Condemning the Heavens

After picking the treasure, Xue Wei continued to the next trial. The trials were testing people in different ways; it was anything from being able to withstand coldness, to being thrown into a hot sea of flames.

The longer he endured, the tougher his body became. Although he was getting exhausted, his body was getting tougher and tougher, while the Qi within his body was getting purer and purer.

He was not actively cultivating his Qi, but because the trials had been filled with an ancient heaven and earth essence, his cultivation base was also soaring rapidly.

It was as if his body was immersed in a herbal bath created by rare herbs and other resources.

This speed of advancement was much faster than any other place within the Ascended's Realm, and only the rarest of the spirit fruits that allowed for one to advance a rank directly would be able to rival the speed with which Xue Wei was advancing.

It was not only Xue Wei who was advancing by leaps and bounds, but Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and the other Qi cultivators who were in the other end of the underground world were also all feeling the benefits.

Luoluo, who had stopped advancing after the second trial, and Bai Tianyi, who was still forcing his way through, were not as lucky.

Both of them relied on Soul Power to increase their Spiritual Energy, but it was not possible for this underground world to retain any soul power after the many thousand years it had been buried underground.

The second to give up within the trials was not Bai Tianyi, as one might have expected, but Lin Xiao.

He had faced a trial of endless slaughter, and while his fighting abilities were strong, he was the least skilled at fighting in their entire team. Lin Xiao was a monk before he began traveling with them.

Although he had some techniques, they were mainly to subdue and shackle beasts, so that he was able to tame them. Killing endlessly was simply an impossibility for him, and he was unable to clear the trial.

After this, Bai Tianyi was the next to give up. He had spent all his spiritual energy, and if he forced his way through, he was likely to weaken or even injure his foundation, something he was not willing to do.

He had already gotten his hands on a large quantity of soul cultivation resources and would be able to take his strength to a whole new level.

It was not only Bai Tianyi and those who had come through the desert entrance that had gotten amazing rewards, the others who had come through the other entrance had also gotten so many rewards that their hearts were greedy for more.

All of them knew that what they were fighting for was a drop of blood. But this drop of blood was not a simple thing; it was the drop of blood from the God who had made this realm.

While the use of the blood drop was uncertain, Xue Wei was sure that it would be a priceless treasure to the Vermilion Bird clan. If he brought this drop of blood, would he be able to trade it for the Thunder Flame Crown, perhaps?

Even now, Xue Wei had not forgotten his promise to Lan. Although he was not very pleased with everything the annoying prophet had done, he was a man of his word. Since he had promised to bring the Thunder Flame Crown back, then he would, without a doubt, do so.

The group which had entered from the other entrance was also slowly diminishing. Now only four people remained in the running, while Xue Wei and Hei Gou were the only remaining people from the desert entrance.

A few trials further and Hei Gou also found himself incapable of continuing. Although his body was bursting with energy, his mentality was so exhausted that he was seeing double.

After finishing a trial, he wisely chose to continue no longer. At the same time, Xue Wei continued forward his eyes dark as the deepest well but glittering like thousands of stars in the night sky.

Although he too was exhausted, he could still feel an abnormal calling towards him, and the further into the underground world he came, the more he felt this calling.

The experts who had failed the trials could advance every time a stage had been cleared. From this, it was apparent that everyone needed to gather in the innermost midst of the underground world.

Xue Wei was unaware of the fact that other people had entered the world, he was also unaware of the fact that the people who had been eliminated from the trial could advance as the trials were finished. If he had known, he would have been extra alert.

To gather everyone in one place, it was evident that the reason for this was to see chaos break out later on.

The truth was that Xue Wei did not care too much about competition. He would do his utmost no matter what, and if he had done his best, then when they encountered this second team, they would be able to rob them of the resources they had gotten in the trials!

Xue Wei was not a good person. It was not beneath him to rob others. Although he, as much as possible, tried to avoid killing innocents, his morals were getting worse and worse. His beastly nature was shining through.

There wasn't much greed in his eyes, but there was ruthlessness. Xue Wei was always thinking about what would bring most benefits to himself and his friends, but while he was a merciless demon to others, he was the gentlest and most caring towards his companions.

He also knew that to survive in this world, strength was all that mattered, and although he was considered amongst the talented youths, he was far from being strong enough to protect what he held dear.

Clearing his head, Xue Wei stepped into another door after picking yet another heavenly treasure.

This trial made him frown. There was wood elemental Qi everywhere, and his body was absorbing it rapidly.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a figure appeared, the eyes of the figure looking stunned when the eyes landed on Xue Wei.

"This smell," the figure mumbled to itself as it moved closer to Xue Wei.

Although the figure was but a remnant soul, its eyes suddenly shook wildly as it looked at Xue Wei.

"How can this be?!" it exclaimed with shock, and Xue Wei, who had been sitting in cultivation, opened his eyes and looked at the remnant soul.

This was not the first remnant soul he had experienced within the time he was in the trials. He had experienced many of them earlier while fighting them for the sake of advancing the trials.

This one was different, however. Where most of them were mindless fragments, this one seemed complete and with intelligence.

The remnant soul moved next to Xue Wei and sat down, looking at him in the eyes. "What is your connection with the holy maiden?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Holy Maiden?" Xue Wei was puzzled. "I don't know any Holy Maidens."

"This trial and the next three will pose no threat to you," the remnant soul finally said. "Each of the places will be filled with elemental Qi, and you can absorb it as you please. After absorbing it all, you will be able to advance to the next trial."

"So, the trial is to absorb energy?" Xue Wei frowned. Was this not too good a trial?

"Not for others," the remnant soul smiled and shook his head, "but for you, it is."

Xue Wei frowned. It seemed that the trial had changed because of this holy maiden, but he had no idea what she had to do with him. Still, he did not complain and began absorbing the energy.

He had used much of his Wood Qi earlier to fight and protect the others, and now he could finally restore it.

His body was shining with a green hue, all the energy entered his body at a rapid speed and transformed even his skin to become green from the speed at which he was absorbing the energy.

Although he was fast, this room was rather large, and it took him a long time to finish absorbing all the energy. When he finally finished, he spat out a mouthful of stale air, his body so bursting with energy that he knew that he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

"Well done, continue to the next trial."

Xue Wei gave a long glance at the spirit, his eyebrows frowning and filled with confusion before he shook his head and went to the next room.

Within this room, he was gifted another reward; this time, it was so rare that it would be almost impossible to find it, even in the treasured areas of the Ascended's Realm.

After that, he entered another room, and within this room, he found that water Qi was everywhere.

This water Qi was something he thought he had no fate with, but another remnant soul appeared and said the same as the previous soul.

Mentioning the Holy Maiden and telling him to absorb all the energy.

Unsure of what was going on, Xue Wei did as he was told, but the moment the energy entered his body, it vanished!

It was as if there was a big black hole within his body, and this hole was absorbing all the energy.

More and more energy entered his body, but it was like throwing a pebble down a deep well; nothing happened.

After finishing this room, he entered another one, and within this one metal Qi was everywhere.

The scene from before was replaying, and Xue Wei absorbed all the energy. However, it vanished as long as it entered his body.

Xue Wei could not help but wonder what secrets his body held. He knew better than anyone that such a phenomenon was only possible if his body had some secret.

After this, he took the reward from the room before entering the last trial.

The last trial was like the previous three, however here fire Qi was everywhere.

Xue Wei absorbed it all. He once more experienced the feeling of energy pouring into his body but vanishing as soon as it entered.

After absorbing all the fire energy, he looked at the remnant soul who was looking at him with reverence, and he shook his head, wondering what exactly was going on.

Still, these souls refused to tell him anything and just stood by his side as he was cultivating and absorbing energies.

Finally, he reached the room after the fire energy room, and he noticed that it had no more doors.

As he entered, he saw that unlike the others, there was no scroll with rewards, but there was a big table with a small vial.

The heat and pressure that was released from the small vial were so oppressive that anyone who came into contact with it would feel their hearts beat erratically.

But Xue Wei could feel a strange feeling of belonging when he looked at this vial. Although he had planned on exchanging the vial with blood for the Thunder Flame Crown, he could not hold back his hand as it grasped the vial and opened it.

The drop of blood flew out of the vial, but it did not try to escape, instead, it shot directly into Xue Wei's body, right between his two eyes.