Chapter 44: Trial (1)
Inside a big hall, there was thousands of statue of different beasts. Their sizes varied from each other but even in them, there were four statues that were vastly larger than other statues.
One Divine Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger God, and a Black Turtle. These four differed from the rest. While every statue was of golden color, the four mythical beasts had a bronze luster above the golden color.
At the middle of the hall, there was a small podium, enough for only one person to stand. From Shen’s position, it was two hundred meters away. The four statues faced the beautiful podium. It was obvious that reaching the podium was the goal of this trial.
Inside this hall laid multiple skeletons. While some of them were human skeletons and looked extremely simple. There was some which looked extremely bizarre and extraordinary. One of the human skeletons had jade bones and even now they exuded a jade aura. One had wings attached to its back and one had a red bone frame. One skeleton had horns attached to its head while every bone of the skeleton was at least three times thicker than normal.
Although all of this caught Shen’s eyes he wasn’t especially surprised. In fact, there was one skeleton that took his interest. A skeleton with a bronze bone structure. Other than the color it looked similar to a normal human skeleton. But the skeleton was untouched by the unique pink energy of this realm. While all the other extraordinary skeletons absorbed the unique energy.
‘If possible let’s collect some of those. They look strange and useful at the same time. Maybe I can study them and find something useful. Besides, if the bronze skeleton is suitable, I can use it too... hehehe,’ an obscene smile flashed on Shen’s face as he thought to this point.
“The Hall looks far sturdier than anything I have ever seen. The material used here must be incomparably valuable.” Absolute Qi gathered on Shen’s fist as he sent a punch with all of his strength on the ground beneath his feet.
Thup!
“SHhhiiiiiitt!” Shen hit the ground with all his might and didn’t slow down at all. The ground turned out to be tougher than he thought and his fist was badly hurt. Shen was still a cultivator. Pain of this level was nothing to him. He was surprised when the floor didn’t vibrate, and his force was returned back to him. He calmly circulated Absolute Qi to heal the injury.
When Shen used the Absolute Qi to attack the floor, he failed to notice all the four giant statues eyes being lit. A pair of azure eyes, fiery red Eyes, white eyes, and black eyes respectively before going back to normal.
“The ground is completely solid that even Martial King can’t make it shake. It might even take a Martial Emperor to shake this ground.” The exterior of the Hall had a circular part. And it was movable without any hindrance and traps. “Looks like I can start from any place outside this circle. Possibly, there is a path where the traps are less than normal. In this case, I can only rely on Absolute Vision...”
Without wasting any time, Shen used Absolute Vision to check the traps and a path with fewer traps. As he wanted to check for traps, he noticed a peculiarity in this hall. Every statue didn't seem like a decoration how he thought them to be. They all released a strand of qi.
“All of them are releasing a different type of qi... Could it be they are all similar to original beasts qi? And all those qi's connected with each other inside the hall. They are possibly the trigger for the traps. It should be alright if carefully avoid the strands of qi. but something feels wrong here...” Shen felt something amiss after looking every possible way of this trial.
Shen didn't have any guaranteed speculation. He deduced it to be something similar. He took out a stone from the Realm as he threw it out toward the hall. Hoping to trigger some kind of trap.
But it was useless as there was no indication for any trigger or any secret attack.
"It’s more hardcore than it looks like..." taking a deep breath Shen took his first step inside the hall. It was unknown where the end of the trial lies. ‘Was there another trial after this one? Or this is the last? But if it’s really a legacy it should have more trials.’
It was something he can only find out if he can clear this trial. Every trap in this place was systematic and evenly placed. So, the result was all the same no matter where one starts from. He jumped in a space where there was no qi and took extreme carefulness to avoid touching them by accident.
One Step... tense surrounding, beads of sweat formed on his face.
Two Steps... Three steps...
Every step was 1 meter in length. Every time Shen took a step he had this heavy feeling. His senses kept warning him as if he was plunging himself into death.
Seven steps... Nine steps... eleven steps... twelfth steps...
With every step, this feeling got stronger. It was indeed dangerous. If this trial was so easy like now then the experts before him wouldn't die in a place like this.
But who was Shen? Not only was he a reincarnator, and also groomed with various types of cheats. If he can't even complete a simple trial such as this, his pride won't let him live. Obviously, he can't turn back at this point.
'Turn back? How will I return outside the realm? The only place that should have a way out is this palace. Let alone going outside this realm. I don't think I can even get out of this hall.' Shen realized. Not only he can't leave this realm, now he can't even get out of this hall.
But did these things really mattered to him? No! He can’t return. He won't turn back even if he could.
~~~~~~~~~~
Shen jumped to the next space. It was the same one meter away distance like the previous twelve steps.
Peng! Peng! Peng!
Three arrows pierced inside Shen’s body. One arrow passed through Shen’s skull as if passing through tofu. One at his heart and the other one pierced Shen’s little brother... Like this, the tale of our MC ended here as he joined the collection of skeletons in this Hall.
~~~~~~~~~~
Shen jumped to the next space. It was the same one meter away distance like the previous twelve steps. As soon as his toes touched the ground, he pushed himself back to his previous position.
Peng! Peng! Peng!
Three arrows made out of unknown material pierced the floor. They all stuck the same place where his feet touched a moment ago. Shen felt his throat dry. Not only the arrows pierced the floor, but they also went half-way inside the ground. If he hesitated even for a moment, his skeleton would have joined with the collection of this hall.