Amon frowned. Fighting one Lower Primordial Beast was already too difficult. The Prival Scortaur he fought before was among the weakest of such beasts. He already had trouble fighting that beast, and that was when Xou Liang supported him. How could he fight another beast of similar power when he still had to deal with additional spirit beasts? This was no different than an execution.
He thought about releasing his puppet army to create a distraction and escape. However, he decided that it would be useless. If he were out in the open or in a building above ground, that might still work. He was, however, underground, inside the enemy's nest. Every path out of this place was a maze. Not to ntion, surrounding the Hyanid's nest were the Cryanids, which had even greater numbers. He doubted he could slip past them all.
While Amon tried to think of a way out, Xlasstazh said, "Though I said you must face them at the sa ti, it doesn't an you must fight them all at the sa ti."
"Do you an…"
"The Worthiness Trial is a free-for-all match," Xlasstazh explained. "Eight of you will enter the proving ground. Only one will leave. You and the Hyanid entering the trial will compete to prove your worthiness. The one who survives will be granted freedom. In your case, it will prove that you deserve our cooperation."
'The one who survives…,' Amon thought. At first, he thought the Hyanid in the match was the one who controlled the beasts. After hearing it was a free-for-all match, he understood that the Hyanid was in the sa situation as him. The Hyanid was probably a criminal facing judgnt, and this trial was how the council decided the judgnt.
Amon looked at Xlasstazh. He had an inkling that the inclusion of the Hyanid was the elder's idea. He could make use of it in the trial. Not everything was lost yet.
Ublaith stood from his seat and said, "You may not use your battle puppets in the trial."
When the others turned to him, he explained. "I have seen his battle puppets. He can sohow store and conjure them at will. He probably understands the law of space."
A murmur resulted from his speech.
One of the elders spoke, "It must be a mistake. It is impossible for soone with a low cultivation level like him to comprehend a cultivation law. Only one who had entered the Devil Realm had a chance to comprehend it."
Ublaith responded by making clicking sounds. The others did the sa. They continued their conversation in their own language.
Amon sighed inwardly. 'It was a pity,' he thought. He had heard about cultivation law, but none of the books he read or the people he asked had a clear idea what it was. They were all like him, only heard the term, but without its aning. Maybe he would ask Xlasstazh about this once this trial was over.
After a while, Xlasstazh announced, "The trial taker may not be assisted by battle puppets."
"What about a tad beast?" Amon asked.
Xlasstazh looked at Ublaith, who responded, "No. This trial is your own. You must fight by yourself."
Amon sighed. He showed his dagger and asked, "You are not going to say that I may not use weapons as well, are you?"
Xlasstazh again looked at Ublaith. Ublaith didn't imdiately respond this ti. He spoke with the others in their language.
"Weapons are allowed, but no tools or talismans," Ublaith said.
"Very well. When will this trial take place?" Amon asked.
"Now," Xlasstazh answered. He pressed sothing, and the tall wall in front of Amon opened. A long hallway was revealed past the opening.
Xlasstazh flew down and instructed Amon to follow him into the hallway. The other Hyanids followed behind them.
Passing the hallway, they ca out to a massive cavern.
"Welco to the proving ground," Xlasstazh said to Amon.
The cavern had a huge hole in the ceiling. Amon could see the mists beyond that hole, indicating the path to the outside.
"Don't try to run using that hole," Xlasstazh warned. "You won't get past it. You only burn whatever little goodwill my peers have in you. You can forget about having our cooperation if you go for that hole."
Amon observed the ceiling around the hole. He saw words of power and a vague shimr amidst the hole. A barrier was in place, preventing anyone from entering or exiting through the hole.
Aside from the hole in the ceiling, the other noteworthy aspect was a large pit that occupied eighty percent of the cavern. The pit was deep, but there was enough light for everyone to see what was down there. The bottom of the pit wasn't flat. The ground was hilly, and a few rock pillars were spread around the pit. Many broken weapons were strewn about. So lay on the ground. So were stuck along the pit's wall and the rock pillars.
Seeing this reminded him of Un Lao's story about the ancient battleground. Could this proving ground be the ancient battleground from the story?
Amon thought that it didn't have to be the case. These broken weapons could be the weapons left behind by previous trial takers who failed to pass the trial.
While the broken weapons made the pit seem unusual, the most eye-catching thing about the pit was at its center. What seed like a small pond with pitch-black water was there. Upon further observation, it was not water inside this so-called pond. It was a swirling dark energy.
"What was that?" Amon pointed at the black pond.
"… It is a ley node," Xlasstazh answered.
Amon had read about ley nodes from books in this lower realm. It was a place where ley lines converged. But unlike the one that created the Spring of Life, ley nodes were ford from the coalescence of ley lines with the sa elents. The rger ford a solidified mass of a particular elental energy. In this case, it should be the darkness elent.
"All the recorded ley nodes had a diater less than one ter. This one looked to be more than ten ters in diater. Isn't it a bit too large?"
"Actually, we are not too sure whether it is a ley node. That black pond was already here when we settled in this place. We honestly don't know what it is. Just make sure not to fall into it. It will suck you in, and nothing ever cos back out."
'A black hole, then…,' Amon mused.
"Go down into the pit," Ublaith instructed.
Amon complied. He jumped and floated down into the pit. As he did, he noticed words of power glowed around the pit's wall. Another barrier was raised above the pit. This barrier prevented anyone from leaving the pit. A barrier also encapsulated the pit's wall. It protected the wall from being destroyed.
While floating down, Amon noticed so caves were at the bottom of the wall. These caves had trellises covering them. When his feet touched the ground, the trellises of so of the caves began to open. He heard movents from inside those caves.
Figures appeared from these opened caves. All were abominations.
Xlasstazh ntioned his opponents were altered beasts. He could tell that it was indeed the case. None of the creatures exiting the caves looked natural.
One had an insect-like head with large eyes, but a furry apish body. Its left arm was a tangle of tentacles, while its right arm ended with a beast claw.
Another beast had a lower body with four legs. The legs were large and long. The four legs balanced its main body like a spider. They were covered in hard carapaces and had pointed ends. Its upper abdon was a strange snail-like body, with hard shells covering its sides. It possessed no arms.
A third one had the body of a giant frog with a flower for a head. A mouth filled with sharp teeth was at the center of this flower. Its frog body didn't possess legs. It moved around using the many thick tentacles under its body.
The fourth had a body resembling that of a huge dog, except its head possessed no discernible features. No eyes, nose, or mouth. On its back were tens of snakes that seed to sprout out of its flesh. These snakes hissed loudly as they looked in all directions.
The fifth one also possessed the body of an ape, but its two arms were large scythes. Its lower abdon was that of a giant snake. It had a wasp stinger at the end of its tail. As for its head, it was the head of a vulture with a sharp beak.
The sixth one was a humanoid giant. Its body was covered in rock-like plates. He couldn't sense the beast's power because his cultivation sense was dulled. But from the beast's appearance, he concluded that this should be the Lower Primordial beast. It didn't look altered.
He observed the beasts, but what he was truly looking for was the Hyanid. Once he located his target, he imdiately flew over.
He had to pass by two altered beasts to get to the Hyanid. The frog with the flower-head jumped at him as he ca near. He had expected the attack and easily dodged it. The beast appeared to be quite agile. Its many tentacles allowed it to pull itself and change directions easily. It chased after Amon, not letting him go.
Amon headed straight to the other altered beast with the flower head on his tail. The other beast, the one with the insect head, pointed its left arm at the incoming Amon.
Amon sensed the danger and zood to the side using the Invisible Sky Steps. A pressurized liquid shot out of the beast's tentacled arm. This liquid flew past where Amon used to be and hit the flower-head beast behind. The flower-head beast roared from the pain. It forgot about Amon and charged toward the insect-head beast.
Amon grinned. In a free-for-all match, it was best to let the opponents fight among themselves and conserve energy. Another strategy to gain an advantage was to strike a temporary alliance with other participants. This was what he wanted to do, and he believed this was the reason Xlasstazh added a Hyanid in this trial. This was how he would survive this trial.
Most spirit beasts couldn't be reasoned with. A Hyanid, however, had a human mind, which ant it could be manipulated with words and logic.
The Hyanid noticed Amon's arrival and took a defensive stance. He wielded a spear.
"Hold!" Amon told him. "I have a proposition that will increase our chance of survival."
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