709 The Mysterious Chains 2 in 1

"That's the gist of how things work in the Holy Land," Zhao Kunlun said after introducing the Sparta Clan. "Also, there are a few main rules you need to abide by after you enter the Holy Land. You must not reveal the existence of the Holy Land to outsiders in any way, especially things you have learned there. Regardless of which force you join, you cannot leave the Holy Land — at all for any personal reasons — if it is not approved by your teachers. Those who break this rule will be executed immediately, and you will not have a chance to justify yourself. You will only regain your freedom after you reach the Heavenly Soul Stage. So, those mommy's boys and daddy's girls who think you can return home to see your family, I would advise you to return home now. Once you enter the Holy Land, you have to be prepared to be separated from your family indefinitely. As well, there are many 'experts' who could not break through and end up remaining at the Heroic Soul Stage. You must know that it is not easy to reach the Heavenly Soul Stage, even in the Holy Land."

The crowd was silent when Zhao Kunlun was speaking earlier. However, some were surprised after hearing these rules, and the crowd started buzzing again. Although they heard that the Holy Land and Earth were worlds apart and that it would be hard to go back to Earth after they entered the Holy Land, they did not expect it to be so tough.

It was definitely not easy to break through to the Heavenly Soul Stage. Even in the Holy Land, there were plenty who trained hard all their lives but only remained at the Heroic Soul Stage. Although those present were prodigies who were confident of their abilities, no one — not even people like Carolyn — dared to say for sure that they would break through into the Heavenly Soul Stage. If one did not manage to reach the Heavenly Soul Stage, was the only choice left to die alone in the Holy Land? This was too unreasonable.

Zhao Kunlun waved his hands and gestured for everyone to be quiet. "The Holy Land has its own set of rules. Those who cannot accept it should leave now."

He scanned through the crowd, and although he could see shock and hesitation in those kids' faces, no one chose to leave in the end.

Zhao Kunlun smiled. "Very good. I welcome everyone on behalf of the seniors from the three supreme forces. Get ready. We're setting off."

Right after he spoke, a girl's voice rang in the crowd. "Senior Brother Zhao, someone is not out yet. Can we wait for a while more?"

It was Laura who spoke. She had been worried about Scarlet for quite a while, as she was not out yet.

"That girl named Scarlet?" Zhao Kunlun skimmed through the name list which contained detailed information about those who came from Earth. He shook his head.

The Dimensional Blessed Lands seemed mysterious to most, but frankly, it was as simple as ABC to the trio. It was all but the same process once they got to a certain phase.

If she wasn't thrown out of the space, it meant that she was still persevering. Although this was commendable, it did not serve any real purpose. The starting 30 minutes was the most effective and posed a higher chance of success for people reflecting in the illusionary space that the Dimensional Blessed Lands created. After 30 minutes passed, the illusions would become scarier. Even if you had strong willpower, at the Casted Soul Stage level, it would merely count as 'persistence' under such pressure, and you would not have the capacity to reflect seriously.

"Scarlet from Tianjing?" Gui Hao's scornful voice rang in the crowd. "This is way out of her league. She can never cast a Dharma Idol. Senior Brother Zhao, she's a weakling, this kind of trash does not deserve to waste everyone's time. You can ask the others if you don't believe me."

Several people agreed with him immediately, as they wanted to enter the Holy Land as fast as possible. They had already gotten impatient waiting here. CHF was a thing of the past. If Wang Zhong was here, maybe they would still listen as he had influence, but everyone couldn't be bothered with Scarlet.

A loser was a loser; she did not hold enough weight to gain the recognition of these prideful youngsters. To them, she was merely lucky to meet teammates such as Wang Zhong and Grai and successfully cozied up to someone powerful.

"Gui Hao, one still holds a chance if one is not eliminated, and we need to wait for the person. Is this how the Holy Land handles issues?" Everyone was quiet, stunned by what Laura just said. They didn't expect her to say something that made the atmosphere so tense. To rebut Gui Hao directly and throw shade at the three Holy Ambassadors, she had some nerve! Under these circumstances, even Carolyn and the others had to maintain a low profile.

Where did her courage come from?

Laura was not afraid at all, locking eyes with the three Holy Ambassadors who seemed intrigued. Zhao Kunlun frowned. She was merely a Holy Apprentice, yet she dared to challenge them. Honestly, if this happened in the Holy Land, she would not get off so easily. However, they were on a mission, and it would not be appropriate to flare up at her.

Russell, who looked like he had the most fiery temper, stopped in his tracks. He stared at Laura with interest. She had an amazing body and was rather seductive, but merely possessing beauty was not enough in the Holy Land. Other than looks, one must have enough soul energy to attract others. Those who only focused on their looks did not amount to much.

Helen smiled. "This junior sister is not wrong. Since we have waited for so long, waiting for a while more would not hurt. Maybe a miracle will happen?"

Zhao Kunlun nodded, realizing what the other two were thinking of. Helen and Russell were being nice not because of Laura but her brother Molton. Molton had an impressive teacher and was highly trusted by this teacher. He was even able to obtain the precious chance to travel to the outside world. Zhao Kunlun did not want to be the bad guy since this would not take much time anyway.

The crowd quieted down after seeing the three Holy Disciples taking Laura's side. They were shocked by Laura's transformation. It was common knowledge that the Casted Soul and Heroic Soul were two different stages; when one's power changes, one's personality adapts accordingly too. Even so, they did not expect Laura to be the first to change as, honestly, she did not contribute anything useful to the Potter clan during the CHF.

"I saw Scarlet before I left. She was somewhere near me." Someone in the crowd snickered. "She looked like she wasn't going to make it, she looked tormented and in pain."

Another person shook his head. "Maybe she experienced some scary illusions, although I must say her persistence is commendable. That being said, it's still far-fetched to say that she can cast a Dharma Idol…" He did not harbor any animosity towards Tianjing or Scarlet, but he did not want to waste his time here.

"Everyone here knows that Scarlet is the weakest among all of us, and she did not have any significance in the CHF anyway. This is a waste of everyone's time." Gui Hao did not give up but tried to convince them again. "Holy Ambassadors, you do not need to show too much consideration for her."

Russell glanced at Gui Hao. "Hey punk, you don't call the shots here. Keep blabbering on and I'll beat the crap out of you."

Gui Hao's face paled, but he didn't rebuke him. Nonetheless, he was going to remember this humiliation he suffered today. If he could defeat Wang Zhong, he could easily deal with a mere Holy Disciple. After he gained power, he would make Russell regret being born!

There were only two cases if one exceeded the average amount of time spent on reflection. In the first case, that person was a super strong expert and was reflecting on something on a deeper level. However, everyone clearly knew that Scarlet's level was not that high, and no one believed she belonged to the first case. The other case would be that an accident happened since she was a student that reached the peak of the Casted Soul Stage because of her special ability, and she was not a genius like Wang Zhong or Mo Wen. To put it plainly, she had not reached the level where she could cast a Dharma Idol as her foundations were too weak. She might have already encountered something more terrible than failure by biting off more than she could chew.

Well, everyone was feeling great since they had succeeded in casting their Dharma Idol, so they didn't mind waiting a little longer.

They could not see the situation inside the mirror portal from the outside, so the only thing Laura and Grai could do was wait, no matter how anxious they were. Everyone grew impatient as time passed. Time in the Dimensional Blessed Lands was warped. What if she didn't come out, or what if she died? Were they expected to wait for her there forever?

This time, Gui Hao did not say anything but waited to see how things progressed. See, these Holy Disciples were going to make a joke of themselves. Since they didn't appreciate his advice earlier on, they could deal with this themselves.

Whispers among the crowd started again, but this did not affect the massive ice world at the other end of the mirror portal.

Scarlet could not feel any warmth around her; even her neurons had long been frozen in this terrible sub-zero temperature. In this situation, she should have been cast out by the space, but a stubborn thought at the back of her mind kept her going.

Others were able to come here based on their own ability; only she didn't. She did not deserve this!

Scarlet was very aware of this, more so than others. She hated this kind of person the most in the past, yet she became exactly this type of person. Even so, she had too many reasons to persist on.

The idea of giving up was extravagant to her, an idea she was not worthy of having.

Maybe it would be a form of relief if she just died here.

She persisted on for as long as she could, every single second feeling like years to her. The cold almost froze all her senses. Out of the several billions of neurons that represented her ability to think, at least 99% of them were completely frozen, and only the 1% left were fighting relentlessly.

However, willpower was not equivalent to power ultimately, and the strongest willpower would eventually reach its limit.

A vast world, but there wasn't any space for her.

At a corner of the Dimensional Blessed Lands, a tender gaze fell upon Scarlet. She was hesitating. This girl had a good nature, but she was too mediocre. If willpower could beat everything, then humans would have taken over the Dimensional World a long time ago.

It was a pity; although stopping her now was a little late, it would save her life at the very least, or that guy would fly off the handle.

At this moment, a blurry silhouette appeared in the Dimensional Blessed Lands. It definitely came in by itself, using its own tyrannical power. What a scary level of power!

However, the blurry silhouette stopped in its tracks as something changed when Scarlet was on the brink of death.

Scarlet was on her knees in a praying position, but she did not pray for life or power. Her last wish was that if someone was also in a life or death situation in another part of the world, she was willing to use her death in exchange for the other person to live.

A very humble request.

Countless rays of light enveloped Scarlet, and little strands of light entangled to form two intertwining chains that locked around her.

To be able to enter the Dimensional Blessed Lands in soul form, the blurry silhouette was definitely extraordinarily strong, but even this person was shocked. How was this phenomenon possible?

The soul who hugged Scarlet was a very beautiful woman and had a kind smile. Scarlet's frozen body was warmed up not by her body temperature, but by a source of soul power. It was strong and dangerous.

In cold despair, Scarlet felt a source of warmth that felt like her mother and held on tightly to it like a baby.

"Everything will be fine."

Scarlet could hear a loving and elegant voice faintly. Her expression was not of a sad or painful one and became peaceful with a hint of a smile. A Dharma Idol slowly formed behind her, and at the same time, two chains were wrapped around it.

Outside the mirror portal, Helen of the Mystic Sect seemed to sense something and her expression changed. After a few seconds, Zhao Kunlun and Russell noticed something was off too. Even standing outside the mirror portal, they could sense that there was a strong aura. However, this was a very slight change that only the three Holy Ambassadors could sense.

Dharma Idols were just a carrier of power, but what they felt was fluctuations of the natural order's power in the Dimensional Blessed Lands. Fluctuations of such magnitude could only mean that the natural order's power had affected someone's Dharma Idol.

What was so strong?

The trio saw the surprise in each other's eyes. Those who came out earlier did not cause any power fluctuations. Who was the one that was able to cause this?

Wasn't Scarlet the only one left inside?

The mirror portal and Scarlet appeared. A faint shadow could still be seen behind her, a humanoid Dharma Idol that was covered in chains.

Having a humanoid Dharma Idol was not bad, but what's with the chains around it? Restricting itself, was that meant to be a joke? Or rather, did she have a prisoner mindset? This revealed her self-denial and low self-esteem; she was a weakling as expected.

Some people even laughed out loud. Everyone waited for so long just to see such a weird toy emerge? Well, at least she wasn't thrown out of the space after failing to cast a Dharma Idol, that would make everyone even more speechless.

Laura and Grai ignored the others' reactions. To see Scarlet come out of the space safely meant that she had succeeded. Regardless of the strength of her Dharma Idol, at least she gained the right to enter the Holy Land.

A few of them wanted to join Scarlet, but three swift figures had already reached her.

Those three shadows were so fast to the extent that they were a blur to Laura and Grai. They only felt a gust of wind pass by them before the three figures were standing in front of Scarlet.