Cao Sansui had a dream.
He dreamed that his Ladder of Audience had reached 200 points, ranking first, and that the True God of Time had summoned him.
Just as he was piously prostrating himself on the ground, preparing to receive the god's blessing, a Dread Demon suddenly flew over, kicked him away, and accepted the blessing in his place.
He burned with rage and woke up in a fit of anger.
"Fuck..."
He shouted, rolled over, and sat up. Seeing his teammates staring back at him in astonishment, he was slightly dumbfounded.
"I... Huh? How did I recover?"
Feeling the strength in his body as full as it had been when he first entered the trial, Cao Sansui was utterly shocked.
It wasn't just him. Nangong's complexion beside him had also returned to normal, and there was no sign that she had just been injured.
Wait, just now?
Cao Sansui's heart tightened. He immediately pulled his Pocket Watch from his clothes and glanced at it.
Eight hours had passed since the anchoring time.
In other words, he had only slept for two hours?
"That's not right... How could two hours possibly be enough to recover this much?"
Cao Sansui frowned deeply, stretched out his hand, and brushed it lightly through the air. He immediately sensed the flow of time around them.
Believers of Time were extremely sensitive to the passage of time, but they could only vaguely sense whether the time that had passed was long or short. They couldn't pinpoint the exact hour or minute.
Time truly hadn't passed by much here—about two or three hours, apparently.
But the question was, how had he recovered?
Looking up in confusion, he asked:
"What happened?"
Nangong felt his gaze. She didn't say anything, merely tilted her head toward the doorway before continuing to bandage Xia Wan.
Although their conditions had recovered, their wounds had not completely healed.
Xia Wan, on the other hand, said coldly:
"We just woke up too."
"Where's Cheng Shi?"
"Keeping watch outside."
Cao Sansui's brows drew together.
His ability to recover within two hours definitely had something to do with Cheng Shi.
He didn't know whether this was some special method of a high-scoring Priest or whether Cheng Shi had provided additional treatment. He only knew that if Cheng Shi had harbored malicious intentions while they were asleep, they would already be dead.
Fortunately, he hadn't made a move—or rather, fortunately, he wasn't a believer of an opposing faith.
Even more fortunately, no enemies had arrived during those two hours!
Cao Sansui instinctively felt a lingering fear. He climbed to his feet and walked out of the treehouse with a solemn expression.
Below the treehouse, Cheng Shi was talking with Chen Chong and Song Yawen. Judging from their expressions, they seemed to have recovered somewhat as well.
When Cao Sansui realized that all five of them had fallen asleep together, leaving only Cheng Shi to stand guard—and Cheng Shi was a Priest at that—he couldn't believe it.
"Are you insane? You put five people to sleep at the same time? Even if you had potions to restore everyone's condition, you should have done it one at a time!"
The three of them turned around together. Song Yawen grinned without saying anything. Chen Chong's expression remained unchanged, but the twitching corner of his eye clearly showed that he also had serious objections to Cheng Shi's move.
Only Cheng Shi scratched his head and said:
"Huh? Don't make things up. I just woke up too. All six of us slept together."
"?????"
A shudder ran through Cao Sansui's very soul. He couldn't believe Cheng Shi had been so reckless.
"Cheng Shi! You're treating everyone's lives like a joke! If anything had happened in the middle, all of us could have been wiped out!"
Cheng Shi nodded deeply.
"Indeed, the risk was too great. It wasn't advisable."
"?"
Cao Sansui's scolding faltered. Judging from Cheng Shi's attitude and words, it sounded as if Cheng Shi hadn't been the one to do it, but was condemning the culprit alongside him.
"You knew that, and you still dared to gamble?" Cao Sansui asked with an exasperated laugh.
Cheng Shi spread his hands. "But I won the gamble. We've recovered to our peak combat strength, haven't we?"
"..."
"Either way, we were going to be stuck here for two hours. Just tell me—wasn't the payoff worth the gamble?"
"..."
Cao Sansui sat down beside the three of them with an expression of constipation and let out a heavy sigh.
"If something like this happens again, please tell me first. I don't want to be scared to death before I've even had an audience with Time."
Cheng Shi stopped joking this time and said apologetically:
"You wouldn't have agreed. Or rather, no one would have been willing to gamble. But the fact is, we might not have had enough time for everyone to recover one by one. Danger is closing in, and every second we can buy matters."
"But what if something happened in the middle..."
"Looking at the result, that 'what if' of yours didn't happen." Cheng Shi grinned again.
Cao Sansui fell silent. Chen Chong cursed irritably.
"There won't be a next time, Cheng Shi. I hate uncertainty. Damn it, you don't look like a believer of Birth at all. You look more like a believer of Destiny..."
Cheng Shi laughed. He stretched out a hand and summoned a little Ray of Healing, waving it in front of Chen Chong.
"Don't believe me? I can let you experience what it's like to be a mother right now."
Before Chen Chong could react, Song Yawen shot ten meters away in a single bound.
"..."
Looking at the green glow in Cheng Shi's hand, Cao Sansui asked:
"What is it?"
Cheng Shi knew he was asking about the cola. He withdrew the Healing Art and clicked his tongue.
"I call it 'Somnolent Healing.' I added powerful sleeping pills and the A-Rank potion 'Past Prosperity' to the cola. This is a supreme healing potion that combines the divine powers of Memory and prosperity. I had six bottles in total, and now they're all gone."
After saying that, he put on a pained expression.
"Another A-Rank potion? I don't think I've heard of this one. Was it a reward from the Ladder?"
Cheng Shi shrugged. "I don't know. I traded for it from someone else."
"Someone was willing to trade something that could save lives?" Song Yawen asked doubtfully as he ran back.
"Sometimes, one's purpose matters far more than one's life." Cheng Shi seemed to recall someone and sighed quietly.
That was true.
If you were already dead, what was the point of hoarding so many good things?
But if you lost your purpose, what was the meaning of staying alive?
Although he strongly disapproved of Cheng Shi's approach, Cao Sansui still accepted the favor.
"Once the trial ends, I'll compensate you with potions of equal value."
Cheng Shi's eyes lit up. "Oh, there's no need to trouble yourself."
But his gaze was clearly full of greed. It had already begun sweeping over Cao Sansui, as if he wanted to see what good things Cao Sansui had hidden on him.
"..."
Everyone said that the personalities of those with 2,000 points were eccentric. After seeing Cheng Shi today, that certainly seemed true.
They had already tacitly accepted that Cheng Shi had 2,000 points, without the slightest doubt.
"Since everyone's awake and in good condition, should we head out now?" Cao Sansui asked.
"Set out according to plan."
Seeing that Cheng Shi had no intention of taking command and was simply sitting there grinning foolishly without saying a word, Chen Chong answered with a dark expression.
"Good. Then let's call the others..."
Before Cao Sansui could stand, he suddenly felt a wave of heat surge up from underground and rush fiercely into his face. His expression changed in shock.
The others were equally startled. They all stood up and looked at the ground beneath their feet.
Only Cheng Shi looked grimly up at the sky and ground out a few words through clenched teeth.
"Fuck, it's Meteor Fire Rain!"
"S-Rank Forbidden Technique: Meteor Fire Rain?!"
Song Yawen's voice warped with fright. He looked up as well, and sure enough, high in the distant sky, a terrifying, enormous phantom of a blazing sun slowly rose.
Blazing flames erupted along the edge of the solar disk. Every spark that burst forth transformed into a gigantic meteor, streaking across the sky and plummeting rapidly toward the plains where they stood!
In the span of a breath, meteors fell like rain.
"Run!!"
Cheng Shi ran outside without hesitation, not holding back a shred of strength.
He didn't need to worry about the others. Every teammate present was faster than him, without exception.
Cao Sansui's expression hardened. The next second, he cast Area Acceleration in front of everyone. Song Yawen instantly blurred away like a shadow, while Chen Chong activated Warrior's Charge, grabbed Cheng Shi and Cao Sansui with one hand each, and ran outward like a storm.
The two people atop the treehouse moved even faster. Xia Wan picked up the petite Nangong and leaped from one branch to another in just a few bounds.
Chen Chong charged forward too quickly. The gale tore painfully at Cheng Shi's face.
Cao Sansui was suffering just as badly. He shouted in extreme shock and disbelief:
"This isn't a spell that can be learned in the Underground World! This is a Forbidden Technique wielded by the Elemental Judge of the Isle of Hope. What identities are we playing, to be enemies of both sides?"
Enemies? No, that wasn't right.
Even if the six of them really were enemies of the Isle of Hope, the Elemental Judge couldn't possibly use such a world-destroying spell to punish them.
What could six people amount to in a war?
They were nothing!
How could they possibly be worth a single Meteor Fire Rain?
Cheng Shi's expression darkened as he thought of a possibility.
"This Meteor Fire Rain isn't aimed at us at all! It's being used to intercept the right-wing Dread Demon army!!!"
Before you continue