Chapter 205: Betrayer, the Third Trial Begins!

Outside Heaven Wasteland City, a figure clad in a black robe, with the entire body concealed within the robe, sneaked to the outskirts of Heaven Wasteland City.

That figure glanced at a few special spots in Heaven Wasteland City, then, like a withered palm, carefully took out a bottle emitting an evil aura.

The other hand pulled the bottle's stopper, then the fingers pinched a seal, drawing strands of deep purple mist from the bottle.

These deep purple mists silently dissipated in the air, then slowly drifted toward several directions outside the city.

Inside an abandoned house outside Heaven Wasteland City, a disciple of the Dark Divine Temple was carefully watching the distance, utterly unaware of the purple mist drifting from behind.

This strand of purple mist strangely slipped into the nostrils of that Dark Divine Temple disciple.

A cultivator whose cultivation had reached the late Elemental Martial stage stiffened instantly as the purple mist flooded his body.

Then a flicker of fear appeared on his face, he tried to speak, but a purple hue instantly spread across his visage!

The next moment, he lost all vital signs, and his body and clothing began to turn into specks of purple dust, vanishing inside the house.

The same scene occurred in several other places as well.

These were the Dark Divine Temple's outposts set up in Heaven Wasteland City.

The Divine Temple has been hunted by all factions of the Heaven Mystic Realm for years; holding this Divine Son Selection event, it naturally guards against powers led by the Great Expansion Dao Sect.

These outposts placed around Heaven Wasteland City are one of those measures.

But now, all of those outposts have been precisely poisoned by this mysterious black-robed person.

After dealing with all the outposts, the black-robed person again took out a pitch-black strange bird from within the robe.

Cupping the strange bird in both hands, the black-robed person whispered in a hoarse voice into its ear:

"Go, tell your master that I have agreed to his request; I hope he also keeps his promise."

The strange bird, quite spirited, tilted its head to glance at the black-robed person, then instantly turned into a flying arrow and vanished into the sky.

Having done all that, the black-robed person slowly walked into Heaven Wasteland City.

At the center of Heaven Wasteland City, the Divine Son Selection continued.

At this moment, the Second Trial was drawing to a close.

Everything proceeded as most people had guessed: Fang Xu exploited the "loophole," seized four top‑grade resource points, and with each settlement timestamp his points surged.

Now, he in first place already has 270 points, and the gap to second place has become a break.

Evidently, as of now, the Second Trial holds no suspense.

Even in the Third Trial, as long as the other candidates lack the power to instantly kill Fang Xu and give him time to hold out until surrender, he can keep surrendering and still win this Divine Son Selection, successfully claiming the Divine Son's throne.

On the plaza of the Central Divine Temple, many Divine Temple disciples had become numb.

Among them, some, while denouncing Fang Xu, also engaged in simple reflection.

They felt that Fang Xu achieving such results could not be merely due to exploiting the trial loophole.

Others have already changed their initial view, believing Fang Xu possesses sufficient wisdom.

Entrusting the Divine Temple's future to such a person might not be a bad thing.

After all, all are first‑time trial participants, with dozens of candidates; why only Fang Xu could spot the loophole right away?

Other candidates, in terms of background and strength, seem far superior to Fang Xu.

Moreover, their families and forces behind them surely have considerable experience with certain aspects of the Divine Son Selection.

By contrast, Fang Xu has only been in the Divine Temple for a few years.

All things considered, the gap between the other candidates and Fang Xu is indeed not small.

After all, wisdom is part of strength.

Without wisdom, no matter how strong the strength, it is mere brutishness.

Such people are only fit for brawling and killing, not fit to lead the Divine Temple.

The master of the Dark Divine Temple needs precisely a leader with both courage and strategy.

The remaining portion simply blindly oppose Fang Xu, feeling this Divine Son Selection is unfair.

If someone like Fang Xu, an opportunist, were made Divine Son of the Divine Temple, it would be a disgrace for the Divine Temple.

Moreover, they have decided that if the Divine Temple elders ultimately unanimously decide to let Fang Xu become the Divine Temple's Divine Son, they may withdraw from the Divine Temple, even betray it.

Withdrawal and betrayal are actually different.

Earlier, nearly all powers in the Heaven Mystic Realm were members of the Dark Divine Temple.

But with the rise of the Great Expansion Dao Sect, some powers chose to betray the Divine Temple and aid the Great Expansion Dao Sect in counter‑attacking it.

Still others, over these years of being hunted, gradually sensed danger and chose to break away from the Dark Divine Temple, remaining neutral.

This is also permitted by the Great Expansion Dao Sect.

As long as they publicly declare their break from the Dark Divine Temple, even if they do not help fight the Divine Temple, their safety is assured.

Thus, many powers, having grown weary of hiding, chose to break away.

Among the former Three Immortals, the Qi State was originally one of the Dark Divine Temple's forces.

Heaven Wasteland City was also once a city of the Qi State.

Back then, the Qi State built the entirety of Heaven Wasteland City as the headquarters of the Dark Divine Temple, using Heaven Wasteland City to oppose the Great Expansion Dao Sect for many years.

Later, a traitor appeared inside Heaven Wasteland City, dismantled the city's entire defensive array, then colluded with the Great Expansion Dao Sect inside and out to sell Heaven Wasteland City completely.

After that battle, the Dark Divine Temple suffered heavy losses.

Seven Divine Temple elders died in battle, three of them, and the Divine Temple master was also struck with severe injuries.

Heaven Wasteland City was utterly reduced to ruins, becoming a forbidden zone.

Time passed bit by bit.

The Second Trial soon ended.

The Three Divine Space also slowly faded; for a moment, all candidates' consciousness returned to their true bodies.

After the candidates' consciousness returned, the vast majority turned their gaze toward Shi Bu Yu.

Some of them looked hostile, as if ready to settle scores with him at any moment.

Shibuya felt creepy under their stares and, for a moment, didn't know what was happening.

At the end of the second stage, he attacked many candidates' bases with his corpse puppets.

But the candidates he selected were merely ordinary powers within the Divine Palace.

At least, as the Flame Radiant Palace—the Divine Palace's currently strongest faction—he did not act against powers like the Heavenly Pivot Gate.

But now, why are people from the Flame Radiant Palace and the Heavenly Pivot Gate staring at me, as if they wish to tear me apart alive?

Shibuya didn't understand, but he wasn't overly worried.

This is the Divine Son Selection; I have followed the rules completely.

Moreover, when he plundered those people, he was restrained—he only took their points and did not massacre innocents.

At least, he hadn't offended them to a deadly extent.

For now, let's just look at the points.

At the end of the second stage, he plundered over ten candidates, gaining many points from them.

Including the upper-grade resource point he had occupied all along, he earned over seventy points in the second stage.

Such a point total is enough to crush others and become the top rank!

Shibuya looked confidently at the massive stone monument in the square, his gaze sweeping past everyone straight to the top of the monument.

"Huh?"

When he saw Fang Xu's name at the top of the monument, he couldn't help but feel doubtful.

In the first stage, Fang Xu could get first place because there were tricks to exploit.

In ancient times, there were secret arts like Heart‑Intent Communication that could help him pass the first stage more quickly.

But the second stage offered few tricks to exploit.

Relying on corpse‑controlling and corpse‑refining techniques, I've already found a loophole—could anyone possibly have a better method than mine?

Fang Xu…

Shibuya recalled that when he first entered the second stage, Fang Xu had directly occupied an ultimate‑grade resource point.

An ultimate‑grade resource point yields one point more per settlement period than mine.

But that doesn't make sense.

He remembered that in the Three Gods Space, Fang Xu's occupied ultimate‑grade resource point had been breached……

Moreover, even if it hadn't been breached, an ultimate‑grade resource point gives only one point more than an upper‑grade one.

Adding up all settlement periods, that's only about ten points.

How could I……

Curious, Shibuya glanced at the points behind Fang Xu's name.

Seventy‑nine……

What a pity—just one point more than me!

No!

That's two hundred seventy‑nine points!

Shibuya gasped in shock to discover that the points behind Fang Xu's name were actually two hundred seventy‑nine!

How is that possible!?

The second stage lasts sixty hours, with fifteen settlement points.

Even if he never missed a settlement, that would be only sixty points—how could he have two hundred seventy‑nine!?

At this moment, it wasn't just Shibuya who noticed the anomaly.

Other candidates also saw Fang Xu's points and found it hard to understand how he earned so many.

There are only about sixty‑plus candidates participating in the second stage.

Fang Xu's points alone are almost the sum of second place through last place!

Could the monument be wrong?

The first thought of all candidates was that the monument had made a mistake.

Otherwise, no one could possibly earn that many points.

Their gazes fixed on Qi Shaoyu on the high platform, hoping to hear her say the monument was mistaken.

But Qi Shaoyu spoke calmly: "The second stage has ended; everyone's results are on the monument."

"I'll ask again the same way: does anyone want to withdraw?"

As her words fell, all candidates became unsettled.

Since Qi Shaoyu didn't say the monument was wrong, it means the points on it are accurate.

The surrounding Divine Palace disciples mostly fell silent, proving they had personally witnessed how Fang Xu earned those points.

What on earth happened?

Everyone stared at each other.

In the Three Gods Space, they were unaware that Fang Xu alone had occupied four upper‑grade resource points.

Moreover, they didn't realize that the plunderer they thought was Shibuya was actually Fang Xu.

Of the over sixty candidates, only a dozen or so were plundered by Shibuya; the rest were plundered by Fang Xu and Guyuxi.

Some candidates were plundered more than once.

Among them, some sharp individuals, upon noticing Shibuya's mere seventy‑eight points, instantly realized that the one who plundered them was probably not Shibuya.

Could it be some Fang Xu?

But in the whole Heavenly Mystic Realm, when it comes to corpse‑refining and corpse‑controlling techniques, the Three Corpse Sect stands at the forefront.

In the Three Gods Space, aside from the Three Corpses Sect, they couldn't imagine anyone else capable of controlling tens of thousands of corpse puppets.

Shi Bu Yu also recalled the scene in the Three Gods Space when he had been plundered, and he shot a doubtful glance at Fang Xu.

Feeling Shi Bu Yu's gaze, Fang Xu pretended not to notice, staring at the stele and seeing his own score of two hundred seventy-nine, feeling somewhat troubled.

Is this too high-profile for me?

Being ahead of second place by this much—isn't that inappropriate?

But this isn't his fault.

The mastermind behind all this is Gu Yuxi and She Wang.

After looting several high-grade resource points, those two gradually got carried away.

After all, high-grade soul crystals might not be much use to them, but their subordinates could make use of them.

Therefore, to boost their subordinates' strength, under the leadership of Gu Yuxi and She Wang, they went wild in the latter half of the second stage.

They not only plundered other candidates' points.

All resource points they encountered along the way were swept clean.

For this, the will of heaven and earth in the Three Gods Space repeatedly wanted to punish them.

Perhaps because the will of heaven and earth in that world was severely damaged, the so-called punishment had little effect on them.

In the process, Gu Yuxi and She Wang each refined their own supreme-grade soul crystals, greatly increasing their strength.

Especially Gu Yuxi, after refining two supreme-grade soul crystals, his whole person instantly became unfathomable.

As the second stage was nearing its end, he even told Fang Xu that he would soon come out to find him.

It seemed that those two supreme-grade soul crystals gave him the power to break free from the Three Gods Space.

"Nobody is withdrawing?"

"Then I announce the start of the third stage."

On the high platform, Qi Shaoyu saw that nobody wanted to withdraw and directly announced the start of the third stage.

The third stage is combat.

The so-called combat is naturally a pure slaughter to relieve tension.

In this stage, all candidates will be randomly selected and enter the combat arena in pairs.

Within the dueling arena, candidates must bring their own guard units to slaughter the opposing side.

The winning side gains two points, the losing side loses one point, and surrendering before a quarter-hour incurs a five-point penalty.

Theoretically, if one's strength is overwhelming, they could gain at most over a hundred twenty points in this stage.

But at this point, none of the candidates remained that optimistic.

Because Fang Xu now, adding the ten points from the first stage, his total score has reached two hundred eighty-nine.

In the third stage, as long as he surrenders no more than twenty times, his total score will firmly suppress everyone else!

There are still sixty-five candidates left; can those sixty-five teams make Fang Xu surrender twenty times?

Such as Shi Bu Yu of the Three Corpses Sect, the Flame Splendor Sect, the Heavenly Pivot Gate, and several other top-contender candidates, they all gazed at all the candidates present, calculating how their guard units compared to Fang Xu's.

Qi Shaoyu didn't leave them much time on his side.

After announcing the start of the third stage, he immediately had someone activate the mechanism, triggering the Three Gods Statues.

Following the radiant beams shed by the Three Gods Statues' eyes, the two candidates present were directly selected.

The two candidates and their guard units behind them were immediately sucked into the God's Arena, preparing to begin combat.

No one else could see this battle.

All they could do was wait quietly for the combat to end.

Time passed bit by bit.

A quarter-hour quickly passed, with neither side showing any surrender.

But one side was clearly at a disadvantage.

The guards behind the stone pillars fell one after another.

Obviously, within the combat arena, their consciousness bodies were slain.

As that candidate's guards suffered casualties exceeding half, the divine radiance emanating from the Three Gods Statues shuddered violently, and the consciousness of both candidates and their guards was instantly pulled back to reality.

The victorious candidate's face showed joy, while the other's face was filled with dejection.

Immediately afterward, the divine radiance on the Three Gods Statues flared again.

This time it enveloped Fang Xu and another candidate whose strength had reached the early stage of the Dharma Appearance Realm.

In an instant, Fang Xu's and his opponent's consciousness were sucked into a huge dueling arena. (End of chapter)