Skydream Ice Worm stayed in Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness, appearing quite active upon seeing the scene outside.
Not only did it lack any sense of tension, it was even desperately cheering for Huo Yuhao in the Sea of Consciousness, its cheerful voice echoing continuously in Huo Yuhao's mind.
Faced with Skydream Ice Worm's attitude of watching the fun without worrying about the consequences, Huo Yuhao could only give a helpless bitter smile in his heart.
Teacher Han Tianyi's requirements were very harsh, only allowing him to use Mental Force to respond, and absolutely forbidding the use of even a single trace of Spirit Power.
If he only used Mental Force, with Huo Yuhao's current cultivation and the skills he mastered, the only offensive means he could produce was that one move, "Soul Shock."
Faced with the Hydra before him emitting a terrifying pressure, Huo Yuhao didn't care to think about tactics anymore; regardless of the consequences, he directly mobilized the power in his Sea of Consciousness, his gaze sharpening as he resolutely launched a Soul Shock at the massive Hydra.
However, the result was naturally and predictably ineffective.
Huo Yuhao only felt that the mental attack he released, the moment it landed on the Hydra, was like an ordinary person swinging a fist and smashing it hard against an indestructible steel wall.
Without causing any ripples, the power of that Soul Shock directly shattered on the Hydra's surface, turning into nothingness.
Just from performing such a single tentative attack.
Huo Yuhao already clearly recognized in his heart just how enormous the gap was between him and Teacher Han Tianyi in terms of the foundation and level of Mental Force.
That feeling was like a firefly compared to the bright moon; the two were simply not in the same dimension.
Even though his current Mental Force value had reached an astonishing sixteen thousand points, far exceeding his peers.
However, when facing an existence of Teacher Han Tianyi's level, this gap was still like an unbridgeable chasm, making one feel a deep sense of powerlessness.
Just as Huo Yuhao was secretly alarmed by the setback of his attack.
The Hydra coiled in front of him didn't leave him any time to catch his breath.
One of the massive snake heads suddenly reared up, opened its bloody maw, and directly spat a blast of scorching fire toward Huo Yuhao's position.
The flames displayed an eerie color, carrying high temperatures that distorted the air as they whistled toward him.
Seeing this, Huo Yuhao's pupils shrank slightly, and he hurriedly dodged to the side.
"Eh?"
"These flames are actually real, not a simple illusion, and the temperature is very high!"
Hearing Skydream Ice Worm's reminder and feeling the heatwave brushing past him, a layer of fine sweat broke out on Huo Yuhao's forehead.
The flames spat out by this Hydra appeared very strange.
It seemed as if the caster had precisely controlled the temperature to a critical point.
While flames of this level wouldn't directly burn Huo Yuhao to ashes or threaten his life, if he were hit directly by this thing, it would be more than enough to make him experience agonizing pain.
Facing such an overwhelming onslaught.
Huo Yuhao could only dodge the falling balls of fire clumsily back and forth in the slightly narrow space, then while gritting his teeth, continue to mobilize Mental Force, searching for an opportunity to release Soul Shock at the Hydra.
But no matter how hard Huo Yuhao tried, pushing his Mental Force to the limit, the waves of Soul Shock hitting the Hydra still couldn't shake this behemoth in the slightest.
The opponent's Mental Force defense was simply too strong and too thick.
With Huo Yuhao's current scattered, surface-level mental attacks, there was simply no way to break through this invisible mental barrier.
In the intervals between dodging.
Huo Yuhao took a moment to look up at Teacher Han Tianyi, who was sitting steadily on the Hydra's back.
He saw Teacher Han Tianyi sitting cross-legged in that position, eyes slightly closed, his expression as calm as a pool of stagnant water, resting with his eyes shut.
Looking at his composed manner, it seemed he had no intention of providing any guidance or hints to the struggling Huo Yuhao.
"It seems I can only rely on myself to solve this problem."
Huo Yuhao grit his teeth inwardly.
He thought that since Teacher Han Tianyi had set this test of dealing with the Hydra, there must be some way to solve it.
It was absolutely impossible for Teacher Han Tianyi to set a hopeless task for him; there must be a method he could use on this Hydra.
Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao no longer blindly wasted Mental Force on those meaningless attacks.
He decisively activated his Spiritual Detection ability.
An invisible mental network instantly spread out with him as the center in all directions, feeding back a clear three-dimensional image of the entire battlefield into his mind.
Huo Yuhao intended to use the meticulous observation of Spiritual Detection to properly examine this Hydra and see if there were any hidden weaknesses or weak points in its energy flow.
Under the full coverage of Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao maintained high intensity focus while continuing to dodge the continuous blasts of fire on the field.
During the dodging process, Huo Yuhao keenly noticed a detail.
Fortunately, the scorching flames spat out by the Hydra that crashed onto the ground would automatically extinguish shortly after contact, dissipating into the air as a wisp of blue smoke without continuing to burn.
If these flames kept burning and spreading, then as time passed, there would likely soon be no safe footing for Huo Yuhao to dodge in this already small assessment area.
With the help of the 360-degree, no-dead-angle perspective of Spiritual Detection.
Huo Yuhao observed almost every inch of the Hydra's body from all angles.
However, the conclusion drawn from his observation made him feel somewhat desperate.
He found that there were actually no weaknesses on this massive Hydra.
After all, this Hydra was not a real Spirit Beast with a body of flesh and blood; it was an energy entity entirely condensed from the caster's massive Mental Force and Spirit Power.
Since it was a product of condensed energy, there naturally were no gaps in scales with weak defense or fragile internal organs.
The battle continued.
Huo Yuhao gasped for air, his chest heaving violently.
His brain was working at high speed, and the Spiritual Detection network remained tightly locked onto the Hydra, not missing a single fluctuation of energy.
However, Huo Yuhao felt bursts of stinging pain in his Sea of Consciousness, which was a warning that his Mental Force was nearing exhaustion.
After all, this battle was simply too heavy a burden for him.
Especially since he had used Soul Shock quite a few times earlier.
"I can't go on like this."
Huo Yuhao quickly made up his mind.
He silently sensed his remaining Mental Force reserves.
With his current state of Mental Force bordering on exhaustion, if he wanted to release Soul Shock again, it would at most be enough to support one last all-out attack.
If this final attack still failed to work, then he would have no more means of counterattack and could only become like meat on a chopping board, left to be slaughtered.
Amidst continuous observation and calm thinking.
A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Huo Yuhao's mind.
He discovered that this Hydra was a creation formed by the Fusion of Mental Force and Spirit Power.
Then, the flames it spat out that possessed real high temperatures also seemed to be an energy form resulting from the Fusion of Mental Force and Spirit Power.
What if he also tried to fuse Spirit Power and Mental Force together...
However, as soon as this thought surfaced in Huo Yuhao's mind, he immediately shook his head vigorously, forcibly cutting off the idea.
No!
Just before the assessment began, Teacher Han Tianyi had clearly given him a hard requirement to use Mental Force instead of Spirit Power in this battle.
If he violated the rules, then this assessment would be equivalent to a failure.
Since he couldn't rely on the amplification of Spirit Power, he could only work on the techniques of using Mental Force.
Huo Yuhao began to calmly recall the waves of Soul Shock he had just released.
He found that every time a Soul Shock spread out and hit the Hydra, the feedback he received through Spiritual Detection was basically identical.
This meant that the Mental Force defense density on the massive body of this energy-condensed Hydra was very uniform, without any obvious weak links.
Facing this kind of uniform defense without any dead angles.
A gleam of light suddenly lit up in Huo Yuhao's eyes.
He thought that since high-level Mental Force and Spirit Power could materialize a behemoth like the Hydra and simulate scorching flames.
Then, relying solely on pure Mental Force, could he also change the previous large-scale spreading attack method and try to highly concentrate the scattered Mental Force?
Not a surface-level shock, but compressing and condensing it.
Concentrating all Mental Force onto a tiny point, breaking through the surface with that point, and then delivering a killing blow!
Having found a theoretical Breakthrough, Huo Yuhao did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately began to try.
He stopped his footsteps, no longer dodging the scattered flames, but instead withdrew all his attention into his Sea of Consciousness.
He began to try to control his remaining Mental Force, compressing the Soul Shock that habitually radiated out in a fan shape, bit by bit toward the center.
Accomplishing this proved to be quite difficult.
Huo Yuhao felt as if his brain was about to be torn apart; every inch of Mental Force compressed required an extremely vast amount of mental effort to control, and the consumption rate of Mental Force suddenly accelerated at this moment.
He was still gritting his teeth and trying.
Within just a few breaths, Huo Yuhao's face suddenly became as pale as paper, devoid of color, and large drops of sweat continuously slid down his delicate face.
The consumption and burden brought by this forced compression of Mental Force was simply too great for his current self, almost exceeding the limits his body and consciousness could bear.
However, in Huo Yuhao's clear eyes, there flickered an unyielding stubbornness.
He still held on firmly, gritting his teeth, ignoring the waves of dizziness coming from his mind, desperately condensing his Mental Force.
Finally, through his unremitting efforts, those originally scattered mental fluctuations were forcibly compressed and condensed into a fine, sharp needle!
He had successfully condensed his only remaining Mental Force into this single point!
Huo Yuhao suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes tightly locked onto the Hydra ahead.
For snake-like creatures, one must hit the seven-inch mark.
Even if this was just an illusory snake condensed from energy, since it took the form of a snake, then in its energy structural logic, the energy node at the seven-inch position might also be the key point where pulling one hair moves the whole body.
Huo Yuhao's target was precisely the seven-inch mark of this Hydra.
"Go!"
He let out a silent roar in the depths of his heart.
That Mental Force Needle, which condensed all of his Mental Force, created a ripple in the air that was invisible to the naked eye and was released instantly at a terrifying speed!
"Chii—"
A faint sound, as if a sharp blade had pierced through leather, was fed back into Huo Yuhao's mental perception.
Defense broken!
That Mental Force Needle, compressed to the extreme, relying on the powerful piercing force of breaking a surface with a point, actually managed to forcibly pierce through the Hydra's uniform and thick Mental Force defense barrier!
However, what made Huo Yuhao feel desperate was that although the defense was pierced and the Mental Force Needle successfully entered the energy node at the Hydra's seven-inch mark.
This massive Hydra did not, as he had expected, produce a chain reaction and ultimately collapse and dissipate due to the destruction of the energy node.
Its massive body only trembled violently, and the seven snake heads that were originally held high also drooped slightly; it was clearly affected by this mental sting, but it was only affected.
A look of deep regret and bitterness couldn't help but flash across Huo Yuhao's pale face.
Is the gap... still too large?
"Did I still fail?"
This was the last thought that flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind before he lost consciousness.
In the next second.
Along with the exhaustion of his Mental Force, Huo Yuhao's vision went black, and his body slumped forward, fainting directly on the assessment field.
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.