CHAPTER 57: THE MOST CHALLENGING? YOU CALL THIS THE MOST CHALLENGING?

Nantian Wan'er rushed forward the moment she saw the Flame Demon smash Lu Chen into the red teleportation formation. "Lu-gege..."

Watching the glowing formation flickering nonstop, Nantian Wan'er grew anxious and worried. "What did you do to Lu-gege?"

Flame Demon clapped his hands and turned to look at her, contorting his face into something that vaguely resembled a gentle expression. "Relax. This stage is the easiest for him. I was even going to give him a hint, but who knew he'd be so ungrateful and pick the color I hate the most?"

His grotesque features frightened Nantian Wan'er, making her instinctively lower her head. "Then what should I do?"

Seeing her reaction, Flame Demon realized she was still afraid of him. His voice softened even more. "Little girl, just head in. This place is well-suited for someone with the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline."

Joy lit up her face. "Really? Thank you, Lord Flame Demon. I'll go now."

She sneaked a glance at him, bowed respectfully, then shut her eyes and dashed into the red teleportation formation.

Once she disappeared into the formation, Flame Demon summoned a spirit qi mirror before him.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror, then twisted his face further to force a smile. He murmured, "Hmm? It doesn't look that bad. Why did she run off so fast?"

***

Once she reappeared inside the trial grounds, Nantian Wan'er found herself standing in the middle of a vast open plain.

She lifted her gaze and began scanning the area for Lu Chen. "This looks like a miniature version of the Wild Plains..."

In the distance, she could barely make out the silhouettes of beasts running across the land. Then, on top of a massive boulder not far away, she finally spotted Lu Chen.

She walked over to him and asked, "Lu-gege, what are you doing? Is this part of the trial?"

Her eyes drifted to the boulder. The word "Battle" was carved into its surface, with a long spear embedded right at the center. Lu Chen stood with one foot on each side of the inscription, gripping the spear with both hands as he shook it with all his strength.

Hearing her voice, Lu Chen stopped what he was doing and hopped down to her side, and immediately started complaining. "Hm? Wan'er, why did it take you so long to get in? You don't know how insane that Flame Demon is. He nearly smashed me to death!"

Nantian Wan'er burst into laughter at his dramatic tone. "Hehe

, Lu-gege, Lord Flame Demon was only trying to pick an easy one for you."

"Easy? More like twisted amusement. Forget it."

Lu Chen turned back toward the long spear on the boulder, scratching his head in frustration. "That lunatic made me pick a color, didn't explain a thing, and now I have no idea how to start the trial."

"Lord Flame Demon didn't tell me either."

Nantian Wan'er was born with the ability to sense beasts. The moment she saw the spear, she already recognized it as the Metal General in disguise.

She looked at the spear and said, "Why don't you ask Lord Metal General?"

Lu Chen glanced at the spear and scratched his head again. "Ask? But he's not even here."

Lu Chen also carried a trace of the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline and could use it to some extent, but he lacked Nantian Wan'er's talent for sensing beasts. Naturally, he hadn't realized the spear was actually the beast chieftain himself.

"Huh? So you've got the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline. That explains it..."

The black spear on the boulder broke free from its bindings. Its shaft thickened and expanded, swirling in the sky before landing beside Nantian Wan'er. A face slowly emerged on its surface.

The spear leaned forward and sniffed around her. "No doubt about it. Little girl, you've got the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline, haven't you?"

Nantian Wan'er bowed respectfully toward the spear. "Yes, Lord Metal General. I do possess the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline."

Upon hearing her confirmation, the face on the spear twisted, growing more contorted by the second. "Emmm... So it really is the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline."

"This is troublesome. That old geezer Wind Dragon didn't even bother to give us a heads-up."

His expression twisted further in frustration, and his once-solid metallic spear body began to soften, coiling around itself like melted metal.

Metal General hovered anxiously in the sky, his spear body now reduced to a puddle of liquid. "What do we do now? The trial has already begun. There's no turning back."

Just then, he caught sight of Lu Chen standing behind him and instantly snapped back into his spear form.

Metal General dropped down in front of Lu Chen with a chuckle. "There's still a way! There's still a way to fix this!"

"Future Beast King, since you possess the Green Sovereign bloodline, you obviously don't carry the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline, right?"

Metal General quickly formed hand seals and turned to Lu Chen. "In that case, let's begin our trial—"

"Phoenix Ancestor bloodline? You mean this?"

Lu Chen raised his hand and channeled his spirit qi. The Fire Phoenix Mark appeared on his forehead.

A powerful aura meant to suppress beastkind surged from Lu Chen's body. The surrounding beasts instantly froze. None dared to move, and they all dropped to their knees facing Lu Chen.

Sensing the aura coming from Lu Chen, Metal General couldn't help but curse Wind Dragon aloud. "That's the mark... is that the Beast King's Fire Phoenix? That damned Wind Dragon! He never told us anything!"

Thinking the cursing meant there was still hope of taking part in the trial, Lu Chen quickly stepped forward. "Metal General, how do I begin the trial?"

However, to Metal General, Lu Chen's words felt like his chest was being stabbed with a knife.

Metal General's spear tip twisted sharply as he roared, "You brat! Go play somewhere else! A trial? You still think you can take the trial like this?!"

Lu Chen shouted back, clearly feeling wronged, "What's that supposed to mean? You guys were the ones who forced me into this trial in the first place! Now you're telling me to get lost?"

"What else do you want? I've spent a thousand years preparing for this trial!"

Metal General stared at everything within the secret realm. He looked as if he were on the verge of tears, but he forced himself to hold them in for the sake of his pride. "All those years of effort... all to welcome the next Beast King into the trial. And what do I get? This ridiculous pair."

From the look on his face, it was clear Metal General was already at his breaking point. Just then, Nantian Wan'er's hands glowed with a soft light as she gently stroked the long spear. She said, "Metal General, cheer up. We are here, aren't we?"

"I'm fine," Metal General replied stiffly, lifting his head to look at her as he tried his best to maintain composure.

Seeing her stroke the spear, Lu Chen felt helpless. He muttered, "Huh? Wan'er, why does it look like you are comforting him? Am I not the one who should feel awful?"

He slowly approached, hoping to take this chance to observe Metal General's metal body up close.

But as he neared, Metal General conjured four to five mini spears and shot them straight at Lu Chen.

Lu Chen quickly leaped back onto a nearby rock to evade the attacks.

After narrowly avoiding the spears, Lu Chen stared at Metal General, full of confusion. "Metal General, what are you doing? I was just worried about you."

To Metal General, those words felt like pure mockery. His fury erupted.

He manifested a massive spear and stabbed it down beside Lu Chen's feet. "Don't bother me! The rules are written right on that rock! Once the trial is over, get lost!"

With those words, Metal General shot up into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.

Lu Chen shouted to the sky, "The trial's rules? I've been looking and haven't seen a single word!"

Nantian Wan'er looked at the stone and said with a giggle, "Lu-gege, there are words at your feet. I think I know why Metal General is so upset. Look at the stone under your feet."

Lu Chen looked down again. The long spear had transformed into spirit qi, forming words on the stone surface.

Lu Chen softly read it out, "Subdue 1,000 demonic beasts of the same cultivation realm using any method."

He immediately burst into loud, pig-like laughter. "Hahaha! This is it? This is the trial? This is way too easy. I seriously don't know how Grandpa Sixth picked these chieftains! Each one is dumber than the last!"

High above, Metal General wept silently while cursing Lu Chen with every fiber of his being.

This was supposed to be the most difficult of the three trials. He had even thought about going easy on Lu Chen out of fairness.

Instead, he was now facing two absolute anomalies. The Phoenix Ancestor bloodline naturally suppressed demonic beasts, especially lower-level ones.

In other words, this trial had ended before even beginning.

***

Back on the stone, Lu Chen stood tall and shouted toward the sky in a taunting tone, "Come on, let's get started already! I'm ready!"

The moment his words left his lips, the spiritual characters on the stone scattered into the wind. Like invisible signals, they swept across the grasslands, seeping into every demonic beast nearby.

Sensing the spirit qi signal, the beasts instantly went berserk and charged toward Lu Chen.

Lu Chen shouted, "Bring it on!"

He then unleashed his spirit qi to its maximum. The Fire Phoenix Mark glowed brightly on his forehead. The moment the rampaging beasts entered a ten-zhang radius around him, they were struck by an invisible pressure and instantly calmed down.

"Hah, watch me tame them all in one go."

With a confident grin, Lu Chen flew into the air. His spirit qi surged again, and the Fire Phoenix Mark burned ever brighter. As he soared over the plains, wave after wave of beasts beneath him fell silent and docile.

One... two... and three... In just ten minutes, every beast on the vast plains had been subdued.

Lu Chen landed, then shouted up at the sky, "Metal General! There is only one left! Let it out already! I'm in a hurry. Can I move on to the next stage now?"

Metal General watched from above, fuming as he stared at Lu Chen's smug expression.

He quickly formed a hand seal and drew upon the power of heaven and earth. A strand of his core power split from him and shot deep underground toward the last demonic beast—the Thousand-Legged Centipede.

"Roar..."

As the core power fused into its body, the aura of the Thousand-Legged Centipede, which had originally been only at the first level of the Qi Regulation Realm, quickly started rising.