Chapter 200: Little Asura's Killing Fist

To break free from this illusion, one must steadfastly pursue their ultimate goal, undisturbed by external influences. This approach should lead to a smooth breakthrough. This was a perfect place to test one's spiritual resolve.

The line of prisoners advanced more quickly, and Wang Yu finally saw what lay at the end of the queue. There was a long table, a general wearing a red-plumed helmet, and two soldiers distributing weapons.

Wang Yu narrowed his eyes. It seemed he was destined to be cannon fodder, among the first prisoners deployed to exhaust the enemy's resources. This indicated the city was on the brink of war. He couldn't help but recall the mountains of corpses and seas of blood he had witnessed when first encountering the shackles. Though certainly not the same battlefield, the nature of the conflict was similar.

"Surviving by following the rules should allow me to break through the illusion."

"Or perhaps... break the rules!"

Feeling the strength in his body, Wang Yu fell silent. He seemed to have become an ordinary mortal again, with no power within him, and this had nothing to do with the shackles around his neck. In this mental illusion, he was merely the most ordinary adult male, and this war was a battlefield for mortals.

As cannon fodder, the weapon he received was a long, mottled spear covered in rust, its head and shaft even tangled with cobwebs. Without any conversation or exchange, he was pushed forward by the situation. The prisoners around him trembled, their hearts filled with dread.

"Can I only rely on mortal skills to survive on the battlefield?"

There was little Wang Yu could do, so he focused on sharpening his weapon as much as possible, grinding it directly on the bluestone ground.

Two hours later, night fell. Cooks brought several buckets of thin gruel to feed the hundreds of prisoners in the crude barracks. Just as the distribution began, drumbeats reverberated through the sky, signaling an unexpected night raid. In this battle, the prisoner-soldiers were not sent to the city walls. Instead, they were tasked with continuously dismantling houses within the city, transporting stones and timber to the base of the city walls, where they could be used as defensive resources.

For the first time in a long while, Wang Yu felt the aches and pains of strenuous labor. It was a siege battle. Stray arrows and flaming rockets occasionally arced over, and the air was filled with battle cries. Yet, near a critical section of the wall, their side remained remarkably orderly. Supervisors watched everyone closely, and hundreds of heavily armored cavalry were lined up at the city gate, ready to sally forth and deliver a decisive blow to the enemy at any moment.

Darkness receded, and the first hints of dawn appeared. At daybreak, the city gates burst open, and the cavalry charged out, not returning for a long time. Just as Wang Yu and the others lay down, they were kicked awake again. This time... they were to fight in the open field outside the city!

"Ugh—"

As expected, after being forced onto the battlefield, even with Wang Yu's extensive combat experience, it was difficult for a mere mortal body to wreak havoc. Especially when surrounded by incompetent teammates—the kind you couldn't rely on, who were dizzy and would poke you in the backside with their spears—he wished he could kill them all. He couldn't retreat, nor could he break through. Without a shred of armor, he would fall like cut wheat before even reaching the enemy's formation. Even if close combat ensued, collapse would be instantaneous. However, their strategic role was still significant: they depleted the enemy's armaments and stamina, and with luck, could even disrupt their formations.

Wang Yu only managed to kill twelve men before four long spears pierced his upper body, and he was beaten to death by the surrounding enemies. Before he could even recover from the pain, he opened his eyes and found himself back in the queue of prisoners. Having experienced the process once, he gained a deeper understanding of this mental illusion.

"Do I need to defeat the enemy?"

Clenching his fists, Wang Yu took the initiative this time. He secretly infiltrated the city walls to observe the enemy's situation, even beating the drums ahead of schedule. This time, the siege battle ended more quickly. Even the heavily armored cavalry, meant to charge, couldn't deploy because he had deliberately sabotaged the winch ropes, thereby boosting their own side's advantageous forces!

The next day, the open-field battle still commenced. This time, he stealthily positioned himself at the furthest point the supervisory squad could control, using his teammates' bodies as shields against attacks. He survived for a long time and killed fifty-four enemy soldiers.

Then... he died again!

The third illusion cycle began. Wang Yu rubbed his head and sighed helplessly, "The enemy has divine archers; I can't stand out too much." As for contacting the city's high-ranking defenders, it was out of the question; he couldn't even find them. This time, he played it even safer, mostly avoiding action unless absolutely necessary. But once most of the prisoners had died, the allied forces began to advance, leaving Wang Yu nowhere to hide.

Four times, five times... eight times. Wang Yu stubbornly persisted in this war, and his killing techniques began to improve.

Meanwhile, in the outside world... With each cycle, Wang Yu's true body advanced a step. This dark, compacted passage stretched for what felt like thousands of steps, seemingly impossible to traverse.

Trapped deep within the killing fields of the mental illusion, Wang Yu felt neither worry nor anger. Instead, he regarded it as a trial; if he passed, his mental state would improve. Even if he ultimately couldn't pass, he had a way to forcefully awaken.

During the ninth cycle, Wang Yu's weapons frequently broke, forcing him to kill enemies with his bare fists. This was much harder; it was difficult to kill armored soldiers with a single punch. In fact, with the body of an ordinary person, it was practically impossible.

For the tenth cycle, he began to strip good equipment from fallen enemies. By the fifteenth cycle, after five deaths without repentance, he realized that even the enemy's weapons would break when he used them. This made him understand that some rule of the illusion was at play. Since he wasn't allowed to use weapons, he could only find a way to make his fists harder.

Twenty times... thirty times... Wang Yu had lost count of how many enemies he had killed, and having devised his own set of battlefield boxing techniques, he finally opened his placement slot. He wasn't playing fair anymore; he was going to cheat!

A new placeable option inside made him pause.

"Battlefield Fist Technique (Placeable / Minor Asura Killing Fist)"

"This is..."

Wang Yu made space for it by removing his Corpse Refinement Art, and instantly understood everything. The so-called "Battlefield Killing Fist" wasn't something he had comprehended himself at all. It was a potent killing intent that existed within this illusion, likely left behind by a sword cultivator of the Immortal Dynasty. After many cycles, the more people he killed, the more information was transferred, making it easy to create the illusion that he had comprehended it himself. Wang Yu's expression grew strange.

"Ah—"

"Is this a minor branch inheritance from the *Asura Killing Saint Sutra*?"

Before he could finish his thoughts, the placement slot activated. Almost every second, he could feel a wisp of pure killing intent surge into his mind, just as before, with no side effects. It felt as if it were his own refined killing intent—pure, powerful, and perfectly suited to him. It was *his* cultivation! Wang Yu was certain of it!

Placement Slot 3: Minor Asura Killing Fist (Divine Ability / Mind Power / Spirit Refinement)

"Minor Asura Killing Fist (0/100): 86,400 practices per day, perfected in twenty years."

Wang Yu was startled. This was the first miraculous fist technique he had encountered that could be practiced once per second without needing to move, all within his mental world, and it was a divine ability! Moreover, it could be perfected in just twenty years. He couldn't help but focus on the terrifying number of practice repetitions; this was too bizarre. And insights flowed continuously into his mind. A piece of information automatically appeared.

The Minor Asura Killing Fist was the first dual-path divine ability created by "Venerable Asura," a powerful expert from the ancient Immortal Dynasty, who integrated the paths of Mind Power and Spirit Refinement, using the concept of Asura killing intent as its foundation. This was a seed. The mainstream cultivation method in the current cultivation world seemed to have been known as the Path of Spirit Refinement in this realm's ancient times. Although not a formal method of mind cultivation, it incorporated half of it, and it was also an offensive divine ability!

In fact, its effect was similar to the Taiyin Nether Eye: cultivating this divine ability could also enhance one's mental power and even allow one to grasp the profound concept of Asura killing intent. One punch, and it could probably scare the target into incontinence. Wang Yu was willing to call it the "Shit-and-Piss Social Death Fist."

"Filthy... It's so utterly filthy! I love it!!!"

Stumbling upon such a small treasure was a stroke of luck; after all, those who could break through the illusion probably wouldn't be as leisurely as Wang Yu, genuinely engaging in the killing. At the very least, after a few cycles and realizing it was useless, they would use their trump cards to break free. Wang Yu had arrived at a fortuitous time, with no competitors. Naturally, he took his time, focusing on the experience and cultivation. Coupled with his decent comprehension, he grasped the beginning and then used the placement slot to quickly acquire it.

After comprehending this rare divine ability, since he lacked the magical power to wield it, using True Essence to cast it was somewhat lacking. Only the killing intent, which had almost solidified, possessed any deterrent power. Its current power was inferior to the Profound Yin Hand, but if he left it in the placement slot for more time, or even until it reached perfection, his supreme mastery would then allow it to unleash some of its true might.

As Wang Yu absorbed this profound mystery, the mental illusion officially shattered. When Wang Yu opened his eyes again, he found himself only thirty steps from the entrance, a distance that perfectly matched the number of cycles he had undergone. The restrictive patterns on the passage walls also gradually faded. As if they had lost their source of power, Wang Yu had a thought and took out the stone-skin book from his bosom.

This time, true Asura killing intent, condensed into a red mist, seeped from the walls and flowed into the stone-skin book. Soon after, all strange phenomena vanished, and when he flipped through the book again, pages seven to fourteen were all illuminated. Although he didn't recognize the characters, he was certain they recorded the Minor Asura Killing Fist, and something more.

Wang Yu imprinted it into his mind, memorizing the appearance of each character, then reopened his placement slot, his smile instantly becoming more genuine. "Sure enough, it's there. I don't understand it, but as long as the placement slot does, that's enough." He had exploited a bug in a similar way back at Profound Bone Mountain! He had forcibly placed the *Soul Devouring Evil Armor Art*, and it was the same now.

After the temporary replacement, there were two placeable items.

Placement Slot 4: Killing Intent Sword (Mind Power Secret Art / No Grade)"Killing Intent Sword (100/100): No further derivation possible."

This was a secret art that utilized "Asura killing intent," similar to a technique that, once understood, was perfectly mastered—a mental instinct much like a human swinging a fist. The more potent the killing intent cultivated, the stronger its power, with no upper limit. Just as Wang Yu's physical body grew stronger, so did the power of his punches; the two were the same concept and not particularly complex.

As for the second one—it was quite interesting, immediately reminding Wang Yu of Jin Miaoshan.