Indeed, having discovered the limit of the monkey spirit's ability, Zhao Yunxiao easily capitalised on that to bring the fight to a close.
"You have done well in defeating me, child," the monkey spirit said. "As a reward, you shall be granted the first blessing of energy sensitivity."
Energy sensitivity?
He had expected something directly related to mimicry, so this was rather surprising. Then again, perhaps this could be considered somewhat related as well. Being capable of sensing energy flows would indeed help in reading the other party's techniques, which would in turn aid any attempts at mimicry.
Regardless, it had nothing to do with him either way.
As the invisible matter flowed into the Heaven's Descent Bowl, a bone-chilling screech suddenly assaulted his ears.
Cuckoo-!
This originally comforting sound that heralded the fresh start of a brand new day had now turned into a vicious weapon. Not only did it threaten to wreck his eardrums, but also turn the flow of essence energy within his spiritual meridians into a chaotic mess.
Pu-!
Caught completely unprepared by this unconventional attack, the already-injured Zhao Yunxiao spat out a mouthful of blood before quickly sealing his sense of hearing.
Thankfully, the rooster spirit was unable to bypass this seal, and it was nothing impressive apart from its sound attacks.
Under Zhao Yunxiao's relentless attacks, it lasted barely half a minute before being defeated.
"You have done well in defeating me, child," the rooster spirit said. "As a reward, you shall be granted the first blessing of sound resistance."
Having learnt his lesson, Zhao Yunxiao did not even take a single glance at the reformed rooster spirit. Instead, he scanned his surroundings carefully, wary of any sneak attack from his next opponent.
And there it was – the avatar of the dog spirit.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call them the avatars of the dog spirit, considering how five of them had appeared at once.
[Earthen Clone Technique]
Four other Zhao Yunxiaos rose from the tree branch platform, each facing one of the dog spirits.
He had not used this technique until now not because he did not feel like it, but because he was wary of the high energy consumption that accompanied its usage. Against what would be multiple waves of opponents, the last thing he wanted was to exhaust his energy reserves prematurely.
However, with his current injured self and five different opponents to deal with at the same time, he simply did not have the confidence of getting out unscathed without it.
Nevertheless, he also understood that, just like the Unyielding Stone Bind, the strength of the Earthen Clone Technique would be slightly weakened in the absence of an earthen base. Considering that, wanting to rely on his clones to defeat one dog spirit each might be a tall order.
He would definitely still try to do so, but his main goal was clear from the start – use the clones to distract the other dog spirits while he tried to beat his opponent as quickly as possible.
With that thought in mind, Zhao Yunxiao rushed forward without hesitation.
These dog spirits responded instantly, putting their teamwork on full display as they quickly converged to form a battle formation.
But when it came to teamwork, the five Zhao Yunxiaos were not lacking in comparison either. After all, they were basically of a single mind.
Upon realising what their plan was, Zhao Yunxiao's clones moved swiftly to intercept the dog spirits, preventing them from coming together to form whatever battle formation it was that they had in mind.
And with the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd in hand, Zhao Yunxiao himself charged towards the nearest dog spirit, slamming his weapon down in a bid to end this as quickly as possible.
[Explode]
Boom-!
The explosion might not have defeated the dog spirit immediately, but it did send it flying further away from its companions, making it even more difficult to complete their battle formation.
Zhao Yunxiao quickly chased after it, not wanting to give it any time to recover.
Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!
The consecutive explosions rapidly drained his energy reserves, but the result was undeniable. It did not take long before the first dog spirit was lying motionless on the ground.
As for his clones, they were barely holding on against the ferocious attacks of the dog spirits.
Born without the support of an earthen base, the clones were imperfect in nature when it came to their flow of energy, almost as though their spiritual meridians were slightly obstructed. Because of that, Zhao Yunxiao found it difficult to execute moves with as much precision as he usually could.
Hmm, he might have to put in some practice to address this weakness in the future...
Thankfully, this much was still sufficient for now. Having finished off his opponent, Zhao Yunxiao hurried to relieve his clones of the pressure that they were facing.
Kept from working together, the dog spirits were simply unable to put their abilities on full display.
One by one, they fell.
Only when all five of the dog spirits were lying on the ground did they turn into specks of red light altogether, forming back into one dignified dog spirit.
"You have done well in defeating me, child," the dog spirit said. "As a reward, you shall be granted the first blessing of heightened physical senses."
Again, Zhao Yunxiao merely noted down the blessing type mentally before turning his attention away from the zodiac spirit, which eventually ended up in the Heaven's Descent Bowl like the others.
Eleven down, one to go.
At this point, he was already in a visible state of mess.
His long hair had come undone and fluttered freely in the wind. His robes were dishevelled and stained with blood, which could be seen streaking down from the corners of his lips. Cuts and abrasions could be seen all over his body – clear signs of battle that he had gotten from the fights.
His breaths were unsteady, and it was clear that he was nearing his limit.
Fei Weng took a careful glance at Elder Feng Wanjia, but the latter's expression remained stoic as always, showing absolutely no intention of stopping the test just yet.
How troubling.
Since that was the case, he could only continue to stand by and watch as well.
Back on the tree branch platform, Zhao Yunxiao finally found himself coming face to face with the avatar of the boar spirit – the last of the twelve.
He did not waste any time before launching his offence. His four clones that had yet to be dispelled shot forward, simultaneously striking at the boar spirit from four different directions.
Thud-! Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!
The boar spirit did not even flinch as the four daggers connected, and it was not difficult to understand why. After all, none of the blades managed to penetrate the surface of the boar spirit's skin.
Zhao Yunxiao felt the corner of his lips twitch.
Was its skin made of stone or something? No, even stone would have broken from that impact!
Whoosh-!
The sheer power behind the swing of its arm could be inferred through the sound of the wind. But while it definitely possessed more than enough power, the speed of the attack was somewhat lacking in comparison.
Zhao Yunxiao managed to get all four of his clones out of the way in time, and immediately threw a dagger right at his opponent.
Boom-!
The dagger exploded upon impact, creating a large cloud of smoke that rose into the air.
It was a direct hit, but his expression remained grim. Through the smoke, he could see the boar spirit beginning to walk towards him.
Slowly and steadily, it approached. It was almost as though the explosion earlier had been nothing but a harmless smoke bomb.
Explosion talismans didn't work, either?
Speed did not seem to be its strong suit, which gave Zhao Yunxiao some time to think about his next move. But just how should he deal with this nigh impregnable defence?
Of course, there were still other offensive options that he could try.
For one, a halberd strike would be stronger than dagger strikes. Not just that, but by attacking personally, the impact would also be stronger than the clones' attacks. But judging from how the clones' dagger strikes could not even put a scratch on the boar spirit, his halberd strike would probably not fare that much better either.
Next, the Explode array on the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd was definitely an option, but Zhao Yunxiao's energy reserves were almost depleted. If he wanted to maintain his manoeuvrability, he could not afford to waste any more energy.
On top of that, both these options involved getting close to the boar spirit, which might be a risky endeavour considering the sheer power that it possessed.
If he were still in peak condition, such a matter would not even be a concern. But that was not the case right now.
With the injuries that he had accumulated from his fights with the earlier zodiac spirits, the current Zhao Yunxiao was finding it painful just to breathe!
But even then, it was not like he had no other options.
In fact, the more he looked at that huge snout on the boar spirit's face, the more convinced he was that there was one method that was most likely to work here.
Poison.
Zhao Yunxiao had never been one who shied away from the use of poisons, believing that there was no shame in using any means necessary to gain every little advantage in battle. That was especially since the alternative outcome would, more often than not, lead to suffering for himself and his loved ones.
On top of that, it was a weakness that many failed to address.
It was common for cultivators to train up their physical resistance through battles and endurance training, but few would actually seek to build up their poison resistance.
Boosting the immune system was not a straightforward matter, and its way to do so varied according to the individual.
With such complexity involved, most simply tossed this matter aside, choosing to simply bring general antidotes with them as a stopgap measure. However, not only were these general antidotes easy to predict and circumvent for a poison user, but surely the avatar of the boar spirit would also not possess any of such antidotes!
The only question now was whether poison would work on an avatar of a zodiac spirit in the first place, as well as whether it was acceptable to use poison during this Tribulation of Combat.
After all, while the use of poison was undeniably effective, it might not be the most honourable or impressive way of fighting. The members of the Armed Ape Tower might not be pleased to have a challenger clear the tribulation through such means.
No, wait. Just what was he thinking?
He was not here to impress the Armed Ape Tower, but to act as an attendant to Elder Feng Wanjia – the elder secretly referred to as a psycho due to the difficult tests and tribulations that she often came up with. And among these tests, there were plenty that involved the use of poison!
Zhao Yunxiao smirked. What a meaningless concern.
Hmm? Why did his body tremble a little just by thinking of this line?
Ah, whatever.
Whoosh-! Whoosh-!
Having made his decision, Zhao Yunxiao threw two daggers at the approaching boar spirit without hesitation.
Once again, it did not flinch, but that did not matter. The important part was what came next.
Boom-!
The two daggers exploded into a cloud of smoke that engulfed the nonchalant boar spirit.
Done.
Now then, all he had to do was drag things out a little, and he would soon be able to find out for certain if this would truly work!