Capítulo 63: End of the trial.
After clearing up his thoughts and refreshing his mind, Liang Chen swept the surroundings with his gaze. Other than the silver-haired corpse sitting at the shore of the lake, there were no signs of anything else in the area. After the three lotuses bloomed, Liang Chen once again regained the ability to sense the lightning in the surrounding living beings, so he sensed that there weren't any living beings around him. He lightly rubbed his chin, slowly backtracking his own steps.
"They still haven't caught up, huh? Could it be that the pressure is keeping them away?"
After fleeing at full speed, he had spent two hours walking up to the spot where the silver-haired corpse was, so by now, the people chasing him should have already caught up. The only possibility he could come up with was that the pressure that the silver-colored lake released was keeping them from entering, or at least slowing them down.
Liang Chen swiftly went back the path he had first taken to reach the lake, swiftly arriving at the spot where the pressure unleashed by the lake had first borne down on him. As he walked, he noticed that the pressure that the lake unleashed was slowly growing weaker, so he guessed that the pressure might have had something to do with the remaining piece of the silver-haired man's soul. Once he reached the location where the pressure had first descended on him, his expression grew somewhat exasperated as he let out a slight exclamation.
"Geh, you really were still here. But your numbers seem to have shrunk quite a bit?"
Sitting with crossed legs just outside the pressure were five youths, three males and two females, each of them looking like they were in their early twenties. Since they were just sitting there and waiting, it seemed like they couldn't get past the pressure. Liang Chen couldn't help but wonder, did the pressure feel like a warm breeze to him because of his bloodline connection with the silver-haired man?
Upon hearing the voice of Liang Chen, the five youths all opened their eyes, looking at him with determined eyes. One of the men, a youth with ear-length black hair and clear brown eyes shook his head, waving his hand into the distance.
"Most of the others were not willing to sit here and wait for this pressure to grow weaker, they have already left to show off their might somewhere else."
There was no telling if the pressure would weaken enough for them to step into it and actually hunt down Liang Chen, so the others found it better to try their luck elsewhere. Liang Chen sat down on the ground, a bit of a distance away from the five youths, tilting his head curiously.
"And why didn't you follow them?"
If everyone else had left, why would these five bother staying here and waiting? He could tell that the highest cultivation among these five was the male who had just talked, he had a cultivation at the very peak of the Xiantian Tower realm, just a teensy bit stronger than Liang Chen's own. The expressions of the five youths twisted with resignation, the black-haired youth letting out a self-deprecating laugh as he shook his head.
"Are you kidding me? Look at us, of all the remaining people, we are among the weakest of the bunch. The only way for us to stand a chance at becoming an honorary disciple is by taking down you or one of the four others that have been designated as most likely to become an honorary disciple."
Over a day had passed since everyone was brought into this Demon's Graveyard, so the only ones still alive were the stronger ones. Among the five people designated as most likely to become an honorary disciple, Liang Chen had the lowest cultivation, everyone else had already reached the Heaven's Gate realm, they were not people that their group could deal with. After hearing their reasoning, Liang Chen couldn't help but question them.
"You really are hung up on becoming honorary disciples, is it really worth it?"
Was it really worth to fight so hard just for a chance to become an honorary disciple? They didn't even know what an honorary disciple got, or if they even got anything at all! Nor did they know if being an honorary disciple came with any restrictions, yet everyone was willing to massacre others without regard. After he asked his question, the expression of the black-haired youth twisted slightly, a hint of sorrow appearing in his smile.
"It's no longer about whether or not it is worth it, we must become honorary disciples. We either become honorary disciples, or we die, and may even drag our families into it."
Liang Chen cocked his head to the side after hearing the statement of the youth. Why would they die, and maybe even drag their families into it, if they didn't become honorary disciples? The youth seemed to understand Liang Chen's confusion, so he started to explain, his expression bitter.
"You don't get it? After getting dragged into this Demon's Graveyard, how many people do you think we have killed in an attempt to show off our strength? How many sons and daughters of strong clans or powerful families have we ambushed, surrounded, and killed here?"
At first, they had only killed people weaker than them, but after a while, they joined larger groups and started ambushing people stronger than them. At one point, they even ambushed and killed two people from the Fiendgod sect, one of the five great sects! For some, this would be a point of pride, but the expression of the five youths was a mixture of desperation and bitterness.
"My parents are farmers, her parents work as teachers in a small academy, his parents own a tavern, his parents run an orphanage, and she comes from a very small sect. If any of the strong families or clans learn about what we have done here, they will surely come to take revenge on us. The only way we can prevent them from coming for revenge is if we have a strong backing. The Sealing God Empyrean is exactly the type of backing we need."
They didn't have the talent or the connections to join any large sects or families, so if anyone wanted to take revenge on them, they could easily do so without having to worry about them having a strong backing. So for these five youths, as well as several other people who were still alive in this Demon's Graveyard, becoming an honorary disciple was the only path of survival they had left. After hearing the full story, Liang Chen gave a slight nod of his head.
"I see. I can sympathize with your situations, but if you come to kill me, I will fight back with everything I have in an attempt to kill you."
He sympathized with these people, he even pitied them, but that did not mean that he would show them mercy. These youths weren't innocent, they had killed several others who had done nothing to them, several others who were likely in similar situations as them. If they came at Liang Chen with the intent to kill, then he would kill them in return. Of course, from other peoples perspective, Liang Chen guessed that he was just as bad as those he himself killed and called vile. But that was how life is, very few people are ever truly innocent, there will always be someone who finds them vile and monstrous.
The expression of the five youths didn't change much after hearing Liang Chen's statement, the black-haired youth simply giving a determined nod of his head.
"That is a risk we must take."
Silence descended on the six people sitting there, Liang Chen waiting to see if the pressure would last for the last two days of the trial, and the five youths waiting to see if it would vanish before then. After waiting for a little over half a day, a large portion of the pressure vanishing, the black-haired youth broke the silence.
"Kid, do you have a name?"
Liang Chen was currently focused on doing some slight experiments with his law of time, so he was caught a tad bit off guard by the words of the youth. But he still raised his head, giving a slight nod and giving them his name.
"Liang Chen."
The five youths stood up, stretching their bodies, Liang Chen doing the same. Most of the pressure had vanished, so it was now possible for the five youths to enter it without losing too much energy, it was time to battle. The black-haired youth put on a calm and peaceful smile, introducing the people in his group.
"I am Zhan Huan, he is Dong Lim, he is Huo De, she is Xin Yating, and she is Lin Chan. Now, if any of us are to die here, at least there will be someone to remember our names."
Cultivators had excellent memorization skills, the higher their cultivation the better their memory was. Liang Chen hadn't reached a stage where he was able to fully remember everything he saw or heard, but remembering a few names wasn't hard.
Dong Lim was a tad short, had brown eyes, and had a buzz cut, Huo De had black eyes and blonde hair tied into a neat bun at the back of his head, Xin Yating looked a bit petite and had green eyes, as well as azure hair tied into a long ponytail, Lin Chan was more curvaceous and feminine, had somewhat pale skin, long black hair that hung down freely, as well as black eyes. The group pulled out their weapons, Zhan Huan sending Liang Chen a smile that was a mixture of pleading and desperation.
"Liang Chen, I pray that we are able to kill you."
After he finished speaking, the group no longer wasted any time, stepping forward and into the pressure, their expressions growing determined and ferocious. Zhan Huan kept an eye on Liang Chen, who seemed to be calmly waiting for them to get closer. He knew that Liang Chen was strong, so he raised his vigilance to its peak, blazing crimson flames appearing in the air around him.
But just as Zhan Huan was about to send these flames at Liang Chen, he felt a cold hand grab onto his face, the Liang Chen who had been quietly standing there simply vanishing, as if he hadn't been real from the start. Utterly shocked, Zhan Huan couldn't help but let out an exclamation.
"Wha-!"
He never got to finish his exclamation, a torrent of golden lightning flooding into his head from the hand that was holding onto his face, melting his eyes and completely frying his brain, a quick and painless death. His body collapsed to the ground, never getting to know exactly what it was that had happened in front of his eyes.
But while he was shocked, so too were the other members of his group. The moment they stepped forward, Liang Chen raised his arm and shot out golden bolts of lightning, a faint violet mist coiling around the lightning, forcing everyone but Zhan Huan to take several steps back, poison invading their bodies and starting to shut down their organs.
Liang Chen was no longer being strengthened by the blood of the Demonic beast, so to not put too much of a strain on his body, he went back to using the golden lightning and his violet and emerald poison.
And after being forced back, they could only watch as Zhan Huan simply looked past Liang Chen, who casually walked up to him and grabbed onto his face. Even worse, Zhan Huan hadn't even reacted when they tried to call out to him, seemingly unable to hear their voices.
After killing Zhan Huan, Liang Chen looked at his own hand, quietly muttering to himself as he took out a pill from his bracelet and swallowed it to restore his energy.
"Just as you'd expect from one of the most supreme laws, it really costs a lot of energy if I want to use it on something other than myself."
While he waited for Zhan Huan and the others to enter the pressure, he had done some small experiments with the law of time, testing it on himself and the area around him. While it cost quite a bit of energy to use it on himself and the area around him, the cost wasn't even close to being comparable to how much it cost to use it on Zhan Huan just now. He had only used it for around five seconds, but it still drained almost 70% of all his energy, forcing him to immediately swallow a pill.
As for what he had just done to Zhan Huan, it was surprisingly simple. He had focused his law of time in Zhan Huan's eyes and ears, rewinding the time within and around them. Because of that, when Liang Chen took a step forward, time within Zhan Huan's eyes wound back, making it look like Liang Chen was standing still. The same happened to his ears, time winding back to a point before the voices of his comrades reached him.
Liang Chen also sent a bit of his consciousness into the flooded city in his mind, observing it as he killed Zhan Huan. Shortly after he killed Zhan Huang, his body fell into the flooded city, a bit more blood added to the already flooded city. Looking at the scene, Liang Chen couldn't help but feel a cold shiver run up his back.
"Bloody Soul Sea technique... really, the Heaven Devouring Dragon bloodline is quite scary."
The information his birth parents had sealed up in his mind contained everything they knew about the Sebettu cultivation, so he now finally knew what this flooded city was. It was a bloodline technique that was only accessible to the Sebettu, the people who had the Heaven Devouring Dragon bloodline.
Every time a Sebettu killed a living being, a portion of that being's soul would be devoured by their bloodline, strengthening the soul of the Sebettu that killed them. The larger this pool of blood grew, the stronger the soul of the Sebettu would become. It was a rather horrifying ability, but it was quite useful to Liang Chen.
Once his soul grew strong enough, it would appear in this flooded city, allowing him to control and interact with it. Once it did that, he could finally see if he could use the Lightning God Physique principles to further strengthen his soul. But before he could do that, he would have to deal with the people in front of him. As he returned his focus to the surroundings, he couldn't help but mutter in a voice that only he could hear.
"A shame I can't try out the bloodline here, I should experiment a bit with it once I get out of here."
Since he had a bloodline, Liang Chen could of course activate the bloodline for a temporary boost to his power. The Sebettu were very similar to humans, so unless Liang Chen actively used his bloodline, no one would be able to tell that he was actually a Sebettu. And even if he used his bloodline, only those who had been alive during the Genesis War, or those who had met a Sebettu before, would be able to tell exactly what his bloodline was. Most would only believe that he had the bloodline of a strong Demonic beast.
But right now, Liang Chen was inside the pagoda of the Sealing God Empyrean, someone who had participated in the Genesis War. He didn't know if the Sealing God Empyrean could notice what was going on in this pagoda, but he didn't want to risk it, so he had decided to not use his bloodline inside this pagoda.
The four remaining people were all weaker than Zhan Huan, so the moment they were struck by Liang Chen's lightning, their defenses were torn down and their bodies invaded by his poison. Even the weakest version of his poison was still horrifyingly strong against people at or below his level of strength, so in the time it took him to kill Zhan Huan and check his Bloody Soul Sea technique, three of the remaining four had already succumbed to his poison, their organs painlessly shutting down.
Liang Chen calmly walked over to the last person who was still clinging on to life, Xin Yating, who was resisting his poison with all her might. She had managed to last this long because she had the water and the wood elements, two elements that specialized in healing and could counteract the poison.
She was holding the poison back, but her Qi was draining faster than she was purifying the poison, so eventually, she would fall prey to the poison. Looking at the calmly approaching Liang Chen, she couldn't help but let out a sad and weak laughter.
"Hahaha... So in the end, this is the result. I really hoped that we would be able to kill you."
If they could kill him, they might stand a chance at becoming an honorary disciple. It was a faint and nearly impossible hope, but it was all they had, it was the only thing they could cling onto. After she finished laughing, her eyes turned slightly, looking at Liang Chen with an imploring gaze.
"I know that I don't deserve to ask this of you, but please, would you do me a favor?"
Liang Chen stopped a short distance away from her, raising an eyebrow as he beckoned for her to continue talking. He expected her to beg for mercy, but she quickly proved him wrong.
"The rings of Zhan Huan and Huo De, the bracelet of Lin Chan, this necklace, and the sword of Dong Lim, could you return them to our families? They all live in a city called Myriad Flowers Valley."
She didn't beg for mercy, nor did she try to bargain for her life, all she wanted was for someone to bring the news to their families, to deliver their mementos. She took out a small necklace from within her clothes, one in the shape of a purple flower, holding it towards Liang Chen, who gave a slight nod.
"I'll do it, I promise."
Liang Chen stepped forward and accepted the talisman, then he walked over to the other corpses and picked up the items she told him about, a beaded bracelet, a simple silver sword, a green ring engraved with a soaring eagle, and a yellow ring engraved with a bright sun. He pitied them, so while he could not spare their lives, he could at least do this much for them.
They were weaker than him, but Liang Chen still could not bring himself to spare their lives. The reason was very simple, he was scared. Scared that they would one day come back for revenge, or maybe go after those close to him to get their revenge. He knew that it was unlikely, but he still feared it, so he could not spare them. Seeing him carefully pick up the items, a smile appeared on Xin Yating's face.
"Thank you. Once you get there, you can just say our names, we are quite a big deal there, so you'll easily find our families."
Liang Chen gave another nod of his head, storing the items into the bracelet on his wrist, making a mental note to deliver the items after he left the hidden realm. He then walked back over to Xin Yating, who spoke out in a somewhat hesitant voice.
"Wil... Will it hurt?"
She had seen the three others succumb to his poison. They hadn't made a sound, they had simply fallen over as their organs shut down. It didn't look painful, but she still feared that it might be. Liang Chen gave a light shake of his head, softly placing his palm on the top of Xin Yating's head.
"I'll make sure that it doesn't."
Xin Yating found it strange, they had clearly come here to kill this Liang Chen, yet she found that she completely trusted his words. After Liang Chen placed his palm on her head and gave his assurance, Xin Yating's lips curved into a calm and peaceful smile.
"Liang Chen, you are far too kind to people who were looking to kill you."
Not only did he give them a painless death, he even agreed to deliver their mementos to their families. Most people would just brutally kill them and leave them to be forgotten here, so his actions could be considered rather kind. Liang Chen didn't give a response, a single thin bolt of lightning piercing into Xin Yating's head and melting her brain. Quick and painless, just like he promised. Her body fell backward and Liang Chen gave a light shake of his head.
"Really, what a cruel world we live in. Sealing God Empyrean, if I ever meet you, I'm going to have to give you a few good hits."
How many people had died because they were sucked into this pagoda? How many weak or young people who only wanted to test their fortune in this hidden realm had been needlessly killed just because the Sealing God Empyrean was looking to accept a few disciples?
After giving another shake of his head and affirming his determination to give the Sealing God Empyrean a vicious beating, Liang Chen returned to the shore of the silver lake, sitting down with crossed legs, a faint mutter escaping his lips.
"Alright then, let's try this."
He was uncertain if any other people would come to look for him during this last day and a half of the trial, but looking at how no new people had arrived even after he and Zhan Huan's group had waited for half a day, he found it unlikely. That meant that he could spend a bit more time experimenting, of course, he would still keep a vigilant eye on his surroundings.
He took a deep breath and calmed both his heart and mind, connecting with the gray lotus that contained his time element. He drew out as much as he could, gathering it in a small circle around him and speeding up the time in a small area around him. This was unlike the tests he had run before, where he just tried it on small parts, now he was speeding up the time for his entire body. After spending a bit of time testing, swallowing several pills to restore his energy, he came to a conclusion.
"Seems like the best I can do right now is double the speed, and I can only keep it going for about half an hour before I need to restore my energy."
If it was just in a one-meter circle around him, he could double the flow of time, turning one hour in the outside world into two hours for him. Right now it was only a small increase, but he was certain that he could strengthen it in the future. At that point, he could maybe turn 10 days of cultivation into 1 year, or maybe even more, completely negating his average talent!
Liang Chen continued to experiment with his law of time, as well as experimenting with how much of his stronger lightning and poison element his body could handle. The more keenly aware he was of his limits, the better he could be prepared for future fights.
And as he experimented like this, time quickly passed, the last day and a half of the trial quickly ending, a loud and booming voice resounding through the Demon's Graveyard.
"Three days have passed. Those who have shown their worth may move on to the next floor, the rest will be thrown out."
The peach-colored human figure once more appeared in the air, looming high above everyone else, as if it was a god. While Liang Chen was looking at the human shape, a small part of it split up and shot down towards him, forming a smaller human figure that spoke to him.
"You have been given the right to move on to the next floor, do you wish to move on up or do you wish to leave the trial grounds?"
Liang Chen didn't even need to think about it, immediately shaking his head.
"I'll leave, please send me out."
Just this first floor of the pagoda had been so difficult, nearly killing him and Yan Ling. There was no telling how much harder the higher floors would be, and he might even be targeted by everyone else again, just like he had been during this trial.
The human shape nodded its head, waving an arm and causing a door of light to appear in front of Liang Chen. Looking through the door of light, Liang Chen could see the scenery that was the outside of the hidden realm, right by the entrance he had used to enter it.
It was clear that giving up on the chance to head to the higher floors meant that you gave up on becoming an honorary disciple, so you were no longer allowed to linger around within the hidden realm. This was perfectly in line with Liang Chen's plans, so he stood up and stepped into the door of light, leaving the hidden realm.
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