"Uh, she's a friend..."
Seth scratched the back of his hair and replied with a tiny white lie. Well, it wasn't really a lie anyways since he and Nia had been neighbors in kindergarten, classmates in middle school, seatmates in high school, and then she and her mum moved off to Tokyo a few years ago. They had stayed in touch for a while, but then Seth lost his parents and some weird stuff happened, after which he could not connect with her anymore.
"A friend?"
Park Ju-Hui raised a brow in questioning confusion. Baek Daechul's clan had weak ties with both the Nayuta Clan and Ashen Flame clan. Park Ju-Hui had been trying to get inside of the clan for years, thus she knew a bit about the Blind Blade. The Blind Blade kept no friends, just very, very distant allies.
"But I thought that Lady Blind Blade doesn't have friends -"
"And who are you to say so?"
Nyakumi's cold voice rang out are cut Park Ju-Hui short.
"Its rude to interrupt someone when they're talking."
Chun Hua cracked her knuckles and glared at Nyakumi. For some reason, the black haired jade beauty felt a bit of hostility toward the silver haired woman after Seth had declared her his 'friend'. Xin Minxia rolled her eyes and was just about to rebuke the younger woman, but Mu Yan Zu butted in first.
"Junior Sister Chun Hua is right-"
"No she's not."
Xin Minxia, for the first time, was not siding with her cousin. Seth, Park Ju-Hui, and Baek Daechul all watched in confusion as sparks flew from the glaring women. Nyakumi was about unsheathing her sword, Chun Hua already had her hand out and was about calling forth her Song of Terror, Xin Minxia had her sword pointing squarely at Mu Yan Zu's throat already, and Mu Yan Zu had a not so short serrated dagger pointing directly at Minxia's heart.
"Everyone stop..."
Seth tried to end the conflict before it could start, but was quickly quietened down by the annoyed glares of four extremely powerful, agitated women. If these four were to engage in a full on battle, then almost everyone here would die. Xin Minxia had survived solo in the forest all by herself for month, Lee Chun Hua was... well, Lee Chun Hua, and Seth could tell that the Mu Yan Zu lady was strong from her dark, hair raising, spine chilling aura alone. He had heard a bit about Nyakumi's prowess from Baek Daechul and Park Ju-Hui a few minutes ago, and the forest would not be able to survive the wrath of their mini war. Once the forest was demolished, then they would all become lunch for the demons roaming about. Before the sharp swords could begin clashing though, yet another voice resonated in the forest.
[Congratulations, you all managed to pass the Trial Test and prove yourselves worthy of being the one to amass unlimited power]
The voice was coming from some strange smug gargoyle type of thing. It was made out of stone and was flying in the air despite having stone wings.
[Now,... The REAL trials are about to begin]
***
Hundreds of the stone creatures had appeared at the same time at every point on the Trial grounds where there were human survivors. No matter where the surviving cultivators were, be it in a desert, on an island, on a volcano, or in a forest, the message virtually remained the same.
[The true trials start now]
[The beginning of the end has come]
[The Trials really begin]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
But despite the varying presentations, the contents of each were exactly the same.
[Trial#1: Kill the Basilisk.
Time limit: one hour.
Failure Penalty: Death.
Reward: unknown.]
***
Seth and the cohort stared at the lesser deity in a mixture of shock and surprise. Although absolute terror was also mixed in as Park Ju-Hui choked on her own spit. Who did not know what a Basilisk was? The mythical creature famed to be so venomous that it's very gaze alone was deadly.
Park Ju-Hui slowly raised up her right hand like a student in the classroom and asked a question.
"W-We're going to be fighting a Basilisk?!"
[Yes]
Xin Minxia tilted her head slightly while squinting her almond shaped eyes.
"When, if I may ask?"
The lesser deity cackled evilly as it's grin grew wider, stretching almost up till its stone forehead.
[Kukuku, it's right now!]
At that very moment, the few thousand cultivators who had managed to survive the Trial Test were summoned over to the very river that Lee Chun Hua and the others had crossed earlier.
"So were back here again?"
Mu Yan Zhi shook her head and sighed. Why did they risk their lives to cross the dark river if the first main trial was just going to be there anyways?
Several hundreds of cultivators all looking rough and wild found their comrades in a fit of joy.
"Yi Il-hwan, you're alive?!"
"Oh heavens, I thought you died, Shunsuke!"
"You survived, senior brother Liu!"
Clansmen met clansmen and sect person met sect person. Comrades who were feared dead resurfaced, and alliances were both broken and reformed.
"Young Mistress Xin, Young Mistress Lee, and sister Mu. We are so glad that you all are alive!"
A very familiar man with a shiny bald head bowed slightly as he approached them both. The army sent forward by the Ashen Flame Clan, Renegade Dao sect, and Blazing Valor sect combined was well over four thousand, so it was obvious that many of them would survive.
Xin Minxia and Lee Chun Hua both smiled as they bowed back.
"Its good to see you too, Senior brother Zhang."
Even Baek Daechul and Nyakumi were soon surrounded by their Clansmen and Sect people.
"Nyakumi-sama! Its us, the Orochi Sect!"
"Daechul-ssi! Welcome back!"
The only people left out like they were dog crap were Park Ju-Hui and Seth who had no affiliations.
"So... I guess it's both of us, then?"
"O-Ok..."
Park Ju-Hui found hersrlf blushing when Seth spoke to her. Come to think of it, he had never spoken directly to her since the day that he bought the spirit grade sucrose herbs from her.