I Cultivated Too Long and Got Isekai’d Into a Game

The "voice of the tower" relayed the riddle for the third trial, and everyone heard and understood it instantly. However, the answer within it eluded most.

"The task is quite straightforward this time..." Xu Tao, who only needed a split second to decipher and understand the trial's meaning, sighed in relief. "If it's just to this level, the rest should figure it out soon enough."

Suddenly, a tug was felt on his sleeve. Xu Tao turned, only to see a worried Wenwen looking up at him. "Old man, what are you murmuring to yourself about? I can't understand a thing!"

"..."

Of course, Xu Tao couldn't understand what she said either. While she was talking, he tried various methods—reading her lips, passing a strand of True Qi to sense her intentions, and even attempting to read her mind directly. However, lip reading failed, and the other two methods only returned blurry, faint impressions.

'The power of this Dao Law is too strong...' he pondered. 'I can't even weaken it, much less bypass its effect entirely.'

At this rate, fighting together would clearly be too difficult. Gestures would be their only means of communication, and they wouldn't have the luxury of interpreting hand signals during a chaotic battle.

Xu Tao patted Little Wenwen's head before walking away, leaving her confused and shouting nonsense he couldn't understand.

Rather than dwell on the unknown, he moved to assess the situation firsthand.

Walking to the edge between two "areas," Xu Tao tried to cross over—only to be met with resistance.

"This is... a barrier?"

Each section was protected by the same invisible force field from the first floor, preventing anyone from crossing to another side.

Even Ground Shrink or Thousand Li Step couldn't break past the divider. Lastly, Xu Tao attempted telekinesis… but his power couldn't pass through either, truly preventing interference to and from other sections.

"As expected, the only one we can fight is the giant knight sent to our side." He sighed, shaking his head. "I just hope the others figure out the rules quickly..."

Looking at the white-armored knights, he also realized one more thing.

"They're not moving..."

Like royal guards, they stood motionless, sword in hand, blocking the path toward the golden platform behind them. "Hm?" And while staring, the system's passive identification kicked in, showing the name tag and level of the knights.

[Angelic Knight – Sword, Lv. 950]

Judging by the black border with red text, Xu Tao confirmed.

"Each of these five is a boss-class monster..."

Furthermore, their levels corresponded with the average level of those within their assigned section. As proof, only Xu Tao's knight was level 950, while the others faced knights one level lower.

"So we're going to fight it?"

Wenwen drew her sword, stepping beside Xu Tao.

Though he couldn't understand her words, her posture made her intent clear. Xu Tao chuckled softly, ruffling her hair once before walking forward.

With confident gestures, Xu Tao exclaimed, "No need for any of you to step in. I'll handle this one myself." He made sure his body language matched the message perfectly.

Other than Little Wenwen, the rest of the team stood frozen in fear. They could barely keep their eyes on the knight, let alone consider fighting it.

When they saw Xu Tao's signal, they instead felt relieved that he'd take care of the threat on his own.

Xu Tao drew his sword—and acted fast.

SLASH!

He waved his blade once and... the knight's head fell off, rolling on the ground.

Not just his team—even the others watching from afar went silent. The overwhelming display of power was almost unbelievable.

"..."

Xu Tao stood, blade raised, daring the knight to respond.

Everyone wondered why—until the next moment, when their surprise doubled.

"N-No way...!"

The fallen knight's head, as if rewinding a video, floated back into place and reattached. The moment it did, the monster moved, swinging its sword diagonally downward.

"Ugh...!"

Wenwen and the rest, though far from the knight, felt a powerful blast of wind sweep past them.

"This enemy is so powerful...!" Wenwen gasped once the wave faded. "It can even reconnect a decapitated head!"

"Hmph..."

Xu Tao harrumphed, waving his sword a few more times.

Blinding sword slashes followed, striking the knight repeatedly.

Its arms fell off, then its legs, and finally its head again. This time, the knight was cut into even more pieces, never given a chance to counterattack.

The knight collapsed in parts—only for its limbs and torso to begin floating toward one another again.

"Not on my watch."

Xu Tao slashed again before the pieces could reattach.

He carved up the limbs and torso into thin slices, his sword's sharpness ignoring the knight's armor completely. His strikes passed through without resistance. With surgical precision, Xu Tao ensured the target couldn't even try to reassemble.

But despite the dismemberment, the knight continued to regenerate.

"This... isn't a golem with a core formation." Yifa, watching Xu Tao's overwhelming display, narrowed her eyes. "Rather, it seems this knight follows specific rules. Destroying it won't be possible without figuring those out first."

[Five foes rise before you—as one, so must you stand.]

She felt that this line held the answer to her question, but unfortunately, Yifa couldn't figure it out just yet.

"As expected of Sir Tao!" Jehanne, on the other hand, simply admired Xu Tao's skill. "I can't lose out either!"

With that, she charged forward, spear spinning. Her strike aimed for the knight's face but—

CLANG!

It was parried easily by the knight's sword.

"It's tough!"

Unlike Xu Tao's casual slaughter, the knights weren't pushovers. Jehanne swung her spear a dozen times, and each time, it was blocked. Her attacks couldn't pierce the enemy's guard.

"We're joining in too!"

Seeing Jehanne struggle, Gervais dashed forward, thrusting his spear to distract the enemy. But as if it understood his plan, the knight ignored Gervais entirely. His strike bounced harmlessly off its armor—dealing zero damage.

To the knight, only Jehanne's attacks were worth responding to.

"Weak…"

Elsewhere, Zetian waved her fan with elegant disdain.

"You're too arrogant to think you'd be a match to this Queen!"

A moment later, crisscrossing sword auras flew forward, slicing the knight before her like vegetables for stew. Without hesitation, she mirrored Xu Tao's method—dismembering the enemy completely and preventing its regeneration.

"As expected, Zetian figured out the riddle already," Xu Tao said with a small smile and a nod of approval.

All that remained was for the other three teams to figure out how to defeat their own knights.