Wu Sheng felt as if he were dreaming. In the dream, he became a member of the Woodborn Clan. From the time he could remember, the only person in his family had been his mother, who cared for him devotedly.
He had once had two older brothers, but both had died in the clan wars. His father had fought desperately to save him and his mother, only to be killed in the end as well.
As the Woodborn youth slowly grew up, he proved to have a good talent for martial arts. Not long after advancing to Planet Grade, his Force Amplitude was already over thirty times. The clan elders thought highly of him, believing he could become a Sky Grade expert and stand on his own.
He was confident, too. Becoming strong was certainly something he wanted, but it was only a means to an end. What he truly wanted was for his mother and him to live in peace, without having to be on tenterhooks ever again.
But during the selection for this trial, he was already at Planet Level Five when one of his teammates forcibly dragged him away. His mother fought desperately to stop them, but in the end, she was killed.
At that moment, his heart completely crumbled. He spent the journey in a daze.
Then he saw the rich rewards offered by the Blood Trial, and his desire to survive and become stronger reignited. Along with it came a fierce hatred for this bloody, unjust law of survival.
If he had enough strength, he wanted to change this cruel reality where the strong preyed on the weak.
He had devoted himself to cultivation during the past year, but because he had received only the Excellent-grade basic reward in the test, his progress had been relatively modest.
His foundation was too weak. He had never had a good teacher to guide him, and he had major deficiencies both in cultivation and in secret arts. Relying only on his limited self-study and the few basic secret arts he had received as rewards, he managed to reach Planetary Level Seven and a Force Amplitude of fifty times after a year of arduous training.
Still, after entering the Trial Ground, he refused to accept his fate. He had been extremely cautious every step of the way, doing his best to stay alive and hoping to find an opportunity for a breakthrough in the days ahead.
He had killed a few people along the way, but he had also often ended up injured.
He could only hide alone in a concealed tree hollow, silently recovering from his wounds, like a lone wolf constantly licking its wounds.
It was only when he met that short Green-Robed Youth and had his throat pierced by a sword that he finally left this cruel world, filled with regret.
At that moment, he felt liberated, yet he also felt as though he were still thinking.
"Phew..."
Inside a concealed tree hollow, Wu Sheng rubbed his aching forehead with his small hands and exhaled a long breath of stale air.
The Innate Secret Art "Soul Devour" helped his will undergo a transformation, but the process carried a certain risk of backlash.
With Soul Devour's help, he had to merge the deceased's pure soul power with his own soul while also experiencing the deceased's entire life.
Using another person's experiences to elevate his own will was what made Soul Devour so unbelievably powerful.
But if that wisp of pure soul power was too strong, he might be trapped in someone else's dream forever, never to wake again.
Back when he was with the Wu Gang Clan, he had just advanced to Planet Grade. Thinking that his experience from two lifetimes gave him an absolute advantage in willpower, he had once absorbed the soul power of a Planet Level 3 Bone Snail Clan member into his Inner World during a small-scale battle.
That time, he had nearly fallen into a permanent coma. Fortunately, his will was strong enough to shatter the dream and force himself to wake.
But waking up was all he had managed. For a long time afterward, his mind had remained foggy, and every so often he would sink into endless Dream Illusion, unable to tell dream from reality.
It took him a full year to shake off the lingering effects. His will had also advanced by one minor stage.
"Good thing I refined hundreds of Wind Chime Fruits ahead of time. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to emerge from that Woodborn's dream so easily. If I'd forced my way out, I would've suffered a huge backlash. Looks like a transformation of the will isn't something you can achieve just by deciding to!"
Wu Sheng shook his head with a wry smile and checked his simple Optical Computer. Even though using his Innate Secret Art had taken only a day, there were dangers lurking at every moment in this Trial Ground. A day was still too long.
"Hmm, my will is still stuck at Planetary Level Peak. Breaking through is tough! Everyone's still in the early stages of figuring things out, so I'm relatively safe for now. But the farther we go, the fewer safe places there'll be!"
Over the past year, he had also reached Planetary Level Seven in strength. That wasn't particularly fast; in fact, he could be considered one of the weakest in the Trial Ground.
That was because he had spent most of his time practicing secret arts, and the rest refining Wind Chime Fruits.
As for his strength, he had his own plans.
Each time he used the Innate Secret Art Soul Devour, he could also absorb some of the target's soul power. If he kept it up, his Spiritual Force should reach Planetary Level Nine first, which would be enough to protect himself.
"I need to pick up the pace. While everyone's still fighting on their own, I should break through in willpower and Spiritual Force first!"
A flash of red glinted in Wu Sheng's eyes. He stood up again and began slowly making his way outside.
"Mu Ming!"
Wu Sheng's expression darkened slightly as he softly spoke the two words. That had been the Woodborn youth's name. He had wanted to make a name for himself, but instead, he had died at Wu Sheng's hands.
"At most, only a hundred people can survive. I wonder if I'll be one of them."
After a brief sigh, Wu Sheng walked straight out of the hollow and began searching for a new target.
A day later, he found a Planetary Level Eight martial artist from the Dark Sand Clan, killed him with ease, and refined part of his soul power.
He also obtained more than ten battle suits and some other weapons.
Three days later, he found a Planetary Level Seven Spirit Reader from the Flood Abyss Clan, killed him with ease, and refined part of his soul power.
He obtained another ten or so battle suits and some other weapons.
Six days later...
The killing went on and on. Wu Sheng was like an assassin lurking in the darkness, either patiently waiting for "prey" to come to him or deliberately making a commotion to lure them into his traps.
These people were either ordinary trial-takers or Excellent-grade trial-takers. Their weapons gave them at least one level less amplification than Wu Sheng's, and he also used Soul Illusion to interfere with them first. That was how he managed to kill his opponents without a hitch.
Otherwise, like Mu Ming of the Woodborn Clan, he would have had to rely on a prolonged, desperate fight and risk severe injury just to seize a sliver of a chance at survival.
Although they could choose any weapons they wanted, each person had only one fixed battle suit.
When the trial ended, if more than a hundred people remained, they would be ranked according to how many battle suits each person held.
It was somewhat arbitrary, but the rules were clear: they were pushing everyone to keep killing, ideally targeting powerful opponents who had accumulated plenty of battle suits.
Generally speaking, anyone with at least eight thousand battle suits could make it out of the Trial Ground safely. With nine thousand, the chance of success was over ninety-five percent. Anyone with ten thousand was all but guaranteed one of the hundred spots.
But having that many battle suits wasn't enough. You also had to be able to hold on to them.
It would be downright tragic to work so hard to gather enough, only to be killed by someone else at the last moment.