After Leo and he had both made breakthroughs, Wu Sheng headed back in high spirits.
He was glad he'd come for this Blood Trial. Not only had he grasped a domain and an aspect of will, and greatly improved his strength, but the Time-Space Shop had also opened ahead of schedule.
He couldn't afford to activate the VIP Shop or the Super VIP Shop yet, but those were just "small expenses."
The prices he paid for purchases were already locked in. If he saved his available uses, he could keep buying from the later shops once they opened.
"Still, it's a bit of a shame. If I'd activated it during the apprentice stage, the discounts would've been even better!"
Wu Sheng shook his head. He sounded a little dissatisfied, but he was quite pleased.
After all, who could have a trillion Cosmic Crystals while still at the apprentice stage?
Maybe someone could—but they might not have the Time-Space Shop!
The first three items in the Time-Space Shop normally cost ten thousand contribution points each.
Activating it at Star Grade gave a 90 percent discount; at Cosmic Level, a 60 percent discount; at Domain Lord, a 30 percent discount; and at Realm Lord, there was no discount. Each item after the first three cost a thousand times as much as the one before it.
Activating it at the apprentice stage would've been the real jackpot.
The first two items would've been free, the third would've cost just one contribution point, and the prices after that would've increased a thousandfold each time.
That would've been much cheaper than activating it at Planet Grade, but Wu Sheng hadn't been able to scrape together a trillion Cosmic Crystals back then.
He hadn't even had a single Cosmic Crystal!
"I shouldn't be greedy. Things are already pretty good!"
"Yeah, I still have fifty billion Cosmic Crystals. It sounds like a lot, but I'm still badly short!"
"I have to take advantage of this Blood Trial and scavenge some more. The more, the better!"
Wu Sheng thought to himself that it would probably be six hundred years before he encountered another event like this, during the Star Grade Blood Trial.
And he didn't know whether he'd ever enter another place like Trial Ground CKHX-3819.
If there were no suckers for him to fleece, and they just sent him to some random Trial Ground, his rise to power would surely be delayed again.
Besides, as his level increased, not only would the cost of opening the final two shops skyrocket, but earning the Source Law's recognition before becoming a Realm Lord would also become nothing more than an empty dream.
"This is so frustrating. They want me to spend money, but they're afraid of me leveling up!"
Wu Sheng sighed. "But that's how the world is. Few people make it through their whole lives without a hitch. I'm just one of countless people like that. Nothing more!"
Two years later, on a rocky outcrop somewhere in the Eastern Domain, Li Long and around two hundred others stood silently, as though waiting for something.
"It's here!" Li Long suddenly looked up at the sky. An image had appeared overhead, high above the Trial Ground.
It showed what looked like an endless ocean, with small icebergs floating on its surface, tossed about and smashed together by enormous waves.
Hum!
The image in the sky suddenly became real. An immense pressure swept across the entire Trial Ground, so powerful that rocks crumbled and branches went flying.
"How incredible! This is the Realm Lord's unique ability—the World Projection!"
Under the tremendous pressure, Wu Sheng could barely breathe. He believed that if the one controlling the World Projection wished it, even this Trial Ground—one that Cosmic Level participants would struggle to destroy—would be crushed into dust in an instant.
And no one would escape. Not one of them!
"According to the rules, once the Central Domain opens, we'll have to reach its very core as quickly as we can, under the pressure of this powerful World Force."
"Participants and ferocious beasts alike will only find brief shelter there!"
"The entire Trial Ground will gradually collapse from the outside in under the pressure of the Realm Lord's World Projection, so don't count on getting lucky."
"The only way to survive is to run for the Core Land! Unless you're strong enough to withstand the crushing force of the World Projection!" Li Long's voice rang in everyone's ears.
This was the Trial Ground's final game of survival!
The fast wouldn't be rewarded!
But the slow would be left dead and dismembered!
"How vicious. For the participants who know they can't survive and have been hiding, this is a nightmare!" Wu Sheng sighed.
There were actually plenty of Prison Clan participants hiding throughout the Trial Ground. As long as they weren't discovered, they'd have been perfectly happy to keep hiding for another ten years.
But how could the Prison Clan's higher-ups be unaware of them?
The Blood Trial was a bloody meat grinder where ordinary members of the Prison Clan proved their strength. It wasn't a haven where cowards could hide away and eke out a living.
At least under this frantic countdown to life and death, every life was equal.
"Good thing Leo and the others knew when to retreat to the Northern Domain after that battle two years ago. If they were here to cause trouble, things would be even harder for us!"
"Now we just have to watch out for the ferocious beasts. Once we make it to the Core Land, we'll be safe for a while."
Li Long spoke again, but he left the rest unsaid.
What could they do once they reached the Core Land?
Fight even more brutally, of course!
Judging by their current numbers, nearly a thousand participants remained in the Trial Ground. They would have to eliminate 90 percent of them in this final battle at the Core Land.
Only one hundred people could survive in the end. Fewer was fine, but there couldn't be more!
The World Projection overhead was clearly herding them together, driving them to gather in one place so that the final one hundred victors could be decided.
"Get ready, everyone. Based on past experience, the Central Domain won't fully open for another half a day."
After speaking, Li Long sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to rest.
Awooo!
Roar!
Whimper!
The roars of countless ferocious beasts suddenly filled the surroundings. They could clearly sense that something was wrong with the Trial Ground.
Some beasts that had been hiding cautiously were forced out. Since the different packs didn't get along, plenty of them immediately went berserk.
Their eyes bulged with rage, as though something had set them off, and they looked extremely agitated. Some even began tearing into one another.
"Hmph, a bunch of idiots. Fight, kill each other. The more of you that die, the better."
"Better yet, die every last one of you. Then we can head straight to the Core Land!"
The Prison Clan Members chuckled now and then as they watched the panicked beasts slaughter one another, looking thoroughly pleased.
Unless something unexpected happened, once the Trial Ground began breaking apart from the outside in, the beasts would charge inward to escape.
Then the beasts and the participants would be competing for survival. That was why they hoped every last beast would die, saving them a great deal of Primal Force and mental power.
"Yip! Whimper!"
A childish voice suddenly rang out. Wu Sheng looked over.
A half-meter-tall white wolf cub was hiding beneath the belly of a four-meter-long White Giant Wolf, wailing miserably.
It was a small pack, now reduced to fewer than a hundred. Faced with the attacks of the frenzied beasts, the remaining White Wolves were dying fast.
Before long, only a dozen or so White Giant Wolves remained. Every one of them was wounded, and they wouldn't last much longer.
Only the Little Wolf Cub was unharmed, though its fur was stained with blood. The others had protected it well.
"Yip!"
The Little Wolf Cub let out a heartrending howl, but there were too many beasts around. Its cry was swallowed by the countless roars.
"Sigh! I owed you one from before. Let me repay you this time!"
Wu Sheng sighed and rushed over.
As everyone looked at one another in confusion, he turned into a blur of Green Shadow and plunged into the beast pack.
"What's he doing? Time's almost up. Isn't he worried about running out of energy?"
"Who knows? We've talked to Wu Sheng a few times, but I can never figure out what he's thinking!"
"Doesn't he seem incredibly fast to you?"
"Yeah. The pressure from the World Projection hasn't peaked yet, but he's still moving ridiculously fast! Did he break through?"
"I couldn't tell. He still seems to be at Ninth Order Earth Grade. Even if it's almost certain that an Earth Grade elite will break through to Sky Grade, building up enough power takes time!"
While everyone was still wondering, Wu Sheng, surrounded by faint green currents of energy, had already reached the Little Wolf Cub.
"Whimper!"
The Little Wolf Cub seemed to remember Wu Sheng. It first snarled at him in hostility, then its eyes filled with sorrow.
"I can't do it!" Wu Sheng seemed to understand what it meant. He shook his head in silence.
"Roar!"
The enormous White Wolf nudged the Little Wolf Cub out from beneath itself and tremblingly carried it over to Wu Sheng, looking at him pleadingly.
Its mouth was already covered in blood. Several of its teeth had broken, and there was a fatal wound beneath its jaw, deep enough to expose bone.
Wu Sheng glanced at the black horn still embedded in its belly and sighed. "I promise you," he said.