155: Chapter 155 The Suppressed Prodigy

The fifty-seventh floor of the Bone Platform.

When Lin Mo stepped onto this floor, the bone surface ahead was no longer just cracking.

Instead, as if pulled by some invisible force, it slowly arched upward. Subsequently, six skeleton warriors rose simultaneously from both sides of the bone steps.

Twice as many as the previous floor.

But the real trouble wasn't the numbers.

It was the golden patterns on their bodies, which had begun to resonate with each other, vaguely forming a tiny domain of momentum.

After the six skeletons took their positions, they didn't attack immediately.

“It's a bit like... they're drawing me into a trap,”

Lin Mo said in a low voice.

Then, he lifted his foot.

Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps unfolded abruptly, and his entire being became like a faint green shadow, cutting diagonally into the angle between the six skeletons.

This time, he didn't draw his blade at the first moment.

Instead, he focused on positioning first.

Borrowing the subtle gaps in the positioning between the six skeletons, he nimbly shifted his body into a point more suitable for generating power.

Then, he unleashed the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash.

A flash of blade light.

The chest of the first skeleton was sliced open.

The right arm of the second skeleton was severed.

But just as the momentum of the blade light had yet to fully dissipate, Lin Mo's footwork changed again.

His figure pivoted with the flow, seemingly using the residual momentum of the first strike to complete a mid-air double-turn by sheer force.

A second flash of blade light followed immediately after.

Crack!

The third skeleton's skull shattered.

The fourth skeleton's waist bone snapped.

The bone spear the fifth skeleton had just raised was also sliced through horizontally.

In an extremely short period, the six skeletons were dismantled one by one in a nearly clean and efficient manner.

But Lin Mo did not immediately show a look of relief.

Because after the fifty-seventh floor, he felt more and more clearly—

His understanding of the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash had entered a new stage.

In the past, he only tried to make a strike 'faster,' 'heavier,' or 'steadier.'

Now, he was beginning to try and make a strike 'more continuous.'

In other words, the momentum of the blade couldn't just be viewed as a single burst.

Instead, the previous strike had to become the starting point for the next.

Once he understood this point, his combat style would undergo a fundamental change.

“The blade isn't fragmented.”

“The blade should be flowing.”

“The momentum between strikes should be connected end-to-end.”

Lin Mo murmured.

At this moment, his perception of the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash had begun to shift from 'techniques' toward a 'style.'

And just as his enlightenment grew deeper, the outside geniuses on the bone steps below finally began to truly suffer.

Ji Wuchen had now stepped onto the twelfth floor.

He originally thought that with his fourth-stage peak cultivation, combined with his golden trait Bloodline Combustion, the first ten floors would pose no problem at all.

And the facts proved him right.

He had practically crushed through the previous floors with ease.

But upon reaching the eleventh and twelfth floors, he finally noticed something was wrong.

The suppression of the Bone Platform was actually devouring a portion of the burst from his Bloodline Combustion.

This caused his initially relaxed posture to gradually turn into impatience.

“Damn it.”

Ji Wuchen's eyes turned slightly cold.

“Why is this place so annoying?”

In his view, he had already started taking things seriously, yet the Bone Platform was still constantly creating trouble for him.

This made him very displeased.

Gu Yunting was doing a bit better than him.

As the top student of Tianyan Academy, his combat awareness was extremely strong.

He quickly discovered that the Bone Platform wasn't targeting him, but was forcing him to change his way of using the sword.

Thus, he began to control the rhythm of his sword strikes, no longer pursuing absolute speed, but letting every strike land at the most appropriate moment.

But even so, his speed was still being suppressed.

He looked up toward the higher levels, a solemn expression appearing for the first time.

“The fiftieth floor... how is that Lin Mo still going up?”

Lu Chenzhou was having a harder time than any of them.

His 'Momentum Like a Mountain' felt like it was crashing into an invisible wall here on the Bone Platform.

Every time he applied heavy pressure, the bone steps would counter-shock him.

The more force he used, the stronger the counter-shock.

This caused the veins on his temples to bulge, and his expression grew increasingly dark.

“What the hell is this place!”

Ye Huangyi remained silent throughout.

But her silence did not mean she was finding it easy.

She was more adaptable to environmental changes than the others and was better at hunting.

So she was the first to realize that the true law of the Bone Platform was not about killing, but about 'understanding.'

Understanding the movements of the skeletons, understanding the flow of the suppression, and understanding the flaws in the circulation of one's own power here.

She no longer watched from the sidelines with cold indifference like she did at the start.

Instead, she began to truly focus her mind, pushing upward floor by floor.

As for Yan Shisan, he still maintained that calm appearance.

He soon surpassed many trial-takers who originally had higher realms than him.

Because he was following a path of pure comprehension.

Not rushed, not agitated, and not forcing a head-on collision.

Every step he took was extremely precise.

Every dodge seemed like a pre-emptive prediction.

This made many people behind him realize for the first time:

It turned out that the person who truly understood this Bone Platform might not be the one with the highest background.

But the one who could calm their heart the most.

At the same time, the elders finally began to gradually change their attitudes.

Lei Wanjun looked ahead, his brow slightly furrowed.

“Ji Wuchen's trait is being suppressed here.”

Shen Guhong's gaze was sharp.

“Gu Yunting's Clear Sword Heart can see through some of the laws, but if he wants to rely on that to crush his way up, he's still far from it.”

Daoist Master Yun Yao quietly watched the high floor where Lin Mo was, slowly saying:

“That Lin Mo's understanding of power is deeper than we imagined.”

Wei Qianshan was silent for a moment before saying:

“He isn't just clearing a trial.”

“He is using the Bone Platform to temper his own martial path.”

The expressions of several people shifted simultaneously.

They finally realized that the Bone Platform might not be an obstacle to Lin Mo.

But a tool to help him grow.

And at this time, Lin Mo had already stepped onto the fifty-eighth floor.

On this floor, there were only four skeletons.

But the golden patterns on each of them had almost condensed into complete lines.

As soon as they stood out, the aura of the entire floor of the Bone Platform changed.

It was as if an extremely weak yet extremely pure martial intent was awakening from deep within their bones.

Lin Mo took a deep breath.

He looked at the connection lines between the four skeletons.

That wasn't an array formation.

It was more like 'momentum lines' formed by some kind of combat instinct under the rules of the Bone Platform.

As long as one of them moved, the other three would respond immediately.

Lin Mo's gaze flickered. He suddenly raised his hand and slashed out.

Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash!

This strike seemed like a simple straight slash.

But at the instant the blade light reached the first skeleton, the momentum of the blade suddenly pivoted slightly, using the heavy pressure of the Bone Platform.

A second wave of damage instantly sliced in from the side.

The third residual force continued to burrow inward along the golden patterns within the skeleton's bones.

Boom!

The first skeleton shattered into pieces.

Immediately after, the momentum lines connecting the other three skeletons were also forcibly torn apart.

Lin Mo's eyes lit up.

“So that's how it is.”

“The momentum lines aren't meant to make them stronger.”

“They're meant to link their power into a single entity.”

“As long as the core is severed, the entire linkage will collapse.”

His understanding of combat took another step forward.

And just then, below the Bone Platform, Ji Wuchen was finally blocked by the skeletons of the thirteenth floor.

His face was dark. A flash of blood-light appeared in his palm as he forcibly smashed the skeleton frame ahead into pieces.

But after the skeleton frame shattered, it slowly began to restore itself under the suppression of the Bone Platform.

Ji Wuchen's expression finally changed completely.

“How can this be...”