When Lu Qingyun had entered through the portal, he found himself in a vast platform that was surrounded by mountains. This was quite similar to the layout of the sky platform except that all the speculators had disappeared from view.
There were thousands of cultivators as well and more than half of them were looking a little lost; this was their very first time partaking in a divine realm competition after all.
Lu Qingyun quickly spotted Leng Qiuyue and saw that they were all wearing identical robes. His body had also felt lighter and he was busting with profound strength.
They had quickly found Nangong Yu but he had walked away angrily from them.
Cheng Wuzi looked at Leng Qiuyue before he said to Lu Qingyun, "Let him be…"
Lu Qingyun was smiling bitterly. Somehow he got the feeling that he was indirectly responsible for Nangong Yu cold treatment.
The thousands of cultivators were now muttering among themselves and every one of them were all wearing the same robe.
"Where are we?"
"We are inside the trial portal now…"
"I wonder what the trial will be?"
"There is only a sword in my spatial belt and nothing else…"
"Hehehe, you will soon know." An experienced cultivator who had taken part in the trial 30 years said.
Most of the cultivators were actually new and they had never seen anything like this before.
When the last of the cultivators had appeared among them, the beautiful and delicate face that were from Shen Yufeng had suddenly appeared in the sky above. It was just her face and her face was bigger than a third of the sky.
She was smiling, "Welcome to the first trial. In this trial, you are all astral projections of your real physical bodies and that is why you will feel lighter than your real self. Also, you will all be given a sword to defend yourself. In this trial, you will feel pain when you are injured but you will not die. When you do 'die', your astral projection will be destroyed and you will return to your physical body. Only when the entire trial has ended will your real body be able to wake up and leave this place."
Yue Lingxi was growling lightly to Qiuxiang Huan, Qiuxiang Hanyu and Shangguan Furong. "This is rubbish. Fighting with real swords is much more interesting, don't you think so? Only real blood can temper the warrior's blood."
Qiuxiang Huan, Qiuxiang Hanyu, Shangguan Furong: …
Shen Yufeng smiled, "Behold!"
All of a sudden a mountain with a flat top had risen in the horizon and thousands of desolate beasts that ranged from third to the sixth rank had suddenly appeared from one end of the ringing mountains to the other.
Lu Qingyun was startled. He had never seen so many desolate beasts in his life before.
"Your first trial will be a simple one," the beautiful voice of Shen Yufeng echoed. "Evade the desolate beasts to climb up to the top of that mountain and your first trial will also end. You have five minutes to plan your strategies."
The thousands of cultivators were all panicky and they were all quickly estimating the quickest route to the flatten mountain that was in the horizon.
Their opponents were not just the desolate beasts but the thousands of cultivators that would be blocking their way as well.
Leng Qiuyue whispered to Lu Qingyun, "Senior brother, my swiftness movement is quite good. Why don't you follow my lead?"
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly as he nodded. Although he was a good runner by now but he knew that his swiftness movement was actually below average. He had not expected that the first trial would be a trial that was based on running.
Cheng Wuzi said solemnly, "If we are too slow, we will be slaughtered by the desolate beasts. Not only that, that mountain over there is also extremely steep. We have to balance our stamina and strength between running for the mountain and climbing the mountain."
Lu Qingyun nodded as he said, "The first part of the trial is to eliminate the weaker competitors and the luckless one."
As he said that, he noticed that many of the cultivators were all moving toward the edge of the platform where an invisible barrier was.
Leng Qiuyue turned to them and said, "Hurry. We must not lag behind."
Lu Qingyun nodded and the three of them hurried forward.
It was common sense that the cultivators that were at the back would be exposed to the first waves of the desolate beasts while those in front had the advantage of using all the other cultivators as a stepping stone.
Shen Yufeng had given them 5 minutes to plan their strategies but there were simply no strategies at all except for rushing forward as much as possible.
All the cultivators were pushing and packing into one another like flock of sheep!
"Hey, stop pushing!"
"I'm a maiden. Why dare you touch me…"
"We are in a trial now. Survivor of the fittest is the most important rule. Who cares if you are a maiden or not…"
"I think I saw a seventh rank desolate beast at the back of these desolate beasts…"
"I think I saw a ninth rank desolate beast…"
"Omg, there are a couple of high level desolate beasts behind…"
"I don't want to die in the first trial. It will be too disgraceful…"
Lu Qingyun used his body to shield Leng Qiuyue from the other cultivators since he was taller than her by a head. He said in a low voice to Leng Qiuyue, "These cultured cultivators are now behaving like barbarians…"
All of a sudden his eyes wandered to the back and he saw that Yue Lingxi was taking slow steps to the invisible barrier where they were all at. It did not seem as though she was worried that the desolate beasts may catch up with her.
Lu Qingyun and his team had appeared in the middle of the platform so he was actually not too far behind or ahead.
He was thinking, "Judging by the order of the cultivators here, it seems that the cultivators that had first entered the portal have a clear advantage. So the trial actually begins even before we have entered through the portal."
Shen Yufeng's face disappeared from the sky as her voice echoed, "The five minutes are up. The first trial shall start now…"
No sooner had she said that, the invisible barrier had dissipated from the platform and the thousands of cultivators were all running crazily for the flatten mountain that was in the horizon!
Lu Qingyun quietly said to Leng Qiuyue, "Let's make a run for it."
Leng Qiuyue flushed shyly as she nodded.
Cheng Wuzi had already made the run for the flatten mountain. It was because he knew that every second counts and he did not want to fall out from the first trial.
Although he had run ahead of Lu Qingyun and Leng Qiuyue, they did not fault him.
As Lu Qingyun and Leng Qiuyue moved together, they could hear the slaughtering cries of the cultivators that were behind them as the desolate beasts fell upon them.
Although they knew it was not real but it was realistic enough to make their hearts ache for the unlucky cultivators that had fallen to their 'deaths'.
Even though everyone had almost the same starting point, Lu Qingyun could see that the cultivators were quickly scattered in their run toward the flatten mountain ahead. It was because the mountain terrains were not easy to transverse and it was not flat to begin with. It was all too easy to see which cultivators had the superior lightless and swiftness movement skill.
Lu Qingyun had taken note of Yue Lingxi and her team. Although they were lagging behind them but after a while, Yue Lingxi and Qiuxiang Huan had quickly shaken off the rest of the cultivators and they were ahead of him.
Leng Qiuyue had also taken note of Qiuxiang Huan but she continued on her own pace as she sprint ahead of Lu Qingyun in order to find the best route for him. There were quite a few times that she had doubled back to tell him, "This way is a dead end. Do not follow the cultivators that are ahead of us."
Lu Qingyun was grateful to her for expending her stamina for his sake.
After a while, he was feeling anxious for her as they were still a long way before they could reach the flatten mountain.
After an hour, they had run into a valley with tens of other cultivators who were all searching for a way through the difficult mountain trails. Although the flatten mountain was obviously ahead of them but they were no closer to it!
"Darn! Don't tell me we are lost?!"
"Just follow the cultivators ahead of us!"
"Our lightless skill is not enough to get us on top to have a better look…"
Leng Qiuyue was almost brimming with tears as she looked at Lu Qingyun, "Sorry senior brother, I…it is all my fault for getting us here and now we are trapped…"
Lu Qingyun smiled, "Don't worry. We will find a way out."
All of a sudden he said as he saw a track, "There are some tracks here. It seems that others have found a path here."
Leng Qiuyue was startled, "Senior brother, you are right. Let try this path."
No sooner had they embarked on this path, a cultivator shouted behind them. "Look! They seem to have found a trail. Let's follow them…"
All of a sudden there were yells and shouts in the valley as dozens of desolate beasts had suddenly appeared and were rampaging through the tens of cultivators.
"Follow them!"
"Fight and move at the same time…"
A peaked fourth realm cultivator was laughing, "These are just third and fourth rank desolate beasts. Why are you so afraid of them? It is only a dozen."
When he said that, he had coolly raised his sword to display his celestial clan's profound sword art, coolly killing a fourth realm desolate beast.
"Hmph! Useless desolate beast." He smirked coldly.
Another fourth rank desolate beast had appeared next to him in the next instant.
"Hmph! Another one? The more the merrier then!" He quickly raised his sword to attack the new desolate beast and his sword was quickly inside the thick hide of the desolate beast.
All of a sudden he was panicky, "I can't pull my sword out…"
The desolate beast proceeded to slice his sword arm and within a few blink of an eye, more and more desolate beasts had jumped onto him and had ripped him apart.
A cultivator who saw the scene was shaking his head, "Although he is a high level cultivator but he is simply too arrogant to pick a fight with these desolate beasts. This is not a one to one battle and is a battle of attrition."
Another cultivator was smiling as he flashed ahead of the rest, "Thanks to him for buying me the valuable time to make my retreat…"
"Seniors, please go ahead of me. I will sacrifice my life to buy time for you…"
"Junior sister, please forgive me…" A senior brother of her same celestial clan had suddenly pushed his protégé sister down to delay the advancing desolate beasts. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain…"
Tens of cultivators were quickly slaughtered. Among them were many fourth realm experts. Most of the fourth realm experts were a match for a single fourth rank desolate beast; they could fight one with ease but not two with ease. Then there were three, four, five and more desolate fourth realm desolate beasts.
Suddenly a powerful fifth rank desolate beast had appeared in the valley and against a powerful fifth rank desolate beast, the defenses of the remaining cultivators were quickly broken.
The tens of cultivators had sacrificed their lives for the other tens of cultivators to flee. Some had done so willingly and some were forced.
None survived.
–
–
–
Above the sky platform, a hundred thousand cultivators were all watching the appalling scene inside the trial keenly.
Many were shaking their heads as their entire teams were wiped out from taking the wrong paths or were too slow to move through the mountains.
Others were cursing the cultivators from the other teams for blocking or leading them into a dead end.
The thousands of cultivators from the Heavens Ridge Villa were naturally watching Lu Qingyun, Leng Qiuyue, Cheng Wuzi and Nangong Yu.
"Senior Brother Nangong Yu has the highest chance of reaching the second trial. So far, he is quite way ahead."
At this moment, they saw that Cheng Wuzi who was ahead of Leng Qiuyue and Lu Qingyun had sped up the wrong track and straight into a slaughtering heist of desolate beasts. As he quietly tried to sneak away, a cultivator from the Solitary Manor had cut down a tree and blocked his escape route. In the next instant, Cheng Wuzi was ripped apart by the desolate beasts.
"That cultivator from the Solitary Manor is too much…"
"Poor Cheng Wuzi…he has lucked out just like that…"
Kong Guxin had an ugly expression when he saw that his core protégé was removed from the trial in such a lame manner. He was muttering, "I don't believe. I don't believe…"
Shi Guanyin was also sighing, "We lost one potential chance to win now."
Qin Keqin was quietly looking at where Lu Qingyun was and she was clenching her fists.
Shen Yufeng turned to her with a smile, "Your disciple's luck seems to be a little bad. He seems to have taken a more difficult route."
Qin Keqin said unhappily, "These stupid cultivators. Why didn't they form a massive sword arrays to get rid of the desolate beasts. It is only a few dozens."
Shen Yufeng smiled weakly. "They are all from different celestial clans." But she had kept this thought to herself.
"If I were inside, I can solo these desolate beasts and help my Yun'Er." Qin Keqin cursed softly.
"That is cheating…" Shen Yufeng smiled weakly.
Qin Keqin was looking at Shen Yufeng with a wry smile all of a sudden, "Yufeng, I think this trial looks quite fun. Can I join them?"
Shen Yufeng: …