Chapter 194 – Protector
When Mu Chen opened his eyes once again, the river of lights had already vanished. Instead, a dark golden hall had emerged in front of him. This hall was quite spacious and seemed to pulse with a chill as if it was made of metal.
Mu Chen’s eyes swept across the massive hall and stared at the center of the hall with a serious expression. At that location, there was a shadow standing still. From its appearance, it seemed like a heavy black armor. This heavy black armor was engraved with many black lines and gave off a mysterious feeling.
Mu Chen stared at the lifeless black armor and sensed danger from it. At the same time, he quietly circulated his Spiritual Energy within his body.
Kacha.
Just when Mu Chen looked carefully at the lifeless black armor, a clicking sound rang out from the icy-cold armor. It was as if something had been activated. Then, Mu Chen noticed a pair of scarlet lights being emitted from the armor. It seemed like that the armor was gazing at him coldly.
When the scarlet light focused itself on Mu Chen’s body, black lightwaves slowly surged out from the black armor and a powerful Spiritual Energy pressure was released from the icy-cold armor.
“Intruder. You will be able to obtain the Spiritual Art if you beat me!” A emotionless voice resounded out from the black armor.
“Are you the protector of the Spiritual Art?” Mu Chen’s eyes focused. It was clear that the black armor wasn’t human and was a special item like a puppet. Apparently, this was the protector that Elder Zhu Tian had mentioned earlier.
Buzz.
Once the protector’s voice faded away, a stone platform slowly emerged from behind the black armor. Black lights glowed on top of the stone platform and a black scroll could be vaguely seen within the black lights. Illusory beasts were condensed on the scroll and these beasts issued out ancient roars endlessly.
This was the “Four Gods Constellation Scripture”. As long as Mu Chen defeated the mysterious protector in front of him, he would be able to obtain this Spiritual Art.
Mu Chen’s gaze slowly move away from the “Four Gods Constellation Scripture” and towards the protector with heavy armor. He felt that it would be quite a thorny path. After all, he had already felt an immense pressure emitting from the protector even without it attacking him. This pressure was extraordinarily powerful and Mu Chen was aware that he wasn’t its opponent.
Mu Chen shook his head with a bitter smile. It was evident that a Spiritual Art at this level wasn’t something a freshman could obtain. However, who would have imagined that the mysterious black paper within his body had actually summoned the “Four Gods Constellation Scripture” from deep within…
Just when Mu Chen sighed helplessly, black lights had already begun to surge out from the protector’s icy-cold armor. An extraordinary Spiritual Energy pressure was emitted out from within it.
The protector didn’t say anything else and took a step forward. Sounds of metal clashing could be heard. At the same time, the protector turned into a beam of light as it rushed directly in front of Mu Chen. Then, it fired out a punch straight towards Mu Chen.
When this punch was blasted out, the violent black Spiritual Energy had charged forward like a serpent. The powerful winds formed by it had actually blasted away the air in front of it.
When Mu Chen noticed the protector approaching aggressively, his expression changed. Retreat wasn’t an option anymore. Thus, he could only defend himself by attacking. He, too, blasted out a punch and four Limitless Death Seals were condensed and erupted out towards the protector’s punch.
Bang Bang Bang!
However, the overlapping Limitless Death Seals were actually forcibly blown away when it made contact with the attack from the protector. The remaining power of the attack had smashed onto Mu Chen’s arm as he protected himself.
Even though he had protected himself, Mu Chen’s body was still sent flying away. Blood flowed out his body and a stinging pain burst out from his arms. His body flew back a few hundred meters before he had finally stopped.
Although Mu Chen stabilized his body, he was deeply shocked. The protector was too strong. From his estimates, this heavy armor had already surpassed the Heavenly Fusion Stage. How could he possibly deal with it right now?
Mu Chen stared at the black scroll on the stone platform in front of him and let out a bitter laugh. Elder Zhu Tian was correct. If one was too greedy, they would end up with nothing…
Not far away, the protector did not give any chance for Mu Chen to rest. Instead, it charged forward and every single step it took caused the hall to tremble. A powerful offensive surged out from it towards Mu Chen.
Seeing this, Mu Chen’s expression darkened. He could only grit his teeth and continued to avoid the attacks.
From a certain location inside the Spiritual Arts Hall, Elder Zhu Tian and the others raised their head up. In front of them, a screen of light had formed and within this screen of light, a scene of the protector chasing after Mu Chen was displayed.
“Ohoho. Although that little guy was fortunate enough to obtain the ‘Four Gods Constellation Scripture’, it seems that he does not possess the strength to defeat the protector.” The white-haired old man watched this scene as he laughed.
Elder Zhu Tian also nodded and responded: “The protector of the ‘Four Gods Constellation Scripture’ is equivalent to a Heavenly Transformation Stage Initial Phase. Mu Chen is only at the Spirit Stage Late Phase. The gap between them is just too large, this gap wasn’t something that techniques could cover…”
When Mu Chen had successfully defeated Yang Hong, who was at the Heavenly Fusion Stage Middle Phase, Elder Zhu Tian was quite surprised. However, he did not recognize that it was an impossible act. But judging from the what was occurring right now, Elder Zhu Tian could only say it was simply unimaginable for Mu Chen to defeat the protector by himself.
“It seems that this little guy wouldn’t be able to obtain the ‘Four Gods Constellation Scripture’. To be honest, I actually wanted to see if this little guy would be able successfully learn the Spiritual Art.” The white-haired old man smiled.
Elder Zhu Tian shook his head and replied: “It can’t be helped. The rules are decided by the Spiritual Arts Hall. We can only assist it and cannot change the rules. If Mu Chen fails to defeat the protector, then we can only play by the rules.”
The white-haired old man nodded and stared at the screen of light. At this moment, Mu Chen was in a completely awkward state. Judging from his appearance, it seems that he wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
As Mu Chen retreated, he was once again struck by the powerful winds formed by the attacks of the protector. The air erupted and a long trial was formed as Mu Chen’s feet slid across the hall. At this moment, blood had emerged from his mouth.
Mu Chen wiped the blood traces from his mouth, but at the same time, his heart was in a mess. Every single attack of his seemed to be fragile like a piece of paper in the face of the protector. He knew that this was caused by the difference in strength. Even if he had advanced to the Heavenly Fusion Stage, he would not be able to defeat this protector. However, he would at least be able to compete with it and would not be in this awkward state he was in right now.
Mu Chen’s eyes twinkled and he sent his consciousness towards his aura sea to look for the Nine Nether Bird. In this situation, he truly needed a bit of help.
Within his aura sea, the Nine Nether Bird stretched its wings lazily and responded: “Don’t come searching for me. This mess wasn’t caused by me, so you should look for the culprit instead.”
Hearing this, Mu Chen could not help but turn his eyes towards the mysterious black paper within his aura sea. At this moment, the latter was in a completely peaceful state. However, a faint purple light could be seen emitting from it.
Unfortunately, Mu Chen wasn’t able to do anything to the mysterious black paper. Therefore, he could only shake his head in response.
“The protector’s strength isn’t weak. Judging from your current strength, it isn’t something that you can possibly defeat. But sometimes, it isn’t necessary to defeat it in a head-on battle. The Spiritual Arts Hall is probably an exceptional Spiritual Artifact and the protector is controlled by it. As long as you are able to sever the link between the protector and the Spiritual Arts Hall, this puppet won’t be able to move at all.” Seeing Mu Chen’s dejected expression, the Nine Nether Bird curled its lips and spoke out loud.
“Sever the link?” Mu Chen was stunned, but he quickly asked, “How?”
“How should I know…” The Nine Nether Bird flapped its wings that were tainted with black flames. It was evident it was quite dissatisfied since Mu Chen had came searching for it whenever he didn’t know the solution to his problem.
Mu Chen sighed. The bird and paper were basically acting like gods. It seemed that he could only rely on himself.
Within the hall, Mu Chen’s body was blown away once again. Fortunately, he did not dare to fight directly against the protector. Instead, he was constantly avoiding it in order to stall for time.
At this moment, his eyes blinked rapidly. In order to sever the link between the protector and the Spiritual Arts Hall, he must first understand how the two of them are connected, right?
Mu Chen’s eyes flashed and scanned through the heavy armor on the protector. He could see faint engravings flashing on the surface of the armor and a mysterious fluctuation emitted out from it.
Mu Chen’s eyes focused fiercely. This fluctuation…Is it a Spiritual Array’s fluctuation?
That’s right!
The Spiritual Arts Hall arranged a Spiritual Array on the protector’s body in order to control it. As long as managed to destroy the Spiritual Array, he would be able to severe the link between the Spiritual Arts Hall and the protector.
A hint of excitement filled Mu Chen’s black eyes.
At this moment, the protector rushed forward once again. Just when it had approached Mu Chen, Mu Chen took this chance to scan through the complex engraving on the armor and firmly remembered it in his mind.
This time, Mu Chen was blown away again. However, he immediately crawled back up. His eyes had became brighter due to the hope of defeating the protector.
Bang! Bang!
Next up, the protector had continued to bombard its attack towards Mu Chen and Mu Chen was constantly sent flying away by it. Although he was becoming more injured and more blood was flowing out from the corner of his lips, his eyes revealed more and more excitement.
He was finally able to understand the Spiritual Array arranged on the armor of the protector. He knew where the core of the Spiritual Array was located at!
The protector continued to cause the hall to tremble as it charged forward once again. But this time, when it had approached Mu Chen and blasted out a punch, the latter had also taken a step forward. Dark-black Spiritual Energy gushed out from his hand and a black flame danced within it.
When the protector’s attack had smashed onto his chest, Mu Chen’s attack also managed to smash down on a specific location of the black armor!