“What a pity. That combat suit of Nimuni wasn’t too shabby and should be at Eternal-grade. It boosted the speed attribute, too, but it was torn to shreds by Celestial Moon and couldn’t be worn anymore.” Phantom frowned.
Xia Fei shrugged. He picked up the hook with a silvery curve and retrieved Nimuni’s spatial necklace. Victors plundering the spoils of war from the defeated was expected, and Xia Fei was not about to let this chance slip away.
His points counter went up by another 1.08 million points; the points that Nimuni gained from clearing the third floor labyrinth, as well as the exotic beasts and Evil Spirit Trees he killed on first and second floors, were now all in Xia Fei’s hands.
Suddenly, the teleportation platform flashed into activity once more. Halleh came staggering forward before finally collapsing down onto the ground.
He was pale and had plenty of injuries all over, seemingly having experienced a grueling battle.
Xia Fei quickly went over and helped Halleh up, feeding three White Dews and a single Snake Eye Berry into his mouth to help him recover his strength.
About two minutes later, the miraculous fruits began working their magic and color slowly returned to Halleh’s face, his breathing normalizing.
“I finally found you, Xia Fei. How did you get past Serenity Gate?”
Xia Fei chuckled. He still had no idea what design the Black God of Night had given him was, and telling it to Halleh was not a smart move, which was why he decided to remain mum about it.
Halleh was no fool, so he changed the topic when he perceived that Xia Fei would not elaborate.
“I take it that you’re behind the exotic beast rampage on the first floor and the Evil Spirit Trees going berserk on the second?”
Xia Fei nodded. “That is correct; what happened to you? How did you end up looking like that?”
Halleh got up to his feet and dusted himself off. There was a black fog orbiting around him as if to treat his wounds.
‘Is his darkness ability capable of healing injuries?’ Xia Fei was quietly surprised by this. What an amazing ability!
“When the exotic beasts rampaged after we passed through Serenity’s Gate, I led the approximately five thousand insectoids from the Guild of the Wise and slipped away from the main contingent amid the ensuing chaos. Since the beasts were all going for Uti, there’s no need for us to be cannon fodders for him.”
Xia Fei responded, “Avoiding unnecessary casualties while letting Uti’s troops bear the brunt of the assault was indeed an opportune strategy too good to miss. What happened next?”
“We launched our assault on Uti when they arrived on the second floor; the Evil Spirit Trees, Uti’s troops, and we were all locked in a three-way battle! In the end, none of us managed to gain an upper hand. I’m the only one left from our faction, while only a handful remain on Uti’s side.”
Halleh was grinding his teeth, and while Xia Fei did not witness this fight with his two eyes, it was not hard to deduce from Halleh’s expression just how terrible the fight became.
“Did Mingjing fail to escape?” Xia Fei asked.
Halleh nodded. “Mingjing’s merely a Mental Trace ability user, hardly powerful combat-wise. I didn’t care to pay any attention to her during the fight, though I inadvertently saw her get caught by an Evil Spirit Tree… She’s probably…”
Xia Fei did not really react to this news. Mingjing was nothing more than a pitiful stranger to him; the fact that Halleh had managed to escape with his life was nothing short of a miracle, so of course he barely had any energy to care about anyone else’s well-being.
“Uti’s troops were much stronger than what I first thought,” Halleh said. “Aside from Tohme and Fini of the Seven Champions, there’s also the fastest speed ability user Nimuni and the rock control ability user Bellal. Those four are ranked in the top thirty of the Sacred Warrior Leaderboard; some even rank in the top ten.
“However, what’s unbelievable was that the Gru brothers, ranked fourth and fifth on the Sacred Warrior Leaderboard, had actually been hiding in the crowd, pretending to be common warriors, so I ended up somewhat at a disadvantage in the fight before. There’s also the disciple of High Priest Ryun, that monstrous abomination who’s an indestructible ability user; no one managed to injure in the least. That being probably has a cultivation even higher than the Gru brothers.”
Xia Fei was shocked. He did not remember Li Mo having that indestructible ability before, so it was apparent that it had been provided to him by High Priest Ryun. Beyond turning Li Mo into the abomination that he was, that Ryun had transformed him into this indestructible evil monster.
Pointing at the corpse, Xia Fei said, “Nimuni’s already dead.”
“I was wondering why I didn’t see any trace of him during the fight… Turns out he made it to the fourth floor. Did you kill him?”
“Yeah.”
Halleh’s gaze on Xia Fei suddenly turned oceanring hot. He was of course well aware of just how quick Nimuni was; it was no easy feat for Xia Fei to have slain him thusly.
However, his gaze soon dimmed. “You killed Nimuni, while I disposed of Bellal and Tohme. Despite this, Uti still has four great experts by his side!”
“Grux and Gruy, High Priest Ryun’s disciple, Fini of the Seven Champions. None of these four opponents are easy to deal with, and we’re the only two left on our side.”
This did indeed sound like a major problem. They were all warriors who were about the same rank, so in a two-versus-four situation, the side with numerical disadvantage would clearly be the ones handicapped.
“How much longer till they reach the fourth floor?” Xia Fei asked.
Halleh spent a few seconds mulling over the question before answering, “Three to six hours, tops.”
Xia Fei continued. “We need to use what time we have to cross this ocean of lava as soon as possible and get to the fifth floor. We can rely on the terrain there to prepare an ambush for them; if my deductions aren’t wrong, most of Uti’s followers will be trapped here by the lava, so if we’re able to set up some traps, perhaps we’ll still be able to slay another bunch of them. It’s not the best time to face off against Uti, so what we can do is eliminate the effective strength on Uti’s side.”
Halleh grimaced. “Do you know how we can get across this ocean of lava?”
Xia Fei shook his head to indicate his cluelessness.
Halleh pointed at the white stalactites to the side. “Touch those rock formations and you’ll understand.”
*Whoosh—*
Xia Fei darted to one stalactite five hundred meters away and slowly placed his hand on it.
A burst of icy sensation flooded Xia Fei’s body completely, its frigidity even reaching the very marrow of his bones with just that one touch.
“How cold! These stalactites are actually extreme cold, so much so that it can penetrate your very body!”
Halleh nodded. “Look up and you’ll see these inverted stalactites hanging from the ceiling above the lava. As long as you hug these stalactites tightly, anyone will be able to get past this ocean of lava and make it to the teleportation platform of the fifth floor.
“This is set up so that individuals will have to quickly pass through the stalactites; pausing even briefly will cause you to be scorched by the heatwave the lava’s giving off. Therefore, this isn’t only a test of an individual’s physical agility but also the warrior’s willpower. After all, below is the deadly lava, where even one’s bones will be turned to ash if they end up falling into it.
“The insectoids come to this Holy Realm every few thousand years, which is why we’ve already thoroughly researched what’s to expect inside. The hardest test is actually the labyrinth on the third floor, as it will change in every visit, with plenty of traps hidden throughout. Passing through it takes quite some time and effort, but once one makes it through, no high-ranking warrior will be stumped by this fourth floor.”
Xia Fei was speechless. If it was truly as Halleh said, then this floor would hardly be a challenge for experts like Grux and Gruy.
“Then what about the fifth floor? Would we have any chance of killing what’s left in one fell swoop up there?”
Halleh let out a bitter laugh. “The fourth floor teleportation platform will send individuals straight to the fifth floor temple, and killing isn’t allowed in the temple. That is to say, if Uti gets past this floor, we’ll be out of options.”
Xia Fei was surprised, wondering quizzically. “There’s no test on the fifth floor? How could that be?”
Halleh replied, “The Black and White Gods left this Holy Realm to benefit the insectoid race, not to finish off our elites.”
Xia Fei was at a loss for words. Halleh was right. The Black and White Gods were protectors of the insectoids, so there was no reason for them to create such a strange space just to finish off the elite insectoid warriors every few thousand years. That would have been far too outrageous and a distinctive departure from the initial intent of helping the insectoids.
“The first to fourth floors are all to test a warrior’s qualities; their determination, martial arts strength, resilience, and so on. Any qualified warrior will be granted the right to step into the fifth floor, and that’s when they can receive rewards. There are plenty of strange beasts around the temple, and warriors can stay and feast in the temple as they wish. At a set time, they will be allowed outside to hunt the beasts, and the more they hunt, the more points they will get, increasing their rewards even further. Serenity’s Gate will reopen fourteen days after, and everyone can bring what rewards they earn from inside the Holy Realm outside.
“Previous expeditions into the Holy Realm always saw plenty of deaths not because of the severity of the tests but because of the greed of the past emperors of the Golden Tent, forcing their underlings to hunt and kill on the fifth floor day and night, all so they could exchange for even greater rewards.”
Xia Fei lit a cigarette and took several puffs, gravely saying, “I get it now. The four floors are all to test a warrior’s cultivation, and as long as they can prove themselves, they will be given the chance to obtain rewards on the fifth floor. If we plan to kill Uti, we can only do so here!”
The situation was dire. Forget the remaining insignificant warriors, just the four experts still with Uti were more than enough to beat up Xia Fei and Halleh soundly.
There were no other options! Xia Fei must eliminate Uti here on the fourth floor!
Getting up to his feet, Xia Fei smoked his cigarette even as he examined the environment around them. The tobacco turned pungent after getting itself toasted in this scorching heat, and the smoke left a slight burning sensation as it entered his lungs.
Waves of lava lapped endlessly against the shore, with the countless white stalactites hanging on the ceiling of this enormous cavern reflecting the red fiery glow of the lava.
Something popped up in Xia Fei’s head, and then a plan slowly took form in his mind!
“Follow me! We’ll first have to get across this ocean of lava; I’ve come up with a way to deal with them from across here,” Xia Fei said sternly.
“What way?”
“You’ll know once we get across!”
*Whoosh!*
Xia Fei took the lead in leaping high and grabbing hold of a stalactite. Icy coldness instantly traveled across his whole body, while a burning pain blossomed on his back.
Like a nimble monkey, Xia Fei deftly made his way across the ceiling of the cavern, leaping from stalactite to stalactite. Furball stuck close to Xia Fei like glue; this pet was completely unbothered by the heat and, instead, felt very disinclined to go anywhere near the cold stalactites.
Ice and heat entwined!
The part of him that came into contact with the stalactites felt a biting chill as if he were trapped in an ice cave, while the part of his body exposed to the lava’s boiling heat had already turned red!
This was no doubt a test of his willpower. Only concentration, endurance, and speedy movement could get him across this ocean of lava.
*Crunch.*
Xia Fei lightly landed on the ground, and Halleh soon followed. A mass of darkness had enveloped him to prevent the heatwave from getting to him. The injury he suffered from this crossing was less than what Xai Fei had sustained.
“What now?” Halleh anxiously asked.
Xia Fei flashed a slight smile, and the eighteen circular blades that made up Celestial Moon on his right arm came flying out!
“Unleash your Darkness and envelop the nearby stalactites such that they would not be able to make out their way forward. Meanwhile, I’ll be using my Celestial Moon to attack them from afar!
“This move is called ‘continuously beating the enemy while they’re down’!”
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