On the path where Klaus and the other two were located.
Crack! Crack!
On hearing the sound of the wall cracking, everyone stood up and stared at the wall intently.
Some moments later.
Bang!
The wall exploded. Everyone protected themselves from the pieces.
"It's the passageway that leads to where the Great Earth Essence Liquid is located. I never thought it will activate on its own"
"Haha! I thought that we had been tricked. Let's go!"
"What are you all waiting for? Go now! If someone else reaches there first, I'm afraid we won't be able to get any share of the precious liquid"
The sudden appearance of the channel excited everyone who was irritated just moments ago. One by one, they rushed towards the channel. After all, most of them hadn't gotten anything in the ancient path and weren't feeling very good. They were eager to be the first to reach where the treasure was as they were certain that the treasures there would be extraordinary. If they could obtain some of it, their trip here would be worth it.
In a matter of a few blinks, all of them entered the passageway. Klaus and Reynolds exchanged a glance. Without delay, the three of them swayed and vanished into the passageway. As Alice had almost recovered from her injuries, a casual movement from her and she also disappeared into the channel.
The passageway was very short and within five seconds, they were all out of it.
When Klaus and the rest walked out of it, they saw silhouettes emerging from different directions. They were coming out from different ancient paths. For a moment, at least sixty people had appeared in this place and the number was still increasing.
There was a hint of consternation on everyone's face. Obviously, this situation was beyond their imagination. Many of them were thinking the same thing 'be the first to get in so that they could seize the treasure'. But now, it seemed like their plan had failed. However, none on the scene was an idiot.
Very quickly, they understood the key to this situation. Clearly, the passageway of the fifty-four ancient paths were opened at the same time. Before it was opened, numerous people had already been waiting like Klaus and company at the end of their respective ancient paths. This explained why so many people had appeared as soon as the passageway was opened. This was the only explanation.
"It seems like many have died on the way", said Alice.
Anyone was able to discern this. From the beginning, there were over one hundred and fifty people who entered this place. Now, there were only sixty of them. Taking into account those who were coming in and still in the ancient paths, there were only about one hundred at most. That was to say, nearly fifty geniuses or even more had died in the fifty-four ancient paths.
This was undeniably cruel, but anyone who decided to step into the trial land knew that dangers and cruelty co-existed together, and must be prepared to die. Death could occur at any time.
There were battles between humans and also against creatures and the presence of other dangers in the place. Therefore, it was very normal for over fifty people to die along the way.
"Look, it's Grey. Let's head over", Reynolds was the first to spot Grey.
Since the people here weren't that many, it was easy for them to spot Grey. They all went in his direction.
………..
After Grey came out of the passageway he didn't spot the Darkness Elementalist, but he was quite surprised by the number of people who were coming out from different paths though. It didn't take long for him to realize what happened.
'All the paths opened simultaneously', he placed his hand on his chin.
Void was lying on his shoulder lazily.
Grey sensed some movement from his right and turned towards that direction. He saw his friends coming towards him and a smile formed on his face, but his face soon went cold when he noticed Alice was injured.
Even though she hadn't come close to him yet, he was able to realize it from her movement.
"What happened?", he asked the moment they got close.
When Klaus and Reynolds heard the question, their smiling faces also went cold. Klaus went on to recount what happened to him through gritted teeth. Although he was able to injure the Darkness Elementalist before he left, he still hoped they should kill him.
On hearing Alice almost died under the hands of the Darkness Elementalist, killing intent flashed through Grey's eyes. He had promised himself to grow stronger to protect his family and friends. Now, he heard someone nearly killed his friend, he was infuriated.
"He's a dead man", he said icily.
Initially, the only reason he wanted to fight with the Darkness Elementalist was just to test out his strength. But now, it had turned into a death battle. He would kill him no matter what, even if it meant entering the Fusion State!
"We know", Klaus and Reynolds said simultaneously.
Soon the trio started planning their revenge, and they completely forgot about Alice's presence even though she was the reason they were planning revenge on the Darkness Elementalist in the first place.
Alice felt happy seeing how her friends were already planning revenge on her stead. She couldn't hope for better friends, although, she pouted when she realized they had all forgotten about her presence.
Just as she was about to complain, Void caught her attention.
"What a strange cat. Grey, where did you find it?", she asked curiously while gazing at Void.
"An egg", Grey replied offhandedly and continued planning with the others.
Void threw a glance at Alice but shut his eyes once more.
Hearing Grey's response, Alice almost rushed forward to attack him.
'What do you mean an egg? Do I look like a fool? If not for the fact that you're planning on getting revenge for me, I'd have beaten you up!', she complained internally but decided to let them be.
………….
The other geniuses who came here all looked around. Some started complaining when they realized what happened.
"Motherf***er! The old man does know how to play tricks. He has tricked us all even though he has already passed away. All the passageways are opened simultaneously. Even if there is a Great Earth Essence Liquid, it's going to be a fierce fight"
"That's true. Look, even the Darkness Elementalist is here. Who's able to compete with him? And there are those peerless geniuses of the Royal families and a few other Third stage Origin Plane geniuses. We won't stand a chance in their presence."
"Well, that's not necessarily true. Even if we can't get the Great Earth Essence Liquid, we may still able to get some other treasures. We can't just go back with empty hands."
Plenty of them with weaker strength began to feel slightly disheartened. This wasn't the result they expected and was the last thing they wanted to see. With so many geniuses here, it had become even harder for them to obtain any treasure, but most of them revealed ruthlessness in their eyes. Since they had already come here, they couldn't let themselves return empty-handed. Even if the competition was fierce, they couldn't just give up like that.
"There's an ancient temple ahead. The Great Earth Essence Liquid is just ahead." Someone roared, stirring everyone into motion.
Each of them shouted excitedly and ran towards the ancient temple with their fastest speed possible, fearing that they might be later than the others.
……….
Hearing the roar, the trio immediately stopped what they were doing and looked ahead.
"The ancient temple has already existed for countless years. It must be left behind by the Old man. It should be the place that holds most of his treasures. The nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid should be inside. Let's go over as well," said Grey.
They all dashed towards the direction where everyone was going. That was the most important part of this place. Everyone ran towards the ancient temple. The strongest people that appeared on the scene traveled extremely fast. They reached the destination in a matter of a few seconds.
Everyone opened their mouths, shocked by the scene. Ahead was a vast and empty field, the only thing visible was the ancient temple suspending in the air. The temple didn't seem huge and only had a dozen of rooms and an ancient palace inside. The palace and rooms were fiery red. Even after an extremely long period of time, the brilliance of the place didn't seem to diminish in the slightest.
What really attracted the people's attention was the mysterious crystal-like pond in the temple. It wasn't huge and only had a size of one square foot. It was completely condensed using fire, red and the shape of lotus flowers were engraved on its surface. The illumination of the light seemed to be making it come to life. Everyone marveled at the sight of it.
Buzz! Buzz!
The crystal-like pond shook. Nine rays of light as white as jade shot out of it up to the sky like nine heavenly swords rising into the heaven. Each light seemed solid and radiated the unconcealed pure Essence of the World. The emergence of the white light immediately attracted the attention of everyone.
"Look, the light is emanated by the nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid. The Great Earth Essence Liquid is just inside the pond"
"That's right. It has to be the Great Earth Essence Liquid. That's the essence of the World, and is extremely precious"
"Sure enough, the old man didn't lie to us. There are truly nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid here. If I can obtain just a drop of it, the benefits will be inestimable. My elemental grade will increase and I will even see a breakthrough in my stage"
Everyone was excited. The Great Earth Essence Liquid was an unparalleled natural treasure that had the effect of increasing one's elemental grade. It also had a great healing property. It was so attractive that even a Peak Overlord Plane expert would be influenced by it.
If words about the Great Earth Essence Liquid were to spread out, it would inevitably cause chaos and attract thousands of experts here to compete for it. It might even stir up a war in the empires.
"I must get the Great Earth Essence Liquid", A young man could no longer control his emotion and was the first to run towards the pond.
Upon seeing this, Grey couldn't help but shake his head. This bastard was being too impulsive. He should at least gauge his own strength before doing so. How dare a puny little Ninth stage Arcane Plane Elementalist go and seize the Great Earth Essence Liquid? That was no different from seeking death.
Swoosh!
Sure enough, before that young man could get to the pond, a silver sword appeared from behind to slash him into half before he could even let out a wail.
"Hmph! How dare an insect like you try to get the Great Earth Essence Liquid first before measuring your capabilities"
