Chapter 21 - Eternal wail chasm
"Oh! Now I remembered. I had something to tell you two." Yuan Jia suddenly told us.
We looked at her with full attention as if to tell her 'go on' with our eyes.
"There is an expedition next week and I choose the two of you as one of its participants." She told us.
"What is this expedition all about?" I asked her straightforwardly.
"Well, I'll tell you about it.." Yuan Jia acted like she was waiting for us to ask her about it.
There is a region in the divine central continent name [Eternal Wail Chasm].
As its name suggests it is a place that is not for the faint-hearted. For as long as there is history on the divine central continent, this chasm was here and no one knows what made it or how it was made. Well, it can be said that everyone is glad to not know how it was made because if something artificially made this kind of chasm to the center of the planet, you can't be expecting to know its creator and leave with your life after that..
This chasm is so deep that some even say that you can travel to the other side of the world if you jump in it and of course, survive in it.
There was not even one report of anyone who has survived from falling in there and so the 'wail' part of its name makes sense.
When you fall in a chasm as deep as [Eternal Wail Chasm], you don't just die. Some say that you would be falling for days and months until you hit the floor or whatever is waiting at the end of the chasm.
The gravity is much lower in the chasm so you would fall slower but the chaotic Qi is far far stronger than anywhere in the chasm so you would be slowly shredded into nothingness when you are falling slowly, and because of that there is always sound of screams and wails coming from the inside of the chasm, be it humans or beasts or others...
This dangerous place is hailed as one of the 9 forbidden places in the divine central continent.
At this point of explanation, I was scared shitless of what an 'MC' could find in this seemingly death trap and how he can use it to kill me. i mean this place details screams 'i have treasures for the MC'. Just thinking about it made me shudder.
Looking at Yuan Jia I couldn't stop myself and voiced my thoughts.
"Big sister Jia, if you want to kill me and Anjing there are simpler ways to do it. Why go to such lengths?" I asked with narrowed eyes.
To my words, Hu Anjing also nodded.
historical
But Yuan Jia's answer was a little different and me and Hu Anjing each received a chop to our heads.
"When did I ever make you two suffer?" she told us as we were touching our heads to ease the pain.
"Um.. like 10 seconds ago?" Hu Anjing told her with eyes that showed that she was wronged.
Yuan Jia narrowed her eyes at her and Hu Anjing hid behind me.
Shaking my head to her antics, I looked at Yuan Jia.
"The most Lovely and caring big sister of the world, can you enlighten me on the reason for this expedition to one of the forbidden places?" I asked her with a good dose of sarcasm.
She rolled her eyes at my sarcasm and continued her explanation.
For years some fearless people or those who were near to the end of their life spans tried to find a fortune in the [Eternal Wail Chasm] and failed until a young man tried this chasm a little unwillingly.
Well, a little more than a little. He was thrown in there for some stupid reason like talking to someone who he shouldn't or something..
But to his surprise, he didn't fall to the chasm and he was teleported to a trial of some sort and he had huge gains after that.
After the assailants saw the seen they contacted their elders and the news reached the seven holy lands soon enough and guess what, the seven holy lands come there to monopolize this chance and use it to further their power and influence.
After using some 'willing' test subjects they come to know that only those under the age of 30 and at most in the Meridian Formation realm could enter this place and the others would be repelled.
I say repelled but in reality, when they can't enter the 'trial' they would fall to their death in the chasm.
After that, the seven holy lands made some plans and quotas for each one and they would use this place once every five years and each one of them could bring 10 disciples to enter the trial and 30 more places would be given to smaller powers by fights before the day of the entrance, this way they have given a 'fair' chance to others to use this trial.
Why every five years? As the kind 'test subjects' proved to the holy land experts, there is a limit on the number of uses on the teleportation of the trial and that would be around 113 and it would take five years for it to regain its power from heaven and earth.
The trial of the [Eternal Wail Chasm], which now is known as [Trial of the Chasm] is one of the good chances that could be used by the younger generation of the divine central continent and you can expect to find all kinds of geniuses in this trial.
You might ask what is the reason for Li Huang and Hu Anjing not knowing of these trials? This is very easy to explain; Li Huang was a sheltered child from a very young age so he didn't know of something that only happened twice in his life span so far and he wasn't strong enough for any of them at the time so nobody told him anything as to not make him disheartened because of it. As for Hu Anjing, she was a killer for the organization and all she was thinking at the time was how to flee and she didn't know anything of this chance, and even if she know, she couldn't participate in it so she didn't lose much at the time..
This would be the 83rd time that this trial would be tested and Li Huang and Hu Anjing are in the expedition to be selected as one of the 10 participates in this trial.
For fairness (you read gaining face), the seven holy lands would select their 10 participates with spars in the location of the trial after the 6th trial.
This way everybody would ensure the fairness of the choices and it would also serve as a reminder to the smaller powers that the seven holy lands have 10 constant quotas because they are way stronger than them. This way they would be more grateful for their 30 quotas and would try to send more geniuses to the holy lands.
As they call it one arrow, multiple goals; and this way they could achieve it all with this single move.
"I see. So how do we decide on the 10 final participates?" I nodded and asked Yuan Jia.
"This is pretty much straightforward." Yuan Jia began explaining.
From what she said you have 10 'thrones' and you have to challenge for the chairs. Every time that there are chief disciples in the participates, they would be sitting on the chairs first, and then the others start challenging.
If a chair is empty you would occupy it without a fight, If someone is on the chair you have to win against him/her to get his/her position and after that, you will be subject to challenges.
If you didn't use self-harming methods, the sect will provide you with the necessary pills and potions to get you back to around 100% so that you can continue fighting.
But there is a penalty for the challenger, if you lose you have to wait at the end of the line until you get your chance to fight again.
This will go on for about 3 days and after that, for 3 days the smaller powers fight for the other 30 places under the gazes of seven holy lands and after that, there are two days of rest and recuperation and after that, you would tackle the trial.
The reason behind the 2 days of recuperation is that even with pills and potions some things need time to get fixed so these days are for more rest and in turn getting better results.
"Well you can say that the seven holy lands are resting for 5 days, but no one would tell it to our faces so you can rest with peace of mind.." Yuan Jia finished her explanation.
'Of course, they wouldn't..' Li Huang snorted.