I continued on my way to the center of the land, encountering two more hordes of ice pixies. After asking the horde chiefs, I realized that Bing Zhi Di's main residents are the ice pixies.
However, there were still some terrifying entities that resides there. One time, a powerful aura swept over me and I knew that the owner of that aura could have killed me at the instant. But they didn't do that. Apparently, it was either because of my position in the Mansion of Night or me being the Lord of ice.
After some days walk, I finally reached the center of the land, where the tower was stationed. However, what I saw caught me really surprised...
There was actually no tower, just a wide sized circular arena, with my senior brother Fárbuati standing in the center of it. He was bare-chested, holding nothing in his hands. But that mere sight caused my heart to tremble, because he was radiating a powerful aura that I never noticed before.
Having so many questions in mind, I approached him and greeted, "Fárbuati."
He turned his head and looked at me, saying nothing while I continued, "Where is the tower?"
"It is not here," he said calmly.
"Where is it then?"
"It was never here to begin with."
"Then what was the tall building that I saw upon entering Bing Zhi Di? I am pretty sure that it was a tower."
"It is an illusion that was made to be a reminder to the powerful entities that reside in this land that the Mansion of Night still own this place."
"What will happen when I take the blade piece? Will it just disappear?"
"No, the illusion will remain."
"Okay," I said, then changed the subject. "What is the test today?"
"The Body Power test. Magic is prohibited. Get ready."
I raised an eyebrow but still did what he wanted. I was already bare-chested, so all I needed to do was put Pangu away. Having done that, I walked back to Fárbuati and told him that I am ready.
"Before we start, the fighting will be intense. This is a test, and at the same time, not. The point of it is to let the participant reach their maximum fleshly body power. If you couldn't reach it, then you would have to try a thousand times.
"Take this as an advice from your senior brother, be extra careful with me, because not even the Colossus of Rhodes can withstand my blows. What is your decision?"
I was frightened, really and utterly frightened. There were two voices in my head, one that was telling me to participate, which was probably the voice of Richard, and the other was telling me not to, which was definitely my voice.
Seeing that I was still hesitant, Fárbuati spoke again, "I may be powerful, but so are you. Your body is amongst the most finest in the entire Dragon Clan. Do not underestimate your abilities."
After thinking for one more moment, I made up my mind. I raised my head and my energy started to rise. This energy was not the type that would come out of the cultivation base, no; this is the most brutal energy of all, fleshly body energy!
At some point, my skin turned blue, with scales covering all of my body. A tail sprouted out of my back. This was a state that I haven't used before, it is called the quasi-dragon state!
However, this was not my end yet. My skin turned white again, while the tail remained there. This was my most powerful state I have ever been in.
"BRING IT ON!!" I shouted with all my might.
Fárbuati didn't hesitate at all and charged. When he was a hair distance away from me, his hand turned into a fist and he punched. However, what he hit was nothing than an after image, because I was already standing beside him, where I landed a blow onto his back.
He was sent forward, but was clearly uninjured. He looked at me in surprise, which was mixed with a bit of interest.
Once again, we charged at each other, and this time I did not evade. In the blink of an eye, we have already exchanged more than a thousand blows.
Although this type of fighting is extremely tiring, I can sense that my fleshly body was growing stronger at a rapid rate.
An hour later, I was reaching my limit. At that moment, an idea came to me. After retreating, I stopped and started raising my energy again, but this time, the energy started flowing backwards and not forward.
It kept climbing and climbing to the point that I couldn't help but scream. The pain that I was feeling was unimaginable. On the other hand, some sort of a figure appeared behind me.
It was the figure of a bare-chested giant, which seemed like my Pangu form but on a greater level. But it was blurry and kept flickering as if it might disappear at any time.
However, that was enough to destroy the arena, burying Fárbuati under it. Unable to stay in that state any longer, the figure disappeared, leaving me completely drained and coughing up blood.