Outworld Liberators-Chapter 217: Descent into the Land of Horrors

It was less a trial and more a land of horrors, and the youths looked visibly shaken.

Some had entered expecting little more than a few skeletons and cheap frights.

What stood before them was something far worse. Their masters noticed at once. A few pinched their disciples hard on the arm or shoulder and followed it with stern looks, the kind meant to drive fear out before fear could settle too deep.

Courage was not optional on the long road of cultivation.

"There is good news, however," Eldric said.

He raised a black skull in one hand. Within its hollow eyes, yin and yang symbols slowly turned. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"I can place a curse upon you," he went on. "It will keep a fatal wound from claiming you. The creatures inside may tear at you. They may even play with your bodies like toys. But when the true killing blow comes, the curse will drag you out of the secret realm and return you here, to the arena grounds," Eldric said, tapping his foot against the stone floor.

That drew a wave of relieved sighs from the room. Eldric let the relief settle before naming the price.

"Under normal circumstances, no one is meant to leave this secret realm alive and we are fighting its natural order. To trick its defensive mechanism that is supposedly wanting your lives, you will need to stay here for a hundred days, there are no other prerequisites but for you not to leave the Radeon Terraces."

Radeon, the true brain behind the scheme, had needed the lie to sound believable.

The secret realm had to seem genuinely dangerous, while Eldric appeared to snatch people from that deathly mechanism with careless ease.

Looking at the faces in the crowd, from the thoughtful to those sent by the super forces, it was plain enough that they were swallowing the lie quite well.

To cultivators, it scarcely sounded like punishment at all. Most had centuries ahead of them, perhaps even millennia if fortune favored them.

A mere hundred days was hardly a price worth naming. More than that, the manors within Radeon Terraces rivaled the cave abodes of top tier sects, places where one could cultivate in peace and gather strength without disturbance.

Even so, the super forces had come for benefits, not spectacle. Riev, unfazed by Eldric’s status, raised a hand. Eldric gave him a nod, and Riev spoke at once.

"I would like to ask, God Eldric. Since you say you can pull them out of the Secret Realm with your curse, what level of lethality are we speaking of?"

"I am not one to pamper disciples, but if they are dragged out already crippled or half-crippled, then would they not have wasted their lives?" Riev asked with blunt ease.

"That is indeed something I have considered," Eldric replied. "At worst, the injuries should be grievous. I would not count missing limbs among them, since I can regrow such things. Does that answer your question?"

It did, though Riev had asked less for himself than for everyone else. Better to settle that matter now, so the muttering would die and the event could begin.

He glanced at the disciples of Netherdemon Sanctum Court and scoffed inwardly.

To his eyes, this was an opportunity being handed over on a silver platter. A monster who had lived seven hundred years knew the worth of such a chance.

Had time turned back and given him the chance to cultivate anew, he would have entered without a moment’s hesitation.

Denzil raised his hand next and spoke after Eldric acknowledged him.

"God Eldric, what sort of opportunities are we speaking of here? Can you tell us the specific details?"

"Yes," Eldric said with a smile. "There are Rare, Epic, and even Legendary techniques within."

At that, the eyes of the accompanying elders and school masters flashed. Martial arts of that level did not spring from the ground like weeds.

The great sect figures were already thinking of contribution points, of what such techniques would cost within their own sects, and of how much their standing would rise if they managed to secure them.

Those from the smaller schools were already dreaming bigger dreams, of their humble institutions rising one day into true sects because of this chance.

Fear ebbed from the arena, swallowed whole by greed, hope, and ambition.

"There are also medicines that can raise aptitude, cleanse meridians, and even sharpen comprehension, all with permanent effects," Eldric said. "Weapons and other treasures of equal worth may also be found within."

His gaze swept over the gathered youths, then shifted to the masters and teachers behind them.

"Esteemed masters and teachers, be at ease. You will be able to witness your disciples’ progress within the Secret Realm. But let me warn you. I cannot forcibly pull out any participant unless they are severely injured."

"Their minds may collapse inside, and if that happens, they will not be able to leave until the Secret Realm reaches its one week limit. Consider participation carefully."

"This secret realm seeks to claim lives and does not wish its prey to survive. We are only exploiting a flaw in its system, and this is the best this old man can do."

A stir ran through the crowd. While Eldric suddenly moved into stretches as if reading his thin figure for an exercise.

"These old bones will need some time to open the entrance. Only those at Peak Cornerstone Setting, with a bone age under thirty as stated in the invitation, may enter."

"I will give you three hours to decide. Once your conviction is firm, step forward to the middle of the stage."

With that said, Eldric turned and walked away, leaving the weight of his words behind him.

Fay, Lifara, Thaddeus, and Oswin had been able to listen while they walked, each carrying an array tablet of their own.

The newer disciples kept peeking at the four disciples’ peculiar devices, watching the situation unfold.

Out back, Tabulae walked beside Radeon. His daughter now, though the word still sat on her with a touch of shyness.

She tried to act coy, but in the end she said what she wanted.

"Can’t I have an artifact like that, Father?" Tabulae asked.

Radeon, already in the mood for mischief, pulled out the pockets of his robe one by one.

For added drama, he even let a fly loose from one of them.

Tabulae stared as the miserable insect buzzed away.

What was this supposed to mean? Was he showing her poverty?

Then Radeon sighed and shook his head.

"I got nothing, daughter."

Tabulae looked at him as though he had spoken madness.

"You. You own all this. How can you say you have no money?" she whispered, edging closer.

In her mind, it might have been some mysterious cultivation principle. Ever since the library, her view of the world had widened, and with it came the suspicion that every strange thing hid some deeper meaning.

Radeon only smiled and handed her a small earring. Tabulae slipped it on at once.

"Try infusing qi into it," Radeon said.

The moment she did, the voices from the arena reached her ears. Not just the sound, but the whole event, clear and immediate, as if she stood there herself.

It was not as grand as the screens the disciples were using, but Tabulae was more than satisfied.

She was not a spoiled child. She had only wanted to know whether there was something for her too.

Three hours was both a long while and no time at all. Radeon had only walked near the arena before bidding farewell to Fay, Lifara, Thaddeus, and Oswin.

"Boss, can’t we stay there to watch?" Almsgiver asked.

"We can watch from my pavilion. Come, let us not linger here," Radeon said.

There was no point in crowding around the arena when he had the finest viewing hall at home.

Before long, the participants began to line up. Some even wrote out their final wills, plainly prepared never to return so long as they could win honor from the attempt.

"Master, tell my lover that I loved her," one broad shouldered man said as he knelt at his teacher’s feet.

Others carried themselves differently. In their own minds, they were already the heroes of this age.

"Great Teacher, I, Jay-Jay, will return victorious from the Preta Lurienna Labyrinth," one student declared with fierce conviction.

Eldric moved ahead and set the arrays that would send the disciples down into the depths below. Multiple anti-probing formations had already been laid in place, for the truth was that the space within the Samsara Realm remained stable and would not tear so easily.

Even so, Radeon had taken care with every last detail. If the illusion was to hold, then the spectacle had to feel real.

When Eldric returned, the masters and teachers pulled their disciples close one last time.

Some even wept. This was a plunge into the unknown, and they were sending away students they had cherished no less than sons and daughters.

"Everyone, stand back a hundred paces while I open the entrance," Eldric reminded them.

Eldric thrust his hands forward, as though driving them between two unseen slabs and forcing them apart by sheer strength.

Pure black death energy leaked out at once. Thunder rolled across the sky, as if the heavens themselves recoiled from such a thing, while thousands of screams, sharp as a banshee’s cry, tore through the arena and set every ear ringing.

When the masters felt that aura, the color drained from their faces, and a dreadful thought seized them all at once.

They had sent their disciples to ruin. Some even rose to their feet, wavering over whether they should let them enter at all.

From the earth burst a horror twenty meters high, a colossal face like a skull half made of melting flesh and hollow sockets, as though death itself had risen unfinished from some pit below the world.

Pale slime dripped from its ruined features, while crimson fire shone through the cracks in its surface, turning the ground around it into the likeness of an open wound.

Eldric strained and pried its jaws wider still until the creature’s mouth hung slack and gaping.

Deep in its throat, an abyssal portal churned.

Its black heart spiraled inward beneath a ring of skeletal bodies, clawing hands, and screaming skulls.

White smoke and ghostly energy burst out in savage plumes, so that it felt less like a doorway and more like a ravenous calamity given shape.

"Jump now. The portal will only remain open for five minutes," Eldric roared, his face tight with effort.

Fay, Lifara, Thaddeus, and Oswin leaped without hesitation. Their black and white robes were spotless, and their affiliation was unknown, which alone made many in the crowd take them for disciples of some hidden super force.

The cultists of Hemal Tithe Court jumped after them with barely a few breaths in between.

Then came Netherdemon Sanctum Court, their bodies sheathed in ice as they entered.

Jenkii did not hesitate either. She charged straight in with her new axe, and the disciples behind her followed with a roar fit for battle.

Soon every last participant in the arena had gone through, and not one remained behind.

That alone told the truth of it. Above fear, benefits reigned supreme.