The charming widow of the Marquis's mansion: The stable boy carries the flag and raises the dra

The moment the Emperor of Longevity finished speaking, the Haotian Divine Deer, which had been standing quietly in the center of the square, slowly raised its head.

Its movements are not fast, and can even be described as elegant.

Its pale golden scales gleamed warmly in the morning light, and its gnarled antlers resembled an ancient crown. Its gentle yet profound eyes calmly swept over the figures gazing up at it, as if watching a group of young beasts about to step into the trial grounds.

The next moment, a long and deep deer cry gushed from its throat.

The sound was not initially deafening; it even carried an almost compassionate gentleness, like a breeze from ancient times brushing across the face of everyone in the square.

But the instant the deer's cry touched their eardrums, a deep, resonant echo resounded from the depths of everyone's consciousness, like a command far more ancient than language.

Wang Long's pupils suddenly contracted.

He felt the ground beneath his feet disappear.

It wasn't a fall; it was more like being ripped from space itself by some unseen hand.

The sea of ​​clouds surging around the square, the viewing platform, and the edge of the Sendai—all familiar landmarks were instantly erased, their outlines vanishing into a flowing expanse of light and shadow.

He subconsciously turned his head to look at Ye Niannu beside him.

She was still there, her light blue figure clear and steady in the light and shadow, her hand tightly gripping his wrist, her knuckles slightly white from the force.

She was looking at him, her gaze showing no panic, only a resolute expression.

Further away, the figures of Zhou Yanzhi, Chen Yuanzhi, and other disciples from the Eastern Region also floated in the light and shadow, their expressions shifting from shock to bewilderment, and then to struggling to steady themselves.

Someone opened their mouth, but the sound was swallowed up by the flowing light and shadow.

Wang Long tried to use his mental energy to perceive his surroundings, but found that the mental energy threads that he usually used with ease became sluggish and sluggish in this light and shadow, as if they had been plunged into a pool of viscous deep water.

But he could sense that a gentle yet irresistible force was pulling everyone in a certain direction, like a riverbed guiding a river.

After an unknown amount of time, the flowing light and shadow suddenly froze.

Wang Long's feet landed firmly on the ground again. The soil beneath his feet was dry and flat, with a hard, solid feel that came from years of wind and sun exposure.

He released Ye Niannu's wrist and looked around.

A plain.

An endless plain.

The ground was light brown, dry soil, as even as a meticulously cultivated wasteland, without any undulations, hills, rivers, or trees.

At the edge of the field of vision was a layer of grayish-white mist, enveloping the entire plain in a limited space, like a huge cage surrounded by invisible walls.

The sky overhead was a uniform and soft grayish-white, without any light source, yet bright enough to see every corner clearly.

There was no sunrise or sunset, no churning clouds, not even a breeze.

Wang Long glanced down at the soil beneath his feet, then looked up at the gray-white sky, quickly assessing the nature of this space in his mind.

Ye Niannu stood beside him, also looking around, and after a moment she whispered.

"My lord, this space... seems to have been specially created."

"Um."

Wang Long nodded.

"The rules are clear, the environment is constant, there are no unnecessary variables, it is a clean and pure testing ground."

Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion.

The disciples from the Eastern Region gradually emerged from the light and shadow, some staggering several steps before regaining their balance, while others remained in the posture of instinctively gripping their weapons when they were teleported.

After Zhou Yanzhi regained his footing, he immediately looked around and saw Wang Long and Ye Niannu not far away, and he visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Yuanzhi patted the dust off his clothes and leaned closer to whisper.

"Prince Wang, where is this place? How did we suddenly get here?"

Wang Long did not answer immediately because his attention was drawn to a change taking place in the sky.

In the center of that gray-white sky, a golden light silently shone forth, then spread outwards, forming a huge, semi-transparent light curtain.

Within the light screen, countless images are slowly emerging, like windows being opened one by one.

Among those images, Wang Long saw a familiar figure.

Contestants from the Southern Region, Western Region, Northern Region, and Central Region appeared in a space identical to the plain beneath their feet.

The same gray sky, the same boundless wilderness, the same boundary fog—the five great domains were separated into five identical trial grounds, independent of each other, yet connected by that enormous light curtain.

At that moment, everyone on Sendai understood.

The cry of the Haotian Divine Deer drew all the participants from the five domains into the independent domains created by its five separate avatars.

Each major domain faces the exact same opponent, a peak Heavenly Sovereign level opponent.

Is it fair?

In terms of rules, it is indeed impeccably fair.

"Does this mean we all have to get vaccinated?"

Zhou Yanzhi looked up at the huge light screen, his voice a little dry.

"Each domain fights its own clone without interfering with the others, and in the end, it's a battle of who deals the most damage."

The scenery in the Northern Region had changed by this time.

On that plain in the northern region, a dozen contestants were staring blankly at the Haotian Divine Deer clone that was slowly taking shape in front of them.

It stood there quietly, its gentle eyes calmly watching the wary cultivators from the Northern Region, showing no intention of attacking.

The leader of the Northern Region was a rugged-looking middle-aged man. He quickly assessed the situation and gritted his teeth, letting out a low shout.

"Attack together! Focus your attacks on the head!"

More than a dozen cultivators from the Northern Region moved at the same time.

Some flew into the sky on their magical artifacts, while others flanked from the ground. Their magical artifacts were unsheathed, their spiritual light surging, and various attacks poured down on the clone of the Haotian Divine Deer like a torrential rain.

The flashing blades, imbued with sharp spiritual energy, slammed into the pale golden scales, producing a series of dense and muffled impacts.

However, the next second, everyone's expressions froze.

When those seemingly fierce attacks landed on the deer, they were like raindrops hitting rocks, not even causing a ripple.

The first longsword, imbued with spiritual energy, struck the base of the deer antlers. The blade trembled violently, and several fine cracks appeared on its edge. The antlers, however, remained completely still, without even losing any luster.

Several sword energies followed, striking the scales and making a series of crisp "clinking" sounds, like a child striking a bronze bell with a stick—loud but meaningless.

The clone of the Haotian Divine Deer didn't even blink.

The Northern Region leader's expression changed. He gritted his teeth and increased the output of his spiritual power. His long sword, imbued with even more violent power, slashed fiercely at the weakest gap in the deer's scales on its neck.

He used all his strength in this strike; the spiritual energy on the blade almost solidified, and the blade made a sharp whistling sound as it sliced ​​through the air.

The blade struck the gaps in the scales, sending sparks flying.