The Attack of the Wastrel

While Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were on the seventh level of the main hall learning about the history of the Sacred Lands, the people outside busied themselves as well.

A few moments after they had been teleported into Liu Yiyan’s space-dimension realm, yet another Martial Artist coughed up blood as he flew out of the main hall. He was not as lucky as the first Martial Artist that had flown out, as he laid on the floor unconscious.

The Martial Sages that had sent him in immediately crowded around to assess the situation, before realizing that that Martial Artist had stopped breathing. He had coughed up all his lifeblood. When one’s lifeblood was used up, they would die.

“The Spiritual Being is so cruel to kill off someone’s soul like that,” one of the Martial Sages sighed.

If one was physically hurt, they could heal themselves with Spiritual Medicine. However, once one’s soul was injured, it could never be recovered again. The remaining parts of the soul could only recover after a long period of time. If too much of the soul was lost, then one would die. No one thought that the test to enter the main hall would be so cruel. Luckily, none of them had attempted to do the test themselves out of hastiness, if not…

A silence immediately fell over the other Martial Sages who had learnt about the situation. It was not worth it to go through such a test to only get some treasures that were suited for Martial Students. They gave up any ideas to send more Martial Artists into the main hall.

Defeating 27 Spiritual Souls that had cultivation one level higher than themselves? Only a masochist would come up with such an idea.

After weighing the pros and cons of the situation, all of the Martial Sages could only curse at the person who had thought of such a test, before disallowing anyone else to try their luck at completing the test.

“Who came up with such a rule? Why don’t they just strengthen the Restrictive Shield? Now the treasures are in sight but unattainable, it’s no wonder that even those top-tier Martial Artists do not dare to step in. We’re merely finding trouble for ourselves!”

Someone else exclaimed in disbelief, “If it’s such a secretive place, then there must’ve been the intention to pass down these treasures. There’s no way that they would make the test so impossibly difficult. The Spiritual Souls are definitely not as powerful as they say!”

“Why don’t you go and try it yourself then?” the first person mocked, “Can’t you see that someone has died trying? If I remember correctly, that was Qi Xinyi from the Dayin Kingdom. He’s definitely one of the better ones amongst his peers, why else would the Martial Sages from the Dayin Kingdom send him in to try his luck? But he’s dead because of the test, do you really think that you’re much stronger than he is?”

The second person was speechless. He was just casually raising a point; he did not have the intention to try it out himself. The treasures were important, but he cherished his life more. Who would sacrifice themselves other than a few people who had thought that they were so talented that they could pass the test?

That’s right, it was a death wish.

The man who had doubted the difficulty of the test was speechless at first, but then he recovered himself. He turned to look at Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan, who were still standing by the entrance. “Well, look at those two. They’ve been inside for a while and they’re not showing any signs of suffering. I’m guessing that there’s an 80 percent change that they’ll pass the test.”

The rest of them looked at Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan as well. They recognized Rong Yuan instantly.

“Isn’t that the Third Prince of the Xia Kingdom? Why would he put his life at risk so easily?”

“Isn’t that his fiancée whom everyone said he was going to abandon? It doesn’t seem like they’re going to cancel their engagement.”

“You don’t know anything. A man of his status does not even need to cancel his engagement. If he doesn’t like her, he can just marry someone else. He has an endless number of suitors.”

In an instant, the conversation topic had changed from the difficulty of the test to Rong Yuan’s willingness to suffer. With his social status, why did he even bother with treasures that were suited for Martial Students? They did not even consider the fact that he would ever attain treasures that were meant for higher-tier Martial Artists. There was no way that he could even defeat three Spiritual Souls with cultivations one level higher than his.

“Old man, do you think both of them are alright?” Su Ruo asked when he heard the discussion happening around him.

“I’m sure they’re fine. That brat, Rong Yuan, is so outstanding, what could happen to him?” Though Mei Ying had said that, he looked stricken with worry as he looked at both Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan. They had stood there for so long without moving, it could not be a good thing.

There were other people who worried for them, such as Yuan Zheng. He looked at Wei Hanzi and saw the same panicked expression in his eyes. Rong Yuan’s cues had brought them all the way here, yet they did not think that they would be met with such a scene. Even though they had lots of confidence in Rong Yuan from the beginning, the difficulty of the test was starting to make them extremely worried.

“Our masters wouldn’t…” Wei Hanzi trailed off, but she did not manage to complete the sentence before Yuan Zheng interrupted her.

“They will be alright. Even if you don’t trust His Highness, you have to believe that he will not let the Princess Consort risk her life with him.”

Yuan Zheng’s words had given a bit of reassurance to the people from the Royal School who were all waiting outside the main hall.

“Yuan Zheng is right, even though the Third Prince is a fool when it comes to love, he would never endanger someone that he loves,” Yan Liang said. If it was up to him, he would not put Gu Lingzhi’s life at risk too. Yuan Zheng was absolutely right.

However, logic and emotions were two different things. Yan Liang had never felt worse when he saw the girl that he loved being in danger and yet he could not do anything.

After a moment of silence, Yan Liang suddenly lifted his head and walked towards the entrance of the main hall.

“What are you doing?” Nie Sang tried to pull him back.

“I want to try my luck at the test and see if it’s as bad as they say,” Yan Liang replied, before he wrenched his hand out of Nie Sang’s grip. He was determined to enter the main hall. When he understood the rules of the test, he accepted it.

When Yan Liang’s soul was pulled into Liu Yiyan’s space-dimension realm, everyone that had been standing at the entrance of the main hall disappeared. The first level of the main hall immediately brightened up with a red glow.

“Did… did someone successfully enter the first level?” Yan Liang questioned.

“Congratulations on having defeated three Spiritual Souls, you may enter the first level and pick any treasure that you’d like. Remember, you can only pick one,” Liu Yiyan’s voice suddenly rang out just as Yan Liang asked the question.

Liu Yiyan’s voice carried a hint of delight, which made Lin Yue, who barely made it alive, to fume with anger. Even if the treasures in the first level were rare, it was for Martial Students, what use would he have for it? If it was not for the fact that the Martial Sages had forced him to take on the challenge, he would never have taken the risk. Now, he could only curse at them on the inside, whilst searching for the most valuable treasure albeit the fact that they were all of rather low value.

The people that were waiting on the outside had the same thoughts as Lin Yue, as they silently cursed at Liu Yiyan. To think that they had undergone such a huge risk for such a small reward. Who had been so sadistic to come up with a test like that?

At the same time, there were many Martial Artists that had flown out of the main hall. Some of them were severely injured, while others were not breathing at all. If they could go back in time, would they have regretted accepting the test?

Many people who had turned up after hearing that the Restrictive Shield had been broken and wanted to try their luck at getting a treasure immediately turned around and left after seeing the Martial Artists who were either injured or dead. Only a small portion refused to leave and paced around while they monitored the actions of the Martial Sages and Demigods. They were hoping that these higher-ranking Martial Artists would be able to think of an idea to deal with Liu Yiyan, so that they could scavenge through the remnants.

On the other hand, Yuan Zheng was solely worried for the both of them. In contrast, Ding Rou was desperately praying for Rong Yuan’s safety, while she cursed Gu Lingzhi and hoped that she would injure herself here so that no one could snatch Rong Yuan away again.

As time passed, after Lin Yue had successfully entered the first level of the main hall, there were a few others after him that had succeeded as well. The most shocking thing was that someone had actually managed to enter the second level.

What was strange was that at the beginning, out of all the people who had accepted the test, there were more people who failed than those who succeeded. Now, however, more people were succeeding than failing. Even those that had failed and were catapulted out had a low death rate. It was probably because the people who lacked the capabilities finally knew not to risk their lives.

In under a day, the main hall had become a training ground for the best Martial Artists that existed. Any Martial Artist that had some sort of reputation would try their luck. It was almost as if they were afraid that they would no longer be called a talent if they did not accept the test. Those who had succeeded were held in higher regard the moment they exited the main hall. This outcome was unprecedented even for Liu Yiyan who had set up the conditions for the test in the first place.

“It’s been so long, why aren’t both of them out yet?”

Tianfeng Jin could not help start to pace in anxiety after watching waves after waves of people entering and exit the main hall. An hour ago, she could not help but accept Liu Yiyan’s test. However, even after she had succeeded and exited the Realm, Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan still stood there.

Unless…

It was such a scary possibility that thinking about it alone made her face pale.

“Don’t worry, His Highness will not let anything happen to Gu Lingzhi,” Yuan Zheng reassured both himself and Tianfeng Jin.

It had been more than five hours, yet the both of them were in the exact spot that they had been in ever since Yuan Zheng arrived. If it were not for the fact that they could tell that both Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were still breathing and their hearts were still beating, they would have long ago thought that something bad had happened to them.