth on him which slowed it down whenever it got close, much less when he has God Speed active, the Trial Creature began dodging some of the bright blue meteors. It also activated Blinkstep.
Whenever too many Drago Busters were about to land on it, the Trial Creature would teleport five yards away, utilizing the skill to bridge the distance between it and Feng at the same time.
Feng controlled the meteors to change directions and follow after the replica, but it was too fast for them to keep up with, and it was constantly teleporting around, so the most his doppelgangers and their Drago Busters could do was slow it down slightly.
His efforts were not enough though, and the Trial Creature drew near him, getting closer with each passing moment. Eventually, it managed to get close enough to teleport right in front of Feng using Blinkstep, slashing suddenly at him.
Utilizing God Speed's incredible boost to his Movement Speed and overall agility, Feng dodged the strike, and was actually bold enough to send one of his own, the Pandemonium Lashblade cutting through the air towards the Trial Creature's head, despite them standing face to face and the Tier 5 duplicate's greatly superior strength.
The Trial Creature naturally welcomed Feng not running away and attacked once again, meeting the challenger head-on in the exchange.
However, just as their swords were about to collide, the sharp blades being millimeters apart, Feng let go of his Demon Sword, releasing it from his grasp while his hand continued towards the Trial Creature from a different angle that the clone could not block.
Such a foolish move was beyond his replica's expectations as it easily struck away the unsupported Pandemonium Lashblade, its own sword continuing the slash at the now wide-open Feng who couldn't defend himself in time with the Abyssal Blade held by his left hand.
But before the Trial Creature's attack could reach Feng, his fist smashed into the duplicate's chest. As anyone would expect, the punch did nothing to the Tier 5 clone, a damage barely in double digits appearing above its head.
Feng had naturally known he could not damage the Trial Creature with a punch as well, and it had not been his intention to do so. Suddenly, a huge shockwave exploded out of Feng's fist as he drove it into the duplicate's chest, the powerful force lifting the Trial Creature off its feet and sending it flying.
Shockwave didn't do much damage to the Trial Creature despite Feng using the skill on it at point-blank range, but its powerful wind force was strong enough to raise the unsuspecting duplicate off its feet and make it fly away a few dozen yards backwards.
Using the chance, Feng grabbed his released sword and madly executed Stepping Reality in a small area for the rest of God Speed's duration, creating several hundred doppelgangers while the Trial Creature was too far and unable to stop him.
Multiple hundreds of giant Magic Arrays appeared in the sky as Feng had all of the doppelgangers use Drago Buster, along with him casting his own Draconic Spell this time.
Determined to stop them from completing the spells, the Trial Creature heavily landed and immediately dashed towards the hundreds of Fengs. As soon as it was within optimal range, the duplicate opened its mouth and used Dragon Breath, spewing out a column of Dragon Fire towards the group of Swordsmen.
Not even bothering to try blocking the clone's Dragon Breath, Feng bent his legs and jumped high in the air, using Blinkstep to teleport higher up when his momentum faded. Dragon Fire torched everything below him, all of Feng's doppelgangers turning into ash and instantly dying upon the flames devouring them.
But the Trial Creature was too late. When doppelgangers originating from Phantom Stride used skills inherited by the player wearing the Boots of Slaughter, they only needed to activate the skill, and it would continue to remain in existence even after the doppelgangers disappeared, the effects lasting for as long as the player was alive and Phantom Stride still active.
When using spells like Drago Buster, the case was a bit different since the spell needed to be fully activated, canceling if the doppelganger disappeared before the spell's Magic Array was completely formed. Afterwards, even without the doppelgangers being around, their skill or spell would remain in effect, functioning as predetermined or being controlled by the player.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of giant blue Magic Arrays had finished forming in the sky just as the Trial Creature's Dragon Breath had evaporated them; meaning all of them were now under Feng's control to fire off the Drago Busters.
Under the rain of thousands of meteors from a Tier 4 Draconic Spell, among which some were ones originating from Feng's Drago Buster, the Trial Creature would be in some amount of danger as even if it could not kill or seriously damage the clone, it would still do a number on it.
Those thoughts that had formed in Feng's mind were immediately extinguished in the next moment as an enormous Magic Array that dwarfed the hundreds created by Feng and his doppelgangers appeared, casting a bright blue light across the gray sky.
While Feng was gazing in bewilderment at the gigantic Magic Array from the air, continuously teleporting upwards with Blinkstep, five lightning bolts flew at him from below. The streaks of thunder converged together and merged, causing an even bigger lightning bolt to be formed.
Using his Summon Lightning skill as well, Feng merged his five lightning bolts into one and sent it to intercept the Trial Creature's attack, only for it to be destroyed by the more powerful lightning bolt thrown at him, its power diminishing slightly.
Within half a second, the Summon Lightning reached Feng, about to fill his body with a few thousand volts, but he disappeared at the last moment, teleporting out of its way.
Like a homing rocket, the lightning bolt made a sharp turn, twisting in the air and flying towards Feng once again.
Having no other choice, Feng spewed Dragon Fire at the incoming thunder, his Dragon Breath colliding with the replica's lightning bolt and neutralizing it. The difference between them only grew clearer the longer this fight went on.
By only using one skill, the Trial Creature forced Feng to use up multiple of them in order to defend against it, consuming significantly more Stamina and Concentration in the effort to protect himself, and even more if he wished to launch his own attack.
Now that the Trial Creature was using Drago Buster, Feng was bound to go through much more of his power in order to stop the powerful Draconic Spell used by the Tier 5 replica.
As Feng was racking his mind with countering the incoming Drago Buster, he sensed an even greater source of danger from above. It wasn't the meteors that were coming down on him, but a humanoid figure with a pair of giant wings extending from its back.
Hastily crossing his swords over his chest, Feng barely stopped the Trial Creature's Chop in time as it dove down on him like a falcon. When their swords collided, Feng felt a powerful force course not just through the sword, through his arms as well, and much more concerningly, inside his arms and body.
The bones inside Feng's arms instantly broke, making it difficult for him to hold his swords, while the invasive force recked the rest of his body and caused his HP to greatly decrease.
'Damn it! So this is Internal Shock?' Feng finally felt what it was like to be hit with the Shock-Inducing Fists' Internal Shock, being on the skill's receiving end for the first time as the power that ignored most of its target's Defense and did internal damage broke his arms upon Feng blocking the unexpected attack.
Moreover, the duplicate did not let up, pushing against Feng's swords and forcing him into a quick descent by making them both barrel down to the ground. The damage Feng would receive will be even greater when the Trial Creature smashed him into the earth below, so Feng tried to force back his replica, but even without the Legendary ranked Blood Emperor's Armor equipped, its strength was still superior and too great for Feng to resist in this situation while they were airborne.
Sensing that they were rapidly approaching the ground and about to crash, Feng panicked, using Blinkstep to teleport away and escape its attempt to bury him in more ways than one. Meanwhile, not reacting to Feng's sudden disappearance, the Trial Creature fell face-first onto the dark gray ground.
Feeling no relief after surviving that unorthodoxed attack, Feng teleported another five yards away from the duplicate, needing to distance himself as much as possible from it. With his arms broken, Feng would be fucked if he had to immediately brawl with the Trial Creature, which had already gotten up and was about to attack again.
At the same time, the ginormous blue Magic Array in the sky fully formed and glew brighter, dozens of giant blue meteors falling towards Feng.
Needing to counter both very lethal sources of danger, Feng activated Phantom Kill, Nine Dragons Slash, Mysticsteel Dualblades, and even retrieved five Fragmented Legendary swords from his bag, throwing them out and using Blade Dance to control them; activating the Legacy Skill for the third time in an actual purposeful situation during all his lives.
The doppelganger was the first to attack after activating Blade Liberation, charging towards the Trial Creature while slashing out with Thundering Flash and Thunder Flame Explosion, simultaneously activating its Drago Buster. Feng controlled the 28 swords to follow after the doppelganger, having them surround and fly towards the Trial Creature from all sides at its blindspots and vital parts.
As for the shooting meteors, Feng could only use his own Drago Buster and the ones cast by his doppelgangers to block the Trial Creature's Draconic Spell.
In order the counter the incoming attacks besetting it from everywhere, the Trial Creature activated the two skills from the Abyssal Blade along with Mysticsteel Dualblades, creating its own doppelganger and 23 flying swords.
But it couldn't use Blade Dance like Feng. Even if it had the Legacy Skill copied from Feng, it didn't matter since the Trial Creature had no extra swords to control with Blade Dance. Needless to say that Feng was planning on fully taking advantage of that fact to overwhelm the duplicate and stop its movements while Internal Shock ends and his HP recovers.
There was, however, another skill the Trial Creature could not properly use, resulting in an unexpected turn of events.
Not wanting to bother with the two skills from Feng's doppelganger, the Tier 5 duplicate had its doppelganger intercept the incoming Feng and attempt to use the same skills. When it took a step forward, however, the doppelganger's leg broke apart, shattering the moment it used Tier 5 speed and strength to dash forward.
Its second foot came in to stabilize the doppelganger and stop it from falling over, only for it to break under its own strength as well. Meanwhile the Mana inside it that the doppelganger tried to use for its skills went wild during their activation, overflowing through the doppelganger's body for a few seconds, before exploding.
Both Feng and the Trial Creature were stunned for a moment upon seeing the scene, the duplicate not knowing what had just happened while Feng was surprised that his Tier 5 replica had not controlled its doppelganger to use the adequate amount of strength.
Although the Abyssal Blade had been upgraded into a Tier 3 Magic Weapon, Phantom Kill being promoted to Tier 3 as well along with it, causing it to be significantly stronger and able to handle more of Feng's strength with all of his attributes, the doppelganger still only had a Tier 3 Physique.
Feng would normally control the doppelganger to not use more strength than its physical body could handle, which was high in Tier 4 rank, when summoning it unless it was for a desperate attack. But the Trial Creature seemed to not be aware of Phantom Kill's limitations and had used all of the doppelganger's strength, which was inherited from itself and ranked above Tier 5 Intermediate level, causing the physical body of the doppelganger to break under the immense strain and fall apart.
This outcome was naturally very welcomed by Feng since it eliminated a major threat to him in the fight, and he immediately capitalized on the opportunity.
His doppelganger continued on to throw Thundering Flash and Thunder Flame Explosion at the Trial Creature's face, which attempted to outmaneuver the skills by teleporting to the side and closer to the doppelganger, planning to quickly kill it.
But the river of merged lightning and flames changed directions, getting in the duplicate's way and blasting it from the front. Not being able to dodge the attack, the Trial Creature could only defend against it.
Or at least that's how it would be if the opponents were of equal strength. Without hesitation, the clone charged straight forward, colliding with the river of thunder and fire head-on, and fighting against it. The blast naturally did some damage, but the Trial Creature forced its way directly through and reached the doppelganger in the next moment.
With a slash, the replica cut right across the doppelganger, only for it to teleport directly behind the Trial Creature using Instant Strike, its sword releasing a silver glow as the doppelganger stabbed it forward.
While the Trial Creature could effortlessly tank skills like Thundering Flash from the doppelganger, Moonchaser was something of a larger nuisance that the replica chose to defend against.
Over fifty swords clashed in midair above the Trial Creature, Feng's side having more weapons, but still getting suppressed by the Tier 5 clone's twenty-three swords despite an additional five Fragmented Legendary attacking the Trial Creature and forcing it to be on the defensive with its higher attributes.
The clash happening between the thousands of blue meteors up in the sky was even more dazzling, Feng controlling all the Drago Busters to shoot down the falling lights created by the Trial Creature's Draconic Spell.
Barely, he was managing to counter them, stopping the giant meteors from being a threat to him using the thousands originating from his doppelgangers along with his own, which were significantly more powerful. In fact, by Feng's estimations, he'll even have some left over to smite the Trial Creature with.
Phantom Kill's doppelganger would not be able to stall that powerhouse for more than two to three seconds due to the massive difference in strength even while Feng was controlling its movements, the Trial Creature easily dealt with the doppelganger's Moonchaser and launched an attack it could not dodge, Feng having it use Defensive Blade, Parry, along with an Advanced Bronze Defensive Combat Technique to survive while trying to avoid it.
Ending up half dead from the duplicate's attack, the doppelganger was controlled by Feng to use a Bronze Footwork Technique, getting in the Trial Creature's way and slashing out with Worldly Purification.
This attack would definitely finish off the doppelganger even without the Trial Creature doing anything since it could not handle such power, but Feng was hoping to distract it for a moment with the Tier 4 skill so that he could control some of the blue meteors to intercept the Trial Creature and stall it with that method.
In the next instant, however, Feng sensed unparalleled danger, a pitch-black blade appearing in front of his eyes and about to cut his head in half. Moving so fast after activating God Speed, the Trial Creature had killed the doppelganger in passing and reached Feng, its attack nearly hitting the mark as the duplicate's surroundings crackled with electricity, before the system notification about the doppelganger's death could sound in Feng's ears or he could react.
If not for Chrono Ensnare decreasing the Trial Creature's speed by a third when it was within a yard of him, and the Attack Speed of the slash even further upon it being right in front of Feng's face, he would not have sensed the danger in time and activated Thought Acceleration.
Having a clear view of the Pandemonium Lashbalde about to slice his face off, its Splitting effect activated with the chain sword extended to four yards, and the Trial Creature, Feng was sure that it was getting ready to execute Sword's Orbit.
Thus even if Feng used Blinkstep to avoid the slash and appear five yards away, he'd instantly get caught up in the Trial Creature's range, and die from its incredibly fast attacks within a Silver ranked Sword's Orbit.
Though, standing there to take it wasn't an option either, so with no other option, Feng chose to teleport away in order to avoid the incoming attack.
The moment it saw Feng disappear, the Trial Creature instantly switched to using Sword's Orbit, as Feng had predicted it would, encompassing nearly everything within ten yards of itself thanks to the Pandemonium Lashblade's large attack range while in its whip form.
However, the duplicate hit nothing.
Seven hundred thousand yards away, Feng was sitting on the ground and breathing heavily, taking out Consumables to heal his neck that was still getting corroded by the Trial Creature's Void Erosion.
Knowing he could not dodge the following attacks his Tier 5 replica had cooked up nor afford to remain near it while its Internal Shock was active, Feng immediately bailed using Spatial Shift.
After that short exchange upon the Trial Creature starting to use skills, Feng had concluded that it was simply too strong for him to beat. The difference in their power was simply too vast and not something he could make up for with techniques since the replica operated with combat standards on par with the top of the Third Step Domain Realm, along with infusing a Bronze Combat Technique into its every movement and having access to a wide range of Advanced Bronze and Silver Combat Techniques to use.
The only equal factor concerning their Combat Techniques was that the Trial Creature seemed to only be capable of using techniques above Bronze rank that Feng himself had at one point used in God's Domain ever since his reincarnation.
Apparently the World Summit Trial could somehow access that information from the Main God's System, giving its created Trial Creature the ability to use anything Feng could, along with it instantly learning whatever new Combat Technique Feng uses during their fight and implementing it even if it was a Silver Combat Technique.
Facing such a being gave off a creepy feeling to Feng.
Though, that was actually a massive relief as the clone wasn't in possession of his memories to use the techniques and just copied what he had already shown, meaning the Trial Creature also isn't as strong as Feng had feared it would be since it didn't truly wield the level of power a Tier 5 Feng would.
After all, if Feng's replica was capable of doing everything he'd be able to do while at Tier 5, Feng would already be dead.
A Gold Combat Technique or a Mana Technique being used by the Trial Creature during this fight would end the battle in a jiffy.
Even with just this, however, despite the Trial Creature merely being the shell of Feng while possessing Tier 5 strength, it was still too powerful for Feng to defeat with only his own power, making it basically impossible for him to win.
Of course, that was if he purely relied on his own strength, which Feng had no intentions of doing.
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