Gou in the world of comprehension

Chapter 1601 The Trial Begins

Su Fan sat cross-legged in the center of the stone house, a faint smile playing on his lips.

His gaze fell on Jiugu and the others kneeling below, his eyes showing no emotion, only a hint of amusement.

At this moment, Jiu Gu and the others had long lost the ferocity and tyranny they once displayed as powerful figures in the demonic sect.

They were listless, their foreheads were covered in cold sweat, and their eyes were filled with an overwhelming sense of fear and despair. Even their backs were taut, as if they were bearing an immense weight.

Su Fan finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Where did your arrogance go?

Su Fan waved his hand and said calmly, "Alright... get up, all of you..."

Upon hearing Su Fan's words, Jiu Gu and the others not only did not dare to move, but knelt even tighter, their knees trembling slightly as they pressed against the cold stone ground.

They were all ruthless killers with blood on their hands, yet they could clearly sense a chilling killing intent emanating from Su Fan's seemingly carefree demeanor.

It was a complete disregard for life, as if in Su Fan's eyes they were nothing more than ants that could be crushed at will.

Only a ruthless person who has emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood can possess such an air of ease, capable of taking lives with a mere smile.

Jiu Gu and the others were truly terrified. Each of them had gone through countless hardships and survived numerous life-or-death tribulations before barely breaking through to the Integration Realm.

Compared to one's own life, so-called dignity and pride are nothing but insignificant illusions.

Seeing that the group was still kneeling in place with terrified expressions, not daring to even lift their heads, Su Fan's smile deepened, but he had his own plans in mind.

The trial has only just begun. If he kills these guys now, he will no longer be able to remain hidden behind the scenes.

Su Fan always disliked trouble, so after thinking it over, he decided to spare their lives for now and deal with them after the trial ended.

"Get up..."

His tone softened slightly, but it carried an undeniable forcefulness.

"Today, I will spare your lives for now..."

These words were like a pardon. Jiu Gu and the others breathed a sigh of relief, their tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and all their strength seemed to be drained away in an instant, almost causing them to collapse to the ground.

Before Su Fan could speak again, the group immediately knelt down and kowtowed, their heads slamming hard against the stone ground with a dull thud, and blood quickly seeped from their foreheads.

"Thank you, Senior Brother, for sparing my life... Thank you, Senior Brother, for sparing my life..."

The voices of the group trembled with the shock of surviving a disaster, repeating the same thing over and over again, not daring to be perfunctory in the slightest.

Su Fan frowned, a clear look of annoyance flashing across his face.
"You all know what to do in the next trial, right...?"

Jiu Gu and the others were all old foxes who had lived for over ten thousand years. They were very perceptive and could easily understand Su Fan's intentions.

The group nodded vigorously, their tone respectful.

"I know...I know..."

Su Fan nodded slightly, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

"I don't want to hear about what happened today from a second person, understand..."

“Understood…Understood…” Jiugu and the others quickly responded.

"Don't worry, senior brother, we will not reveal a single word about what happened today..."

After hearing this, Su Fan said nothing more, slowly raised his right hand, and gently tapped the group.

Jiugu and the others felt a cool sensation instantly flood their consciousness, so fast that they didn't have time to react.

The group was startled and quickly activated their divine senses to carefully search their sea of ​​consciousness. However, after searching repeatedly, they still could not find anything unusual.

But they knew very well that the cool aura was either a restriction or a killing move he had placed.

From now on, with just a thought from Su Fan, their sea of ​​consciousness will instantly vanish into nothingness, their souls annihilated.

Having figured this out, the fear in their hearts deepened, and their gazes toward Su Fan were filled with nothing but awe and submission.

Su Fan slowly lowered his hand, then glanced at them with a smile. His figure gradually became ethereal, slowly merging into the air like smoke, as if he had never appeared in this stone house.

Only after Su Fan's aura completely dissipated did Jiu Gu and the others dare to slowly raise their heads, collapsing to the ground and panting heavily.

His back was already soaked with cold sweat, his face was as pale as paper, and his eyes still held the lingering fear.

After a long while, one of them finally recovered and looked at Jiugu with a trembling voice.

"Senior brother... just who is this kid...?"

Upon hearing this, Jiu Gu couldn't help but sigh heavily, his face filled with bitterness and confusion.

"You're asking me... who the hell am I supposed to ask..."

The other person frowned and said in a deep voice, "Senior brother, in our Zhengyuan Heaven, no... even in the entire Yuanmang Constellation, we have never heard of such a powerful Integration Realm cultivator..."

Jiugu slowly shook his head, his eyes filled with solemnity.

"I don't know. I've lived for over ten thousand years, and I've never even heard of such strength, let alone seen it before..."

Even now, the thought of the utter despair he felt, being completely at the mercy of others and powerless to resist, still fills him with lingering fear, and his whole body trembles uncontrollably.

Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, Jiu Gu opened his eyes wide and sat up abruptly, his voice tinged with uncertainty and urgency.

"Su Fan... don't you guys find this name somewhat familiar...?"

Upon hearing his words, a fellow disciple standing nearby widened his eyes in shock, but after a moment he slowly shook his head.

"Impossible... It can't be him. That prodigy has only been gone for a few hundred years. How could his cultivation level have broken through to the late stage of the Integration Realm..."

Upon hearing this, the several Nascent Soul Realm elders inside the stone house were all shaken, their faces showing shock, and they all fell into deep thought.

That once infamous and monstrous genius also seems to be named Su Fan.

Jiugu slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, all that remained in his eyes was a weary resignation.

"Whether he is that monster or not, from now on, we can only listen to him and accept our fate..."

When Su Fan returned to the sect's residence, it was already late at night, the moonlight was hazy, and all was quiet.

Without alerting anyone in the sect, he returned to his stone house silently, like a ghost, and sat cross-legged on the jade couch inside.

Su Fan smirked. He thought that the slight punishment he had just given those guys should keep them in line for a while.

But it doesn't matter. If they dare to cause any trouble or leak even a word about what happened today, we'll just wipe them out.

The next morning, Song Yuanze and the others waited outside Su Fan's stone house early in the morning.

They all looked anxious, their brows furrowed. No one knew what the outcome would be when Su Fan went to visit Jiu Gu today.

After all, Jiu Gu and the others were notoriously ruthless figures from the Demonic Sect, and the group was still uncertain about their chances.

"Come in..."

Just as the group waited anxiously and speculated among themselves, Su Fan's calm and composed voice came from inside the stone house.

Without daring to delay, the group quickly straightened their robes and hurried into the stone house. They looked up and saw Su Fan still sitting cross-legged on the jade couch.

“I already reached an agreement with Jiu Gu last night…” Su Fan opened his eyes, glanced at the group, and spoke calmly.

"From now on, just go about your business as usual. He won't cause you any more trouble..."

Upon hearing this, Song Yuanze and the others were completely dumbfounded, their eyes filled with disbelief.

The group exchanged glances. "Brother, can we stop messing around?"

If you went to see Jiugu last night, how could we have been completely unaware?

Moreover, with Jiu Gu's arrogant and ruthless nature, how could he possibly give up so easily?

Despite their doubts, they dared not question Su Fan's words and could only grit their teeth and agree before turning to head to the pre-battle meeting of the "Holy Demon Palace" organization.

This is a necessary step before the trial begins. In the past, the disciples of the Demon Sun Divine Palace were always used as cannon fodder. The group had already prepared for the worst.

When the group rushed to the conference hall, they found the atmosphere inside to be unusually strange. The people seated at the head of the table, including Jiu Gu, showed no of their usual contempt or hostility when they glanced at them; in fact, they didn't even have a hint of extra emotion, as if they were nothing more than air.

What baffled them most was that when the old monsters at the Integration Realm of the "Holy Demon God Palace" were discussing and formulating the trial plan, the trial disciples of the Demon Sun God Palace, who were usually regarded as cannon fodder, were actually designated as the reserve team.

This means that the disciples of the Demon Sun Divine Palace will not need to be at the forefront of the trial and will no longer need to die needlessly, thus greatly increasing their survival rate.

It should be noted that in previous trials, the disciples of the Demon Sun Divine Palace were always the first to charge into battle and suffered the heaviest losses.

Almost every time, they suffered more than half their casualties, becoming stepping stones for other sects.

Even if Song Yuanze and the others were completely oblivious, they had already realized that something was amiss.

This is clearly Jiu Gu and the others deliberately taking care of their Demon Sun Divine Palace.

At this moment, the group remembered what Su Fan had said that morning, and most of their doubts vanished instantly. They finally believed that Su Fan must have really talked with Jiu Gu last night.

Moreover, it must have been done in an absolutely dominant way that intimidated Jiu Gu and the others.

How Su Fan actually did it is no longer important at this moment.

The important thing is that the Demon Sun Divine Palace has indeed received special care. After this trial, the losses of the disciples will certainly not be as heavy as in the past, and most of them may even be able to survive until the end of the trial.

Thinking of this, the huge weight was finally lifted from their hearts, and their awe of Su Fan deepened even further.

As night fell, the group rushed back to the sect's headquarters, barely catching their breath before arriving at Su Fan's stone house.

Before they could even raise their hands to knock on the door, Su Fan's slightly impatient voice came from inside the stone house.

"Don't bother me unless it's important..."

The smiles on their faces froze instantly. In the end, they didn't dare to disturb Su Fan and could only retreat dejectedly.

A few days later, the trial officially began.

Su Fan and the others boarded the flying boat again. The flying boat roared and tore through the starry sky, rushing towards the dense cluster of plane fragments in the distant starry sky.

The spaceship sped through the vast sea of ​​stars for more than ten days, traversing countless nebulae and dust, and finally arrived above a fragment of a planet.

Su Fan slowly walked to the porthole of the flying boat and looked down at the fragments of the seat.

This fragmented continent is extremely vast, stretching as far as the eye can see, like a desolate land floating in the starry sky.

However, the entire fragmented continent was shrouded in a thick, dense fog. The fog churned and blocked out the sun, making it impossible to see the specific scene below.

What's even more unsettling is that blinding flashes of light occasionally disappear into the mist, so fast that they're too fast to catch, and you can vaguely sense the violent energy they contain.

It's easy to guess that this fragmented continent, which serves as a trial ground, must have an extremely harsh environment, fraught with hidden dangers.

Just then, black dots were seen being thrown out from the flying boats of various sects, like countless seeds, scattering across the fragmented continent shrouded in thick fog.

Those are the trial disciples from various sects. They will descend upon the trial grounds in this way to begin this life-or-death trial.

Watching the trial disciples disappear one by one into the thick fog, their figures instantly swallowed up, Su Fan slowly took a deep breath, a complex expression flashing in his eyes.

He recalled when he participated in the trials, just like these disciples, being thrown into an unknown and dangerous place without warning.

Alone, struggling to survive on the edge of life and death.

Given such a brutal trial, how many of the thousands of disciples of the Demon Sun Divine Palace will survive in the end?

The first few days of the trial are always the most brutal and dangerous phase of the entire trial.

Disciples from various sects of the Demonic Path were randomly scattered across different corners of the Fragmented Continent, isolated from each other and without any help.

Therefore, these first few days were an extremely severe life-or-death test for every trial disciple.

They not only had to survive alone in unfamiliar and harsh environments, avoiding unknown dangers, but also had to be constantly vigilant against attacks from disciples of other sects.

Only by surviving these few days and finding fellow disciples nearby can we slightly reduce the danger.

Even so, the dangers involved are still considerable.

The trials of the Demonic Sect have always been cruel and merciless.

Countless disciples of the Demonic Sect perished in the trials, with a survival rate of less than 30% in many trials.

But this is also a trial that every disciple of the Demonic Sect must go through. If they want to establish themselves in the Demonic Sect, break through their realm, and seek immortality, they must cross this life-or-death barrier.

Therefore, the disciples participating in this trial were already mentally prepared for death and annihilation, and each of them had a firm look in their eyes and was fearless of death.

Once all the trial disciples had been thrown into that fragmented continent, sounds of fighting and screams gradually rose from the mist.

The Nascent Soul Realm cultivators from various sects of the Demonic Path also flew out of their flying boats, hovering above the fragmented continent, their gazes coldly surveying everything below.

They are the supervisors of the trials and the supporters of their respective sects' disciples, but they will not easily intervene. They will only appear when their sects face annihilation.

Su Fan slowly rose and stepped out of the flying boat, his figure hovering steadily in the high sky.

His eyes narrowed, and he unleashed his divine sense without reservation, like an invisible net that instantly enveloped the entire fragmented continent.

Everything on the mainland was laid out before them.

The environment of this fragmented continent was even harsher than anyone had anticipated.

Besides the dense fog that blots out the sky, the continent is also covered with unseen spatial rifts, which are extremely well hidden.

If one is not careful, one could be caught up in it and instantly torn apart by the power of space, losing both body and soul.

what……

Su Fan raised an eyebrow slightly, his expression shifting subtly.

He clearly sensed that on this seemingly lifeless fragmented continent, there were several places where raging flames would occasionally erupt.

The flames shot into the sky, but vanished in an instant, so fast it seemed like an illusion.

He immediately frowned; these dimensional fragments were mostly remnants left over from the great war.

These are all lifeless, barren lands, devoid of vegetation, yet the rare mineral veins beneath the surface are often preserved.

But he had just clearly sensed that the places where flames were erupting contained a rich aura of subterranean fire.

This indicates that beneath this fragmented continent, there must be a vast mineral vein, and its grade must be quite high.

However, the exact grade of the hidden mineral vein remains unknown at this moment.

Su Fan wasn't in a hurry, a knowing glint in his eyes.

Because we'll find out soon.

He knew in his heart that once the disciples of the three major demonic sects gathered together and formed the initial shape of their forces, a brutal war would inevitably break out in order to compete for the resources of this continent.

The reason why the various sects of the Zhengyuan Heavenly Demon Sect chose this unknown fragmented continent as their trial ground is ostensibly to hone their disciples, but in reality, it is also to compete for the right to develop this continent.

After the trial ends, the faction that controls the most resources will be the ultimate winner.

As expected, it wasn't long before the disciples of the various demonic sects scattered throughout this fragmented continent met, and a series of brutal battles erupted across the continent.

Sword cultivators excel at killing, while demonic cultivators excel at fighting.

Moreover, demonic cultivators are never bound by rules, unlike sword cultivators who are rigid. When fighting, they can be said to use any means necessary.

There is only one purpose: to kill the opponent.

Therefore, battles between demonic cultivators are often more brutal and tragic than those between other cultivators.

At this moment, the fragmented continent was filled with screams, the clash of weapons, and the explosions of spiritual energy, all intertwined and echoing through the sky.

Every moment, people die and their souls perish, turning into a handful of dust on this continent.

The old monsters at the Integration Realm, who were suspended high in the sky, had long been accustomed to such life-and-death battles, and their expressions were all indifferent and unmoved.

To them, the life and death of their disciples were merely part of the trial.

Only through the tempering of blood can true strongmen be born, and only then can a sect continue to exist.

(End of this chapter)