Chapter 849: Chapter 849: Mysterious Deaths
One month had passed since the three survivors first arrived at the central chamber.
The thatched hut area that had been nearly empty was now swarming with activity.
More and more participants stumbled through the various cave openings, some crawling on hands and knees, others limping with grievous wounds.
There were a few fortunate ones who managed to stay relatively unscathed even though they were exhausted.
But one thing remained constant across all arrivals: the numbers had dwindled catastrophically.
Of the original six hundred participants who had entered the second trial a year ago, fewer than one hundred remained.
Some had fallen to the dangers of the cave or the lack of resources to survive, while the rest have fallen prey to the greed and malice of their own kind.
The Demonic Cult’s trial had done exactly what it was designed to do: separate the wheat from the chaff through blood and death.
Supervisor Gui watched the steady stream of survivors with obvious satisfaction, occasionally emerging from his dwelling to count the new arrivals and make notes on a small jade slip.
"Ninety-three so far," he’d announced one evening, his voice carrying through the chamber. "Better than last recruitment. We lost seventy percent back then."
He’d laughed at his own joke, though no one else dared to join in.
The surviving participants had quickly established a brutal hierarchy in the hut area.
The strongest claimed the better dwellings while the weakest huddled together in groups for protection.
In the middle, people like Liu Yue gathered their own forces, forming alliances and becoming stronger.
During this past month, a few major incidents took place.
When people found out that Noah and Yuan Ming were the first ones to clear the second trial, they went nuts.
Many challenged Noah, trying to prove that they were no longer the same and were stronger than him.
But the results... they were the same as before.
The first challenge came from a burly man named Tie Shan, who had single-handedly killed a Rank 2 beast and absorbed enough blood essence to reach the peak of the advanced level in the technique.
He’d approached Noah’s hut one morning, his body radiating a blood-red aura, his voice carrying across the chamber.
"You! Black hair! I’ve heard you think you’re the strongest here. Come out and prove it!"
Noah had emerged from his hut slowly, his expression completely neutral.
"No," he’d said simply.
Tie Shan’s face had flushed with anger. "Are you refusing my challenge? Are you afraid—"
He hadn’t finished the sentence.
Noah’s blade had flashed once, so fast that most observers missed the movement entirely.
Tie Shan’s head separated from his shoulders, tumbling to the ground while his body remained standing for a moment before collapsing.
Noah had cleaned his blade on the dead man’s robes, then walked back into his hut without a word.
The whole thing did not even last for more than ten seconds. The word of Noah’s strength spread fast, and instead of scaring the rest, it invited a few challenges.
But they all faced the same fate as the guy whose name no one remembered.
Eventually the truth settled in their hearts. The reality that they were no match for Noah was now engraved in their bones.
Even when someone reached the mastery stage in the cultivation technique, they dared not to challenge him.
Another major event that happened was the falling out of Feng Wei and Mu Tao.
Both of them noticed how the other was getting close to Liu Yue, more than they should have.
Their jealousy continued to fester deep within their hearts, and the technique they cultivated heightened their emotions, fueling the rage and jealousy deep within.
And one day it finally happened.
Liu Yue stood in the entrance of her hut, maintaining her pleasant smile despite the scene before her.
Two bodies lay at the entrance of the huts beside hers. It was none other than Feng Wei and Mu Tao.
They had been found at dawn, sprawled in the dirt, their blood soaking into the earth. Both men’s eyes were wide with shock and disbelief, frozen in their final moments.
They were tightly holding on to their weapons, and one could see scars from battle all over their bodies.
A crowd had gathered to observe, though no one seemed particularly surprised or upset. Death was common enough in the hut area that two more corpses barely registered.
"Looks like they finally killed each other," someone muttered from the crowd.
"Been coming for weeks," another agreed. "The way they kept glaring at each other, fighting over that woman..."
Liu Yue’s smile never wavered as she listened to the speculation.
The truth was more complicated than what others thought or could see. Feng Wei and Mu Tao had been at each other’s throats because she had made sure it happened.
She looked at Feng Niu with suggestive looks whenever she knew Mu Tao was watching from afar but could not see her face. It prompted Feng Wei to make subtle moves on her.
She did the same with Mu Tao, and both of them eventually lost it and fought each other.
The day before their bodies were found, they were fighting just like usual, but they ended up with more serious injuries in the end.
Since they both feared death, Feng Wei and Mu Tao eventually backed away.
But when they entered their huts, Liu Yue approached them one by one under the guise of feeding them medicines.
But what they did not know was that it was poison, and once they let their guard down, she drove the sword through their hearts.
By the time they’d realized they’d been manipulated, Liu Yue was looking down at their corpses with her usual smile.
Now, standing in her hut entrance, Liu Yue looked at their corpses with that same pleasant smile.
"How terrible," she said softly, her voice carrying just the right note of shock and sadness. "They were such good men. They must have had a disagreement..."
She let her voice trail off, lowering her gaze as if overcome with grief.
Several of the onlookers nodded sympathetically.
"You should be careful, Miss Liu," one of them said. "Living alone now, without protectors, might become dangerous."
Liu Yue smiled coldly at the speaker but said nothing. She turned around and walked back into the hut, ’looks like there will be another body tomorrow.’
