156: Chapter 156 The Elders Who Can't Move an Inch

Gu Yunting encountered the same problem.

His sword remained sharp.

But no matter how sharp a sword is, its effectiveness depends on whom it is used against.

Facing an environment like the Bone Platform—which seemed crude but was actually designed to disrupt one's rhythm at every turn—he began to realize that his swordsmanship, which was invincible in the outside world, was not perfect here.

Lu Chenzhou felt even more frustrated.

He had always believed that 'momentum' could overwhelm everything.

But the Bone Platform was better at suppressing momentum than he was.

Consequently, the more he tried to exert pressure, the more pain he felt, and the more difficult the fight became.

Ye Huangyi was the first to calm down.

She looked at the bone steps ahead and took a slow breath.

“So that's how it is,”

she whispered.

“What is being tested here isn't who is stronger.”

She stopped obsessing over suppressing others and instead began to focus on organizing her Shadow Hunt trait, searching for points of alignment with the Bone Platform's rules.

Yan Shisan, meanwhile, had already reached a higher position than them.

Without any ostentation, he had adapted to this Bone Platform earlier than most of the visiting geniuses.

And above everyone else, Lin Mo had already stepped onto the fifty-ninth floor.

On this floor, there were only two skeletons.

But the moment they appeared, Lin Mo felt the difference.

The golden patterns on these two skeletons were almost complete, as if each represented an extremely pure combat philosophy.

One focused on offense.

The other focused on defense.

The attacker was like a spear; the defender was like a wall.

Standing together, they exerted a sense of pressure that felt almost insurmountable.

Lin Mo watched them quietly, and after a moment, he suddenly smiled.

“Very good.”

“This makes things interesting.”

He raised his blade and took a step.

This time, the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash did not erupt immediately.

Instead, he first used an extremely light strike to cut into the attacker's flank.

After the blade light passed, a second force immediately exploded within the attacker's body.

The attacker's skeleton jolted, and its posture instantly shifted.

Simultaneously, Lin Mo used the Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps to shift laterally, his blade momentum turning as he sliced into a weak point in the defender's wall-like defense.

One strike, two severed.

A triple-layered force exploded in succession.

The two skeletons shattered with a boom.

Lin Mo stood in place and slowly sheathed his blade, his eyes shining even brighter than before.

“I understand now.”

“The Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash isn't just about dealing multiple layers of damage.”

“It can also connect the rhythm of my strikes into a true flow.”

“From the initial stance to the slash, to the recovery, and then to the next strike.”

“This is what 'Flowing Cloud' truly means.”

Lin Mo looked up toward the sixtieth floor.

The instant he stepped onto it, the entire area of bone steps suddenly fell silent for a heartbeat.

It wasn't an illusion.

It was as if this floor of the Bone Platform was no longer satisfied with simple skeleton ambushes, but instead wanted to see through the person who stepped upon it first.

Ahead, six bone pillars slowly rose from around the steps.

Extremely ancient patterns were carved into each pillar.

The patterns were incomplete, yet they radiated a faint sense of pressure, like the lingering combat memories of some ancient warrior.

Lin Mo's eyes narrowed.

“Dao Marks.”

His heart stirred slightly.

At this floor, the trial was truly beginning to approach its core.

It was no longer about changes in the number of skeletons or just an increase in combat power.

Rather, it was—

the manifestation of Martial Dao Intent.

After the six bone pillars rose, they did not immediately manifest enemies.

Instead, they first formed an extremely heavy field of pressure.

This pressure acted directly upon the trial-taker's perception.

It would force you to recall your most familiar way of fighting, and then deliver the heaviest blow at your most familiar point.

Lin Mo realized this almost immediately.

“It's testing me.”

he whispered.

In the next instant, six phantom figures slowly emerged from atop the bone pillars.

They were not skeleton warriors.

They were six blurred martial remnants.

Each remnant corresponded to a different combat style:

Blade, Sword, Spear, Fist, Movement, and Pressure.

Six styles, six forms of suppression.

They did not attack forcefully; instead, they were like simulations of six different martial paths. If the trial-taker could not keep up, they would be dragged into the rhythm and eventually lose the initiative entirely.

Lin Mo stood in place, his expression becoming increasingly calm.

“So that's how it is.”

He looked at the six remnants and suddenly closed his eyes.

Scenes of past battles flashed through his mind one by one.

The blade momentum of the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash.

The momentum-borrowing of the Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps.

The eruption of the Starlight Moon Condensation.

The coordination between Instant Shadow and Awakening of Insects.

And the process of repeatedly dismantling and reassembling his power through the first fifty-nine floors of the Bone Platform.

Everything was slowly connecting into a single thread at this moment.

Then, he opened his eyes.

The sharp light in his gaze was like electricity.

“I won't choose just one path.”

“I choose them all, but I will only keep the parts that are useful to me.”

The moment the words fell, Lin Mo moved.

First step: Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps.

His body rose lightly, riding the wind to avoid the blade remnant's image.

Second step: Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash.

The blade light sliced into the weakest gap between the sword and spear remnants, detonating the second layer of blade force as it went.

Third step: A flash of lightning in his palm.

It wasn't a forceful strike to kill, but served as an auxiliary power to disrupt the fist remnant's buildup.

Fourth step: Starlight Moon Condensation stirred slightly, instantly pouring power into his legs, making his footwork lighter, faster, and steadier.

Fifth step: He did not continue with a new move, but instead pulled back his stance, gathering all the scattered energy back into a single strike.

This strike was minimalist.

Yet it was incredibly powerful.

Boom!

The six remnants jolted simultaneously.

Three of them shattered on the spot, while the other three were shaken into complete blurs.

Lin Mo stood in the center of the Bone Platform and slowly exhaled.

At this moment, what surfaced in his heart was not the joy of victory, but a deeper understanding.

“So, true mastery isn't about making everything the same.”

“It's knowing when each thing should appear, when it should exit, and when it should be used by me.”

This floor gave him a clearer understanding of his own system.

More importantly, he began to truly touch the threshold of 'melting active skills into passive skills'.

Because that series of movements just now wasn't executed after conscious thought.

Instead, the body moved first, and the consciousness followed.

It was instinct integrating power.

This meant he had already begun to cross the most critical step.

Meanwhile, the geniuses and the elders of the major sects below were finally starting to be noticeably left behind.

Ji Wuchen stopped at the sixteenth floor.

It wasn't that he didn't want to move forward.

But for the first time, he clearly felt that although his bloodline combustion was strong, his power dispatching became insufficiently smooth once he entered this environment of extremely detailed suppression.

He stood on the steps, his expression unsightly.

“How could I be stuck here...”

Gu Yunting wasn't having an easy time either.

His Clear Sword Heart indeed allowed him to see more clearly, but seeing clearly didn't mean he could execute.

The suppression between the tenth and fifteenth floors had already caused him to make repeated mistakes.

Lu Chenzhou's face was even more gloomy.

He had relied on momentum to suppress others all the way, but now he was being suppressed by the Bone Platform until he could barely breathe.

“Who on earth was this place prepared for?”

Ye Huangyi didn't speak, but her pace had also slowed.

It wasn't that she lacked comprehension; on the contrary, her comprehension was very high.

But the higher she went, the more she realized that relying on a single trait was simply not enough.

She had to completely understand how her Shadow Hunt should resonate with the suppression of this Bone Platform.

And Yan Shisan remained the most unique one.

He seemed to have accepted the rules of this Bone Platform earlier than anyone else.

Therefore, although his realm wasn't the highest, he was always able to steadily move upward.

This caused many people who originally looked down on rogue cultivators to unconsciously set aside their arrogance.

The sixty-first floor of the Bone Platform.

When Lin Mo stepped onto it, only two skeletons remained ahead.

But these two skeletons gave off an extremely dangerous feeling.

The golden patterns on them were no longer scattered fragments, but were almost completely closed.

One focused on offense.

One focused on defense.

The attacker was like thunder; the defender was like a mountain.

Between the offense and defense, there was a sense of perfect mutual completion.

Lin Mo's eyes flashed.

“These are no longer simple combat remnants.”

“This is a collision of martial philosophies.”

“It's asking me—”

“Are you better at attacking, or better at defending?”

Lin Mo did not answer immediately.

He just slowly raised his blade.

Then, he struck.

Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash!

This strike first cut the attacker.

The blade light left a first crack on the attacker's chest.

Immediately following, a second layer of force exploded from deep within the crack.

The attacker's skeleton trembled, and its momentum instantly stalled.

But simultaneously, the defender had already moved into position, its wall-like defense pressing in instantly, attempting to completely block Lin Mo's blade momentum.

Lin Mo's eyes darkened slightly, his footwork changed, and he sliced diagonally along the line of momentum left by the attacker's crumbling form.

The blade edge flipped.

The third layer of blade force was fiercely poured into the thinnest line of the defender's bone wall.

Boom!

The two skeletons exploded almost at the same time.

And at this instant, Lin Mo completely confirmed one thing.

“I don't need to choose between offense and defense.”

“What I need to do is make the transition between offense and defense my own rhythm.”

This was another breakthrough in his combat logic.

It was also another deepening of his understanding regarding the essence of his own power.

From the fifty-second to the sixtieth floor, he was 'learning'.

But starting from the sixtieth floor, he was already 'modifying'.

Modifying his own strike rhythm.

Modifying his own way of applying force.

Modifying the connecting logic between all his skills.

He felt more and more clearly that the forces originally scattered within his body were being strung together by an invisible thread.

This thread was his Martial Dao Heart.

At this moment, the elders of the major sects below finally truly began to step onto the higher floors.

Lei Wanjun was the first to step onto the tenth floor.

He had originally thought that with his cultivation at the peak of the fifth rank, no matter how strange the Bone Platform was, he could always find a path quickly.

But once he truly stepped onto it, he discovered something was wrong.

The suppression here wasn't about 'weight', but about 'precision'.

The more you tried to break through with brute force, the more powerful the backlash became.

Shen Guhong also quickly realized this.

“No wonder those young people could stay ahead earlier.”

he whispered.

“It's not because they are weak, but because it's easier for them to let go of their prejudices here.”

Daoist Master Yun Yao's gaze was calm.

“The higher a person's background, the easier it is for them to be trapped by their original path.”

Wei Qianshan was silent for a long time before slowly nodding.

“It seems that those who can truly reach the high floors aren't necessarily those with the highest cultivation.”

Once these words were spoken, none of them offered a rebuttal.

Because they had already experienced it firsthand.

The sixty-second floor of the Bone Platform.

As soon as Lin Mo stepped onto it, he felt the surrounding air suddenly tighten.

On this floor, there weren't many skeletons.

Only three.

But each one carried an incredibly strong 'Intent'.

The first was like wind.

The second was like fire.

The third was like a shadow.

Three completely different combat wills pressed in almost simultaneously.

Lin Mo did not retreat.

In fact, at this moment, he suddenly felt a bit excited.

“Finally, it's starting to get decent.”

he said softly.

Then, he raised his blade.

This strike's blade light was not dazzling.

But the moment the blade was unleashed, Lin Mo's entire aura suddenly changed.

Because he found that he no longer needed to deliberately 'think' about how a certain move should be used.

For many movements, the body already knew how to coordinate itself.

This feeling was like many skills that were previously actively invoked were now bit by bit sinking into his bodily instinct.

It was also at this moment that Lin Mo's heart jolted.

“Almost there.”

“The active melting is almost complete.”

The sixty-third floor of the Bone Platform.

As soon as Lin Mo stepped up, he noticed that the aura of this floor was completely different from the previous ones.

If the sixtieth floor was 'finding the path', the sixty-first floor was 'offense and defense', and the sixty-second floor was 'will', then this floor truly began to test a person's precision in controlling their own power.

Ahead, four skeletons stood side by side.

They didn't move immediately.

They just stood there quietly, as if waiting for Lin Mo to make the first move.

But Lin Mo did not attack immediately.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the bone structures of those four skeletons.

In the next instant, he suddenly discovered that the gaps between the bones, the joints, and the bone patterns of the four skeletons actually formed an extremely subtle cycle.

The cycle wasn't large, but it was complete enough.

It was like a miniature combat loop.

“So that's it.”

Lin Mo whispered.

“What this floor tests is control.”

“Not eruption, but whether one can place power exactly where it needs to be.”

He slowly exhaled.

Having walked all this way, he was no longer that person who only knew how to use overwhelming force.

He had thoroughly mastered the second and third layers of force from the Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash.

The momentum-borrowing of the Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps had also become nearly instinctive.

And this floor was to see if he could restrain these powers.

If he couldn't restrain them, the power would scatter.

Only by being able to restrain them could he continue to push toward higher ground.

The four skeletons finally moved.

One from the left and one from the right, one attacking and one blocking, while the other two pressed in simultaneously from behind and above.

Lin Mo did not clash head-on.

His feet shifted, and his blade light turned gently.

The first strike only cut along a single line.

He didn't seek an explosion, only precision.

That strike landed exactly on the joint of the frontmost skeleton's bone arm.

Crack.

The bone arm was slightly fractured, but it didn't shatter completely.

Lin Mo wasn't surprised.

Instead, he retracted his blade smoothly and took a second step, using the residual momentum from the previous strike to complete an extremely subtle angle shift in mid-air.

Then, the second strike landed.

This strike truly severed the joint completely.

Crack!

Two strikes, two results.

But this time, the difference from before was—

Lin Mo wasn't pursuing a stronger eruption, but a more accurate distribution.

At this moment, an extremely clear thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

“If I can straighten out all the power mobilization methods of these active skills...”

“Then, would they no longer need to be actively activated?”

As soon as this thought appeared, Lin Mo's mind jolted slightly.

He knew he was standing at a critical juncture.

Meanwhile, on the bone steps below, the visiting geniuses were starting to truly struggle.

At the eighteenth floor, Ji Wuchen finally showed impatience for the first time.

The bloodline within him was burning brightly, but every time he tried to channel it, a part of it would be suppressed by the Bone Platform.

This caused his originally smooth rhythm to become uncoordinated.

“This is so annoying,”

he muttered.

“How much longer is this Bone Platform going to keep me stuck?”

Gu Yunting wasn't doing well either.

His Clear Sword Heart was indeed very strong, but the more clearly he saw, the more he knew he couldn't act recklessly here.

Once he became eager to pass the floor, the true intent of the Bone Platform would instead backlash against his rhythm.

He stopped his pace, took a deep breath, and for the first time began to seriously adjust his sword path.

Lu Chenzhou was even more disheveled.

He had previously felt that 'momentum' could overwhelm everything.

But here, his Mountain-like Momentum was suppressed most obviously.

Once he exerted too much force, the counter-vibration would be even heavier.

“How can it be like this...”

His face darkened.

Ye Huangyi's expression was becoming increasingly calm.

She had seen through it.

What the Bone Platform truly tested was not how strong you were, but whether you could find the most suitable way to respond under pressure.

“It seems I relied too much on traits and techniques in the past.”

she said softly.

As for Yan Shisan, he remained the steadiest one.

He didn't use wide, sweeping movements, nor did he have any redundant actions.

Just one step at a time, like a blade with its edge hidden, he moved upward silently.

The elders behind were also finally beginning to truly experience what it meant to find it difficult to move an inch.

Lei Wanjun paused for a moment at the thirteenth floor.

It wasn't that he couldn't win the fight.

But he suddenly discovered that his short-blade habit was to defeat the enemy in a single strike.

However, the skeletons on the Bone Platform wouldn't give him that kind of opening to end it in one blow.

Shen Guhong also frowned at the same floor level.

Daoist Master Yun Yao looked toward the higher floors, her gaze narrowing slightly.

“This Bone Platform isn't prepared for those whose paths are already set.”

“It's prepared for those who are still able to change.”

Wei Qianshan was silent for a moment before slowly nodding.

“In other words, the more one clings to their old path, the harder it is to go up.”

At this moment, all four elders understood one thing in their hearts—

their previous predictions had been wildly incorrect.