Chapter 10 – Trials of the Evil God

That injured magical beast was quickly running out of strength as it continued to glide through the sky, going hundreds of miles past Wudao town and into No Mans Land.

'No Mans Land' was a legendary place that's been famous for thousands of years for housing the strongest magical beasts and treasure. If one would enter and make it out alive, they'd come out thousands of gold coins richer. The deeper you go, the better the loot! The strength of the magical beasts also increased the further you explored.

Back when he was at Merry's house, he read a book about a cultivator named Yudan who reached the Rebirth layer. It read that he once mapped out almost half of No Mans Land before being forced to leave due to the insanely powerful beasts that nearly wiped him and his group out completely. He mentioned that as he neared the center, he spotted an enormous hole in the ground that had a circumference of almost two miles. He noted that a strange black Qi was constantly oozing out of the middle, and that even the magical beasts of the Heaven layer didn't dare approach!

Currently, Moon was still struggling to keep hold of the flying beast with his third stage strength. Below him, he could see the figures of some cultivators who had auras of the rebirth layer fleeing from a mountain sized bear with spikes popping out of it's back. It's strength was obviously too much for the group who had ventured way too deep into it's territory! Seconds later, that enormous bear had caught up to those unlucky cultivators and squashed them into meat paste! The weak perish, and the strong prevail.

Four hours later.

After descending even deeper into No Mans Land the roars were growing incredibly ferocious, and the pressure of the Qi in the atmosphere was increasing heavily. As the wingless beast that Moon was riding couldn't hold on any longer and slowly descended down from the skies, he suddenly noticed something strange. That powerful Qi that was pressuring him before had completely vanished, and traces of magical beasts had all but disappeared.

“This can't be good! The magical beasts in this area are all gone, but why? How far am I into No Mans Land...?”

As he wondered what made all the beasts disappear, he spotted a strange anomaly on the ground. A gigantic hole oozing a black Qi surrounded by decaying trees had suddenly come into his vision! The hole was enormous, almost two miles in circumference. This was the one exactly described in that cultivator Yudans map of No Mans Land! What frightened him was that the beast he was riding was currently heading straight towards that hole, with no strength to change direction!

The wingless monster flew straight over the trees, it's body crashing down straight into that enormous hole which was so dark it seemed to swallow everything that entered. Moon instantly utilized his Qi and forced it into his legs as he jumped five meters into the air, attempting to reach the other side but it was way too far! He plummeted straight into that gigantic hole!

“Fuuuuuuck~~~!”

His body vanished down into the gaping hole which was like the mouth to hell, swallowing him up as he descended into the unknown.

Diving down into the hole was a strange feeling. It felt like he was flying and hovering at the same time. This was because he had been descending down into the black hole for almost six hours! Such a long time had gone by, yet he still hadn't reached the bottom. At the speed which he was falling, he had already descended down a ridiculous three thousand miles!

“What the hells happening, how long have I been falling for? It's been so long I've lost count! And this black Qi, it gets thicker the further I go down. Just what on earth is at the bottom of this hole..?”.

“And how the fuck am I supposed to land?!”.

Just as he was thinking about what could possibly be at the bottom of this humongous hole, he hadn't even thought about how he was going to survive the fall.. Diving down at such speed from such a height, as soon as he reached the floor his body would explode into a bloody mess!

Two days later.

Moon was looking anguished, with no sign of the hole having an end he'd already given up on thinking of what to do next. He believed that before he even reached the bottom, he would die from starvation.

All of a sudden that thick black Qi which had been growing more and more abundant became so strong and pressurizing that Moons body was being squeezed to near death. It's pressure was increasing heavily by the second, until he felt like his body was about to explode.

Silence.

The Qi' completely disappeared and the weight on his body released. A light shone at the bottom of the hole. “Was this it?”, he thought. Had he finally reached the bottom?

WHOOSH!

That bright light completely enveloped his vision and then vanished, as the speed at which he was falling decreased incessantly. His body was carried down by some unknown force as he lightly landed onto a hard stone floor. Before him was a cavern of tremendous size that extended as far as the eye could see. As he looked up he could see the huge gaping hole where he fell from, strangely he could see the outside world too!

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“Didn't I fall for two days?! How the hell could I see the outside from down here? Was it all just an illusion?”.

Questions filled his head as he wondered what happened during the past two days, just where was he? Before he could think of any answers he noticed that in front of him was a strange door. What made this door so strange, was that it was over two miles high and one mile wide! Across the door was a mural of a man with incredibly long hair reaching down to his feet. In his hand he was wielding a weapon that was too big to be called a sword, a greatsword would be a more appropriate name for it.

Bending down to feel the stone floor, a cloud of dust gathered at the tip of his finger. Clearly this place was incredibly old, possibly hundreds of thousands of years old. He put on a brave face and gathered his courage, stepping towards that immensely large door which probably contained a titan within it.

As he approached that imposing door, an old and archaic voice resounded out throughout the cavern. It's speech was slow yet domineering, it's loudness shook his very soul as if it had the power to crush his existence if it raised it's voice.

“Behind this door are the three trials of the Evil God. Pass all three and survive to become his one and only disciple, fail and have your soul obliterated, never to be reborn again!”.

That ancient door which reached the skies suddenly opened, the force it contained when opening resembled an earthquake as the ground shook terribly. As the old door fully extended, a foul smelling Qi wafted out from inside straight towards Moons face. That Qi felt extremely evil and even burnt his skin slightly. If the outside world knew that such a Qi existed, the entire hierarchy of the martial world would fall into chaos!

“Not bad, not bad! Disciple of an Evil God? If I truly became it's disciple, just imagine what Uriel would say. I'm sure she'd be impressed if she knew..”. A small tear was released as he thought back to how his fairy princess had been stolen away by that divine hand, he hoped that one day he'd have the strength to enter the heavens and take back his woman.

Moon stepped forward and paced himself through that enormous door into a grand hallway that was filled with dozens of different statues. As he walked down the hall to the other side, he faintly noticed something in common with the statues. They were all of the same person! They all seemed to contain that white haired man wielding the enormous greatsword.

“I realize now, it's him. The one from my visions! That 'Old White' who fought against those incredibly strong cultivators and was sealed away into another realm, could it be that this was where he was sealed?”.

As he descended further into the hall, the faces on the statues began to change. From the entrance they envisioned a proud expression, but as he walked deeper into the hall he noticed that the faces were becoming angrier and more savage. By the time he reached the end the statues seemed as if they would come to life and devour him!

At he neared the final area of the hall, he came face to face with another humongous door which resembled the one from earlier, except the mural on this one showed the white haired man riding on a magical beast that was incomparably large.. Larger than any beast he had ever seen before.

Just as he was about to step closer to the door, an ear shattering bang pierced the air. Moon swiftly turned around and saw that one of the giant statues had come to life! It's face was now incredibly spiteful, it seemed to want to erase Moon from existence like he was a bug that invaded it's territory.

The ten meter long stone greatsword in it's hand was swung high up into the air, crashing into one of the walls as rubble came toppling down onto the floor. It's power was simply terrifying, it didn't even emit any Qi yet it's strength was obviously way above the nursery layer. It wasn't something Moon could contend with! He exploded out the aura of the third stage of the nursery layer and leapt to the side in an attempt to avoid that massive greatsword which was heading towards his body.

It was no good! As the sword swung down, it's pressure was so domineering that it didn't even allow Moon to move and froze him in place! The greatsword edged closer and closer towards him, but just as it was a meter away from his head, an old and archaic voice could be heard.

“You, the holder of the first seed, the Seed of Envy! How you came to acquire this seed I do not know, but you are exempt from attempting the first two tests! You shall immediately move to the third!”.

Moons face at this moment resembled a dead frogs.

“If this was the difficulty of the first trial, how in the seven hells do I attempt the third? And what was this Seed of Envy that the voice mentioned?”.

Author note: This took me way too long to write, only 1 chap today xD