Assessment Begins! Dancing with Wolves!

"The warm heart-blood of Roman royalty..." Feeling the hard, bumpy texture pressing against his chest, Bai Zhou mused with suspicion: *Could the gold beans actually be something like that?* The answer to the riddle was right on its surface. To fulfill the Wolf Knight statue's dying wish, the key clearly lay in Roman blood. At first, faced with the statue's last words, Bai Zhou had muttered in his heart, wondering where he was supposed to find such a thing. Yet now, the golden beans against his chest—visible to Bai Zhou alone—hummed and vibrated, responding to his thoughts. As if saying, *I'm up for it, pick me!* This puzzled Bai Zhou, but also brought a sudden moment of clarity. That was right... The Crown of Thorns was the crown of Empress Irene. —And wasn't Empress Irene an empress of the Eastern Roman Empire? This matter was also recorded in *Eight Thousand Questions of Naughty Black Cat*. Even though she ended up working a spinning wheel, carding cotton, and ultimately starving to death... it didn't change the fact that she had once been a great emperor of Rome. It was also thanks to *Eight Thousand Questions of Naughty Black Cat* that Bai Zhou first realized his earlier conversations with Crow had been on completely different wavelengths. *Zhuluoji*, not the *Jurassic*! The Zhuluoji that the Golden Pass led to didn't have reptiles forming ritual hand seals with their claws. Nor was it a prehistoric era devoid of humans, but rather an era of civilization... One that was likely deeply connected to "Rome"! *Zhu-Luo*, *Zhu-Luo*—if it wasn't about slaying Rome, could it possibly be about Romeo from fairy tales? As a mystical crown left behind by Irene, perhaps the dark crimson beads of blood dripping from it were none other than Irene's own blood? "..." Give it a try? Pondering this, Bai Zhou picked out one golden bean from the many in his pocket, clutched it in his palm, and thought about how to use it. "Pilgrim, you may take your time to consider this matter." Seeing that Bai Zhou didn't answer right away, the Wolf Knight statue assumed he was hesitating. Amid the grand hymn, the Wolf Knight statue spoke: "Please make your final choice with prudence." "Once a decision is made, you will have no chance of regret." Hearing this, Bai Zhou shook his head. He gave his final answer: "If a trial for an [Adventurer] isn't adventurous enough, it hardly counts as a trial." "Since there's only this one opportunity, there is no reason to enter a mountain of treasures and return empty-handed." "So, please tell me..." "How do I take part in the temple initiation assessment?" Caution was an indispensable virtue for an [Adventurer]. Yet greed was the very essence of why an [Adventurer] was an [Adventurer]. Coincidentally, the instant Bai Zhou's voice fell, the hymn above seemed to reach its crescendo. The soaring song enveloped every direction with a brisk rhythm, yet the more one listened, the deeper the sorrow welled up inside. *Rumble...* A rapid string of sharp cracks suddenly echoed through the air. Following the sound, Bai Zhou glanced upward, and his scalp instantly prickled. The singing monster named "High Priest" seemed to stretch lazily above. This finally allowed Bai Zhou to behold its full appearance beyond merely its hands and eyes. Red! The very first impression striking his sight was a profound, suffocating red! A lonely, towering red! A foul, bloody red! Its scarlet, grotesque face was entirely necrotic, leaving only a pair of dully swiveling eyes alongside vivid red flesh, which had turned into a dense thicket of fleshy buds writhing in the wind. Above its head rested a blood-red halo, profane and sinister; a single glance conjured illusions of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Its back was extraordinarily straight, yet held an unnatural hunch, as if bearing some invisible, crushing weight. From its neck downward, vast swaths of skin took on a translucent, swollen texture, beneath which faint traces of eerie green and sickly purple were visible. Like viscous fluids, they slowly flowed and bulged beneath the surface. *Thump-thump! Thump-thump!* Occasionally, those swollen parts throbbed a few times, as if the greenish-purple fluid were about to burst forth. Yet immediately after, the bloody halo atop the monster's head would shed wisps of red light, restraining the bulging liquids. ...It seemed like a breeding ground of calamity. Above the boundless ruins, this inhuman monster seemed to nurture some unimaginably dreadful misfortune, bound only by a seal. "What on earth is that thing..." Bai Zhou's voice was parched. He had ample reason to suspect that the destruction of this civilization was tied to it. Lowering his gaze further, he saw... The monster's lower body was even more grotesque than the calamity-breeding upper half. Resembling a war machine, it was too hideous to look at directly. Bai Zhou suddenly thought of creatures like beetles or turtles, because its entire lower body was enclosed in that sort of "shell." Twisted, blackened metal was tightly coiled together, studded with greenish-purple crystals, and ultimately fused seamlessly with the monster's flesh. It was sickening. With just a rough sweep of his eyes, Bai Zhou's mind felt as if it had ground to a halt, silently contaminated by a chilling expanse of red. *Red, red, red, red, red!* *Mad, mad, mad, mad, mad!* *Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold!* "..." Hearing its singing caused no physical harm, but witnessing its full appearance inflicted considerable mental contamination upon Bai Zhou. Fortunately, he had prepared for this beforehand. He moved immediately to invoke the character [Soothe] within his Sea of Ignorance... Yet in the next instant, *Hum!* Something inside the temple vibrated, producing a crisp chime. Like sheep encountering a wolf, the "inauspicious red" infecting Bai Zhou instantly scattered in disarray. Bai Zhou focused his vision and discovered that the broken lance in the Wolf Knight's hands was ringing. "Phew..." Exhaling a long breath, a still-shaken Bai Zhou wondered what this horrifying monster perched atop the temple was doing. It refused to enter, yet wouldn't leave, merely peering inside with swiveling eyes full of "ill intent." Was there something in the temple it coveted yet feared? Or was it actually a ferocious beast sealed and kept by the temple? In adventure tales, temple-guarding beasts protecting treasures were commonplace. Typically, such monsters were unfathomably powerful, but defeating them yielded rewards sufficient for an adventurer to see through the journey all the way to the final demon king. "The pilgrim has chosen the temple initiation assessment." The cold, mechanical voice reported aloud to an unknown listener: "Then... the assessment begins." As the words fell, Bai Zhou held his breath in concentration, yet nothing around him changed. "..." The High Priest's song still echoed all around. There was neither an imagined pillar of light for teleportation nor walls, cages, or starved beasts descending from the sky. "So, what is the content of the assessment?" Bai Zhou focused his gaze on the Wolf Knight statue and asked. And in response to Bai Zhou's question— *Clatter—!* Suddenly, the crisp sound of falling stone came from nearby. Followed by a tremendous rumble. Amidst countless stone fragments showering to the ground, the half-kneeling Wolf Knight statue slowly rose to its feet under Bai Zhou's somewhat bewildered, blank stare. Its towering, imposing frame stood roughly three meters tall, casting a long shadow across the floor. It still spoke in that cold, mechanical voice, but its speech had grown far more fluid, as if the assessment had unlocked a higher tier of intelligence: "I admire your courage. However, your ability still requires testing." "The temple initiation assessment consists of two trials in total." "This place is the ground for the first trial." "—It is also the simplest trial." As it spoke, the broken lance swept across with a *swish*, held horizontally before the stone Wolf Knight's chest. Although only half of the spearhead remained, jagged and uneven, it radiated an edge far more terrifying than any intact Extraordinary weapon! It declared: "A battle at the same rank." "The content of the assessment: survive beneath my lance!" Bai Zhou: "?" The instant the Wolf Knight's words fell— *Hum!* The lance cried out once more. Without warning, without announcement, the sound of stone boots crushing the floor erupted like thunder. The moment cracks blossomed across the black stone tiles, a dark afterimage sliced through the air. The broken lance ripped through the atmosphere, hurtling forward with a piercing shriek. *Clang!* Bai Zhou drew his blade to parry. The purple-gold edge slashed upward aggressively, colliding violently with the fractured tip of the lance. Sparks scattered in an abrupt explosion, instantly illuminating both their faces. Yet Bai Zhou's expression shifted immediately as a continuous wave of twenty-seven follow-through bursts surged from the opponent's lance head. That force swelled like a rising tide, boundless and overwhelming as though the heavens were collapsing! This was... "The Nine Basic Slashes!" Bai Zhou gasped in a low voice. This all-too-familiar sensation was unmistakably the opponent using the first three stances of the Nine Basic Slashes! Because Bai Zhou wielded a saber, what he had deciphered from the murals was the Nine Basic Slashes. In the eyes of others, those very same mural patterns might have manifested as Nine Basic Punches, Nine Basic Swords, Nine Basic Lances... Yet compared to Bai Zhou, the opponent was far more proficient. The hidden follow-through remained concealed until the last second, catching Bai Zhou off guard with a sudden onslaught that became impossible to evade once unleashed! With the right half of his body still numb, Bai Zhou gritted his teeth. While parrying with the saber in his right hand, his left hand drew his short cudgel and swung it like a blade. The wind howled, and saber qi surged in all directions! It was likewise the Nine Basic Slashes! *Boom!!* After a thunderous roar, Bai Zhou was knocked backward through the air, barely managing to steady his stance upon landing. Looking back at the stone Wolf Knight, its heavy frame had merely stepped back twice. A battle at the same rank? Was this truly a fight between equals? Bai Zhou gritted his teeth. He had previously thought that as a Destined, he rarely encountered rivals within the same rank. Only now did Bai Zhou realize it wasn't that he was too strong, but that his past opponents had been too weak... The Wolf Knight statue, naturally, was also a Destined! The Nine Basic Slashes that Bai Zhou relied upon as his trump card were known to the opponent as well. Furthermore, the Wolf Knight had mastered them to an even greater degree—almost to the point of pure instinct! Not only that. The spirituality erupting from the opponent was exceedingly similar to that of an [Adventurer], yet mysteriously like fire and water. The instant that power invaded Bai Zhou's body, it carried both the aggressive ferocity of raging flames and an uncanny corrosive nature. A single wisp of its spirituality required Bai Zhou to expend several times as much of his own just to wear it down! *What pathway is this?!* This was a power that seemed to share a common source with the [Adventurer]— yet was definitely not that of an [Adventurer]! More frenzied, more chaotic, and even more... Corrupted! *What is this thing?* Bai Zhou was bewildered. Before he could ponder further, the brief standoff broke, and the Wolf Knight lunged forward once more. It brandished its lance, akin to a knight charging on horseback. *Clang!* A colossal force traveled through the blade, numbing Bai Zhou's arm. The knight pulled back its lance without a breath of pause, transitioning seamlessly from a thrust into a sweep that whipped toward his waist like a steel flail. A sweep to scatter legions, sweeping all armies aside! The shrieking wind made Bai Zhou's scalp tingle. Not daring to meet it head-on, he spun to evade while delivering a counter-slash aimed at the Wolf Knight's weapon-bearing arm. Yet the Wolf Knight seemed to have anticipated this. It still had residual force to pull back for defense, immediately flicking its spearhead upward. Bai Zhou's momentum was exhausted, while the opponent seemed to possess inexhaustible vigor, retaking the upper hand. *Clatter! Clang! Clang! Clang!* The Wolf Knight remained silent. Its attacks flowed like relentless ocean tides or dense clouds gathering on the horizon. There was no reading the trajectory or angle of its strikes; they were impossible to guard against, leaving not a moment to breathe! Every extension of the lance unerringly targeted Bai Zhou's most vulnerable angle. Carrying the cunning and madness of a wild wolf, it seized upon any flaw to deliver a vicious bite. Whenever Bai Zhou finally devised a countermeasure, the opponent had already shifted its stance, perpetually holding the initiative, unpredictable and elusive. Even though both used the exact same Nine Basic Slashes... in the opponent's hands, this secret technique Bai Zhou had just learned manifested entirely differently! A broken lance moved like a viper flicking its tongue—tapping, stabbing, lifting, parrying. Yet in the blink of an eye, the lance crashed down like a falling sledgehammer, slamming and sweeping with overwhelming force. Fierce power surged like toppling mountains and overturning seas, with yet more residual strength waiting in reserve for Bai Zhou! In the opponent's hands, how could the Nine Basic Slashes be confined to a mere nine stances, or even eighty-one, or two hundred and forty-three? There seemed to be as many variations as one could imagine. Transitions between moves were effortless, every single stance an inspired stroke of divine genius tailored perfectly to the situation! Ever-shifting, boundless in its permutations! Such application of a secret technique completely exceeded Bai Zhou's understanding. *Strong! So strong!* The longer they fought, the more shaken Bai Zhou felt. Yet a hazy realization dawned within him. The opponent's lance was not aimed to kill him. Rather... it was a form of guidance? The Wolf Knight was teaching him how to fight! "Then..." "As you wish." Settling his mind and casting away all stray thoughts, Bai Zhou's movements seemed to grow faster and faster. He was improving, he was growing! Not only was his mastery of the Nine Basic Slashes leaping forward by bounds, but amid the opponent's near-frenzied, overwhelming onslaught, Bai Zhou finally learned... He learned to abandon conscious thought. To abandon the brain's useless deliberation over moves, gradually surrendering command of the battlefield to pure combat "instinct." It was not man wielding technique, nor technique controlling man. —It was letting the learned technique "move on its own." ...The scale of this improvement and the inspiration it granted Bai Zhou could almost rival his very first battle against the swollen giant! Eventually, Bai Zhou simply closed his eyes. Eyes were useless; they could not catch the windup of the opponent's next move, only taking in excess information that induced tension. The brain's thoughts were useless as well; the opponent's next variation arrived faster than any calculated "solution." Yet once Bai Zhou closed his eyes and blocked out every distraction, he, who had been locked in a passive disadvantage, felt transformed into a battle-hardened war machine, increasingly capable of meeting the opponent's tempestuous offensive. *Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!* Surrounded by the solemn, soaring hymn of the High Priest, the two figures clashed beneath the moonlight song. The sole spectator was the singing monster, its eyes spinning dully as it peered down in curiosity. Silhouettes rose and fell, wind overlapping with wind. Both combatants were entirely mute, save for the rhythmic clashing of weapons like unceasing rain on an anvil. Bai Zhou's expression remained tranquil throughout. All attack trajectories were like twitches on an invisible "web," their movements perceived by Bai Zhou. This was... a Destined's application of the [Mind's Eye]! *Clang! Clang! Clang!* The tempo of blade clashing against lance grew ever swifter. Within Bai Zhou's mind, alongside the Wolf Knight's movements, hundreds of miniature figures emerged. Among them, two hundred and forty-three blade-wielding figures resembled Bai Zhou. Another two hundred and forty-three lance-bearing figures resembled the Wolf Knight. Then, hundreds of figures danced simultaneously, gradually merging into one another. The Wolf Knight's figures flowed into Bai Zhou's. Throughout this process, Bai Zhou transitioned from total passivity to steadily seizing the initiative. Feeling the chilling gleam of the Wolf Knight's omnipresent lance against his skin, Bai Zhou experienced a sudden, ineffable epiphany. Letting the "secret technique" move on its own. The lesson this Wolf Knight was imparting to Bai Zhou... lay hidden in the depths of the Nine Basic Slashes! It was the sublimation of the first three stances of the Nine Basic Slashes! ...And this sublimation was, in truth, a rudimentary application of "battle intent"? Bai Zhou could not say for certain, but that was the revelation communicated by those two hundred and forty-three figures in his mind. However... "Body, Mind, Qi, Essence, Intent, Spirit." "Intent" was something only Rank 5 Extraordinaries were supposed to touch upon! That was the fundamental reason they were called "high-ranking Extraordinaries." Yet Bai Zhou was barely a Rank 3! And yet—what the Wolf Knight was "teaching" Bai Zhou went beyond even this. In the past, whenever Bai Zhou swung his blade, he went all out with grand momentum. Now, learning alongside the Wolf Knight in combat, Bai Zhou understood that doing so made it easy for an adversary to borrow that momentum to dodge, seizing the opportunity to take control. He began dividing a single strike into two or three phases: the first phase released only thirty percent of its power, concealing the steady, surging follow-through behind it. That way, the opponent could not evade no matter what. Dodge one strike, and continuous subsequent moves followed; parry it, and one would immediately realize just how much was concealed within that single blow... Like a sparrow trapped in a celestial snare, or a tiny ant witnessing the boundless collapse of heaven and earth— this was the source of the dread the Wolf Knight had initially instilled in Bai Zhou! It was also the advanced application best suited for a unique secret technique like the Nine Basic Slashes! The High Priest's hymn permeated everywhere. The ethereal pitch rose higher, as if the story within the song were reaching a new peak. And Bai Zhou's blade grew faster and faster. Finally— After a perilous clash, sparks flared across Bai Zhou's cheek. The Wolf Knight's broken lance thrust back toward Bai Zhou at an uncanny angle. Yet Bai Zhou was no longer where he had stood. He was in midair— His shadow fell upon the ground, carrying an oppressive presence entirely distinct from the Bai Zhou of before. With his left hand, Bai Zhou held the short cudgel before his chest, igniting it in flames. A blood-red crescent moon descended, flickering firelight trailing closely behind his silhouette. [Moon Cinder Oath of Victory Slash]! Yet that was not all. Twisting his waist, he spun. The purple-gold saber concealed behind his back followed in swift succession. Purple-gold saber qi surged like a mighty river, vast and unending! A white sun rose at the river's end. The Nine Basic Slashes! At this very moment, sun and moon intersected! Bai Zhou spun like a whirling windmill, blade and cudgel turning in an eternal dance of sun and moon, borrowing force from force to forge a self-sustaining cycle. The twenty-seven bursts of force within the saber fused with the momentum of the [Moon Cinder Oath of Victory Slash]. —Twenty-eight bursts of force! *Hum!* Pure white sunlight and fiery moonlight illuminated the contours of the Wolf Knight's upward-gazing faceplate. Its expression seemed to undergo a minuscule, imperceptible shift, freezing for an instant. They said... those who sought victory showed no expression on their faces. If one gave everything, their features would contort under the sheer exertion— Ferocious! And so it was. With a ferocious expression, his eyes shut tight, Bai Zhou plummeted from the heavens. Like a god, like a demon. A cudgel and a blade—or rather, two blades—crashed down head-on. The force was dense and layered, the follow-through bottomless, inescapable as a collapsing sky. It could only be met head-on. Yet how could it be met? Even for a Wolf Knight statue of the same rank... faced with this simultaneous descent of sun and moon, blocking it was utterly impossible! "The assessment should end now." In this instant, Bai Zhou could hear the reverberations of his heart pounding furiously within his chest. Eyes clamped shut, he uttered a low cry: "Slash!" The blade flashed! Sun rose, moon set; their figures crossed. Above, the High Priest's grand hymn rang out. The melody echoing around the temple gradually dipped into a quiet trough. With both blades held in a cross before him, half-kneeling on the ground, Bai Zhou slowly opened his eyes. And behind him... *Rumble—* The towering "Wolf Knight," its back turned toward Bai Zhou, finally, slowly collapsed to the ground!