Chapter 358: Trials

As to whether or not the others were genuinely lost or together with him, Xue Wei did not know.

Since he was unable to hear anything, see anything, touch anything, say anything and feel anything, he could not say whether or not they were there or if they were gone.

Trying to reach behind him, he still felt nothing, and thus he resigned himself to fate.

Had he picked death? Was this death? It was not very painful, and his soul was still active and did not seem dead. He could also move his body, but he could sense nothing.

Unsure about what was going on, Xue Wei was not one to just wait around to see what would happen to him, so instead, he began moving in this darkness filled with nothingness.

He was fumbling around, there were no walls, but every step felt as if there was nothing beneath his feet. He did not know if he was falling down or floating upwards.

Moving forward was like stepping on a cloud; it was soft beneath his feet, but even so, he did not resign himself to stopping and continued. Since he had not died, something had to be waiting for him inside this darkness.

He was unaware of how long time passed. Because of the darkness, it felt as if it was an eternity, but it could have been mere minutes.

More and more time passed, and although he was quite certain that the time moved slower, it was clear that he had been walking for hours, yet no change had occurred within the darkness.

Although the time was passing like this, he did not halt his steps even once. He continued forward, moving further and further away from his initial location. However, it was hard to say whether or not he had actually left the location as everything looked the exact same.

Sighing Xue Wei was wondering if there was another solution, but unable to find it, he continued moving his legs. Even if he had come nowhere, it was better to try than to give up and await death.

As such, he continued moving without stopping even once. Since he was not flying or running, he could walk for days on end without being tired.

And thus, he did just that. The time continued passing, and soon, a few days had passed, but there were still no signs of ending. Xue Wei wondered if they had to stay within this darkness until the Ascended Realm challenge ended.

But as he continued walking, he realized that even when he had walked for a hundred days, there were still no signs of its ending. He finally paused his legs, wondering if he had made the wrong decision entering these ruins instead of searching for riches elsewhere.

However, the moment his feet stopped moving forward, a light shone brightly, and Xue Wei found that the darkness was forced to retreat, the ground underneath his feet becoming hard once more, and a wall was by his side.

Seeing the light after so many days in darkness, Xue Wei squinted, and his head started hurting when a silver beam of light landed on him, soothing away all the discomfort.

"Welcome to the second stage of the trial," a voice suddenly boomed out within his head, shaking his mind.

"You just came out of the Realm of the Dead, a world where no senses work. This world tests one's will power alongside their stubbornness. The longer you last, the better your rewards.

"Five experts entered the Realm of the Dead; you were the last to exit. The others lasted fewer days than you. Hence they are in other chambers now getting other rewards.

"This Realm of Death is a realm within a realm, although time flowed slowly in there, it flowed much faster than the outside world. You have been inside the Realm of the Dead for ten hours."

Xue Wei was stunned when he heard that the hundred days he stayed within the realm was nothing more than ten hours in the Ascended Realm. It was truly magical.

He was also slightly relieved. If he had truly spent a hundred days within the darkness, he would genuinely regret his choice to enter this underground world.

But now he was ecstatic. He understood that each place in this realm was a chance, and although he might have entered one of the best places within the entire realm, he was not willing to give up on the others either.

"Go to the room next door and select your reward. After this, you can choose to challenge the second layer of challenges and get another reward.

"In case you manage to get to the final challenge, you will be able to get your hands on a drop of the diety's blood."

Xue Wei suddenly felt his heart race fast, his eyes widened, and he suddenly felt a lot of yearning.

He was unaware of what this drop of the Diety's blood was, but his body wanted to get some of this diety's blood.

Since his body had such an unexpected reaction, Xue Wei made a decision. Even if it took the last of his time within the realm, he would fight for the chance to encounter this blood. He had never felt such restlessness before.

He was not sure what to do with himself as he paced the floor, feeling elated, anxious, and confused.

Finally, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down before he slowly made his way towards the door that led to the rewards.

Here he found a scroll with weapons, herbs, ores, and pills. All of which were extraordinarily precious and Xue Wei could pick one of them as he pleased.

In the end, he picked up a tree called a Widow's Willow. It was not a herb as such it was a full tree, and when Xue Wei got it, the tree stood like a potted plant in front of him, natural to take with him.

The Widow's Willow was extraordinary. The leaves were capable of healing wounds, no matter how horrible the wound was, as long as a limb had not been severed completely, any injury could be healed.

Xue Wei was often in danger, and so were his friends. It was natural for him to pick a healing treasure, especially since he was capable of getting his hands on a full Widow's Willow. If it had just been a handful of leaves, then he would have picked something else, but a full tree was quite good, it could also regrow the leaves he pulled, and thus, it was a great choice.

After having made his choice, the Widow’s Willow appeared next to him, and he quickly stored it in his storage treasure, before he looked around the room.

He had not been able to find his friends yet, but he knew that they were capable of understanding their limits. If they had some doubts, they would, without a doubt, withdraw from the challenges.

When looking at the other wall opposite him, he found two doors; one had a sign on top which politely stated "Exit," while the other was without a sign at all.

It was evident that if he wished to continue, he would have to enter the second trial through this door.

Xue Wei entered the door, and when he looked around, he found that he was in a small box-like chamber.

The walls, the floor, and the ceiling were grey; they seemed to be made from another material than the usual black stone that everything else had been made from.

He looked around, but nothing happened, so he sat down in the middle and began cultivating.

After waiting for a few minutes, the voice he had heard before sounded once more, "Young one, you have guts, daring to take on the second trial of mine.

"The first trial took away all your senses, but this trial will test how well you handle pain. The longer you can stay conscious, the better rewards you will gain."

At this point in time, the voice vanished, and instead, an uncontrollable itch began spreading all over Xue Wei's body.

The itch did not hurt, but it felt as if thousands of insects were crawling all over his body.

The feeling was uncomfortable, and discomfort made him frown slightly, but not a word escaped his lips as the itching turned to sharp stabbing pain that wreaked havoc over his body.

Xue Wei's heart was bleeding. Not because of the pain he was undergoing, but because he understood his friends. All of them would definitely have tried this second trial as well, and that meant they were also experiencing the same excruciating pain.

Knowing that his friends had to suffer, Xue Wei was frowning and unhappy, but then he thought about how they too, were like him. They needed to temper themselves and to grow alongside him. Although the pain was severe, they needed to know how to keep their minds clear even in such situations.

In the other chambers within the underground world, all of them were sitting still. Luoluo's small, frail body was trembling from the intense pain she was feeling, but not a sound spilled from her tightly clenched lips.

All of them had the same thought. For them to be able to get further on the journey of cultivation, for them to stay together, they had no other option than to endure this pain. The more they could endure, the more they would be rewarded.

Looking at the rewards they had gotten in the first round, they knew that this was a place filled with treasures.

These treasures were able to increase their strength, so they wanted to do their best.

Time trickled by slowly; every moment felt like an eternity in the excruciating pain they were experiencing, but none of them gave up.

Deep within the depths of the underground world was a stone stele. This stone stele had strange rune-like writing on top of it, and the runes were shining with a blue light.

An ancient voice, the voice which had been speaking to them earlier, could be heard.

"These young ones are not too shabby," it said with appreciation.

After a short while, a tremble ran through the stone stele, and it exclaimed in shock, "This bloodline!"

Since the stone stele had no expression and no face, it was impossible to tell what and where it had sensed something, but from the voice alone, one could hear the great shock it experienced. A bloodline, unlike any others, had arrived in the underground world!

Only this stone stele knew precisely what this bloodline signified, but it said no more, just observed.

The entrance that Xue Wei and his friends had entered was not the only entrance into the underground world.

In total, four entrances had appeared in the Ascended's Realm. Two of these entrances had been left unexplored, but one other had caught the attention of a group of experts.

Now a full seventeen experts were inside the underground world, but the two groups were unaware of the other's existence. Only the stone stele knew everything that was happening inside.

This time, time was going by the same time outside and inside the chamber. Luoluo was the first to give up in the face of the pain, after which a long time passed, and Bai Tianyi also had to give up.

Hei Gou lasted longer than Lin Xiao, but none of them could overtake Xue Wei.

After the others had finished their trial, they all picked a treasure and got ready for the next trial. All apart from Luoluo, who decided to give up.

Xue Wei lasted more than a full day. As long as someone was still within the previous trial, no one would be able to advance to the next trial, and when Xue Wei came out, he quickly picked another rare treasure, a Vermilion Bird Feather, the most potent fire Qi treasure around.