by KSY
The Sect Master of Nebula Sect dreaded that fact, and he quickly informed the SS Grade faction that they served about it. The SS Grade faction’s name was the Silver Moon Family Clan.
All the surviving members of both Family Clans had already escaped to Endless Abyss Divine World even before the arrival of the Silver Moon Family Clan at Radiant Divine World, which had shocked the Silver Moon Family Clan in the extreme.
They were certain of one fact: a powerful being or faction was supporting the Heaven Sundering Family Clan and the Eternity Family Clan from the shadows.
Sundering Valley was in uproar when fifty screens appeared mysteriously in the sky above it. Each of these screens was focused on one of the top participants from that year’s Divine Trials and showed them in real time as they moved around in Raspite.
These screens were not like the ones found on Grandura. If one looked at any of them intently for some time, then one could see, feel and hear everything around the participant it was focused on. As a result, the actions of the fifty participants that the screens were focused on, as well as the other participants traveling along with them, were clearly displayed on the screens.
This was something that had never happened before in the previous innumerable Divine trials. No one was able to understand this situation, including the Ancestor Level Martial Artists.
The expressions of everyone changed when they saw on quite a number of screens that a number of participants who’d taken off into the sky were attacked by numerous flying-type Elemental Beasts and Elemental Birds. Many participants were severely injured under their relentless attacks. This fact dumbfounded both the participants as well as the people in Sundering Valley. It was not that flying-type Elemental Beasts and Elemental Birds hadn’t attacked in previous Divine Trials, but they’d never attacked in such an organized manner. This was definitely a first.
It was as if they were following someone’s instruction. It didn’t take long for the participants to realize that the flying-type Elemental Beasts and Elemental Birds didn’t continue to attack once they descended to the ground, which made it clear to everyone that flying was forbidden in these Divine Trials.
The portal of the Treasure Space started shining and soon started ejecting participants that had received severe injuries from the flying-type Elemental Beasts and Elemental Birds when they’d been unable to descend to the ground in time. The expressions of everyone in Sundering Valley turned gloomy as doctors and their assistants got into action. The Divine Trials had just started and a few hundred participants were already ejected by the Treasure Space! Something like that had never happened before in previous Divine Trials.
Ryan’s family, on the other hand, had twisted expressions when they looked at one of the screens which was showing Ryan. They saw that he was all alone, while he flew through the sky above Poison Meadow, which grew over a High-grade Poison Attribute Treasure Land. It had a large number of Poisonous Attribute beings in it, because of which participants preferred to avoid it.
In the case of Poison Attribute beings, the potency of their poisons doesn’t reduce even though their Cultivation Level is suppressed by the Treasure Space, as the strength of their poison completely relies on their understanding of Poison Elemental Laws. As a consequence, the poison of even the weakest Immortal Realm Poison Attribute being can instantly kill any Late Mortal King Realm participant in the Treasure Space.
So, the danger can be understood.
The Poison Meadow had taken the life of numerous participants in the past, because of which even the Law Enforcement Officials made sure that none of the participants were teleported there. The Law Enforcement Officials of Heaven Sundering Family Clan had an inferior version of the Treasure Space’s Master controller. They could use it to control a few things in the Treasure Space, like the region of Raspite in which the participants would appear after entering the portal.
Ryan was lucky that Caius informed him about the odd behavior of the flying-type Elemental Beasts and Elemental Birds as well as the appearance of screens up in the sky above Sundering Valley. Not long afterwards, Ryan sensed a large number of living beings flying towards him, so he quickly descended to the ground. He saw a big horde of flying-type Elemental Beasts and Elemental Birds passing above his head soon after. Ryan’s facial expression turned grim. He quickly thanked Caius for that timely information. If not for that, then he would surely have engaged them, which could have resulted in him suffering from severe injuries.
Ryan continued his journey on foot just like the other participants, as Raspite’s sky was inaccessible.
Ryan was initially stunned when Caius informed him about the screens that had appeared up in the sky above Sundering Valley, as no one from his family had informed him about them, but soon he was informed by Caius that even his family members were stunned upon their sudden appearance, which could only mean that they’d had no prior idea about them either. He knew that this would make it difficult for him to use underhanded means to achieve his goals, as it would bring a bad name to his family and tarnish his own reputation. He would also have to take care of a lot of things while moving around Raspite, and restrain himself from using certain things in his Spatial pouch.
None of the people on Grandura knew that the Master controller of the Treasure Space was in the hands of Solomon, unlike what had happened in previous Divine Trials. Solomon had decided to increase the difficulty of the Divine Trials to a whole new level. Raspite was quite huge in size, and he made sure that every participant moved around it on foot to further increase the risk as the numbers of creatures on the ground clearly outnumbered the ones in the air.
Julia was so enraged on seeing Ryan all alone in Poison Meadow that she flew towards the three Law Enforcement Officials that were standing next to the portal for answers. She and Emilia had personally made sure that Ryan became a part of group, and yet he’d been teleported to Raspite all alone and that too into Poison Meadow, unlike rest of his group.
One of the screens was focused on Raban, so Ryan’s family could see Raban and the rest of his group members who were walking through a rocky terrain, known as Lizard Valley, as it contained a large number of lizard-type Elemental Beasts. Lizard Valley was at the other end of Raspite to Poison Meadow. This fact alone made Ryan’s family dizzy, as it was clear that it would take a lot of time for Ryan to reunite with his fellow group members.
“Hey, can you explain?” Julia said as large quantities of Baleful aura erupted out of her. The three Law Enforcement Officials were drenched in cold sweat as Julia glared at them. They finally understood why Julia was nicknamed Bloody Tigress. It turned out that Julia too was a Taboo Martial Artist, and her Baleful aura was extremely vicious.
Everyone in Sundering Valley watched this scene unfolding with wide eyes. They’d never expected Julia to be so brazen. Alexis and company quickly flew towards her to stop her, but they were unable to get close to her because of her Baleful aura. They tried to call her numerous times, but she was not responding at all: it was as if she was in a trance-like state.
“We … don’t know … anything,” one of the Law Enforcement Officials stammered. He along with other two Law Enforcement Officials was enveloped in Julia’s Baleful aura, which made it difficult for them to even breathe. On hearing his response Julia released an extremely Cold aura which could even freeze Hell. The Law Enforcement Officials felt tingles down their spines and feared for their lives for the first time after becoming Law Enforcement Officials. They were certain that all of them were going to die that day.
“Julia! Stay your hand! It has nothing to do with them,” Eadgar said in a thundering voice but it had no effect on her as her Cold aura had already started to freeze the blood of the Law Enforcement Officials. Everyone looked at the entire scene in horror. Eadgar immediately appeared in front of Julia and wrapped the half-frozen Law Enforcement Officials in his green-colored Wood Attribute Spirit Power, which thawed them a little. Julia’s Baleful aura had no effect on him a
s he was way stronger than her.
Julia looked at Eadgar with bloodshot eyes as a blue-colored sword appeared in her hand and she slashed it at him with full power. The blue-colored sword was her Soul weapon, a Mid-grade Immortal Artifact, but it was useless against Eadgar, as he was a Late Immortal Saint Realm Martial Artist, while she was an Immortal King Realm Martial Artist. So the outcome can be imagined. Her sword was caught by Eadgar with his bare hands, and his body released an extremely powerful pressure which immediately enveloped Julia and completely restrained her.
“Why are you getting in my way? These bastards threw my grandson into such a dangerous place,” Julia roared in anger as tears started to flow down her cheeks.
“They didn’t do anything. Can’t you see that this year’s Divine Trials have many oddities in them? A lot of rules have changed,” Eadgar said in a thundering voice which shook the hearts of everyone present, including that of Julia who was in a trance-like state. She regained her senses soon after. Her body stopped emitting Baleful aura, and on seeing that Eadgar removed the pressure that enveloped her.
“Don’t worry about your grandson. He isn’t the type to die early,” Eadgar said softly. Julia just nodded as she returned to the side of her family members, who were looking at her with concern. Julia was a Stable Taboo Martial Artist, but she tended to lose control over herself whenever her emotions were in an upheaval. This fact was known to everyone, but this was the first time they had actually seen Julia go berserk.
“Grandmother, don’t worry about big Bro,” Alia said as she tried to calm her down. Julia just nodded her head. Her eyes were still moist, but it was not just her: even Alexis had moist eyes, and Emilia was no different. She just looked at the screen showing Ryan, as if searching for a reason to not worry about him.
The majority of the Ancestor Level Martial Artists had already arrived at Sundering Valley and were hovering high up in the sky without anyone knowing about them, except for the other Ancestor Level Martial Artists that were already present in the Sundering Valley.
They had witnessed the entire scene of Julia almost killing the Law Enforcement Officials, and couldn’t help but sigh, as they knew that it was the incident from two decades previously that made Julia so fragile: she’d lost her two sons and almost lost her husband because of it. They could understand why she tried to kill the Law Enforcement Officials, so they decided to neither scold nor punish her.
Eadgar turned into a blur as he disappeared from his spot when he noticed Nero and other members of the Upper echelons of both Family Clans had appeared high up in the sky. He appeared in front of them with a grim expression and had a large number of questions in his mind. He wanted answers, and he knew that except for Nero no one could answer them.
“Head Nero, what exactly is happening? This Divine Trial is completely different from previous Divine Trials. The difficulty level has gone up by a notch,” Eadgar asked in a concerned manner.
“I will explain everything in a few seconds. Just make sure that all the medics of our Family Clan are here,” Nero said to Eadgar and the other Ancestor Level Martial Artists, as he turned into a blur before disappearing from his spot. He then appeared on the ground.
A few members of the Upper echelon of the Heaven Sundering Family Clan quickly got into action in order to execute Nero’s orders while the rest kept on hovering in the same place as they looked attentively at Nero.
Everyone present in Sundering Valley was stunned upon seeing the sudden appearance of Nero and quickly gave him a deep bow. Nero just smiled at them as he acknowledged their greetings.
“I know everyone has numerous questions in their mind about this year’s Divine Trial. In reality, even I have no idea what’s going on, but I have a hunch that someone from either the Main branch of Heaven Sundering Family Clan or the Eternity Family Clan is trying to find a suitable disciple and has therefore increased the difficulty of the Divine Trials,” Nero said in a calm manner, but his words shook the very cores of everyone present even as they nodded their heads. Everyone was satisfied with this answer, and their gloomy moods immediately disappeared.
If the rise in difficulty had something to do with the Main branches then none of them had any problem. The members of the Senior generation of Ryan’s family, on the other hand, had weird expressions.
“It seems that Ryan is being tested by the Main branches,” the members of the Senior generation of Ryan’s family thought to themselves as idiotic smiles appeared on their faces. It was not just them: everyone else in Sundering Valley had also come to the same conclusion. Everyone’s gazes shifted from Nero to Ryan’s family. They looked at them with envious expressions, and Nero just gave Ryan’s family a smile before he disappeared from his spot and then appeared high up in the sky next to the other Ancestor level Martial Artists.
Julia, on the other hand, felt a little guilty about her earlier actions. She had almost killed three innocent people without reason. She once again flew towards them. On seeing Julia coming in their direction, the three Law Enforcement Officials started to look left and right as if trying to find Eadgar. Julia’s actions had already attracted the attention of everyone in Sundering Valley, but they could tell from Julia’s expression that she had no ill-intentions towards them this time.
“I am sorry,” Julia said in a sincere manner which was completely outside the expectations of the Law Enforcement Officials. She then took out a crystal card from her Spatial pouch and handed it over to one of them.
“Split it equally amongst yourselves,” Julia said.
“There is no need to apologize or for compensation, Elder Julia,” the leader of the Law Enforcement Officials said in a serious manner, as he knew that anyone would have done the same if their child was to end up in Poison Meadow.
“I insist,” Julia said as he glared at him, and he suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He no longer dared to reason with her, and on the contrary, thanked her many times for her generosity. The other two Law Enforcement Officials were no different.
Julia returned to her family’s side as she looked at the screen showing Ryan just like the rest of the family members, but it was not just them.
It was everyone in Sundering Valley.
Ch.17
Ryan ran at his top speed as he traversed Poison Meadow. He wished to reunite with his fellow group members as soon as possible, and to do that, he’ have to traverse the entirety of Poison Meadow and a few other Treasure Lands too. He had two ways of doing that from his current location. One was to continue on his current path and pass right through the Inner region, which was the most dangerous part of Poison Meadow, as most of the powerful beings of Poison Meadow were concentrated there. This was the shortest path possible, but fraught with dangers. The other choice was to avoid the Inner region and travel only through its Outer region, which was an extremely long path.
He was unable to decide on the matter.
Currently, he was still in the Outer region of Poison Meadow because of which the Poison Attribute Elemental Beasts and other poisonous creatures that he encountered fled after he released a little bit of his Baleful aura, but that was changing as he steadily moved deeper into Poison Meadow. The creatures that he was now encountering were getting stronger and stronger the further he moved into it, but the thing that made Ryan excited was the ease with which he had already discovered fifteen medallions.
The difficulty of finding medallions in any region of Raspite depends largely on the danger level of that region. The medallions in Poison Meadow were in plain sight so Ryan didn’t have to search hard for them. He was able to find them easily with the help of his exceptional senses and good pair of eyes. This made many people in Sundering Valley green with envy. Ryan was picking medallions as if he was picking up stones, while the rest of the participants had yet to find even one.
The fact that the grade of the Poison Elemental Energy was going up as he moved deeper into the Poison Meadow made him giddy. Since it was a meadow it had numerous Pl
ant Spirits, but all of them were low-grade at most in the Outer region, but their grade was increasing with the purity of the Poison Elemental Energy. His targets were the High-grade Poison Attribute Mortal Plant Spirits and Poison Attribute Immortal Plant Spirits which were in the Inner region.
Given this, Ryan really had no choice but to enter the Inner region of Poison Meadow, and as well, there would be higher chances of finding more medallions in the Inner region. All these reasons compelled him to traverse Poison Meadow via its Inner region.
After a day’s journey, Ryan finally stepped into the Inner region of Poison Meadow. He had collected twenty more medallions on his way there bringing the tally in his possession to thirty-five. The Poison Elemental Energy had become manyfold purer there, which also resulted in an increase in the strength of the Poison Attribute beings that Ryan encountered on his way. They would no longer flee after he released his Baleful aura to scare them but would attack him and then end up dead within minutes. The beings that Ryan was encountering were still not strong enough to endanger his life in any manner. So, he didn’t avoid them actively by circumnavigating around their resting or hiding places.
Ryan currently had a smile on his face as he saw a lizard-like being that was well hidden within Poison Meadow’s lush green grass with the help of his Asura eyes. It was getting ready to pounce on him, as it was just a few hundred meters away from his current position. He continued walking in the same direction as he was certain that he could easily take it down.
“Hisss!” a vibrant seven-colored creature that looked like a lizard leaped out of the lush green grass the moment Ryan was just fifty meters away from its hiding place. It was about five meters in length and its body was slimy. It was extremely fast and reduced the distance between it and Ryan within the blink of an eye. The lizard-like creature opened its mouth wide enough to devour Ryan in a single bite. It was a Seven-colored lizard, a Normal Elemental Beast that possessed the bloodline of an Ancient Elemental beast, the Gila lizard, in low concentrations. Gila lizards look quite similar to Seven-colored lizards, but their toxins are many times more lethal than that of Seven-colored lizards, and can easily rival the toxicity of Emerald viper.