The challenges on the fifth through ninth floors followed a similar pattern, and Duan Chen and the others easily overcame them.
"It seems the fifth and tenth floors might be turning points. Floors one through four are one type of challenge, floors five through nine are another, and I suspect the tenth floor will be different again."
By this point, they were all exhausted, yet they surprisingly still had plenty of spiritual energy. The building's creator had been thoughtful, keeping them in a state of fatigue but not complete exhaustion.
However, this kind of lingering exhaustion was the most torturous.
Duan Chen cursed under his breath a few times.
...
"Hmm? These little ones are quite interesting."
In a dimly lit room, a man lounged on a chair. Before him, countless screens displayed Duan Chen and the others navigating the challenges.
"That one is..."
He focused on Duan Chen's left eye, narrowing his gaze.
"Tsk... indeed, quite interesting."
The man chuckled and turned off the screens.
"Go on, try your best. Let's see if you can escape these screens and behold my true form?"
He hummed a tune, reached for the coffee on the table in the darkness, and took a sip.
...
"Captain, have we returned to the first floor?"
Jun Ci stared blankly at the cliff beneath their feet.
"Something's not right."
Having experienced it once, they no longer felt the initial fear of the cliff.
"Let's be careful..."
"Awooooo—!"
A wolf howl?
Duan Chen's eyes widened.
Everyone's gaze snapped to the left.
A wolf had suddenly appeared in their field of vision!
This was no ordinary wolf. Its eyes glowed a sickly green, and it moved with incredible speed, rapidly closing in on Duan Chen.
"Not good!"
"Sequence 016: [Faerie Law!]"
"Whoosh!"
He had killed one, but Duan Chen hadn't expected that behind it, there were countless more!
It was an entire wolf pack!
"Captain, what do we do?"
"Don't panic yet!"
Duan Chen frowned. He repeatedly used Faerie Law, but the move consumed a tremendous amount of spiritual energy, and the wolves seemed endless; he couldn't kill them all!
"Awoooo!"
To Duan Chen's surprise, one wolf, risking death, leaped directly towards his head. With its momentum, even if it died, it would likely crash onto him.
"Bang!"
Fortunately, Qin Nanyuan's water ball resolved the issue.
"Everyone be careful!"
As the wolf pack gradually subsided, Duan Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
"This tenth floor is truly perilous..."
"Screech!"
"Damn it!"
Duan Chen, seeing the eagles in the sky, couldn't help but swear.
Were they never going to stop?!
"Faerie Law!"
"Raven's Frenzy!"
"Cap-, Captain!"
"Don't call out yet!"
"Brother Duan Chen!"
"Duan Chen, look at your feet!"
His feet?
Duan Chen looked down, and his soul nearly leaped out of his body!
He didn't know when he had left the cliff edge and was now standing directly in mid-air!
The eagles before them had finally been repelled.
"What's going on? Could it be..."
Duan Chen cautiously shifted two steps to the side.
Swish!
He quickly retracted his foot!
The space beside him was empty. If he had stepped there, he feared he would have been shattered to pieces!
"What's going on?"
Duan Chen slowly shuffled back to the cliff's edge and explained, "Hopscotch, did you play it as kids?"
"What does this have to do with hopscotch?"
Duan Chen looked behind him and said, "It's similar to hopscotch. Some of that area is empty, and some is solid. Everyone, don't step on the wrong spot!"
"How can we tell the difference?"
Duan Chen's eyes flashed. He decided to utilize his newly acquired ocular technique.
Blood Pupil · Eye of Apathy!
Buzz!
A faint red film covered his vision. In Duan Chen's eyes, the thick fog no longer appeared as a void but was now filled with irregularly shaped transparent squares.
It seemed his guess was correct.
But the number of these squares was too few.
Duan Chen frowned and shared the scene in his mind.
"Jump according to this!"
"Understood!"
Not long after, a horde of heretics swarmed from the cliff's edge. Duan Chen and the others had to watch out for them while also avoiding falling. Their strength couldn't be fully utilized, and these heretics had remarkable endurance. For a time, the two sides remained in a stalemate.
This wouldn't do.
Suddenly, Duan Chen noticed a heretic fall from the sky.
"Hey! Don't just fight them head-on, let them fall from above!"
"Okay!"
The group quickly mastered this tactic. Often, before the heretics could even get close, they would fall en masse from the sky into the bottomless fog.
However, Duan Chen noticed a problem.
The heretics kept coming in waves, and this challenge didn't seem to be ending.
This wouldn't do.
Had he overlooked something?
But here, besides the bare cliff faces, there was nothing that could serve as a medium to escape the illusion.
The more they fought, the more confused Duan Chen became.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Now, even as they made the heretics fall from the sky, their spiritual energy was running low.
"Hold on a little longer!"
Duan Chen's mind raced.
Where was it?
What had he overlooked?
Fortunately, the tenth floor was considerate. When their spiritual energy was nearly depleted, the heretic horde suddenly vanished, giving them ample time to rest.
"Duan Chen... when will this end?"
Mi Le wailed.
The other members weren't in much better condition. If they couldn't find the key to this challenge soon, they might never leave and would eventually be worn down and die here.
What to do?
After resting, another tide of heretics arrived.
"How's your spiritual energy?"
"We've almost all recovered!"
"Good. This time, don't just focus on fighting. Also, pay attention to whether there's anything important that can help us break the illusion!"
"Yes!"
After another round of battle, the sheer endurance of these heretics was enough to keep the five of them busy. There was no room to focus on the challenge itself; they had no mind to spare.
"Duan Chen, I don't think I can go on..."
"No, I must have overlooked something."
What was it?
Mi Le gazed at the clear white sky and let out a long sigh.
"If only I could fly."
"Why not grow wings?"
Fly?
Duan Chen's eyes lit up.
"Right! The sky!"
"Brother Duan Chen, did you discover something?"
"Xue Er, use your sword techniques on the sky!"
"Huh?"
"Quickly!"
"Okay!"
Mi Xue Er didn't dare to delay. After recovering a bit of spiritual energy, she unleashed a flurry of slashes towards the sky.
"Crack—"
The sound of shattering was clear and distinct.
Duan Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, his guess was correct!
"This works too?"
Duan Chen chuckled, "Mi Le, you damn genius!"