"The third trial will begin shortly. Please follow me to a certain place."
The break ended, and Master Xuanming appeared before everyone once more.
He led the group out of Mirror Buddha City and toward another area within the Mysterious Heaven Secret Realm.
As Mu Qing stepped out of Mirror Buddha City, he sensed a strange fluctuation of energy. Looking back, he saw the Mirror Buddha City, which had been shattered across vast stretches by the aftershocks of battle, slowly mending itself.
"Strange. Mirror Buddha City seems to be recovering much more slowly," Master Xuanming muttered.
This Mirror Buddha City had been condensed entirely from energy. Even if it were ravaged beyond recognition, it should have been able to heal with ease.
Yet its recovery now appeared far too sluggish.
Master Xuanming paid it no mind. He led the Divine Emperors to an enormous altar, brilliant gold from end to end as though cast from pure gold. It was covered in densely packed rune imprints, wreathed in rich Buddhist power.
The people around them froze at the sight, then seemed to recall something and cried out, "Could this be the Buddhist Altar?"
Master Xuanming shook his head and corrected them. "This is the Mirror Buddhist Altar, but it has also been condensed using the Buddhist power of the true Buddhist Altar. It contains a portion of the Buddhist Altar's might!"
His gaze swept over the crowd. "The third trial is to enter the Mirror Buddhist Altar. The more Buddhist power you absorb, the greater your affinity with it. Those with insufficient affinity will be rejected by the altar, until only eighteen remain."
There were still more than forty people present.
Of the sixty or seventy peak Divine Emperors who had entered the second trial, over forty remained.
But that number