“Don’t tell me he’s going to jump over the wall?” Everyone looked tense as they watched Wang Hao’s movements. Moments later, Wang Hao withdrew his hand, looking quite disappointed. He then motioned something to his followers. His followers nodded as they started walking away from the wall. Wang Hao then started to follow suit.
Gabrielle and the other commentators sighed in relief when Wang Hao decided to move away from the wall.
“Hmmph, of course Wang Hao will not be able to cross that wall!” Gabrielle thought smugly to herself. “How could I doubt the integrity of the wall!”
Gabrielle once again mulled on the capabilities on their border wall.
The wall was tall, around 30 meters tall. It was made with strong materials, able to withstand even an attack by an Eight Stage Practitioner. Aside from that, the wall was also enforced with magic cannons at its top.
With the pressure exerted by the mountain and the height of the wall, it was almost impossible for anyone in the trial to jump over it, especially with a First Stage power.
And even if someone manages to jump over the wall, the magic cannons situated on the top of the wall will shoot these practitioners.
The strength of these cannons will be enough to shred someone at the First Stage.
With that kind of defenses, Gabrielle should feel guilty about doubting the capabilities of the wall.
“Ehem.” Gabrielle cleared her throat as she started a new topic.
“Now that we have done a coverage on the North Area, why don’t we go to the East Area, where the first ranker, Jieshu resides?”
“Great idea.” Bob flicked one of its tentacles sidewards, changing the events shown by the drones. After 5 more flicks, Jieshu’s entourage were seen.
“This…” If Wang Hao’s area was a lively one, it was quite a different situation in the East Area.
Jieshu and her followers just walked straight up the mountain, as if it was a parade and not a trial. All three of Jieshu’s followers wore a mask on their face, showing nothing of their appearance. They wore loose robes, which made everyone unsure on what their gender was.
But the one thing everyone was sure was that these three followers were powerful.
As they walked behind Jieshu, the three followers were releasing a fierce killing intent. Their killing intent was so powerful that everyone in the East Area instinctively move away from Jieshu’s group.
This scaring tactic allowed JIeshu an easy path to the top. With no opponents showing up to challenge her, everyone was able to see Jieshu’s elegant walk to the peak.
“So domineering!” That was what everyone thought upon seeing this scene. If Jieshu’s followers can do this, then Jieshu herself must be more powerful than what everyone expected!
“As expected of a former Ninth Stage Practitioner…” Gabrielle muttered, clearly idolizing Jieshu. She erased Wang Hao’s actions from her mind as she only focused on Jieshu.
“Ehem.” Bob coughed, clearly reminding Gabrielle about her work.
“Ah well, with Jieshu dominating the East Area, the action here will just depend on the other teams.” Gabrielle then gave a nod to Bob, who started to change the recording to the South Area.
“As for this area…”
The South and West Area lacked any exciting teams comparable to that in the North and East. But more fighting occurred there, that made the commentators quite busy.
…
Three hours later.
When three hours have already passed, most of the remaining participants in the trial were almost halfway in the mountain.
It may sound fast, but one must remember that the pressure increases as the distance to the peak increases. That means it will be harder to cover reach the peak in just three hours.
Reaching the middle part of the mountain after three hours was already expected. As for which teams can reach the peak before the final hour, it will all depend on their luck and abilities.
Some groups have already confronted against each other in that three-hour interval. These fightings dwindled the number of teams on each area which were as follows:
East Area: 12 teams
South Area: 23 teams
West Area: 24 teams
North Area: 28 teams
North Area had the most amount of teams remaining due to Jieshu’s followers. The killing intent that they were releasing slowed down the activities in the North Area.
As for the South and West Area, the number of teams remaining there actually corresponds to the average teams left in an area after three hours, which was around 23.153210001.
That means the flow of activity in there was just right.
As for the East Area…..
“How shameless!” If Gabrielle could only shout and curse right now, she would have already done so. But her job and integrity were on the line, so she just bottled up all her rage.
How could she not be angry? Wang Hao decided to use all that time in three hours to loot other teams!
With the Soul Exterminating Lightning on his hands, each of the teams that Wang Hao met easily succumbed to his demands.
He managed to ‘attack’ 18 teams, each one of them giving out all their valuables to him. As for Huo Huangdi, he had defeated only 4 teams while Siwang Wangzi only managed 2. Their win count could be higher, if not for Wang Hao’s unstoppable rush.
Gabrielle started despising Wang Hao more and more from seeing all his antics.
“Hmmph, if this evil man meets Huo Huangdi or Siwang Wangzi, he will be done for!” Gabrielle looked at the screen hopefully, wishing that this scenario will happen.
Another hour passed by, and Wang Hao now looted 22 teams. At this time, only 7 teams remain, with SIwang Wangzi defeating one more.
Gabrielle could see the confusion on Siwang Wangzi and Huo Huangdi’s face as they realized that the teams they are encountering were way fewer than the statistical average.
Both teams adopted a solemn expression on their faces as they realized that there must be a powerful group that managed to defeat more than 10 teams in just 4 hours. They must be wary of such team.
As for which team was that, they did not put Wang Hao’s team on their guesses. For Siwang Wangzi, it was probably Huo Huangdi while Huo Huangdi reckons that it was Siwang Wangzi’s team that was doing all the damage.
Both of their teams increased their vigilance as they continued ascending.
Siwang Wangzi’s team stopped when they saw a group walking straight towards them. When Siwang Wangzi saw who the leader of the group was, his eyes lit up as killing intent erupted from him.
He raised a lantern, that was spouting a dark miasma as he solemnly declared,
“Today is the day of your disappearance Wang Hao!”
“Yes this is it!” Gabrielle started clapping happily in her mind as she saw Wang Hao confronting Siwang Wangzi. She looked to Bob as she asked,
“Between this two, who do you think will win?”
“Hmm…” Bob looked indecisive as it continued talking. “Wang Hao has the Soul Exterminating Lighting, which can destroy souls. But Siwang Wangzi was holding the Ghost King Lamp, which strengthens the soul of its holder. Who wins among them depends on the strength of their chosen weapon.”
“So it depends whether the spear can shatter the rock, or if the rock can snap the spear.” Gabrielle gave this analogy to make the audience understand Bob’s analysis.
“Exactly. Now, let’s see wh- Holy Skull!” Bob once again cursed as all the commentators saw something that made them jump up in fear.
A crack opened in the sky as a milky white fog poured out of it. The fog may seem weak, but Gabrielle felt dread upon seeing this fog.
“S**t! It’s the Dream Mist! How come it appeared here!” Bob was extremely terrified as it saw the Dream Mist pouring down the trial mountain.
“Oh no! It’s going to swallow us too!”
Gabrielle, along with Bob and Krull tried to use their talisman to initiate a teleportation. But the mist travelled too fast for them.
The audience could only stare silently as the Dream Mist swallowed the whole trial grounds. 5 minutes later, the mist went back to the crack. Once all the Dream Mist were gone, the crack in the sky closed, leaving almost no indication that it appeared.
The only evidence for the arrival of the mist was the fact that all the souls in the trial grounds disappeared.
“……”
