The sea breeze carried a salty tang over the stone steps of Asura Island.
Dai Zhuqing, Qian San, and Xiao Qing climbed the steps side by side.
After the brutal battles of the seventh trial, all three had long since lost their youthful innocence. In its place was a murderous aura, as though Asura Island had steeped them in it.
As for the others from Shrek Academy, this was as far as they would go.
Receiving a God Trial was easy, but each additional trial was another round of elimination. Only the three of them had made it to the eighth trial.
The eighth trial: the Asura trial.
The rules were simple: each of them had to face a projection of the Asura God.
They had to win all three battles to pass. If even one of them lost, they would all fail.
As they entered the great hall, dark red light flowed along the ancient patterns on the walls.
High Priestess Bo Saixi stood beneath the Asura God's statue in red robes.
Dai Zhuqing stepped forward, about to bow and request that the trial begin.
But Bo Saixi raised a hand, stopping her.
Instead of activating the projection in the statue, she turned sideways and looked toward a shadowed corner on the right side of the hall.
Footsteps rang out.
A figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
Golden robes, a familiar face.
The instant Qian San recognized the newcomer, he cried out:
"Father!"
Qian San took several steps forward and bent his knees, about to kneel right there in the hall.
In the danger-ridden Inner World, under the crushing pressure of the God Trials, Qian Xunji's arrival was the steadfast anchor they needed.
To Qian San, as long as his father was there, someone would hold up the sky