Song Junwan’s eyes glowed even more brightly before when she looked at Bai Xiaochun, and as for Xuemei, she couldn’t help but stare at him. Moments later, both women realized that he wasn’t wounded at all, and their expressions flickered.
Just when Song Junwan was about to ask about it, Bai Xiaochun flicked his sleeve and coolly said, “I’m tired. Please let me know when the second stage is about to begin.” With that, he walked off to the side, where he sat down cross-legged, looking as arrogant as a wizened pine tree on top of a mountain. When he closed his eyes, his cold, cruel face and murderous aura caused Song Junwan’s words to stick in her throat.
Inwardly, Bai Xiaochun was laughing, and felt very proud of himself. As far as he was concerned, he was completely outstanding and utterly superior to everyone.
“Wait, I need to do something to make it seem a bit more realistic,” he thought. With that, he slowly lifted his head and looked off into the distance, eyes filling with a look of melancholy and introspection.
That left Song Junwan and Xuemei even more shaken, although they weren’t sure exactly what it meant.
Time passed. Two hours later, the air up above once again began to ripple and distort, and the door appeared again. A burly, dangerous-looking man appeared, seemingly out of breath as he emerged into the open. As soon as Xuemei saw him, she broke out into a smile. The burly man clasped hands and bowed to her in greeting, then approached the platform and sat down next to her. When he saw Bai Xiaochun over on the other platform, his heart filled with shock.
He had assumed that he would be the first to emerge, and would never have even guessed that Nightcrypt would be faster.
As the hours passed, more and more Dharma protectors appeared. Song Que was one of them, although he looked exhausted, and his body was riddled with wounds. Clearly, it had been a difficult task for him to win the approval of the world will.
Ten hours later, the final Dharma protector appeared, and the first stage was officially over.
Both Song Junwan and Xuemei had selected their Dharma protectors carefully, and all of them were extraordinary in some way. Unexpectedly, the two groups had been quite evenly matched, as there were now exactly ten Dharma protectors on either side.
The two women exchanged a frosty glance, and then both of them snorted coldly. Turning to their Dharma protectors, they began to explain the second stage.
“During the first stage,” Song Junwan began, “you Dharma protectors fought for the approval of the world, and I did not participate. In the second stage, the fighting will be more brutal, and I will participate!
“The second stage is called the Blood Wasteland. It is a road without end, over which a deathly wind blows every fourteen hours. Once that wind blows, every living thing within the Blood Wasteland will be killed, reduced to nothing more than a skeleton.
“That is the path that leads to the heart cavity. Put simply, we have exactly fourteen hours to search the Blood Wasteland for the keys which lead to the heart cavity!” Off in the distance, Xuemei was making a similar explanation to her Dharma protectors.
“Every two hours, a key will appear at a random location within the wasteland. Anyone who gets one of the keys, and holds onto it until the fourteen hours have passed, will be teleported to the Ancient Blood Path which leads to the heart cavity. Of course, Xuemei and I don’t need keys to enter the Ancient Blood Path.
“There are a total of seven keys, which means that only seven Dharma protectors can enter the Ancient Blood Path with Xuemei and myself!”
Bai Xiaochun’s expression flickered, as did the expressions of everyone else except for Song Que. One of them, a middle-aged cultivator, lowered his voice and asked, “What about the people who don’t get a key?”
Song Junwan looked at the man for a moment, and then replied, “We are fighting as a team, and whichever party gets the most keys will be the winner. The disciples on the winning team who don’t get keys will be not be teleported to the Ancient Blood Path, but neither will they be killed. They will simply be ejected.
“As for the losing team, whoever among them don’t get keys will all be killed after the fourteen hours are up! Those are the rules, and not even the patriarchs can interfere to save the losers!
“Therefore, this is not the time for infighting! If a key falls into the hands of one of Xuemei’s Dharma protectors, feel free to attack them. If your own teammates get them, however, you are prohibited from competing amongst yourselves!
“Infighting will not only increase our chances of losing, it could also lead to your deaths….
“The lot of you are either members of the Song Clan, or here because of certain promises I made. If I become blood master, your future prospects will be limitless. Everything that I have promised you, I will see done. If I lose, and Xuemei succeeds, then all of us will meet a grisly fate!” With that, Song Junwan clasped hands and bowed deeply to Bai Xiaochun and the other Dharma protectors.
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Chapter
247: What’s That?
The ten Dharma protectors, Bai Xiaochun included, all had different reactions to Song Junwan’s words. As for Song Que, his expression darkened slightly, but other than that, didn’t change much. Because of his position in the Song Clan, he actually knew more about the blood master trial by fire than most did.
After all, if he hadn’t failed to reach Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment, he would have been the one taking the lead in this trial by fire. However, because he wasn’t a match for Xuemei, the Song Clan had chosen Song Junwan as the one to vie for the Middle Peak blood master position which the clan had held for generations.
Because of how things had played out, Song Que was on the bad side of many of the older generation of the Song Clan. In turn, the rise of Nightcrypt had put even more pressure on him. That was especially true considering that Song Junwan had come to favor Nightcrypt. Song Que was left with few options.
The Song Clan had deep roots in the Blood Stream Sect, and had many direct bloodline clan members. Song Que was the face of the current generation of direct bloodline descendants, but that only meant that there were plenty of people hoping to see him fail miserably so that they could then replace him.
He needed to blaze a path for himself, to go all out with everything he had, to try to make sure his aunt succeeded. Only in that way would he be able to prove how valuable he was. That was also the only hope he had of eventually succeeding his aunt as blood master in the future.
Suppressing his revulsion for Nightcrypt, he was the first one to speak up after Song Junwan finished talking.
“I will do everything in my power to gain victory in the Blood Wasteland, and I will definitely not allow any infighting to occur. Grand Elder, please rest at ease. If anyone dares to cause problems, then if we get out alive, and that person also survives, then I’ll teach him what it means to live a life worse than death!” Song Que’s eyes shone with intense light, and were filled with killing intent.
As for the other Dharma protectors, they were left with little choice of what to do. In the Blood Stream Sect, cultivators loved to fight each other. But in this case, if they lost, they would all die. Therefore, they had to band together as a team to fight and defeat their opponents.
After a moment of silence, the Dharma protectors began to speak out.
“Grand Elder, as long as you can fulfill your promise, then I won’t hesitate to put my life on the line!”
“The Song Clan has treated me well, and I’ll definitely repay the favor!”
Already, they were less on guard against the people standing next to them.