Chapter 88: This Place Has Been Ruined

The golden-armored warrior still stood in the center of the great hall. Apart from a pair of keen eyes, every inch of him was sheathed in gold.

A mighty aura radiated from him, surging through the entire hall.

It was an aura belonging only to the Star Core Realm, one that filled everyone with envy.

In Blood Slaughter City, people pursued greater power at every moment. Only with strength could one survive, obtain what one desired, and protect those one wished to protect.

Weakness was a sin. Thus, everyone longed for power with feverish intensity.

Most of the people in the hall had ignored the dangers and limitations of becoming a golden-armored warrior.

Yet the peerless fiend had not mentioned any of those things at all.

Chu Jie had anticipated some of it, but he did not say so. Instead, he merely spoke with Duan Kun, Wu Long, and the others.

"Let's observe a little longer. If there are no side effects, we can give it a try," Chu Jie said.

Reaching the Star Core Realm was the lifelong dream of many Spirit Gathering Realm warriors. So even people like Zhou Jie were willing to risk danger and strain every nerve for a chance.

Most of the others felt the same way.

Among them, Chu Jie and his companions were the calmest. Chu Jie had encountered the peerless fiend more often than the others, and so he felt that the fiend would never hand out benefits for nothing.

The golden-armored warrior remained motionless in the center, his figure flickering from time to time, allowing everyone to understand that it was merely an image. It should have been an illusion created by the peerless fiend.

And yet, even as nothing more than an image, it possessed such presence that everyone yearned all the more to become a golden-armored warrior.

"Haha, those fools outside are still waiting for some rare treasure, while the real prize has already fallen into our hands!" a charcoal-faced warrior suddenly laughed maniacally.

"What, you think trash like you will become a golden-armored warrior? Stop joking and take a look in the mirror," another warrior said.

The charcoal-faced man glared at him in fury. The giant axe in his hand was about to fly, but remembering the peerless fiend's earlier warning, he held back.

Although the peerless fiend had never appeared, he was clearly still watching over this place. If anyone dared to make a move again, they might immediately bring disaster upon themselves.

The atmosphere in the hall was changing in a strange and unsettling way, because there was only one chance to become a golden-armored warrior. Everyone was thinking about how to become that one and only chosen person.

As for Chu Jie, he did not particularly want to take part in this struggle. Becoming a golden-armored warrior might mean losing one's freedom, and that was not what he wanted.

Still, he also wanted to see whether there might be other gains to be had. And there was one thing he most wanted to do: kill Zhou Jie. Though there was no chance inside the hall, that did not mean there would be no chance outside.

Zhou Jie kept casting glances toward Chu Jie and the others, like a hunter eyeing his prey, as though he were weighing how to eliminate them.

Chu Jie sensed Zhou Jie's stare, and the killing intent in his heart grew ever stronger. By now, they had reached the point where neither could coexist with the other. If given the chance, they would kill each other without the slightest hesitation.

After about half an hour, the stone hall suddenly came to a stop with a rumble.

Everyone's nerves tightened at once. Another change was probably about to occur.

The door of the stone hall suddenly opened, revealing the black cavern beyond. No one moved. Nobody knew what lay outside, or whether danger awaited them.

They had remained inside the stone hall all this time, and the only thing they could be certain of was that they had not left the Abyss of Gods and Demons.

"You don't dare go out? Then I'll do it myself."

The charcoal-faced warrior strode out with his axe in hand. Then everyone heard a cry, as though he had fallen.

A little later, a voice seemed to rise from underground. It was the charcoal-faced warrior, shouting in pain: "It hurts like hell! Hahaha, if you cowards won't come down, I'm going to become a golden-armored warrior any moment now!"

When they heard this, everyone thought he must have discovered something, and so they rushed out of the hall one after another. A chorus of cries rose up, and they all plunged downward.

"Boss, should we go take a look?" Wu Long asked.

By now, only they remained in the hall.

Chu Jie said, "Not yet. Let's see how things develop."

As for Zhou Jie, he had already rushed down. When he saw that Chu Jie and the others had not followed, he immediately roared, "The people up there are as timid as mice! When I become a golden-armored warrior, I'll kill you as easily as slaughtering dogs! Just wait to die, hahaha!"

Chu Jie walked to the doorway of the hall and looked down. It was pitch-black; nothing could be seen.

He summoned the Cosmos Treasure Wheel and sent it flying downward. Beneath the doorway, there was actually a huge pit. Those people had just fallen through that pit, and were now down in the cavern below.

The Cosmos Treasure Wheel blazed brilliantly as it descended. After passing through the opening of the pit, it quickly entered the cavern beneath.

Chu Jie felt a strange sense of familiarity. As the Cosmos Treasure Wheel flew below, that feeling only grew stronger.

This cavern seemed to be the same mystic-crystal grotto he had visited before.

Chu Jie froze.

Why had the peerless fiend brought them here? Could it be that the mystic crystals from before had all been laid here in preparation for the making of golden-armored warriors?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. This place itself had always seemed strange. So many mystic crystals had been arranged along the walls, but now all of them had entered Chu Jie's Savage Cauldron.

In other words, this place had been completely ruined.

Chu Jie immediately found the people below rather speechless. They had thought that descending would reveal the method to become a golden-armored warrior, but in truth, this place had already been destroyed by him.

"We don't need to go down," Chu Jie said calmly.

"Why not, boss?" Wu Long asked with great curiosity. He could not understand why Chu Jie had taken one look and concluded they need not descend.

Duan Kun glanced below but said nothing. He trusted Chu Jie unconditionally. If Chu Jie said they did not need to go down, then there was surely nothing of value below.

The place they were standing was directly above the opening where the Black Wind Serpent King had once burrowed in. It turned out that there had been a passage here, allowing the stone hall to travel through it.

Chu Jie now wondered whether there were more caverns ahead. If there were, it would be wonderful if they could dig out all the mystic crystals inside them.

As for becoming a golden-armored warrior, he had no such thoughts at all. Only by relying on his own cultivation to enter the Star Core Realm would his foundation be truly secure.

From inside the hall, they could hear the shouting and commotion below in the grotto, yet in the end the others found nothing. One by one, they were left speechless.

As for fleeing, they did not even know where they were. If they got lost underground, that would be another trouble altogether.

And if the peerless fiend discovered them, they would likely be killed on the spot.

Considering the possibility of being hunted by the peerless fiend, Chu Jie did not lead the others to flee even after reaching this place. The fiend's power had already exceeded his expectations, and there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

"There is nothing here. There are traces of battle; it seems some people dug something up here before," someone said after discovering the anomaly below.

The warriors below each displayed their own abilities to light up the surroundings, while Chu Jie's Cosmos Treasure Wheel had already flown back.

"This place has been ruined. Why did the peerless fiend bring us here?"

"I got all worked up for nothing!"

Zhou Jie's face turned livid, and he said nothing. He had thought they had finally arrived, but there was nothing here at all. It was obvious that something had once been here, but now everything was gone.

This place had already been destroyed, and his heart twisted with unprecedented frustration.

At that very moment, the voice of the peerless fiend appeared once more.

"Return. This place has been destroyed."

It seemed that even the peerless fiend had not expected this situation. In such a secret location, who knew by whose hand it had been ruined? The great quantity of mystic crystals had vanished without a trace. Without those crystals, there was simply no way to make the people here become golden-armored warriors.

The people below were all bitterly dismayed. They had gone down for nothing.

Because Spirit Gathering Realm warriors could not fly, getting back up from below was very difficult.

It seemed that the peerless fiend had anticipated this long ago. Two iron chains flew out from the far end of the hall, dropping down into the cavern below.

The people climbed back up along the chains, each looking utterly bedraggled. Once they were back up, they sat down in one place to meditate and rest.

They were all deeply puzzled. Why had Chu Jie not gone down? By rights, even if he did not want to become a golden-armored warrior, he should at least have gone down to inspect the place.

Once everyone had returned to the hall, the great stone hall began to change again. With a thunderous boom, the stone gate closed, and the stone hall continued its rumbling motion.

Those inside were uneasy. If the first place had failed, would the next one fail too, leaving them to return with nothing at all?

This time, the stone hall seemed to be heading back the way it had come. One by one, their expressions were grim.

They did not want to give up the temptation of reaching the Star Core Realm.

Only Chu Jie felt utterly speechless. He had never expected such a coincidence, accidentally ruining the peerless fiend's plans.

If the peerless fiend learned that it was he who had taken the mystic crystals from inside, he would probably be killed at once.

Because of that, Chu Jie did not dare mention it in the hall at all. The peerless fiend was probably somewhere within the hall, and every change here would not escape his eyes.

The stone hall rumbled onward, and no one knew where it was heading this time. Nothing could be seen outside, and the stone door was already shut tight.

Only the trembling of the hall could be felt, and that alone proved that it was still moving.

No one knew how long had passed before the stone hall seemed to turn a corner and then came to a stop.

Everyone's spirits rose again. Perhaps this time there was a very great chance of becoming a golden-armored warrior.

All of them looked eagerly toward the stone gate, waiting for it to open. They all hoped that this time, they would find the method to rise to the Star Core Realm.