Chapter 652: Why Is This First Life-and-Death Trial as Hard as the Final Quest?
Others were confused, not understanding what this meant. Only Hou Jun stood there dumbfounded, looking as if he had seen a ghost.
Before Hou Jun could speak, the surroundings shifted, and everyone found themselves in an inn.
The group panicked slightly, not knowing what had happened.
“Do not panic. This means the life-and-death trial is about to begin,” Hou Jun said solemnly, his attitude toward the group completely changed, shedding his previous arrogance and contempt.
He had just received a task issued by the Saha Land to him alone: lead the team to complete this life-and-death trial. The more people who survived, the greater his reward would be.
“However, don’t worry. The difficulty of the life-and-death trial is calculated based on the abilities of the participants. Everyone here is an ordinary person—no cultivation, no body modifications, no unlocking of genetic secrets—so the difficulty won’t be too high. At most, we’ll have to deal with minor characters like Postnatal Martial Artists…”
[The Changliu World contains countless star systems, each with its own characteristics. The Qingfeng Star System focuses on cultivation, with two Unity Stage cultivators as its supreme powers. These two Unity Stage cultivators have developed a conflict and are about to engage in battle. You must stop these two from fighting.]
[Task Reward: One Hundred Thousand Void Points]
Dead silence filled the room.
Hou Jun swallowed hard with difficulty and slapped himself hard across the face. The pain made him realize this wasn’t a dream.
Wasn’t it said that the ninth life-and-death trial would have reduced difficulty?!
The most difficult type of life-and-death trial is the cultivation type, and within that, the highest difficulty involves matters concerning Unity Stage cultivators.
Stopping two Unity Stage beings who could casually destroy planets from fighting… How could minor characters like us get involved in a battle between such great powers? A single glare from them would turn us to ashes.
He’d believe it if someone told him this was an ultimate task.
“Where is the Daoist Priest?” Hou Jun remembered the mysteriously arrived Jiang Li.
There were only eleven people in the inn, with no sign of Jiang Li.
Space twisted slightly, and Jiang Li stepped into the inn from the Saha Land.
“You… why did you arrive a step later than us?” Hou Jun had never seen people arrive in batches before.
Jiang Li smiled. “The Lord of Saha was quite respectful of my wishes. I said I wanted to stay in the Saha Land to observe for a bit, and he agreed. When I wanted to leave, I told him, and he sent me on my way.”
Hou Jun: “…”
He couldn’t connect “Lord of Saha” with “respecting others” no matter how hard he tried.
“The task has been issued? Let me see what we need to do. Oh, stopping Unity Stage cultivators from fighting…”
Jiang Li nodded. He was familiar with this; he’d done it countless times back in the Nine Provinces.
Hou Jun cautiously analyzed the information: “This should be a cultivation star system. Our current location is a cultivation planet.”
“Two great powers fighting must have a reason. I’ve heard others say that life-and-death trials aren’t necessarily death sentences. Tasks that seem utterly hopeless actually have solutions. For example, if these two Unity Stage great powers are fighting due to ideological differences, then we need to gather information and help them accept each other’s viewpoints.”
“Or perhaps their children are peace-loving, then we ask their children to persuade them…”
True to a warrior who had survived eight life-and-death trials, Hou Jun’s analysis was logical and well-founded. He formulated several plans for different scenarios.
“Next, we need to split up and gather intelligence as quickly as possible. Remember, during the mission, we absolutely must not reveal our identities. If anyone mentions anything about the ‘Saha Land,’ the Lord of Saha will descend divine punishment, striking that person into charred remains!” Hou Jun sternly warned.
Jiang Li took this to heart. He pushed open the inn door, walked onto the street, casually grabbed a passerby, and asked, “Have you heard of the Saha Land?”
The passerby shook his head, not understanding what Jiang Li was talking about.
Hou Jun looked at Jiang Li in horror, wanting to stop him but too late.
At that moment, dark clouds gathered in the sky, black as ink, with faint rumbles of thunder.
Jiang Li tilted his head back and waited for a long time, but no punishment came.
Finally, the dark clouds dispersed, and nothing happened.
Unconvinced, Jiang Li grabbed several more passersby, enthusiastically promoting the Saha Land. The dark clouds above gathered and dispersed, dispersed and gathered, but never produced thunder.
The little fatty quietly asked Hou Jun, “Is it really forbidden to talk about the Saha Land? This Daoist Priest seems fine.”
Cold sweat poured down Hou Jun’s back. He didn’t answer this foolish question. The Lord of Saha’s rules were absolute. The fact that Jiang Li was fine was the biggest problem.
He didn’t know what method Jiang Li had used, but he was certain of one thing: this matter was absolutely beyond his ability to get involved with.
This batch of newcomers included an incredibly monstrous powerhouse!
The difficulty of this life-and-death trial had increased, from the simplest task to something nearly equivalent to an ultimate task, absolutely because of this mysterious Daoist Priest!
Suddenly, the pressure of Unity Stage cultivators swept across the entire planet. Two figures stood with their hands behind their backs in the cosmos, eyes locked in confrontation.
“It’s True Lord Miaoyuan and True Lord Polang! They’re going to fight again!” a passerby recognized the origins of the two great powers.
“Damn it, they’re going to fight right now! We don’t have time to stop them!” Hou Jun hadn’t expected events to progress so rapidly. The Lord of Saha simply didn’t intend for them to pass this life-and-death trial.
“These two look like reasonable fellows to me. I’ll go give it a try,” Jiang Li said with a smile, leisurely flying up into the sky.
“Reasonable?” Hou Jun looked at the two ferocious-looking figures and couldn’t connect them with reason at all. Hanging portraits of these two on your door would definitely ward off evil spirits.
…
“Gentlemen, why get so worked up? Why not sit down and have a good chat?” A faint, ethereal voice came, putting the two Unity Stage cultivators on high alert.
The source of the voice was indeterminable, like trying to see flowers through fog, scaring them into a cold sweat.
“Who goes there? Please state your name!” The two clasped their fists, uniting against the external threat, forgetting about their own fight for the moment.
The mist dissipated, revealing Jiang Li strolling through the air, a faint, amiable smile on his lips.
“My name is Jiang Li.”
The two grew even more tense. In Jiang Li, they saw an infinite, boundless “presence.” Jiang Li’s “presence” transcended everything, existing outside the Five Elements.
They felt as if they were sitting in a small boat facing a violent storm, with the constant risk of capsizing and sinking. All they could do was pray for divine protection.
Jiang Li was the violent storm itself—an unfathomable existence that devoured everything.
Transcending Tribulation… or even higher?!
They exchanged a glance, seeing terror in each other’s eyes.
What had they provoked?
“Give me some face and have a good chat?” Jiang Li smiled. The two previously arrogant Unity Stage cultivators nodded vigorously like chickens pecking at rice, terrified that nodding too slowly would lead to their own devouring.
“Might we ask… are you the Lord of Saha?” one of the Unity Stage cultivators cautiously inquired.
The feeling Jiang Li gave them was too similar to the Lord of Saha—mysterious, unfathomable, omnipotent, and bottomlessly deep.
Even though they had left the Saha Land many years ago, their memory of the Lord of Saha felt as vivid as yesterday.
“No, I’m just a Mahayana Stage cultivator passing by.”
“It seems you know the Lord of Saha. Perfect, I plan to meet him soon. Tell me, what do you know?”