It was just a slight flaw in his movements, but a flaw nonetheless.
"I got it!"
Li Yun immediately activated the 6th layer of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword and executed the strongest attack he could muster, thrusting his sword like a spear with pinpoint precision toward the flaw he had noticed.
At that moment, their swords collided—one blade radiating with a slightly fierce red-colored Qi, the other appearing as a simple, unremarkable weapon. The tip of Li Yun's ordinary sword met the sharp edge of the puppet's Qi-infused red sword.
In that instant, a powerful shockwave erupted from the clash, and the puppet was hurled backward like a ragdoll, its sword flying from its grasp.
Cracks splintered across the surface of the puppet's weapon, revealing the overwhelming force behind Li Yun's seemingly ordinary strike.
Seeing this, Li Yun pressed forward with lethal intent. He swiftly ran toward the puppet, whose body was slowly coming to a stop after tumbling across the tiled stage.
"Thunderclap Dragon Sword."
Upon reaching the puppet, Li Yun once again unleashed the 6th layer of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword, slashing downward. The puppet, now defenseless without its sword, was split in half by Li Yun's strike. The halves were then destroyed into bits and pieces of wood, scattering across the square-shaped stage.
After destroying the puppet, Li Yun walked over to where its sword had fallen and picked it up, storing it in his storage ring. He then stopped using Raging Heaven, but the moment he did, pain flooded his body.
It was as though, in the Raging Heaven state, he was in such an extreme battle-oriented mode that no amount of pain could affect him. Though he felt the pain, it wasn't enough to distract him during the battle.
However, as soon as he deactivated Raging Heaven, all the pain and injuries he had suppressed returned with a vengeance, rendering him immobile.
But this time, Li Yun was prepared. He immediately took out a bottle of blood and chugged it down. Moments later, the pain began to recede, and a soothing relief washed over him.
'It only took me one bottle of blood to heal all my injuries, but last time, I had to drink so many bottles before I could calm my hunger.'
Li Yun speculated that his earlier hunger mode might have affected how much blood he needed. Because he had been so hungry and thirsty for blood earlier, it took more to satisfy him.
But this time, he only needed the blood to heal his internal injuries caused by Raging Heaven. This also kept him from entering that hunger state like before.
'It's good that I stored the blood of the beasts I killed along the way after I left the cave of the Four-armed Berserk Ape,' he thought, feeling extremely fortunate.
Turning around, Li Yun found himself once again on the same stage, but the puppets he had destroyed were gone. As before, the stage expanded slightly.
Li Yun smiled and waited for the next wave of puppets to appear. Drinking the beast blood had not only healed all his injuries but also restored his full strength.
'Blood is indeed very useful to me. I'll need to keep a stock of hundreds of bottles for myself in the future,' he contemplated, thinking about his plans.
At that moment, the puppets of the third floor appeared, and Li Yun's expression became incredibly serious.
There were a total of six puppets this time—three at the 1st level of Qi Training, two at the 2nd level, and one at the 3rd level of the Qi Training Realm.
Li Yun had faced many difficulties on the second floor, but the third floor seemed to take the challenge to a whole new level.
'This will be difficult,' he thought.
In the Combat Pagoda, the strength of the 1st level Qi Training Realm puppets seemed to be on par with normal martial artists at the 2nd level of Qi Training. The same applied to the 2nd level Qi Training puppets, which were as strong as those at the 3rd level.
By that logic, the strength of the 3rd level Qi Training puppet would surely reach the 4th level, if not close to it.
This realization sparked curiosity within Li Yun. He wondered if others who attempted the 3rd floor would also face opponents two levels stronger than themselves.
The thought lingered in his mind—could they endure the same challenges? Could they possibly push through and clear the floor?
He knew that only a select few might have the strength and skill to overcome such an obstacle and advance to the 4th floor but even that wasn't a concrete fact.
At this moment, Li Yun could only imagine the difficulty of the fourth floor and those above it.
'No wonder only three have ever reached the sixth floor,' he thought, realizing the immense challenge of the Combat Pagoda and understanding why the elders of the peaks used it to select disciples.
"Let's do this," he resolved, immediately sprinting toward the group of puppets. He didn't want them to take the lead and attack him first; otherwise, it would simply be a repeat of last time.
Seeing him charging, the puppets began to organize themselves as before, but Li Yun wouldn't let them do as they pleased.
Harnessing the power of the 6th layer of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword, he threw his sword at one of the 1st level Qi Training Realm puppets with incredible precision, using his purple glowing right eye.
The sword flew through the air like a bolt of lightning, rumbling as it struck the puppet's chest. The puppet exploded into pieces upon contact with the sword.
But the attack didn't stop there—the sword continued its trajectory, hitting another 1st level Qi Training Realm puppet and destroying it as well. However, by then, the sword's momentum had died down, and it fell to the ground.
'Good,' Li Yun thought, satisfied that he could eliminate two puppets before the battle even began, and at the cost of just a sword—not his own, but the puppet's sword he had taken from the second floor.