Chapter 1320: Failed the Challenge!

Creak! Creak!

Standing in the middle of the room, watching the puppet slowly emerge from behind the door, Zhang Xuan let out a breath.

Having passed eight of the ten levels in the Out-of-Body Realm consecutively, he still hadn't gathered the Heavenly Dao technique, leaving him utterly helpless.

No choice, he had to take on this most difficult one.

As the hardest Jiazi Alley in the Saint Son Hall's Out-of-Body Realm, only seven people had passed it in tens of thousands of years—a testament to its difficulty.

"The puppet in Yizi Alley already reached the mid-stage peak of the Domain Realm; this one is surely tougher!"

He squinted.

The Yizi Alley challenge had already been very difficult for him; the puppet possessed combat power at the mid-stage peak of the Domain Realm. If he hadn't used the library to find its flaws and the Eye of Insight to plan his battle route in advance, winning would have been far from easy.

Even so, he had been injured. Fortunately, Heavenly Dao true qi recovered quickly; otherwise, today's challenge would have had to be abandoned.

"According to that Miss Qingyu's introduction, Ruoxi passed this level... I must pass it too!"

With a sharp glint in his eyes, Zhang Xuan's battle intent blazed.

In tens of thousands of years, only seven people had passed Jiazi Alley, and one of them was Luo Ruoxi.

Since his girlfriend had passed, he naturally couldn't show weakness; otherwise, even if they ended up together, he'd have no standing!

"Daring to challenge Jiazi Alley shows you're confident. Let me see what strength you really have!"

As he approached, the puppet's eyes suddenly snapped open, its battle intent instantly burning to its peak.

"You can talk?"

Frowning, Zhang Xuan looked over.

Among the puppets he'd seen before, only the one he'd modified could say a few 'hou ge hou'; the others could only utter single syllables. This one could actually speak human language—unbelievable.

"Make your move!"

Unwilling to say more, the puppet snorted and shook its body.

Whoosh!

The next moment, it was already in front of him.

Unexpectedly fast—over ten meters covered in an instant, like teleportation. Zhang Xuan abruptly contracted his body while rolling his palm and striking forward.

Palm force stacked, layer upon layer, converging in the air like a garden of blooming flowers.

This was a martial technique he'd learned from a manual in Yizi Alley... Overlapping Palm.

Crossing his hands, it bore a resemblance to the Thousand-Hand Buddha Palm, with palm force layering endlessly, like clusters of flowers, beautiful yet deadly.

Though this technique wasn't as powerful as the Great Sorrow Demon Palm in attack, it excelled in defense. Most importantly, its intricate moves made it hard to discern truth from falsehood, yielding unexpected results in battle.

Boom!

His palm force was mighty, but the puppet's strength was even greater. Using some unknown martial technique, its fist descended, sealing off the surrounding space. Despite the Overlapping Palm's power, it had no effect under the puppet's attack.

"It also knows the Overlapping Palm..."

Raising his eyebrows, Zhang Xuan immediately understood.

To make such a judgment instantly and suppress him so thoroughly that he couldn't even resist—only one possibility: this puppet knew the Overlapping Palm inside out, knowing exactly when to strike to prevent him from unleashing his full strength.

Although he had used Heavenly Dao martial techniques to compensate for many flaws and increase its power, for someone familiar with it, opportunities to counterattack could still be found.

This wasn't a flaw but mutual restraint between techniques and a crushing difference in strength.

"Break!"

Realizing that continuing the attack would only put him at a disadvantage, Zhang Xuan didn't pause. He turned his palm into a finger and flicked lightly, sending out a sword qi.

Having comprehended the True Solution of the Sword Dao, every move was a sword strike. Though he didn't use any special martial technique, its power was no less. With a 'puff,' it sliced through the puppet's sealed space and shot toward its brow.

"Hmph!"

The puppet clearly hadn't expected his sudden change of move to be so swift. It snorted but remained unflustered. Its clenched fist opened, fingers spreading like orchid petals, and several sword qi streams shot from its fingertips to meet his.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The two streams of sword qi collided, producing a series of air bursts in midair before both vanished.

Zhang Xuan felt a tightness in his chest, as if he had suffered a great loss.

"True Solution of the Sword Dao? A puppet has also reached this level of sword comprehension?"

He had known the Jiazi Alley puppet would be tough, but not this tough!

Not only was it well-versed in his palm techniques, but its understanding of the sword had also reached the True Solution level—that was frightening.

Zhang Jiuxiao, with his half-step True Solution and some vague Spirit Void Three Swords, had passed the Saint Son Hall's assessment to become a student—a testament to how rare this realm was.

That such a hard-to-attain realm could be achieved by a puppet was truly astonishing.

"No, this ability isn't self-taught. Puppets have inherent flaws and can't comprehend techniques. It seems a master who had comprehended the True Solution of the Sword Dao infused their insights into its body, allowing it to unleash such formidable sword intent!"

After the initial shock, he quickly realized something was off.

Puppets cannot cultivate; like robots, they receive commands and fight, with every move pre-designed and executed according to instructions.

In other words, the sword dao wasn't its own understanding but a fusion of implanted memories.

In other words...

It knew the how but not the why!

Still, even so, it was formidable.

Fused with the sword dao understanding of a grandmaster, its combat was instinctive. Even with his rapid progress, it would be hard to contend.

"Defeating it with the sword is difficult; palm techniques are even less effective..."

Thoughts raced through his mind.

Its sword dao was so powerful that winning with the sword was nearly impossible. And from the earlier palm clash, it was also superior to him...

How can we fight like this?

"Domain!"

With a thought, a domain one meter in diameter appeared around his body.

It seemed he had to use his strongest move!

Buzz!

The one-meter domain had just appeared when Zhang Xuan, before he could make any other move, found the space around him sealed—the puppet had activated its domain.

This guy's domain was a full twenty meters in diameter. Trapped inside, it felt like being bound by iron chains, unable to move an inch.

"Is this... the peak of the Domain Realm?"

The corners of his mouth twitched wildly.

No wonder he had been suppressed in every move for the past few moves—this puppet's strength had actually reached the peak of the Domain Realm!

With his current strength, fighting an early Domain Realm expert was no problem, and he could barely win against a mid-stage one, but... against a peak-stage one, it was nearly impossible!

Whoosh!

Knowing he couldn't contend, he executed Wanderer Without Boundaries, instantly breaking free from the shackles and reaching one side of the room.

With a flick of his wrist, a card appeared in his palm.

He gently squeezed it.

Buzz!

A surge of energy burst forth. The puppet, which had been about to attack, stopped and stepped back a few paces, a look of confusion in its eyes.

"You concede?"

The battle between the man and the puppet, though complicated to describe, had actually lasted only three moves—a punch, a sword strike, and a domain—taking no more than three breaths. Neither victory nor defeat had been decided, and their techniques had barely even clashed... To concede directly, wasn't that too fast!

"I'm no match for now!"

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

This checkpoint could only be passed by those at the peak of the Out-of-Body Realm. He was only at the early stage of the Out-of-Body Realm, and even using all his means, forcing his way through wasn't impossible, but... it was completely unnecessary.

"Farewell!"

Knowing he couldn't win, Zhang Xuan didn't dwell on it and turned to leave the room.

"Without passing through the Jiazi Alley, I can't condense a perfect Heavenly Way Out-of-Body Realm technique... And to get the manual, I have to defeat the puppet... So, the top priority is to boost my combat power as quickly as possible!"

As he walked toward the front desk, he pondered: "It seems I need to learn the Lingxu Three Swords or the Netherworld Divine Pupils!"

There were two ways to boost combat power: first, raise one's cultivation; second, practice powerful martial techniques.

Without a Heavenly Way technique, advancing in cultivation was difficult, so he set that aside for now. It seemed he had to go with the second option.

He currently had two powerful martial techniques: one was the Lingxu Three Swords, and the other was the Netherworld Divine Pupils.

If he could master either one, his combat power would immediately surge, making it much easier to pass through the Jiazi Alley.

"I'll go ask where I can find sword technique manuals!"

Having made up his mind, Zhang Xuan arrived at the front desk.

"Zhang Xuan... you passed?"

When he arrived, Senior Sister Shui hadn't left yet.

"No!" Zhang Xuan shook his head. "This level was too hard; I'm no match..."

"Oh..."

Senior Sister Shui finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If he had passed eight levels in a row and then this Jiazi Alley as well, it would really have been terrifying.

"May I ask, where in the Saint Son Hall can I learn sword techniques?"

Ignoring her expression, Zhang Xuan handed over the card and smiled as he looked at her.

To learn the Lingxu Three Swords, he first needed to elevate it to the Heavenly Way level, which meant he needed to find books to read.

"You want to learn swordsmanship?"

Before the attendant Qingyu could speak, Senior Sister Shui frowned and looked over.

"Yes."

Zhang Xuan nodded.

"If you really want to learn swordsmanship, you've come to the right person. Senior Sister Shui is the youngest sword prodigy in the academy... and her teacher is the most powerful sword grandmaster in the Saint Son Hall!"

Qingyu said.

"You use a sword?"

Zhang Xuan was startled and looked at the girl before him.

When she had challenged the Bingzi Alley earlier, she had gone all out and used every means, but he hadn't seen her use swordsmanship.

"Of course!"

Hearing this question, Senior Sister Shui frowned. With a flick of her wrist, a long sword appeared in her palm: "What? Want to try my sword techniques?"

Weapons couldn't be used in the passage challenges, so she had never used her sword. Now, hearing his tone as if he doubted her, she immediately raised her sword, and a dense sword intent burst forth.

"Not bad, but you're no match for me... Do you know where I can find books on swordsmanship? Could you take me to see?"

Unexpectedly, this girl's understanding of swordsmanship had already reached the level of Upper Sword Heart. Zhang Xuan praised her and then asked.

"No match? Then let me see how deep your understanding of swordsmanship is!"

With a snort, Senior Sister Shui leaped, turning into a sharp sword and charging straight at him.

Thud!

Before she could reach him, the long sword in her hand suddenly jerked, pulling her down to the ground, where she trembled uncontrollably.