Chapter 290: Weaknesses

Huff… Huff… Rod gasped heavily, staring at the figure across from him that looked exactly like him, his eyes filled with complexity.
After fighting for nearly half an hour, his body was covered in countless wounds, bleeding profusely, in a state of disarray.
He felt a sense of weakness—completely at a disadvantage, losing every move he made, utterly suppressed. This made him uncomfortable, especially since the moves used to suppress him were the same ones he had used himself.
The opponent was fighting back exactly according to his own tactics. Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but feel conflicted. The third trial was truly difficult to overcome. No wonder so few people had passed it over the centuries, and those who did became extraordinary warriors. It made sense—defeating oneself was the most difficult thing for a martial artist. By overcoming oneself, one could see one’s flaws and shortcomings. After this, he would surely make unprecedented progress.
Head bowed in thought, Rod realized that his predicament stemmed from his many shortcomings. His attacks were fierce and sharp, but they lacked overall perfection, with many weaknesses that could cost him his life against a stronger enemy in the future.
After another clash, another wound appeared on Rod’s body. He quickly applied the mental techniques from “Cultivating the Mind” to calm his turbulent thoughts. He must not be impatient—impatience would mean losing everything.
Recalling various moments from previous battles, a glint appeared in his eyes as he discovered an important issue.
His opponent replicated every move he made, exactly as he did, sometimes even more perfectly. This meant the phantom across from him didn’t possess independent consciousness.
Why are some people strong? Because they have minds, the ability to think independently, and to conceive of things others cannot. Since the opponent could only imitate him, that was its biggest weakness. By focusing on this, he might find a way to defeat it.
Especially after observing carefully during previous clashes, Rod noticed that although the opponent’s attacks were identical to his own, there was still a slight delay, particularly in powerful and rapid moves. Others might not notice it, but Rod could see it clearly—he had observed this trait in the last move, the Shadowless Sword.

Every time he split his figure, he had to be slightly faster than his opponent—just a tiny bit, so small that most people couldn’t detect it, or even notice it at all. But under the Shadow Sword, it could be clearly observed, as the Shadow Sword pursued absolute speed, using the fragmentation of one’s own figure to enable all-round attacks. The slightest delay in speed or sluggish reaction would completely prevent achieving the desired goal!

It was this technique that revealed to Rod this astonishing secret: each time he split his figure, he was slightly faster than his opponent, especially during rapid movement—almost half a figure’s time faster! Only in this way could he uncover this crucial information.

It seemed that the opponent needed some time to react when copying his moves. Though the time was short, it was enough.

Thinking of all this, a cold smile appeared on Rod’s lips, and confidence once again shone on his face.

“Core of the Netherworld! I’m coming! Lucy, Sognar, I hope you can also realize this. See you soon in the Core of the Netherworld!” With unprecedented confidence, Rod murmured to himself at that moment.

While observing all this, Rod had already stepped into the Core of the Netherworld. All that remained was to deal with the opponent.

With that in mind, Rod first unleashed his Sky-Piercing Sword, but suddenly retracted it halfway before switching to Shadow Mode! Indeed, at high speed, when Rod’s figure had split into sixteen parts, he once again witnessed that sluggish process.

A glint flashed in his eyes—the moment had arrived. He then accelerated abruptly, and in an instant, twenty-four figures emerged, while the opponent only had twenty-three. Rod did not attack right away but continued to create more figures. Finally, when he reached twenty-eight figures—reaching a limit—he stopped and charged forward in a swarm. Only then did the opponent launch an attack.

It was at that moment! Rod roared!

Dragon Roar!

At that very moment, his true form unleashed the Dragon Roar. The speed was unbelievable—like a bolt of lightning, it rushed toward the direction of the opponent’s phantom form.

Without any sound, the world seemed to stop in that instant, as if frozen in time! The shadows around him disappeared one after another, fading away one by one. In the end, only Rod and a faint image of his own remained. At that moment, Rod’s long sword pierced through his heart, as he looked down at the image with a triumphant smile on his lips.

“You’ve won!” The image, looking at its own chest, spoke calmly before raising its head to say to Rod in a quiet tone.

It could speak? This surprised Rod greatly; he found it hard to believe that this image could talk. It seemed almost unbelievable.

“Overcome yourself. Remember what you’ve just realized—it might bring incredible help to your future!” With those last words, the image gradually faded, leaving behind only a faint smile for Rod.

Realized? It was speed and adaptability! Imitation could never reach the pinnacle; to achieve true strength, one must rely on oneself! Was that it? The most important issue was probably the flaws in my own techniques!

Thinking of all this, Rod rubbed his head. It seemed the path ahead was still very long! There was still so much he needed to do. At least his current strength wasn’t as great as he had imagined. Facing someone stronger than him, he might fail in a very short time.

With a sigh, the world around him changed—space twisted, and suddenly a fierce wind blew, plunging him into darkness, as if drawn deeper into a time-space tunnel.

The world spun around, and he felt dizzy. It took some time before Rod sensed that everything had calmed down. Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself back in that dim cave!

“Brother Rod, did you win?” Before Rod could respond, he heard Lucy’s voice. Surprised, he turned to see that Lucy had already finished the battle earlier than him—quite unbelievable.

Could it be… she’s really that strong? Has she truly surpassed my expectations to an alarming extent? This girl has changed a lot this time; there are too many things I can’t see clearly.

“Hmph…” With a cold snort, a figure quickly vanished into the distance. At the end of the cave, there was a dazzling white light—probably the path leading to the core of the underworld. That figure rushed straight toward it.

“Ziyang?” Rod asked doubtfully, looking at the back figure. He had only been concerned about Lucy before and almost overlooked this guy.
“It’s him. He completed the trial alongside me. He’s very strong and wants to ruin your trial!” Lucy said in a low voice.
This time, it surprised Rod even more. It seemed that Lucy had helped him and Sognar block Ziyang’s attempts to disrupt things. He knew how powerful Ziyang was—could Lucy already be on par with him? What kind of strength was that?
Suddenly, a flash of black light passed by him, so bright even in the dim space. Immediately after, there was a muffled groan, and Sognar slowly opened his eyes.
“Kid, and Lucy—you guys are so fast. Damn it, why am I the slowest!” Seeing Rod and Lucy, a hint of joy flashed in Sognar’s eyes. Knowing they were standing by his side, he understood what they were doing. His heart warmed, but he still complained.
“Hurry up! There are only four spots. Ziyang has already gone in. With three left, we’re just in time!” Rod said anxiously, noticing two more people still in the trial.
Now that things had come this far, they couldn’t let others snatch them away.
“Then hurry up!” Clearly, both Lucy and Sognar understood how important this was, so they rushed to move.
The three figures swiftly rushed toward the distant white light, moving like a gust of wind. They soon reached the white light, which was an entrance to a cave. The light outside was so intense that it made it impossible to see the surroundings clearly.
Looking back at the two people behind them who hadn’t shown any reaction yet, he sighed. Pity those two—they must have come this far. It seemed like this wasn’t their first time entering the Netherworld. Could their trials possibly go wrong?
Without overthinking it, the three of them exchanged smiles and walked toward the entrance together.
In an instant, the three figures disappeared from that dark space. At the same time, the dark space began to twist after they left. A white light flashed from the two people still in the cave, and the next moment they vanished inside, clearly sent outside the Netherworld. With that flash, the area returned to calm once again.

At this moment, outside the Netherworld, two beams of white light flashed, and two more people appeared in the square. The crowd was in shock as two more people were eliminated. It was unbelievable—this meant only four people remained. Had all four of them entered the core of the Netherworld? This seemed to be a scene that hadn’t occurred in a thousand years. Four people, all four of them, had entered the core of the Netherworld—it was truly hard to believe. After all, the highest number in a thousand years had been just three people. Yet this time, there were four. Was this the strength of this group?