Chapter 531: Chapter 531. A Decision to Make Before Exiting the Trial
"You found her?" Huang Zhan asked after receiving a report from Gan Mei.
"Should be," Gan Mei answered. "I can’t see them clearly from this distance, but we have dispatched three of their members. Five are there with Your Highness, so Princess Huang Er should be among the two I’m looking at. Oh... They are coming for me."
"Evade them," Huang Zhan instructed. He proceeded to send a message to his other Mystic Stage followers, "Everyone, gather at Gan Mei’s position, but do not engage. Spread out so my sister must chase you one by one. Keep her in sight until Da Niu arrives."
After he finished broadcasting the instructions, he turned to Da Niu and called, "Da Niu, go! I will deal with the ones here."
By then, Hua Ling was already in a poor condition. Her glaive was shattered. One of her arms was broken. She was panting while blood leaked from a wound on her head. One out of her four Mystic Stage comrades had died, and another one was severely wounded. Between Da Niu and Huang Zhan, the five of them didn’t stand a chance.
"Are you sure?" Da Niu asked. "I thought you would prefer to end her life yourself."
"I don’t care as long as she is dead. Go! Do not disappoint me," Huang Zhan said.
"As you wish, my liege," Da Niu replied. An eruption of wind occurred where he was. His body shot away at high speed. Hua Ling and the others near him were hit by the shockwave of this eruption and staggered back.
After Da Niu was gone, Hua Ling turned to Huang Zhan and scolded, "How can you ask for your own sister’s death. You are a monster!"
"War teaches me that only monsters survive the cruelty of this world," Huang Zhan replied. "She can blame herself for standing between me and my throne."
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While Huang Er’s team was fighting for their life, Amon and the others continued to absorb the inheritance aether. The apparition was already gone an hour after the inheritance aether flooded out of the gate. They couldn’t move or speak under the influence of the inheritance aether, so they just focused on absorbing the aether.
Almost two days passed. The light that covered the space around them finally thinned. They felt they could move slightly, but they remained still. Absorbing the aether was much more important.
Amon glanced at the others. A thought to eliminate the others crossed his mind, but he ignored it. By now, only a little inheritance aether was left. It was not enough to warrant monopolizing it. The losses would be more than the gains.
An hour later, the light was gone, and so was the giant gate before them. In its place was a holographic screen.
The five in that space checked their progress. They then looked at each other.
"Wow...," Wu Di uttered. "This is unexpected."
"Yeah... All I care about is winning the trial," Huang San said. "I never expected to acquire such a boon inside this trial."
"Hmph, now you all are glad you follow big brother’s instructions, aren’t you?" Xin Wuming asked the two.
"Yeah, yeah. I know you would say something like that," Wu Di responded.
They were all at the Intermediate Mystic Stage when they entered the trial. Now, Huang San, Wu Di, Xin Wuming, and Yang Li were at the Beginning Spirit Stage. Amon broke through into the Intermediate Mystic Stage earlier than they did, so his cultivation progress was further ahead than theirs. The inheritance aether he absorbed was just enough to push himself into the Intermediate Spirit Stage.
Though this development was nothing short of miraculous, Amon was a little regretful. He estimated that if he had eliminated the others and monopolized the inheritance aether, he might have become a Lord Stage cultivator by now. Nevertheless, it was no use regretting something that had passed, so he stopped thinking about it.
"I bet everyone will be greatly surprised when they learn about our cultivation level when we return," Wu Di remarked.
"Yeah, I can’t wait to see their faces," Huang San agreed.
"We can do that now," Amon said. He was in front of the screen. "Apparently, winning the grand prize also awards us control over this pocket world."
The others came over to check the screen as well.
"We are several points ahead of the other teams," Amon pointed at an indicator on the screen. "There is an option to shut this place down, thus forcing everyone to leave. If we do this, our team will be the winner."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Wu Di asked.
"We need to make a decision before we exit," Amon said.
"What decision?" Wu Di asked again.
"The decision about Huang Zhan," Amon answered.
"What about him?" Huang San answered.
"I don’t have the time to tell you this since we arrived at this place after narrowly escaping him, but he had eliminated Huang Zi’s team," Amon said.
"It doesn’t matter, right? Our point is higher. Even if Huang Zi’s team wasn’t eliminated, we will still win," Huang San said.
"No. What I mean by eliminate is that he killed them. Everyone in the team, including Huang Zi," Amon said.
Huang San’s expression changed after hearing that.
"How can that be? Didn’t Huang Zi have the escape stone?" Yang Li asked.
Amon explained to them his conversation with Huang Zhan, about how Huang Zhan admitted to disposing of Huang Zi. He told them he suspected Huang Zhan had the means to prevent the usage of the escape stone. Huang Zhan could also locate and intrude on a stage where another team was already in. Most likely, he had one of the artifact operators outside collude with him. That’s how he succeeded in assassinating Huang Zi.
"He is also the one who murdered your first and third brother, before planting a hint that made it look like it was Huang Zi who did it," Amon said.
"How... How can that be...?" Huang San said. He seemed genuinely shocked by the revelation.
"That asshole... I always thought he was a straightforward person," Wu Di said. "Still an asshole, but straightforward. I’ve never expected he would be such a cunning snake."
"That shows how dangerous he is," Amon said. "Thus, my question to you is how we should deal with him."
Huang San looked at Amon with a questioning expression.
"He is too dangerous to be left alone," Amon said. "Even if we win this trial and you ascend to the throne. You will never rest easy knowing he is next to you. With how scheming and ambitious he is, he will never let go of the throne. He will find another way to take it. You will always have to look over your shoulder. Do you think you can rule effectively under that condition?"
"I...," Huang San was at a loss for words.
"Once he is out there, it will be difficult to do anything to him. Even if he has killed the crown prince, he can use the excuse that this is part of the trial. He will blame it on a technicality of the escape stone’s malfunction. Thus, he won’t be held responsible. We also don’t have proof of his involvement in your first and third brother’s deaths. He will return to his headquarters at Fort Lion’s Den and hide behind his personal army. You won’t be able to do anything to him without a justified cause, and he won’t give you one. He will bide his time and undermine your authority, until it’s time to strike when you least expect it."
Huang San frowned after hearing Amon’s theory.
"... What do you suggest I do?" Huang San asked.
"This trial is the perfect chance to get him out of the picture. It is impossible before, but it’s possible now with our current cultivation level."
"By getting him out of the picture, you mean murder him...?" Huang San asked.
"I mean enacting justice for your three brothers he had murdered," Amon replied.
Huang San was silent.
"Look. My suspicion is correct," Amon said after operating the holographic screen before them. Some new information was displayed. "It says here that all emergency exits are disabled. The only way out is if we shut it down from here, or the participants wait five days without completing a stage. This means Huang Zhan also cannot use his escape stone. We will not get a better chance than this."
"... Can we locate which stage he is in now?" Huang San asked.
"I can even show you," Amon operated the screen again. Soon, two images were displayed.
Both showed the same stage, a groundless stage inhabited by large floating metal plates. The two images showed two different battlefields. One had Huang Zhan against the wounded Hua Ling and several other Mystic Stage cultivators. Another was Princess Huang Er and Sima Fang against Da Niu. Circling the second battlefield were Huang Zhan’s other underlings. They set up a barricade so Princess Huang Er couldn’t flee.
"From the start, he plans to eliminate all the candidates, Huang Zi, Huang Er, and you," Amon told Huang San. "His plan is for none of you to leave this trial alive."