Death... and me

Outside the main hall, where the spatial gates were located, Rean’s group finally appeared after crossing the goal in the Pressure Realm. Immediately, Min and Habac fell to the ground as they gasped for air. “Fuck! That was really close!”

Rean laughed in response, saying, “Hahaha! Not really that close if you think about it. We still had our badges, right? I hope none of you think dying is better than failing the test. If you’re going to die, make sure to crush your badge straight away.”

Unsurprisingly, Min and Habac nodded to that.

Erla, on the other hand, seemed to be faring a lot better. “Rean, if it was only you, you would have fled easily, no?”

Rean nodded, replying, “I could. Fortunately, Habac came up with the idea, and it worked. Otherwise, I would really need to let Min go and complete the test on my own. As important as completing the test is for you guys, I can’t put it above my own objectives.”

Min shook his head, saying, “If that really happened, I would have crushed my badge. There’s no need for you to fail for us. If push comes to shove, Erla and I will stay here in the Jhiod Sect’s building until the day we pass all twelve tests on our own or die trying.”

Erla agreed with Min, telling Rean, “You’re already helping us a lot. Of course, we’re happy that the battle formation makes it possible for us to help you as well.”

Habac sighed after hearing that. “The important thing is that we made it through. I’ve never reached that far through the Pressure Realm before, so I didn’t know about that black hole thing. You guys should always be vigilant since my knowledge isn’t complete. I can only talk about what I saw during my previous attempts.”

Rean didn’t mind. “That’s already a lot. Let’s rest and wait for the next test. Then again, it’ll take over three weeks until it starts.” Rean was right. Even after everything that happened, they still completed the Pressure Realm in a couple of days. Each test only started after a month, so they now had a lot of time on their hands.

Suddenly, a big Minokawa approached Rean’s group. “Oh! So you guys were the last ones to pass the test, huh?” Obviously, it was Kentucky.

“Did you see those black hole traps as well?” Rean asked back. He obviously knew Kentucky and Celis had finished the test since his connection with them told him about their presence in the hall.

Kentucky nodded, saying, “We did see one of them. However, another group activated it, so we were quite far. In any case, that thing really had a strong pulling force. We had to go around it to be safe.”

Roan was the second one to arrive with his group. “You better not die since I might die as well.”

Rean shrugged his shoulders, telling him, “My life is a lot more important than this test. If I see I’ll die, I’ll crush the badge. In any case, as long as only one of us passes the test, all of us can enter Jhiod Continent.”

Erla and the others were confused by Rean’s words. Naturally, they didn’t know Rean and Roan could carry everyone in the Dimensional Realm. That’s why only one was necessary to pass the twelve tests.

Suddenly, Erla noticed Blansin’s presence in another corner of the main hall. Not only him, but he seemed to be together with a few other cultivators and demon beasts. All of them were looking in their direction as well. ‘Blansin came back already?’

Blansin also noticed Erla’s eyes, so he avoided them right after. However, he also used his Divine Sense to send Erla, Min, and Rean a message. ‘Things changed.’

Rean’s group immediately paid attention to what Blansin had to say. ‘All of these guys just to capture Erla?’

Blansin confirmed, saying, ‘Yes. Their plan is not to pass the test. They will crush their badges if they get into a situation where death is highly possible. However, they will use the time the next tests start to go after Erla before she can go further into dangerous areas. I can’t stop them since it’ll be obvious that I don’t want to capture Erla anymore. My elders are still outside, waiting for the outcome.’

Erla nodded in response. ‘So that’s how it is.’ She and the others then used their Divine Sense to feel the cultivation of the mercenaries. Sure enough, they saw how all of them were in the Void Tempering Realm, with two of them even being at the Peak Stage.

Blansin then ceased his communication with Erla’s group to not attract the attention of the mercenaries beside him. 

Rean pondered over it for a bit. “They won’t touch us here in the main hall. It’s like Blansin mentioned. They will have to take action inside the tests. Of course, only if the test allows the participants to attack each other. We did have a test where attacking other candidates was prohibited.”

Habac immediately shook his head, saying, “The majority of the tests allow the participants to attack others. Only the Soul Land and the Mirror Dimensional Realm tests have the prohibition. The next test is not the Mirror Realm, though.”

“Which one is the next?” Rean and the others immediately asked.

“The Null Senses Realm,” Habac answered.

Naturally, Rean’s group had no clue what that was. “Null Senses Realm? What’s the test about?”

Habac immediately began to explain. “It’s as the name implies. The realm affects our senses. We can’t rely on our hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell. Under these circumstances, we will need to collect items called Sense Seeds. Once we get one of them, one of our senses will come back. We will need to collect five in total to recover all senses. Of course, Divine Sense and Soul Power Scan will be prohibited during the entire test. Otherwise, the test would be useless.”

“What a weird test,” Rean could not help but say. “How can we even look for these items if we can’t even tell up from down?”

Habac already expected that question. “Don’t worry. We can rely on the zones.”