“This trial by fire is terrifying!” he thought, his eyes wide. As of this point, he was absolutely certain that the sandstorm would be the death of any Nascent Soul cultivator who was unlucky enough to encounter it, and didn’t have any special means of fleeing.
“I felt like I was almost ripped to pieces by the teleportation power of that gate. That was much more power than any ordinary teleportation. That means that we’ve either ended up in a very distant location… or had to pierce through an indescribably powerful barrier!” Already, he was starting to regret coming here.
And yet, the thought of the longevity pills caused him to grit his teeth and push forward. Along the way, he tested some of his magical items. Unfortunately, accessing his bag of holding wasted spiritual power, and furthermore, anything he brought out seemed locked down in some way, making it completely useless.
The teleportation had sent the nearly one thousand cultivators from the various river branches to different locations within the enormous land that made up the trial by fire. Because of that, the only way they could run into each other was by blind luck.
One upside was that his transmission jade slip still worked. Sadly, based on the fluctuations coming from it, he could tell that, even with his deva cultivation base, it would only have a range of about 500 kilometers.
Messages that weren’t received by another jade slip within that area would simply vanish.
Another disquieting fact was that the spiritual power… was far weaker here than in the outside world. To most of the cultivators present, that would be very difficult to deal with.
Of course, to Bai Xiaochun, it wasn't a problem at all. After all, there was actually more spiritual power here than in the Wildlands, where he had lived for many years. He had long since grown used to the practice of conserving energy, and only using it in bursts when necessary.
Furthermore, his impressive fleshly body made it so that he didn't actually need to use divine abilities powered by his cultivation base to unleash deva-level battle prowess.
“This place is so dangerous! Hou Xiaomei, Big Fatty Zhang, Song Que, Bai Lin, and everyone else… are in great danger!” Then he thought about that strange, sinister feeling he had sensed from Hou Xiaomei earlier, and he started to get more nervous. He pulled out his transmission jade slip and sent some messages. Unfortunately, only people within 500 kilometers would get them. When he didn't receive any replies, he picked up speed and proceeded along anxiously.
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Chapter
927: Evil Intentions
The lands that made up the trial by fire were split into four major areas, a desert, a swamp, a plain, and a jungle. They didn’t interlock, but rather, were separated by enormous mountain ranges and other terrain features.
Although the lands were not endless, they were certainly vast.
Furthermore, hidden dangers lurked everywhere. That included both natural occurrences like the sandstorm, and bizarre entities of every sort. All of them could be extremely deadly.
Before entering the trial by fire, the cultivators from the four major rivers had all assumed it would be dangerous. Even still, now that they were inside, they were completely shocked by what they were facing.
In fact, the word ‘danger’ couldn’t be used to describe the place. It was more like… a land of death!
Currently, Shi Yan, chosen from the Exalted Zodiac Moon Domination Sect in the west, was traversing the swamp area of the trial by fire. Despite being in the great circle of the Nascent Soul stage, his face was ashen with terror as he proceeded along with the utmost caution.
His clothing was ripped and torn, and also stained with blood. After teleporting into the trial by fire, he had seen three people killed right in front of him. Most terrifying of all… was that the creatures responsible for those deaths were a variety of leech that lurked in the marsh waters. They traveled in swarms numbering in the thousands, which could, in only a single breath of time, completely cover a cultivator. Upon vanishing back into the swamp, they would leave behind only a dry and desiccated corpse.
Within moments, countless larvae would burrow into the desiccated corpse and nest inside of it….
Because of that, Shi Yan was gripped with terror as he proceeded along.
He wasn’t the only one in the swamp. Sun Wu from the Dragon Totem Ghost Sea Sect was present as well. He was also chosen, with a cultivation base in the great circle of the Nascent Soul, who bore the physical appearance of an evil ghost. Although he wasn’t currently wounded, he trembled as he stood in place… unwilling to take a single step forward.
The reason he refused to move was that he was surrounded by more than 10,000 shocking mosquitos!
The mosquitos were human-sized, and created a thundering rumble with the buzzing of their wings. Were it not for the fact that Sun Wu had a secret magic to keep himself invisible to them, they would have long since sucked the life completely out of him.
The monkey-like Master Lightning Origin from the Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect was in a similar position in the jungle. An unsightly expression could be seen on his face, which dripped with sweat as he rushed along, chased by a troupe of crimson-eyed monkeys who thrummed with shocking power.
Big Fatty Zhang, Bai Lin, Zhao Tianjiao, Heretic, Song Que, and many other friends of Bai Xiaochun were in similarly terrifying situations.
The level of danger in this trial by fire surpassed what anyone could have imagined. Right now, they had no other options than to flee for their lives!
It was the same with Bai Xiaochun, who sped through the desert at top speed. So far, he had spotted seven sandstorms, all of which radiated incredible power than left his heart pounding in his chest.
If all he had to deal with were natural disasters, then it might not have been as terrifying. However, Bai Xiaochun’s deva-level divine sense had long since revealed to him that there were terrifying fluctuations hidden within the desert. There were some brutal entities there which seemed to be on the same level as devas. Even worse, there were certain creatures which seemed to be trailing him, as if they were predator and he was prey!
“This trial by fire is not suitable for Nascent Soul cultivators at all! Only people with deva cultivation bases could possibly be of use here!
“Dammit! The Celestial used the pretext of selecting an apprentice to gather a whole group of Nascent Soul cultivators to come into a place like this…? Just what is he up to!? This… is definitely not an arcane pocket realm!”
Bai Xiaochun was really starting to feel nervous, both for Big Fatty Zhang and his other Nascent Soul friends, and also, for Hou Xiaomei.
Thankfully, Hou Xiaomei was a special guard, and therefore, would likely be in a much safer position than the other cultivators. However, Bai Xiaochun still couldn’t stop worrying about her.
Even as he sped along, his heart suddenly leapt up into his throat. Without any hesitation, he utilized the Mountain Shaking Bash, bursting forward with speed that bordered on teleportation. In the blink of an eye, he was 300 meters away.
In almost that exact same instant, numerous booming sounds echoed out as eight crimson figures blurred through the spot he had just occupied.
As soon as they flew back up into the sky, Bai Xiaochun could see them clearly. Shockingly, they were eight enormous sandworms!
They looked like crimson maggots, hundreds of meters long, with no eyes, but terrifying, gaping maws, within which glistened row upon row of razor-sharp teeth!