Divine Ability Hall (First Round of Recommendations Plus One Update)

A gray, boundless space stretched out, as if one were standing within the chaotic void itself.

"Whoosh." With a soft sound, Lei Zhan and the Yellow-Haired Great Bear appeared out of thin air.

Lei Zhan looked around at the gray, empty nothingness.

"This place is arguably the most important location in the entire Water Mansion..."

"Arguably the most important?" Lei Zhan nodded.

The Yellow-Haired Great Bear looked at Lei Zhan and continued, "There are still many secrets within this mansion. Even your master, Immortal Juhua, knows nothing about many of the things inside."

"I believe you have sensed as much. However, if you wish to know more, you must constantly increase your own strength."

"Understood." Lei Zhan nodded.

He understood that the Water Mansion held countless secrets. If not for the talent he had displayed, this seemingly easygoing Yellow-Haired Great Bear might not have paid him any attention at all.

At the very least, the bear was far more easygoing with him than with his master, Immortal Juhua!

The Yellow-Haired Great Bear said, "Of the seven great divine abilities within this Divine Ability Hall, only the first was left behind by the Master himself. The remaining six were left by the Master's disciples."

"The Senior's Master... I have heard of him many times, yet I do not know his name..." Lei Zhan asked, following the Yellow-Haired Great Bear's lead.

"The Master..." A hint of ancient weariness flashed in the Yellow-Haired Great Bear's eyes. "The Master was an ancient existence who became a mighty figure even before the Three Realms were born. Such beings are rare throughout the entire Three Realms. Knowing this now will not be of much use to you."

The Yellow-Haired Great Bear shook his head slightly and looked down at Lei Zhan. "With your current strength, obtaining the first divine ability is not a certainty. Therefore, the most urgent matter now is to face the coming battles with a focused mind."

The Yellow-Haired Great Bear had seen Lei Zhan's performance and innate talent over the years, and naturally, he did not want this little fellow, whom he held in high regard, to miss out on the most important opportunity.

Otherwise, he would never have agreed to Immortal Juhua's provocation.

He was a spirit of a magical treasure, born at the moment the ancient Pangu World collapsed. He had followed his master, the Master of Star-Plucking Mansion, for an uncountable number of years. How could he be easily manipulated by a loose immortal who had lived for only a few million years?

It was merely a matter of playing along.

"So it is not a sure thing..." Lei Zhan nodded, even though the Yellow-Haired Great Bear clearly believed he had a great chance.

All he needed to do was give his all to slay the warriors within the Divine Ability Hall and finally obtain the strongest divine ability within: the Star-Plucking Hand.

"Very well. Prepare yourself!" As soon as the Yellow-Haired Great Bear finished speaking, he vanished into the vast void.

Within the gray, empty space, there was nothing—only endless, lonely gray.

Suddenly, with a "whoosh," a massive, pitch-black stele appeared out of thin air and landed on the ground. The stele was covered in nearly a hundred dense, ancient characters of the Gods and Devils.

"Use the power of the Gods and Devils!"

"Choose your weapon from those provided."

"Go and slaughter!"

"A divine ability is the ultimate technique of slaughter."

"The more warriors you slay, the more powerful the divine ability you shall obtain... The moment you fall and your body is shattered, the trial of the Divine Ability Hall shall end."

Lei Zhan looked at the characters on the stele, reading them word by word, his heart incomparably calm.

He turned his head to look beside the pitch-black stele, where a massive table had appeared out of thin air.

The table was laden with a vast array of weapons: hundreds of swords, hundreds of sabers, hundreds of spears, hundreds of staves... a dense pile of armaments.

"I cannot use the methods of the Qi-Refining path, but these weapons..." A strange smile suddenly appeared on Lei Zhan's face. He stepped forward and chose a long spear that was quite similar to his Cold Shadow Spear.

As for using the Three Heads and Six Arms divine ability at the very beginning when the difficulty was not yet high?

He was not that foolish.

The warriors manifested within the Divine Ability Hall were nearly endless. If he used his strongest techniques from the start, no amount of divine power would be enough.

Aside from slow recovery, there was currently no way to quickly restore his divine power to its peak state.

Just as Lei Zhan was selecting his weapon, the gray gas in the surrounding void began to condense rapidly, forming humanoid creatures.

"They are here!" A burning desire for battle was instantly ignited in Lei Zhan's heart.

He looked at the figures that had suddenly appeared. These humanoid creatures were incredibly robust, possessing three eyes filled with murderous intent. They were nearly naked, wearing only loincloths or simple protective skirts.

They were muscular, and in their hands, they held various weapons—some carried great axes, others long staves or heavy hammers.

Their breathing sounded like rolling thunder, their footsteps made the earth tremble, and their entire bodies radiated a monstrous, ferocious aura.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of humanoid monsters had condensed from all directions.

"Warriors similar to the Gods and Devils." Lei Zhan swept his gaze across the hundreds of warriors in the gray space, a thought flashing through his mind.

"Kill!"

Lei Zhan gripped his long spear and charged forward.

The Gods and Devils were most adept at slaughter, and they were reborn in blood through the act of killing.

"Kill!" The hundreds of fierce, weapon-wielding warriors around him roared as well, treading upon the clouds and mist like a gale as they charged directly at Lei Zhan.

The warriors shouted the word 'Kill' in the language of the Gods and Devils. Their three eyes, filled with murderous light, locked onto Lei Zhan. Their speed was astonishing; in the blink of an eye, they had crossed the hundred-zhang distance to reach him.

"Hmph! Die!" Lei Zhan stepped forward, his long spear sweeping out with the force of a landslide, as if it could sever rivers and shatter mountains, crashing down upon the warriors.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The strength of Lei Zhan, who cultivated the Great Xia World's premier God and Devil body-refining technique, the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map, was immense. Even though he was only at the late Zifu stage, he could rival an average God and Devil of the Myriad Manifestations. With a single sweep of his spear, the Three-Eyed Warriors in his path were sent flying like tattered sacks, shattered by the force of his blow.

These warriors shrieked as they were smashed into pieces by the overwhelming power, only to dissolve into mist and vanish within this gray, hazy space.

"This is only the beginning; these warriors aren't particularly strong." Lei Zhan looked into the distance. Just moments ago, thirty or forty Three-Eyed Warriors had perished under that single sweep.

However, for every warrior Lei Zhan killed, even more condensed within this space.

In the distance, a vast number of warriors were still forming, with hundreds manifesting in the blink of an eye.

"Human strength has its limits; I must conserve my divine power!" Lei Zhan thought to himself. "Blazing Spear Domain!"

Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Golden-red flames emerged from the void within the space. The moment they appeared, they caused the very air to distort from the heat.

One patch, two patches, three patches—in an instant, a radius of a thousand feet was engulfed.

These blazing flames were scorching and explosive, yet sharp as blades, as if a thousand flaming spears were hidden within the sea of fire.

Each flame contained the profound mysteries of the Dao, and their power was astonishing. They immediately surged toward the surrounding mass of Three-Eyed Warriors.

Whoosh~~~

Lei Zhan did not hesitate, controlling the burning sea of fire to instantly incinerate countless Three-Eyed Warriors into ash.

The slaughter continued, and the number of Three-Eyed Warriors kept increasing.

As more Three-Eyed Warriors died, the ones that re-formed became stronger. These warriors moved faster, their bodies grew tougher, and even their axe and hammer techniques improved.

Likewise, they became much harder to kill!

Outside the gates of the Divine Ability Hall in the Water Mansion, Immortal Juhua and the Yellow-Haired Great Bear stood together.

"Lei Zhan's speed of slaughter is certainly not slow! With the combination of the Way of Blazing Fire and the Great Dao of the Spear, even as these warriors grow stronger, he still mows them down in droves."

The Yellow-Haired Great Bear praised, "It seems he is the most promising of these recent candidates to inherit the master's legacy."

"Hm? What is happening inside?" Immortal Juhua felt a prickle of curiosity and asked. Immortal Juhua knew absolutely nothing of what was occurring within the Divine Ability Hall.

Even though he had spent millions of years initially refining the Water Mansion, he still could not probe it in the slightest.

"Weren't you quite arrogant before? If you have the ability, don't beg me." The Yellow-Haired Great Bear cast a faint glance at Immortal Juhua.

Earlier, the Immortal had forced him to fulfill his promise in front of a junior. Although he favored the little fellow Lei Zhan and had simply gone along with it, he was still annoyed.

There was a world of difference between doing things of his own volition and being pointed at and instructed by others.

"You..." Immortal Juhua sighed helplessly; this artifact spirit of the cave abode was truly vengeful. But he was worried for his disciple, and the Dao heart of a Loose Immortal who had lived for a million years was extraordinary.

Immortal Juhua smiled patiently. "Senior Great Bear, my disciple Lei Zhan is not only the successor of this cave abode but also my only disciple. Would it be possible to use the Water Mirror Technique so that I may watch as well?"

"Hmph." The Yellow-Haired Great Bear looked at Immortal Juhua beside him and shook his head lightly.

Whoosh~

Suddenly, a massive water mirror appeared before the gates of the Divine Ability Hall.

Inside the water mirror, the scene was hazy, but one could vaguely see a handsome youth holding a long spear, constantly fighting amidst a group of bare-chested Three-Eyed Warriors.

The handsome youth was surrounded by a thousand-foot sea of golden-red flames. The fire burned incessantly, and every moment, Three-Eyed Warriors were burned to death, transforming into wisps of gray mist.

"Hm. It seems the little fellow Lei Zhan is handling this quite easily." Immortal Juhua felt relieved and leisurely stroked his chin.

Lei Zhan had reached the Dao Domain level in two different Daos and had even gained entry into a Great Dao. The combination of these Daos possessed power far beyond that of a single Dao.

Currently, Lei Zhan had only unleashed his Blazing Fire Domain and the Great Dao of the Spear; he had not even utilized his divine abilities, Three Heads and Six Arms or Law of Heaven and Earth, meaning he was still holding back the majority of his strength.

"This Lei Zhan's talent... is truly monstrous. His divine soul is powerful, and after practicing the visualization technique you provided, he can even control objects with his divine sense."

"His comprehension of the Dao is also extremely high, with two Daos reaching the Dao Domain level. Even relying solely on divine sense object manipulation and his Dao Domains... he could sweep through and slaughter countless warriors."

"He is indeed the one most likely to obtain the divine ability techniques left behind by the master."

This was high praise coming from the Yellow-Haired Great Bear. Even among the countless powerful Gods and Devils under his master's command, few of his disciples could have reached this level at the age of ten.

Of course, those born as innate Gods and Devils, like his master who was born with mastery over a Dao, were not included in this count.

Even so, those who could meet these criteria were exceedingly rare.

This chapter is an extra update. I received the notification yesterday. My previous book went cold after the first and second rounds of recommendations. There was no choice but to rush it to publication.

For this book, I want to stay in the pre-publication phase a bit longer, so I have to rely on the support of my brothers.

Recommendations depend on data, and it seems the follow-read rate is the most important factor, though I'm not entirely sure of the specifics.

Regardless, as long as you brothers support me, I'll just keep pushing forward.

Finally, I beg you brothers to keep following the story!

I've been working hard to stockpile chapters recently, and I'll add two more once I hit the second round. I don't want to wait for the official publication. If I have the capacity, I'll update more. If not, I'll pay back the debt slowly.