The cold voice echoed, announcing the final test for all demons. With their auras completely heightened, they rushed out, excited about the golden opportunity ahead of them. The 210 survivors moved, and soon, a spatial portal opened beside the sea of infernal lightning.
The eight-winged demon, in charge of everything, stepped forward, appearing in front of the gate. He looked at everyone and nodded, satisfied, especially upon seeing the trio standing together, emanating a dense and powerful aura.
"As you all know, this test occurs every thousand to ten thousand years. What determines it is the time we take to acquire new furnaces to use the Heaven-Defier’s Mirror Flame," declared the eight-winged demon seriously. "Thanks to the help of the great demon race Pyralith, we managed to get everything in the shortest time possible. Fortunately, almost everyone here has some connection with them. It’s a blessing for the sect to have such an important ally."
Almost the entire group of demons seemed pleased with these words. Alm and Bruno observed that most of these demons had bodies compatible with fire laws, something unusual for a race specialized in Yin. Although they guessed the reason behind it, they didn’t care to dwell on something irrelevant at that moment.
Practically 180 out of the 210 were connected to this race; surely, there was some kind of help these demons received to show such superior performance. The eight-winged demon proceeded with his speech.
"Let’s get to the point," he declared, waving, and another spatial rift appeared. Quickly, the temperature of the place soared to scorching levels. Before everyone, three reddish figures in chains appeared.
The whale looked at them and felt their primal bestial bloodline resonate with his own immediately. They were all humans despite appearing as hybrids; in the center, an old man with a worn-out appearance and long white hair emerged with a bloodthirsty look. Beside him, a slender woman and another young man also radiated endless hatred.
The two flanking them had fiery red hair and couldn’t hide a natural, fiery, and wild beauty. Alm and Bruno immediately identified: They had been in contact with this bloodline recently. These three were similar to him, they were humans with the bloodline of a primal beast; they had the blood of a true fire phoenix.
Alm immediately noted the black chains covering them. They were clearly denser, but practically the same as the ones the twelve families used on the desert city’s people. It seemed to be something from the underworld, very efficient and widely used. The souls, Qi, and physical power of the three seemed to be completely suppressed by the metal of these strange chains.
"These three furnaces are much stronger than usual. You will all benefit greatly from this," said the eight-winged demon, in a dry tone, before waving.
The woman and the young man immediately began to struggle and looked desperate. The older man in the center made a great effort to turn his gaze towards them. Then, a feeling of calmness was transmitted by him. The two beside him quickly froze, stunned, as a feeling of extreme pain hit them. Their eyes became moist and desperate.
This took only five seconds, and the eight-winged demon seemed to be waiting for this moment. He watched sadistically, with a wicked smile on his lips, seeming to enjoy others’ suffering. The Pyralith clan demons also smiled; in fact, all the demons seemed to enjoy the spectacle. Without further ado, the eight-winged demon made another move, and countless infernal runes appeared, covering the older man.
The flames of his sacred bloodline and life ignited inside his body, covering him. A smell of blood and limitless fire power was felt by everyone.
The whale merely watched indifferently but felt the two hands squeezing his with all their might. Ruri and Rehvka looked at it silently, but their eyes reflected endless fury and a will to kill.
’Suppress the urge to kill. You’ve never achieved anything by letting the enemy sense your feelings,’ Alm said dryly to the two through the array. ’I’ve made the preparations. None of them will leave here alive. Just wait for the moment.’
The two took a deep breath, their faces hidden by masks, and no one noticed because of the wave of sacred bloodline burning. Soon, the eyes of both became completely cold.
"Hahaha, no need to be so disheartened," said the eight-winged demon, looking at the other two prisoners. "He will become the central furnace. You two will keep the flame burning when his power wanes; you’ll join him soon."
He spoke, laughing and enjoying himself, then waved again. The chains of the two tightened, making their bodies drip blood. All the life of the old man was burned away, leaving only the fully lit bloodline runes; the two forced themselves to look at it. In their eyes, only tears welled up amidst the twisted faces of pain and hatred.
Something seemed to suck those bloodline runes into the void. In the next instant, the two were slowly pulled into the spatial portal where the final test would take place. They just lowered their heads and vanished; they couldn’t utter a single word with their bodies sealed.
"Now everything is ready," said the eight-winged demon calmly. "The test is simple. Cross the portal, and a reflection of the flame will appear; just defeat them. Their level will be much higher than usual, but your benefits will be equally greater. After defeating them, the other two will be burned, and a second reflection will appear; weaker, obviously. This second one is at the common level of the tests. Those who survive will have a profit that rarely happened in recruitment history. Good luck, move forward!"
As he finished, a torrential battle intent rose to the sky above everyone. The demons seemed unable to wait a second longer and swiftly marched forward.
After they passed, the spatial gate closed behind them. They all disappeared.
A few minutes passed, and the place where the sea of infernal lightning was located was empty. Suddenly, the eight-winged demon took a deep breath, sensing something strange in the environment. He jumped out and turned towards the sea.
"Eh? Seems like something’s wrong with the infernal lightning?"
The eight-winged demon, specializing in Yin, quickly sensed something unusual. It was surprising how fast he could perceive it. Unfortunately for Alm and Bruno, this demon was a curious one who enjoyed studying formations. Suddenly, he realized that the aura of the infernal lightning was slightly different.
As he approached, his expression suddenly changed. The pool of lightning was already very dry. The sight on the surface was actually some kind of illusion; its celestial energy was rapidly diminishing.
He turned towards the celestial pillar and felt its powerful energy... but he noticed something strange, even without identifying exactly what it was. Something was definitely out of place.
His face twisted in astonishment. Quickly, he retrieved a black tablet from a spatial ring and observed the two hundred and ten red dots lit up on it.
Two hundred and six of them extinguished in the blink of an eye...
He felt a subtle aura of death rising to the skies and was stunned. That definitely wasn’t normal; almost all the demons died at the same time, in a bizarre manner.
"What’s happening?!" The demon shouted, horrified.
At that moment, he noticed a fluctuation of strange spatial laws emanating from inside the location where the Heaven-Defier’s Mirrored Flame was. It was very subtle; if he hadn’t noticed everything wrong immediately, he wouldn’t have perceived it. Countless spatial cracks seemed to emerge from within, then the power of the phoenix bloodline surged and then faded away.
A look of despair crossed the demon’s face, he didn’t hesitate and roared, charging with all his strength towards the entrance. The world seemed to collapse into a black power.
BOOM!!!
However, as soon as he attacked, he was thrown away, spitting black blood. Attacking a high-level formation that used spatial laws? He couldn’t know that a young ascending cultivator possessed an internal spatial rune superior to that formation. Everything had already been sealed and isolated from the outside world by her; he was smaller than an insect before that power.
The demon got up, covered in blood, amidst the rubble. Quickly, he turned in one direction and flew through the air with all the energy he had. In his mind, only an image made of black stone persisted.
Something important had happened! He needed to inform the Sovereign!
***
A few minutes earlier.
As soon as everyone entered, a strong density of spatial laws enveloped them to separate them, allowing them to fight individually against the Mirrored Flame. This way, it would be a fair test for everyone, preventing the strongest from simply dominating and robbing others of their gains.
However, when the laws focused on the whale and the two women, Ruri’s eyes pulsed with infinite power. The spatial rune in her body was completely assimilated and was now part of her. Although she couldn’t use all of her power immediately and that would only come with her understanding and study, Ruri could easily master any inferior spatial law that wasn’t natural.
The spatial laws of that place were considered high-level, and few divine cultivators could say they understood them. But Ruri’s rune came from a formation that sealed a primordial beast. Alm and Bruno now understood that such power could only come from something in the immortal realms, the realm above the divine.
Ruri nodded, and the spatial laws froze. It wasn’t just around them; all the laws throughout the confined space froze. The entire place was sealed and isolated from the outside world.
Suddenly, all the demons, already with their weapons in hand and ready for battle, felt a change in space. Suddenly, as if a furious gust of wind had passed, everything changed.
They found themselves in an open space and looked around, stunned. They spotted the other test demons hundreds of meters away from each other... what the hell was going on?
Everyone was pondering, still confused, when a dry voice echoed. "Disappear."
Crack... BOOOM!
They all felt something shattering within their souls, then their minds spun... everything turned black... in the next instant, they simply exploded into bloody mist and ceased to exist.
Except for one... beyond the three, a single demon remained petrified, without any control over his body, watching everything with disbelief.
"Brother! We meet again! Family should always help each other, I came here to lend you a hand."
The whale’s voice sounded gently as he approached the stunned abyssal demon. Only the eyes of the poor demon moved; he couldn’t move his Qi, his soul seemed completely sealed by something incomprehensible, and no muscle in his body was under his control.
When his eyes met those of the demonic whale, he felt a familiarity and his eyeballs nearly popped out; he could hardly believe it. Bruno noticed that and chuckled maliciously as he walked alongside two masked women. Then, his disguise was slowly undone.
Ruri immediately emanated an infinite killing intent and tightly gripped the katana at her waist. She knew he was the main culprit for all the suffering she had faced.
The whale’s voice sounded calm. "Ruri, seal his soul completely. We still need to use him, then he will receive what he deserves."
"Yes, master." She obediently responded, and her killing intent dissipated.
The demon’s body trembled intensely. With Ruri’s new internal mental rune, combined with their divine soul’s influence over the demon’s soul, there was no resistance. The demon’s soul was completely sealed, and then Alm and Bruno took full control over that body, turning it into an obedient puppet.
The whale made his way to a corner of the large enclosed space. Upon arriving there, two pairs of wide eyes turned to him. They were precisely the two humans with phoenix lineage.
He approached along with the two women, who removed their masks, revealing their true identities. Their human aura became clear, leaving the two even more stunned.
"I came here only to destroy everything, not to save you, but... let’s say you got lucky," the whale spoke emotionlessly.
The two tattoos on his fists gleamed, he gestured, and all the chains trembled and loosened. In the next instant, the chains were swallowed by the spatial inventory. The two didn’t move, incredulous at being freed so easily.
"Unfortunately, I couldn’t save that old man, forgive me," Bruno assumed, trying to speak gently.
The two just stared at the whale wordlessly. Clearly, they knew there was no such thing as a free lunch, and they would never expect anything good coming from that figure; their bloodline was something sacred that instinctively made them feel a worse malice than that of the demons coming from that being disguised as a human.
That was when Ruri and Rehvka smiled gently. Their eyes were drawn to them like magnets; it was almost instantaneous that both felt there was no malice coming from them. And seeing them so close to that strange being, they felt uncomfortable, but something seemed to ease in their minds.
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’It’s good to be pretty at times,’ Alm said dryly, feeling unfairly treated. Even Bruno felt strangely, he even assumed and tried to speak gently...
"Do you have any way to escape?" The whale asked, clearly upset.
They felt it and got up from the ground, then quickly bowed. "Thank you, sir, we will never forget your help!"
The whale just looked at them and snorted as they continued. "We still have our bloodline intact and can use our core technique. We’ll lose a lot, but we can escape without problems."
"Great, get going. Like I said, it was just luck for you; don’t worry too much. I don’t have free time," the whale said dryly, turning away.
The woman quickly exclaimed, "Sir! I sense you came from an ascending world... let us reward you!"
"Hm? You want to take me to your planet and sect? No, thank you. I’m not compatible. I know you’re sensing my bloodline, although it’s close, it’s quite different," he replied immediately.
The two fell silent and turned to the two women. They just maintained an indifferent posture; if the whale didn’t say anything, they wouldn’t do or say anything.
"But... we’re a top 20 sect in the universe. We have many resources and... I’m the leader’s daughter. My father will reward you greatly. He’ll make sure you’re satisfied," the woman spoke anxiously. To her, having a life debt she couldn’t repay seemed worse than death.
The whale just turned and spoke dryly. "You specialize in fire, right? Hm... are you good at alchemy?"
"YES! In terms of cultivation, we’re top 20, but in alchemy, we’re considered the third largest in the entire universe! Are you an alchemist?" She spoke excitedly.
"No," they answered nonchalantly. "But my brother is. In the future, he’ll ascend to the divine world; his talent is reasonable."
She quickly continued, "Don’t worry! We’ll welcome him and..."
"I don’t want you to favor him. Just accept him into the sect like any disciple; that’s more than he needs. If he’s really good, he’ll stand out on his own."
"Alright, we’ll take good care of your brother," the man beside the woman spoke for the first time.
He then closed his eyes, and everyone felt his sacred bloodline pulsating. A red rune appeared in front of him, floating. He waved, and it moved towards the whale.
"When your brother is ready, from the Elemental Condensation Realm onwards, we can accept him at any time. He just needs to put his Qi into the rune, and I’ll sense his location. Then, I’ll immediately send people to fetch him," the man said slowly, a bit breathless.
The whale took the rune expressionlessly but was internally satisfied. It was a great opportunity they found for Almin. It was already the second time their fate with this phoenix lineage seemed intertwined; something good would come out of it in the future. Then, he turned away; they really couldn’t afford to waste much time.
The two nodded in understanding. Then, simultaneously, they held each other’s hands. Their bloodline were activated to the limit, a sacred and primordial presence pulsated within them. Ruri and Rehvka felt the familiarity of it with their master’s power. It didn’t even take ten seconds; suddenly, a strange distortion enveloped them.
Then, they disappeared... it was clearly a mystical power that could only be used with their bloodlines... and the cost must have been high for them; maybe even their lives were drastically affected. The chains were meant to prevent just that.
The trio moved swiftly, quickly arriving in front of a giant black mirror. This mirror was floating in space, and inside, there was a sea of runes connected by an exalted and enormous formation.
’Each rune holds a bit of the missionary’s divine soul... he was probably captured, and his soul almost entirely destroyed. It was a different method of exploiting him; they split his soul, so he would never escape. His regeneration properties became kind of an endless fertilizer. In this state, he can’t speak or give us anything, so the system doesn’t even consider him alive,’ analyzed Alm.
Bruno chimed in, ’The power of the phoenix’s sacred bloodline creates a body and will with its flames, using a single fragment of its divine soul. Thus, it’s a controlled training against a divine and sacred power; then demons can absorb it more easily into their soul. Indeed, it’s much more sinister and efficient.’
Ruri’s heart pounded; that was an exceptional formation for her to study. Suddenly, the whale’s expression changed, his instincts immediately alerting them. A deadly danger loomed over their heads. They were out of time.
The whale snorted and waved; the Law of Duality of Shadows surged forth and slammed directly into the mirror.
BANG!
Alm and Bruno’s eyes widened. Their self-created law, which had never failed to break anything non-physical, actually couldn’t pierce through and destroy the formation.
’Shit, this ain’t good!’ Bruno muttered, tense.