Chapter 930: The Fire God's Trial |
"Master, these people all look so fierce..."
Li Qingran glanced around, lowering her voice. "It's strange. There clearly aren't that many Legendary Battle Masters on the continent, so why are they everywhere here... I can't even call out their names."
"The greatest concealment is within the crowd." Chen Huaian patted Li Qingran's head and smiled. "Not everyone is willing to step into the limelight. Some masters, as they get older, only focus their energy on pursuing power. Everything else is illusory."
"Oh, that's true." Li Qingran nodded, then said, "So the Fire God's Divine Trial won't be about fighting these people, right..."
"Uh... fighting is definitely involved, but that's for the second and third trials." Hades interjected. "After all, there's only one inheritor. If everyone meets the requirements, they'll definitely have to fight it out."
"So what is the Fire God's first trial?"
Just as Hades was about to speak.
The stone man who had left earlier returned, bringing with him a clearly much older stone man.
Chen Huaian had expected to witness another round of incomprehensible chatter between Hades and the stone man. To his surprise, the old stone man opened his mouth and spoke fluent common continental tongue.
"Not us three." Hades pointed at himself and Li Qingran. "It's two."
"Two?" The old stone man pointed at Chen Huaian. "Then who is he?"
"This is my Husband." Li Qingran linked her arm with Chen Huaian's, lifted her chin, and said with a proud, tsundere air, "He's also my Battle Soul."
"Husband? Battle Soul? Huh?"
The old stone man looked utterly bewildered.
As an ancient member of the Flame Dancers, what strange thing hadn't he heard of?
But a Battle Soul this vivid and lifelike was a first.
However, the man this young woman was clinging to was indeed a Battle Soul. No wonder he always felt this man existed between reality and illusion, unable to sense if he had a real physical body.
Interesting...
The corner of his mouth twitched upward.
"Fine! Since Mr. Tang knows my clan's secret, he is an honored guest of our people. Originally, to participate in the Divine Trial, one must first pass my test. But since you were brought by Mr. Tang, we can skip that process."
After speaking, the old stone man released the aura of a Peak Battle Master, a presence guaranteed to be at least rank 95 or above. The already scorching air became several degrees more stifling and hot, saturated by his aura.
"Those are the ones who couldn't beat me."
He pointed towards a cluster of dilapidated shacks.
Groups of three or five Battle Masters sat there, their expressions far from pleasant. Some still bore unhealed injuries. Stone men moved among these Battle Masters, handing out simple meals and healing medicines.
The food and medicine were practically forced into the hands of these Battle Masters.
Simultaneously, they demanded a sum of money.
Watching the amounts the Battle Masters took out, Chen Huaian's eyelids twitched violently.
What the hell? A single turkey leg actually costs a hundred gold coins?
Even swindling people shouldn't be this blatant, right?
Although those who can cultivate to rank 90 and above to become Peak Battle Masters certainly aren't short on money.
"This side is for those who beat me or fought to a draw."
The old stone man pointed to the other side.
The shacks there were replaced by clearly better stone houses.
Although still quite crude, at least they weren't exposed to the elements.
Stone men still delivered meals to these Battle Masters who had passed the test.
The price was still a hundred gold coins, but the fare was noticeably more luxurious than in the shack area.
The corner of Chen Huaian's mouth twitched.
This old stone man is quite something.
Relying on the environment bestowed by the Fire God and the Divine Trial, he's practically created an entire industry chain.
The Flame Dancers hardly need to do anything; by exploiting these Divine Trial participants, they can obtain a steady stream of resources.
"You've come at just the right time. The Divine Trial opens once a month, and today happens to be the opening day. Later, you'll enter the Divine Mountain along with those people."
The old stone man pointed his cane towards the Battle Masters in the stone house area.
"Dare I ask, venerable elder, what exactly is the content of the Fire God's first trial?"
Hades pretended not to know and asked.
"Telling you is fine. It's simple, yet not simple; difficult, yet not difficult."
The old stone man turned around with an air of arrogance, pointing at the colossal mountain behind the village that stabbed straight into the sky, and said calmly, "You need to push a stone and reach the summit within the allotted time!"
"Push a stone? Just go up the mountain?"
Hades had heard that Prometheus's Divine Trial was relatively simple.
But he never imagined it would be simple to this extent.
No wonder everyone says Prometheus isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
"Hmph, you think it's easy?" The old stone man read the implication on Hades's face and sneered. "They all thought it was easy, but there's someone who has been here for ten years and still hasn't passed the first Divine Trial!"
Following the old stone man's gaze, Chen Huaian and Li Qingran saw a man with dark skin and a lean, wiry build. He seemed to have already adapted to the environment here.
Others needed to use Battle Power to condense shields to resist the heat.
But this man sat on a scorching hot Stone Stool, looking perfectly at ease.
"I need to go prepare for your Divine Trial." The old stone man leaned on his cane and turned to leave. "You still have a little time. A piece of advice for you—it's best to fill your stomachs first."
Although they didn't know why the old stone man told them to eat, seeing all the Battle Masters eating heartily, Chen Huaian had Li Qingran spend some money to buy food.
The Flame Dancers clearly had no talent for cooking; they only knew how to barbecue, nothing else.
The food preparation was crude, but fortunately, the ingredients were good.
They didn't know what kind of World Beast meat it was, but it was tender and delicious, oily and fragrant even without any seasoning.
Li Qingran stopped eating when she was eighty percent full.
But the Battle Masters preparing for the Divine Trial were stuffing themselves until their bellies were round and taut.
Some, even when they couldn't eat anymore, desperately forced food into their mouths, as if they wouldn't get to eat for a long time afterwards.
Logically, hunger shouldn't be a big deal for Peak Battle Masters.
Beings at the level of Peak Battle Masters could easily go half a year without eating anything.
Seeing these Battle Masters' actions, even though Li Qingran was already feeling a bit sick of the food, she prudently grabbed a chicken leg to hold in her mouth just in case.
...
"Dong——! Dong——! Dong——!"
Heavy bell tolls abruptly exploded in the scorching air, shaking the dust off the stone roofs until it fell in cascades.
The bell tolls seemed to be some kind of signal.
The Battle Masters who had been desperately stuffing meat into their mouths stopped their movements in perfect unison.
They haphazardly wiped the grease from the corners of their mouths. Their eyes instantly shifted from greed to solemnity, even revealing a tragic, death-defying resolve.
Even with bellies swollen like round watermelons, they forced themselves to stand up and began trudging with heavy steps towards the foot of the Divine Mountain.
"Let's go. Fed and watered, time to work."
The old stone man reappeared before the crowd at some point, his face of weathered stone creased with a meaningful smile.
Everyone followed the old stone man to the foot of the Divine Mountain.
Here was a vast, open area. The ground was unnaturally flat, as if something had rolled over it countless times.
And on this plaza, hundreds of massive spherical boulders were neatly arranged.
Up close, one could truly feel the oppressive presence of these things.
Each spherical stone exhibited a dull, crimson-red hue. Though the surface was polished smooth and round, it emanated a heart-palpitating sense of immense weight.
Even the few brawny men in the crowd, nearly three meters tall with muscles bulging like small hills, looked like undergrown children standing before these spherical stones.
"This is the prop for your first trial." The old stone man pointed at the spherical stones, his voice echoing in the empty space at the mountain's foot. "Each person chooses one. Push it. As long as you can reach the temple at the summit within three days, you pass."
"Remember, you cannot use Battle Artifacts, and you cannot help each other. Once a spherical stone rolls down to the mountain's base... you start over."
Hearing the words "start over,"
the few obvious veterans who had participated in the Divine Trial several times involuntarily shuddered, as if recalling something unbearable to look back on.
Li Qingran looked at the giant boulder before her, several times taller than herself, the half-eaten chicken leg still dangling from her mouth, and mumbled indistinctly, "That's it? Push a stone? This is way too easy..."
Although the stone looked big, with her current strength as a rank 99 Legendary Battle Master, forget pushing one, kicking this entire row up to the mountaintop would be effortless. Even without using Battle Techniques, just relying on the physical strength enhanced by her Battle Power, she could kick it like a ball.
However.
The moment everyone took their positions before the spherical stones.
Boom——!
At the summit of the Divine Mountain, the perpetually lingering cloud of fire suddenly began to rotate violently. A pillar of crimson light, visible to the naked eye, erupted from the volcanic crater, instantly enveloping the entire mountain foot. The radiance not only brought intense heat but also carried a supreme, irrefutable divine rule.
Hum! Li Qingran felt a buzzing in her mind.
Immediately after, the chicken leg in her mouth fell to the ground with a *plop*.
"Huh?!" She stared in shock, instinctively trying to mobilize the Battle Power within her body to catch the chicken leg.
But... it was empty.
The Legendary-level Battle Power that had once surged like rivers and stretched vast as an ocean had vanished into thin air at this moment!
As if sealed away by an invisible shackle, not a single trace could be summoned.
Her body, originally light as a swallow, instantly became unbearably heavy.
That sense of mastery over the power of heaven and earth disappeared, replaced by a long-forgotten feeling of "powerlessness."
Panicked, hushed exclamations also rose from the surroundings.
Clearly, this was a rule of the Divine Trial, and it wasn't targeting just her.
Every Battle Master present, whether rank 90 Peak Battle Masters or Legendary existences like her,
at this moment, were all reduced to their original forms.
Apart from retaining their formidable bodies tempered by Battle Power, they were now no different from ordinary mortals.
"Lost Battle Power, unable to draw energy from the outside world..."
Hades tried clenching his fist, feeling the emptiness within, and murmured softly,
"No wonder they told us to fill our stomachs first... Here, every bit of physical strength is a non-renewable resource."
Only then did Li Qingran understand.
She looked at the chicken leg fallen in the dust, then at the giant spherical stone before her that seemed to mock her, and her little face instantly fell.
Without Battle Power, she still had to push this thing up that towering, cloud-piercing Divine Mountain?
This Fire God...
must have some screws loose!
...