Hurried, scattered footsteps echoed through the megalithic corridor. In just a dozen seconds, the five of them dashed through the long passageway and reached the entrance of the temple. Tremendous roars, violent gales, and surging fluctuations of spiritual power poured from within.
"Stay where you are and don't move. I'll scout ahead."
The terrifyingly violent aura made Zhang Yuanqing wary of acting rashly, and he held back his companions.
Xiao Yuan and the others nodded silently, their expressions grave.
Zhang Yuanqing activated Night Roam, concealing his figure, and crept toward the temple entrance.
The temple was vast and open, without walls or stone pillars. Its ceiling was a high, boundless starry sky. Lingering at the entrance, Zhang Yuanqing saw the two opposing sides locked in battle.
Hovering behind Xiahou Aotian was the towering phantom of a god, in the likeness of an old man with all-white hair and beard, exuding a transcendent, immortal bearing.
The elder wore a Daoist robe adorned with the Taiji Eight Trigrams. In his right hand, he held a bronze pill furnace, around which tortoise shells, elixir pills, and copper coins revolved. In his left hand rested a cluster of flames—white at the base, black in the middle, and crimson on the outer rim. Over a dozen props and materials orbited the three-colored flame.
Behind this "Scholar God" was Jiang Ju, with a severed arm; Yin Ji, whose veil had fallen to reveal her devastatingly breathtaking beauty, though she was unconscious; and Chazo, both arms severed at the shoulders, his face ashen.
All three were critically wounded—especially Chazo. Aside from having both arms shorn off at the shoulder, he had a horrific penetrating wound through his chest and abdomen, vaguely revealing the fresh, mangled organs inside.
His blood had nearly drained dry!
The Knight class possessed neither formidable vitality nor regenerative powers; such injuries were practically a death sentence.
The only reason he was still breathing was likely the endurance and sheer willpower forged during his "Ascetic" stage, stubbornly refusing to let him die.
On the evil faction's side stood a full three peak Saints: Sleeping Dragon Lord, Bloody Fluid, and Human-Beast Hybrid.
Sleeping Dragon Lord was a middle-aged Caucasian man with a haggard face and half-lidded eyes. Gaunt and pale, he looked as though he had just awakened from a hangover and could barely keep his eyes open.
Deep darkness churned behind him. Within that quagmire of shadow, a tall humanoid figure faded in and out of sight. Its features were indiscernible, but whenever its silhouette surfaced, the sealing power inside the temple surged like a rising tide.
And the flame in the Scholar God's hand would flicker and wane.
As for Bloody Fluid and Human-Beast Hybrid, one was a white-haired man of late middle age, and the other a voluptuous, sultry woman.
Behind the former hovered a deity with long hair and a flowing beard, resembling an unkempt old man dressed in crude ancient Greek garments. Wine fumes permeated the air around him, and he held a staff woven from grapevines, with grapes and nuts dangling from its tip.
The latter was the demon "Chromy" from the Ten Divine Sons—boasting ram horns, cloven hooves, and crimson skin throughout, with leathery wings burning with ghostly blue flames and scarlet, slit pupils.
Fighting one against three, Xiahou Aotian's eyes glowed bright gold, and behind his head hovered a golden halo composed of Sanskrit-like characters. At this moment, his foot was pumping the trigger pedal of a cannon as if working a sewing machine.
With every pump, the thick, elongated barrel belched a burst of golden light, bombarding the enemies across the hall.
With every pump, Xiahou Aotian's eyes grew a fraction wetter with tears.
The dense barrage of golden projectiles hailed into the deep, viscous darkness. Instead of exploding, they swiftly died out or had their trajectories warped, deflecting left, right, and into the sky, effortlessly neutralized.
Xiahou Aotian paid no heed and continued pouring on firepower. The three-colored flame ceaselessly melted materials and props, refining them into energy packs one after another, which Reilly Eugene, the Saint from the Merchant Guild, loaded beside him.
Meanwhile, the pill furnace in the god's right hand opened and closed its lid non-stop, refining skills like "Petrification Ray," "Distortion," and "Sleeping Charm" into nothingness.
To a high-tier Scholar, anything in the world could be refined and reorganized, including spiritual power.
And the foundation of any skill was spiritual power.
Watching item after item of materials and props being melted down, Eugene was also weeping copiously, for these materials and props were his and Xiahou Aotian's private property.
"What are you crying for?!" Xiahou Aotian snarled, his face twisted. "Since we chose the Scholar and Merchant classes, we should be prepared to be stripped down to our last copper! You can't bring wealth into this world, and you can't take it with you when you die!"
Reilly Eugene glanced at the tear tracks running down the man's cheeks, thinking he really ought to learn how to keep a stiff upper lip like Brother Xiahou.
"Besides, we're not without a chance!" Xiahou Aotian suddenly said, blood faintly trickling from his facial orifices.
"What chance?" Reilly Eugene hoped this wasn't just him talking tough. Brother Xiahou was holding on by a thread; after paying through the nose and burning through his entire fortune, he had begun burning through his very life.
Channeling the divine dharmakaya placed an immense burden on the body. Brother Xiahou had very little spiritual power left. If this continued, he would inevitably die of total exhaustion.
Xiahou Aotian didn't answer. He merely glanced toward the western side of the temple, where a statue of a Witch Doctor deity stood at the edge of a circular array carved with exquisite bas-reliefs.
The chance he spoke of didn't refer to Yuanshi Tianzun. The Night Roamer statue had already been destroyed; in a clash between "deities," Yuanshi Tianzun was no different from an ant.
The chance Xiahou Aotian meant was Yuanshi Tianzun's paramour, Xiao Yuan. As far as the killing trial went, she was the sole surviving Witch Doctor.
When the battle erupted between the two sides, Xiahou Aotian had repaid tit for tat by smashing the divine statues of evil classes as well, deliberately sparing the Witch Doctor statue.
And Sleeping Dragon Lord and his two companions naturally hadn't bothered to shatter the Witch Doctor statue. Evil classes were natural allies, and with six slots in the killing trial, they had already secured their share; an incoming Witch Doctor wouldn't conflict with them.
*I admit I was overly confident earlier...* Spectating the battle, Zhang Yuanqing sucked in a sharp breath. The aura emanating from the two deities was unquestionably at the Dominator level, far beyond what an early-stage Dominator could match.
Zhang Yuanqing felt that even if he burned every card and penny he had, he still couldn't win.
He had thought the upper combat limit of this killing trial would top out at Level 7 Dominator at best, and that with his Thunder God Set and dual-class skills, he would always be at the forefront of combat capability.
Who could have guessed that the deities' combat prowess would be so preposterous and absurd, completely erasing every advantage he held?
His advantage of having a rich stockpile of props had been negated by the relics; his dual-class combat strength surpassing peak Saints was eclipsed by the divine dharmakayas. Thinking back now, this killing trial almost seemed designed specifically to counter him.
His gaze swept past the four deities toward the western part of the temple, where a circular array engraved with intricate patterns lay.
Within the circular array were constellations, swords and shields, wind and thunder, flames, vines, wheat, and monsters... The exquisitely carved, lifelike motifs converged in one place, harmonizing seamlessly yet standing in mutual opposition.
Along the rim of this circular array, which spanned dozens of meters in diameter, lay the shattered remnants of stone statues. These statues depicted men and women, berserk warriors, and somber sorcerers, each distinct in feature.
Osmond was right: the divine dharmakayas had all been destroyed, leaving only a single statue intact.
—It was clad in opulent robes, with features indeterminate of gender, a face covered in eerie tattoos, and swarms of dense gu insects crawling at its feet. Behind its head was a circular halo formed by an Ouroboros, resembling the Ajna chakra of mythological figures.
Most distinctive was that this stone statue had only a single vertical eye, set into its forehead.
*The deity of the Witch Doctor class?*
Having failed to spot the dharmakayas for Night Roamers and Illusionists, Zhang Yuanqing's crestfallen mood suddenly surged with excitement as he acutely caught on that this was their chance.
*The MVP of this match will have to go to Xiao Yuan!* Zhang Yuanqing swiftly retreated to his teammates' side and briefly relayed the situation inside the temple to them.
Zhang Yuanqing calmly laid out the plan:
"Xiao Yuan, once you enter the temple, bypass Xiahou Aotian without speaking a word and go straight to fusing with the dharmakaya."
The three evil classes in the temple were all Saints from the First District. They knew nothing of Wuhen Hotel, nor did they recognize Xiao Yuan; they would only judge friend from foe based on the class traits she displayed.
And Xiahou Aotian, naturally, wouldn't stop Xiao Yuan either.
"Understood!"
Xiao Yuan gave a slight nod. Flapping the insect wings she had already sprouted, she turned into an afterimage and flew into the temple.
*Bzzzzz...* The helicopter-rotor-like hum instantly caught the attention of both warring sides.
The three evil classes, including Sleeping Dragon Lord, immediately focused their gazes. Once they made out the newcomer's appearance and characteristics, their expressions relaxed slightly, and smiles crept onto their faces.
Bloody Fluid chuckled. "Another ally has arrived!"
Following her lover's instructions, Xiao Yuan feigned steering clear of Xiahou Aotian, putting up a guarded posture. Under the watchful eyes of the three evil classes, who stood ready to cover her at a moment's notice, she touched down beside the Witch Doctor statue.
Her heart pounded rapidly as she sensed a call emanating from her bloodline.
The statue was calling to her.
Led by sudden inspiration, Xiao Yuan lifted her hand and pressed it against the statue.
A Spirit Realm prompt chimed in her ear:
[Ding! Witch Doctor, match successful. Proceed with fusion?]
Without hesitation, Xiao Yuan immediately chose to fuse.
[Ding! Fusing with the dharmakaya requires 100 points. You do not have enough points. Fusion failed.]
Not enough points? Xiao Yuan's expression changed abruptly. Only now did she realize that fusing with the dharmakaya required "qualification"—one couldn't just reach the third floor and merge with it automatically. Such a mechanic made sense; after all, each class had only one dharmakaya.
And among the Spirit Realm walkers taking part in the killing trial, there wouldn't be just one person per class.
This mechanic was designed to weed out the weak.
Osmond hadn't mentioned this detail—likely because Sleeping Dragon Lord had destroyed most of the statues before he could learn of it, meaning the arrogant Siren didn't know about this mechanic either.
And Yuanshi couldn't communicate with Xiahou Aotian right under the enemies' noses.
Where could she scrape together 100 points in such a short time?
She and Huang Taiji had been trapped inside the relic gourd, leaving them virtually no time to subdue relics. The format of the second floor offered no way to accumulate points either, leaving her with only the 20-point clear reward.
Her current score was 40 points—10 points earned for reaching the second floor, and 30 points for reaching the third. She was still far from 100 points.
The sultry woman, "Human-Beast Hybrid," who had been watching her the whole time, let out an intrigued sound. Seeing the newly arrived bee maiden freeze in place, she guessed the truth: "Not enough points?"
Sleeping Dragon Lord lifted his bleary, sleep-heavy eyes and glanced toward the temple entrance. In a languid tone, he asked, "Osmond isn't dead yet, though he's not far from it. Didn't she run into him on her way here?"
If she had, she could have finished him off in passing, so how could she be short on points?
As he spoke, he opened the leaderboard and confirmed that Osmond was indeed still alive.
The sultry woman clicked her tongue. "Could he have been saved by Daode Tianzun, second on the board?"
"If those people reached the third floor and rescued Osmond, why was she able to come through? She should have died in the corridor." Bloody Fluid's gaze shifted as he said, "Call her over for questioning!"
Chapter 795