Chapter 173: Absurd

Even though he may look like he was sulking, Wang Hao was actually calm regarding what happened to him. In fact, he was quite delighted that he received the bracer treatment.

Once he and his companions were teleported on the mountain, Wang Hao immediately felt a powerful force trying to slow him down. This force came from the peak, emanating out towards the base of the mountain.

If Wang Hao could compare this force to something, he can say that walking against this force was like walking against the flowing water. No matter what you do, you will get affected by it. And the nearer you are to the source, the stronger pressure you will feel.

But with Wang Hao’s ability to nullify energy-based attacks, he easily shrugged it off. He gave a discreet look to his followers and saw that they were affected by this pressure. Wang Hao could not use a powerful divine sense because of the cultivation restriction. Because of this, he had no idea what the other teams were doing.

The trial mountain that he was also had a forest on its slopes. The trees around them limited Wang Hao’s vision.

“.....” Wang Hao then decided to that stunt with him climbing the mountain quickly and attempting to seat on the throne. Wang Hao knew that the supervisors of this trial will surely be surprised seeing Wang Hao shrugging of the pressure. Now, Wang Hao waited for their response.

To his disappointment, none of them made a move.

“You forced me then.” Wang Hao then started his boulder-throwing exhibition. When he was about to attack Siwang Wangzi’s group, it was then that the supervisors dealt with Wang Hao, making him wear physical restraints.

This was the right move, since Wang Hao cannot manipulate matter.

Now that he was back with his teammates, Wang Hao managed to gather key pieces of information from that confrontation.

“When I ran up the mountain, the organizers showed no care. It seems like they do not care even if I even gain a throne through my unique methods. But when Siwang Wangzi’s life was in danger, they wasted no time restraining me.” Wang Hao had a solemn look on his face as he realized that Siwang Wangzi seemed to have a great support from the event organizers.

“Tsk, of course that’s plausible, since Siwang Wangzi was a descendant of the Yama. Keeping him alive is a must.” Wang Hao clicked his teeth, knowing that killing Siwang Wangzi will be difficult here.

But Fang Lin has to kill him, for the sake of the safety of the Planet Thrae. It was his responsibility as Fang Lin’s master to at least help the planet out. Besides, Wang Hao sought refuge on this planet when he was weak.

This made him clearly fond of the planet. As such, those that can endanger the planet like Siwang Wangzi must be eliminated.

“If I do not get a place in this trial, Planet Thrae is screwed. To make sure that it will be safe, Siwang Wangzi has to die, whether I get a throne or not!”

30 minutes passed by, and everyone in the mountain grew accustomed to the pressure. They were now moving faster, wanting to gain the higher vantage.

Those at the higher position can see the opposing teams. This will give those teams advantage for ambushes.

As for Wang Hao, since he almost reached the peak earlier, he had already memorized the initial positions of each of the other 35 teams, especially Huo Huangdi and Siwang Wangzi. Wang Hao decided to avoid these two first, since it will be more beneficial to confront them later.

“Let’s go this way.” Wang Hao said to his followers as he walked forward. Just like his followers, Wang Hao also started to get accustomed with the braces put on him.

He made his group walk in this direction for the interception of another team. Their team leader was at the 60th rank, and they had 7 choices left.

Wang Hao decided assaulting them, since he wanted to test out the fighting abilities of him and his followers. Besides, he wanted to show-off.

How could he not? He’s being watched by everyone now! This was his chance to gather his soon to be die-hard fans.

Electricity cackled on his fingertips as he thought to himself,

“If you are climbing a mountain with creepy dead beings, who are you gonna call? Soulbusters!”

......

Gabrielle, Bob and Krull managed to calm themselves after Wang Hao’s surprising act. Now that he was restrained, the trial can resume.

“Well after that awkward situation, we are right back on track!” Gabrielle beamed as she pointed to the image on the screen.

“Right now, you can see that Huo Huangdi’s group successfully confronted SlitherEye’s group. Bob, who do you think will win if they fight?”

“Well... SlitherEye was a Divine Beast, the King Python. But compared to Huo Huangdi’s Blaze Stallion Godly Divine Beast Bloodline, you can already tell the difference.” Bob tried to make the match-up sound interesting, but it fell flat just from the sheer difference in bloodline alone.

“Well, the King Python Bloodline can grant SlitherEye some way to fight against Huo Huangdi right?” Gabrielle knew the audience will get bored from this match-up so she tried to find a way to make it interesting.

Bob lazily flicked its tentacles as it said,

“The King Python Bloodline grants SlitherEye the ability to transform into the King Python. At that form, SlitherEye will have increased durability and attacking power. And do not forget the signature finishing move of a python, the Constrction!”

“Constriction?” Honestly, this attack sounded lame to Gabrielle. But she did not dare to point it out as she let Bob continue talking.

“It was said that once a King Python gets a coil on its opponent, as long as the opponent was at least half-realm stronger than it, the King Python can constrict it to death!”

Krull then rolled across the desk, as it started talking too.

“As for Huo Huangdi, his Blaze Stallion Bloodline grants him the power to wield any kinds of flames in the universe! No matter what kinds of flames Huo Huangdi encounters, he cannot be affected by it. You can say he is the Flame Sovereign!”

“Does that mean he can control all the Universe Flames?” Gabrielle’s excited tone was palpable, even to the audience.

“Yes, that’s true.” Krull replied gravely. “But finding a Universe Flame was extremely hard. Though I am sure Huo Huangdi has at least one Universe Flame now.”

Gabrielle raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed by hearing this fact from Bob.

Gabrielle knew the rarity of Universe Flames, and the destructive power contained within them.

Universe Flames were flames that were born of the Universe itself. They have existed since the time immemorial.

All in all, there were 12 Universe Flames, each with unique name and abilities. They were not ranked, since subduing even just one of these flames requires extreme luck and willpower. There is a high chance of dying from attempting to control even just one Universe Flame.

But even with this threat, many still searched for these flames, since even one can boost the power of a practitioner. It was also said that if all the Universe Flames were gathered, a powerful flame will be born, that will have the power comparable to that of a Universe Treasure!

Of course this was just a pipe dream to almost everyone.

But this was not the case for Huo Huangdi.

With his Blaze Stallion bloodline, he will not even be hurt by any of the Universe Flames. He can just grab one without it hurting him.

Even if Huo Huangdi manages to catch one, controlling it will not be that easy, since each of the Universe Flames were sentient. Aside from surviving a Universe Flames’ power, a practitioner must also gain the approval of the Universe Flame if he/she wanted to wield it.

In Huo Huangdi’s case, his only problem was to coax a Universe Flame to follow him. As for how those conversations go, nobody else knew.

It was because nobody knew how many Universe Flames Huo Huangdi has! It was already granted that he will have at least one Universe Flame, but never in his life that Huo Huangdi showed any of his flames. Those who have seen it have already died under Huo Huangdi’s hand. Their souls were exterminated, ensuring that nobody will know about Huo Huangdi’s flames.

Even here in the Underworld, he had not yet shown the might of his Universe Flames.

“It will be cool if he shows those flames today.” Gabrielle and Bob gave a rueful smile as they knew there were few things in this trial that can force him to use the Universe Flames.

But then their jaws dropped when they saw something dancing on Huo Huangdi’s right palm.

It was a golden colored flame.

When Gabrielle looked at this golden flame, her body shivered in fear, as if this flame was something that can wipe her out of existence.

“I cannot believe it! It’s the Soul Purging Flame!” Bob’s trembling voice could be heard behind Gabrielle. Gabrielle felt pity for SlitherEye as she knew the power of the Soul Purging Flame.

Just like what its name says, the Soul Purging Flame was a Universe Flame focused on souls. It had no effect on material objects, yet it can dissipate a soul with just the slightest of its touch.

As such, this Universe Flame was considered to be one of the greatest threat to the Underworld. Those with grudges to the Underworld sought for this flame desperately, since they knew this flame can bring the downfall of the Underworld.

But the Soul Purging Flame stayed elusive, with no expert ever finding it.

But with its rarity, who would have thought that this flame will actually be on the hands of Huo Huangdi!

Everyone in the Underworld cheered silently, realizing that one of the things that can destroy them was now under the control of one of their residents. They then started at their screens, hoping to see the effect of the Soul Purging Flames.

Gabrielle then heard SlitherEye hysterically shouting.

“That’s the Soul Purging Flames you are holding! How come you, who was also a soul cannot be affected by it!”

After hearing this query, Huo Huangdi coolly replied,

“It’s because I am the Flame Sovereign.” He flicked the Soul Purging Flames on his palm, and some embers of it flew towards SlitherEye’s group.

SlitherEye and his followers tried to dodge, but they were too late.

The embers which was as small as a grain of sand landed on the bodies of SlitherEye’s group. Everyone could only watch in horror as holes began to appear on the victim’s soul bodies.

The holes grew bigger, eating up more and more of SlitherEye’s body. He could only watch in despair as his body started disappearing as the holes got larger. What made it more scarier was that he felt no pain from the flames.

“Nooo!!!” That was the last word that SlitherEye could say as he and his followers disappeared entirely.

“.....”

Everyone now knew that they must not offend Huo Huangdi or else, it will be them who could be next.

Gabrielle was the one who broke the silence as she asked Bob,

“Well that was something. But why did Huo Huangdi decided to use that flames now? With his fighting prowess, I am sure he has no need to use that flames. But why did he use it?”

Bob tersely replied, “I think he was using it to probe someone.”

“He was probing someone with a Universe Flame?” Gabrielle felt something was amiss with that. Does that mean Huo Huangdi was so wary of someone that he had to use a Universe Flame?

“That’s what I feel.” Bob said lackadaisically as he stared at the audience. “As for who that person was, I am sure it will be an exciting match-up once they meet!”

“Exciting indeed.” Gabrielle was then about to discuss about Huo Huangdi’s potential additional flames when she saw Wang Hao doing something ridiculous again.

Right now, Wang Hao was fighting another group which was ranked 60. When they met earlier, the opponents chose flee, while Wang Hao chose fight. With Wang Hao being at the higher rank, his opponents had no choice but to face him.

Suddenly, sparks of lightning appeared in Wang Hao’s hand. Just like the Soul Purging Flame, Gabrielle felt instinctive fear from seeing that lightning.

“I cannot believe it! Wang Hao was wielding an Imperial Lightning!” This is the third time that Bob was surprised today. He could hardly believe that Wang Hao was actually wielding one of the Imperial Lightnings!

Unlike the Universe Flames, Imperial Lightnings were created during a heavenly tribulation.

A heavenly tribulation can only happen when a heaven-defying cultivator or items appear. The heavenly tribulation will attempt to destroy these objects.

The Imperial Lightnings that will appear on a heavenly tribulation depends on the kind of person or object that the heavenly tribulation wants to eradicate.

All in all, there were 12 types of Imperial Lightning recorded in history. Attempting to wield one of them will be difficult. First, a heavenly tribulation must appear first. Only at that time that an imperial lightning will appear.

Just like the Universe Flames, anyone who attempts to control an Imperial Lightning will most likely killed. But even with that threat, many still covet to obtain an Imperial Lightning.

Wielding one will grant a power boost to the practitioner. And just like the Universe Flames, it was said that combining all Imperial Lightnings will produce a lightning with a power comparable to that of a Universe Treasure!

“As for what type of Imperial Lightning that was, I am sure that it’s the Soul Exterminating Lightning!” Bob said while its tentacles flailed around agitatedly. “It only appears to eradicate heaven-defying souls. Just like the Soul Purging Flames, the Soul Exterminating Lightning deals the most damage to the soul!”

Krull could only shake its whole body as it said,

“With the Soul Exterminating Lightning in his hand, Wang Hao can easily crush his opponents now.” Krull then made its head stand upright as it mulled. “Hmm... So Wang Hao has a bloodline related to lightning, how interesting!”

“.......” Gabrielle gave Wang Hao a complicated look as she thought to herself,

“Please no more surprises from now on!”