"Are these your final words?" Wang Chen asked with a calm expression on his face.

"Please, spare my life. I'll do anything for you," he begged. He had fought hard to get where he was in his life, and he didn't want to die now.

"Oh? Anything?" Wang Chen raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yes, anything! I'll do whatever you ask!" He nodded his head eagerly, hoping to stay alive.

"Then kill yourself."

"I will do...What?!" Hearing Wang Chen's demand, he realized that he had been played. Wang Chen had no intention of letting him live.

"Really?" Wang Chen smirked, his eyes gleaming with a wicked light.

"You...you.." His opponent seethed with anger, his fists clenched as he attempted to lunge at Wang Chen. But before he could land a blow, his hand was sliced off by the Thunderbolt Blade in Wang Chen's hand.

"Aaargh!" The cultivator clutched his severed limb as blood gushed out, writhing in pain as he fell to his knees.

"I'll give you a choice," Wang Chen said in a frigid voice, his icy aura sending shivers down the other's spine. "Tell me everything you know about what happened here, or I'll torture you and kill you slowly."

Feeling the overwhelming fear emanating from Wang Chen, the other man's voice trembled as he quickly replied, "When..." He told everything he knew.

As Wang Chen listened to the explanation, he gradually began to understand the details of what had transpired in this place. It was Yue Jang who had stumbled upon the ruins, and he had enlisted the help of these men in his search.

After passing the first trial, they discovered the inheritance of a great person and decided to take the trial.

It was during this time that Su Chen and his followers arrived, but they didn't know how Su Chen found out about this place, but they began to compete with them.

On the seventh ladder, a battle broke out between Su Chen and Yue Jang. However, when these men arrived, they only saw Su Chen writhing in pain; Yue Jang was nowhere to be seen, which meant that he had continued on after defeating Su Chen.

Wang Chen looked at Su Chen, who was writhing in pain, clutching his head and gritting his teeth. Wang Chen couldn't help but think, 'Su Chen's cultivation base is much higher than Yue Jang's, so it's unlikely that Yue Jang could have defeated him alone. He must have asked Yideng for help. Looking at Su Chen's condition, it seems he didn't receive any serious physical injury, but more like a mental attack.'

'Did Yideng injure him with a soul attack? But what confuses me is why he didn't kill Su Chen. That was the best chance to do it. And according to the information I received, the senior who is taking the trial specifically mentioned that killing is not allowed. If Yideng followed that rule, then why wasn't I warned by the senior? Something is not adding up here.' The whole situation was suspicious, and Wang Chen sensed that there was something more to it than meets the eye.

Wang Chen's eyes scanned the top of the ladder, deep in thought. 'Sigh, I will get all my answers after I reach the top of this ladder,' he mused, before turning his attention back to the trembling man before him.

"I-I already told you everything I know," the man stammered.

"Oh, I know. That's why I'm thinking of leaving you alive," Wang Chen replied, a sly smile creeping onto his lips. The man's face brightened with hope, but before he could speak, Wang Chen continued, "That's right, leaving you alive, like a cripple."

With a swift movement, Wang Chen unsheathed his Thunderbolt Blade and sliced off the man's remaining hand. The man howled in pain as blood gushed out of his wound. Wang Chen then squatted down, placing a hand on the man's chest and releasing a powerful burst of qi. The man's dantian shattered instantly, causing him to writhe in agony on the ground.

"W-why?" the man gasped, his eyes filled with tears and fear.

"Why not?" Wang Chen shrugged indifferently. "You won't be able to cultivate anymore, but you'll still be alive. Consider it a gift from me."

The man's groans turned into agonizing screams as he convulsed in pain, realizing the full extent of his fate. He knew that he would never be able to cultivate again, as his dantian had been completely destroyed by Wang Chen's ruthless hand. His body was covered in sweat, his breaths ragged and shallow as he struggled to keep himself conscious. He couldn't even stand up, and he knew that he had only moments left to live due to the blood loss. In his final moments, he could only regret ever crossing paths with Wang Chen and his relentless pursuit of power.

After leaving the dying man behind, Wang Chen muttered to himself, "Now it's time for some looting." He then walked towards Su Chen while everyone in his faction who were fighting against Yue Jang's group looked at him nervously, unsure of what he was going to do next.

Ignoring their stares, Wang Chen proceeded to loot everything of value from Su Chen's possessions, leaving only his dagger behind as he already had a better weapon. This surprised everyone who had expected Wang Chen to kill Su Chen, but instead he chose to just take his belongings.

Some of Su Chen's faction members wanted to stop Wang Chen from looting, but they couldn't as he was much stronger than them.

As Wang Chen's eyes scanned over Su Chen's faction members, they felt a palpable energy radiating from him. It was as if he could see through their very souls and was judging them silently. But to their surprise, he simply turned away and began climbing the ladder.

The faction members were perplexed by Wang Chen's behavior. They had expected him to make a move against them, perhaps even join Yue Jang's faction, but he seemed to have no interest in either.historical

They suspected that Wang Chen was also here for the inheritance and wanted to stop him, but they knew that it was impossible to take on someone as powerful as him at the moment. Thus, they reluctantly went back to fighting against Yue Jang's faction members.

...

"Hey, how much longer is this going to take? I mean, you said it was going to be a piece of cake for someone like you, but it seems like your cake is harder than diamond." Yue Jang said, growing impatient.

"Will you just give me a moment to concentrate? This formation is no joke, and I'm on the last step," Yideng replied, focused on the task at hand.

Ten minutes passed by...

"Are you done with the last step yet?" Yue Jang asked, his impatience growing.

"I said it's almost done," Yideng responded.

Yue Jang couldn't resist needling Yideng again. "Hey, do you happen to know the formation of 'f'? I'm just curious, since 'almost done' seems to be your go-to answer for everything."

"..."

Thirty minutes later..

"Ha! I knew it, you have no clue what you're doing!" Yue Jang taunted. "I bet you couldn't break a chicken egg, let alone this formation!"

Yideng glared at him, his face contorted in anger. "I'll have you know, I've broken formations more complex than this one!"

"Sure you have," Yue Jang snickered. "And I'm the emperor of the universe!"

Yideng's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on the formation. "I'll show you, just watch and learn."

Yue Jang rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, Master of Formations. I'll just sit here and watch you struggle for another hour."

Crack

There was a sudden crack, and a blue half-sphere appeared in the room, cracking like a spider's web. "Haha, finally cracked it. What were you saying earlier, Yue Jang?" Yideng laughed, his voice echoing in the room. However, his laughter abruptly stopped as he noticed that the formation he had just broken began to behave strangely. "Not good..." he murmured.

Suddenly, a powerful soul attack came hurtling towards him and Yue Jang. Yideng, in his soul form, quickly burned his soul essence to protect not only himself but also his disciple. Despite his efforts, the attack still managed to harm Yue Jang slightly.

"Damn, I used up 40% of my soul energy to block that soul attack. I will probably be in a deep sleep now and have to put those purple stones inside the Soul Binding Ring..." Yideng trailed off, his voice fading away.

As the soul attack hit, Yue Jang felt an intense sharp pain in his head, making him stagger a bit. He clenched his teeth, trying to suppress the pain and his vision went blurry for a moment. He realized that even though Yideng had managed to block the attack, it had still affected him to some extent.

Yue Jang knew that he had to act fast and help Yideng, who was now resting in his soul form inside the Soul Binding Ring. He quickly retrieved the purple soul stones from his bag, intending to use them to replenish Yideng's energy.

With trembling hands, he placed the stones near the ring and murmured a few incantations to activate them. The stones glowed brightly, and he could feel the energy emanating from them, rushing into the ring to replenish Yideng's soul energy.

Yue Jang sighed with relief, knowing that Yideng would need some time to recover. He then sat down, still feeling the pain in his head, and took a deep breath to calm himself.