章 57: Third trial, completed.
Yan Ling's eyes glared death at the Nethersky Wyrm Queen, her cyan hair fluttering in the wind. The yellow paper talisman that she held in her right hand was starting to release more and more energy, the air around her distorting from the might it was releasing, a faint yellow human figure appearing behind her.
With so much energy being released, how could the people that were fighting the Nethersky Wyrm Queen not notice it? The leaders of the various groups quickly pulled back a bit, turning towards Yan Ling. Once they saw what she was planning, the rainbow-haired Guo Huanshi hurried to shout out.
"Little girl, are you insane?!"
They were certain that if Yan Ling unleashed the attack stored in that talisman, it would tear the Nethersky Wyrm Queen into countless pieces. With the body torn into pieces, each of the remaining pieces would lose almost all of their energy and worth, rendering all their efforts up to now worthless.
But how could Yan Ling possibly care about their efforts or the body of the Nethersky Wyrm Queen? She wanted to safe Liang Chen, so that was exactly what she was going to do. The talisman in her hand lit up with ghostly gray flames, the human figure behind her turning almost completely corporeal.
The yellow human stepped forward, a two-meter-long greatsword appearing in its hand. The figure raised the sword and then quickly brought it down, unleashing a single attack, a thick silver colored slash shooting out from the tip of the blade. The earth was split open, a grating screeching sound ringing out as space all around the silver slash trembled, tiny cracks spreading. The hearts of Li Delan and the other leaders immediately sank, using all their might to jump away with a loud shout.
"Dodge!"
The silver slash got to continue unimpeded, no one even daring to believe that they could slow it down. The Nethersky Wyrm Queen had also noticed the slash, but the slash had surrounded it with a strange pressure, preventing it from moving and dodging. All it could do was accept its fate.
But as everyone was waiting for the slash to tear apart the Nethersky Wyrm Queen, a strange scene appeared in front of everyone's eyes. The throat of the beast suddenly bulged out violently, a rainbow-colored light shooting out from the mouth of the Nethersky Wyrm Queen. Facing this strange and unexpected scene, the onlookers couldn't help but call out in shock.
"What?!"
In front of the shocked gazes of the onlookers, the throat of the Nethersky Wyrm Queen exploded in a rain of blood and flesh, a blinding rainbow-colored sun visible within its torn open throat. And blasted out from the throat, along with all the blood and flesh, was Liang Chen, a nearly maniacal laughter sounding out.
"Hahaha! I told you, I told you! I will survive! I live, you die!"
The people continued to look on in shock, but Yan Ling quickly regained her clarity, her face turning pale. If the attack she sent out continued to follow the set path, it would completely disintegrate Liang Chen.
"Little Freak!"
She hurriedly bit down on her own tongue and spat out some blood on the burning talisman, causing the entire talisman to crackle and hiss, dissolving into a fine red ash. The silver slash turned faintly red, its course forcefully changed so that it avoided the now dead Nethersky Wyrm Queen and the chuckling Liang Chen. As the slash vanished into the distance, the onlookers couldn't help but stare at Liang Chen with dumbfounded gazes.
"He's...still alive?!"
The stomach acid of a Nethersky Wyrm Queen was so incredibly powerful that it wouldn't have been strange for Liang Chen to dissolve after merely 10 seconds. Yet here he was, still alive, kneeling on all fours and chuckling.
After forcibly changing the direction of the attack, Yan Ling and the others from the Storm Wolf sect dashed over to Liang Chen, their expressions distorting when they saw his state. The skin on most of his body had been dissolved by the strong acid, his fingers completely ruined and bent.
But it seemed like he didn't even notice his horrendous state, still chuckling merrily. Yan Ling was overjoyed that he was alive, but at the same time, she was angry that Liang Chen had taken her place in front of the snake, as well as angry at the fact that he didn't seem to care about his own injuries. And because of these conflicting feelings, she ended up giving his rear a few swift kicks while she was pulling out several different pills.
"Little Freak, you absolute idiot! Quickly, eat these!"
She didn't even wait for any response from him, grabbing onto his bloody face and forcing the pills into his mouth. When the pills entered his stomach, they turned into streams of pure energy that started to slowly regrow his skin. Yan Ling let out a relieved sigh when she saw that his skin started to heal, delivering a few more swift kicks to his rear. Liang Chen had regained his clarity now, so to show that he was doing fine, he let out an exasperated remark.
"I'd say I have at least earned something different from this low-class treatment."
After letting out the remark, Liang Chen switched to a sitting position, letting out several deep breaths. Yan Ling's eyes turned red when she heard his remark, as it meant that he was fine. But she still continued to kick him, but her kicks were far softer now, basically just gentle nudges.
"What, you think an idiot like you deserves a more high-class punishment?!"
While Liang Chen was assuring Yan Ling that he was fine, the expressions of Yan Ying and the others from the Storm Wolf sect were a bit more complex, their eyes locked on his dantian. Yan Ying wanted to say something, but he couldn't quite get out the words.
"Little Chen... Your Ascended Tower..."
They could tell that Liang Chen didn't have any Qi in his body, his dantian completely empty. A situation like this could only mean one thing, his Ascended Tower had been completely destroyed. And when they thought about that rainbow-colored sun they had seen, it was clear to them just how his Ascended Tower had been destroyed. To most cultivators, this was no different from becoming a cripple, it could easily crush their spirits. But Liang Chen simply shrugged his shoulders, wincing slightly from pain.
"It's not a big loss, not like my cultivation was high to begin with."
In truth, Liang Chen felt very strange right now. Since there was no Qi within his body, he felt completely empty, but not as he weak as he had thought. He couldn't feel any of his poison element, but he could feel his lightning element clearer than ever before. He was even confident that he could still draw out lightning from within the Lightning Seed and use it to fight. He couldn't help but wonder, did his Lightning Seed not use any Qi?
Yan Ling hadn't noticed it earlier, but now that Yan Ying had mentioned it, she immediately noticed that Liang Chen had lost all of his cultivation. A horrible sense of guilt filled her heart because she knew that it was her fault that he had been forced to cripple himself, it was she who had frozen up when she met the eyes of the Nethersky Wyrm Queen.
But seeing the calming and nonchalant expression on Liang Chen's face as he looked at her, she knew that he didn't want her to feel too bad about it, so she didn't mention her guilt.
"It's fine, it's just like you said right? You just have to continue moving forward. I'm sure that you will be able to regain all your cultivation in no time."
She put on a smile, but even she was able to tell that her smile looked beyond forced. But she couldn't help it, once an Ascended Tower was destroyed, it would be far harder and more time consuming to rebuild it. Liang Chen flashed her a smile of his own, giving her a thumbs-up to show his confidence. Yan Ling sent a slight glance at Yan Ying, leaning in a bit closer and speaking to Liang Chen in a low voice.
"Also...thank you."
She wanted to apologize for being the one responsible for what Liang Chen had just gone through, but she knew that Liang Chen had already taken Yan Ying's words to heart, rather than say sorry, say thanks. If she apologized, he might even get angry at her. Just as Liang Chen was about to shrug his shoulders and tell her not to worry about it, a thundering voice boomed out over the area.
"The hunter has been slain, the trial has been completed early.
Space around everyone started to twist and distort, silver lights flashing in front of them. Everyone was already used to this, so they weren't too shocked. But Li Delan quickly remembered something, his eyes landing on the corpse of the Nethersky Wyrm Queen as he let out a loud shout.
"No, the body!"
He wanted to run over and store the corpse into his interspatial ring, but the distorted space around him prevented him from moving. This meant that they had to leave the body there, rendering their efforts void and null.
Everyone vanished from where they were, Liang Chen once again finding himself standing within a pure white space. As he stood there, a thick stream of energy entered his body, his wounds starting to quickly heal. But the stream of energy only healed his wounds, his Ascended Tower was still destroyed. For a third time, and likely final time, a peach-colored light arrived in front of him, turning into a human shape and delivering its judgment.
"Challenger, your performance rank is Outstanding. You showed excellent instincts and decision making, dodging every dangerous area you encountered. Your strength is lacking, but you showed great courage and compassion in saving your friend, after which you showed your determination in choosing to detonate your own Ascended Tower."
The trial was to show their strength and ability by surviving the hunt. Liang Chen's strength was lower than basically all the other challengers, but his instincts were incredibly sharp. His sharp instincts mixed with his final actions netted him the highest score he had gotten so far. The human shape raised its right arm, a black light flashing above its palm, turning into a watermelon-sized egg covered in a scale-like pattern.
"Your reward will be this, an eternal companion to follow you down whatever path you choose. Take good care of him, treat him right, and he will be a friend even in your direst hours."
Liang Chen looked at the egg with some curiosity. One could get Demonic beast companions as rewards in these trials? The egg turned into a flash of black light that sank into Liang Chen's body, vanishing without a trace. After the egg vanished, the human shape stretched out its arm, pointing at Liang Chen.
"You failed to receive the acknowledgment of the Ocean King and the Ocean Queen, so you have not qualified to receive a chance to learn my main skills and possibly become one of my main disciples. But you still have a chance to compete with the remaining people in this trial ground for a chance to become my honorary disciple. Bring out your best and show your worth."
Liang Chen couldn't help but tilt his head slightly, somewhat confused. Yuan Xuefeng said that anyone who was sent to the next trial had obtained the acknowledgment of the guardians, yet now he was told that the Ocean King and Ocean Queen hadn't acknowledged him. Could it be that Yuan Xuefeng had been wrong? Or maybe he had lied to them? At the same time, he wondered what the human shape meant when he said 'the remaining people in this trial ground'.
What neither Liang Chen or the other people who had entered the trials knew, was that the moment they finished the third trial, the gates to the King Sealing Pagoda had opened. And once the pagoda opened, a terrifying suction force swept through the hidden realm, picking up every single living person within the hidden realm and forcing them into the pagoda.
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