Second Level

John fully recovered his expended essence Qi before proceeding forwards. The Corpse King's power was quite shocking, and he was only a King. The Emperors were even more powerful, and John wanted to be sure that he had enough power to cut them down.

He inspected his beast blood essence reserves. They were growing lower, due to his incredible breakthrough earlier.

'I probably have about thirty minutes at most using my Immortal Asura Transformation Art before I run out of blood essence. I need to be careful how I use it.'

John shook such thoughts from his head and proceeded towards the monolith in the distance. They reached it before long, finding no trouble along the way. John thought this was quite odd, but didn't give it much more thought.

As they finally approached the pitch-black monolith, the two of them realized it was much larger than initially expected. The monolith stretched over a mile high into the sky, and was a hundred yards wide and long.

It was completely smooth, and the only thing of note was an opening at its base, a dozen yards wide and tall. John and Adam walked towards the opening, and stopped just outside of it. John sent his divine sense down into it, making sure it was safe to enter.

"It's a staircase leading downwards. I don't detect any danger," John said to Adam as he proceeded downwards. Adam quickly followed behind.

The staircase was pitch black, with no light source.

Flicker!

Lightning suddenly danced over John's hands, serving as a light as they proceeded downwards. The staircase winded downwards for nearly half a mile, before they finally reached flat ground.

"It seems like there are a few levels to this temple," Adam commented.

"Seems so," John replied, his attention fully focused ahead of him.

Before him stood an open area of pure whiteness. Every direction he looked, John could only spot an endless whiteness stretching into the far distance. There were no trees, no grass, nothing. Just an endless expanse of white.

"Hmm?"

John noticed a group of cultivators standing off to the side, discussing something. It consisted of members of the Heavenly Lighting Sect, Divine Soul Sect, and Supreme Battle Sect.

John quickly walked towards them, curious as to why they had gathered up seemingly around nothing. The other disciples quickly noticed John and greeted him. They did not know of his previous feats as they had entered the temple first, and so did not look at him with wary eyes.

"Why are you all gathered here?" John asked the group.

One of the Divine Soul Sect disciples spoke up.

"We're trying to get to that," The disciple said as he pointed his finger in a certain direction. John's vision followed the finger, and soon spotted something about half a mile away. There seemed to be another gathering of disciples, as well as several glowing sources of light. John also noticed another smooth black monolith near the group in the distance.

It was the only thing of note in this expanse of whiteness.

"What is that? And why aren't you joining the other disciples over there?" John asked curiously.

An inner disciple from the Heavenly Lightning Sect stepped forward and answered.

"As soon as we step forward from this spot, there's a restrictive energy that stops us. However, it didn't stop any of the disciples in the distance. We've discussed this matter seriously amongst ourselves, and the only commonality we can find is that none of us here ascended the mysterious staircase outside. We all went around it. Did you ascend the staircase?" The disciple suddenly asked.

"Yep," John replied quickly.

"In that case, can you proceed forward and let us know if our theory is true," The disciple replied.

John inspected the area and found no danger. He took a step forward, and felt a pressure wash over him. However, it did not restrict him, and he easily took several more steps forward. The disciples watching sighed at the sight.

"It's as we assumed. We must head back outside and ascend the stairs fully, or we cannot proceed further."

The disciples soon turned around and left, leaving only John and Adam behind. Adam walked alongside John with a proud expression.

"Haha, I knew those stairs were special for some reason. It's a good thing I ascended them. My forward thinking is exemplary."

John rolled his eyes at Adam's shameless antics, and he proceeded to walk forward once more and reached the next group of disciples quite quickly.

The disciples noticed the arrival of the newcomers, and nodded at them before turning their attention to the objects in front of them once more. John looked at the objects curiously as well, as it was the only thing of note on this level.

There were five arches, around ten feet tall. They were made of a mysterious lustrous material, and had profound glowing runes all over the surface. Within the arches, light swirled and glowed, revealing them to be some sort of formation.

The light instantly reminded John of the pocket realm arch, as it was quite similar. John soon noticed several Heavenly Lightning Sect Disciples standing nearby, including June, Hartley, and Mason.

He walked over to them, and was greeted with warm smiles by Hartley and June, while Mason ignored him.

"Do any of you know what these things are?" John asked curiously.

"These five arches seem to be five different trials," the usually quite June replied.

"Trials? How do you know this?" John asked.

"Some of us have already entered, myself included. It takes you to a combat area, which tests your combat prowess. If you pass, you are rewarded with something. The rewards are different for everyone," June replied.

"Is that so? Which one did you enter?" John asked curiously.

"Yes. I entered the second arch from the left. The combat trial was quite challenging, but I managed to pass it eventually."

John's eyes trailed towards the arches once more, and he studied them in more detail. Each arch emanated a different aura, varying in power and profundity. The left-most one emanated a gentle aura, while the one to its right was a bit more powerful and frightening. The center arch emanated quite a shocking power, brimming with a strangely terrifying aura.

The next one, the forth from the left, swirled with incredible power, dwarfing the previous one. Not only that, but the sheer profundity of the power was nearly overwhelming. It was as if it was an ominous warning sign, for no one to enter unless they desired death.

Lastly, on the far right, the arch there emanated an absolutely horrifying power. Not only was the power overwhelming, but all those who looked at it could only think of one word; Death. It was as if their life would end the moment they entered, and none dared to do so.

John's eyes trailed towards the top of the arches, and he soon spotted small writing carved into the arches, written in the ancient language that only he could read.

The leftmost one read "Talent: Average."

John raised his eyebrows slightly as he read this.

'It seems like it truly is a combat trial used to test talent.'

He looked to the second arch. "Talent: Gifted."

The third arch. "Talent: Genius."

The fourth arch. "Talent: Heavenly Prodigy."

And finally, John's eyes trailed towards the fifth arch. "Talent: Divine."

"Has anyone entered the other arches yet?" John asked curiously.

June nodded her head. "Yes, all but the far right arch have been entered. Most entered the first or second arch, as their auras were much less dreadful. After passing the trial and exiting, we've been able to determine that the trials get harder as you proceed towards the right-most arches. Also, it appears as if you can only enter a trial once, at which point all other trials reject you."

John nodded his head at June's assessment. Based on the writing, this truly was the case.

"Who entered the fourth arch?" John asked.

The aura from the fourth arch was powerful and profound enough to give even him pause, let alone others.

"Quite a few of the most talented disciples from each sect have entered. One of our sects Direct Disciples has entered, as well as a few other powerful members from other sects. However, none have exited, no matter how much time has progressed," June replied. She paused for a moment before continuing.

"The Divine Soul Sect has a unique Soul Item which can tell which disciples have perished or not. Each disciple has one, and they have confirmed that all the disciples of their sect that entered that arch have died, except one."

"Oh? Which one? The Soul Sage?" John asked curiously.

June nodded her head in affirmation. "Yes, he entered just a bit ago, and is still alive. However, other than him, all the others have died, and I'm afraid it's the same for the Direct Disciple of our sect that entered," June confirmed.

John's eyes turned towards the nearby black monolith, which was just a hundred yards behind the arches. A brief inspection revealed no opening like the first monolith, confusing John slightly. It appeared as if it was just a black slap of rock.

John looked around for a moment before once again turning back to June.

"Why don't I see any Bloodfiend Sect disciples here?"

June thought the question strange, as she didn't know why John would care about them. She had not heard of what had happened yet.

"Several of them arrived a bit ago. They acted quite haughty, and even threatened to drive us away. However, our numbers are superior, so they didn't dare to do so. A few of them entered the second arch, while the others entered the third arch after hearing about the dangers of the fourth one," June replied.

"Which Bloodfiend Sect disciples entered the arches?" John suddenly asked with a cold tone.

The tonal shift surprised June slightly, but she answered quickly.

"Two of the Blood Kings entered the second arch, while the Three Blood Emperors all entered the third arch," June replied.

Boom!

John's aura instantly erupted outward, washing over all the nearby disciples as his cold, rage-filled eyes stared directly at the third arch.