Chapter 183: First Place in the War Zone
–Soul Prison Trial, Fourth Level, Tower of Heaven
–Fourth Stage, 100th Floor
The previous third level, the Dark Ages, was divided into three stages, lasting three sessions. The Tower of Heaven, however, was divided into four stages, lasting four sessions.
Every 25 floors marked a new stage. Surviving spirit beasts could return to reality and recover, waiting for the next session to re-enter the trial.
After four cycles, they had finally reached the final level, the summit of the Tower of Heaven!
All remaining spirit beasts were transported to the starting point, a vast, empty, circular arena.
The final ranking and rewards were determined by the order of defeat. As long as their team wasn’t completely wiped out, they had a chance to achieve a higher rank, earning valuable resources for their masters. Every spirit beast understood this.
And then, the battle ended in an instant…
All life melted away like butter, no spirit beast able to react, their end swift and absolute.
Fortunately, having reached the fourth stage, there were no penalties for the Spirit Masters.
Spirit Masters whose teams were eliminated in the first stage were frozen out of the trial for 20 sessions. Those eliminated in the second stage were frozen for 10 sessions. Those eliminated in the third received no penalty, but also no reward.
And the spirit beasts that reached the fourth stage, not only wouldn’t hinder their masters, but they would also bring back substantial rewards, making their masters rejoice. Even being instantly defeated was worth it.
She just didn’t know how the rankings were determined if everyone died simultaneously…
The battle concluded, and only a single spirit beast remained in the arena.
A woman with features as delicate as snow, her white hair shimmering like fireflies, her grayish-white eyes like those of someone with an eye disease, a disturbing and unsettling sight.
Branches and leaves sprouted from her head, her icy antlers like a regal crown, her posture elegant, like a winter queen.
And her slender, white legs, bent at the knees like a quadruped, added to her… unique charm.
A legendary-rank White Flower Moon-Treading Deer!!!
A legendary spirit beast, somehow having entered the Soul Prison Trial, slaughtering the other participants.
It wouldn’t have been surprising if it had single-handedly conquered the entire trial.
However, at this moment, this noble, cold, and beautiful deer woman was… stumped.
She frowned at the massive ice coffin beside her. That Snow Monarch’s follower had actually stayed hidden inside, completely motionless for four entire sessions.
After Gong Lianyue’s team had encountered the legendary being and been nearly wiped out in the first stage, the Frost Snow Woman had retreated into the Ice Coffin. No attack, no matter how powerful, could even scratch its surface.
Even now, the legendary White Flower Moon-Treading Deer couldn’t find a way to break it.
After all, that damned Snow Monarch possessed the legendary Eternal Holy Water, her cultivation level having surpassed the Sun and Moon Realm tens of thousands of years ago. It was an insurmountable foe for her, currently at the Dead Sea Stage.
She couldn’t break the Snow Monarch’s ice.
The little deer woman frowned, her mind racing.
The rewards for the early levels of the Soul Prison Trial were mediocre, useless to a legendary being like herself. She needed to reach the later levels quickly. She couldn’t be held back by this.
But if she didn’t deal with the Frost Snow Woman now, they would likely face each other again in the next session, this pointless cycle repeating endlessly.
After a few minutes of hesitation, the little deer woman’s expression hardened, a decision made.
“How annoying…”
“Ptoo!”
The little deer woman spat on the ice coffin, marking it with her aura, then glared at it.
She wouldn’t forget this humiliation. She would have her revenge one day.
The next second, the little deer woman dissolved into a puddle of water.
She had committed suicide!
Silence. Two hours passed. Just as the trial was about to end, the ice coffin opened slightly, and the Frost Snow Woman cautiously emerged, a small, ice-blue flower clutched in her hand.
That legendary-rank spirit beast thought it had come in second, but it was actually third…
Just before the Frost Snow Woman had entered the Ice Coffin, this little flower, carrying the Wrathful Saintess’s aura, had slipped in with her. The Ice Coffin completely isolated all external auras, so the White Flower Moon-Treading Deer hadn’t even known there was another spirit beast inside.
[According to the rules, rankings are determined by the order of defeat. One of us has to die.]
The Frost Snow Woman, after much gesturing and struggling to communicate, finally conveyed the rule to the little blue flower.
The little blue flower nodded gratefully, then inexplicably withered and died.
Looking at the lifeless flower, the Frost Snow Woman’s expression turned to confusion. She had been planning to decide the victor with a game of rock-paper-scissors.
[Soul Prison Trial, Fourth Level, concluded. Congratulations on achieving first place in War Zone 1309. Reward: one Saint-Breaking Pill, one Heart Severing Pill.]
[Soul Prison Trial, Fourth Level, concluded. Congratulations on achieving first place in War Zone 1309. Reward: one Saint-Breaking Pill, one Heart Severing Pill.]
On the eve of the Ranking Battle, deep in meditation, Gong Lianyue was startled by the two consecutive announcements from the Soul Prison Trial, the sudden surge of spirit energy almost causing the Saintess Palace to collapse.
She repeatedly checked her soul cores, making sure she hadn’t imagined it.
The incredibly valuable Saint-Breaking Pill and Heart Severing Pill had already been delivered to her storage bracelet.
Ten thousand Spirit Masters per war zone, a massive free-for-all, countless Saint-rank spirit beasts… and she had achieved first place, even though her entire team, besides the Frost Snow Woman, had been wiped out…?
The Saint-Breaking Pill could evolve a high-rank spirit beast into a Saint-rank of a similar lineage, while the Heart Severing Pill could dissolve any number of spirit beast contracts, allowing her to release those useless early contracts.
Both pills were incredibly rare and valuable, worth more than the entire Sea Concubine Palace. Still, as a reward for first place, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
“What the hell? How did I get first place?”
Gong Lianyue muttered, her mind still reeling, unable to believe it.
First place in War Zone 1309… Didn’t that mean that every Spirit Master in the Sea Region, the Wind Realm, the Cangsheng Palace, the Sun-Seizing Divine Metropolis, even the distant Endless Swamp and the Azure Spirit Realm, had been defeated by the Frost Snow Woman?
A Saint-Breaking Pill and a Heart Severing Pill… it was like winning the lottery, an absurdly fortunate encounter, even by the standards of wish-fulfillment novels. How had this happened to her?
Regardless, the Ranking Battle was tomorrow. She would use the Saint-Breaking Pill first…
Chapter 184: The Ranking Battle Begins
The Sea Region Ranking Battle was held shortly after each Saintess selection, the interval varying depending on the circumstances.
For example, Shui Yuerong of the Sea Concubine Palace, a thousand years ago, considered the strongest Saintess in the history of the Sea Region, had reached the Sun and Moon Realm in just two years, forcing the other Saintesses to abdicate.
Legendary beings preferred young, delicate Spirit Masters. Sun and Moon Realm Spirit Masters were considered old women, no longer able to attract them with their scent.
Therefore, once someone reached the Sun and Moon Realm, the Saintess selection would be held again, followed by the Ranking Battle.
The longest interval between selections was eighty or ninety years, the shortest being less than two years, during Shui Yuerong’s time.
The Sea Region Ranking Battle was a crucial event that determined the hierarchy of power within the Sea Region.
The higher the ranking, the greater the allocation of resources and prestige.
Almost all the Spirit Masters in the Sea Region would attend, even unaffiliated rogue cultivators, a grand spectacle.
Those who excelled in this competition, under the watchful eyes of all, would gain immense fame and prestige, becoming the undisputed leader of the Sea Region.
Sea Region, Ranking Battle
A massive arena, large enough to cover the entire visible sea, carried by countless giant spirit beasts from the Winter Floating Sky, slowly rose from the depths of the ocean.
This arena, built specifically for the Ranking Battle, was far larger and more impressive than the Sea Concubine Palace’s Sea Dou Hall.
The Water Heart Stage, kept by the current ruling faction of the Sea Region.
As the Water Heart Stage rose, it created massive waves, the surrounding sea churning for hundreds of kilometers.
Its massive size accommodated not only the millions of spectators but also the large spirit beasts that would be participating.
The Sea Concubine Palace’s representatives were gathered inside a Sea Halberd Behemoth, waiting in their designated area.
The Sea Region Ranking Battle consisted of three parts: Duels, Tests, and the Final Battle.
[Duels] were 1v1 matches held in the arena. Victory earned points, defeat lost points. Each faction had five opportunities to challenge other factions, and only Dead Sea Stage Spirit Masters could participate.
[Tests] consisted of five randomly selected challenges from a list including strength, speed, spirit energy capacity, talent, cultivation technique, intelligence, reflexes, etc. Each faction chose a Spirit Master for each test, earning points based on their ranking.
[Final Battle] was the most important part of the Ranking Battle, where the most points could be earned.
Each faction selected five Spirit Masters to enter a secret realm and engage in a chaotic free-for-all against other factions. The final victor received a massive amount of points.
The most important rule was that each Spirit Master could only participate in one event, including the Saintess. Once they participated in one, they couldn’t participate in another.
Therefore, lower-ranked factions usually focused on earning points in the first two events, forfeiting the Final Battle, hoping to avoid last place.
Those aiming for the top, however, would focus all their efforts on the Final Battle, saving their trump cards for the end.
This meant that each faction would select their fifteen strongest Dead Sea Stage Spirit Masters to represent them.
After the rules were explained by the higher-ups of each faction, the participants were quickly assigned, their roles fixed.
[Sea Concubine Palace – Sorrowful Saintess, participating in the Final Battle.]
The Sea Concubine Palace was serious…
The other factions’ Spirit Masters, upon seeing the Sea Concubine Palace’s participant list, became apprehensive.
This was the first time in recent history that the Sea Concubine Palace had sent their Saintess to the Final Battle. They had always focused on the first two rounds, accumulating points steadily.
However, this Sorrowful Saintess’s reputation was simply too terrifying. Not sending her to the final, decisive battle would be… strange.
This also meant that the other factions wouldn’t likely take the first two rounds seriously.
—
Water Heart Stage
The Water Heart Stage, having been stored away for several years, was retrieved from the depths of the ocean, its surface pristine and shimmering, like a magnificent crystal palace.
Spirit Masters from various factions began to arrive, not only from the Sea Region Alliance but also from their subsidiary forces.
For example, smaller factions like the Water Immortal Palace, the Sky Surge River, and the Drowning Sea, or independent rogue cultivators, affiliated with the Sea Region Alliance but not qualified to participate, were here to simply observe and enjoy the spectacle.
“Did you hear? The Sorrowful Saintess of the Sea Concubine Palace will be participating in the Final Battle,” a Spirit Master from a smaller faction said, barely having taken her seat.
“The Winter Floating Sky, the Ice Shield Palace, the Sea Concubine Palace, and the Cold Court… their main forces are all in the Final Battle. They’re probably targeting the Pool of Hidden Secrets, right…?”
“Yeah, I don’t care who becomes the Alliance leader, whether it’s the Winter Floating Sky or the Sea Concubine Palace, but if the Pool of Hidden Secrets wins… it will be chaos!”
“That Nether Empress… I bet she’ll provoke another legendary spirit beast and bring disaster upon the Sea Region!!”
“…”
“…”
A wave of unease rippled through the crowd. They each had their preferred factions, but now, they all shared a single hope: that the Pool of Hidden Secrets wouldn’t win.
Please don’t let the Pool of Hidden Secrets win.jpg
Meanwhile, in the Pool of Hidden Secrets’ waiting area…
Fifteen black-haired female Spirit Masters sat in silence, the oppressive aura radiating from them almost suffocating.
The woman at the front, a single teardrop painted on her forehead, her expression cold and indifferent, her chilling aura so powerful that no one dared to look directly at her.
Hei Luelan, disciple of the Nether Empress.
Her aura was even more terrifying than the Nine Nethers’, her dense spirit energy like that of a being from another world.
This was far beyond the level of a Dead Sea Stage Spirit Master…
As the Ranking Battle approached, Hei Luelan discreetly glanced at her companions, then tightened her grip on a single white hair in her hand, recalling the Nether Empress’s words.
“Do you know? Legendary beings can sense every part of themselves, whether it’s a drop of blood, a strand of hair, or even a drop of saliva. They might even come looking for it.”
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