*Deep inhale.*
Tang Lin sat up straight as cold sweat dripped down his body.
'What happened? A bad dream? What was that? My memories are all hazy for some reason', Tang Lin panted in a daze.
*Gasp*
In front of him, the chimera's body stood frozen in place.
Tang Lin locked gazes with the chimera's soulless eyes as he vigilantly crawled backwards.
Its previous aloof aura had disappeared at this point, but Tang Lin still couldn't tell what was going through its mind.
'Is it dead? It can't be… or is it still alive, but why wouldn't it finish me off, while I was unconscious? Or is it toying with me?!' Tang Lin analysed as numerous thoughts and hypotheses ran through his head.
'Should I try to attack it?' thought Tang Lin as he grabbed his white Spirit sword.
Deciding on a long-range attack, Tang Lin threw the sword with all his might.
*Clang*
Unable to pierce through its hide, the sword simply knocked over the chimera as they both collapsed to the ground.
"Eh?" he muttered with a puzzled expression.
Cautiously walking over, Tang Lin poked the chimera a couple of times before coming to a stop.
'Dead? DEAD?!? How the fuck did it die? I didn't even get a chance to interrogate it', complained Tang Lin.
Lifting his Gravity sword, Tang Lin applied the concept of vibration by using Qi Resonance and multiplied the sword's weight.
*Pschk*
The sword penetrated the chimera's hide and pierced its heart. Crouching down, Tang LIn activated his crimson essence as usual.
'Hm?' he thought.
"There's no energy, essence or anything left. It's as if the chimera had been completely sucked dry", Tang Lin said, while scratching his head.
"What a pity. At least I managed to earn 10,000 points. Now I have exactly 11,238 points. I wonder what the secret reward I can purchase is", he muttered.
'Damn, I've wasted too much time here. Everyone else must've already moved onto the next trial', Tang LIn thought as he ran back to the teleportation circle.
Stepping inside, a bright light wrapped around Tang Lin.
*Bzzzt*
***
Outside, on the top of a mountain.
*Bzzzt*
Light shone down on the teleportation circle before rapidly dissipating, leaving behind Tang Lin.
"Finally made it out of there", Tang Lin sighed with relief.
*An hour later.*
After trekking down the mountain, Tang Lin walked to the center towards the mountain with the highest peak.
'This must be what Shen Long told me about', Tang Lin thought as he looked at the sign above two large doors that read 'Heaven's Doors'.
'The portal leading to the next trial should also be inside according to that', he thought as he looked up at the leaderboard.
[Leaderboard - Closed]
Please head to the portal in the center to enter the next trial.
"It's unfortunate that I can't see the performance of others. Oh well, let's head in now", Tang Lin mumbled.
The doors were already open as Tang Lin walked into a longer corridor before reaching the end.
Revealing a large octagonal room, the stench of blood permeated everywhere, causing Tang Lin to feel nauseous and puke at any given moment.
Blood stained every corner of the room as corpses piled the floor, while pinching his nose. Many of the corpses showed signs of malnutrition as if their life had been sucked out of them.
At the very end of the room was the portal. Despite this, Tang Lin's attention had been completely taken away by the sight in front of the portal.
A reptile-like beast almost twice the size of the chimera had been sundered in half.
'There… seems to be many hidden tigers and crouching dragons among us', he thought with a dark expression as his figure disappeared into the portal.