Soul Emperor Awakening

The indicators for Tong Yulong and Lin Xuan lit up simultaneously, catching everyone’s attention, though it was hardly a surprise. Lin Xuan and Tong Yulong were the two most prominent seeded contestants, so it wasn’t strange for them to be the first. The real question was whether they could maintain this pace, which remained to be seen.

"So they lit up at the same time..." Cyan Cloud Peak squinted at the bamboo slips, his tone cryptic. "I hope you don’t win. If you actually manage to pull it off, then don’t blame me for being ruthless..."

"Excellent! Lin Yunlong’s bamboo slip has lit up! This Prince doesn’t expect him to take first place, I only ask that he makes it into the top five!"

When the Third Prince, Xu Yunlong, saw Lin Xuan’s bamboo slip light up, he was overjoyed. As of now, Tong Yulong didn’t belong to any Royal Family faction, so if Lin Xuan became a candidate for Elder, the prince’s own position would be quite secure.

The Eldest Prince, Xu Yunxuan, however, kept his expression neutral. After a glance at Xu Yunlong, he sneered inwardly. ’Tong Yulong is actually part of my faction; we’ve just done an excellent job of keeping it secret, so almost nobody knows. Once Tong Yulong solidifies his first-place position, I’ll make the announcement. Royal Father will be sure to see me in a new light!’

The others didn’t dwell on the politics. They were simply filled with anticipation for the clash between Tong Yulong and Lin Xuan. Between the top genius of the Inner Hall Sect and the top genius of the Genius Sect, who was truly the strongest?

Inside the Life and Death Cave, Lin Xuan once again faced a choice of paths. This time, he had three options. There were still ’easy’ and ’difficult’ choices, but now there were two difficult paths and only one easy one.

When he directed his Spiritual Sense to probe the paths, he found it was blocked. He could only perceive a short distance inside; to go any further would require a much more formidable Spiritual Sense. Lin Xuan’s Spiritual Power was by no means weak, and the range of one’s Spiritual Sense was directly related to it—the stronger the Spiritual Power, the farther one could probe.

It was clear the Grand Array here was intentionally designed to block their Spiritual Sense, simulating a scenario to test whether they would rely on their strength or their luck.

’A little interesting, but it’s nothing to me. Even a difficult path won’t be a problem.’ Gripping his Chi Dragon Heavens Rod, Lin Xuan charged inside. As he ventured deeper, he quickly came upon the next challenge: a Fifth Layer Essence Pill Stage Puppet!

It was another Puppet, its Cultivation merely three layers higher. These incredibly hard puppets were extremely durable. Cultivators of the same or lower Level, unless they were exceptionally forceful, would be tied down for a significant amount of time.

"Only the Fifth Layer of the Essence Pill Stage? Get lost!"

He once again unleashed his most domineering technique, Extreme Point Inch Light. The full force of his body converged on a single point as he thrust viciously forward. Quick as a flash, his attack transformed into a bolt of red lightning in the pitch-black cave, striking ahead.

DONG!

He had unleashed a staggering seven hundred thousand pounds of force. The tough Puppet was sent flying like a cannonball, slamming violently into the rock wall. Yet under the tremendous impact, only a few surface layers of rock were scraped away, a testament to the cave’s incredible hardness.

If the cave walls had been fragile, they would have been torn apart after just a few bouts of combat from contestants like these. However, to have carved these tunnels from such resilient rock... the one responsible must have been a terrifyingly powerful being.

The Life and Death Cave was created by Great Powers for the very purpose of cultivating disciples; to them, the effort was well worth it.

With his sheer brute force, he had easily one-shotted the durable Puppet. It tried to move, but the deep indentation in its chest had rendered it immobile. Anyone else would not have had such an easy time. After all, few people were as overwhelmingly powerful as he was, especially among their peers; in terms of strength, he was in a league of his own.

Dealing with these mindless puppets, which had only hard bodies, was all the more simple for him. Only those with insufficient strength would get bogged down for a long time. They could probably pass by smashing the Puppet’s head, or perhaps by simply bypassing it and fleeing forward.

But in a tunnel only wide enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, getting past the Puppet was quite difficult.

It wasn’t impossible to, say, enter a path, check it out, and then run back to choose another one. The catch was that you had to defeat the corresponding Puppet before you could backtrack. But wouldn’t that be idiotic? If you’ve already cleared the path, why would you go back to choose a different one?

Ultimately, you had no choice. The moment you stepped into this area, the Puppet was activated. It wouldn’t give chase if you fled forward, deeper into the cave. But if you tried to run back the way you came, it would pursue you relentlessly!

So, once you entered this area, there were virtually no other options besides defeating the Puppet or slipping past it and continuing forward.

"Easy," Lin Xuan said with a calm smile. ’This isn’t difficult at all. The real challenge will be facing the other disciples. These puppets are nothing.’

This was true for Lin Xuan, but for the others, it wasn’t nearly as easy. The purpose of these trials was to drain their Elemental Power and force them into constant combat. The Life and Death Cave was filled with puppets of varying Cultivation levels, high and low; it all came down to whether you were lucky enough to pick a path with a weaker one. If your Elemental Power was mostly depleted, you had basically already lost.

This was far more difficult than the Inner Hall’s competitions. It was tantamount to being run through a gauntlet by these puppets before the real matches against other people even began.

At the same time, the indicators outside flashed again. The slips for Tong Yulong and Lin Xuan lit up almost simultaneously, the time difference between them infinitesimal. If one had to say who was faster, it was Lin Xuan, but only by the slightest fraction of a second—it was practically no difference at all.

As the crowd witnessed this, they couldn’t help but nod. These two truly weren’t giving each other an inch.

Moving on, Lin Xuan faced a new choice: three more cave entrances. Without a second thought, he chose one and went inside. His luck was better this time; he encountered a Puppet with a lower Cultivation and promptly obliterated it with a single strike of his rod.

Outside the Life and Death Cave, Lin Xuan’s bamboo slip was the first to light up. A good while later, Tong Yulong’s finally followed suit. Did this mean Lin Xuan had a slight edge? One could say so. It likely meant Lin Xuan’s luck was good, while Tong Yulong had probably encountered the most difficult Level of Puppet.

This was merely a point of reference, but compared to everyone else, it was a rather daunting one. Many of the other contestants’ slips hadn’t even lit up a third time; most were on their second, and some had only lit up once!

The comparison only served to prove how terrifying the two of them were. They were in a class of their own, completely crushing the other contestants.

’I wonder who their opponents will be? For whoever has to face either of them, it’s going to be a harsh dose of reality...’

This was the collective inner monologue of the crowd. Faced with these two monstrous prodigies, a Cultivator with a high enough Cultivation might stand a chance. But for someone with just average Cultivation, meeting them meant certain defeat and an early exit from the competition.