Blessings of grace, tempering the heart in the world

Xiao Fan had thought that entering the Pagoda would involve close-quarters combat, but he was informed by the Elder that it was a consciousness-based fighting method, where one's consciousness would be projected inside.

The Battle Law Pagoda possessed a spirit.

It couldn't 100% replicate the tester's strength, but the error was minimal; the strength difference between the consciousness projection and the true body was no more than 1%.

Spiritual Qi, Physical Body, and Divine Sense could all be perfectly replicated.

The consciousness projection could even replicate pain, perfectly and realistically reproducing the tester's resistance to blows, allowing the tester to understand the limits of his own Physical Body.

In other words, the consciousness projection in the Pagoda was equivalent to another him in the real world.

Inside the Pagoda, fixed Puppets would be generated, with three waves of Puppets appearing on each floor.

The strength of the Puppets would be determined by the tester's cultivation level.

For example, if Xiao Fan was in the Nascent Soul Stage - Early Phase, his consciousness would be projected into the fourth floor of the Pagoda.

The first wave would be three Nascent Soul Stage - Early Phase Puppets; if they were all defeated, five Nascent Soul Stage - Middle Phase Puppets would be summoned.

If he continued to defeat them, he would face ten Nascent Soul Stage - Late Phase Puppets.

Defeating all ten Puppets proved that he could already overwhelm opponents of the same stage.

At this point, he could choose to terminate the test, or he could choose to enter the next floor and attempt to fight beyond his stage.

The more Xiao Fan listened to this system, the more familiar it felt.

Wasn't this just a VR version of a dungeon-crawling game?

However, it was more Advanced than VR games, even able to replicate pain, truly immersive.

Xiao Fan's consciousness descended into it, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw himself surrounded by three Nascent Soul Stage - Early Phase Puppets.

He felt a bit eager to try, wondering how many stages he could clear.

"First, I'll test my Physical Body's strength and see how the power of these 21 million giant elephant particles performs," Xiao Fan thought to himself.

The three Puppets were entirely black and reflective, emitting a cold light.

More importantly, these Puppets would not have their Qi in disarray, they feared no pain, nor would they emit killing intent, which would allow one to perceive their timing.

Silent enemies!

Although they lacked intelligence, they were indeed stronger than Cultivators in these aspects; overall, each Puppet's strength was nearly identical to a Cultivator of the same cultivation level.

And they would not feel pain or fear; in a sense, Puppets were stronger.

The three Puppets waited for an opportunity, attacking almost simultaneously.

One of them attacked Xiao Fan's face; the other two flanked him, attacking his waist and lower body from both sides.

Starting instantly, the speed of the three Puppets was surprisingly consistent, and their coordination was excellent, with all three sets of attacks arriving almost at the same time.

Xiao Fan met force with force, clenching his hands into fists and striking out with both arms; the Puppets' fists collided with his, producing a booming sound mixed with a crisp cracking noise.

The arms of two Puppets instantly shattered, and the immense force continued to penetrate, creating a large hole in the upper bodies of those two Puppets.

As for the Puppet charging head-on, while punching, Xiao Fan delivered a left front kick to its left leg, which instantly broke.

The immense force continued to spread, even smashing the Puppet's entire lower body, leaving it unable to get up.

Two Puppets were torn open, and one Puppet was half-paralyzed; in the blink of an eye, Xiao Fan dealt with the first wave of three Puppets' attacks.

"This Physical Body strength is quite good," Xiao Fan was very satisfied.

The second wave of attacks arrived, and five Nascent Soul Stage - Middle Phase Puppets appeared again.

Xiao Fan still didn't use spells; he wanted to figure out how far his strength could reach with just brute force.

The five Puppets attacked simultaneously; this was much stronger than the three Puppets before, whether in terms of speed, power, or oppressive Aura.

Xiao Fan took a deep breath, fully mobilizing the vitality of every giant elephant particle; his entire Physical Body glowed with a golden luster, like a golden body!

He clenched his right hand into a fist, an unnamed Aura began to condense, and he settled into a horse stance, sinking down abruptly, actually pressing out spiderweb-like cracks, dense and numerous.

"Ordinary Punch!"

He flashed, causing the five Puppets' attacks to miss, and then he punched the spot where he had just been.

A fierce punch wind surged, and an invisible storm of immense force arose, sharp as blades; the five Puppets actually broke into pieces, shattering into dust.

They turned into a pile of scrap metal, scattered on the ground, and the next moment transformed into pure Spiritual Qi, completely disappearing.

After throwing that punch, Xiao Fan sighed softly.

"I feel like this power is a bit abnormal; I didn't even touch them, yet the punch wind alone could take down five Nascent Soul Stage - Middle Phase Puppets."

There's no combat experience!

Forget it, let's finish this quickly and see what level my current strength truly is.

...

Ten Nascent Soul Stage - Late Phase Puppets appeared.

This time, Xiao Fan preempted them.

He exerted force fiercely, one punch for each.

These Puppets also didn't dodge, directly clashing with him head-on, only to end up shattered into pieces.

Ten Puppets, resolved with ten punches.

After defeating these, Xiao Fan chose to continue fighting and entered the next floor.

Three Soul Transformation Stage Puppets; Xiao Fan also handled them one punch at a time, like little children.

However, the degree of shattering was less; they were only dispersed, not pulverized.

Although he could still defeat these three Soul Transformation Stage - Early Phase Puppets with sheer strength, the feeling of shattering them with one punch was gone.

Five Soul Transformation Stage - Middle Phase Puppets; Xiao Fan also chose close-quarters combat, not using spells or Spiritual Qi, and this time it was a bit difficult.

However, he dodged, attacked, and was proficient in both offense and defense, still taking down these five Soul Transformation Stage - Middle Phase Puppets, it just took a little longer.

It took a full two and a half minutes!

Too slow; combat emphasizes quick resolution, and battles between Cultivators are ever-changing; two and a half minutes is enough for an enemy to escape to safety.

It seems that without Spiritual Qi and spells, I can only explode one Soul Transformation Stage - Middle Phase Cultivator with a single punch.

Xiao Fan continued to sweep through, but he was going to use Spiritual Qi and spells next.

Ten Spirit Transformation Stage - Late Phase Puppets began to be summoned, appearing one by one in front of Xiao Fan.

Xiao Fan didn't waste time; he formed hand seals, and a massive circular Magic Treasure appeared behind him, with hundreds of tiny black dots within the Magic Treasure.

The black dots began to solidify and grow, taking the original form of the Nethergod Spear; as the Nethergod Spear condensed, black long spears, over a zhang in length, emerged behind him.

Xiao Fan's hand seal movements were instantaneous; in a flash, over a hundred long Nethergod Spears, emitting a cold black glow, had all formed.

Those more than a hundred long spears were ready to go!

The ten Spirit Transformation Stage - Late Phase Puppets, as if set, rushed towards him to kill, but Xiao Fan merely raised his hand slightly, and waved his right hand gently.

Over a hundred Nethergod Spears shot out simultaneously, like a hail of bullets and spears; each one emitted a sharp, cold Aura of death, striking at the ten Soul Transformation Puppets.

In just one encounter, the ten Puppets became a pile of scrap metal, all destroyed, turning into raw Spiritual Qi.

Xiao Fan nodded in satisfaction; this was the Nethergod Spear he had condensed with all his might.

Just one use consumed 10% of his Spiritual Qi, meaning that he could easily kill a hundred Soul Transformation Cultivators by himself right now.

This was just an estimate; in reality, Xiao Fan did not use his full strength.

In actual combat, Xiao Fan also had offensive Magic Treasures and various defensive treasures; if he faced evil Cultivators, his Righteous Qi Skill would naturally suppress them, giving him an even greater advantage!

Quite good!

Congratulations, you have successfully passed the Soul Transformation Cultivator stage. You can choose to continue forward or leave now.

You have successfully surpassed your stage and can receive the Pagoda's gift of blessing.

You can also choose to continue forward; if you successfully pass the Void Refining stage, the gift of blessing will be even more abundant.

If you fail the challenge, you can still receive the gift of blessing from the previous stages; it will not be deducted.

All choices are in your hands.

Xiao Fan had not yet chosen when the Pagoda's spirit began to speak, which made him slightly startled.

There was also a gift of blessing?

Xiao Fan responded, "Gift of blessing? What is that?"

Refining the heart in the Mortal World; the ability to surpass one's stage might make people arrogant, but the gift of blessing allows one to see one's true nature, maintain humility, and also improve Comprehension Ability, preventing one's true heart from being troubled by the mundane world.

Refining the heart!

This concept was novel, and the key was that it could also increase Comprehension Ability, a good cheat.

Bring on the cheat!

"If I continue to challenge successfully, will I get more of this gift of blessing?"

Yes, for each wave of attacks you pass, you will receive a corresponding gift of blessing; the further you go, the more gifts of blessing you will receive.

"Then let's continue!" Xiao Fan said.

Although he didn't know what refining the heart did, the name sounded very cool, and since he wouldn't lose anything, he would continue!