Chapter 146: Li Runze Takes Action

The imposing tiger-head saber forced Zhu Tianyi to temporarily retreat. Fortunately, the designer of this trial had a shred of humanity, as the general merely stood upon the high platform and did not come down. Had the general descended, Song Nianqiang and his companions would have been doomed; even if they had managed to kill the general by sheer luck, the price they would have paid would have been unimaginably heavy.

Right now, they had finally found a place to rest temporarily. Exhausted from the recent battle, four or five hours had passed since they first entered. The big guy, for instance, had been groaning with hunger for a while, and now they finally had time to grab a bite.

The big guy pulled a heap of food from his backpack. His pack was the largest of all, and though Song Nianqiang had previously wondered why the big guy bothered to carry such a massive pack around, he finally understood.

"Come, come! Don't be polite, eat up! You need a full stomach to overturn that guy!" the big guy called out, eliciting another round of light laughter from the group. It seemed this big guy was a natural comedian, which immediately eased their tense and oppressive moods. One by one, the others walked over and ate a little.

Sitting in place and looking up at the general on the platform, everyone felt a massive headache coming on. The general's combat prowess was simply freakish. Zhu Tianyi was considered top-tier among the eight of them, yet even he was completely powerless against the general. They wanted to swarm him together, but worried about triggering some unforeseen consequence. Upon stepping onto the stairs, they had seen an inscription stating that to defeat the general and exit the area, one had to challenge him in single combat, leaving everyone utterly stumped.

Being living people, however, they had considered having two people go up together to take down the general. But the moment two people set foot on the stairs, the general would instantly vanish, along with the stone door behind him—the very stone door that was their only way forward.

"Old Niu, go up and give it a try!" Zhu Tianyi said, a look of frustration washing over his face after another failed attempt. This was his first time losing to a creature that wasn't even human. Old Niu nodded solemnly; he knew how formidable the general was, otherwise Zhu Tianyi would not have been defeated so quickly, and five times in a row at that.

Clutching his large iron rod, Old Niu stepped up. His fighting style relied on a fatal strike; if he couldn't kill his opponent with a single blow, he would instantly retreat. Unlike Zhu Tianyi, an all-around fighter, Old Niu possessed immense strength but lacked speed, especially when compared to the general.

Thus, upon stepping up, Old Niu did not rush to attack. Instead, he stared coldly at the general, gripping his heavy iron rod tightly. His breathing was steady, not like someone about to engage in a life-or-death duel, but rather like someone standing there asleep.

While Old Niu remained still, the general moved. In his consciousness, anyone who ascended this high platform must die. Seeing Old Niu step up, the general immediately brandished his tiger-head saber and charged. Old Niu's frame was even taller and broader than the armored general, yet the general's aura was vastly superior—so much so that there was simply no comparison between the two.

For reasons unknown, just as the general closed in on him, Old Niu still stood frozen in place, causing the onlookers to break out in a cold sweat for him. But right as the tiger-head saber descended toward Old Niu's head, Old Niu moved, swinging his iron rod forward with the sheer force of a thunderbolt.

"Bang!"

The immense force directly batted the general away. The tiger-head saber stopped a mere hair's breadth from Old Niu's skull. The group's suspended hearts finally dropped, only to leap back into their throats a second later, for the general, having been knocked flying by Old Niu, picked himself up completely unscathed, his crimson pupils glowing with an even more eerie light.

"Get back here!"

Seeing this, Zhu Tianyi had no choice but to call Old Niu back. While others might not know the general's combat capability, he knew it all too well. He had traded blows with the general five consecutive times, only to suffer defeat every single time. Zhu Tianyi now had a rough estimate of the general's strength; unless a couple of freaks used their ultimate techniques, no one could truly kill the general with ease.

However, Old Niu had been consumed by rage. His full-strength strike hadn't even managed to scratch a hair on the general, a blow to his pride that was hard to swallow. Refusing to accept defeat, Old Niu charged forward with his iron rod once more.

"Hummm~~~~"

The iron rod frictioning against the air produced a humming sound, a testament to the immense power behind Old Niu's strike. If this blow couldn't kill or at least injure the general, Old Niu would be completely out of options. He was risking his life with this strike, and at any moment, he could perish beneath the general's tiger-head saber.

"Crack~~~~ Snap~~~~~"

The first sound was the collision between Old Niu's iron rod and the tiger-head saber, instantly followed by the sound of Old Niu's iron rod shattering. Who knew what material the general's tiger-head saber was forged from, that even Old Niu's heavy iron rod could not withstand it and snapped.

As a special operative in the elite forces, Old Niu's weapon was custom-built by the state. Since the word "state" was attached to it, his weapon was guaranteed to be exceptional. Crafted meticulously by a national military arsenal, it had taken a full month and hundreds of rounds of purification to complete.

That iron rod weighed at least five or six hundred catties, though Old Niu's physique made wielding it effortless. Yet now, Old Niu could hardly believe his iron rod had broken just like that. His mind went blank for a brief moment. But this was no time for hesitation; the general on the opposite side gave him no chance to recover, bringing his tiger-head saber down in a flash of cold light toward Old Niu's head.

At the very last critical second, a white figure suddenly materialized beside Old Niu and delivered a vicious kick to his backside. The sheer force of the kick sent Old Niu flying through the air. Perhaps Li Runze's speed was simply too fast, as the general did not vanish this time.

"Get your ass back here!"

Zhu Tianyi, now thoroughly enraged down below, roared at Old Niu as Li Runze's kick sent him tumbling through the air. His shout startled Old Niu so badly that he shuddered, scrambled up from the ground, grabbed the broken iron rod, and scampered back. Meeting Zhu Tianyi's darkened expression, Old Niu's heart skipped a beat. He knew Zhu Tianyi's temper well; normally, no one dared to defy his commands unless they had grown tired of living.

"Boss... I'm sorry..." Old Niu's voice was so soft it completely mismatched his towering stature. Zhu Tianyi didn't answer immediately, merely letting out a cold snort. "Go stand aside," he said coldly a minute later.

This was no time to deal with Old Niu. No one knew what dangers lay ahead on the path forward, and having a powerhouse like Old Niu around meant an extra layer of safety and fewer worries. Hearing this, Old Niu shrank his neck and retreated to the back. At least for now, Zhu Tianyi wasn't going to punish him further; as for the future, as long as Old Niu behaved himself, Zhu Tianyi wouldn't go out of his way to make trouble for him.

On the battlefield, Li Runze was moving at blinding speed, striking here and there, deliberately avoiding direct engagement with the general. The general grew increasingly frustrated. Though mute, the general possessed a sharp intellect; as a living corpse, aside from his inability to speak, he was no different from an ordinary human.

As for which era he belonged to, he couldn't even remember. He only recalled that the last thing he had done in life was drink a cup of wine—a cup of poisoned wine. He remembered that the moment he drank that poison, he was ordained as the Guardian General of the King's Mausoleum, which was precisely why his subconscious refused to allow outsiders to ascend this high platform.

"Roar~~~~!"

Failing to land a hit on Li Runze after so long, the general grew furious and let out a roar toward the empty air. Li Runze, however, cared little for the general's roaring. He had only one plan in mind: to play guerrilla warfare with the general and eventually wear him down to death.

In truth, Li Runze's calculation was not panning out as hoped. As a living corpse, the general did not function like a living person; he felt no fatigue, nor any exhaustion. He merely attacked with mechanical precision, and even if Li Runze were to run himself completely into the ground, the general would not feel the slightest trace of tiredness.