Death… And Me

Chapter 3892: Path of Ten Souls

The Martial Gathering often changed who was considered the winner. There were times when the winner was simply the strongest, and, as a result, cultivation obviously played a big part. There were also gatherings where the cultivation levels were properly separated, and you had the winners of each level. Last but not least, there were times when a group or team would gain the final prize together.

Everyone was waiting to see what the third event would be about, as it would also be the last. A thousand participants remained.

In the previous event, almost ten thousand participants went into the labyrinth, including those eight hundred or so Saint Realm experts. With their much higher cultivation, everyone expected them to have most of the one thousand tokens. Yet, surprisingly, only a hundred Saint Realm participants made it through the Celestial Convergence Labyrinth.

Why was that? Truth be told, everyone watching from outside could tell. The Saint Realm participants had truly started from very, very far away from the center, where you could find the Spire and the tokens. It was almost as if that event was made for them to fail.

Still, no one said anything. Those Saint Realm youngsters were the pride of their own backgrounds in this gathering. If any power came forward to complain that it was unfair to their own Saint Realm experts, that would be the same as saying they were too weak to overcome this trial. It was especially so since a few of these Saint Realm experts were among the first one hundred participants to come out of the Labyrinth.

Naturally, since those with lower cultivation started closer to the center, they had a better chance to get their tokens, and that’s exactly what happened. Those in the Soul Transformation, Nascent Soul, and Core and Soul Fusion Realm had a roughly equal number of tokens acquired, around 300 participants in each cultivation level.

Bugel came forward, smiling at everyone and starting his long speech once more, full of pleasantries and such. It wasn’t before half an hour had gone by that he finally started to talk about the last event itself.

”The last event is called The Path of Ten Souls.” He then turned around, giving his order. ”Reveal!”

As soon as his words came out, an intense light appeared on the back of the city. Then, something that looked like a floating island slowly began to rise into the sky, catching everyone’s attention. It was quite the show.

”That, my friends, is where the remaining participants will compete in groups of ten experts. Yes, for this gathering, we could have up to ten victors. This format was chosen after the conclusion of the second event, where exactly one hundred Saint Realm Experts managed to get through.”

He continued. ”Each Saint Realm Expert will serve as the captain of their team and must select the other participants who will join them.”

”Some of you might be thinking: Isn’t it too unfair? A Saint Realm Captain might simply select the top nine Soul Transformation Realm participants and snowball their way to the top. And yes, your concerns are very valid. That’s why the Path of Ten Souls will have a restricting formation array in place. During the duration of this last event, everyone’s cultivations will be suppressed to the Core and Soul Fusion Realm Peak Stage.”

”This is as fair as we can get. So, Captains, make sure not to look only at your companions’ cultivation level, but actually at their real capabilities. During the previous two events, I’ve seen plenty of lower-level participants who performed exceptionally better than many with higher cultivation.”

”Now then, the Path of Ten Souls will have three phases. The Path of Endurance, The Trial of Resonance, and The Core Seizing. Each phase will test your abilities as a team. The cultivation path is a lonely one, but there are plenty of moments when experts will be forced to fight together, be it war, disputes, ambushes, you name it. The Martial Gathering is an event organized by the many organizations of the Surute Region. It is only natural that we test everyone’s coordination, whether with someone you already know or someone you have never met before.”

”Be aware, you can only complete a phase as a team. You can’t leave anyone behind. If you don’t have ten members at the end of each phase, you won’t make it through. Once again, this will test your ability as a team, and the captain’s ability to select and command that team.”

Pretty much all the participants in the Soul Transformation and below didn’t like to have to rely on others. However, the Saint Realm Experts understood one thing. This is more of a test directed at them than anyone else.

And, in fact, they were correct. The Verjansy Country wanted to give the best chance possible for Wisfreya to show her talents, and they knew she was very intelligent. They even had the members who would follow her in mind prepared ahead of time. They also wanted to show that Wisfreya wasn’t the best just because she had the highest cultivation, thus the cultivation suppression.

”This is all,” Bugel concluded the explanation of the last event. ”You have an hour to select your team members. Once a Saint Realm Captain has selected someone, all they need to do is take out their tokens from the previous event and pair them together. It will automatically register them as a team until a total of ten participants are selected. Remember, one hour!”

And so, Bugel went back to his seat, smiling ear to ear, assured that Wisfreya would come out on top in this event.

However, Bugel suddenly received a message a minute later.

-President, Wisfreya...-

’Hum?’ Bugel looked at the rest of the message.

-Wisfreya refused all the members we prepared for her. She has already selected seven other participants and paired her token with theirs before we even had the chance to convince her. They... they are all Nascent Soul Realm kids!-

Bugel almost vomited blood! ’What?!’