342: Level 3

When Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong learned that the difficulty of the checkpoint would double with each person less, their expressions all became solemn.

They had already deeply felt the difficulty of the previous second checkpoint.

Even with both of them working together, they paid a considerable price to successfully pass the second checkpoint.

Yet, they didn't expect the upcoming third checkpoint to have its difficulty doubled!

This made the pressure in their hearts immense.

Besides that,

Their gazes towards Xiao Shi also changed significantly.

They all realized that he had passed the second checkpoint, even with its difficulty doubled, and he had done so completely unscathed. Not even his guards suffered any losses.

Regarding this,

Their minds were all in an uproar.

They were well aware of the difficulty of the second checkpoint.

Let alone with its difficulty doubled.

Even at its normal difficulty, they wouldn't have been able to pass it alone.

This, while shocking them, also made them immensely curious about Xiao Shi's identity.

It was certain.

He must be a Martial Demon Realm cultivator.

He couldn't be a Saint!

But being fellow Martial Demon Realm cultivators, they couldn't figure out how he managed to pass it alone and unscathed!

They immediately began searching their minds for the powerful Martial Demon Realm cultivators within the Great Wu Dynasty.

But no matter how hard they thought,

They couldn't match the person in front of them with the powerful Martial Demon Realm cultivators they knew.

Even those exceptionally powerful Martial Demon Realm cultivators in their minds couldn't have achieved this.

However, Xiao Shi's strength,

Did put their minds at ease quite a bit.

They mused that having such an unfathomably strong expert enter the third checkpoint with them meant the situation wasn't too bad.

However, just then,

The barrier leading to the third checkpoint in front of them,

Suddenly dissipated!

This scene startled all three of them.

They instinctively turned their heads to look at the other official road.

The pavilion they were currently in was the intersection of three official roads.

Logically speaking,

The barrier leading to the third checkpoint should only dissipate when the third party arrived.

But now, the third party hadn't arrived yet.

And this barrier had already dissipated... This was very unusual!

"Could it be..."

"They failed to pass the second checkpoint and died inside?"

Zhou Hong's heart trembled.

Only this possibility could explain why the people on the third official road hadn't arrived, and the barrier leading to the third checkpoint had been removed early.

In that case,

The situation became even more unfavorable for them!

Xiao Shi was already one person short.

The difficulty of this checkpoint had already doubled from the start.

Now, with two more people missing... The difficulty of the third checkpoint would very likely increase threefold!!

Even though they didn't know what existed within the third checkpoint yet... They could still imagine that a third checkpoint with three times the difficulty would undoubtedly be extremely challenging.

This caused Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong's faces to turn pale.

Xiao Shi's expression, hidden beneath his black cloak, also showed solemnity.

Previously, he could pass by teleporting.

Now, without teleportation... He could only rely on brute strength to pass.

If he were alone, even with a threefold increase in this checkpoint's difficulty, he wouldn't have to worry about not being able to pass.

But now, he not only had to look after his guards,

But also these two Martial Demon Realm cultivators.

If these two Martial Demon Realm cultivators died in the third checkpoint, then the difficulty of the subsequent fourth checkpoint would increase again.

The further they went, the greater the difficulty increase for subsequent checkpoints.

"No..."

Xiao Shi frowned.

He felt that according to this pattern, the later checkpoints would inevitably see a ten to twentyfold increase.

At that point, the difficulty of these checkpoints would directly exceed the scope of the Martial Demon Realm... Making them impossible to pass.

Xiao Shi suddenly felt that his previous speculation about the checkpoint difficulty increase might not be accurate.

"A reduction in numbers does indeed increase the difficulty of the checkpoint; this is beyond doubt."

"But is it possible..."

"The difficulty increase for each checkpoint is not determined by the initial number of people."

Xiao Shi fell into contemplation about this.

From his current experience,

He felt that this place could be divided into two parts.

One part was the checkpoints.

The other part was the official roads before entering the checkpoints.

This led to a thought in his mind.

"If the determination of the number of people for each checkpoint isn't based on the initial number, then it should be based on the number of people who appear on the official road after passing the previous checkpoint."

"In other words..."

"People who died within the previous checkpoints will not be counted in the next checkpoint!"

Xiao Shi felt that this speculation of his might better fit the situation here.

If it depended on the initial number of people,

Then the current third checkpoint would be a six-person checkpoint.

But if the people who died within the previous checkpoints weren't counted, and only those who passed and entered the official road were counted,

Then this checkpoint would be a three-person checkpoint.

Because only the three of them passed the second checkpoint.

"In other words..."

"As long as no one is killed on the official road, the difficulty of the checkpoint will not change!"

Xiao Shi thought back carefully.

When he killed that Martial Demon Realm cultivator earlier, it was after the opponent had passed the first checkpoint and entered the official road that he was killed by Xiao Shi.

Therefore, the difficulty of the second checkpoint had doubled.

If he hadn't killed him on the official road, but rather within the checkpoint, then it wouldn't have affected the next checkpoint.

This would also prevent the problem of later checkpoints inevitably increasing in difficulty by ten to twenty times.

These checkpoints were already getting harder with each one under normal circumstances.

Even a mere doubling of difficulty would make them incredibly challenging, let alone a ten to twentyfold increase.

There would absolutely be no hope of passing.

Xiao Shi felt that according to his speculation, as long as none of the three of them died on the official road, the difficulty of the third checkpoint would not change at all.

Immediately,

Xiao Shi told this idea to the two of them.

After Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong heard him,

They also felt that Xiao Shi's conjecture was more reasonable.

Their hearts subsequently eased.

If the difficulty of this checkpoint immediately increased threefold, they felt they might as well give up directly.

Of course, Xiao Shi also stated that this was just his guess.

The specific situation would only be known after entering this checkpoint.

Regardless,

They could only continue to this checkpoint.

And before entering the checkpoint,

Xiao Shi glanced at Guan Zhihong's frozen left hand, and personally intervened to help him resolve the freezing.

Since this was a multi-person checkpoint,

Naturally, it required both of them to contribute.

Even though these two were far inferior to Xiao Shi in terms of strength, they both possessed exclusive items!

He believed they could play a good role.

Soon,

As the three of them, leading their guards, passed through the woodland, they entered a valley.

Clearly,

This valley was the third checkpoint of this area.

The sky of the entire valley was dim.

Parallel wooden stakes were embedded in the dark, towering cliffs, with rotting coffins laid horizontally on them. Looking around, there were easily over a hundred.

The muddy ground of the valley was dark brown, barren of vegetation, and the sunlight entering the valley offered no warmth; the light was a ghastly white.

Just by approaching, before even stepping inside,

Xiao Shi's trio already felt an extremely dense, eerie aura.

Xiao Shi's eyes narrowed slightly at this.

He knew.

Each checkpoint here represented a past era.

The scene within this checkpoint now clearly originated from a certain era of the Tianwu Continent.

"Could this era be related to corpses and soul bodies?"

Xiao Shi had a guess in his heart.

Through his own experiences, Xiao Shi knew that the various different eras of the Tianwu Continent all had different power systems.

If this checkpoint involved soul bodies... Xiao Shi felt he still had a great advantage.

After all, he possessed many methods to deal with soul bodies.

Immediately,

Xiao Shi took the lead and stepped into this valley.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong followed closely behind Xiao Shi, entering together.

Whoosh!

The moment they stepped into the valley,

They felt a bone-chilling cold.

This coldness, and the cold of the ice domain, were two completely different kinds of cold.

The chill here was more due to the lack of vitality, like a vast cemetery where no life had appeared for many years.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong were tense, their expressions wary as they looked around.

Xiao Shi, upon entering, had already spread out his Soul Consciousness.

However, his Soul Consciousness did not detect any abnormalities here.

Nor did he find any soul bodies present.

The entire valley was silent.

"If there are no soul bodies, then the danger here might be those coffins..."

Zhou Hong gazed at the many coffins on the cliff face.

Xiao Shi nodded.

He also noticed that the coffins on the cliff face were not ordinary coffins; even with his Soul Consciousness, he couldn't penetrate them to see what was inside.

At the same time, from the distribution of these coffins,

They formed two straight lines, left and right, spanning the entire valley.

As the three of them began to move forward,

Whoosh!

A strong, eerie wind suddenly swept through the valley, causing the bodies of the guards to shiver.

At the same time,

Under this eerie wind,

The coffin closest to them suddenly began to shake.

It seemed the purpose of this eerie wind was to awaken what lay within the coffin.

As the coffin's shaking intensified,

With a bang,

Amidst a huge explosion, the entire coffin lid burst open.

A figure then flew out from within the coffin, transforming into an old man with white hair.

The old man was burly and robust, his white hair tied into a ponytail, with thick eyebrows and fierce eyes.

His pale, bloodless face had patches of corpse spots.

His eye sockets were as black as ink, but his pupils were scarlet, with blood-red veins spreading out.

"A corpse?"

Xiao Shi's brows furrowed slightly.

He clearly sensed that the old man who flew out of the coffin was a corpse with no vitality whatsoever.

And there was no soul body within the corpse!

In other words,

This corpse was not being manipulated by any soul body.

Yet it could move... This was very strange!

Normally, to manipulate a corpse, one would definitely need to use soul power.

Just like the two clones, Wang Xiao and Chai Wenshen, that Xiao Shi created back then, they were formed by implanting a portion of his soul into the corpses through soul-possession.

However, this corpse now... had no trace of soul power on it.

It was completely just a simple corpse.

But this corpse could move freely, like a living person.

Whoosh!

When this corpse flew out of the coffin, its scarlet pupils immediately locked onto Xiao Shi's trio.

His knees bent slightly, and with a "boom" as the ground sank, he shot towards Xiao Shi's trio like a super-large cannonball.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong's pupils constricted at this.

They simultaneously exclaimed,

"Body Cultivator!!"

They instantly realized that this corpse had been a Body Cultivator in life.

Xiao Shi's eyes narrowed slightly.

He saw more clearly than them.

"No..."

"This is not a Body Cultivator."

His figure flashed, instantly bursting forth.

He and the charging corpse collided in mid-air like two meteorites, causing a huge explosion.

Boom!!

Xiao Shi and the corpse were both sent flying backward by the impact.

They slammed heavily onto the ground.

Creating two deep craters in the earth.

It could be seen.

Xiao Shi's entire chest was deeply caved in from the impact, all his chest bones shattered, but his powerful healing ability caused his injuries to recover at a visible speed.

In just the blink of an eye,

His caved-in chest had fully recovered.

And on the other side, the corpse's entire chest also had a fist print.

This fist print had pierced through his body.

But he also possessed powerful regeneration.

Flesh and blood grew rapidly.

Quickly filling the hole in his chest.

Xiao Shi stared at this corpse.

His expression solemn.

Through their single collision, he had clearly felt that this corpse's strength had already reached the level of a peak Martial Demon Realm cultivator!

At the same time, the strength and hardness of its body were also incredibly astonishing.

It gave Xiao Shi a feeling similar to facing a Demonic Body Clone.

The body of a Demonic Body Clone originated from the Evil Energy User of the Nether Moon Era.

Now, Xiao Shi felt that the corpse before him was like an Evil Energy User, a humanoid war machine, where every part of its body was comparable to a divine weapon, possessing astonishingly powerful lethality.

And this power did not come from body cultivation.

As a body cultivator himself, Xiao Shi could clearly feel that the opponent's physical strength was completely different from a body formed through body cultivation.

After all, body cultivation, upon reaching a certain stage, would form a bloodline.

However, there was no bloodline present in this corpse.

At the same time,

An eerie wind once again swept through the valley.

Then, two coffins on the cliff face simultaneously began to shake.

Following two booming explosions,

Two more corpses flew out from these two coffins.

"If every single corpse here has strength comparable to a peak Martial Demon Realm cultivator, then we're in trouble!"

Xiao Shi glanced at the many coffins on the cliff face.

There were over a hundred coffins here!