Abyssal Trials

The Abyssal Trials is a special event that tests disciples of the Ignispolis' Heaven’s Sanctum and two other nearby nation's sanctums in order to qualify for the chance to join Heaven's Elysium. A total of twenty partipants were present, seven from Torch Dragon Nation, seven from Aquamarine Nation and the remaining six from Vermillion Bird Nation. The event was held in the Azure Domain of the Abyssal Battlefield.  No Beastial Weapon or Beastial Armor of Grade Six and above were allowed else the disciple would be disqualified.

## History

### Start of Abyssal Trial (Chapter 110 to 114)

The members who participated are : Li Tianming (Jiang Feiling was attached to him), Jiang Qingluan, Mu Qingqing, Mo Lin, Chen Hao, Xing Que.  Wei Guohao was supposed to participate but after losing to Tianming and getting severely injured, he was replaced. Mu Yang led them to the edge of the Azure Domain of the Abyssal Battlefield which had been surrounded by a Heavenly Patten Barrier and they were all teleported to different places when they crossed over.

### Obtaining the Fire Dragon's Horn (Chapter 115 to 123)

When Tianming had arrived in the domain, Feiling had managed to detect a manna in the vicinity and both of them headed towards the direction. They arrived at a cliff and a scene of black fog and various venomous creatures were located beneath it. Feiling was able to get a better sensing that it was likely to be a royal manna. Determined to get the manna, Feiling activated both Celestial Wings and Temporal Wings as they flew into the 'Chasm of Flora'.

As they closed in on the manna, they were able to sense an unbridled and savage aura emitting from the cave where the manna was located. As they entered it , they were able to identify the source of the aura which was a Jade-Scaled Flaming Eagle who was in the process of refining the Fire Dragon’s Horn. Ying Huo went forward to engage it head-on as Tianming rushed in from the side with his weapon. After a shot but intense battle, they were able to take break through its tough defenses and deal a deadly blow through the back of its head. Tianming refined its beast soul and turned it into one of Ying Huo's Spiritsource Ability, the Infernal Armour. After leaving the chasm, they advanced towards a mountain stream with no wildbeast around. Tianming dug out a small cave for Ying Huo to refine the manna within, sealing it with a rock so that any commotion would not leak out.

As he was practicing his combat arts, he was unfortunate to have Ji Changyan stumbled across his location. They had a short fight which resulted in Ji Changyan and his lifebound beast dying at the hands of Tianming. After Ying Huo finished refining the royal manna, both of them cultivated and were able to receive new benefits from the strengthening of Ying Huo's bloodline.

As they departed from their cultivation, Tianming started to roam the domain in order to find Jiang Qingluan and found a Heavenly Patterns Barrier that was slowly shrinking the trial gounds and would eventually force the participants to encounter each other. As he continued his search, he happened to run into both Chen Hao and Xing Que. Both of them grinned at the lucky encounter and were ready to teach Tianming a lesson. Chen Hao confronted Tianming with his Hepta-Starred Winged Lion, while Xing Que guarded Tianming's exit route with his Solar Horned Tiger. Overconfident, Chen Hao told Xing Que to stand back as he initiated the fight by using the Cosmic Brilliante Sword Art with his Hepta-Starred Arcane Sword and releasing numerous beams of Hepta-starred Unyielding Energy towards Tianming. In response, Ying Huo covered Tianming with the Infernal Armor and Feling attached herself to him, activating her Celestial Wings and Temporal Field abilities, allowing him to dodge all the attacks. Ying Huo proceeded to attack Chen Hao while Tianming took on the Hepta-Starred Winged Lion and managed to knock it off a cliff after using his Bewildering Eye, severely injuring it in the process. But it quickly returned and released its Hepta-Starred Cosmic Beam which slammed into Tianming and almost shatterd the Infernal Armour. Tianming rushed through the beam to get into close combat and released a series of attacks which smashed its head and shattered its skull. In shock of the loss of his lifebound beast, Chen Hao was almost finished off by Ying Huo, but the attack was intercepted by Xing Que's Solar Horned Tiger. Chen Hao got back on his feet and decided to attack together with Qing Xue to take revenge for his lifebound beast. Tianming and Ying Huo were able to stay outside their attack range with their ability to fly and continue to lead Qing Xue away before rushing back to take Chen Hao down. Despite his efforts to deflect Tianming's attack, he was still covered by the Infernal Blaze which started to burn his Grade Five Beastial Armor. As he tried to strip the robe in fear of being burned, Tianming's chainblade slammed into his face which caused his own sword to pierce his thigh and resulted in Chen Hao falling unconscious to the pain. With Chen Hao out of the picture, Tianming and Ying Huo were able to make quick work of Xing Que and his lifebound beast. After chaining them up with his Blazing Dragon Chainblade, Tianming proceeded to vent his anger on them in return for all the rude remarks both parties had made towards his mother and him. Afterwards he removed his chains and departed from them.

### Exploring the Trial Grounds (Chapter 124 to 130)

As the trio continued to explore the area, they didn't come across any other participants and made efforts to avoid unnecessary battles with the wildbeasts. They did manage to find a few other manna of the lowest tier but they did not cause any change for Ying Huo. There was no sign of Jiang Qingluan which causes Feiling to worry further. The barrier had shrunk to half its original diameter and should have brought all twenty participants closer.

On the fourteenth day, Tianming saw a patch of jungle next to a lake that had been destroyed, with several trees burned to the roots. After searching the area, there were able to find a blue feather the size of Tianming's palm. Feiling identified it as a feather that belonged to Blue, Jiang Qingluan's lifebound beast. Since there were no bodies in the area, Tianming quickly comforted her as he analyzed the situation. He concluded that she had likely gotten into a fight with a water-type wildbeast or a beastmaster from Aquamarine Nation who were known for having the most water-type beastmasters. After flying above the battlefield, Tianming came to a conclusion that it was likely Mu Qingqing who attacked Qingluan due to further observation.

Mu Qingqing used the Purple Blood-Imprint Secret Technique to control 3 four-star Wildbeasts (Purple-Scaled Flood Dragon, Gold-Plate Barbed Turtle,Hecatoncheires Black-Devil), after killing Aquamarine Nation's Li Qingcheng (son of the Aquamarine Admiral) and Gu Suyu (seventh princess of Aquamarine) she took controlled of their Lifebound Beasts respectively a Torrential Theo-Toad and a Rainbow Regina Jellyfish.

From the fifteenth day to the seventeenth day, Tianming and companycontinued to explore the area and had not come across any of the other participants despite the shrinked space. They eventually stumbled onto the location where Tianming had found the Saintbeast War-Soul. As he reminisced about the past, Tianming dicovered that the water's temperate seemed higher than before and his third eye located a spirit herb that was red as fire wit three leaves, which had beared a small, thumb sized fruit. On closer inspection, he found indigo Heavenly Patterns on it which made it a grade six spirit herb. Coincidently, the spirit herb was growing on the same spot that he had found the War-Soul. Jiang Feiling was able to identify it as a Helios Fruit, which led to both Tianming and Ying Huo consuming two of its three leaves and its fruit, advancing their cultvation to the fifth spiritsource stage.

On the eighteenth day, Tianming encountered Mo Lin who was under attack by Yueling Ji and saved his life. Both of them escaped through the barrier and were teleported to different locations.

### Final Day of the Trials (Chapter 130 to 138)

On the nineteenth day, Tianming had flown into the highest point of the barrier and was searching around, when he came across Mo Lin hiding in a cave. He was suprised to find both Xing Que and Chen Hao in the cave as well. When he asked whether any of them had seen Jiang Qingluan, none of them had run into her throughout the trial. Shortly after, Yueling Ji was standing on the island in the lake's centre with her Blizzard Dragon and attracting all the attention from the participants in the area. She announced that she had killed six of the participants, one more than the count from the previous day, and was challenging the rest to fight with her. Mu Qingqing was situated nearby at a corner of the lake and was waiting for the arrival of Li Tianming, her countenance was paler than paper and the purple imprint was squirming on her forehead. Suddenly, right in front of Yueling Ji, the Draconic Water Obelisk appeared and caused the Soaring of Nine Dragons phenomenon when it appeared, a hundred meter radius of black lakewater was turned crystal blue with nine light beams that shot a meter high before bubbling and turning into the shape of dragons. It appeared as a gem the size of a finger, with nine miniature dragons circling it. Yueling continued to taunt the remaining participants with the manna, which resulted in two brothers from Aquamarine working together to attack her with their lifebound beasts. However, Yueling made short work of them and behaeaded them while their lifebound beasts were shredded to pieces.

Li Tianming was convinced to take action and prepared to engage her. Both of them had an intense first exchange which resulted in the battlefield exploding due to the battle arts that both parties used. Yueling Ji revealed that the first place for the trial was pre-determined, which explained her usage of grade six weapons despite the restriction on the other participants. Even the Draconic Water Obelisk seemed perfect for her Blizzard Dragon. As they continued to exchange blows, Yueling Ji's power of frost was invalidated by Ying Huo's Infernal Flame armor, while his ability to fly with Feiling's innate abilities allowed him to dodge the power of wind from Yueling Ji. Using the Blazing Dragon Chainblade, Tianming dragged the Blizzard Dragon into the air away from Yueling Ji, who would not fly, it allowed both Ying Huo and Tianming to unleash several deadly attacks which tore off it's scales and revealed its vulnerable skin. With the Blizzard Dragon on the verge of death, Tianming sent it's massive body tumbling towards Yueling Ji who absorbed it back to her lifebound space. Unconvinced of her loss, both Tianming and Yueling Ji engaged in one on one combat with Tianming coming out on top. With his chainblade wrapped around her waist, he reached into her robe to take out the manna. With the manna in hand, Tianming was convinced of his victory as the first place participant. However, Yueling Ji gave him a vicious warning which caused him to reconsider the entire situation, but he chose to wait until the end of the trial to handle any new complication.

After the intense battle, Feiling started to look for Qingluan but was not able to find her. At this moment, Mu Qingqing spoke out and said that she was dead and had been killed at her hands. The sudden news caused Feiling to panic and her spiritual attachment became unstable, but Tianming was quick to console her that Qingqing might be lying. Tianming was reminded of Qingqing's involvement in Midas' death, and was about to engage her in combat. The Rage-Dragon Whalelord led the charge with the rest of the beast (Gold-Plate Barbed Turtle, Purple-Scaled Flood Dragon, Torrential Theo-Toad and the Rainbow Regina Jellyfish) towards Tianming, but it was in that moment that within Tianming's lifebound space, the second egg started to hop around with cracks appearing on its surface. With Feiling's emotional and enraged state, her degree of attachment with Tianming was off the charts, comparable to a fifteenth grade. He prepared to receive the charge from the five beasts and started to take them down one by one with the Purple-Scaled Flood Dragon being the first one. Qingqing shrieked at the odds turning against her and commanded the beast to use their abilities, but Tianming and Ying Huo were able to take out the Gold-Plate Barbed Turtle and the Torrential Theo-Toad in an instant. When the Rainbow Regina Jellyfish used two of its abilities to weaken Tianming, it succumbed to the Bewildering Eyes instead and was torn to pieces by Tianming who had harmonized further with Feiling, reaching a sychronization of twentieth grade.

The Rage-Dragon Whalelord used one of its spiritsource ability but Tianming was able to resolve it easily. Mu Qingqing started to mock Tianming of his emphasis on relationships and told him that it would lead ot his downfall. At this time, the Hecatoncheires Black-Devil emerged from the water,with both Jiang Qingluan and her Bluefire Vermilion Bird wrapped in its spines. Both were badly poisoned and seemed to be close to death. Qingqing attempted to threaten Tianming to kil himself in exchange for the lives of Qingluan and her lifebound beast and started to countdown from ten. However, at this time, Tianming took out the egg of his second lifebound beast which was riddled with dense cracks, black lightning dancing on its surface. Its appearance caused thunderclaps rumbled in the heavens and black lightning weave themselves into a net above them, turning the skies into a sea of lightning. Shortly after, the egg blew apart and the world trembled as countless lightning bolts came pouring down onto Tianming's hand which previously held the egg. Mu Qingqing was tossed back by the shockwaves with her lifebound beast being reduced to ash. The lightning also fell upon the Hecatoncheires Black-Devil, transforming it to ash but forming a sphere of black lightning around Qingluan and her lifebound beast. Mu Qingqing was essentially crippled with her lifebound beast dead and her beast ki dissipating, but was also protected by a sphere of lightning as the only witness to Meow Meow's birth and emergence.

After Meow Meow's emergence, Tianming finally decided to deal with Qingqing. Using the Blazing Dragon Fang from his Blazing Dragon Chainblade, he perforated five of her seven spiritsources, which accelerated the dispersal of her remaining beast ki. Qingqing begged for death, knowing that returning to Lightning Manor in her state would only lead her to being abandoned. Finally done with the first part of his revenge, Tianming looked up to realise that the barrier around the trial ground had shrunk even further and the trial was soon coming to its end. As he took a look at Qingluan's condition, Mo Lin also appeared to provide his assistance with his knowledge of various spirit herbs. After Mo Lin confirmed that he had the appropriate antidote and that she would be fine after weeks of rest, both Tianming and Feiling released a sigh of relief. Tianming asked Mo Lin to take a look at Qingqing's condition as well, and he confirmed that she was throughly crippled. Shortly after the barrier closed in and shattered at the centre of the lake, bringing the trial to an end.

### Conclusion to the Trials (Chapter 139 - 141)

With the trial ending, the remaining participant emerged from the surroundings. Aside from Li Tianming, Jiang Qingluan, Mo Lin, Xing Que, Chen Hao, Mu Qingqing, and Yueling Ji, two other participants in the attire of Torch Dragon Nation emerged. It was clear that all participants from the Aquamarine Nation had been wiped out. Shortly after, two middle-aged cultivators appeared, and caught everyone's attention. With the aura they were releasing, it was clear that they were the representatives of the Elysium. They announced themselves to be Jin Yixuan and Song Yixue, vice-inspectors from Heaven's Elysium, and asked who obtained the Draconic Water Obelisk. When Tianming revealed that it was in his possession, he did not get a response from them. Shortly after, they told him to take it out and it was swept away by a small wave of water and landed in Yueling Ji's hands. Tianming was accused of snatching the prize from the winner, which left him in shock. When he argued back that he had defeated her and obtained the manna, he was rebuked by the inspectors. Tianming realised that the trial result had been fixed from the beginning and that the rules had been undeclared intentionally, in order to allow Yueling Ji the victory regardless of the actual outcome. The rest of the participants were frustrated at the outcome but the threat of Heaven's Elysium's retaliation cowed their discontent. Tianming was given a consolation prize in the form of a lightning-type manna, the Three-pronged Electrospike.

Shortly after, Mu Yang, Murong Tianhai, Wang Kun flew over to check on the remaining participants. Murong Tianhai was shocked at the absence of Aquamarine's disciples, while Wang Kun was angered that his personal disciple, Ji Changyan had died and only two disciples were left from Torch Dragon's side. Yueling Hong and Yueling Xiao also made an appearance and revealed to be the grandfather and father of Yueling Ji. Their appearance was quite questionable as none of the other nations had sent other representatives. As Mu Yang prepared to leave with the Vermillion Bird Nation's disciples, he was informed that both vice-inspectors were coming along to Ignispolis to pick up Lin Xiaoting.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 93
2. ↑ Chapter 110
3. ↑ Chapter 95
4. ↑ Chapter 97
5. ↑ Chapter 125
6. ↑ Chapter 128-129
7. ↑ Chapter 129 to 130
8. ↑ Chapter 131 - 133
9. ↑ Chapter 133 - 134
10. ↑ Chapter 135 - 137