Two weeks later, Jack’s eyes slowly opened. He sensed the restlessness in the camp surrounding him. He smiled.
“It’s time.”
He got up and opened the tent flap—they’d occupied the tents of the defeated disciples—to witness a camp in the middle of deconstruction. Disciples and Elders alike walked with grim faces as if going to war. They waved their hands, sucking the tents into their space rings, then wiping the ground clean of all disturbance.
That last act took Jack by surprise. The space monsters, who cared only about themselves, would wipe the ground after them? Was it manners, or just respect for the Dark Canal?
“What are you looking around for?” Strawpin’s voice reached Jack’s ears. He looked up to find her floating over him. “Gather your tent. We’re departing!”
He smiled, sucking it into his ring like everyone else was doing. Nearby, Brock and Starhair did the same. The three of them took to the air, not forgetting to wipe the ground behind them, and joined the growing lineup of the Great Silver faction.
More so than when they fought the other disciples, Jack had a chance to observe everyone. Besides the three of them, there were six more disciples, all at the peak B-Grade. Ten Elders accompanied them—the peak A-Grade Grand Elder, two late A-Grades, three middle A-Grades, and four early A-Grades. Nineteen people in total. In any other part of the world, their combined auras alone would have devastated the landscape. Here, they only summoned a strong breeze.
The camp was completely recovered in a matter of seconds. The ground was pristine, like they were never there—with the sole exception of the wooden cabin, which even now remained unmoved. Just as everyone gathered in the sky, the cabin door opened. A lone figure stepped out.
It looked similar to the last time Jack had seen it, except smaller. Silver scales, flexible whiskers, deep eyes, sharp teeth and claws. This was Great Silver—a silver dragon, one of the two Overlords of the Space Monster World. His aura was deep like the world. His Dao resonated in a deep bass. He was...irreproachable.
Probably stronger than Archon Summer Noon.
He was also far smaller than last time. His avatar in the Immortal Summit had been huge—right now, he was small enough to fit through the cabin’s door.
Crownbeast could also change his size, Jack realized. Is it an ability of all space monsters? Or just a few?
Great Silver flew to the head of his faction, growing in size to become like a truck. “Let’s go,” he rumbled, not sparing anyone a second look. He shot into the distance—everyone followed.
Their camp had been situated at the edge of the Dark Canal. A vertical cliff awaited just to the side, descending a hundred miles into the darkness. They flew over it. As soon as they passed the edge, Jack felt a cold current flowing from below, infiltrating even his extreme physique. He caught some of the weakest disciples shivering.
Great Silver led the way at a speed that was neither fast nor slow, letting them savor the experience. Endless darkness spread below their feet. Not even Jack’s perception could penetrate it—for the first time since reaching the D-Grade, he felt fear of the dark, as part of the nearby world was hidden from him. The Dark Canal seemed like the place nightmares crawled out of—everything children imagined hid in the dark, it existed in the Dark Canal.
“Spooky,” Brock said in a low voice.
“Damn right,” another disciple replied. “And we haven’t even entered.”
A third disciple piped up. “You should be careful down there, bros. Almost every threat is Autarch-level.”
“Then why are we going in?” Starhair asked.
“We have the Elders. They’ll keep us safe.”
Jack smirked. Brock hadn’t been idle these past two weeks. Every other disciple and even a couple of low-level Elders had been initiated into brohood. The only disciples still resisting were Starhair and Strawpin, who considered brohood distasteful.
“Cringe,” was all Strawpin said.
The Dark Canal was over a thousand miles wide, but they were fast. Only a few minutes later, Jack sensed another group heading their way. He saw them soon after—twenty monsters, just like them, headed by a heavily muscular, gray-skinned humanoid with fierce claws, sharp teeth, and a thick tail swishing behind his back. The lovechild of Predator and Frieza. If devils had a king, this would be him—and he was aptly called the Fiend King.
“Great Silver,” Fiend King called out.
The Fiend King was already done talking to his faction. Whatever he’d said to them—his words had been isolated by a sound barrier—the devils looked ready to go.
“Let’s go,” Great Silver said, and both factions dove into the darkness.
***
After all those descriptions and warnings, Jack expected the Dark Canal to be a zone of death, a monster-infested world where only A-Grades could survive.
Yet, reality betrayed expectations. As they descended lower and lower into the darkness, they came upon a scene of desolation. The ocean cut through the canal like a raging river. The water was black and frothing, shooting into the sky every time it met rock. Stone islands rose from the water, stubbornly standing against the river flow, but they were empty. There were no creatures, no plants, no buildings, no monsters in sight besides themselves.
The deeper they went, the denser the darkness. By the time they landed on the very first stone island, Jack’s mighty perception couldn’t spread further than a mile from his body. He was practically blind. As for the Dao pressure, it had shot up tremendously. Anyone below the peak B-Grade would simply be unable to fly, and even a less talented peak B-Grade might struggle.
In a Dao thousands of times denser than normal, any lower level cultivators would either implode or be completely immobilized. The air here was harder than regular concrete.
Jack turned to the woman beside him. “I have so many questions.”
“Shoot,” Strawpin said, looking around warily.
“Why did we all enter from the same spot? Wouldn’t it be safer for us disciples to go directly to that Hall of Trials?”
“We can’t. The rules governing the Dark Canal are mysterious and strict. All we know is that this island below us is the starting point—the people who attempt to enter from anywhere else simply disappear. Even the two ends of the canal, where the water goes in and out, are dead zones. Don’t go that way. And, this goes without saying, but don’t enter the water either. It’s much more dangerous than the islands. Also pointless—there’s nothing down there.”
“I see,” Jack replied. He was glad he ran into the once-in-a-thousand-years Canal Delve. Otherwise, he would have arrived here by himself at some point, and he might have had an accident trying to enter.
Then again, maybe not. He’d be prudent enough to gather information first.
“Just how powerful is this place?” he asked. “Autarchs stand at the top of the world, but I feel like they’re considered normal here.”
“The Dark Canal is the origin and core of our entire world,” Strawpin replied, the reverence evident in her voice. “It’s only natural for this place to be made for Autarchs, isn’t it?”
“I guess... What about that Hall of Trials?” he asked the burning question. “What’s that?”
Strawpin gave him a piercing look. “You don’t know?”
“It never came up.”
Calculations shone in her eyes, She stared for a few moments before looking away and replying, “The Hall of Trials is the world’s greatest cultivation haven. Every monster who knows about it yearns to enter, but almost nobody can. According to legend, it was established by the creator of our world, and it contains inheritances at the absolute highest level. Everyone who enters is transformed. It is no exaggeration to say that a monster’s level of success in the Hall of Trials shapes their entire future.”
“I see. So, it’s kind of a big deal.”
She once again glared at him. “Yes, Jack. It’s kind of a big deal.”
“Jack!” Venerable Saint Thousand Shell screamed in his mind. “She mentioned the creator of this world! Ask her more!”
“I was planning to,” he replied, then turned back to Strawpin. “You mentioned the creator of this world,” he said. “So, it really was created by someone?”
She chuckled. “Well, that’s just the legend. I don’t know if it’s true or not. All I can tell you is that, while our world and its entrance seal could be natural, the Hall of Trials is definitely not. Someone made it—and they were far stronger than even the current Overlords.”