"I've come to tell you something important," the young master replied with a serious face.
Seconds later, Vivian came out as well.
"Today, both of you, along with some of the candidates will undergo another test. If you make it, you
shall be considered as true members of the Wankong Clan," the young master continued.
"Should we take it right now?" Rocky asked. He was well aware that this was definitely not an ordinary
test.
"That would be best. Come with me."
The young master then turned around and walked ahead. Rocky and Vivian followed him straight away.
They all got into the fancy carriage that the young master had parked outside and left.
About an hour later, they reached the mountain behind the Wankong Clan residence. The fancy
carriage pulled up in front of a huge cave.
At this moment, some warriors of the spiritual race who passed the spiritual root test had already
gathered by the cave.
When the young master, Rocky, and Vivian got off the carriage, everyone quickly shifted their eyes to
them.
"Listen carefully, everyone. For today's test, you will all be entering this cave and will take out a holy
treasure from the deepest part of the cave. If any of you can bring it back here, you shall be deemed
qualified to go directly to the Ethereal Valley." Without wasting any time, the young master gave out the
instructions for the test.
Hearing this, everyone immediately grew excited. Originally, merely having a spiritual root was not
enough to obtain the qualification to enter the Ethereal Valley, and they would have to pass some
competitions before they could proceed. However, a chance to enter the Ethereal Valley without any
more tests had just been presented to them. Naturally, they wanted to give it a try.
While everyone was in high spirits, only Rocky and Vivian remained calm. They felt something fishy in
this test.
"What are you all waiting for? You can get started!"
As soon as they heard the young master's go signal, the candidates rushed into the cave one after
another.
"You may now go as well. Don't let me down!" the young master prompted Rocky and Vivian.
They nodded, then looked at each other knowingly and started walking.
Together, they followed the other candidates into the cave.
As soon as all the candidates got inside, the young master hastily ordered, "Seal the entrance at once!"
In a flash, the entrance of the cave got sealed by a spiritual skill.
"You, stay here and keep an eye on them. If anything happens, let me know right away." The young
master left in his luxury carriage as soon as he gave the order.
At that very second, Rocky, Vivian, and the others instantly got engulfed by a gloomy and horrible
atmosphere.
"What the hell is this place?" one of the candidates briskly complained.
"Haven't you heard? This cave is the forbidden area of the Wankong Clan. Stories say that this place
was specially built to make offerings to the Earth Monster," another candidate enlightened the clueless
warrior using a mysterious voice.
"What's an Earth Monster?"
"They are spiritual monsters that are incredibly powerful enough to use a powerful spiritual skill."
"How different are they from spiritual beasts then?"
"Well, there's actually a big difference. It's said that if an Earth Monster hits you with its spiritual skill, it
can absorb your soul. Even if you're a master or a spiritual beast, it can control you."
"Seriously? What should we do if we come across the Earth Monster?"
"If that happens, make sure you don't look at its eyes. Otherwise, we'll be doomed."
Upon learning about the Earth Monster, some candidates began to worry about themselves.
Meanwhile, Rocky and Vivian merely smiled at each other. They did not care to join the others in their
conversation.
After walking along the straight passageway for a while, the candidates finally stumbled upon several
forks.
They scattered in groups and entered the forks they chose.
Seeing that the others had gone their way, Vivian looked at Rocky and asked, "Which way are we
going?"
"Hmm. This calls for Kohen's help!" Rocky immediately summoned Kohen from his Magic Spiritual
Space.
It was the first time that Vivian had seen Kohen. "Whoa! This treasure beast looks so strange!"
"Well, it's a mixed-blood!"
"What does that mean?" Of course, Vivian did not understand such a modern word.
"It simply means that it's a hybrid, like those produced by diabolic beasts and spiritual beasts," Rocky
readily explained.
"Oh, when did you have such a pet?" Vivian asked quite keenly.
"Pet? I prefer not to call Kohen that. It's a spiritual beast!" Rocky quickly corrected.
"But... It looks so small."
"It's only a year old. It's actually normal for it to be this small at such a young age." Rocky grinned.
"Only a year old? No wonder it's so small. Still, its aura is already very strong considering its young
age."
"Believe it or not, its growth speed is faster than that of normal spiritual beasts. Unfortunately, no
treasure can directly enhance the power of spiritual beasts here on the Supreme Ether Land. If there
was, this little guy can grow even faster..."
Vivian immediately rolled her eyes at Rocky as she heard him talk about something that was beyond
the bounds of possibility in the Supreme Ether Land.
After their chat, Rocky asked Kohen to check those forks before them.
In just a moment, Kohen chose a direction.
Rocky and Vivian promptly trod along the fork.
They kept moving until they realized that they seemed to be walking in a maze, constantly choosing
between the forks. They also found it strange that they did not meet anything along the way.
"Do you think this test is just to let us walk out of the maze and get the holy treasure at the end of it?"
Vivian asked curiously. If that was the case, this test would be a piece of cake.
"I'm sure it's not that simple. Didn't those guys say that there's an Earth Monster in this cave? If my
guess is right, the Earth Monster has probably been secretly watching us all this time..." Rocky shared
his speculation.
"This is the first time I've heard of such a spiritual monster in the spiritual race."
"Oh, sure. You're from the Shura Race and a powerful kind at that. Of course, you would never bother
to learn these kinds of unorthodox creatures," Rocky jested.
Vivian merely glared at him.
"Ahhh!" As they continued to wander in the cave instinctively, they suddenly heard a scream.
A few seconds later, a candidate rushed out from a fork on one side. His hair was disheveled and his
face had gone pallid. He kept shouting, "Terrible! It's completely terrible!"
"Hey! What did you see?" Vivian grabbed his arm and asked.
Despite her forceful grasp, the warrior did not come to his senses. He was still in a daze.
Left with no option, Vivian slapped him in the face.
The man was stunned for a moment before he regained consciousness.
"Let me ask you again. What did you see?" Vivian demanded.
"I... I saw that monster… It eats people..." The man was too frightened to speak and kept crying and
screaming.
Vivian shifted her gaze to Rocky. If it was true, they were now faced with a menacing problem.
"There's still a possibility that it isn't true. Let's go check the Earth Monster with our own eyes!" Rocky
did not even wait for a response and just went straight to the fork where the man came out. Vivian
quickly followed suit.
Not long after they roamed the fork, Rocky and Vivian entered a closed cave.
Indeed, what they saw there was extremely terrifying. Piles of human bones welcomed them, as well as
bloody corpses that were clearly just freshly dismembered.
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