When Yuan Yu returned to Spirit City, the old tree in front of the Worship Hall was shedding its leaves. As a child, he had sneaked drinks beneath that tree; Azure Luan had dragged him back, and Ling Yuan had even hidden half a flask for him. Now he stood in the same spot, a leaf resting on the shoulder of his white robes, and Ling Yuan still reached out to brush it away out of habit.
"Eat something before you go in." She handed him a packet of hot flatbread. "No one would stop you from taking a divine trial on an empty stomach, either."
"You always think I'm six." Yuan Yu took the flatbread and finished it in a few bites before looking up at the nine divine seals above the square. The divine senses of the Nine Elemental Gods had arrived. Their marks had followed him since the year he was born; today, they would test the path he had forged himself.
Qian Renxue stood on the steps of the Worship Hall. Tang San and the others from Shrek had come from Sea God Island only to witness the trial. No one entered the testing grounds to fight in Yuan Yu's place. On the other side, Bibi Dong watched the protective formation around the square and ordered the children taken farther away. Yuan Yu waved at her. "Don't worry. My blade has eyes."
"Your mouth had better have them too," Bibi Dong retorted.
The divine seals descended, turning the Worship Hall's square into a stone arena cut off from the outside world. The Space God's divine sense fixed its boundaries first, then the power of the nine elements pressed down in succession. The first surge was seawater. Yuan Yu caught the loose water that no one else