Demons were known to be a ruthless and dangerous species. Due to this, their relationship with humans, as well as beasts, was far from peaceful.
Demons cultivated vastly different to humans and beasts, to improve their cultivation they required a specific energy. A specific energy only found in the Dantians of humans and the Blood Essence of beasts.
This cultivation requirement made Demons the bane of all humans, an unequivocal hatred formed between these species and they did not hesitate in the slightest to slaughter one another in cold blood.
Mason and his team were not ignorant about demons however they had never seen one outside of books or the Mananet.
They only had general knowledge about Demons such as their physical abilities being far superior compared to humans, but their usage of Qi and Mana was pitiful, to say the least. All demons were born with a Physique of varying grades which determined their potential and class.
They also knew that there were different types of demons ranging from Lesser Demons such as Imps, paimons, goblins, kobolds, chimeras and many more.
Greater demons such as Succubi, Incubi, HellHounds, Oni, Hydras and much more.
And Demon Lords, which were demons with Physiques equivalent to Empyrean grade Physiques and above, an example of a Demon Lord would be an Asura.
"Luckily for us, a shapeshifter Demon should only be a Lesser Demon," Mason muttered in relief while gripping his pink spear.
"That doesn't matter if we can't even find the damn thing." Allison rebuked while glancing up at the timer.
[52:42]
"We need a solid plan ASAP."
"Dawn, can you think of a way to pass this trial?" Mason asked the woman he had a secret crush on. Dawn looked around at all the livestock grazing with her thoughts racing to find an answer.
"Mason, what about your eyes? Can't you use them on the beasts? They are not living beings, so you should be able to see through them."
Mason's expression lit up in understanding. He turned around to face a random goat grazing a patch of green grass and his pinks eyes shone in a brilliant light.
'Eyes of Revelation: Crystal Clear.'
The Eyes of Revelation was an off-shoot variant from one of The Heavenly Eyes, the Eyes of Truth. Although not nearly as powerful as the Eyes of Truth, the Eyes of Revelation was still feared and respected amongst cultivators due to its ability to combat illusions and the ability to see through inanimate objects.
Mason's family were known to produce several cultivators innately born with the Eyes of Revelation. Unlike The Heavenly Eyes which could only be wielded by one person at a time, variants called Divine Eyes could be wielded by any number of cultivators. Families with specific bloodlines have a greater chance of birthing offspring with Divine Eyes such as Mason.
His clan has many descendants who were born with the Eyes of Revelation, but not all of them were adept at controlling the prowess of their eyes. So Mason, who had nearly perfect control over his Divine eyes, was highly regarded in his clan and that was why he was given the family spear.
The goat he was staring at suddenly disappeared from his vision indicating that the goat was not a living being and most likely made by a formation in the room. He looked towards every animal in the area and one by one they vanished from his vision. After seeing through every beast, Mason stopped using his eye technique.
"None of the beasts here is a shapeshifting Demon."
"Maybe the demon is not alive as well? So your eyes wouldn't work on it." Allison voiced her thoughts to the group which only dispirited them even more.
"That…that might be true. So we are back to square one?" Mason gritted his teeth in frustration. How were they going to find the Demon now when they couldn't kill these beasts at the risk of losing 10 minutes after every incorrect kill? They couldn't find the Demon even with Mason's eyes and now the momentum and high spirits they brought into the trial quickly dissipated.
[50:00]
[40:00]
[30:00]
[20:00]
With only 20 minutes remaining, panic eventually started setting into the group.
"Fuck! Yera when are you planning on helping us out!" Allison shouted in frustration and turned towards the thin, freckle-faced woman at the back of the group.
"…"
"Say something, damn it!"
"…"
"This fucking bitch!" Allison cursed and threw a punch at Yera. The punch cleanly connected with Yera's stomach, but she didn't even budge a bit.
Allison's eyes widened in disbelief at the feeling of her abs as hard as a rock. She didn't put all her power into the punch, but it was enough to at least push her back a few feet and knock her wind out. Yet she remained completely still as if she was punched by a toddler.
Not just Allison but the others too had their eyelids flared open in disbelief. They all knew that Yera was physically weak and shouldn't be able to eat a clean punch from Allison so easily.
"Mason!" Dawn suddenly shouted when she came to an abrupt realisation. The Demon didn't shape-shift into a beast but into Yera!
"Yeah, got it!"
Mason cocked back his arm holding his spear and aimed it directly at Yera's heart. The only way to kill a Demon was to crush their heart and their head within seconds of each other. Demons had stupidly powerful regeneration capabilities and could live a few seconds without their heart or head before they regenerated, but if you crush both before it could regenerate, then even they wouldn't be able to survive.
*Swoosh!*
Mason threw his spear as hard as he could with the spearhead coated into two different types of Wills. One was Advanced Metal Will and the other was difficult to discern at first, but spear masters would instantly recognise it as Advanced Spear Will that was on the verge of becoming an Intent.
"Kekeke stupid human! Me hungry!"
A rough, ear-grating voice sounded out of Yera's mouth. The Demon did not bother hiding now that it was already found out. The demon, still in Vera's form, quickly evaded the incoming spear and landed 20 metres away on all fours like a beast.
Seeing his attack miss the Demon, Mason clicked his tongue before summoning his spear back into his hand.
"If that wasn't Yera then where is she?" Allison asked while staring at Demon smiling sinisterly at them. Yes, Allison and Yera had their differences and did not always get along, but they were still teammates and it pained Allison to think that maybe she might be dead.
"We don't have time to look for answers now. Let's kill this Demon first then worry about Yera." Mason sternly reminded the group that their lives were on the line, "Let's move into offensive positions."
With Adrian as the tank, Mason, Trent and Allison as the Damage Dealers and Dawn as support, the 5 of them formed a good formation as they prepared to kill the Demon in the limited time remaining.
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They easily dealt with the Demon in the end. With Adrian's solid defence, Allison, Trent and Mason's deadly attacks and Dawn's timely assistance, the Demon that mainly focused on espionage and trickery couldn't handle their repeated onslaught and eventually succumbed.
Before the demon died, the group got a glimpse at its true appearance. Without a doubt, it was the ugliest creature these youths had ever seen.
When the creature disappeared the ball of yellow light appeared in front of these youths again.
"Congratulations on passing Trial 27: imposter in an empty field. You have earned the Mid Earth grade technique '5 Star Finger'. Bonus reward for being first to complete Trial 27, 6 low-quality Rank 7 Renewal Purity Pills."
An old dusty scroll and 6 small wooden boxes appeared on the ground under the light.
"When you want to leave the trial room, exit through the door behind you."
After saying that, the yellow light vanished completely and a confused Yera appeared in its place. "Where am I? Wasn't I just in a white room?"
Allison and the others sighed in relief when they saw Yera safe and sound. Dawn proceeded to explain what happened during the trial.
"Damn Demon pretending to be me! I bet you noticed because it couldn't properly capture my innate beauty."
"…Sure let's go with that. Anyway, what about the Earth-grade technique we earned? Who are we giving it to?" Allison went to pick up the scroll and handed it over to Mason.
Mason looked at the scroll in his hands before turning his attention back to his teammates, "Why don't we read the description and decide from there who it would suit best ."
"Sure."
"Okay."
"Yeah, let's do that."
Getting the approval of everyone, Mason opened the scroll and began reading the description.
"5 Star Finger technique.
Requirements: Advanced Light Will or above + 80+ meridians opened.
A technique created by the Red Star Emperor during his youth. The 5 Star Finger technique is diabolically lethal at close range and it is what earned the Red Star Emperor his elite status as a genius amongst geniuses."
"Well…only Dawn and Adrian have comprehended Advanced Light Will so it's up to them who gets it."
"Hmph, I don't need a technique not blessed by the Almighty Prasufis. Dawn, you can have it."
"Okay, thanks."
Mason unhesitatingly gave the scroll over to Dawn who stashed it into her spatial ring.
Mason moved over to the small wooden boxes and picked them up. "I guess there's 1 for each of us.", He handed everyone a box and they all put it into the spatial ring to check it out later.
They had no idea what a Renewal Purity Pill was, but since it was a rank 7 pill it was bound to be well worth their troubles.
"Everybody ready to do another trial?"
–––––
"Vasari, are you not going to do any more trials?"
Hiromi asked while laying next to him and drawing circles on his chest with her tiny hand. On the other side of Vasari laid Joanna, claiming his right-hand side for herself.
Resting comfortably between his legs was the blonde bombshell Adele. She had an intoxicated expression, but it was covered by his flaccid penis resting on her face.
"Hmm, I've already got some pretty good techniques that I've obtained from the trials I completed."
"Ooh, what kind of techniques?" Hiromi asked, curious about what kind of techniques he got to make him aloof from the trials.
Vasari was quiet for a little while before he spoke again. When he spoke it was unlike his usual self, it was a lot more solemn.
"Before I tell you the techniques I got, there's something I want to tell you guys. It's about where I'm really from…"