Chapter 28: Rite Of Divine Judgement [II]
Chapter 28: Rite Of Divine Judgement [II]
They emerged into a terrifyingly magical place of landscape masterpiece.
The valley of the gods.
The place was filled with different radiant colors, ranging from white to rainbow colors. Lining the valley in a beautiful way were statuesque formations, sculpted from Lucid white-stone of the Primordial era. The white-stone was carved into unique statues of gods holding different weapons, giant monoliths, and mighty pinnacles.
"We are here, Xiu Ying. Behold! The valley of the gods."
Lost for words, Zhang Xiu Ying nodded while looking around the valley in bewilderment. The scenery was truly a beauty to behold. For a moment, she forgot about her up-coming rite as she continued to take the whole place in. Lord Luyang was smiling gently after deciding to allow the demigod her time without any form of disturbances from him. After some time had passed, the titan lord pointed to the colossal building of white sapphire at the middle of the valley.
"That's the judgement hallway where you'll be having your trials. I'll wait for you here at this safe zone. The valley of the gods is not where one could trampled without purpose. It's like courting death. Even for a titan lord like myself."
After composing herself, Zhang Xiu Ying nodded at the titan lord before proceeding towards the hallway with assured strides. Since she was here, she would show no fear. Halfway forward, she glanced back at the titan lord who sent her encouraging words through the mindvoice in return.
"Don't worry, Xiu Ying. Always remember the power inside you. You can do this."
The demigod gave an acknowledgement nod, and continued forward. Reaching the point of entry, she felt a tinge of apprehension as she raised her head to look at the massive archway. She took a deep breath and entered the hallway.
The moment she entered, the air became intensely heavy as worldly divine aura descended on the place. There was an enormous pressure on her to collapse on the floor, but she kept on standing with a grim determination.
"Welcome to the judgement hall, immortal."
A loud, deafening voice boomed out of the hallway, halting Zhang Xiu Ying on her track. Each word was like a prodding dagger into her soul which made her whinge in discomfort. There was a long pause before the voice continued.
"We know who you are, Zhang Xiu Ying. But do you?"
Immediately after those words, all the godly statues in the hallway began to come alive. Although the statues had their strength reduced to that of a late-stage silver core demigod, they still had the fighting skills of a peak-stage silver-core demigod. Different imperial weapons glimmered in the hands of the statues who were staring at Zhang Xiu Ying with bright golden eyes.
"Zhang Xiu Ying, if you know who you are, pass through this passage to the outside. That's all the conviction it takes. You can turn back now and do this another day. But if you cross the line in front of you, it'll be noted as your decision to carry on today. Then, you'll only have this chance. If you fail, you'll never be able to do this trial again. Do you understand?"
"I do."
"You may proceed."
Zhang Xiu Ying surrounded herself with pillars of fire as she steadily brandished her sword, Navaris. Made from the tail feather of a primordial phoenix, the sword vibrated softly in delight of the impending action.
With the fourth level of the Infernal-Phoenix technique prepared, Zhang Xiu Ying stepped over the starting line and launched the attack. Giant flaming phoenixes took flight in the direction of the watching gods. The moment the attack was launched, all the gods launched their own attacking moves of the same fire element.
Hounds of Fire.
Fire elemental godly statues. She guessed as much since she was having her trials at the valley of the gods. Impact of the massive collision knocked both Zhang Xiu Ying and the statues, back a few steps. But no relative harms were done to them. Then, they came at her in numbers, forcing her to switch to her swords arts. She knew her martial arts were not her best, especially her swordsmanship, but she had no other choice in close combats.
The statues formed fiery circle of phantoms with flashing weapons causing her to block rapidly as she became a blur herself too.
After numerous exchanges, she had received many deep cuts from their attack, but still managed to hold her ground. Stepping back, she swiftly pulled a bloodroot pill from her robe sleeve before dropping it in her mouth.
At the same time, the statues pointed the tips of their glowing weapons at her. A massive flaming wyvern with three blue-fire emitting heads, set off towards Zhang Xiu Ying who quickly responded with another Phoenix Whirlfire.
The demigod was sent flying from the thunderous collision. But before she could find her footing, they came at her again in repeat of their previous moves. She realized there were too many godly statues that could, collectively, outmatch her for strength despite her superior strength individually.
Everytime she tried to advance forward, they would push her back to the starting line. She tried to use the light-steps and flash-steps to reach the exit, but she was cut off both times. With that, she knew she had to go all out to have a chance of making it through.
The demigod began to push chi out of her dantian into her body in high quantity. After several seconds, when her body started to ache from the amount of chi coming into it, she diverted the chi into her sword. Swinging her flaming sword in a circle, she repeated the Phoenix Whirlfire move. The moment the flaming phoenixes were launched, Zhang Xiu Ying used her Asuran evasive steps, fortified with her silver-core chi.
The godly statues were statues after all, how could they match her for chi with her ancestral Timeless-Soul cultivation technique? Despite initiating their own defensive moves, the statues were knocked back several yards in different directions from the thunderous collision. Before the statues could respond to her flight, the demigod used her bloodline trait, divine evasion, to pass through the created opening. At that moment, she realized who she was.
"I am a true demigod."
And with that, she was out of the passage. Only to find herself in another passage which looked like the previous one but still different. As Zhang Xiu Ying was looking around, she heard the booming voice again.