A few minutes after killing Meridus, the only person left alive on the bloody prairie was Yao Jun, his entire body drenched in blood. Some of the blood came from his own wounds, but most of it came from the people he had just killed, their lifeless bodies littering the prairie. Some had tried to flee, some had tried to fight back, some had tried to beg for mercy, but in the end, they all ended up as lifeless piles of meat.
Back when he was still on his own home planet, Yao Jun might have had more mercy or hesitation about killing people like this, especially those who begged. But that had changed ever since he entered the wider cultivation world, he had been forced to change. This was a world where the strong ate the weak, and he could not afford to be weak.
He would be stronger, stronger than anyone else, so strong that even the thought of hurting those close to him was enough to drive people to despair and terror. There was also the fact that only one person could survive this test, so no matter what anyone thought, the moment they all arrived here, all but one of them had been sentenced to death.
Yao Jun waved his hand, a gust of wind picking up all the interspatial rings that the corpses were carrying, delivering them to his hand. When the rings landed in his hand, he also caught a glimpse of the coiled dragon symbol that was on the palm of his hand. When the competition started, the symbol had been of the lowest rank, bronze. But now that he had killed Meridus and the other people here, it had jumped to the next rank, silver. If he raised it two more ranks, to the purple-gold rank, then others would become aware of his position, so he made a mental note to keep a close eye on his symbol in the future.
The prairie started to tremble, the wall of Qi surrounding it vanishing into a gentle rain of bloody lights. The lights gathered together and started to form a long road that stretched into the horizon, another peal of hoarse laughter echoing across the area.
"Gehehe, quite nicely done. It was a splendid massacre, no? Traverse the road you have created, let it heal your wounds and prepare for the next trial, prepare to aim for even greater heights."
The hoarse voice was slightly different this time, not as carefree and casual as it had been before, it carried a slight tinge of solemness and even a hint of pride. Yao Jun turned towards the road, his shadow stretching out behind him and swallowing up all the corpses and body parts that littered the prairie. He stored away the interspatial rings and stepped towards the road, muttering quietly.
"Just wait for me, Luo'er, I'll return as quickly as I can, just like I promised."
His home planet was located in one of the most infamous Hollow Wastes, the Sealed King's Tomb Hollow Waste. Just entering it required one to receive permission from an exalted Godking, so even though Yao Jun knew where his home was, he was unable to go there. The only choice he had was to gain enough strength to ask a Godking for a favor, only then would he be able to go home. And if no Godking would grant him that favor, he could only grow so strong that no Godking dared stand in front of him, so strong that no Godking dared forbid him from going home.
When Yao Jun stepped onto the long road, a stream of energy rose up from the road and sank into his wounded body. The stream of energy mixed into his blood, using it to spread through his body and cover all his wounds, allowing them to heal at a speed visible to the eye. Looking at the scene, as well as thinking back to all the other things he had seen in this inheritance, Yao Jun could not help but wonder just who the creator of this place was. Was he someone at the very peak of the Heavenly Deity realm, was he a Godking? Or was he maybe someone who had transcended the Godking realm, if such a thing was even possible?
Yao Jun shook his head and threw away the thought, the strength and identity of the creator didn't matter, all that mattered was that Yao Jun could hopefully grow stronger here. Of course, first he had to actually clear this inheritance, which meant that he might have to beat the other Earthly Deities that had arrived here.
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This road was even longer than the one that had appeared after Yao Jun killed the countless blobs of blood, it took Yao Jun an entire day to reach the end of it. Standing at the end of this road was the same that had stood at the end of the previous one, a single door. This door wasn't the same white as the previous door, this one was tinted a very faint red. Yao Jun's injuries had already been fully healed thanks to the stream of energy from the road, so he pushed open the door and entered it, once again being transported through space.
After the transportation finished, Yao Jun found himself high up in the air, a vast crimson ocean spreading out beneath him. The ocean continued on for as far as the eye could see, stretching past the limits of Yao Jun's senses, with not a single piece of land in sight. He could see a large number of people spread out beneath him, some flying above the crimson ocean while others were standing or sitting on the water.
A quick sweep told Yao Jun that there were still several thousand people here, almost just as many as there had been when they first entered this inheritance. Just like when he arrived at the previous test, Yao Jun saw quite a few people that he didn't recognize, meaning that they weren't part of the original group that had entered the inheritance. It didn't take much thought to realize that quite a few people had either entered this inheritance from a different entrance or that there might have been people here before Yao Jun and the others arrived.
While sweeping over everyone present, Yao Jun's eyes narrowed faintly. He saw the same Earthly Deities that had been present when he entered this inheritance, Selova, Elysa, Radager, as well as Mortier, the twin of Meridus. But other than these four, there were two new Earthly Deities that had also arrived, one of them looked like a human with blue skin and gills on his neck, meaning that he was from the Primordial Sea clan.
The other one looked quite a bit stranger, he had the torso and head of a male human, but his arms and legs were almost twice as thick as a normal person's. They were also covered in black scales, his fingers and toes closer to claws than anything else. There were two backward-curved horns growing up from his head, which was covered in unruly black hair, a sharp light flashing over the tips. His appearance was exceedingly strange, reminding Yao Jun of the appearance that the members of the Merged Heaven clan had, so he was immediately rather wary of the man.
The various people beneath him cast a glance at Yao Jun but didn't bother too much with him after seeing that he had yet to reach the Earthly Deity realm. Only an Earthly Deity would be someone they had to pay attention to, as their power was so great that they might be able to kill everyone else beneath the Earthly Deity realm to cut down the number of competitors.
Yao Jun also didn't bother with the other people present, using his control over air to control his fall, stopping a few meters above the crimson ocean. He hardened the air beneath him and formed a seat, sitting down and closing his eyes in cultivation, his senses keeping a vigilant eye on the surrounding area.
Time continued to pass, more and more people arriving and joining up with the ones that were already waiting. Three days swiftly passed, the number of people present growing to almost 6000, each one eagerly waiting for the next trial. The number had grown a bit since Yao Jun had arrived, but no new Earthly Deities had arrived, the expression of Mortier growing grimmer with each passing hour.
Then, halfway through the fourth day of waiting, the 6000th person arrived, the entire ocean trembling and seething as a result. The gathered people swiftly grew vigilant, the atmosphere turning into a mixture of tension and excitement. And just like they thought, the hoarse voice thundered out over the entire area again, announcing the third test.
"All the participants for this portion of the inheritance have arrived! Let's start the third, and second to last, test! I wonder how many of you will manage to reach the last test and compete for one of the four spots that will grant the greatest reward I have hidden away here."
After the hoarse voice sounded out, the ocean suddenly rose up and started to swallow up the people closest to it, drawing them down into the depths. As the ocean was swallowing more and more people, a furious roar resounded over the entire area, the air trembling from the force of the roar.
"Where is my brother!?!"
The one who roared was Mortier, the green-haired man with a turtle shell-like scar covering the lower half of his face, the twin brother of Meridus. Yao Jun cast a glance at Mortier, but then simply ignored him, dropping down into the crimson ocean and sinking beneath the surface. As he sank into the darkness, the hoarse voice echoed throughout his mind.
"Prove your determination and worth, sink into the abyss and claw your way out of it!"