Chapter 172 – Earth Trial
He stayed there for quite a long time. The path that the pillars traveled curved upwards. Wang Lin continued to fly for half a month. He followed the stone pillars until he finally reached the top.
This is the final destination of these stone pillars. There is a giant vortex here, and all the stone pillars disappear into it.
Wang Lin stared at the vortex and began to ponder. He made a hand seal as a flying sword flew out of his bag and floated motionless in front of him. He placed a wisp of his divine sense on the flying sword before sending it into the vortex.
Wang Lin closed his eyes slightly. The flying sword charged towards the vortex and entered without any resistance.
When the flying sword reached the vortex, it felt like it was sinking into the mud. After a few moments, the sword slowly passed by and came out on the other side. What appeared before Wang Lin was a world filled with bright light. A thick layer of ice covered the ground. The sky was dark, but there was still light shining and reflected by the ice.
The wind swirled over the ice for a moment before moving into the distance.
This place is very vast and the end is not visible, but one can clearly see the black towers in the distance. The nearest black tower is only 100 feet high, but the further away the black towers are, the higher they become. The farthest tower that Wang Lin can see is over 400 feet high.
These black towers form a straight line.
The black tower was particularly striking because it was made of black stone. Even when light reflected off the ice and hit the tower, it was all absorbed; nothing reflected from the tower.
The flying sword paused here for a moment before returning through the vortex and landing in Wang Lin’s hand.
Outside the giant vortex, Wang Lin opened his eyes as he withdrew the divine sense from the flying sword and put the sword back into its storage bag. After pondering for a moment, he took out the dragon vein, shook it, and the demon immediately flew out. He was filled with excitement as he looked at Wang Lin and shouted, “Who are we going to kill this time?… Ehh… what place is this?” The excited demon was shocked after looking around.
He flew quickly around the area. He then looked at the giant vortex before looking back at Wang Lin. He rubbed his hands and said cautiously, “You… could it be that you want me to go in there? No, no way! Absolutely no way!”
Wang Lin didn’t say a word as he pointed at the vortex and stared at the demon with a cold gaze.
This place was fraught with danger. Before he thoroughly investigated it, he wouldn’t rashly rush in.
The demon had a bitter expression on his face as he said firmly, “Who knows what’s in there? This damned place gives me a strange feeling. I’m not going. I’m absolutely not going!”
Wang Lin patted his storage bag and took out several soul flags. These once belonged to others. Wang Lin picked up one of the flags. His eyes lit up as he reached out and grabbed Sang Muya’s soul.
Back when Wang Lin met Sang Muya, who killed his own older brother to steal his foundation, Wang Lin asked him about many things before killing him and sealing his soul inside his own soul flag.
White light flickered in Wang Lin’s hand, revealing Sang Muya’s terrified face. Wang Lin waved his right hand, and the white light flew toward the demon.
The devil licked his lips as he stared at the soul with greed in his eyes and devoured it without hesitation. After rubbing his belly, he shook his head like a rattle and said, “No, no!”
Wang Lin’s eyes suddenly turned cold as his Ji Realm Divine Sense shot out. The demon let out a painful howl and green smoke appeared on its body again. It began to beg for mercy before reluctantly walking towards the vortex.
Using the trace of divine sense remaining within the demon, he once again saw the scene on the other side of the vortex, but then his expression suddenly changed.
After passing through the vortex this time, what appeared wasn’t a world of ice but a sea of fire. This was indeed a sea of fire. The further he looked, the darker the flames became. Looking into the distance, it was a raging sea of black flames that had dyed the sky purple. Waves of scorching air surged out.
Furthermore, various animals formed from fire can be seen moving about. Just like the world of ice, this world of fire also features rows of black towers towering into the distance.
The devil screamed. He seemed afraid of the heat wave, so he quickly retreated.
Wang Lin pondered for a moment. His eyes lit up as he pointed at the vortex again and looked at the demon. The demon immediately shouted, “Give me another soul!”
Wang Lin glanced at the demon before taking out another soul and throwing it in. The demon immediately swallowed it and revealed the expression of a hero ready to die as it charged back into the vortex.
This time, the world inside changed again, becoming a world of sand. It was filled with countless large cacti and numerous tornadoes in the distance.
The rows of black towers that towered endlessly into the distance were exactly the same as the other two places.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. The next test was the sword mountain and the forest. Combined, they represented metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; the five elements.
Wang Lin suddenly understood why Duanmu Ji was looking for Wang Qingyue. With Wang Qingyue’s five-elemental escape technique, no matter what trial it was, whether it was a mountain of swords, a forest, a world of ice, a sea of fire, or an endless desert, it would be extremely easy for them to overcome it.
If Wang Lin could choose, he would definitely choose the desert. After all, he knew the Earth Escape technique, which would be very useful there.
Wang Lin pondered for a moment before flying to the top of a nearby stone pillar and riding it toward the vortex. He turned his head and glanced at the demon. The demon sighed and obediently entered the vortex.
Not long after, just as the rock was about to enter, Wang Lin jumped back onto a rock behind him. The demon emerged with a pained expression and returned to the whirlpool.
This continued and the fourth time the demon entered, Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he charged into the vortex.
What appeared before him was an endless desert with strong desert winds blowing against him. Countless black tornadoes could be seen in the distance, stretching from the ground all the way to the sky. It would be fair to say that tornadoes were everywhere.
Along with the wind comes sand, which will deliver a hard blow if it hits someone.
He got rid of the demon, touched the sand on the ground, stepped forward, and disappeared into the ground. When he reappeared, he was already 1000 feet away.
1,000 feet away was the first tower in the Earth test. As he walked up to the tower, the sound of the wind outside suddenly disappeared. Inside the tower was completely silent.
As Wang Lin carefully observed the tower, his expression became serious. The tower had a total of three floors. The first two floors were empty, while the third floor had a table covered in a thick layer of dust. Wang Lin looked around and was about to go back down, but his eyes suddenly lit up as he stared at the table.
When he looked at it from the side, he noticed that one spot on the table was higher than the others. He stepped closer to examine it before waving his hand, creating a wind that blew away the layer of dust.
Rows of words began to appear on the table. Wang Lin waved it a few more times, and the wind he created gradually made the words clearer.
It was clear that the words were left by people who came here before and were covered in dust over a long period of time.
“Since I entered this place, I decided to leave my mark!” These few words were filled with power, like a force pushing him. He pondered for a moment before leaving the black tower.
As he left the black tower, the wind howled again. Sand scattered across the sky, obscuring it and making it dark.
Wang Lin only moved on the ground using his earth escape technique. He didn’t dare to fly, because if there was a strong limit in the sky, then he would die when he took off. He pondered for a moment before taking out a flying sword and throwing it into the sky. The flying sword shot into the sky. When it was about 1000 feet in the air, a black wind appeared out of nowhere and turned the flying sword into dust.
Wang Lin’s expression remained the same. He had already suspected something like this would happen, and the flying sword was merely confirmation. He looked around. This place was about 100 kilometers from the next tower. After pondering for a moment, he stepped forward and advanced underground using the Earth Escape Technique.
This time, Wang Lin could clearly sense a force preventing him from using the Earth Escape Technique. However, this force wasn’t very strong, so Wang Lin only needed to use a small amount of spiritual energy to resist it. This allowed him to safely cross this 100-kilometer distance.
Upon arriving at the second tower, he searched around and found nothing. He wasn’t sure if the Ancient Emperor and the others had also passed this earthly trial. However, from what he’d heard from them and the mention of the ice shield, it seemed likely they would be passing the water trial instead.
At this moment, tens of thousands of kilometers in front of Wang Lin, Hunchback Meng stood in a black tower with a gloomy expression. He looked outside and saw that a black wind had surrounded the area. The howling of the wind sounded like the cries of ghosts as they entered the tower.
Her condition was currently very pitiful. Even the frog on her shoulder looked very weak; it was shaking its head and making weak, croaking sounds.
As he touched the toad on his shoulder, he felt a deep hatred well up in his heart. A few months ago, he, the Six Desire Devil Lord, and the others had been chased by a red dragon. None of them were a match for the dragon, and even when they teamed up, they were still unable to defeat it. In the end, each of them could only escape on their own.
Everyone’s goal was the vortex at the top of the passageway. Only by entering the vortex and passing the first trial would they be able to escape this danger, but the red dragon was close behind them, ruining their original plan.
They had originally planned to enter the first trial together and use everyone’s strengths to pass it. This way, the difficulty of the first trial would be drastically reduced. They would also be able to conserve their spiritual energy and use it for the second trial.
Unfortunately, the red dragon was too powerful, and its abilities were too difficult for everyone to handle, so they could only run. When they arrived in front of the vortex, everyone rushed in without thinking anything other than escape. As a result, everyone faced a different environment.
What Hunchback Meng had entered was the earth trial. When he saw the desert, his heart sank. They had originally planned to pass the water trial, which was a world of ice. The last time they came here, they had successfully passed the water trial after many deaths. Although dangerous, these four lucky individuals had already passed it once. They had also prepared treasures to counter that place, so they were confident in passing it.
However, Hunchback Meng had never experienced the trials of the earth before. As a result, he could only swallow the bitter pill and force his way through. The first 10,000 kilometers were relatively safe, but after that, black winds covered the sky and battered him. There were also mysterious creatures within the black winds that used sound to attack, making it extremely difficult to defend.
At first, these creatures weren’t numerous, so he killed them one by one with his poison. However, he soon realized that the more he killed, the more they spawned. In the final great battle, the screams of at least 10,000 of these creatures could be heard.
However, Hunchback Meng was a Soul Formation cultivator and a master of poison. Although the creatures’ sound attacks alarmed him, he still killed them all in the end. However, before he could get very far, over 10,000 of the creatures appeared again.
After killing 100,000, there are only 1 million left. After killing 1 million, there are only 10 million left. Within each black tornado are countless creatures. In fact, this black wind is created by the movement of these creatures’ wings.
He continued killing more and more until he lost track of how many he had killed. His spiritual energy began to deplete and he became unstable. Eventually, he managed to create a gap that allowed him to break through the creatures and enter the black tower. He didn’t dare leave.
Even though he was a Soul Formation cultivator and possessed poison, he was still shaken. There were too many enemies, and he feared that if he managed to kill all of them outside, their numbers would increase tenfold.
There were countless black tornadoes in this endless desert. Not to mention the possibility of 10 times as many, 100 times as many, 1,000 times as many, or even 10,000 times as many. Thinking of this, Hunchback Meng’s heart turned cold.
Although none of the creatures were powerful on their own, if there were 1 billion or 10 billion of them, then their combined sound attacks would destroy the soul of even a Soul Formation cultivator like him and would even destroy his body.
The more Wang Lin moved forward, the more confused he became. He had already traveled over 1,000 kilometers, but other than a few large tornadoes, there was no other danger. However, the resistance underground was becoming stronger, forcing him to slow down. More than half of the spiritual energy in his body had been used to fend off this force.
Wang Lin appeared before a black tower. This black tower was 1,000 feet tall and pierced the sky. As soon as Wang Lin entered the tower, his expression changed as he looked down at the ground. There were some slight traces of movement in the thick layer of dust. It was as if something had gently touched it.
Wang Lin walked slowly and looked down at the ground. His eyes lit up as he quickly and carefully examined each floor of the tower. At the top of the tower, he found numerous footprints that sent dust flying.
Wang Lin took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure if anyone else had entered the earth trial before him. From the signs here, they hadn’t been here long.
Wang Lin stood at the top of the tower and looked out. He could see very far from here, but besides countless black tornadoes, there was nothing in the distance.
After a moment of contemplation, he slowed his pace and stepped forward leisurely. It didn’t matter who was in front of him; once he met them, he would definitely be controlled by them. However, if he could control the distance between them, then he could borrow their power to safely pass this earthly trial.
With this in mind, Wang Lin slowly advanced with the technique of escaping from the earth. As a result, he arrived at the black tower 10,000 kilometers from the starting point. Along the way, he would send the devil out first every time he encountered the black tower. Only after being checked by the devil did he enter carefully.
Time passed slowly. Half a month later, the height of the tower had reached 8000 feet. Wang Lin looked down from the top of the tower.
Throughout his journey, he had become accustomed to climbing to the top of each tower and gazing into the distance. His pupils suddenly constricted as he saw tornadoes of various sizes moving in one direction, as if something were calling him.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He stared at them for a moment before descending the tower. At the bottom of the tower, he entered the ground and continued forward.
The resistance underground was now even stronger. He now needed to use 80% of his spiritual energy to repel that force and continue to use the earth escape technique. Wang Lin suddenly stopped when he saw with his divine sense a black light on the sand in front of him. A foul smell suddenly appeared, and without hesitation, Wang Lin took out the pill that Hunchback Meng had given him and put it into his mouth. After that, he rose and appeared above the ground.
That was the first time he surfaced before reaching the black tower.
As he emerged to the surface, the sound of the howling wind grew louder. The pressure caused by the wind hitting his body was painful. However, at this moment, Wang Lin no longer cared about those things as his hands formed a seal and he shouted, “Go!”
Suddenly, a strange wind appeared. It moved among the black tornadoes and then began to move across the desert. Gradually, the desert seemed to be traversed by an invisible hand. This hand uncovered the corpses of countless black beasts.
These creatures were only the size of a fist, with a pair of thin wings on their backs. Their mouths were sharp and their faces were ferocious.
Wang Lin’s divine sense spread out. He frowned at what he saw. There were no less than 10,000 corpses here, and their bodies were all black, indicating that they had died from a powerful poison.
Wang Lin immediately realized that the person in front of him was Hunchback Meng.
Thinking of Hunchback Meng, Wang Lin sneered, but his heart grew even more wary. He returned to the ground and continued toward the next tower.
A few hours later, Wang Lin’s divine sense found the next tower, only there was a small tornado in front of the tower that was moving back and forth.
Wang Lin pondered for a moment as he retreated. He decided to turn around and head straight for the next black tower. However, just at this moment, a black tornado began to slowly move toward him. The tornado picked up sand from the ground and threw it back. Some of the sand hit the tower, creating a series of crackling sounds.
Wang Lin sneered. He spread out his divine sense and discovered that this was the only tornado around him. His Ji Realm Divine Sense appeared and entered the black tornado. He discovered that there were over 1,000 divine senses within it.
Each of these divine senses was roughly equivalent to the senses of a Core Formation cultivator. As long as none of them were above the Nascent Soul stage, they were harmless to Wang Lin. In just one sweep, about 100 divine senses were destroyed. However, the remaining 900 divine senses coalesced into a sword that stabbed toward Wang Lin’s divine sense.
The tornado suddenly stopped for a moment, and this pause caused the tornado to disappear, revealing countless small creatures inside.
These little creatures were exactly the same as the ones Wang Lin had seen before. They were all huddled together, flapping their wings and making strange sounds.
These voices converged to form a single, massive sound wave. At the same time, their divine senses combined to form a sword. As soon as the sword formed, it charged toward Wang Lin, with the sound wave following closely behind.
Wang Lin frowned and quickly withdrew his divine sense. He slapped his storage bag, and the demon flew out. When it saw the sword made from divine sense, it immediately became excited and jumped toward it without waiting for Wang Lin’s command.
As the demon flew out, divine sense swords and sound waves came one after another. The demon let out a delighted roar as its body transformed into a cloud of smoke. The cloud of smoke spread and quickly surrounded the sword formed from the divine senses of all the small beasts. As for the sound wave attack, it had no effect on the demon because it didn’t actually have a body, so it passed through it.
At the same time, Wang Lin opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of crystal light. The crystal sword shot toward the group of creatures. As it approached, all the small creatures scattered. There were so many of them that they covered the sky.
All of this happened in an instant. After Wang Lin saw the small beasts scatter, he immediately patted his bag, and hundreds of flying swords flew out. Wang Lin’s divine sense attached itself to each sword. With the power of his Ji Realm divine sense, the flying swords rained down on the small beasts.