Zhang Wuji was standing beside a corpse with no visible injury, which was slowly turning into motes of light.
'The Obliteration Fist really lives up to its name.' He looked at his fists as all the traces of the black robe rapidly turned into light motes and disappeared together with the corpse.
He had easily dealt with the opponent on the first floor without even using the Obliteration Fist. On the next floor, he had only landed one Obliteration Fist on the sixth level black robed man and that was sufficient to damage his internal organs and kill him.
That did not mean he could defeat sixth level body refinement realm cultivators. The main contributor to the kill other than the raw power in Obliteration Fist was the rigid enemy. The illusion though good for practice, sometimes it's movements are so obvious that it's embarrassing.
Now he was a bit nervous and excited at the same time. The next opponent will be a seventh level cultivator. Seventh level is the greatest bottleneck in body refinement realm. Once one reaches seventh level, their body has reached a certain level of saturation in qi enough for it to make it's presence known.
It amplifies one's strength, allows one to use some grade one tools, talismans, opens the door to auxiliary arts, in short it gives a peek into the true world of cultivators.
Still defeating a level seven cultivator with a lower cultivation is not that difficult. Since the qi isn't under the person's control, unless a certain amount of exertion is reached, it doesn't amplify the strength. If a lower level cultivator could time their attacks so as to break their accumulation before the amplification happens, it is just the level difference at play which is comparatively manageable.
This time Zhang Wuji chose gauntlets. Even without qi amplification, the opponent will be two levels stronger and faster. He will be hit, he had to prepared for that. He thought these gauntlets would be the most optimal choice. They were standard metal gauntlets available outside for a few silver. They covered the whole forearm and provided good defense. Their scale like structure allows flexible wrist and finger movements and won't interfere with his Eagle Claw Art. The gauntlet therefore was sufficient. Any more than that would make him a practice dummy for the enemy.
Red light flashed and his unarmed opponent appeared. Zhang Wuji made the first move. A short sprint if used properly is enough for one in level seven to get a qi boost. The opponent's created by the formation maybe rigid but their timings are as good as an experienced fighter. He had to be careful to not give him the opportunity to charge for a qi boost.
Zhang Wuji clawed at him. The gauntlets had pointed finger tips and good grip, perfect for the Claw Art. The man easily dodged it and countered from an unnatural angle. This confused him. There was no need for such a move. He could have countered normally and with their relative speeds, the move would definitely land. The position from which the man attacked was not good at all. He couldn't exert a lot of force, neither would the move be fast.
Zhang Wuji easily dodged it and prepared to go behind him and strike. But before he could do anything, the man almost instantaneously appeared before him and punched him in the stomach from a low angle. He was shot up and backwards in a projectile motion. Halfway, the man appeared again and landed another blow, this time a kick.
It hurt and with that he understood what just happened. The man had used the unnatural move to stress his right leg and then with the qi boost enhanced his speed greatly to achieve the teleportation like effect.
'That's awesome! Wow! I couldn't have thought of that. This tower is really a treasure trove.'
After an elbow to the back he fell to the ground. Enduring the pain he quickly rolled away. Black robe was relentless. He chased after him stomping on the ground.
'Alright he must be charging up for the boost. Ah! It hurts. Even if he were to stop I'd die of internal bleeding. Must've severely damaged quite a few organs. Gotta kill him before I die.'
He pushed himself off the ground ignoring the sharp pain it caused. He tried his best to balance himself but couldn't fight body's natural reaction to pain and stumbled.
A punch grazed by his head. The loss in balance saved him. He grit his teeth and danced around the black robe trying to dodge his blows while getting used to his body's present state. The past six months gave him ample experience and will to keep up and dodge now that he had experienced his opponent's methods.
He didn't have much time. The moment he felt a little accustomed, he got into a preparatory step of the Obliteration Fist. His knees bent back lowered, he leaned into black robe's punches and took them forcefully with his guards.
This was a golden opportunity for the man. After a few punches, he will get the qi boost so he kept at it.
Zhang Wuji used Obliteration Fist's momentum transfer techniques to dissipate some of the punch force into the ground and some he stored. He mostly used his left to defend. Despite the presence of the guard, he could feel his left forearm bones cracking.
He waited. His left forearm bones broke. He waited. It was mangled. He waited. He could no longer keep it straight to defend. He forcefully held it with his right and used the left as a shield to defend it. He was completely focused on the punches. He kept his eyes on black robe's chest and waited.
Finally his chest went further back than usual. Zhang Wuji let his body fall and right as he was about to completely lose balance, he unleashed a Obliteration Fist right in black robe's stomach. Black robe's qi boosted punch landed in empty space above Zhang Wuji and he was lifted a few inches off the ground.
Obliteration Fist will not allow recovery before the black robe recovers. His left arm was now useless. The rebound from the fist and the repeated punches worsened his internal injuries. He knew, he lost.
'Sigh I didn't even get to try my move. Doesn't matter. I was surprised by that move and it was game over. Now that I know how this guy fights, I could take precautions and be prepared. Next week I'm gonna win. I'll try my move then. After this I'll do my last minute preparations. Maybe I jumped too early. I should've used some testing moves or something....'
Zhang Wuji lay on the floor sunk in his thoughts as all signs of life slowly left his body.
He opened his eyes in the familiar room and walked towards the exit. Tomorrow was the day of the test, he had some revision to do.
....
A huge rectangular room in the Pill House. On both the longer sides, there were three huge windows each. It was around nine in the morning. The room was hot. Although the peak of the summer was long gone, the heat was enough to make some of the examinees sweat. Or maybe it was the fact that their alloted time was almost over.
There were only nine people in total in the room. It felt empty. There were seven desks prepared for the examinees. A grey robed deacon with Wisdom Hall written on his chest and a young woman wearing grade one alchemist robes were the examiners.
Zhang Wuji had already answered all the questions and was checking for any mistakes. He found the test to be easy. He didn't just remember the names and details of the alchemy ingredients, he remembered them with emotion. In these six months he understood two things. Number one, disgust is a very strong emotion when it comes to memory. Number two, cute teacher Li is disgusting. In the past months, there were days when he couldn't eat. She had once made him extract materials from a corpse using yellowish maggot like insects to make him experience an ancient method in alchemy so that he could understand how lucky they were to have the newer methods. All the while she watched the whole thing excitedly, sometimes even playing with the insects.
But he knew he couldn't have done it without her and was truly grateful. After the time was over, he gave his answer sheet and left the room. If he were to pass the test, he will be taken as an apprentice for a one month trial period where his efficiency in learning and doing the job of an apprentice will be tested.
'The results will be out in a day. I'll take the whole gang to party on Sunday. Sigh, if I had defeated the third level it would have been even better. No what am I thinking, it's already good, the third level will be cleared the next week anyway.'
He hummed a tune as he walked towards the residential building, it was time for the day's cultivation.