Chapter 703 - Test (5)
Four or five Violet Gold Divine Guards immediately unsheathed their swords and surrounded Little Nine.
They were led by none other than Huang Lin, who was grimly smiling.
Ye Qingyu frowned.
He knew he should have stopped the silly dog from getting on people's nerves. But at the same time, Huang Lin was indeed too detestable and could not even stomach a reprisal.
"Supervisor Huang, you're a top supervisor of the Violet Gold Divine Office, an official of the domain rating test, and also a person of great repute through Sunrise City. Isn't it unworthy of your status to fuss about an ignorant and silly dog?" Ye Qingyu spoke with a smile as he shielded in front of Little Nine.
Huang Tayun laughed grimly without replying.
"Ye Qingyu, step aside," Huang Lin spoke in an overbearing tone as he walked over and pointed his sword directly at Ye Qingyu's nose.
Without looking back at the former, Ye Qingyu formed an arc at the corner of his mouth.
His gaze landed upon Shangguan Wu.
The latter finally began to talk, "Alright everyone, stand down. The Wall of Storm is a sanctum of the Human Race, so please stop messing around. Regarding what happened just now, Divine Guard Huang Lin, you were first to provoke, so don't be aggressive anymore. Let's focus on the domain test. If anything goes wrong, Sunrise City will become a joke among the nineteen cities of chaos. Nobody will then be able to bear the punishment of Master."
Upon hearing this, the Violet Gold Divine Guards who had taken action hurriedly sheathed their swords.
A look of dissatisfaction showed on Huang Lin's face.
Shangguan Wu laughed and turned his head to peer at Huang Tayun. Revealing a self-deprecating expression, he said plainly, "I'd long heard that your nephew's an extraordinary and arrogant talent. Having seen him today, he indeed lives up to his reputation. To think that he wouldn't even listen to a deputy commander like myself. Hoho, he's truly a young talent."
Huang Lin's countenance dramatically changed after hearing these words.
He immediately realized that he had committed a fatal mistake.
With his mouth slightly twitching at the corner and his brows raised, he hurriedly berated Huang Lin. "Scoundrel, Lord Shangguan has given his orders and you're still not backing off? Are you defying his orders?"
"No no no, that's not my intention..." Huang Lin, too, realized the severity of the matter at once, and hastily sheathed his sword and backed off.
He was actually feeling deeply regretful at this point.
Regretful that he had done something as stupid as nearly defying orders.
He had become muddled mainly because he was teased so badly by the dog that he could not control his anger.
There's not one decent fella among these wretched envoys. He almost went mad in his fury and vowed that he would find an opportunity to teach Ye Qingyu and several others a proper lesson. After the test ends, I'll make sure the theft case is irrefutable. Ye Qingyu won’t be getting out of Sunrise City even if he gets through the test.
Seeing his nephew's behavior, Huang Tayun was also in a state of annoyance.
"Why is such a usually-shrewd young man behaving so foolishly and making so many mistakes today that he nearly spoiled my plans?" If the latter was not his nephew, Huang Tayan would have wanted him dead.
He swept a side glance at Shangguan Wu and felt slightly relieved upon seeing that the latter had no intention of following up on the matter.
Although he and the latter were both examiners for the day and appeared to have similar status, in reality, Shangguan Wu's prestige and status within the Violet Gold Divine Office and even the entire Sunrise City were a lot higher than his. He was merely one of the four supervisors of the front court whereas Shangguan Wu was the deputy commander of the entire Violet Gold Divine Guards.
It should be added that the one and only chief commander was a personal disciple of the mansion master and had not bothered with such mundane affairs for many years, and thus Shangguan Wu was essentially the chief commander who held decisive authority. More importantly, as one of the top ten pillar experts of the Sunrise City, Huang Tayun was nowhere near comparable to him in strength.
Therefore, in reality, Huang Tayun feared Shangguan Wu greatly.
He shot a glance at Ye Qingyu and the others and another at the Wall of Storm. A hint of absolute hatred burning within the depths of his eyes. "Hmph! I shall let you all enjoy this moment. But let's see how you bastards get past the second test!"
In front of the Wall of Storm.
"Lord Shangguan, can the second test begin?" Empress Yu Xiaoxing inhaled a deep breath.
"Yes, it can. The rules are very simple too. In one move, using any technique, weapon, or method you wish, leave a visible mark on the wall. You'll be deemed to pass the test if ten different participants are able to do so. There are no limits on the number of participants you can send, but the test is over when an incense stick has burned up. During the test, any participant who fails to leave the required marks on the wall can simply fall back to one side." Shangguan Wu nodded his head as he provided detailed instructions once more.
As soon as he spoke, an extremely bizarre brown halo formation flew out of his pale yellow gemstone ring and pasted itself on the Wall of Storm, before entering within a moment later.
"Remember, you only have an incense stick's worth of time!" Huang Tayun added.
Leaving the test platform, he walked to one side of the Wall of Storm and twisted his own pale yellow ring.
The Wall of Storm was once again fired up and thus gradually transformed into a giant pale-green solid wall with an incomparably slick surface. Giving off a strange radiance, it was replete with aesthetic beauty and mysterious aura.
However, nobody had noticed that Huang Tayun had furtively twisted a forest-green gemstone ring on a different finger in concurrence with the pale yellow one.
An invisible pale green aura quietly flowed out and landed on the Wall of the Storm.
After doing all this, Huang Tayun revealed a subtle and sinister smirk.
In front of the Wall of Storm.
The Heaven Wasteland contingent had already decided their strategy.
"I'll have a shot first." A nine-foot-tall Brute Race expert with rounded arms and a thick beard that covered more than half his face, and whose strength was at the pinnacle of the Heaven Ascension stage, walked out from the assembly of hundreds of envoys.
He was naturally endowed with herculean strength which was probably top three among the entire Brute Race. He possessed great confidence in his immense destructive power, which explained why he offered to try first. The nearly two-meter-long black club in his hand emitted a dark fluorescent light, and its body was engraved with formation imprints that were unique to the Brute Race and that let out a series of howls and bellows as if they were ferocious beasts.
Brandishing his long club, the Brute Race expert issued an angry roar.
Black-colored Brute energy abruptly worked up all over his body.
He gathered all of his power in the club and delivered the hardest strike of his life toward the Wall of Storm.
Boom!
The long club struck against the giant wall amid the blare.
A black glare suddenly appeared.
Subsequently, a figure was sent hurtling ten meters through the air.
As if made of bronze and iron, the Wall of Storm remained not just steadfast and unmoved, but also even and glossy, such that it was completely unmarred. Black fragments which were completely devoid of light and spiritual energy scattered at the base of the wall. Just a while ago, it had destroyed the first-rate treasure that was the long club which the Brute Race expert was holding.
Several meters off.
Having suffered a feedback force, the Brute Race expert laid on the ground ashen-faced. A half-meter-long bone-deep wound stretched down his arm from his purlicue. His whole body was numb, rendering him unable to stand up, and so he simply gazed at the Wall of Storm with eyes filled with disbelief.
Because there was no mark on the wall.
His attempt... failed!
Beside the Wall of Storm.
Supervisor Huang appeared unsurprised by this result. In his view, a lower domain Brute Race expert whose strength had not even reached the Immortal Step realm was clearly daydreaming if he thought he could break the wall's defense and leave a mark on it.
Outside the test plaza.
The result of the first attempt caused every envoy to gulp a mouthful of cold air and their hearts to skip a beat.
An all-out strike by a pinnacle Heaven Ascension stage expert could not even leave a scratch on the Wall of Storm.
Among this envoy mission which comprised of thousands of men, his strength was already considered outstanding. Yet, he not only failed to leave a mark on the wall, but was also badly wounded by the feedback force. It thus seemed a lot less likely that the contingent would be able to find ten people who could leave a mark on the wall and thereby pass the test.
Everyone immediately realized that it was not a simple task.
This test was starting to appear more difficult than the first.
For a while, everyone's eyes centered upon the ten people who managed to endure the fury of the storm.
These extraordinarily powerful people carried a domain's hopes of getting rated.
The attempts continued.
In the next fifteen minutes.
The Heaven Wasteland experts lined up in the middle of the plaza, taking turns to walk up to the Wall of Storm and give it their hardest strikes, be it with their fists, palms, swords, axes, or other methods.
But all of them failed.
And there was not much time left.
Only twenty people among the participating experts had not made their attempts.
The unbroken string of failures caused everyone's heart to sink.
Morale was slipping away.
Yet another expert walked toward the wall. Having witnessed so many failures, he felt a little nervous and did not have much confidence.
Just then...
"Forget it. Let me try," a voice rang out.
It was Yan Buhui.
He gave the nervous expert a pat on the shoulder before walking up to the wall.
After walking a few dozen steps, two extremely vigorous white demonic flames spurted from his pupils while surging waves of demonic aura emanated from his body, giving him an absolutely powerful appearance.
Seeing this, Shangguan Wu nodded his head imperceptibly.
An expectation arose in everyone's hearts.
This was the first of the ten experts who passed the first test.
Can he succeed?
Upon reaching the wall with countless gazes of anticipation and attention upon him, Yan Buhui did not do much preparation but simply raised his right palm, which seemed as if it belonged to an ice sculpture instead. A giant spirit palm infused with demonic aura , which was near-solid, abruptly spawned from his palm together with a hard-to-describe terrifying power.
"Space-time Demonic Spirits... Palm of Demonic Spirits!"
As he grunted, the giant spirit palm infused with demonic aura, which was fused with the power of the fiendgod, charged toward the wall.
Boom!
A blare sounded throughout the test plaza. The ground began to tremor as if aroused by a strange energy.