Cairen stood still for a few seconds, looking at the lake completely stained with blood, thinking about what had happened.
The waves were neither true nor false. They were both.
Those who believed they would die, died. Those who believed they would survive, survived. It was that simple.
The pain his body felt, the pressure that fell upon him, crushing him, was indeed real. But death only came for those who accepted it and did not fight against it.
Princess Ling was looking at the blood beneath her feet, she had passed through completely unscathed. She hadn't even taken a single step since she saw the waves rising.
She simply never believed she could die there without obtaining the inheritance. She would not die to the wave, such a thing could not kill her. Ling didn't even use her Qi to strengthen her body.
Other people some quickly realized it was a test, while others survived purely through determination. Even dying of fear, they refused to accept their end.
Thus escaping their deaths.
As for Cairen, he had already died once. When something posed danger, he could somehow feel it, the same sensation he felt when the blade was about to cut his neck.
But from the wave, the only thing he felt was… a pressure greater than anything he had ever seen, but it would not bring him down.
Even knowing he wouldn't die, the pain had been hard to endure. He had suffered much before, but this was something else entirely, the sensation of being crushed by an ocean.
Mei Ran, on the other hand, survived because Cairen shouted at her to believe it wasn't real, and with her determination, she kept repeating in her mind that this was only a test.
Not far from them, people slowly began to wake up. The wave had swept away their bodies, and now everyone was relatively close together.
Some awoke in desperation, still thinking they might have died. But they were soon forced to calm down after realizing where they stood. Many quickly accepted the fact that others had died, especially the rogue cultivators, who were used to death all the time.
For Cairen, it didn't affect him. After his death and after witnessing the massacre of the Narakai race, it weighed on him far less than it should have.
Cairen then looked at Mei Ran and said,
"Get up and get ready. This is far from over. It may get even more dangerous."
She stepped closer and calmly looked around before speaking.
"Princess Ling and the four princes are alive. From our sect… three have died."
Cairen also looked around and realized that indeed three of those who had traveled with him on the boat were gone. One of them was the girl who had looked at him with hostility when they first met.
"From the Blue Sparrow Sect, six have died, and from the Golden Sword Sect, five… As for the smaller forces and the rogue cultivators, it's impossible to count. But it looks like there are about fifty to sixty people left." Mei Ran concluded, speaking to Cairen.
Then Mei Ran noticed something and smiled discreetly, but Cairen caught it.
"What is it?"
"That rat from the other clan. He's not here. Finally, he's dead." She said in a satisfied voice.
While everyone was still recovering mentally, something began to happen again. A new change.
Suddenly, all the fish in the lake started swimming frantically in every direction.
In addition, all the giant trees that had been upside down, as if planted from above, began to absorb all the blood that dyed the water.
In less than a minute, the dark, bloody lake had disappeared and returned to being crystal clear.
But the tranquility didn't last, once all the blood was gone, the trees and leaves turned red, and then, suddenly, all the underwater trees flipped upright, emerging and completely transforming the scenery again.
Now, Cairen and the others stood in the middle of an endless red forest with colossal trees. But the ground was still the solid surface of the lake.
Beneath them, at the bottom of the lake, there remained a vast school of fish. And then, in the deepest part, resting on the lakebed, there was a great altar built from trunks that coiled around each other like snakes.
In the middle of the altar, there was only a single coffin.
Suddenly, a wave erupted from the coffin, spreading quickly through the water. Cairen saw the wave coming, as did several others. But some were distracted.
The wave was actually a sound, it easily passed through the barrier that kept them from falling into the water.
And then the sound invaded everyone's mind.
Many were startled. Cairen, already used to the system, remained calm, understanding the message the owner of the inheritance wished to convey.
The voice that entered their minds was… calm, gentle, and warm. The female voice spoke only a short sentence that completely contradicted her sweet tone.
"Fight to the death! Only the last five will be worthy to descend to my altar."
Everyone froze.
Cairen understood immediately it would be another massacre.
Only three seconds after the voice spoke, a scream suddenly rang out before being silenced forever.
Cairen looked toward the scream, only to see Princess Ling leaping from a tree branch, her leg landing directly on the head of a rogue cultivator. His scream lasted only a second before his head was completely crushed.
And with that, chaos began anew.
Many decided to run far away from Princess Ling immediately.
Meanwhile, the princes approached her and began talking, only for everyone to split up soon after. Princess Ling ran after others to eliminate them, and the princes seemed to do the same.
"Cairen, they must have decided to kill everyone and keep the inheritance for themselves," Mei Ran said when she saw the princes meeting with the princess.
"We'll watch for now. I feel the princess is someone impossible to face, but the others of the royal family shouldn't be as strong, so let's wait for them to tire themselves out with the others," Cairen said before fleeing in another direction.
But at that moment, a sharp sound cut through the air, followed by an arrow flying quickly toward him. Just as he was about to use his chain to defend himself, Mei Ran appeared in front, blocking it with her sword.
Without hesitation, she ran toward where the arrow had come from and slashed the shooter's throat.
"Thanks! But you don't need to worry too much about me," Cairen said, but she cut him off.
"Shut up, Cairen. You may have helped me in the first test, but now things have changed. With your cultivation, anyone here can kill you easily. Without Qi to protect your body, any attack could be fatal to you." She retorted, looking him straight in the eyes.
Cairen knew she had a point. If he took any attack, his body wouldn't withstand it. Not in its current state, maybe a bit more resistant thanks to the Narakai Physique, but nothing impressive.
A blow from someone in the third cultivation realm, like everyone present except him, would be fatal. But he was completely confident in his two Fallen abilities, especially his chain for defense.
So, just as he was about to retort again, something flashed behind Mei Ran. Without time for her to react, from the center of Cairen's hand, a thin chain shot out faster than the arrow before.
At the tip of the chain, a sharp blade broke the spear descending toward Mei Ran's back before piercing completely through the attacker's defenses and driving through his heart, exiting out the other side.
The chain then returned with another thought. Cairen and Mei Ran saw the man, in the 3rd stage of the Qi Accumulation Realm, die with a single blow.
It was Cairen's first time killing someone, but for some reason, he felt nothing about it. He simply turned to Mei Ran.
'Fallen abilities definitely must not be underestimated, huh?' Cairen thought.
"Are you okay? As I was saying, don't worry about me, but about yourself. Got it?" Cairen said, relieved to have acted quickly enough and also satisfied with his strength.
Mei Ran was surprised and couldn't understand how in the world Cairen had done it, it had been so fast that she hadn't even seen clearly how he killed the enemy.
"Hehe, thanks! When we get out of here, I'll let you do anything you want with me," she said with a playful smile at Cairen, who only looked at her seriously.
"Tsk, that's if we get out of here alive. This isn't the time to joke, Mei Ran. You should know better as the older one."
Cairen then looked around, noticing no one else nearby. Everyone seemed to have scattered. He let out a sigh of relief before looking back at Mei Ran as he spoke.
"Let's get up into the trees here, we'll be easy tar—
…
Cairen's voice caught, unable to finish the sentence.
Mei Ran, perfectly fine a second ago, was now staring at him with wide eyes filled with terror and pain.
In her neck, a dagger was driven completely through. One of the princes stood behind her, his hand covering her mouth to keep her from screaming. A slight, contemptuous smile formed on his lips.
Something exploded in Cairen's mind as his chain shot instinctively toward the prince's head, but before it reached him, the man's body had already fled like a shadow. Only to appear on the branch of a distant tree, looking at Cairen with a maniacal smile.
When the prince escaped, Mei Ran's body fell limply. Cairen immediately ran and caught her in his arms, his mind in a complete daze.
Suddenly, he heard a murmur. Looking down, he saw Mei Ran looking at him, tears streaming from her eyes. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't, blood poured endlessly from her mouth and the hole in her throat.
Cairen saw Mei Ran's eyes quickly fading, powerless to do anything.
He felt her hand clutch his sleeve, as if she wanted him to come closer. He followed unconsciously, leaning toward her face.
With her last strength, Mei Ran raised her head, giving Cairen a kiss on the cheek before losing all strength, releasing her final breath. Her body went limp in his arms with a faint smile.
No words, no words left Cairen's mouth from start to finish. No, he didn't know what to say, what to think, or what to feel. His mind could not process what had happened so suddenly.
'How…? How did this happen? Mei Ran… she died… like that? How? Why? There was no one. How did he appear so suddenly? How? That killing intent, how did I not sense it?' Countless thoughts and feelings sprouted all at once in Cairen's mind.
"Hahahahaha."
"You two looked so happy, it's really a shame, isn't it?" A playful voice came from the distance.
"But you know, this is exactly what you deserve for touching her, you filthy commoner."
The once playful voice suddenly turned extremely cold. Cairen felt a hostility so great, not even those who had wanted his execution had looked at him like that.
It was as if that man above the tree, with a dagger dripping blood, hated every cell of Cairen's being.
Cairen looked at the prince's face. Mei Ran had told him before, this was the crown prince, the weakest and most forgotten of the princes.
And then he looked again at Mei Ran's lifeless body.
At that moment, his body trembled as an unbearable itch spread from the center of his hand, showing no sign of stopping.