154: Chapter 154, Third Level

The fifty-second floor of the Bone Platform.

The moment Lin Mo stepped onto it, the pressure surrounding him changed abruptly.

Three skeleton warriors stood in a triangular formation.

They didn't pounce immediately, but first adjusted their positions, sealing off every possible route Lin Mo could use to dodge.

Even more bizarrely, the golden patterns on their bodies faintly connected into a line between them.

An invisible sense of oppression immediately spread from the steps.

Lin Mo's eyes narrowed slightly.

"A Combined Attack Formation?"

He hadn't expected that at this level of the Bone Platform, the skeletons could already simulate such a thing.

No, to be precise, it wasn't a simulation.

Rather, some kind of combat instinct remaining within the Bone Platform had been reawakened by the trial itself.

These three skeletons were no longer individual entities.

They were a single whole.

Lin Mo slowly exhaled, raising his long saber horizontally.

In the next instant, the three skeletons attacked simultaneously.

The first one charged head-on, its bone saber hacking down with intense pressure.

The second one lunged from the side, its bone spear aimed straight at Lin Mo's waist and ribs.

The third one held the rear, its bone claws like hooks, blocking his path of retreat.

If it were an ordinary cultivator, even one at the peak of the Fourth Rank, it would be difficult to emerge unscathed from such a situation.

But Lin Mo simply pivoted on his feet.

The Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps instantly unfolded.

His figure didn't charge forward or retreat forcefully; instead, at the very moment the three attacks were about to close in, he used the imperceptible wind pressure on the bone steps to slide out of the triangular encirclement, as if pulled by an invisible thread.

At that moment, his movement technique was incredibly light—so light that it didn't seem like he was running on the Bone Platform, but rather shifting with the wind.

"So that's how it is."

A thought stirred in Lin Mo's mind.

He suddenly realized that his understanding of the Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps was also quietly changing.

This footwork wasn't just about speed.

More importantly, it was about "borrowing."

Borrowing the wind, borrowing momentum, and borrowing that sliver of a gap within the flow of space.

As long as he could see the gap, he could move through it.

In this instant, his footwork became a fraction more natural than before.

To an outsider, this change would be an extremely obvious improvement.

The three skeletons on the fifty-second floor were soon shattered one by one by his blade.

He unleashed the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash once more.

With one strike, the saber light first sliced through the bone armor, then used its residual momentum to penetrate the interior, causing a second collapse.

Amidst the flying bone fragments, Lin Mo's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"It's still not enough."

He whispered.

"The first layer of force is the blade itself."

"The second layer is the residual momentum."

"Then what about the third layer?"

Lin Mo looked up at the dark bone steps ahead, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

"The third layer should be my own will."

He finally began to try compressing his battle intent into the blade.

This wasn't a simple release of killing intent.

It was the integration of his own martial will into the saber momentum, making every slash carry an unavoidable sense of oppression.

Before the blade arrives, the intent descends.

This was what he was currently attempting.

And this attempt was slowly producing results.

Fifty-third floor.

Fifty-fourth floor.

Fifty-fifth floor.

Lin Mo continued upward, each floor significantly more difficult than the last.

Although the number of skeletons wasn't excessive, each one became increasingly difficult to deal with.

They began to understand how to use the Bone Platform's rules, how to cooperate, and how to judge Lin Mo's patterns of exertion.

Some specialized in forcing him to change direction.

Some specialized in forcing him to strike.

Others deliberately stalled for time, waiting for the other skeletons to complete their encirclement.

But Lin Mo's responses also became increasingly mature.

The Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps became more like instinct.

The Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash became more like a finishing move.

Even more terrifyingly, his understanding of the "essence of power" was deepening bit by bit during the battle.

"cultivation techniques are essentially just frameworks for using power."

"traits are essentially helping you build the paths for power to flow."

"But what truly determines strength is whether you know when to be fast, when to be slow, when to stop, and when to continue."

Lin Mo struck with his blade while silently calculating in his mind.

At this moment, he was no longer just fighting.

He was analyzing the underlying logic of all his methods.

Meanwhile, below the Bone Platform.

The geniuses from the outside world and the elders of various major forces finally began to formally step onto the bone stairs.

Ji Wuchen was the first to step onto the first floor.

His steps were steady, and as his golden trait "Bloodline Combustion" faintly awakened within him, his aura immediately surged.

But in the next instant, his brow furrowed slightly.

Because the suppression on this floor was even more bizarre than he had imagined.

It wasn't just simple weight.

Instead, it caused an extremely subtle sluggishness in his bloodline circulation.

"Hmm?"

Ji Wuchen's eyes flashed.

He didn't stop and continued upward.

Second floor.

Third floor.

By the fourth floor, a skeleton warrior blocked his path.

Ji Wuchen impatiently raised his hand, the Blood Runes on his palm suddenly lighting up as he threw a punch.

Blood-red light exploded, and half of the skeleton's frame instantly shattered.

He gave a cold snort.

"Nothing more than this."

But just as he was about to step onto the fifth floor, the shattered skeleton at his feet actually reconsolidated a Bone Rune amidst the swirling bone dust, forcefully blocking his path.

Ji Wuchen's expression changed.

"It can even reassemble?"

Gu Yunting also encountered a similar problem.

His Clear Sword Heart was very strong; his sword strikes were extremely fast and his sword intent was incredibly sharp, allowing him to break through the first few floors almost effortlessly.

But by the sixth and seventh floors, the skeleton warriors began to interrupt his rhythm in extremely tricky ways.

They no longer fought him head-on but constantly blocked his path, pressured his positioning, and dismantled his sword momentum.

Gu Yunting's face gradually darkened.

"This Bone Platform... it's not based on strength."

He soon reached a conclusion similar to Yan Shisan's.

Lu Chenzhou suffered an even greater setback.

He had thought his Mountain-like Momentum would be most suitable for such a highly suppressed place, but upon entering the Bone Platform, he discovered that the more he tried to use brute force to push through, the heavier the counter-pressure from the Bone Platform became.

With every heavy step he took, the bone pressure on the stairs would rebound with doubled force.

"Dammit."

Lu Chenzhou frowned.

"What exactly is going on with this place?"

Ye Huangyi remained silent throughout.

She didn't rush to erupt with power but observed floor by floor.

She was more perceptive than the other three.

Thus, she quickly discovered that the Bone Platform's suppression wasn't just external.

It would constantly interfere with one's breathing, rhythm, and timing of attacks.

In other words—

What was being tested here wasn't who could break through more violently.

But rather who could more accurately understand their own power.

At this thought, Ye Huangyi's eyes darkened slightly.

She finally set aside her previous indifference.

And began to take it truly seriously.

And the one who first provided a clear judgment was still Yan Shisan.

Standing on the third floor, facing the lethal pressure of a skeleton warrior, he didn't rush to strike but instead looked down at the patterns on the steps.

In the next instant, his footsteps shifted slightly, and with an extremely awkward yet incredibly precise angle, he passed through the gap between the bone blade and the bone spear.

Then, with a backhand palm strike, he shattered the skeleton's skull.

"As expected."

Yan Shisan said softly.

"This place doesn't test one's realm, but their comprehension."

His words finally caused the expressions of many elders in the rear, who had been dismissive, to change.

Lei Wanjun narrowed his eyes.

"This kid saw through it."

Shen Guhong was silent for a moment, then said:

"It seems we all underestimated this Bone Platform before."

Daoist Master Yun Yao looked toward the height where Lin Mo was and said slowly:

"It's not that we underestimated the Bone Platform, but that we underestimated the true threshold here."

Wei Qianshan also finally put away his gaze of examining an object, his expression becoming much more serious.

Because he had already seen it.

Those who were truly rushing ahead weren't necessarily those with the highest cultivation.

But rather those who first understood the rules here.

By this time, Lin Mo had already stepped onto the fifty-sixth floor.

The skeletons on this floor began to show obvious embryonic forms of "Dao Marks."

Their attacks were no longer just combat movements, but seemed like some kind of simplified martial concepts.

Every strike, palm, thrust, and retreat seemed to be telling the trial-taker:

Your previous moves were merely superficial.

The true key is whether you can understand why power flows in this way.

Lin Mo paused for a moment.

He looked at the three skeletons and suddenly closed his eyes.

In the next moment, when he opened his eyes again, his gaze had become extremely deep.

"So that's it."

"The Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash isn't just a simple saber technique either."

"Its true core is the integration of speed, penetration, residual momentum, and killing intent into a single, complete streamline."

"Before, I only knew how to use the first half."

"Now, I will complete the second half."

He raised his saber.

This strike wasn't as dazzling as before.

It even looked simpler, heavier, and slower than before.

But at the moment the blade fell, the entire saber momentum suddenly shifted in front of the skeletons.

Like a flowing cloud suddenly swirling within an aurora, the saber light first severed the exterior, then folded inward, and finally sliced in violently from the second direction.

Crack—!

The three skeletons exploded simultaneously.

Lin Mo's breathing hitched slightly, but his eyes were startlingly bright.

"The third layer... is complete."

...