The young man, no, more like an adult now, came forward and stood in front of me. For everyone else, if they had paid attention to Meng Hao they'll only see him standing in front of emptiness.
"I thought you died," I said.
"And I was sure you survived, how have you been?" he asked.
I looked at myself and looked at him and said, "Good, actually been good. And I see the same for you too, you've improved a lot, and now you're awfully strong," I said.
"Strong…" Meng Hao trailed.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Let's go to the gate now, we'll discuss this later," he said.
And he was right, but the only issue was the number of people swarming the gate and killing or fighting anyone who tried to pass.
They didn't know who had and who didn't have the marble, so everyone was killing each other.
"That's not gonna be easy," I said as I had my eyes focused on the gate.
"Not really, there is no need to fight our way through, we can scare our way through though", Meng Hao said.
"I'm glad you thought of that," I said "So what do you have in mind?" I asked.
"Something…flamboyant," he said and began channeling Qi inside his body, enough of it that he was slowly transforming into a miniature sun.
"That's a lot of Fire Qi," I said.
"Yes, I hope you can resist it enough for us to make our way through," he said.
"Don't worry about me and let loose, I'm pretty resistant to fire," I said and I almost regretted it.
Meng Hao increased the output of his Fire Qi so much that even my Veridian Heart Flame was barely able to suppress and protect me from burning to ash.
"Good, this should do the trick, let's go now!" he said and began moving toward the gate like a meteor.
I followed after him closely as he zoomed forward, and thankfully no one dared stand in his way. The fire Qi he was exuding was enough to harm a King Class cultivator if taken head on, as for the rest, they'll turn to cinders the moment they come in contact with it.
I was rotating my Veridian Heart flame to manage the heat, as for anyone else who tried to either block him or was too slow to escape the incoming meteor of fiery death… well their ashes will be a nice decoration to the vastness of space.
Not even the King Class cultivators tried to stop Meng Hao since it will do them no good. Since most King Class have already obtained a marble if not all of them, going out of their way to block him will serve them no good and will only make them vulnerable to being backstabbed.
We arrived rapidly at the gate and entered at the same time to find ourselves in a massive open field. There was a giant sun above us that lit the way and land as for the ground… No more like a floor, it was made of massive square tiles of marble.
Several other cultivators came into the open field, these were the people from outside.
"What's this?" someone asked, "Shouldn't this be a trial?" he added.
Other people began questioning the same and wondering what was going on. This didn't look like anything yet. But I'm sure that there is a trial coming, it's only waiting for all ten thousand people to get in.
"Meng Hao, where have you been for the past couple of decades?" I asked.
"Around," he replied all mysterious and MC like.
God, I don't like that.
I sighed, "I asked you earlier about how you became this strong, you avoided the matter, do you not wish to discuss it?" I asked.
"It's not something that I'm planning to hide," he said. "I got lucky, though it came at a great cost," he said.
God damn these cultivators and their way to illusively dodging questions.
"Be clear with me, you sound and look like shit, no offense, did something bad happen? Also, where is Yan Song?" I asked.
The moments the words left my mouth, the air around Meng Hao turned to a chilling, cold-blooded and murderous air. It felt like a wounded lion that was about to pounce on a mortal enemy.
And this feeling wasn't even directed at me.
Something must have happened, and it definitely was not something simple. To produce this much wrath and rage... he's closer to my second Demonic Soul than I could ever belive. And I cultivated that soul with hatred and agony artificially, while this looks to be a pure unadulterated rage.
"She… she's…" he couldn't finish his words.
I sighed "My condolences," I said.
"No, she isn't dead…" he said.
I frowned, "Then where is she?" I asked.
"With me…" he said.
I frowned some more. "Why can't I see her then?" I asked.
"Her soul, she lost it, I only have her corpse…"
'Isn't that the same as she is dead?'
"How can a soul be lost? What happened explain it in details Meng Hao!" I said.
"You wouldn't understand! No one can!" he said.
'This is frankly pissing me off.'
"I'm your friend, not some random someone, tell me what happened and let me see if we can figure things out," I said.
Meng Hao sighed.
"When the Fire Lord attacked our home Planet. He used Soul Sealing pots, and her soul was grabbed. I on the other hand was captured. I'm still trying to find her Soul." He said.
I frowned, if her soul has been captured in those pots… then it's already too late. The same happened to Yuyu, but she had the good luck of ending up at the Wind Realm Queen's hands and managed to be revived. But now that assault happened a decade and some more. The chances of her being alive… are close to nul.
" I know what you're thinking, She isn't dead, he soul wasn't consumed," he said.
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"I JUST KNOW!" he said, his words were heavy and loud, enough that it made a lot of people turn towards us to see what was going on.
"Oh, if it isn't Shen Bao, the famous Eleventh Poison Acolyte." The man approached me and was about to grab me, his intentions were murderous.
But before his hand landed on me, a golden wall appeared around me and blocked the man's hand.
A small skull appeared on the man's robes.
The man frowned as he realized that something was not right. He looked at me again and at the sign on his shoulder and just as he was about to speak a loud booming sound echoed through the open field.
"Welcome younglings, you've come to prove your mettle in the challenges this old man has prepared. And before anyone of you ask of anything, this is just a recorded message.
Now, you'll all be facing several challenges, and do know, Heir or not, all have the same chances of becoming the next Du Shen if they wish, if not you can enjoy my treasures and gifts for all I care."
The voice then quieted down before the entire floor began shaking.
Several waist size square pillars emerged from the ground. Ten thousand of them to be precise.
"You will all be challenging each other, in many subjects, mental, martial and understanding. I only approve of the best. There will be times where you may request to leave, and before those times come, you cannot leave. So, for everyone who wishes to exit right now, you may crush your marble and it will take you away from this trial."
'Of course, no one would leave.' I thought
"Of course, no one would leave," said the voice too.
"Good, now, to move forward you must clear a simple trial. Trust and Betrayal. Very simple in fact." The voice said. "You will each have one Box in front of you, you may not touch, tamper, move, directly or indirectly, assisted or not, using any tools. The box must remain where it is at all times. Failing to respect the rules will cost you one of your three chances. Once a cultivator loses all of their three chances, they will die." The voice said.
Chances? What does he mean?
"Everyone here has three lives, and every death will have a small skull symbol imprinted on them, if you have three, you will be eliminated. Fighting is prohibited during trials. Killing, harming, threatening are forbidden, mental assaults against another opponent's Sea of Consciousness is also forbidden."
"You may also wash off one 'Death' in exchange with one Marble. You only need to place the marble on the skull you obtained to nullify both."
"Now that the skeleton of the rules have been imposed let's start the trial. The first trial is simple, you may choose one person to challenge of all the ten thousand among you. Your goal is simple, you will each bet your marbles placing them in the box will suffice. The boxes have the ability to randomly teleport the marbles between them. One of the two challengers will be chosen at random. The chosen cultivator will be the only one allowed to open the box in front of them. As for the other cultivator, they'll have the right to either change or keep their box. The rule is simple, once the timer ends the cultivator who has no marbles in their box will lose. And the one with the marbles will win and proceed to the next round."
'Okay, so simple, it's a game of lies and truths that's pretty much my fort.'
"As for the losing side, they still have another shot, you may sacrifice one of your three lives to obtain one more marble but do know, that if you were to lose all three lives you'll be eliminated. Now, good luck." The voice said.
It didn't take a genius to figure out the rules or the way to play, the only issue is to find someone to challenge.
"You!" said the guy that tried to grab me before, "I'll challenge you, you already cost me one life, I'm planning on getting it back, Shen Bao!" he said.
Meng Hao looked at me and back at the other guy, "You're taking him on, right?" he asked.
"Of course, I'll make quick work of him, give me a moment, once I'm done we'll resume our talk about that matter," I said as I approached the closest pillar and placed a marble on top of it.
A small wooden box materialized around the marble and closed shut.
The other cultivator smirked as he placed his own marble, "I'll bleed you dry!" he said.
We'll let's see you try.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l