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

As the monolith declared, the fourth trial required nothing but patience from them. Waiting for the one-hour time limit was done.

No new riddles came afterward. No strange occurrences happened.

Exactly an hour later, a soft chime echoed across the field—like a distant bell ringing inside glass. A signal that the time had arrived.

Xu Tao slowly opened his eyes, gazing forward.

The platform at the center of the grasslands began to glow once more, its once inert energy reawakening with renewed brilliance. Lines of golden script unfurled from its base, curling into patterns like circuit pathways.

The light slowly spiraled upward, covering the dome-shaped invisible barrier keeping them in. Within moments, the entire place seemed as if it were part of a gigantic formation, glowing faintly in gold.

"It's time…" Xu Tao whispered, standing up. "The fifth trial is upon us."

Even without the ability to understand his words, everyone could tell what he meant. The moment Xu Tao rose to his feet, so too did the others, as if his action itself were a universal law. One by one, people gathered near the portal, standing at the ready.

There was no need for a signal—no need for discussion.

Without fanfare or a cheer, they walked into the light one after another, heading toward the next location.

🔷🔷🔷

The transition was just as smooth as before. They felt no shift, only the scenery before their eyes changing after the light faded. It felt like stepping through a warm breeze—refreshing but slightly disorienting.

The grassy plains had vanished.

In their place stood a vast coliseum-like battlefield—a field of ancient stone carved into a perfect circle, ringed by crumbling pillars and cracked walls with inscriptions written in an ancient, forgotten language.

Floating above the field, five monoliths displayed a new message. All five showed the exact same thing. For some reason, the wording felt similar to the one on the fourth floor—less puzzle-y and more matter-of-fact.

[Fight as a group, move as one, and reach the next trial.]

[Fifty Tower Guardians shall hamper your way. You may not proceed lest all are gone.]

Before the last batch who entered could even finish reading the words on it, the enemy appeared.

Opposite them, lined up in orderly formation, were fifty knights bearing the same visage as the third trial's boss. The armor they wore glowed faintly, as if blessed by the heavens. They wielded weapons made of light, coming in various shapes—swords, bows, spears, shields, and morning stars. A few floated in the air, flapping the angelic wings on their backs.

Although they were all about the same size as a normal human, the aura they exuded said otherwise. They were monsters, not humans.

Xu Tao narrowed his gaze.

"Boss-class… all of them," he muttered, recognizing the pressure they emitted.

A few seconds later, the name tags appeared on top of their heads, confirming his words. Without exception, all of them were boss-class.

[Avatar of the Knight of Flames, Lv. 1000]

Each guardian was marginally more powerful than the knights from the third trial floor—strong enough to remain uninjured by random attacks.

Fifty of them—almost overpowered bosses. Against fifty people of weaker standards. Fair by number, but definitely not by strength.

Behind him, he could feel the tension rising.

Arthur had already drawn his sword. Yifa was spinning her revolver's chamber slowly. Jehanne held her spear straight, like a flagpole. Achilles looked serious, already in a battle stance. Meanwhile, Zetian was casually waving her fan... already setting up formations without missing a beat.

But the worst part? The silence.

With them still being unable to understand each other's words, no battle plan could be voiced. No callouts, no cries for help, no coordination.

Even body language would be too chaotic to catch properly in the heat of battle.

'If left to their own devices, this trial would quickly devolve into a one-sided slaughter.' Xu Tao exhaled through his nose and stepped back.

Given his strength and ability—and the enemy's "soft" defenses compared to the bugged Lv. 1000 Centipede they faced before—he could easily crush them alone if he wanted to.

But that would defeat the purpose of coming here in the first place.

At a glance, Xu Tao could figure out the hidden rules not stated on the monolith. 'This floor isn't about testing strength. It's testing cooperation without language…'

So instead of drawing his sword, he raised both palms to his chest, forming a slow, deliberate seal.

A thin strand of Qi emerged from his palm—no thicker than spider silk, yet glowing faintly.

'Qi Thread Transmission—Mental Projection.'

He hadn't used this technique in centuries. Over ten thousand years, if he included his time cultivating in seclusion.

However, this technique was the perfect countermeasure to use in this scenario.

Unlike basic messaging spells, this was a direct application of intent—threading one's will through Qi, projecting raw mental images to others in real time.

Of course, it wasn't simple to use. It took absurd focus just to transmit accurate thoughts to someone. One mistake, and the image would dissolve into static—or worse, flood the other party's mind with a too-strong impression, causing mental backlash.

That's the case in a one-to-one scenario… and what Xu Tao was attempting now was a one-to-fifty application. It was beyond insane! However, who was he again? Xu Tao! The acclaimed "Best Cultivator" who ever lived, reaching a realm nobody else had!

The first thread to connect was the one floating toward Arthur.

Xu Tao fed it a unified vision—no words, no sounds, only visual instructions.

He showed Arthur one of the tower guardians, one which carried a glowing sword in its hand. In the mental image, Xu Tao zoomed in on its exposed waist—its weakest spot—and overlaid the best approach path to strike from a blind angle.

He even displayed a phantom simulation: Arthur rushing forward, dodging a sword attack, and executing the strike, then stepping back to avoid the counterattack. It was a flawless simulation—almost as if he had seen the future itself!

Arthur blinked as the thread entered his mind, momentarily stunned and confused as to what it was. But then, his eyes sharpened.

He adjusted his stance, lowered his center of gravity, and vanished in a blur.

FWOOOSH!

His blade, glowing faintly with a similar golden radiance as the enemy's, curved around the knight's flank—right where Xu Tao had shown him. Just as the simulation showed, the enemy swung its sword with perfect timing.

Just as the images foretold!

Arthur moved, dodging the incoming overhead cut, before waving his sword.

CLANG!

It landed on point, causing the guardian to stagger. The first blow of the match had hit—inflicting not-so-minor damage, and allowing their team to gain a minuscule advantage.

From the sidelines, Xu Tao observed calmly as Arthur leapt back to safety—not a scratch on him.

'Good.' His lips curled up slightly.

By then, the other forty-eight threads had already touched their intended targets.

The real fight was just about to begin!