บท 219: Pushing the trial forward.
Yao Jun wasn't wounded, so it didn't take long for him to restore all his energy and ease his tired body, returning to his peak state. Once he returned to his peak state, he opened his eyes and swept the entire prairie. A few more people had arrived, finding a secluded spot where they could restore themselves in preparation for the final trial. As he swept the area, Yao Jun also called upon Du Xiao.
"Little Xiao, could I ask you to spread out over the entire area? You don't have to get close to the Earthly Deities, but I would like it if you could latch onto those you believe are weak enough to not noticed you. As for those who are strong enough to notice you if you latch onto them, just keep an eye on them from a distance. Ba-Shei, could you help her spread out?"
Du Xiao was a chimera beast, a fake Demonic beast created by using a secret technique to fuse countless spider Demonic beasts into a single entity. She could split herself into these countless spiders and control all of them, spreading out over a truly vast area all at once. In a situation like this, where he was likely to be discovered if he used his law of space to keep an eye on the entire area, she was the best choice for reconnaissance.
Yao Jun immediately received an affirmative response to his request, his shadow wriggling faintly for a short instance. The wriggling was Ba-Shei, Yao Jun's serpent Demonic beast that could control darkness. If Du Xiao were to spread out from Yao Jun's position, she would have to walk to the cultivators furthest away, increasing the likelihood of her getting discovered. In that case, it was better for Yao Jun to have Ba-Shei carry Du Xiao through the shadows, delivering her to the various people and dropping off one of her tiny spiders in one of the shadows closest to them.
The hoarse voice said that the final trial wouldn't start for another 10 days, but Yao Jun wasn't so naive as to believe that the thousands of people here would just patiently wait for those 10 days to pass. Someone was going to try something, likely resulting in quite a few people dying. And if Yao Jun wanted to make sure he didn't end up amongst the dead, he had to either strike first or at least be prepared for the inevitable sneak attack.
While Ba-Shei and Du Xiao were spreading countless tiny spiders over the entire prairie, Yao Jun continued to sweep the area with a vigilant gaze, frequently checking what Du Xiao was seeing. Two days after he arrived on the prairie, someone did just as he expected.
A tall and delicate orange-haired woman who had been sitting a few kilometers away from Yao Jun stood up and stretched her body, seemingly aimlessly wandering around the area. She stopped and chatted with a few people, looking exceedingly friendly and charming as she sat down and spent a few minutes with each person. Before long, she reached Yao Jun and stopped in front of him, flashing him a warm smile.
"Hello, I'm Samantha Agnir, nice to meet you. Would you mind hearing me out for a bit?"
Samantha didn't bother waiting for his response, sitting down in front of him. Of course, she kept a few meters between them, making sure to not step to close, lest Yao Jun become wary and vigilant of her. After sitting down, she lightly tapped the air in front of her, all sound around her and Yao Jun suddenly vanishing. She tilted her head with a friendly smile, as if the two of them were actually having a pleasant conversation.
"You don't need to worry, I just used my law of sound to isolate the two of us, making sure that the Earthly Deities aren't able to hear us. I'll not beat around the bush, would you like to join the rest of us in assaulting the Earthly Deities? With them here, none of us have a chance at being among the remaining four, so if we want to have a chance to survive, we need to deal with them before the trial starts."
Samantha constantly changed her facial expressions as she talked, putting on an excellent act that made it seem like the two of them were actually chatting with each other. Her idea sounded proper, but there was no way Yao Jun would believe her, after all, everyone here was his enemy. But he could take advantage of this situation, so he played along, tilting his head slightly and joining her in her chatting act.
"I'm not against it, but just how do you plan to deal with them? I don't think I need to tell you, but an Earthly Deity is so strong that they are able to rather easily deal with most people here. Not to mention that there are six of them that would have to be dealt with."
If their plan was to just gather up and charge at the Heavenly Deities, it would only end the same way it had during the second trial, when the others had charged at Meridus. An Earthly Deity was fundamentally different from any lower cultivator, they were practically gods, hence their title. A mere mortal or immortal could never hope to kill a god, they could only cower and await their fate. Of course, occasionally people like Yao Jun appeared, someone who could sink his fangs into even the throat of a god.
Luckily, it seemed like Samantha wasn't so stupid that she would ask people to just jump at an Earthly Deity. She swiped a yellow chrysanthemum necklace she wore, a green jade bead appearing between her fingers. She slid the bead to Yao Jun, making sure that the distant Earthly Deities had no way of seeing it as she explained.
"We're not so suicidal that he would just have everyone charge at them, that wouldn't yield any good results. That bead contains a small fragment of an array, activating it will allow you to connect with the other people who carry a similar bead, pooling all your strengths together. You won't be able to reach the Earthly Deity level in strength, but you will become close enough to it that you will be able to battle the Earthly Deities. We have four sets of beads, and of the 3621 people here, 3175 have already accepted a bead. Like this, we can split into four groups to better focus our attacks on the Earthly Deities, ensuring that even if one of the groups falls, the other three can still remain intact. So what do you say?"
Yao Jun accepted the pea-sized bead, rolling it around in his palm as he observed it, checking out the array within it. He didn't know anything about arrays, so he was only pretending to inspect it. What he was actually doing was talking to Du Xiao, checking with her what she had seen over the last two days.
He had frequently checked in on what she saw, but unlike Du Xiao, Yao Jun was unable to see out of the eyes of all the spiders at once, so what he could see was limited. After receiving a detailed report from her, his lips curled up slightly, just barely revealing his sharp canine teeth. He stored the bead into his interspatial ring with a flick of his wrist, nodding his head at Samantha.
"Alright, our odds of survival are too low if we don't deal with the Earthly Deities first, so I'm in. When do we strike?"
Samantha failed to see anything wrong with Yao Jun's smile, and she was certainly unable to notice Du Xiao, so she nodded her head with a bright smile and stood up.
"In two days. The bead will release a faint signal half an hour before we intend to strike, so you can start preparing then."
After she gave the explanation, sound returned to the area around the two of them. She gave Yao Jun a casual goodbye, like two friends who were splitting up for the day, and then went on her way, heading for another person who was sitting on the prairie.
After Samantha left, Yao Jun returned to sweeping the people on the prairie with slightly narrowed eyes, the edges of his lips curling up faintly. It seemed like the last trial would be pushed forward by quite a bit.
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