That idiot from the Sword Sect turned out to be a lucky charm.

As expected, nothing happened along the way. While everyone was puzzled, they couldn't help but wonder: this pagoda might not be so terrible after all.

When they reached the door leading to the second floor, everyone stopped.

Lin Zhifeng gently knocked on the door knocker a few times, then pushed open the door.

An empty hall came into view.

Everyone walked in cautiously, looking around.

Suddenly a giant beast descended from the sky.

It was over five meters tall, with a dragon's head and a jackal's body, its eyes gleaming fiercely, baring its teeth and roaring at the crowd.

Lin Zhifeng clasped his hands and said, "Greetings, Senior Ya Zi! We have come to request the sacred artifact. Could you please do us a favor?"

Ya Zi said, "If you want to get past me, you have to defeat me first."

Lin Zhifeng said, "Senior, your martial arts are superb. How could we be your match? Do you have any other options?"

Ya Zi replied without hesitation, "No!"

"This..." Lin Zhifeng thought to himself: As expected! Legend has it that Yazi is fierce, brave, and bloodthirsty. It seems that this challenge will be a fight to the death with it.

Lin Zhifeng's eyes darted around, and he continued, "Senior, there are many of us, while you only have one dragon. This kind of competition is too unfair to you."

The Yazi was born from the mating of a dragon and a jackal, and was born with a dragon's head and a jackal's body. His father disliked him greatly and wanted to throw him away. It was only after his mother pleaded that he was allowed to keep him. Later, he grew up, lived up to his potential, and achieved great things, so his father reluctantly accepted him as his son.

However, Ya Zi, who had never received his father's approval, was actually very concerned about what others said about him not being a "dragon".

Lin Zhifeng cleverly exploited this weakness of his. He first affirmed his identity, then acted with humility and politeness, refusing to take advantage of the large number of people.

Ya Zi felt comforted by his words, but his arrogant nature still made him roar with disdain: "I don't care about you little humans at all. If it weren't for the pagoda suppressing my cultivation, you wouldn't even be enough to fill my teeth."

Upon hearing this, Lin Zhifeng thought to himself, "He's still a proud and arrogant dragon."

Lin Zhifeng said with a smile, "Senior's magical power is boundless, and we are no match for you. However, if you want to test us, a one-on-one fight is more appropriate. Of course, we will not use our numbers to fight you in a gauntlet."

"How about this? We'll decide the winner with a best-of-three series?"

Ya Zi said, "Alright, I'll do as you say!"

Seeing that the terms had been agreed upon, Lin Zhifeng quickly said, "Please wait a moment, Senior Long, while we discuss who to send into battle."

After saying that, he returned to his own team and said to Longquan and Dingmo, "Brother, I have done my best. Now it's up to you two."

Ding Mo nodded to indicate, "I understand."

Longquan then turned to discuss the matter with his subordinates.

Ding Mo is their strongest fighter and will definitely be on the field. As for the other two, they will likely have to be chosen from among the people from the Divine Dragon Dynasty.

The guard Long Yi (the one in the Nascent Soul stage) stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, Long Yi requests to fight."

Longquan said, "Okay, you'll have to work hard later, please be careful."

As for the third candidate, Longquan was also troubled.

Among his subordinates, only Long Yi was at the Nascent Soul stage. Although Long Er's cultivation was slightly higher than his own, he was only at the late Nascent Soul stage, and had no chance of defeating Ya Zi.

On their side, it seemed they were destined to lose a game right from the start.

Longquan was somewhat worried.

The dragon said, "Your subordinate will do his best to win this round, please rest assured, Your Highness."

Seeing his confidence, Longquan, though still worried, encouraged Longyi with relief: "Good! I believe in you."

Ya Zi, who had been waiting for quite some time, was getting impatient and roared, "Hey! Are you guys ready yet? Who wants to play the first round with me?"

Long Yi blurted out first, "I'll go!"

After saying that, he strode forward, clasped his hands slightly, brandished his Divine Dragon Blade, and made a starting stance, ready to fight.

Without wasting words, Ya Zi pounced on Long Yi and they immediately engaged in battle.

Although the Yazi had no weapons, its fangs and giant claws were weapons.

His long, sharp fingernails could not only catch Long Yi's Divine Dragon Blade, but also tear through Long Yi's armor. During the fight, he even deliberately used his fangs to bite Long Yi's neck.

Long Yi was full of confidence before the battle began—after all, he was the one who defeated the monstrous bull in the first level of the maze.

They had just reached the second floor thanks to the wind in the forest, without having fought the guardian of the first floor, Qiuniu. Long Yi mistakenly believed that the strongest force on the first floor of the pagoda was the bull monster in the maze.

According to his logic, the strongest combatant on the second level, while stronger than the bull monster on the first level, should only be limited in strength. Therefore, he shouldn't be unable to defeat it; at most, he would just suffer some injuries.

As a result, Long Yizhen and Ya Zizhen got into a fight, and he realized that he was far inferior to Ya Zizhen.

Everyone could see him exchanging dozens of blows with Ya Zi, but in reality, Ya Zi was just toying with him.

Once Ya Zi figured out Long Yi's fighting style and found it boring, he mercilessly swatted Long Yi away with a single claw.

The force of the claw sent Long Yi flying high into the air, before he crashed down, creating a deep, human-shaped crater in the ground.

Yazi shook his massive dragon head and roared, "Too weak! Next!"

Longquan's men were terrified and rushed to pull Long Yi out of the pit, taking him to the rear for treatment.

The force of that slap shattered Long Yi's bones and caused significant damage to his internal organs.

Longquan hurriedly took out his own high-grade healing pill and gave it to him, while feeling bitter inside: their second strongest fighter had already lost, what should they do next? Could it be that he couldn't even pass the second level?

Longquan was devastated by Longyi's defeat and became somewhat dejected, but Lin Zhifeng was completely unaffected.

He got spoilers about Qiuniu on the first level, knowing that they would definitely be given an easy time in the end.

Moreover, this Yazi only looks fierce, but it is very measured when fighting.

If it really wanted to kill Long Yi, it would be a piece of cake.

It seems it really enjoys the process of fighting. So, let's fight it out; regardless of who wins or loses in the end, it will let these people pass.

Although Ding Mo didn't have inside information like Lin Zhifeng, he remained very calm.

He had carefully watched the fight between Long Yi and Ya Zi, and he discovered that Ya Zi had a major weakness—that is, Ya Zi's body coordination was not very good!

The Yazi has a huge dragon's head, but a slender jackal's body. Although it is enormous, it is somewhat top-heavy. Especially when turning around, it has blind spots in its field of vision.

This is Ding Mo's chance!