After a brief exchange with the Temple Spirit, Ian Song stepped into the Sixth-Layer Challenge Domain.
But as soon as he entered, his expression changed dramatically.
This was a sealed space, about the size of a football field.
The Silverglow Skiff was fast, but in such a confined space, it was completely useless.
With a flash of light, six puppets appeared.
Spatial Stasis was still on cooldown; the only divine ability available was Soul-Control Brand.
With a thought, he activated Soul-Control Brand.
A flash of dark light struck one of the puppets.
"Suicide!"
"Pfft!"
Blood splattered as one puppet collapsed, dead.
The other five puppets, seeing this, swung their swords at Ian Song.
Damn it!
With five opponents of equal strength attacking at once, Ian Song had no courage to take them head-on and instinctively retreated.
But after retreating a bit, he found there was nowhere to go. He could only summon the Azure Lotus Sword and charge forward.
Boom! Boom!
Energy exploded, sword-qi flew everywhere, and Ian Song's figure, riddled like a tattered sieve, was sent flying and crashed to the ground.
The five puppets gave him no chance to breathe, chasing relentlessly like maggots on bones.
He lasted only three moves before the five puppets chopped him into pieces.
The scene shifted, and Ian Song appeared once again in the starry void, breathing heavily, his face pale as paper.
At the moment he was dismembered, even knowing he'd revive, a huge wave of fear surged uncontrollably from deep inside.
Looks like I'm pretty afraid of dying after all!
Ian Song laughed at himself.
"Kid, you have ten minutes to recover," the Temple Spirit's voice sounded in his ear.
Ian ignored the Temple Spirit, spacing out for three minutes before finally exhaling heavily and adjusting his mood.
Now, he'd already used Soul-Control Brand. Next, he had to face six puppets of equal strength—how could he possibly kill them?
He mentally reviewed all the divine abilities he knew.
The only one that might work was Gravity Domain, but twenty times gravity only helped against a single puppet. Against six, he had no chance to ambush them.
What other method could he use?
Suddenly, a fire spell he'd overlooked flashed through his mind.
That fire spell also came from the system, so the puppets definitely couldn't use it.
There were nine fire spells—some single-target, some area-of-effect. The single-target ones were strong, but not stronger than the Azure Lotus Sword Codex.
As for the area-of-effect spells, their power was even weaker.
No, that's not right. I must be missing something.
Ian Song frowned in thought.
As the time to re-enter the challenge layer approached, Ian finally realized what he'd overlooked.
The Temple could create opponents equal to his strength, but it wasn't omnipotent—for example, it couldn't replicate system divine abilities.
So, maybe these puppets had other weaknesses?
He had a divine ability that saw through the essence of things—the Omniversal God-Eye.
If he could spot the puppets' weak points and attack them, he might still have a chance to win.
The next moment, Ian Song was teleported again to the Second-Tier Sixth-Layer Challenge Domain. As soon as the six puppets appeared, he activated the Omniversal God-Eye to analyze them.
Immediately, a lump of information about the puppets appeared in Ian's mind.
But as he froze for a moment, distracted by reading the info, the six puppets attacked him together.
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Blood splattered as Ian Song was dismembered once again by the six ruthless puppets.
Even though he'd died once before, experiencing death again was still unbearable for Ian.
He exhaled deeply twice, refocused on the info in his mind, and after reading it, Ian frowned tightly. The Omniversal God-Eye revealed that all six puppets were incomplete humans, devoid of emotion, with only pure battle intent—their sole purpose was to kill him.
So, they had no real weaknesses.
Annoying—what should I do?" Ian frowned, racking his brain.
He pushed his mind to the limit, even igniting a "flame of wisdom" in his spiritual power. Finally, with only a minute left before re-entering the challenge, Ian thought of a possible solution.
Whoosh!
Ian Song reappeared in the sealed space, the six puppets followed, ready to attack.
Wait!" Ian shouted.
The six puppets instinctively paused, stopping in place.
I know your purpose is to kill me, and I know I'm no match for you! So, I'll choose suicide!
As soon as he finished speaking, Ian plunged the Azure Lotus Sword into his own chest.
Blood spurted as Ian's life force faded rapidly, death imminent. He hadn't dodged—he stabbed straight into his heart.
The six puppets were stunned, instinctively unsure what to do.
I'm about to die, so you have no purpose either. You should all kill yourselves too!' Ian said weakly.
The six puppets nodded in agreement, then pointed their swords at their own hearts.
Pfft! Pfft pfft pfft pfft!
Blood splattered again as all six puppets stabbed their own hearts with their swords.
Hahaha, what a bunch of idiots!
Ian Song suddenly burst out laughing, then activated Life Divine Light to heal his wounds.
After a while, Ian was fully healed, but the six puppets, thanks to their powerful vitality, hadn't died immediately—just barely clinging to life.
Kill!
With a slash of his sword, Ian Song decapitated all six puppets.
"Congratulations, child. You're the first person in history to clear the Second-Tier Sixth-Layer Challenge Domain. Next, you'll receive primary usage rights for the Temple!" The Temple Spirit's voice sounded in Ian's ear, tinged with excitement.
Thanks.' Ian smiled. 'Tell me about the Third-Tier challenge.'
The Temple Spirit said, "In the first layer of the Third-Tier, you'll face an early Golden Core puppet. This puppet has a magic treasure, knows spells, and is a top-tier Golden Core expert. In the second layer, you'll face a late Golden Core puppet... and in the third layer, an early Nascent Soul puppet, also with treasures and spells."
Hearing the details of the Third-Tier challenge, Ian felt his teeth ache. Late Foundation Stage and early Golden Core were only one rank apart, but it was a huge leap—and this puppet was a top-tier Golden Core. Could he win?
The answer was no.
As for the late Golden Core in the second layer, and the early Nascent Soul in the third, there was simply no way to clear them!