John looked all around him, taking in the dark forest that surrounded him completely. Only a small amount of light came down from the fake moon above, enough to give light, but not enough to make navigating by sight a safe endeavor.
His instincts flared with warning in this place, telling him that there was a danger that even he needed to take seriously within.
"Survive!" the monotone voice sounded out, giving him instructions for this next trial.
'Survive? Not assassinate? It seems like this trial is different than before.'
After surveying the area, John moved carefully through the forest, withdrawing his aura as best he could, making no noise as he moved. He thought about using his spatial Dao to move about, but using it gave off more of an aura than he did moving physically without using any Qi. He had no idea what he had to do to 'survive,' and so he decided to see if he could make his way out of this forest.
'I have no idea what surviving this trial actually means,' John thought while making his way carefully through the dark, ominous forest. 'Do I just need to escape this forest? Is there something I need to fight and survive against? Is the forest the danger itself? These trials would be a lot easier to take on if I knew what the true task was.'
After moving through the forest for a short while, John heard a sound coming from the brush ahead of him. He tensed up and paused, remaining completely silent. It sounded as if something was approaching his direction, breaking through trees and bushes, something scraping on the ground as well, like a weapon being dragged through the earth.
John felt his instincts kick in with warming. Whatever was approaching him, it was something that he needed to take seriously. Whatever it was, it was far stronger than the targets he had assassinated in the previous trials.
The space in front of him was a clearing in the forest, about one hundred yards wide. John crouched low behind a thick bush, aura completely withdrawn, peering through gaps in the bushes. If whatever was coming used their divine sense to clear the area, he would be discovered, but that couldn't be helped for now.
'My best method of hiding is my spatial Dao, but I still can't use it without my aura leaking out.'
The crashing sounds became louder for a short while, and then a figure broke out from the forest on the other side of the clearing, stepping into the open for John to see. Although it was almost pitch black in the forest, he was just barely able to make out the shape and features of the figure.
…
Zuri stared at the formation screen, watching John crouch low behind some bushes. She glanced sideways at the Grandmaster, and noticed his heavy expression. Her heart tensed up as she saw it.
"What's wrong?" she asked the Grandmaster. Clearly something weighed heavy on his mind.
The Grandmaster remained silent for a short while, staring at John's image, and then sighed.
"It seems like the heaven's itself wants this boy dead," the Grandmaster sighed, shaking his head. He turned his gaze to Zuri, who was looking at the Grandmaster for answers.
"During the few decades that the Heaven's Shadow trial was open, certain pieces of information was allowed to be known to those who entered," the Grandmaster explained. "Every Heaven's Shadow trial was a massive event, just like this one, and was watched by countless guild members. While the viewers were sworn to secrecy for the most part, some information was allowed to be disseminated to the rest of the guild. This made some of the trials much easier, although easier is a relative term. Knowing this information beforehand merely changed the trials from impossible to incredibly difficult."
"And this trial was one where information was known?" Zuri asked, connecting the dots.
"It was," the Grandmaster nodded, expression heavy. "Each trial starts with a single word instruction. The first was 'assassinate', and this trial is 'survive'. This trial was proven to be impossible for anyone to pass without more information, and the death rate in this trial was over ninety percent before the guild allowed some information about it to be leaked, so that future Heaven's Shadow entrants could have a better chance at passing it.
The information that was leaked regarding this trial was that there is a creature within the dark forest, one with senses beyond compare," the Grandmaster sighed, as if he had resigned himself to watch the youth perish before his eyes.
"Once you are within five hundred yards of the creature, there is no escaping, and there is also no fight back. Every enemy in the Heaven's Shadow trial is scaled based on the entrant's cultivation level, and this enemy is designed so that no one can fight back without perishing. The only way to survive is to have sharp enough senses to avoid it entirely, keeping a great distance from it while moving without being detected. The exit of this trial is located at the edge of the forest, and can only be found by those with extremely sharp senses."
He paused for a moment, then shook his head lightly. He shifted his gaze back to the screen, watching John look at the creature that just appeared in the opening. Gasps of surprise filled the room as everyone saw the creature, and also its cultivation level.
"A Devil," Zuri said, completely stunned.
…
John watched the creature step into the clearing, and his breath caught in his throat for a moment.
'An Asura?' he thought, then shook his head. 'No, that's not an Asura, its a demon.'
Asura's and demons had similar features, and also similar auras. Both were creatures of nightmares, although the Asura's were an entire realm above demons when it came to power, ferocity, and terror.
The creature that stepped into the clearing was most definitely a demon, but was not exactly like the demon John had seen and battled in the past. This demon was far smaller, less muscular, and looked more like a human than the Abyssal Demon he had fought.
It was about a head taller than him, and had dark-red skin. Its eyes glowed with a soft-red glow, and some horns jutted out of its head, two of them, curving upwards towards the sky. Its face was quite human, only elongated slightly, to look sharper and more menacing.
A long, red tail shot out of its lower back, and pitch-black armor covered its chest, legs, and shoulders, revealing only its face and arms. Its arms bulged with powerful muscles, adding to the menacing look. It was truly a creature of nightmares.
