The Trials Begin

Just like the stories passed down over dozens upon dozens of generations told, the day of the Imperial Sky Emperor's trial finally came. Millions of people gathered together in the First Empire to witness the glorious event. By high noon, almost exactly how the folk tales stated, a blinding bright light of Yang energy burst forth from the sky. The great azure dragon itself slowly descended upon the earth, and upon it, stood a single man. However, this particular man was nothing like any man they had ever seen before. His golden blonde hair waved around in the breeze, and the golden armor on his body gleamed with importance. This was power! The people felt that looking upon him alone was akin to sacrilege, and could not help but fall on the ground and bow before him while screaming his praises. However, the great Lord Zhen could care less about the pitiful mortals, as he snapped his fingers. That single simple action caused the very air to ripple.

"Silence mortals. Bring forth the sacrifice."

With joy, a young woman ran forward and knelt before him.

"Great Lord Zhen! I am the one chosen as the sacrifice of this generation!"

The Imperial Sky Emperor looked at her with indifference.

"Very well."

And then with a swipe of his hands, her head went flying off. Blood sputtered from the remains of her neck like a broken geyser, staining the Imperial Sky Emperor crimson red. But he did not seem appalled by it, he even smiled in fact.

"Bring forth the challengers!"

Seth watched the while thing with disgust evident in his eyes. What disturbed him he most, was the joy on the young woman's face as she ran up to meet him. Sure, the Imperial Sky Emperor guy was certainly powerful, but Seth did not feel any difference between him and a normal man. How could one end one's life, merely because someone told them to? Didn't the young lady have a family, people she cared about and people who cared about her? While thinking so, he could not help but feel a tinge of spite forming within his heart against the Imperial Sky Emperor.

But shaking his head, he cleared all unnecessary thoughts from his mind. He must be thinking this way because of losing Old man Shiro and the entire place he had called home for a while. By now, a few thousand people had gathered together before the Imperial Sky Emperor, and he stepped out to join them.

"Is this everyon..."

The Imperial Sky Emperor stopped in his tracks, as a black haired youth stepped out of the large crowd. The person was merely at the Nascent Body realm! Behind him, all the cultivators stared with their mouths agape. Every single one of them had profusely trained throughout the three months, and the least realm of anyone among them was at the Qi Reinforcement realm, but this guy brazenly walked out despite being at the mere Nascent Body realm. Was he mocking them?!

Lee Chun Hua stood in total disappointment somewhere within the crowd. She had thought that Seth would be the next big thing, a new unrivaled cultivation genius that would shake the boring Allied Sectdom. But he turned out to be a dud. Blushing slightly, she shifted a few feet away from where Seth stood.

'Man am I glad that father did not let him into the sect...'

She would have committed suicide out of embarrassment if Lee Xiaoping had agreed to her request, let Seth into the sect, and then Seth would fail them.

Seth meanwhile, kept on a poker face despite the thousands of eyes staring at him. He did not care about any of them. All he cared about, was clearing the trial, officially getting the scroll, then laying waste to whoever destroyed old man Shiro's home. Nothing and no one alive would stop him from achieving this goal, not even this Imperial Sky Emperor guy.

'Just wait for me, whomever you are, I'm coming really soon...'

The Imperial Sky Emperor glared at them all with disdain in his eyes.

'If this are the strongest mortals, then is there even any need for me to stress myself this way? That bastard Lord Takiya had better compensate me well for this.'

The deities had unanimously decided to erase mortals from existence. This was a fairly easy task, until they discovered that the mortals could also cultivate. They found some mortals at the Qi refinement realm, who could easily give a few deities a run for their money, and some mortals who were more powerful than the deities themselves.

"This cannot be!" They said, and thus, they decided to wipe off all the powerful mortals first. They met with Zhan, the holder of the totem for the Dao of Rocks, and coerced him into gathering all the most powerful mortals to one place. One thing that all mortals seemed to have in common, was their greed, and with the false promise of 'unlimited power', the mortals would end up doing all the work for the deities, and kill each other.

"The trial begins!"

***

All the few thousand powerful cultivators who had decided to brave the Imperial Sky Emperor's trial were all transported into a strange landscape. The bright blue sky was gloomy and grey, and the appalling stench of blood permeated the air.

The Imperial Sky Emperor was not before them any longer, and before they could ponder on where the demi deity had gone to, a voice boomed through the skies.

"You have challenged my Trial, congratulations. However, the road to infinite power is a long, arduous, and perilous one. There are currently thirteen thousand of you in this continent, but only ten of you shall survive. Twelve thousand, nine hundred, and ninety shall perish here. Do your best to make sure, that you are among the survivors. You have no friends, no allies, and your comrades are your foes. Kill everyone other than yourself, and try to survive against the monsters that populate this place. This will be the grave of many of you, but it shall be the birthplace of a hero. One who shall be unrivaled among god and man. I wish you well."