The Legend of Min Hong

They instantly slashed at Min Hong as their claws slammed into Min Hong, who was sent flying about 10 metres away.

But before he fell, Min Hong slammed his palm into the ground as he borrowed the momentum to do a backflip before landing on his two feet.

The demons saw the result of their attacks and a nightmare inducing smile tore their lips apart as Min Hong saw rows of white fangs and long blood-red tongues.

Then he looked down at his chest which had eight one-inch-deep gashes in them.

Four on each side, then he used two of his fingers to touch these injuries as he smeared his blood across both cheeks as he mumbled to himself;

"So, this is the best a 5-Star Emperor stage expert can harm my physical body…"

He smiled at this realization as eight of the dragon tattoos went to work, as they began to heal his wounds which began to close up at a speed visible to the naked eye. 

Apparently, Min Hong was just testing out how much damage his physical body could withstand.

But when the two demons saw this, the wicked smiles on their faces began to vanish gradually, then when they saw the little kid who they just slashed with at least 90 percent of their strength smile, an ominous feeling began to surge within their hearts, if they had one. 

Then Min Hong looked up to them and spoke with a smile;

"You've had your chance…My turn!"

Then Min Hong disappeared shocking the two demons to their core, and by the time they could recover, Min Hong had already emerged in front of the one to his left.

Then he simply clenched his left palm into a fist, there was no fancy technique to it, just one raw and normal fist strike.

Bam!

The demon was blasted about 20 metres [66 feet] away from Min Hong as it began to cough up black putrid blood with several bone shards.

The second demon saw this and tried to put some distance between it and this demon of a kid.

But before he could take a step, he saw a swift kick radiating fearsome power heading for its chest.

Then it quickly crossed its hand in front of the chest in a bid to protect it from a direct impact.

Bam!

The second demon was then blasted about ten metres [33 feet] away as it stabbed its two feet into the ground in a bid to prevent itself from falling.

But those two feet dug a five-metre-long and five-inch-deep gullies on the ground before finally coming to a stop.

It looked at its arms only to see that they were already contorted into a cringe-inducing angles.

Then it fell to one knee as it began to puke putrid black blood on the ground.

Then it stood up as its arms began to crack and pop back into place.

The second demon also stood up as its shifted internal organs began to move back into place.

Min Hong looked at the result of his attack and shook his head in disappointment, seemingly unsatisfied by the outcome.

Then he mumbled;

"I just used 70 percent of my total body cultivation power and this was all it could achieve?"

Then he released his full cultivation as the 99 dragon tattoos roared to life, then he looked towards the demons and spoke;

"Sorry for the wait… let's try that again. I really want to know if I can defeat a 5-Star Dan Formation expert with my physical body alone…"

Though they didn't understand his language, but for some reason the demons could tell that Min Hong was either using them as a whetstone to sharpen his abilities or was just taunting them.

So, they both flew into rage as they also clenched one of their palms into a fist and bolted towards Min Hong once again.

This time they inserted all their power into these fist strikes, looking to pummel Min Hong into a pulp.

Min Hong saw this and smiled as he also bolted towards them looking to take them head-on, fists for fists and brute for brute.

Then he also clenched both arms into a fist as they collided;

Boom!

A loud explosion rang out as the shockwave of their collision rippled out, shattering several rock fragments on the ground as well as creating a 10-feet-radius, ten-inch-deep depression on the ground.

Min Hong retreated nine steps before stabilizing himself with a tenth step that sunk three inches into the ground as he began to feel his bones vibrate.

Then the most shocking thing happened, Min Hong's bones actually transferred this vibration all through his skeletal system, reducing the numbing effects by about 90 percent.

In that moment, Min Hong's bones were like an elastic material spreading all the shock from those punch across his entire body in ripples, before they instantly returned to a solidified steel-like state.

Min Hong sensed this and finally nodded in satisfaction as he commented;

"Now, that is more like it. This way I can wear out my opponent by simple brute force."

The demons on the other hand both retreated eight steps before stabilizing themselves as the bones in their hands began to vibrate intensely, prompting them relax their fists back into a palm.

They started juggling their arms several times before they could finally clench their knuckles ones again.

There and then, they began to look at Min Hong in a brand-new light. 

Min Hong looked into their eyes and could easily see the weariness and slight hint of cautiousness, as he smiled and spoke once again;

"I don't know what you guys are, but I know one thing for sure…"

"True demons do not cower in the face of humans. But since we have already begun, then let us end this… It's time to rumble!"

Then Min Hong bolted towards the duo once again as the two demons roared out in defiance before bolting towards him, then;

Bam! Boom!! Boom!!! Bam!!!!

They all slammed into each other, but instead of separating like they did earlier, they all entered close-quarters combat as several they threw flurries of fist strikes at each other.

Rock debris were sent flying around everywhere as several pummelling sounds and shockwaves that was capable of ripping a 1-Star King stage expert to shreds began to ripple into the area.

In a short minute, about two hundred fist strikes had been exchanged as two figures were finally sent flying out of the rubble in opposite directions.

One was Min Hong who was sent flying about 5 metres before coming to a stop after taking ten staggering steps and then throwing up a mouthful of blood as his bones rippled forcing him to go down on one knee.

Then he smiled as rows of blood-coloured teeth became visible with two of them missing. He looked over to the other side at the second demon who had its arms twisted earlier.

It was sent flying about 50 metres before tumbling over about thirty times before coming to a stop. It rose its dust covered face up and its fangs were nowhere to be seen.

It looked towards the area where they had just had a one-minute short rumble and saw its partner there on the ground lifeless, with a fist-sized hole in its stomach still leaking black putrid blood all over the place.

Then, it tried to stand up only to fall back to the ground as it threw up three increasing mouthfuls of black blood, with the last one coming out with some shattered organs and bones.

It had been completely sapped of energy.

Then it began to crawl towards Min Hong as if it wouldn't stop until it made sure that this wretched bastard of a human was dead.

Min Hog saw the struggling demon and stood to his feet as he spoke; "It was an interesting fight. I have never been this exhilarated when fighting in a very long time."

"Thank you very much. But I am sorry I can't dance with you anymore. You can die now."

Min Hong then pulled out one of the spears the demons had thrown earlier and gathered all the strength within his physical body once more before throwing the spear towards the crawling demon.

As the spear was flying through the air, a shockwave like effect appeared around its tip as it appeared in front of the demon in one breath before piercing through its head into its body sticking out of its belly then pinning the demon to the ground.

The demon was now in the stance a sun-gazer lizard has when it is sun-gazing. 

Then he turned around as the trial dimension shattered returning him to the room.

But at this moment Min Hong was currently frowning as he mumbled to himself;

"Is it the trials that is getting harder or is this Pagoda of Ascension just misbehaving?"

"I was supposed to be transported into a in the third level first before proceeding to the trial dimension."

"But this time, I was sent into a trial that had already begun. Or is it just testing my reaction speed?"

Min Hong kept thinking about several possible reasons why the Pagoda of Ascension would play such a dirty, dangerous and fatal trick on him.

He was so caught up in his thought that he didn't even pay a single attention to the deep machine-like voice that was making an announcement.

Instead, he just walked into the rewards room the moment it opened.

Then when he got to the pulpit this time, he saw three weapons instead of two.

But, one of them was a very familiar one. He had once seen it before, and it was the 'Retribution Whip'.

The moment he saw this, his frown deepened as he questioned in a low voice;

"Why is this whip here again? Is the Pagoda of Ascension trying to trick me or is it just trying to give me another opportunity to choose it, since I was only able to make a single choice at every level?"

Things were really beginning to turn really confusing as several questions kept popping into Min Hong's head from these sudden jumps in developments tied to the Pagoda of Ascension.

The first was the rise in temperature outside the Pagoda, then was the trial he just ended and now there's the one with these rewards.

After thinking about it for a while, Min Hong murmured to himself;

"But if it was trying to grant me another opportunity to choose the whip, while will I want to choose the weaker weapon when I have just passed the trial that rewards a stronger weapon than the whip?

"These things don't seem to make any sense… or maybe I am just too inexperienced to understand the reasons behind them… anyhow it goes, I will just prepare for the worst and go with the flow…"

Then Min Hong got to the pulpit and this time, the first weapon he saw made him smile so wide, his cheeks nearly hung permanently in a smiling position. But when he saw the next weapon, the smile vanished as a heaved a helpless sigh.

The choices he was going to be forced this time was even more troublesome than when he was forced to pick either the [Chant of the Cherubs] soul cultivation and the [Scripts of Buddha] mental cultivation techniques.

This was because the two weapons Min Hong were looking at were both dual weapons.

The first was a bronze bow and a black quiver filled with about 50 bronze metal-like arrows.

Then the next was a set of twin swords which were actually half a metre long twin Ninjatos.

They both had pitch-black matte-like blades with extremely sharp edges and a golden hilt each.

Then there was also a pitch-black ninja-like scabbard for them, just like that of a ninja.

Min Hong saw these weapons and laughed at himself as he spoke; "If some things are going to kill me within this Pagoda of Ascension, I am very sure the first of them all would be greed."

"Or at least the sheer headache of choosing from the available rewards. I could really use both weapons you know…" Min Hong yelled as his voice echoed through the entire room but there was no response of any kind. 

Min Hong then moved closer to the pulpit to take a closer look at the description of these two mouth-watering weapons.

The first one he looked at was obviously the bronze bow with a pitch-black quiver of 50 bronze arrows, and the description said; the [Forsaken Bow], Peak-grade Bronze Tier weapon.

When pierced by this arrow, it begins to feed on the memories of its victims. It can cause its victims to lose their Dao or technique comprehension, including forgetting their loved ones and any other thing that is present within their memories.

Min Hong saw this and shivered slightly as he commented;

"I had initially thought, it was just an ordinary memory loss, but this part about forgetting one's Dao comprehension and even cultivation and martial techniques… it is truly an overkill."

Min Hong shook his head as he imagined attacking someone during battle, only to get shot by one of these arrows and then forgetting the reason why he was fighting the person to begin with...

After having this crazy thought, he moved on to the twin blades and read the description which said; the [Soul Slayer Blade], Peak-grade Bronze Tier weapon.

When struck by this weapon, the victim's soul would suffer the exact level of damage as their physical body… and that was all.

But for some reason Min Hong kept reading this single-sentenced description over and over again, and the more he read it, the more awestruck he got… 

Min Hong didn't know when he actually took two steps backwards, probably in fear or just from sheer shock, he didn't know.

But his mind kept asking just a single question; "Is this truly a bronze ranked weapon?

To deal the same damage of the body to the soul as well, won't someone die completely if they get fatally struck or stabbed by this 'Soul Slayer Blade'?" 

Min Hong didn't even bother to continue reading as he touched the energy barrier protecting the blade.

The moment the energy barrier vanished along with the other two weapons, Min Hong stored the twin blades and the scabbard into his storage ring and didn't even bother to look back as he quickly walked up the stairs leading to the next level, like as if the Pagoda of Ascension was going to change its minds and decide not to allow him take the blades away.

But the moment he stepped into the portal; he instantly created a single Planetary Annihilation orb as he vanished from the spot.

The moment Min Hong appeared within this trial dimension, he instantly ducked and began to creep across the place like a thief who had just scaled a fence into its victim's house.

Looking here and there to see if his landing had woken the victim. 

But to his greatest surprise, he didn't see anything or anyone around, just the vast pristine sunny summer beach and the several patches of rocky islands in the distance.

He was also currently standing on one.

Though he could clearly see the bottom of the water because it was so clear to his eyes, but just to be careful, he still spread his mental energy over the entire body of water, scanning it for any form of life, be it human, beast, spirit or demons. 

But no matter how many times or how detailed his scans were, he still couldn't discover anything out of the ordinary, except from these rocky islands themselves.

Then he sent all of his mental energy towards a single one of these islands trying to scan every part of it including its core.

But no matter how much he tried, he noticed that his mental energy couldn't penetrate these rocks at all.

Moreover, from his detailed outer scan of these rocky islands, he got to notice that they were not stones at all, rather they were all metal ores, all of which he had never seen or heard or read of anywhere in his three lives.

After waiting for about for about an hour, nothing still happened and neither did he sense anything out of the ordinary 

He even went as far as singing the [Chant of the Cherubs] within his mind just to ensure that it was not an illusion, still, nothing happened.

He sang on for another hour just to be completely sure it wasn't another illusion which was just more powerful than that of the trials of plucking the Primus Dao Fruit.

But when nothing happened, he relaxed a little bit. 

Then after another three hours, he sent out his mental energy once again in a bid to scan for any life signal like he had been doing every ten minutes.

This rest-inducing silence and brilliant summer beach weather continued on, but for Min Hong, this weather was not something to enjoy at all.

In fact, worry had begun to set into his mind as several thoughts began to flash through it;

"What if this was an endurance test directed towards his level of patience?"

"But if it was, what if the test went on for thousands of years and he got out of the trial only to see that the world had ended, what would be the point of gaining power, if he was the only person still alive" 

This silence continued until the heat and light in the area began to reduce and dim.

Then after an extra hour, Min Hong began to feel a certain type of pressure that looked very similar to that of gravity so he looked up and saw something straight out of the fantasy animation and comics.

It was a meteor-like image which was about ten miles in diameter. 

This meteor-like image that was falling over him and was also casting a shadow which he had initially thought was the setting of the sun.

Moreover, it was also on fire and was approaching at a breakneck speed.

Min Hong sent out his mental energy towards this incoming asteroid, and when he got his feedback, he noticed that it was another huge metal ore like the ones he had seen earlier. 

Instantly, he jumped to his feet and threw the Planetary Annihilation orb upwards before grabbing it with his mental energy and sent it hurtling towards the incoming ore.

The moment it got into close proximity with the technique, Min Hong quickly snapped his fingers as the technique exploded wrecking only a tiny, negligible chunk of this incoming metal ore. 

Then he created two other 'Planetary Annihilation' techniques, before sending them towards the falling meteor.

They also disintegrated a chunk out of this falling metal ore, but with the way everything was going, Min Hong knew he was going to be smashed into a pulp should this metal ore land. 

Moreover, it was about ten miles in diameter and with the speed at which it was falling, it would most likely make contact in less than five minutes, so even if he was to use his 'One with World' level [Chaotic Shadow Steps], there was no way he could escape before impact.

Furthermore, he was very sure this was the trial this time, and his survival and escape would hinge on his abilities, techniques, martial arts and his Qi cultivation alone. So, he got to work….