Trial.

When Ling Jun awoke he had a banging headache. He massaged his temples as he tried to figure out his situation.

He still had his two swords and bow, although his quiver was slightly damaged and some arrows had been lost. His no handle blade was still strapped to his leg. These were things he could confirm by feeling around.

It was too dark to see properly, so he felt around to check if Meng Li was close by. He could hear hushed breathing, so he quickly drew his sword and used lightning to create some light.

Under the brief flash he could confirm that it was Meng Li who was still unconscious and no other presence was around.

Ling Jun checked out the area as he waited for Meng Li to wake up. Under the constant flashes of lightning, he realised they were in a circular enclosed space with no way out. It wasn't large, about ten metres in diameter. The walls were made of some hard rock which he could not damage with his strength.

He heard some groaning coming from behind him and quickly turned to find Meng Li with her head in her hands.

"Damn...what the hell happened. Ugh... my head hurts soo bad!"

"It'll get better in a minute don't worry." Ling Jun replied. Meng Li started as she realised that Ling Jun was also here.

All of a sudden, light entered this area making Ling Jun stop using lightning to see.

A rumbling sound rang out and a passage appeared in the rock wall, leading further on. It was lined with torches that had fire burning generating light.

"Well, I suppose this is where we are supposed to go." Ling Jun said with a frown. He didn't like this feeling of not being in control. He hadn't sensed the existence of the tunnel with his space sense, which meant it must have been created right then.

Meng Li nodded as she got up off the ground.

They both walked over to the tunnel. There wasn't any other way out anyway. They followed the tunnel for some time before Ling Juns spatial sense noticed a circular plaza with a strange creature situated in the middle.

The creature had two wide eyes almost covered by its soft droopy white fur. It stood on two legs and had two arms crossed with blood red claws on the ends. It had two pure white wings extending from its back, like those of a butterfly but larger. The creature was a third of the size of Ling Jun and looked extremely adorable.

It seemed to be impatiently waiting for them. Seeing that it did not look hostile and that they had no other option, Ling Jun and Meng Li both headed towards the plaza.

Upon reaching the plaza. The creature opened its mouth to show razor sharp teeth.

"Welcome to the trial. Congratulations on figuring out the test on the outside. Now you must face the true trial. I must warn you, seventy three people made it to this point before including three soul realm cultivators.

"None of them passed the trial. They all died. If you don't believe me, here are their corpses." The creature waved his hands and a bunch of bodies appeared in thin air.

"I don't wish to participate." Ling Jun said without any hesitation. He had thought before that it was strange that they had been the only ones to figure out the truth, now he realised they had not. He didn't believe for a second that if no one had survived, he somehow would.

Meng Li hesitated for a moment. "What do we get if we pass?"

"Peak earth rank treasure."

Four words, yet Meng Li's eyes had transformed entirely. Peak earth rank! No one had even seen a peak black rank treasure in Xin city so it was easy to imagine how alluring this sounded! Before she could think further, the creature turned back to Ling Jun and smiled.

Ling Jun couldn't help but get an uneasy premonition in his mind.

"You don't have a choice to participate or not."

Ling Jun's stomach sank to the pits of his stomach. He considered attacking the beast but it was of soul realm.

Eventually he sighed. "What does this trial consist of?"

The creatures smile grew wider. "Simple. You must figure out the way to survive."

It waved its hand, and Ling Jun felt an excruciating pain near his left hand. He couldn't help but scream as he turned to look. His left hand had disappeared and all that remained was a bloody stump.

The same thing had happened to Meng Li and she screamed as she clutched her hand, tears streaming down her face.

The creature laughed. "Oh, don't cry just yet, the show is only just starting!"

It waved its hand again and this time their right hands both disappeared. This time, even Ling Jun began to cry as the pain reached terrifying levels. Meng Li was howling and sobbing as she crashed to the floor in pain.

Ling Jun tried to calm his mind. He couldn't let this continue. He tried to manipulate time to regenerate his lost limbs when he realised something strange. His time manipulation let him know that his hands were still there.

Ling Jun used space to confirm that both his hands were still attached to his arms. He remembered why they had come here in the first place. He remembered the technique he had learned outside.

With no other clue. Ling Jun closed his eyes and focused on manipulating his Qi according to the technique. Immediately he could see his hands again and the pain completely disappeared.

"Meng Li, quickly try manipulating your Qi according to the technique we learnt outside!" He shouted as he rushed over and grabbed her arm, inserting motes of space so as to allow her to perceive her own hands and the meridians within them.

Meng Li was almost out of her mind with pain yet she could still hear his voice. Using her last vestiges of sanity, she quickly did as she was told and the pain disappeared. She stared at her two hands which had reappeared and couldn't couldn't help but cry again with lingering fear.

She did not want to feel anything like that ever again.

Ling Jun sighed with relief as he turned to face the creature. He was about to speak, until he saw the look on its face.

Its face was twisted into rage and its eyes turned black as it tried to wave its hands again and again to no avail.

"No! How the fuck could you see through my illusion you BASTARD! No, I REFUSE TO SUBMIT AND BECOME THE PET OF A HUMAN. Ughhh."

The creature seemed to be restrained by invisible shackles and unable to harm them at all.

Ling Jun and Meng Li were both shocked by the turn of events.

Now that the pain had disappeared, Meng Li had somewhat recovered her wit. Scratching her hair sheepishly, she asked:

"Sooo...where's my peak earth rank treasure?"

"FUCK YOUR DAMN TREASURE, BITCH!"

"Hey, watch your fucking mouth, bastard!" Meng Li replied in anger.

Ling Jun was too distracted to notice the argument going on around him. He had suddenly noticed something invade his mind.

It was a method to control the beast. He essentially held a sliver of the beasts soul inside his mind and could kill the creature at will.

A soul realm beast thought Ling Jun in elation. But he quickly calmed down as he realised that he could not control the beast at all, only decide its death.

The creature seemed ready to die before submitting and even if it feigned submission, who knew when it could suddenly turn on him if he took it out of its bindings. If it were to attack him at a crucial moment, he could die without being able to detonate its soul.

It was too much of a hassle.

Suddenly the beast stopped growling and spoke.

"Fine. You win. The treasure is in that chest over there behind me. Go ahead and take it." It said resignedly. It seemed a little sad and pitiful.

Ling Jun was not easily fooled.

Ling Jun sat down and began to practice the clone technique. He had used a piece of his soul, spirit and Qi to create a clone yet he failed at the flesh step. He had no affinity to earth so he couldn't help it.

He decided to use time or space as a vessel for his clone but that didn't work. However, using lightning as a vessel worked completely fine and suddenly, next to him appeared an identical version of himself, completely nude yet sparks of red lightning danced around him before fading away.

Meng Li looked away embarrassed, taking a pair of clothes out of her spatial ring and throwing it over to him.

The clone took the girls clothes and put them on without hesitation. It then looked around curiously before asking Ling Jun what he required of it.

The clone could think like he did but it only had a fraction of his strength. It used up a lot of Qi and he could only maintain the clone for about half an hour.

The clone walked over to the opposite end behind the restrained creature and placed a hand on the old chest bolted to the wall behind. As soon as he did so, an image popped up like a hologram of an old man with a serious wound claiming the right side of his stomach.

The old man began to speak.

"If you are seeing this, then it means you have successfully completed the clone technique, if not the beast would have attacked and killed you."

Ling Jun gave the beast a vicious glare, aware that it had tried scheming against them before.

"The prize for the trial is that beast and two peak earth rank treasures.

"My name is Xia Huo and I happened to pass by this place while pursued by enemies. I was gravely injured and decided to leave my legacy for those fated with it. I also left this Byeon here. It was a baby when I found it and captured it. I ordered that it could not physically harm any trial takers unless they attempted to take the reward without finishing the technique. I hope that those fated can bring my elemental clone technique to new heights."

The old man began to dissipate. Ling Jun looked back at the Byeon thoughtfully. He had a speculation as to what had happened.

He theorised that the trial was not supposed to be dangerous at all, yet the Byeon, not wanting to serve a human master decided to remove the rules stating one must complete the technique.

Then, it being unable to physically harm trial takers, decided to mentally harm them to the point where they died from pain. Even had any people figured out that they must use the technique, they would think their hands had disappeared so they could not use it.

Only Ling Jun, with his space sense could do such a thing.

In this way, the Byeon had killed all the trial takers.

The chest in front of the clone began to open. After confirming nothing crazy had happened, both Meng Li and Ling Jun walked over. Ling Jun dissipated the clone and handed the dress back to Meng Li.

They both looked inside the chest and saw two sparkling weapons. A sword and a dagger. The sword was pitch black with red lightning constantly flashing through its body. The handle was also shiny black, yet it had white spiralling around it. It was a simple design yet looked extremely beautiful.

The dagger was even simpler. It was simply pitch black with no designs whatsoever. Yet it looked equally as imposing as the sword.

Meng Li took the dagger whilst Ling Jun took the sword. It was an obvious choice considering both of their respective weapon masteries.

Next, Ling Jun turned to the restrained beast. Much as he would like to take this beast and utilise it, it was too much of a risk and there was too many uncertainties regarding it.

He decided to simply kill it. But before that...

Ling Jun's lips widened into a grin, his eyes wild as he stared at the beast like a predator would a prey. He slowly walked over whilst Meng Li was still busy admiring her dagger, and stopped in front of it.

"I will never submit to a filthy human, just kill me now!" The beast snarled.

"That...would be too easy." Ling Jun replied as he used his new sword to carefully skin the beast alive. It required a lot more effort and focus than he had thought initially and the beasts savage screams were not helping him at all.

"I wonder how you taste?" Ling Jun kicked his lips as he carried on torturing the beast.

"Now you know how it feels like huh...haha." Ling Jun was thoroughly enjoying himself. He was reminded of the bloody scene before his transmigration and the high he had been on because of it.

Meng Li had noticed when the beast began to scream. When she looked over, all she could see was the side profile of Ling Jun as he carefully skinned the beast alive, a wide grin on his face. She gulped as she realised this was a side of him she had not known before.

But she wasn't going to stop him. When she recalled the intense pain she had been through, like none she'd ever felt before she couldn't help but want the creature to feel pain too.

Of course, both understood that the creatures hatred for humans was somewhat justified, as it had been captured and lost its freedom to a human, but neither cared about that at all.