A New Trial: How All Beings Decay and All Things Rot-Decay

(Thank you all for your support. I'm adding an extra chapter on my first day back at work to ease my anxiety.)

Everyone sat cross-legged in a circle around the clock, repeatedly reciting the prayer in their hearts, striving to finish the prayer without missing a single word at the top of the hour.

In those final few minutes, Hu Wei suddenly made another suggestion:

"I know you are all trustworthy people, but this trip is of extraordinary significance. So, in these final moments, allow me to play the villain and hand over the Token."

Let us, as witnesses to one another, pray before our respective objects of Faith for this Trials.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hu Wei and Da Yi slashed their palms with their weapons and stuck the blood-stained weapons in front of them.

Everyone had seen Hu Wei's giant sword before, but this was the first time they had seen Da Yi's weapon. It was a double -Stilettos about the length and thickness of a finger.

He really was an Assassin!

He was also an Assassin with a sixth finger, because Stilettos of this size would only flutter and jump between the Assassin's fingers, just like having six fingers.

The Token of war is a drop of blood. If you choose it at the Path of Fate's Beginning, it means that you must find a way to obtain a drop of your own blood to resonate with it.

This practice gradually evolved into the "blood-splattering ceremony" after entering the game, where blood is drawn from a weapon and then splattered in front of the player.

Hu Wei's request wasn't unreasonable. Although everyone knew perfectly well that there was no chance of anything going wrong, they still complied.

Mo Li took out a Codex, the lances and shields on Codex gleaming, the aura of the laws solemn and dignified.

Hu Xuan placed a stone egg in front of her. This stone egg, which was engraved with countless fine details of flesh and blood like a fossil, was the Token of [Birth] at the Path of Fate's Beginning.

In the [Faith Game], apart from [Nothingness], Believer of other Faith hardly need the assistance of objects of Faith when Edict of Passage. These objects are more like a symbol of their Faith than an auxiliary tool.

However, the [Nothingness] is different. Their Believer must perform Edict of Passage according to their own Token, which leads to almost every [Deception] Believer having a Dice of Destiny in their hand, since even if they don't use it, they still have to keep it just in case.

Therefore, as Believer in "Deception", Long Jing took out a Dice of Destiny at the same Cheng Shi in front of everyone.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Seeing the strange expressions on everyone's faces, Long Jing paused for a moment, then quickly switched the Dice back in his hand and put on a Pure White Mask.

"Sorry, I'm used to it."

"..."

The group exchanged glances, their eyes twitching slightly. They thought to themselves, "So this is how these con artists start. They're still so obsessed with impersonating 'Destiny'."

Only Cheng Shi knew that this was all a trick by the Acrobat. He used his embarrassing moment to cover up the truth about the Mask, because the Mask in his hand was fake, a replica made by him, just like the Dice of Destiny.

But he used this trick to divert everyone's attention.

Cheng Shi should have laughed at this sight, but everyone else's eyes were on the Dice of Destiny in front of him, which made him unable to laugh.

His gaze swept over the crowd, and seeing that they all seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly joked:

"What? Mine is genuine. If you don't believe me, you can check it out."

This immediately amused everyone else, and Hu Wei laughed heartily while waving his hand. Then, he immediately composed himself and became serious, saying:

"Time's up, 15 seconds left, everyone get ready."

Although he said this, his gaze never left Cheng Shi's Dice.

Cheng Shi smiled along with him, but inwardly he felt a pang of unease, realizing something was wrong.

He had secretly prayed to the Mask during this Trials, hoping that Destiny would send him safely through it. But who would have thought that at such a safe moment, Hu Wei would pull an even safer trick.

Cheng Shi wasn't afraid of being exposed; after all, his Dice weren't fake, they were genuinely useful. The problem was...

His Dice are not working properly!

While the Dice of Destiny should be Token of Destiny, there are always things that "shouldn't" happen in reality. For Cheng Shi, the Dice in Cheng Shi's hand doesn't represent Destiny, but rather... Deception!

Although Destiny may "eavesdrop," it is always the God of Merriment who responds to all of His prayers!

So, if one recites the prayer of "war" to the Dice of Destiny, is that blasphemy against one Lord of Grace or against two Lord of Grace?

Will He allow Him to participate in this Trials?

Or to put it more directly, does He think there's enough fun in this Trials?

What if there isn't enough?

Thinking of this, Cheng Shi broke out in a cold sweat.

But it was too late to change anything. As the second hand struck the hour, Cheng Shi had no choice but to read aloud the prayer that had been written down beforehand, along with everyone else.

He swiftly grasped the Dice of Destiny in his hand, holding them horizontally in front of him, while his other hand was tucked into his sleeve and behind his back. He then devoutly recited each word:

"How to survive? Only with Blood and Fire..."

He kept reciting the instructions and praying in his heart, hoping that the God of Merriment wouldn't give him a big problem. But when he saw the prompt in front of him, his expression predictably fell.

The Prayer Trial (What decays all beings, what perishes all things [Decay]) has begun.

[Matching teammates (1/6)]

[Trials Objective: All living beings Decay in response to the decree, yet they do not know why the Cosmos Decay (limited to 5 days)]

"..."

Okay, okay!

I knew it!

[War] is indeed tolerant. I prayed so specifically by name, and yet I still managed to be included in a [Decay] situation.

What decay can living beings have? What perishable things have?

What a grand spectacle it must have taken for Him to alter His own prayer as a Trials question?

Upon seeing the name of this Trials, which he had never seen before, Cheng Shi's heart skipped a beat.

Oh no, is He going to take out His pent-up anger on Himself?

My Lord of Grace, you seem to enjoy watching the drama unfold, but shouldn't you consider whether the Clown on stage might die?

I've already angered [Decay] once. If He really wants to pursue this further, then in order to save my life, if I say anything unclean, you'll have to... bear with me.

Cheng Shi's face was as black as ink.

Regardless of how difficult this Trials is, being placed in the [Decay] category means that this Trials will definitely involve unforgettable suffering.

At this point, he could only pray that he was overthinking things, otherwise...

In the last second before his vision went completely dark, Cheng Shi quickly scanned the others again. When he saw that everyone else except himself had a faint smile on their faces, his expression darkened even more.

So I'm the only one who's unlucky?

"..."

Match successful (6/6), entering the Trials.