CHAPTER 108: THE TRIAL CONTINUES...

The old man cursed. He struggled against the spiritual rope, but it wouldn’t budge. They were trapped, unable to move or escape. All they could do was wait and hope that someone would come to their rescue.

** ** **

Meanwhile, Xing Chen and his team had sensed the disturbance in the spiritual energy.

It seemed like there was a battle going on not far from their location. Xing Chen’s eyes narrowed; this could be their chance to eliminate one of the opposing teams.

He gestured to his team, and they moved stealthily hiding their presence and breaths, towards the source of the disturbance.

As they approached, they could see a figure suspended high up in the air, tied to a tree branch with spiritual rope.

It was the old man leading the demonic cultivators, struggling against his bonds.

Zhao Fan was far away, but they weren’t.

"Looks like the scholar has done some work for us," Xing Chen said with a smirk because their team also has met a scholar.

After a few riddles, they were awarded with a Grade-5 weapon that should have been suppressed here.

"Let’s finish this quickly."

He drew his sword, ready to strike the final blow. The old man’s eyes widened in shock and rage as he realized what was about to happen. "You... You bastards!" he spat out, but it was too late.

Xing Chen swung the new grade 5 sword in a swift motion, severing the spiritual rope and causing the old man to fall to the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of him, leaving him gasping for breath. Xing Chen stood over him, sword raised high.

"Farewell, evil one, may heaven be merciful, may Buddha forgive your sins" he declared, preparing to deliver the killing blow.

But just as the blade was about to come down, a burst of spiritual energy exploded from the old man’s body, propelling him backward and away from Xing Chen’s sword.

The wisdom shall move parallel to those who act too mighty unnecessarily. The old man quickly regained his footing with a look of fury on his face.

"You think you can defeat this Seat so easily? Puny beat, unable to distinguish doable from un-doable," he snarled, his hands weaving intricate patterns in the air as he began to cast a dark and sinister spell.

Woosh!

The air around him began to distort, and a black aura of malevolent energy surrounded his body. Xing Chen could feel the evil intent radiating from the old man, and he knew he had to act quickly to protect himself and his team but he was unaware about the origin of this spell.

"Team, form a defensive barrier!" he shouted, as he and his companions quickly joined hands, channeling their spiritual energy to create a strong barrier of shimmering golden light around themselves.

The old man let out a cackle, enjoying the chaos. With a wave of his hand, he sent a wave of dark energy hurtling towards Xing Chen and his team. The barrier held strong against the initial attack, but Xing Chen knew it wouldn’t last forever. The barrier was already starting to crack.

"We need to end this quickly!" he called out to his team. "Prepare for a counterattack! His team is still tied up... We need to beat him faster..."

Just what power is this!? Aren’t they all supposed to be in the Peak and of the Nascent soul realm!?

The team nodded comply forgetting the unwise mistake of their leader, focusing their energy and waiting for Xing Chen’s signal.

He should have just eliminated the Old man instead of freeing him.

Woosh! Chu! Chu!

As the dark energy continued to bombard their barrier, Xing Chen raised his sword, gathering as much spiritual energy as he could.

"Now!" he shouted, and with a swift motion, he struck his sword against the barrier, shattering it and releasing a blast of pure spiritual energy towards the old man. The force of the attack sent the old man flying backward, crashing into the trees behind him.

Swoosh! Bang!

Pffttt!!

Xing Chen and his team didn’t hesitate; they quickly pursued the old man, ready to finish him off once and for all. There is a saying that a good evil cultivator is a dead evil cultivator. But as they approached, they saw something that made their blood run cold.

The old man and his team were standing in front of a dark portal that had suddenly appeared behind him. Without hesitation, they jumped through it, disappearing from sight.

"No!" Xing Chen shouted in frustration, realizing that his mistake had cost them to lose their chance to defeat the demonic cultivation team.

Once demonic team out of them picture, hunting a lone man was as easy as claiming a single step. Alas.

..

He and his team approached the portal cautiously, unsure of what dangers might lie on the other side. But as they peered through, they saw only darkness and an endless void.

"We can’t go after him," one of Xing Chen’s teammates said, shaking his head. "It’s too dangerous."

Xing Chen nodded reluctantly, knowing his teammate was wise and his words were profound. "We’ll have to be more careful from now on," he said grimly.

"That old man is more dangerous than we thought."

They are all in the same power level but difference was like between Heaven and earth.

Needless to say, they turned away from the portal, ready to face whatever other challenges lay ahead in this trial. But they couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were being watched, and that the old man would return for his revenge.

...

The old man emerged from the portal, his body battered and bruised from the battle, the attack had damaged his internal organs and caused internal bleeding.

Their team found themselves in a strange, desolate landscape, surrounded by nothing but rocks and sand as far as the eye could see. A sense of unease crept over him as he realized he was alone, with no sign of his team anywhere.

"What is this place!?"

The old man ignored them, focusing on treating his injuries using a healing pill. But it was slow going since it was only a grade 1 that he had created, and he knew they couldn’t stay here for long. They needed to find a way out before their opponents found them again.

"This is a pocket dimension," the old man replied grimly. "A trap set by whoever created this trial."

He scanned their surroundings, looking for any sign of danger or a way out. If beasts occupy these place they would generally leave a territorial mark... But there was nothing, just endless emptiness in all directions.

"How do we get out of here!?" The young man exclaimed in frustration, unable to hide his fear.

The old man turned to him with a fierce glare. "Silence! We’ll find a way out, but we need to be cautious... The monk sees once, think twice. We don’t know what kind of traps might be waiting for us, I doubt this is a simple act of mercy from the one pulling the strings from behind..."

But the young man was beyond reason, consumed by panic and despair. He began to run wildly, shouting for help even though there was no one around to hear him.

"Help! Someone, anyone! Please, get me out of here!"

The old man seeing a disgrace to demonic cultivation held no sympathy, he compared a large magical hand and crushed that best to death in a single go.

His eyes were cold and face stoic. "Don’t be stupid and think with open mind..." he uttered.

* * *

Meanwhile,

Xing Chen and his team arrived at a vast desert.

"Something is wrong here..."

"Yeah... I can sense a nascent energy, someone’s nascent soul is watching us..."

"It is that lone guy, aside from him I doubt anyone would use nascent soul to spy..."

The members talked to themselves.

"The junior brother is wise, but we don’t need to worry... He is alone, he is just a pig waiting to be slaughtered."

"Haha, Senior brother is indeed correct. That was stupid if him to climb the trails alone."

"Indeed... Instead of running away when getting chance he decided to clim—"

Woosh!

Bang!!!

"WATCHOUT!!!"

BOOM!

With a loud explosion, the one speaking was killed.

"Damn... This is explosive talisman. This place seems to be filled with traps, we need to leave... This guy is more sinister and underganded than those of Demonic cultivators. At least, they play fair and square..." Xing Chen uttered.

But his worry was short lived.

Crack!

The space began to crack and shatter.

The reality crumpled and light was devoured by never ending darkness.

Wooosh!

With a swirling menacing energy, Zhao Fan descended from the void, his eyes looked down at these self-proclaimed benevolent cultivator.