Divine Emperor of Death

"…"

Davis lowered his hand and felt his nose climb high.

He could feel the jealous gazes, something he hadn't seen since his time as a normal person who had yet to become a Divergent. When people looked at him, they envied his power but never envied him for having bevy of beauties. In fact, they only pitied him after feeling like it is a waste because Divergent's fate was going to be death sooner than anyone else. However, death never came for him and he seemed to be doing good that people started wondering if he mastered death enough to avoid it altogether, so people no longer dared to provoke him and let him be.

He had heard of many such myths about him already.

Regardless, he didn't care what others thought about him. Only the opinions of his family and allies matter to him and no one else.

Even their sisters back at home were jumping and dancing, appearing to be full of pride as the big three proved why they were the big three.

However, he was worried about Isabella and Shirley, who had fainted. He hoped they were fine, but he saw them spit blood. Clearly, spitting blood from fear was not something he had ever seen.

It was like a person went into cardiac arrest but worse since cultivators rarely suffered such a thing, so he wondered if their souls were deeply injured.

Evelynn bent down to help Isabella and Shirley as she tried to check on their health, but at that moment, Isabella groaned lightly and hobbled up. She held her head, her expression looking to be full of pain.

Momentary visions of what she had gone through flashed past her eyes, and she shuddered under the remnant dose of terror that she hadn't experienced since the time the Accursed Warlock tried to ruin her loving family by using her.

In one instance, she relived that as she agreed to be exchanged, and the resulting life wasn't something she wouldn't even dare imagine.

Still, she managed to overcome that fear and barely managed to reach the ninth step. As soon as the wave of relief hit her, she fainted, but thinking back, she knew she had suffered under the frightening spell.

Checking her soul, she saw that she was injured. A prickly sensation remained on every spot of her soul essence, making her understand that she had overused her Willpower to go against her primal sense of fear.

As a result, around five percent of her soul essence had dissipated.

But at the same time, she felt like she had broken some kind of limiter, including the one in her dantian.

Despite having lost soul essence, she felt intrigued and excited. However, when she raised her head up and saw Evelynn's watchful gaze, she couldn't help but sigh.

"This is frustrating…"

She caught Evelynn's hand and tried to stand up.

"I always thought I was the braver one…."

Evelynn lifted Isabella up and smiled at her words, shaking her head.

"You are…, but unlike you, I think I can sacrifice everything despite the fear."

"What do you mean?" Isabella coughed lightly into her other hand as she narrowed her eyes.

Her palm was wet with blood, seemingly having overstrained her blood vessels as well, but it was not worth mentioning in front of a soul injury.

"Are you fine?" Evelynn asked, "The soul injury shouldn't be that deep if what we experienced is the same."

"Yes, I can handle it." Isabella nodded, "But what did you mean?"

"I don't mean to leave him. I meant if he dares to abandon me, I'll perhaps kill him… we made a promise, after all."

"Aha~" Isabella laughed wryly, "He spoiled you too much, big sister~"

"Indeed. I can't be blamed for that~"

Evelynn smiled before she turned to look at Shirley, who had yet to wake up. Her brows furrowed before she bent again and lifted her up, retrieving a small container as she whipped out a pill.

It was a soul-healing pill, but as soon as she took it out, it disappeared.

"Wha-"

Evelynn blinked.

Isabella also noticed this and couldn't help but sigh, "It seems like defensive talismans are not allowed here, including pills, even if it was a healing type pill."

Evelynn nodded. She also noticed that when Fairy Thunderblaze killed an inheritor of the Silver Radiant Skylark Clan, his defensive talisman didn't activate. As for the healing pill, it was taken away.

"Leave it. The ninth step should be useful for us, so it's better not to use a healing pill to dilute the effect of the tempering…"

Isabella touched Evelynn's shoulder and sent a physical soul transmission, causing the latter to nod.

Evelynn lifted Shirley up and carried her on her back. Her spider bones easily piggybacked her, allowing Shirley to rest comfortably. Evelynn and Isabella turned to look at the Immortal Dreams Palace and saw their ranking once again.

It was strange as they hadn't entered the spatial vortex yet for them to be fully registered. However, considering that they reached the ninth step, they guessed that they were the ones to actually complete the trial, and so their names showed up.

The others also noticed this discrepancy and figured that some kind of too-good-to-be-true benefit lay on the ninth step.

They quickly tried to follow in their footsteps, but as soon as they reached the seventh step, they knew how wrong they were in thinking this could be easy.

Some became full of regret, wondering why they chose to foolishly reduce their own cultivation. A few had even gone against the plan their powers came up with to selfishly pursue the peak.

Only after they reached the seventh step did they know what true fear was. It was unlike anything they had ever encountered, causing their souls to freeze, not letting them take one more step forward.

Evelynn, Isabella, and Shirley weren't aware of it, but since they trained with Davis for some time and had basked in his death energy occasionally, they had built a considerable resistance to facing situations that invoked fear, and due to that, they could bring out their prowess even in a tensed state better than the others.

Nonetheless, there were some individuals who made it to the eighth step and finally gave up.

There was one who made it to the ninth step and collapsed like Shirley did, not waking up.

Evelynn and the two others looked at that man.

He wore a white robe and seemed to be from the Dark Blood-Eyed Tiger Clan. At a glance, he had anthropomorphic features, so it was clear that he was a fey, but he didn't seem to have King-Tier Blood or Emperor-Tier Blood, making them wonder if he was a variant.

"Wahh…"

At this moment, Shirley woke up, and she did so in an exaggerated manner as though she had gotten a good night's sleep, stretching her body.

Evelynn let Shirley down and watched her yawn.

"…"

Isabella looked at Evelynn, wondering if Shirley was alright or if she was keeping up appearances to avoid embarrassment.

Indeed, Shirley was fully embarrassed that there was nothing more to be embarrassed about, making her feel shameless. She took a deep breath as though inhaling the dense yet floral heaven and earth energy, seemingly living in the moment.

After she took a few breaths, she let out a bright smile underneath her veil as she opened her mouth,

"Sisters, is it what I think it is?"

"…"

Evelynn and Isabella nodded, their expressions turning wry.

They no longer had full conviction in their survival because even their prowess had been sealed along with their cultivation.