Chapter 427: Bullies!
Outside the trial was complete silence, as all of the disciples looked on with wide eyes. Soon, their expressions began to transform into those of jealousy, envy, contemplation, awkwardness, and confusion.
The method Bai Xiaochun had used was outrageous, and yet, it had enabled him to pass what they all viewed as the incredibly difficult green trial by fire. Their minds spun in astonishment for a long moment, after which a commotion broke out which could shake heaven and earth.
“Is that really the trick?”
“No way! You can really do it that way?!?!”
“I can’t believe you can use such a perverted method to get past this trial!! Plus, Zhao Yidong had obviously already reached his limit, but then he changed methods and got 30 meters farther!!”
Conversations weren’t just echoing out on Myriad Star Rainbow, but in all of the other rainbow districts as well. Everyone was astounded by the unheard-of method Bai Xiaochun had used to get past the green trial, and many people were very excited.
There were some Chosen who had been stuck in the green trial level for some time, whose eyes were now shining brightly as they realized they might have a chance to get further than they had before. Even if they had to embarrass themselves a bit by moaning, that was something they could accept!
After all, there were more than a thousand stars in the green section of the rainbow, but if you could get past those onto the cyan rainbow, you would be in the top 500. The difference between the top 1,000 and the top 500 was incredible!
The former consisted of the Chosen of the Halls, the latter consisted of the Chosen of the Quarters!
“I get it now. The key to this trial isn’t just speed and fleshly body strength. It can also be used to aid your cultivation!”
“Those weren’t just ordinary moans. They were timed with his breathing. If you’re careful, you can use the power of the lightning to cleanse impurities in your body. You can actually strengthen your fleshly body, and even strengthen your qi passageways!!”
“You know, you might not even need to moan. You probably just have to regulate your breathing. It might not make sense at first, but once you figure out the secret, you can pass it easily!” Numerous Chosen who had long been stuck in the green trial by fire were suddenly enlivened, and rushed in the direction of the Myriad Star Rainbow teleportation portal. Within moments, quite a few people were flying toward the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Superstars trials from all four of the rainbow districts.
Of course, it wasn’t that no one in the sect knew the secret of the green trial by fire. However, the sect’s demigod patriarch had issued orders that those who did know the trick were forbidden from explaining the truth to others.
Furthermore, all of the other hundreds of disciples who had passed that trial already were not as free and uninhibited as Bai Xiaochun was….
It was only now, thanks to Bai Xiaochun, that the secret of the green trial was now beginning to spread. It could well be imagined that soon, the number of people able to pass this trial would grow rapidly.
“That’s definitely the case. I remember watching some of the other people pass this green trial, and all of them were always breathing in a very strange way!” Chosen were streaming forward to rechallenge the green trial by fire, one of them being a young man who laughed uproariously as he charged into the entrance.
Almost as soon as that young man entered, more Chosen appeared, dozens of them, each and every one ready to use Bai Xiaochun’s method to try to pass the trial!
Of course, Bai Xiaochun was unaware of all of that. After he vanished from within the green trial, he reappeared in the next challenge, the cyan trial by fire!
The Starry Sky Dao Polarity Superstars trials were broken up into colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet. There were seven different trials by fire, and as for the cyan trial, only about 500 people had been able to make it this far. That indicated that Bai Xiaochun was already within the top 1,000!
“Well, that wasn’t very hard,” Bai Xiaochun said, clearing his throat and swishing his sleeve.
Although he wasn’t sure of his exact ranking, when he remembered how many stars were visible on the green portion of the rainbow, he stuck his chin up proudly and looked around at the dimension that contained the cyan trial. “Originally I planned to just get into the top 1,000. Who would have thought that I would accidentally get into the top 500? What a headache….”
Everything around him was gray, including the sky and the land. Silence prevailed, and there was something sinister in the air. Visible upon the ground were rows upon rows of gravestones that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.
An ominous coldness pervaded the dimension, something that Bai Xiaochun almost immediately identified as an aura of death. It was strong, so strong that it caused the air to ripple and distort off in the distance.
As he looked around, fear built up in his heart. After all, the silence was terrifying.
“Why did the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect have to go and make a creepy place like this? The aura of death is way too strong. There are definitely ghosts around!” Bai Xiaochun felt the hair standing up on the back of his neck, and swallowed hard as he looked around. Face slowly turning ashen, he thought back to the unclean thing the patriarchs had mentioned back in the River-Defying Sect, and then swallowed again. Without any further hesitation, he pulled out some paper talismans designed to ward off evil spirits, and began to slap them down onto himself.
“Damned Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect. How am I supposed to pass this trial?” Even as his fear mounted, a sinister gaze suddenly locked down on him from afar. It almost felt like a blade coming to rest on the top of his head.
At the same time, a shrill cry filled the air that sounded like metal scraping against metal, as a vengeful soul rose up from one of the gravestones. It had a long, creepy tongue sticking out of its mouth, and its eyes seemed to burn with resentment as it stared at Bai Xiaochun. Then, it began to speed toward him.
It moved with incredible quickness, and in the blink of an eye, was right in front of him. Bai Xiaochun gasped, waving his right hand to unleash the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation. Instantly, frigid qi erupted from his finger, slamming into the vengeful soul, which let out a miserable shriek as it began to crumble to pieces. However, it wasn’t destroyed; instead, it began to retreat.
“Eee? Not as strong as I expected.” Excited, Bai Xiaochun was about to start chasing it down when the fleeing soul’s eyes suddenly gleamed with hatred, and even as it fell apart, it let out a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering screech!
The screech filled the world, causing rumbling sounds to fill heaven and earth, and leaving the sky and earth shaking violently. Next, vengeful souls rose up from all of the gravestones in sight. Swarms of the things filled the air, their appearance ferocious and terrifying, and their presence causing the aura of death in the dimension to grow vastly stronger than before.
Bai Xiaochun stopped in place, eyes widening, scalp tingling in fear.
“S-so… so many….” When he realized that all of the vengeful souls were glaring at him, he shrieked and began to back up. Even as he did, a noise like rumbling thunder filled the air as the gigantic image of a ghostly specter rose up off in the distance.
He appeared to be a shadowy soul wearing an emperor’s crown, almost as if he were the monarch of all the vengeful souls. He was so large that he seemed capable of shouldering the heavens. Green flames flickered in his eyes, a cold smile covered his face, and he carried an enormous trident in one hand. His body looked to be composed of countless other vengeful souls, whose faces were twisted mixtures of laughter and tears.
“Now that you’re here, don’t leave….” The voice which spoke seemed to contain countless other voices, some of which were crying and some of which were laughing. The enormous soul emperor then waved the trident through the air to point toward Bai Xiaochun, after which a shocking energy pulse shot out, which caused all of the other vengeful souls in the dimension to scream shrilly.
Then, rumbling sounds filled the air as the countless, densely-packed vengeful souls began to surge in Bai Xiaochun’s direction.
To make things worse, even more vengeful souls could be seen approaching from over the horizon. Bai Xiaochun couldn’t help but let out a shriek; this was the largest group of ghosts that he had ever seen in his life….
Terrified, he gritted his teeth and growled, “Sorry, but Lord Bai doesn’t feel like messing around with you!”
As far as Bai Xiaochun was concerned, he had reached his goal of getting into the top 1,000. If he hadn’t, things might be different, but considering the danger here, and the fact that he hadn’t been interested in challenging the trials to begin with, he didn’t hesitate at all to pull out his seven-colored jade pendant. Just when he was about to crush it, the enormous soul emperor off in the distance looked at him scornfully.
“Are you going to fight me or not?!” he said in his sinister, thunderous voice.
Bai Xiaochun’s expression flickered. To be directly challenged in this manner, and then just leave, would be a bit of a loss of face. “I….”
However, before he could say anything else, the vengeful souls in the area began to scream even more loudly than before, apparently at the behest of the soul emperor!
The sound felt like stabbing pain in Bai Xiaochun’s mind, causing him to gasp. If he had to fight the soul emperor alone, he might have done it, but considering how awe-inspiring and terrifying the sea of vengeful souls was, he couldn’t help but come away with the feeling that these ghosts were bullying him.
“Wait for me, alright? I’m too tired at the moment. I’ll go back and rest a bit, then return and show you a thing or two!” With that, he crushed the jade pendant and teleported away.