C555 Twenty Flowers as a Reward

While still pondering, the dark green dagger unexpectedly returned. Woo Zhengyang didn't dare to be careless. He swung the No Life Sword again, knocking it away. Another spray of dark green liquid came at him, forcing Woo Zhengyang to once more channel his Profound Heaven Fire Power to keep it at bay.

A few moments later, just as the dark green liquid was burned away, the dagger came back again. After several cycles of this, Woo Zhengyang's internal energy was depleted by thirty percent, and the dark green glow on the dagger finally dimmed. It seemed to lose its power and fell into the endless void below.

Finally, the dagger was repelled, but Woo Zhengyang's shock was beyond words. Throughout his journey, he had encountered many traps, but never had he felt so bewildered. To be pushed to such a state by a dagger—or more precisely, by the liquid it emitted—was astonishing.

The dark green liquid was so overpowering that the dagger's quality couldn't be low. Even if it wasn't a King Rank weapon, it couldn't be far off. Looking around, there were countless weapons similar to this dagger. Not to mention the ones that looked like meteors in the distance, just the power of this group of twenty weapons was on par with the dark green dagger. Even the powerful Youth Zheng had a tough time handling them initially.

Woo Zhengyang couldn't quite grasp the world he had entered, especially with so many powerful weapons around. Thankfully, the wave of magical weapon attacks had finally passed.

Everyone was still shaken, but they now had a rough idea of each other's strengths. In particular, Woo Zhengyang had caught the attention of nearly everyone when he made his move.

"An Innate Spirit Body, huh? But your combat skills aren't that impressive. Do you really need to team up with Brother Yu and the other Martial Mansion disciples?" a disciple from the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion questioned.

"Care to find out?" Woo Zhengyang replied with a light laugh, waving his No Life Sword.

"Enough with the chatter. He's just an arrogant fool who doesn't know his place. There are more dangers ahead, and we won't need to deal with him ourselves," said Youth Zheng, who also saw that Woo Zhengyang's combat abilities weren't particularly strong. From his words, it was clear he believed that even if the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion didn't confront Woo Zhengyang, he wouldn't make it to the end.

"Brother Zheng is right. But this guy did try to fool us earlier. Maybe we should teach him a lesson, haha..." the other young man chuckled.

"Feel free to try..." Youth Zheng sneered, then continued along the path of stars, with the other Heavenly Mirror Pavilion disciples following closely behind.

In no time, Woo Zhengyang found himself surrounded by just the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion disciple who had threatened him earlier, four young men from the Martial Mansion, and Situ Jingxiang.

Seeing Situ Jingxiang, the young man finally understood why Brother Zheng had let Woo Zhengyang off so easily this time. It seemed everyone else had already noticed that Situ Jingxiang intended to protect Woo Zhengyang, while he had foolishly suggested otherwise.

"Sister Jingxiang, I was just joking!" the young man said with a forced smile before sheepishly following the others.

Once the young man left, Situ Jingxiang sighed softly, her lips barely moving. "This is all I can do. Take my advice: you're not their match. Just wait here until the Hundred Flower World closes."

With that, Situ Jingxiang turned and followed the others.

Woo Zhengyang felt a bit embarrassed. He genuinely wanted to face off against those from the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion. He had thought that after the wave of attacks with magical weapons, they would finally see his strength and make a move. But once again, Situ Jingxiang had intervened.

Now, at the start of the Star Path, only Woo Zhengyang and the four young men from the Martial Mansion remained. These four were considered prodigies in their own right back at the Martial Mansion, but here, they were hardly noticed by those from the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion. So, for now, they had no choice but to band together.

"Hey, should we invite him to join us? I think he's pretty strong..."

"He's not weak, but he's got a few screws loose. He even managed to tick off the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion. That's just asking for trouble."

"Exactly. I don't know how he got so lucky to have a beautiful woman protecting him, but who knows how long that will last. We better not get involved with that mess."

"Yeah, as long as the four of us stick together, we'll definitely gain something. Plus, we're hoping to use the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion to clear a path, so let's not get on their bad side. Let's go!"

The four young men from the Martial Mansion whispered among themselves and then followed along, leaving Woo Zhengyang behind with a wry smile.

Standing still, Woo Zhengyang hesitated until everyone else had disappeared into the endless starry sky. Only then did he look up.

Above him was the massive vortex they had entered through.

Woo Zhengyang wasn't waiting because of Situ Jingxiang's advice to stay until the Hundred Flower World closed. He wanted to go back and explore the Hundred Flower Palace. Even though Situ Jingxiang had said that both the Star Pavilion and the Hundred Flower Palace were unreachable, Woo Zhengyang had a feeling he could do it.

The vortex above wasn't very high, just about 100 feet, but it was tough for others to get close, and no one else seemed interested in going back.

Woo Zhengyang wasn't sure if he could make it, but he knew he had to try.

Drawing his sword, Woo Zhengyang activated the Sword Manipulating Flight Technique and began to soar through the air. In this world, an overwhelming pressure was ever-present, and Woo Zhengyang had to exert all his strength to make the sword climb to about 60 feet. Even with his height added, the massive vortex remained far out of reach.

Gritting his teeth, Woo Zhengyang pushed against the pressure, managing to ascend another 10 feet. It felt like being back in the gravity room at the Azure Sun Martial Mansion, enveloped by an invisible force. While an ordinary person might crumble under such strain, Woo Zhengyang's past experiences allowed him to endure, though it was still incredibly painful.

As he continued to climb, the pressure around him intensified to over fifty times normal gravity, causing beads of blood to seep from his skin. Yet, the enormous vortex was still untouchable.

Going any higher was beyond Woo Zhengyang's limits. He was unsure of the consequences if he recklessly pushed forward. Even if he managed to touch the vortex, he didn't know if he could return to the plaza or enter the Hundred Flower Palace to find Yun'er.

However, the thought of Rice and Bing'er, whose fates were unknown, steeled his resolve. Even with just a glimmer of hope, Woo Zhengyang was determined to fight for it.

Woo Zhengyang gathered all his strength and charged upward once more...