553 Reward?

It took Alex and the others half an hour just to reach 600th plank. They had been bombarded by a Martial Emperor pressure ever since they stepped on the 501st plank. Fortunately, no one was actually weak enough to even use their Spiritual Energy. Sherry and Kyle were already 7-Star Martial Emperor, so they could still walk easily while facing Martial Emperor pressure, let alone Stina, a peak Martial Emperor. On the other hand, Alex's body was sturdy enough to not get swayed by a weak pressure like that.

After all, the pressure itself was intending to chip away one's energy, not attack them. From Alex's perspective, the pressure didn't go more than 5-Star Martial Emperor energy, so he was fine.

Alex faced another problem after stepping on the 600th plank. He looked at the people in front, many of them started dropping out after reaching this point.

People such as Song Yu or even Ruben and Lucia were still going strong while only releasing their Spiritual Energy to the maximum.

He observed the plank in front of them. Now that he was close enough, Alex could finally see that a Martial Monarch pressure imbued inside the plank. He had seen many of these just by looking at Jeanne's or Leoz's Spiritual Energy.

"This might be a little bit troublesome…"

"Master?" Sherry walked in front of him and looked at him with a worried expression.

"Nothing. It's just a Martial Monarch Pressure, we can just use our Spiritual Energy to block a portion of the pressure. The problem would be the next step… I am wondering if they would release a Martial Saint Pressure… Though I feel there is another trick on this."

Alex didn't say this inside the thought transmission because what he said must have been explored by the people in front.

As soon as he said the last word, he stepped on the 601st plank. Just like a sensor, the pressure kicked up the moment his foot touched the plank.

*Thud!*

Alex's heart began beating rapidly. It made his body tremble gently until his Spiritual Energy enveloped him.

There was an instant when he nearly forgot what he had to do until his instinct released his Spiritual Energy. The Spiritual Energy blocked the pressure coming off the plank as though protecting Alex for any attack.

"I see…" Alex smirked as he recalled the sudden change in heaviness. Although he hadn't experienced the pressure of Martial Monarch himself, he already saw how terrifying it was from Jeanne and Leoz or that Grand Elder of Joyful Union Sect.

"This is a Martial Monarch pressure. If it's like this…" Alex turned around and said, "It's better to use a portion of your Spiritual Energy before stepping here."

Stina and the others nodded and released their Spiritual Energy. Fortunately, they had stronger cultivation than Alex, so they were pretty relaxed facing this pressure.

"How are you doing?" Alex asked.

"Nothing in particular. Maybe this is still not too strong for us since I still only need to release a little portion of my energy," Sherry said.

"I don't have any problem either."

"Same here. Although we have different cultivation, the energy around us feels no different… or at least not much higher."

"We just stepped on the 601st, so it's better to be careful. In any case, I am sure we can only go slower as to conserve our stamina." Alex pondered for a moment before continuing the trial.

Sherry and the others didn't say anything and followed him.

Alex always stopped from a few seconds to half a minute every time he stepped on the next plank. Like charging toward a thousand arrows, it would be better if one held a position for a few seconds to reinforce their defense rather than continuously charging. It would obviously drain their stamina.

Though his resting process was slightly faster than Song Yu and the others, allowing them to slowly catch up with them.

After another walking for another half an hour, Alex was only a few planks away from Song Yu.

"You have come…" Song Yu turned back after noticing his presence.

"Yeah." Alex shrugged his shoulder as he took a glimpse of her group. Three of her group had given up, considering they were close to the 700th planks.

Song Jia and the others silently watched them conversed, but Alex's eyes focused not on Song Yu. Instead, he was looking at the people from other influences.

Ruben and Lucia had another eight members in their group earlier, but four had fallen and accepted the trial reward. Just like Song Yu's group, a few of them had a sign of exhaustion. Alex was sure they would surely give up sooner or later.

When he looked at the Fire God Clan group, he found out that Grimes was also staring at him.

Both of them furrowed their eyebrows the moment their eyes locked. Alex didn't know why, but he felt something dangerous from these guys. It was like watching Shelka, albeit she was trapped in the other world while the latter was in front of him.

Alex felt that he was planning something. He looked up, found that he was watched from every direction.

Judging from their eyes, they wouldn't let a single detail escape their observation.

"Tch!" Alex clicked his tongue, noticing that he couldn't warn Anna and the others to be prepared. He didn't know what kind of plan this Grimes had for him, but the timing was pretty obvious.

"It would seem I need a change of plan later…" Alex sighed, resigning himself to another problem. He cursed inwardly, 'I never really search for a problem... but why does the problem always come to me… What? Do my talent and my group bring trouble unintentionally? But without them, I might not be able to meet my wife again. Sigh...'

Stina's world was better than this world. Although there was some friction here and there, the world was pretty civil. He thought he would surely search for a peaceful world after reaching the God stage and left this world to stay with his family.

"Alex… Do you have a problem?"

Alex looked at Song Yu for a few seconds before turning back to Sherry and the others, not answering her question. Then, he sent a thought transmission to her instead of Sherry and the others. 'No. They might not think as extreme as earlier, but it's still troublesome to me. Besides, the Fire God Clan is going to do something. In any case, they might try to hurt us while preventing you from helping…'

Looking at his act, Song Yu also played along and turned back before saying in disappointment. "Let's go."

At the same time, Song Yu asked Alex with a thought transmission. 'What do you mean?'

'Main Clan. They are going to Blackwade Main Clan and make some kind of treaty to deal with me first. I thought I don't need to tell you this, but I feel there is something wrong with Grimes' eyes.'

'Main Clan?' Song Yu gasped.

Besides her, Song Jia tilted her head in confusion before asking her, "Sister? What's wrong?"

"No… Nothing." Song Yu smiled, assuring her. She pondered for a moment. 'What do you mean by the main clan?'

'It's simple. Fire God Main Clan will have a peace treaty with your main clan, which means your clan on this continent can't do anything to them. After that, the Fire God Clan would surely attack my Spirit Nest.

'At first, I am planning to hide after this, but I feel there is something wrong in Grimes' eyes. I am not sure what it is though.'

Song Yu clearly pictured the plan on her mind. There were two people that were capable of planning something like this. The Patriarch of Fire God Clan and Grimes, albeit she didn't know who it was. 'I will try to contact the main clan after this event.'

'It's futile. I will just break out of this place after this event and hide for a while before going according to my original plan.' Alex rejected her plan as it was too late. He didn't want to be connected to the Blackwade Clan after the Joyful Union Sect in the first place. After all, Alex might trust Song Yu, but it didn't mean he trusted the Blackwade Clan.

'But the Fire God Main Clan is far stronger than Joyful Union Sect. Although I am not underestimating your Spirit Nest, you might not be able to hide from them.'

Alex didn't answer her and continued to step forward. Even if she didn't say it, he already knew. Rather than having involved Song Yu in this, it would be better to keep her away so as to avoid ruining his plan. He told all of this to her earlier just to warn her that she shouldn't stay on his way.

With the difference of a few planks, Alex finally passed her group in a few minutes. No one dared to stop Alex while they were passing their group. And not long after they passed Song Yu's group, he stumbled on the 700th planks.

There would be another challenge starting from the 701st plank. He didn't know what it was, but it was surely dangerous because he found out that the Spiritual Energy in the plank had a slightly different color than the one he stepped on.

Before coming to a conclusion, he took a look at the other groups ahead. As he predicted earlier, most of them had released their full power from Spiritual Energy to their element. His Spirit Eyes could see how they manipulated their elements and whether they were good at it.

It would seem he was right after gathering all the information from them. The people who could better manipulate their element had a slightly better expression than the one who couldn't.

Their element became like an umbrella, shielding them from the Spiritual Energy attack. However, he also found something different than all the planks he experienced in this trial.

The Spiritual Energy was still at Martial Monarch, making it hard to move forward, but what caught his eyes was their attack. This time each plank attacked them twice. The second wave might be the same as earlier, attacking their body first before going to the brain and Spiritual Energy. It was the first wave that made this trial troublesome.

'I see. It would seem the next hundred planks would lower our physical body.' Alex arrived at that conclusion after seeing the first wave only attacked their body. With these two waves, the people started going down one by one.

Even Ruben and Lucia's group only had three other teammates left. There was another thing he noticed from the people who sat down and received the reward.

Unlike the people on the back, after reaching the 700th plank. Unless they died, their injuries would be healed in an instant.

"Look, there is one that falls!" Sherry exclaimed as she pointed her finger.

Alex glanced at the person who fell. It was a young man with a cultivation of 1-Star Martial Emperor. Judging from his age alone, he would seem a little bit older than Song Yu. His condition was terrible. One of his arms and legs bent in a weird way as he had been walking through these planks with a single leg. After spitting blood and couldn't endure it anymore, he fell.

At this moment, the trial finally showed its wonder. A surge of Spiritual Energy suddenly rose from the plank he was on and enveloped his body with white light. The white light restored all of his wounds from his broken arm and leg to his internal injury.

The heavy breathing of this man slowed down as he sat perfectly on the ground, falling into deep cultivation. The light then surrounded him to protect him from anyone who tried to disturb him.

"He is receiving something…" Alex narrowed his eyes as his Spirit Eyes showed another stream of light coming into this man's head. "Interesting…"

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