206: An anomaly! The Frost and Lightning Domain

"Welcome to the eightieth level. This level is Plucking Leaves and Flying Flowers."

"After the challenger shouts 'start', within sixty seconds, you must ensure that no petals or leaves touch your clothes or body, weapons excepted."

After hearing this introduction, Feng Ming immediately became interested.

So this is how Plucking Leaves and Flying Flowers is used?

Not allowing leaves to touch the body, not even the clothes—isn't this a test of one's agility?

Thinking this, Feng Ming shouted directly.

"Start!"

As Feng Ming spoke, he saw a glowing number appear in mid-air.

It was a sixty-second countdown!

At the same time, from the dome overhead, leaves and petals began to fall piece by piece.

At first, there were only a dozen or so, but soon there was a dense, massive pile!

Only five seconds had passed, and the number of petals and leaves in the air was already enough to cover the entire dome.

Seeing this, Feng Ming did not make a move blindly but began to calculate.

With so many leaves and petals, once they fell, it would be impossible to avoid them; even the ground would be filled.

It's almost impossible to dodge them completely unless all these leaves are destroyed!

Thinking of this, Feng Ming flipped his palm, and in an instant, a thunder palm struck above his head.

This was his first time performing the Wind Thunder Palm outside; the phantom of the thunder palm instantly struck the petals and leaves above.

In the blink of an eye, the leaves and petals turned into powder, which drifted through the space.

If it could be handled like this, Feng Ming suddenly didn't think this level was difficult at all.

However, just as this thought occurred to him, a prompt sounded within the space.

"Trial failed!"

"Hmm?"

Feng Ming was stunned, but he soon understood the reason for his failure.

Although those leaves and petals had been crushed by him, the dust filling the air was still part of them. As long as Feng Ming was touched by the powder of the petals and leaves, it counted as a failure.

Clearly, the key to passing this level didn't lie in destructive power; it could even be said that these petals and leaves cannot be destroyed. Once destroyed, not only would the goal not be met, but the difficulty of the trial would increase.

Feng Ming prepared to try again.

If they can't be destroyed, what about using subtle force?

Thinking of this, he immediately shouted 'start'.

As his voice fell, the powder of petals and leaves floating around instantly vanished, and the entire space became as clean as if no trial had ever occurred.

In the next moment, petals and leaves reappeared on the dome, densely packed, obscuring the entire ceiling.

This time, Feng Ming did not use the Wind Thunder Palm or even the Sword Finger. Instead, centered on himself, he mobilized the Qi within his body to form a barrier, protecting himself within it.

And those leaves that were originally drifting toward him were all blown to the surrounding area.

Indeed, this method was effective; the surrounding petals and leaves were all repelled.

This left Feng Ming very puzzled; what exactly was the difficulty of this level?

Feng Ming couldn't figure it out.

But soon, he knew why.

Following that, more and more leaves fell from the air. Although those leaves and petals were blown to the sides...

...as their numbers increased, they fell from the top in piles and clumps, all accumulating around Feng Ming.

Unexpectedly, a wall made of leaves soon formed, completely enveloping Feng Ming within it.

As time passed, the petals and leaves accumulated more and more, causing the wall of petals and leaves to grow thicker and thicker, even compressing the space he was in.

His range of movement grew smaller and smaller, but the falling petals and leaves were so numerous they made one's scalp tingle.

At the fortieth second, Feng Ming could no longer hold on and chose to give up.

Because the sky full of leaves had compressed his range of movement to less than three centimeters, yet there were still twenty seconds left; he clearly couldn't sustain it.

Even if he forced himself, he could only last another three to five seconds.

Feng Ming finally realized that, as expected of a level specifically mentioned by the Sect Master, it was indeed difficult to pass.

This level was different from all the previous ones; it didn't intend to test how strong the cultivator's own power was, nor the strength of their Qi.

Unfortunately, Feng Ming still didn't understand what this level was testing, so he didn't know how to proceed.

There was no other way but to keep trying.

"Again! Start!"

As his voice fell, all the petals and leaves on the ground vanished.

Everything started anew, but this time, Feng Ming was in no hurry to act. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and began to observe the leaves with the power of his Divine Sense.

Soon, Feng Ming noticed a clue: these petals and leaves fell from the sky like building blocks, in all sorts of shapes and postures.

If one just looked at them as petals and leaves, then that's what they were, but if one used a bit of imagination...

This was somewhat like a game of Tile-Matching.

Thinking of this, Feng Ming became interested and planned to try the Tile-Matching method—would it work if he arranged these petals and leaves neatly together?

Acting as soon as he thought of it, Feng Ming instantly unleashed the power of the Way of Thunder.

After all, his Divine Sense was only at the entry level; it was fine for observing the leaves, but using it to pick up and fix each leaf in place one by one was clearly impossible.

So he used his currently strongest power, the Way of Thunder. As the leaves and petals were about to fall, he adjusted their positions, using lightning arcs as thin as silk threads to connect petals to petals and leaves to leaves.

Then he slowly moved them to the corner, adjusted them according to order and direction, and stacked them neatly together.

Doing this had some effect, but it required extreme control; one mistake would damage the petals and leaves.

Moreover, as time went on and more petals and leaves fell, Feng Ming found that he wasn't fast enough; his organizing speed couldn't keep up with the falling speed.

Thus, after a flurry of panicked movement, Feng Ming still failed.

He had lasted thirty seconds throughout the process.

Although he failed, Feng Ming felt that this line of thinking was correct, but his Way of Thunder was not suitable.

He had to try a different power.

But the Way of the Blade and the Way of the Sword clearly wouldn't work; after all, they were both great paths of slaughter, and their offensive power was not weak!

The Way of Divine Sense could only assist, and the Way of Alchemy wouldn't help either.

The Way of Thunder had already failed.

The only one left available was the Way of Cold Ice.

The Way of Ice was more of an auxiliary type of Dao, especially after Jiang Shuwan comprehended the Thunder Tablet and obtained the Ice Thunder Domain.

Feng Ming felt some regret; it was a pity he hadn't comprehended this Cultivation Technique. If he had, perhaps his chances would be greater now.