Life and Death Trial Begins

"Pfft."

Yang Hong's eyes widened as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He lowered his head to look at the Fiery Red Longsword piercing his heart, then nodded.

Lin Suchou pulled out his sword, and this favored son of heaven collapsed limply to the ground.

Shaking the blood from his sword, Lin Suchou sheathed it.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Lin Suchou had another thirty-three Blood Tokens in his hands.

He then took Luo Li by the hand and headed toward the Guardian Land beneath the Setting Sun.

The many figures atop the city gate stared at Lin Suchou in shock.

This man had actually broken through again!?

When Lin Suchou and Luo Li arrived at the Mission Hall, they took out thirty Mission Wooden Tablets and hung them up one by one.

Each time one was hung up, a streak of red light shot out from the wooden tablet and entered the Blood Tokens of Lin Suchou and Luo Li respectively.

Looking at the points on their Tokens again, they had already reached one hundred and thirty.

Luo Li likewise had just over a hundred points. No wonder Qiu Beihai and the others had monopolized those missions. The points really did come easily.

As the youths outside watched Lin Suchou and Luo Li emerge from the hall again, one of them gathered his courage and asked, "Brother, the missions will refresh at dawn tomorrow. Will you..."

"I'm not an unreasonable brute like Qiu Beihai."

Lin Suchou interrupted him, waved his hand, and led Luo Li out of the City Lord's Mansion.

"Brother, you are truly righteous!"

"I told you he wasn't the same kind of person as Qiu Beihai and his lot. Haha, we'll finally have missions to take tomorrow."

"..."

Every one of these youths looked at Lin Suchou with gratitude.

But Lin Suchou merely shook his head. Even if he did not monopolize the missions like Qiu Beihai, how many of those scarce missions could truly fall into their hands?

In the end, there were too many monks and too little porridge.

Unless... there were losses among the numbers during the fighting. That was also the intention of the Five Great Academies.

The students they wanted had to be the elite among elites, geniuses among geniuses.

Only those who survived until the end would qualify for Spirit Road Empowerment...

Over the following days, having accumulated enough points, Lin Suchou no longer left the Guardian Land. Instead, he stayed with Luo Li and raised their intimacy value.

After absorbing a large number of Spirit Beast Essences, Luo Li successfully reached the Level 3 Spirit Body stage as well.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Your intimacy value with Goddess Luo Li has reached 56. System rewards: twenty-third place on the Myriad Beasts Record Earth Ranking, Thunder Swallowing Crane Spirit Essence.

Luo Ling Heavenly Horse foal.

God-tier Low-grade defensive Spirit Artifact, Luo Shen Robe."

About a week had passed since Lin Suchou killed Yang Hong and the others, and he had once again obtained three treasures from Luo Li.

In particular, the Luo Ling Heavenly Horse had automatically formed a master-servant bond with him, and it did not count as a contracted Spirit Beast.

In other words, Lin Suchou could still contract other Spirit Beasts.

Whoosh—boom!

While Lin Suchou was practicing swordsmanship inside the wooden house, he suddenly heard a loud explosion outside.

When he went out to take a look, he found a beautiful firework blooming above the City Lord's Mansion, lingering in the sky.

Creak.

Luo Li, hearing the commotion, also emerged from the house beside his.

"Hehe, the City Lord's Mansion is summoning us. They probably have something to announce. Let's go."

Lin Suchou chuckled and headed toward the nearby City Lord's Mansion with Luo Li.

While the two waited patiently at the entrance to the City Lord's Mansion, other young men and women began arriving one after another.

All of them were discussing why the City Lord's Mansion had suddenly summoned them.

Some had even just accepted missions and set out to complete them, only to be forcibly interrupted by the summoning firework and turn back.

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, more than eighty figures had gathered outside the City Lord's Mansion.

"The Instructors are coming out!"

Suddenly, a Youth looked toward the City Lord's Mansion and shouted.

Hearing this, Lin Suchou turned to look at the entrance as well.

Three figures slowly emerged from within.

The man in front wore a Blue Long Robe. He appeared to be in his thirties, with a large belly and a smile on his face.

The two behind him wore Grey Robes and were slightly younger.

These were the three Instructors stationed at the Guardian Land.

"My name is Zhao Long, and I am the chief Instructor of this Fourth Guardian Land. I have summoned everyone here today to announce an important matter."

The blue-robed Instructor spoke with a smile, yet his voice exploded beside everyone's ears like thunder.

In an instant, the originally noisy crowd fell silent.

"You have spent some time in the Guardian Land, and roughly over a hundred people have come and gone. I summoned you here because, three days from now, a trial ground will open as the final checkpoint before reaching the Final Spirit Road.

Everyone must enter. Otherwise, you will remain here forever and fend for yourselves."

Zhao Long slowly swept his gaze around the crowd.

"A trial ground? What kind of mission is that?"

A voice rose from among the youths.

"To be precise, it should be called a Life and Death Trial. It will last half a month. Only the top thirty may proceed to the Final Spirit Road. Even the thirty-first will be eliminated."

After saying this, Zhao Long seemed to see the youths' confusion and explained further.

"Do not think thirty people is a small number. If you can truly finish with thirty people after half a month, that would already be an uncommon occurrence over the years."

The youths were so shocked that they could not speak.

The mortality rate was actually this high!?

"Instructor Zhao, could you reveal a little more about the Life and Death Trial?"

A Youth asked timidly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Long immediately smiled. "Of course. The Life and Death Land contains all kinds of Spirit Beasts, as well as many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. So long as you kill Spirit Beasts, your Blood Tokens will convert them into corresponding points.

When the time comes, all points will be compared, and the top thirty will be determined.

If you think there are too few Spirit Beasts, then you may attack other people. That will give you a greater chance of surviving."

The group of youths looked at one another.

So this was where the cruelty of the Spirit Road truly began.

"The first three Guardian Lands have already begun one after another. Our Fourth Guardian Land cannot fall behind."

After saying this, Zhao Long dismissed the crowd and even posted the information outside the City Lord's Mansion.

Time flashed by, and soon three days had passed.

Just as Zhao Long had expected, one hundred and twenty young men and women gathered in the plaza before the City Lord's Mansion.

"Very good. You made the right choice!"

After counting the people, Zhao Long waved his hand. "Everyone, follow me into the City Lord's Mansion and take the Teleportation Spirit Array to the Life and Death Land."

Lin Suchou exchanged a glance with Luo Li, then took the lead in walking into the City Lord's Mansion.

Upon reaching the depths of the City Lord's Mansion, a massive light array over forty feet in diameter appeared before everyone.

At the center of the light array stood a stone pillar over a hundred feet tall, engraved with unknown Spirit Beasts that looked lifelike.

"Get ready, everyone. I'm about to activate the teleportation array."

As Zhao Long's words fell, he flicked his sleeve, sending a stream of spiritual energy into the central stone pillar.

Thousands upon thousands of white lights bloomed. Lin Suchou only felt the world spin around him as all his senses were obscured.

After a burst of spatial distortion, Lin Suchou's vision returned.

But what greeted his eyes was a desolate expanse of land, and Luo Li beside him was nowhere to be seen.