Chapter 239 Acceptance Test
"That was such a long fall that I almost fell asleep," Ryan commented with a yawn when the whole group descended to the bottom of the Hellhole. It was quite abnormal since it took them at least five minutes to reach the bottom.
The place looked just as everyone imagined. Dark, stinky, and simply ghastly. What surprised them though was the abundance of all nine Elemental Qi in the air and the fact that they weren't alone.
The massive cavern with tens of exits in all directions had many structures and buildings all around it. People were casually chatting with each other while the rest simply sat down and cultivated cross-legged on the ground.
"It seems like the Hellhole is more popular than we initially thought," Xuefeng commented. "Are there no beasts in this area?"
"Even if there are, I don't blame them for coming down here. They are criminals so they can't simply roam around the Heaven Realm and cultivate in different Lands. Even if it's more dangerous, they can find all Elemental Qi in here," Wuying explained to her understanding. "The only thing they lack here is the comfort of living but I don't think they mind."
They were not talking in their minds so they naturally got spotted by other Cultivators who quietened down their conversations. The word criminals seemed to have triggered many of them.
"Hehe, we are already the center of attention," Xiao Wen commented with a giggle while Ryan's eyes brightened.
"Are we going to kill them all as well?" Ryan asked excitedly. "I wasn't there when you wiped out the whole Hellhole City so I missed all the fun."
If their presence wasn't noticed by everyone earlier, it definitely was now. All Cultivations heard him clearly and swiftly stood up. They didn't seem that eager to attack though and rather prepared to escape instead.
"Hey! We are not looking for trouble!" Someone called out in defense while the Dark Fate Sect's staff wearing black uniforms immediately pulled out their Communication Crystals.
When they didn't receive any reply, their faces paled. "The Hellhole City is no more! Everyone scatter!"
The sudden confirmation put everyone in panic mode. Who would attack people who just potentially wiped out a city?
Too bad for them, this time Xuefeng was involved in the looting.
His Water Stone lit up as an instant Water Domain filled the whole cavern and all the exits froze with a thick layer of ice. Elemental Bracelet provided him full control over the Element. In the place where all Elements were present, Xuefeng could finally shine.
"Everyone! I'm Liu Xuefeng, the number one enemy of Heaven!" Xuefeng introduced himself while the Cultivators raised their weapons in a pointless struggle for survival. "This is a robbery! If you want to save your life, give up all the goods and treasures you own! The failure in complying would result in instant death!"
The moment he mentioned his name, the fear in their eyes only increased but none of them surrendered immediately. Instead, they looked at the Dark Fate Sect staff that seemed to be responsible for the safety in the area.
The overall morale of the Cultivators was on the verge of breaking when the staff made their decision.
"Don't listen to him! If they killed everyone on the surface, they will do the same to us! Once we give up our treasures, they will— Uhh!"
The man's voice cracked halfway through his speech and he suddenly grasped for his throat as if he lost his breath. To everyone's horror, he dropped onto his knees as all the air escaped from his lungs before his legs froze to the ground.
Swoosh!
Large flames burst out around him and burned him alive till only ashes and his Storage Ring were left. It flew towards Xuefeng and landed on top of his palm as he announced, "I think you are overestimating your abilities. I can kill you all at the same time within seconds, yet you dare to question my kindness?"
Xuefeng rolled his sleeve and displayed the Elemental Bracelet to everyone. All three Elemental Stones were shining brightly, displaying his unlimited power.
Thud!
One by one, all weapons together with the Storage Rings dropped to the ground. Xuefeng didn't need much to convince everyone about their only option of survival.
"Come on, you are taking all the fun away," Ryan complained, but Xuefeng assured him. "Don't worry, you will have your chance."
After randomly checking some collected Storage Rings, Xuefeng was satisfied with his loot. Almost all of them contained high amounts of Fate Stones inside.
"Alright, now I'm going to give five seconds to those who smuggled some of their treasures and refused to give them in. You know who you are," Xuefeng called out while giving all experts a casual glance. "I will start killing the moment the countdown drops to zero."
The experts' faces dropped as they looked at each other to find out the culprit. It wasn't hard to hide Spirit Artefacts in one's Soul so they weren't surprised that someone tried to cheat. What was even more interesting was the fact that Xuefeng knew about it. There was no way he peeked into their Souls to find out its contents.
"Five… Four... Zero," Xuefeng began counting down before snapping his fingers after speeding up his countdown. A Dark Fate Sect's staff covered in ice with only his head uncovered.
"Wait! I will give it to you!" he shouted in panic but Xuefeng was already by his side with his fingers pressing against the man's forehead.
"Too late."
Aaarrgh!!
The man screamed as Ming proceeded to rip the Soul out of him before his eyes rolled backward and he died instantly. Anyone associated with the Dark Fate Sect would die anyway so Xuefeng used him as an example. Since he was also a Fate Holder, it was like striking two birds with one stone.
Ming wasn't at all gentle as she extracted the golden Fate Qi before crushing the Soul into oblivion. Her hatred for Dark Fate Sect was now very obvious.
"Anyone else wishes to cheat?" Xuefeng questioned, giving everyone one last chance. It was all a bluff since he couldn't see through their Souls but they didn't know that.
Sure enough, one by one the experts dropped another series of Artefacts on the ground. No one seemed willing to gamble with their lives.
"See, it wasn't that hard," Xuefeng commented as he collected everything and returned back to his team. Ryan was still eagerly waiting but it was obvious he wanted to fight someone.
"Can I go now? I gave you everything I have," one of the Cultivators came forward to speak for himself. He pulled out a Disciple Token and announced, "I'm a disciple of Blackwater Sect. We have friendly relations with the House of Dragons. I only came here to train and I'm not a criminal."
"Of course, I keep my promises. Go ahead," Xuefeng nodded while pointing at a few tens of Cultivators. "You, you, you, [...], you, and you. All of you can leave. Feel free to tell everyone you meet about what happened here. Anyone who decides to challenge me will die."
"Yes, Sir!" they nodded happily as they rushed towards the only exit to the surface that Xuefeng unlocked. It was probably the only moment where a Cultivator would be happy they were robbed.
"Are you really letting all of them leave?" Ryan questioned curiously. "Won't everyone find out about our location? They didn't look like good people."
"It's fine. Many have already escaped from Hellhole City so the news will spread anyway. Also, Who am I to judge if they are good or not?" Xuefeng replied with a shrug. "Honestly, we probably killed and robbed more people than them. It's better to let them go so they can tell the world not to mess with us. As long as they can convince one person to stay away from me, it will save us trouble."
"What about us?" The rest questioned, looking eager to leave as well.
Xuefeng remained quiet as he waited for the first batch to leave first before sealing the exit once again. That act was enough as a reply.
"Ryan, the rest is yours. Treat it as your acceptance test. Show us what you are capable of," Xuefeng suggested before raising the morale of his enemies,"I originally didn't plan to let any Fate Holders survive but if you can kill him, I promise I will let you go."
Although they allowed Ryan to follow them, they didn't really know the extent of his strength yet. This small test was enough to witness his abilities.
"But you took our weapons away! How do you expect us to figh—"
One of the Cultivators complained but he was quickly shut down by Nuwa.
"Now there is now an even seventy versus one. I hope that is not too much for you," Nuwa commented, causing Ryan to laugh.
"Haha, are you kidding me? Easy! I will be back in under a minute! Time me!"