Blue Phoenix

Just as Wang Ju Long started mixing the poison, the Flame Army began their attack. It was as she had expected and the army would not wait for the poison to be mixed before they made their move.

The moment Hui Yue saw their movements he gave out orders. “Everyone gather around Wang Ju Long! Protect her and ensure that no one goes anywhere near her while she is busy making the poison. If we cannot handle it, then we will retreat. We can redo this as many times as we need to so there is no reason to take big risks right now.”

“Though we might be able to get through this without much risk, we still need to give it our all. These challenges are in no way simple nor are they something we can get through easily so give it your all!”

Hearing Hui Yue call out, everyone nodded their heads. Swords were drawn, spears, staves, and other weapons appeared out of nowhere right as the Flame Army crashed into this small group of experts. Blocking their impact, it felt as though a massive warhammer had slammed into each of them.

One flaming human after another jumped at them only to be cut down. Whenever an enemy was defeated, they would vanish, and even their corpse would be gone. This made it easier for the other flaming soldiers to move further and further in on them. They relentlessly threw themselves at Hui Yue and his friends and their formation was pressured from the very beginning.

Lao, who was fighting his very best, was clearly one of the weaker links in the formation. He had focused on training and cultivation rather than martial arts. Although his sword fingers were swift and dangerous, they held quite a disadvantage against so many powerful experts that were charging at them. The attack from his sword fingers was only able to hit one soldier at a time, but there were simply so many soldiers throwing themselves at him that he was moving much faster than he ever thought possible. Despite his speed though, it was not enough to fight against the many people that were attacking him.

Hui Yue was using his two swords as he constantly cut down one flaming soldier after another. Although there were many, he soon found a rhythm attacking and retreating without leaving his position in the ranks around Wang Ju Long.

Although he was slaying expert after expert, at this moment Hui Yue did not feel very hopeful about this fight. They would run out of energy as one person was replaced by two, and two were replaced by five. More and more experts charged at them, challenging them and becoming more and more desperate now that they had seen that Hui Yue and his friends had a plan on how to pass this trial. The Flame Army could not afford to wait for Wang Ju Long to finish making her poison.

Behind him, he heard Deng Wu yell out. Although Deng Wu was strong in a fight against many, there were simply way too many. His soul shadows did not have a lot of space to move around, and whenever the battles reached Deng Wu, he could only use his Wu Wei arts to defend against the attacks, but his personal strength was limited as he focused on Necromancy. Thus he was pushed further and further back. At least the ones by his side, Cai Jie and Sha Yun, managed to protect him, but even so they were also slowly being pushed backwards.

“Just five more minutes!” Wang Ju Long said through gritted teeth as her entire focus was on the vials in her hands as she mixed one drop of poison with another kind of poison. Poisonous fumes started radiating outwards but because of the antidote they had taken earlier nothing happened to Hui Yue and the others.

“We can do this guys!” He called out, and his words invigorated the already exhausted people. No one gave up; everyone gave everything they had. Sha Yun was using her entire body to fight both the ones that came for her and for Deng Wu; her whip flashed through the air wrapping itself around the neck of soldiers, killing them. Her breathing had become ragged, but she held on.

By her side more and more energy entered the soul shadows which were also fighting with all their might. Cai Jie appeared and disappeared like a flash. His shadow could not even be seen as he moved as swift as the wind and managed to get his hands on one soldier after another.

Lao was less amazing, but his sword fingers flashed continuously. They cut down one expert after another, and by his side, Jo was displaying her amazing abilities as a combatant. She was perhaps weaker than Lao, but she seemed to dance through the army, killing one expert after another as simple as if she were cutting through hot tofu. Seeing her fighting enemies and not him, Lao could not help but feel surprised and amazed. This was the first time he understood that compatibility was at least as important as cultivation. Even if you had unlimited energy, if you didn't know how to use it what good was it? To survive, they truly did need to have a balance of both.

“Step back!” A hoarse voice suddenly boomed. Everyone moved backwards in unison as Wang Ju Long stepped forward. From her hands, a large cloud of poison kept growing. It was becoming larger and larger and anyone who came into contact with it instantly decayed.

“Kill her!” One of the higher ranked flaming generals yelled out. If they could manage to get rid of this expert they were trying so desperately to protect, it was clear that they would not be able to go on and complete the trial, but Wang Ju Long just sneered at the army. Anyone who rushed towards her was instantly turned into a corpse, falling to the ground and vanishing. It was clear that this poison was absolutely terrifying, it might even be able to kill them all.

“Retreat and wait for the poison to vanish!” Another called out, but at this moment Wang Ju Long started moving her hands. With each graceful movement, the cloud of poison bloomed even more becoming larger and larger. This cloud moved outwards and soon the entire area was filled with a green poison mist. Even though some of the higher ranked generals within were able to withstand for a while longer but they too were also killed and vanished into the air.

Their surroundings, which had been filled with people, were now nothing but an empty wasteland. The many Flame Army soldiers were all gone. Not even one remained and seeing this sight the bull was deeply shocked.

When he heard their plan to use poison, he had also been interested to see if it would work. But he knew what level she had reached to be able to make such a powerful poison, and there was no way he could believe such a young girl had reached such a genuinely terrifying level in the poison arts. He did not expect her to actually succeed. It seemed even her group of friends were surprised by the sheer potency of Wang Ju Long’s poison

“Ahem... Congratulations on passing the Trial of Strength.” The bull said as he looked at the group. “Since you all completed the Trial of Strength, you are to be rewarded with the Fire of Strength.” He continued and flames appeared above his hands. Before anyone had the time to say anything these flames rushed into the bodies of all of them. Entering deep within, they started forging and strengthening their bones, marrow, and muscles. It felt like their bodies were thrown into lava. This feeling was close to what they felt as they had struggled to reach the end of the Wastelands; however, it was many times more intense. Despite the intense pain, they also felt their bodies increasing in strength and vitality. Energy poured through their bodies, and after having somewhat getting this surge of energy under control, all of them understood just why it was considered a reward.

Hui Yue had an amazing compatibility with fire due to being merged with Lan Feng, and he was the first to finish refining his body with the flame. His body was creaking as he stood up, and he found that his clothes had all been burned to ashes. Looking at the many people around him, a cheeky smile appeared on his face as he saw that all the others were in the same position.

With a glance at both Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long, he shook his head and found cloaks which he gently placed on their shoulders covering their bodies. Afterwards, he looked at the bull who was seated not far from them, observing them quietly.

Seeing that Hui Yue woke up very quickly, the bull was once more surprised, but by now he had been surprised so many times that he was starting to feel numb to their accomplishments. They were not the strongest people who had ever entered the Trial of Fire, but they had something special, something he had not seen before.

The first to awaken after Hui Yue was Cai Jie; his eyes were lit with fire when he opened them, and his aura burst outwards the moment he opened his eyes. His face was filled with a shocked expression as he felt the changes to his body.

“I am so much stronger than I was last time I was a Saint!” He said shocked to Hui Yue as he looked at his own hands with surprise. “I cannot believe how strong I’ll be as a God if I am already this strong by now!” His voice was shocked, and his face filled with disbelief.

“Okay, no need to be so shocked. You have never participated in this trial before so it is natural you weren't as strong before as you are now. This trial was created specially by my divine masters. It is natural that you will be able to become much stronger from these trials.” The bull said from the side, and his words made Cai Jie have a hint of greed in his eyes. If the first test made them this strong, how strong would they be by the time they reached the end of the trials? It was simply too terrifying a thought.

“We should not be greedy.” Hui Yue said after a bit of thought. “This is the Trial of Strength, so it is also natural that we gain strength from this trial. The next trial will be different, and thus the reward should be different as well.”

His words made sense, and Cai Jie nodded his head finally coming to terms with his new strength. Slowly one person after another woke up. By the time everyone had awoken, Hui Yue found that they had reached new realms of strength. Jo was now an emperor, and her strength was now equal to Lao’s, but her combat ability was still above his. Although many would be jealous about this, Lao was not one of them. He simply smiled satisfied as he saw his sister’s newly obtained strength.

Cai Jie had become a Saint, and now the group had two Saints. Although no one besides these two reached another realm, they were after all very strong and had gained a lot of strength from that flame. Each of them that had not broken through now stood at the peak of their realms, ready to break through at any moment.

Seeing that they had all awoken, the bull was surprised but also excited. He had never before seen such a group of freaks, and he hoped that this group would be the ones to take away the Formation of Life, therefore giving him back his freedom.

“We will be conducting the next test right here.” The bull continued to say as he looked at the group of people. “This is the Trial of Perception. To be allowed entry into the Formation of Life one needs to have great perception. I have an incomplete ability I will give you. After obtaining this ability, everyone will have to create a full ability from the information you have received.” The bull explained well enough. “If someone is unable to go through this trial of perception for one reason or another they can wait here for the rest of the group to return while they continue the trials.”

“Although this is the group trials there are some of these trials that are to be handled individually. Even if you feel annoyed by this, there is nothing to do about it. These are the laws set down by the divine masters and they are the laws I will follow.” The bull said decisively, and everyone nodded their heads.

They sat down in a circle, closing their eyes and were waiting for the bull to make the next step. Seeing that they were all ready, he smiled as he flicked his hand. Beams of light shot out from his hand and entered the minds of all the young experts who were sitting down composing their mind.