Chapter 648: Trial of Fire III

Trial of fire III

"This…" the commentator was speechless and couldn"t find words to explain what just happened.

"You seem surprised," Eccentric Long replied to the commentator.

"How can I not? That destructiveness! That"s enough to destroy an entire city!"

"I believe that is not the full power of that thing, Du Shen didn"t even fully charge it. The load could definitely do more damage, I guess he thought about preserving the lives of other cultivators that could be caught in the aftermath," Eccentric Long replied.

"Impressive, by the way, this means that Du Shen was the first one to clear his objective. He"ll only need to reach the mountain range and he will be the first to finish this part of the race."

"Indeed, but that won"t be as simple as you say. After all, the Eight Suns had created this trial, I doubt that it would be that easy, even for Du Shen," Eccentric Long replied.

"Indeed, for our viewers, there are many more things to come! Please keep watching!"

***

"That was almost off course… hmm, I guess it"s fine, since it took down the target. But I"ll need to calibrate the rifle a bit more, for ten percent power to only do that much damage… it"s a bit underwhelming…" I mumbled to myself.

The mountain at the far distance had a bright pillar s.h.i.+ning from its peak. That is my goal to end this trial.

"At this rate, it will take me a whole day just to get to the mountain… hmm, X, increase the speed. I want to finish this part of the race in one hour."

"As you command," X replied and went to the engine room.

The s.h.i.+p had five thrusters on the back. And so far, we have been using only one.

Soon, the s.h.i.+p"s other thrusters began operating, sparking at first then exhausting Qi, picking up our speed marginally then subsequently accelerating.

The s.h.i.+p"s speed increased to absurd levels, where it began breaking and tearing apart the ground itself as it pa.s.sed by it. The lava pools were a.s.saulted by the pressure and tore apart creating gigantic waves. While the floor itself which was made of molten lava and hard rock were cracked and shattered by our mere pa.s.sing.

Beasts of all types and creatures didn"t dare to stand in our way. Though they would usually protect their territory from any invader, when the beasts saw the gigantic wave of destruction coming their way, they didn"t think about stopping it. No, it was as if a natural disaster was moving at them. And when a beast sees a natural disaster, their instincts urges them to run away instead of facing it.

Lava giants, gargantuan lava fish or even fire hounds, all ran away as they saw the incoming destructing ripping the very ground apart.

The ma.s.sive mountain was getting ever so slightly closer as I moved ahead.

In the distance, I was able to see cultivators. Which was expected. This was a several million cultivator tournament. A lot of us are partic.i.p.ating, and seeing a couple of them at this distance is only natural. More of them are going to show up, but I won"t be seeing any of them.

My speed is absurdly fast compared to anyone who is racing right now. Since they will all want to preserve their stamina, they"ll be far slower than me. Which is fine. The only problem is, if I make it to the second part of this race, would I need to wait for other cultivators if we have to go through the same trial of hunting one another?

There is no point in thinking about that…

Let"s just keep moving for now.

***

Far away from Shen Bao"s location, and in one of the screens of currently on display was a man who was wielding nine swords at the same time. Two in both hands, six flying behind his back and one under both his feet that he was using to fly.

His expression was grim.

"d.a.m.n whoever blew that thing next to me, if I hadn"t dodged in time I would have been a goner… once I find them, I"ll destroy ten of their family"s generation! You better not show your face!"

The man was clearly enraged.

He had just escaped what could be described as inescapable death.

This man was a bit famous, he was a man who scored fourth rank in the last tournament of the Strongest Under the Sun. And was one of the favored to win the compet.i.tion this year.

However, he was slightly injured by what occurred a few moments ago.

The man had made sure to be one of the fastest to reach the first tenth of the race and find his target. His objective was simple, to immediately go and hunt his target and hurry to the peak and rest.

Exhausting as much energy at the start might sound like a foolish attempt for many as this is a long race and one should preserve their Qi, but this man was of the idea that if he creates a vast enough distance between him and everyone else at the start, he will always be ahead.

The problem was that his kill target was a bit far away from him so he had to use more Qi just to reach them. And just as he was about to reach his target, an explosion that would destroy and cave in a gigantic portion of the land occurred right ahead of him.

Killing G.o.d knows how many cultivators and that wasn"t all, the aftermath of the explosion was a shockwave that destroyed and flipped the very earth upside down.

Causing a chain reaction of explosive volcanic torrents that would fry anyone foolish enough to try and move near them.

This explosion killed his own target and he was a.s.signed him another target at the other side of the mountain. Meaning that he had only one chance to catch his next target and that is to reach the mountain peak and wait for his target to arrive.

An annoying and very disruptive accident that ruined his plan.

Before the explosion happened, he managed to see what caused it, although it was brief. It was a type of metallic object that wasn"t even longer than his arm. It flew at a disturbingly fast speed and seemed to have struck against something.

The object was clearly not natural, so it inferred to him that another cultivator had done so perhaps to ruin his advantage.

"By my name! I shall find you and kill you!"

The man shouted, and for those watching, they all knew him as the Demon Sword.

***

In another corner of this fire lands a man with a hair that was flamboyant like the heart of flames themselves looked around.

"This feels like home… what a waste…"

His hair was something rarely seen in the world. He looked at the world with a disgruntled yet forlorn look. As if reminiscing of a world long gone.

In the man"s hand was the burnt corpse of another cultivator. A man so charred in flames that nothing but his black burnt skeleton remained along with a bracelet.

The man with the flamboyant hair grabbed the bracelet and was about to move forward.

But in the distance, something caught his eyes. A gigantic cloud that resembled a mushroom rose in the distance.

"… could it be?"

He didn"t finish his words. The man shook his head, "There is no way he would have made it to the Beyond." He then looked at the mountain peak and began walking toward it. Each step crossing endless distance as he fused with the flames around him, walking from one pool of lava to another as if he was a wisp of flame itself.

***

Somewhere else and not very far from the location of the man of the flamboyant hair. Another person wearing a full set of white robes with a scholar"s hat was smiling in front of a man that was heaving in front of him.

The heaving and clearly defeated man looked at his broken sword and up at the standing scholar.

"Monster…"

"That is a bit hurtful," the scholar said as he smiled behind a fan covering half of his face.

"But would you please give up, I would rather not spill unnecessary blood. And as you see, I don"t like to waste time."

The mand debated for a second, thinking of a way to trick this fiendish scholar. But he just sighed and removed his bracelet, "I give up," he said.

"It is good when one knows when to give up. As the saying goes, retreat today to fight tomorrow. May your path be blessed and your eyes opened to enlightenment." The scholar said as he grabbed the bracelet and began stepping through air itself moving away.

The defeated man grinned as the scholar had withdrew. He then pulled up another sword and was about to sneak attack the scholar.

"However, my junior brother had taught me to never let any loose ends, lest the weakling of today comes chasing tomorrow." He then snapped his fan and in that instant. As if the very wind of the Beyond heeded his call, coming down upon the treacherous man with wanton fury that ripped him shred to shred, leaving nothing but pieces of meat that instantly burnt from the heat of the world around him.

"A wise man, my junior brother, a very wise man," he said as he smiled and continued stepping through the air and moving forward.

…