Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 123-Star Stream Lake Pt.12:The First Trial

Would recommend listening to Gas Gas Gas on youtube while reading this chapter. LOL

When Lineir came out of the portal he was on a strange mountain. The ground was a dirty scarlet and black rock which possessed a dull glossy look. He began to climb his way up the steep terrain walking only on his feet. Any mortal climber would have soon fallen off if they attempted such a feat without their hands but to a cultivator the ascent posed no such challenge. As he ascended, mysterious black and red hexagons began to form and undulate beneath his feet.

"What are these?" 

VrooooooooooooOOOOON-----Weng!!!!

A jet of lava shot out of the ground beneath his feet!

Fwip

Lineir dodged back sharply as the lava fountained into the open air and spewed off the edge of the mountain. 

"Woah! That was close." 

He cautiously approached the spot he had been standing in like a suspicious cat. The hexagon was still glowing orange as it rapidly cooled off in the frosty air.

Vrooooooooom!

Lineir heard the humming noise again and immediately took evasive action

Weng!

A second pillar of lava spontaneously spewed out of a hexagon to his left. With swift steps Lineir danced away from the second active hexagon and came to a stop staring at the ground beneath his feet...waiting

Vrooooo----

"There!" He jumped forwards to avoid a third plume of lava which had just appeared behind him.

Weng!

"I see. So the jets will follow me and randomly fire nearby after a small period of time. For ice cultivators, the lava would be an ideal counter to his laws and thus an ideal test!"

"Kiddo you sure you don't want me to alert you to any Qi buildup? This lava is probably not designed to kill you, but it would definitely not be pleasant to take a hit from. Don't forget, in ancient times, maiming during trials was more than common!" Mei said worryingly. With her level of Divine Sense she could naturally detect the buildup of Qi before the red and black hexagons activated. However, Lineir was stoically adamant that she was absolutely not to interfere.

"Thanks master, but I want to test myself against the other young geniuses of the Higher Realms. I've spent so long running from forces beyond my control, now that I have a trial designed for those of my age group, I can't resist measuring myself!" 

Mei could only shrug. She had been like this too in her youth. The desire to test oneself was only natural amongst the young.

"Is this really all the Ice Elemental Race expected though?" Lineir wondered as he dodged yet another jet of lava, "I was expecting something more-"

SHING!

Right as Lineir began to have this thought, a small local spacial portal formed through which a large 10 meter high golem fell. It's bodies were crafted from solid blue ice which resembled crystal. The arms were filled with an imposing aura, Lineir did not doubt that they were probably as hard as diamond. Embedded behind almost a half meter of ice armor was the core which glowed with a brilliant white light. Such a light seemed to say,

"I am not afraid of you. Come, my core is right here, but can you take it?"

This golem was clearly not a true combat golem but a ceremonial guard golem for one to test themselves against. A true combat golem would not display its weakness so ostentatiously. That being said, unless a golem had multiple cores, even true combat golems were usually weak in the chest.

Vroooo- Glowing white light began to gather in the golem's mouth.

"What's it doing? Wait...I know this...crap!" 

HOOOONG!

A piercing blue beam of Frost Qi exploded from the golem's mouth. Lineir bent over backwards at the waist like he was playing a game, letting the beam pass over him. When it was over, he swayed back up and looked at the ground in front of him where the beam had landed. A huge column of ice had formed about 10 meters long and one meter wide. If it had hit him, the consequences could be imagined. Then as it was over..

Vroooooo-

"Crap this timing!"

Lineir vaulted into the air performing a backflip as the hexagon he had been standing on suddenly fired!

Weng!

As he soared upside down before flipping back up, he caught sight of two other localized spacial portals opening through which stepped two more golems!

"Oh come on!" He lamented as they began to gather particles of bluish-white energy in their mouths!"

Hong! Hong!

They fired and Lineir found himself frantically dodging in a zigzag pattern to evade their twin beams. As he looked forward again, the first golem had finished recharging his beam!

"****!"

Simultaneously from below, a hexagon fired which sent a pillar of lava towards the spot he had been planning to escape to!

"Fine! Now this is a true test!' His eyes turned chilly as Madness covered them in crimson red. The beam attack as well as the lava spout slowed to a crawl as the world froze before Madness. Lineir immediately located the next open space to dodge to, but he quickly realized that something was off. A sixth sense made the hairs on his neck stand up like how one feels when a spider creeps up his back. His neck swiveled around as fast as possible, and his eyes strained to reach their corners and see what was behind him.

"Two MORE?!!"

He had another feeling on his right.

"TWO MORE???!!!!" 

In an instant, 7 golems had him surrounded the beam attacks were halfway to him.

Taka!

He leapt straight up and the beams passed beneath him. Two of the golems surrounding him were struck by friendly fire and turned into giant ice sculptures. However from below a jet of deadly orange lava spewed up and Lineir was unable to dodge in the sky. he unslung an ice cold weeping katana from his back and hurled it down into the lava plume!

Blast Cross Kick!

He then followed up with a Blast Cross Kick on the handle of Mizuchi to impart extra speed.

"Hey where the hell do you think you're putting your dirty feet peasant!" An indignant voice cried as the insanely sharp sword was kicked by Lineir's blazing technique and pierced through the lava directly into the active hexagon below!

Snick

The blade easily stabbed all the way down to the hilt in the ground and the formation in the hexagon powered down with a whir.

"