Chapter 1834: Begin!

Translator: La009

Warning: this chapter is unedited, its readability might be lower compared to normal

Sha… sha… sha…

Gu Qing Shan walked along a beach without any people as he gazed towards the large ship that was a short distance away.

“A ship again” Gu Qing Shan muttered with a complicated expression.

The previous competition for the Devil King position also occurred on a ship like this.

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However, it most likely won’t be as simple as the previous time.

Gu Qing Shan vanished from the beach and directly appeared on the deck of the ship.

Everyone is here! J

Somebody called out.

As Gu Qing Shan turned to look, he saw that there were Asura, Humans, Heavenly Beings, Divine Beasts, as well as Wraiths with distinct demeanor and form gathered here.

They were dead people from the other 17 layers of Hell, each an elite from the Samsara of the past, and now prominent figures of each layer of Hell.

Hmph, looks like a Human realm sword cultivator J

A long-nosed monster that has taken a humanoid form lightly grunted as it commented.

There seemed to be some awkwardness in its voice, its feet silently and discreetly shifting away.

A sword cultivator—-

People who choose this profession don’t usually have a peaceful personality, infamous for being ready to draw their swords and risk their lives at the slightest provocation – verbal or otherwise — the closer one is, the harder it would be to guard against them.

Everyone else remained silent.

At this time, the ship began to slowly move on its own.

The ship was heading towards the boundless ocean.

The sky swiftly grew dim.

The shroud of night has descended.

The bright full moon has risen.

At this point, the beach could no longer be seen, the only thing around them were the crashing sea waves.

Gu Qing Shan looked down.

A tiny fluctuation could be felt once again from the bone ring on his finger.

A few lines of bloody red text swiftly appeared in front of his vision:

[From this moment onwards, this place will be separated from the outside world’s flow of time]

[By the time this selection is over, about three breaths’ worth of time will have passed in the outside world]

[You can now examine the rules of this competition for the Devil King position ahead of time:]

[Survive for 5 minutes, or die in the past era]

[Attention: All candidates will enter a fragment of the past era, directly appearing in the war between the Heaven and Huang Quan realm]

[ —- -As you’re reinforced by the Merit of both a Huang Quan High Deity and Virtuous Deity, you are allowed to include some additional clauses]

Quickly scanning through the rules, Gu Qing Shan touched the bone ring with his other hand and silently communicated with it through his Inner Sight.

After a few moments.

He retracted his Inner Sight.

The rules have changed:

[All candidates must protect the Huang Quan Death God and survive for a total of 1 hour to safely return]

Gu Qing Shan skimmed through it again, then silently muttered: “That will be it”

The skull woman’s voice could be heard from the bone ring again: I’m trying to help you attain the Devil King position more easily, why did you instead make it more difficult?

“5 minutes is too little time, I need 1 hour to investigate the secret of the past era” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The skull woman said: That battle was brutally fatal; it would be difficult to even return alive and you dare to think about investigating secrets!?

Gu Qing Shan calmly replied: “Lady High Deity, have you ever returned to the

Samsara’s past eras?”

The Samsara’s past by itself is a guarded secret. Anyone, including me, would find it exceptionally difficult to return to it J the skull woman answered.

Gu Qing Shan sighed: “The Samsara’s matters are, in a few words, eerily indescribable and layered with secrets. I simply have no idea what the situation truly is like”

“The Devil King Warden Rod has given me a precious chance to return to the past and witness the events of those years—— I might even be able to collect some useful intel”

It’s hard for you to even survive, never mind collecting intel; that’s a death wish if I ever saw one J the skull woman replied.

“Senior” Gu Qing Shan changed the way he referred to her and said in a sincere tone: “I know how to survive better than anything else, please give me a chance”

The skull woman remained silent.

After a few moments, she curtly grumbled and didn’t say anything else.

– -she has seemingly agreed.

A few seconds later, an invisible fluctuation began to radiate from the bone ring.

All the text in front of him vanished.

Instead, a cluster of yellow-white flame descended from the sky, then slowly manifested a series of floating words in front of the 18 people’s gazes:

[Candidacy rules: Survive]

[Space-Time: The first decisive war between the Heaven and Huang Quan realm]

[All candidates must survive within this battle for 1 hour in order to return] [Ask your questions now, there will be no other chances]

An Asura asked: Survive for 1 hour? In other words, it’s possible that we might die? J

The floating words shifted and changed into a new message:

[Those who die in the past era will result in complete soul death, never to return]

Everyone’s expressions changed.

The Asura displayed a clear expression of excitement and muttered: r I’ve heard many stories about that legendary era, I’ll take this chance to observe the battle between the Heavenly Emperor and Devil King with my own eyes, it’ll be an eye-opener for sure J

A human male wrapped from head to toe in metal armor complained: “Are you kidding me? I’m just here to compete for the Devil King position, but you want us to go suicide?”

He then asked: “Can we give in this competition? T don’t want to be no Devil

King anymore”

The flaming words changed again: [You may withdraw]

The man declared right away: “I want to withdraw!”

His entire body then turned into a burst of flame before jetting away from the deck of the ship, quickly disappearing out of sight.

The 17 people who remained exchanged glances.

A woman clad in feathers glanced towards a nearby Wraith and asked: [f Big nauseous, aren’t you going to leave J

The Wraith she referred to was excreting a green ooze from all over his body, who then glared with his pale, bell-like eyes and replied: r The position of Huang Quan Devil King is worth risking life over J

Oh? You don’t even care about dying for it? What do you want to do exactly? Il the woman asked with intrigue.

The Wraith looked at her and replied: r When I become the Devil King, I want your body, fleshy bird. I’ll be eating you from morning till night, once everyday—— after all, your sins haven’t been absolved, you won’t die J

It then began to salivate: r Just thinking about having a Divine Beast like you struggling in my stomach is more than enough to commit any sin J

The woman wasn’t angry, instead listening to his words with obvious glee, then finally shook her head and giggled: What terrible taste, you think I’m like those young’uns? J

Everyone else didn’t try to talk, simply waiting for the competition to begin.

-they are the current figureheads of the literal 18 layers of Hell, the best of the worst villains in history, how can they be scared off so easily with a threat of soul death?

Gu Qing Shan also calmed down.

The skull woman is the one and only High Deity ofHuang Quan, never has she left the stage ofhistory, not even once.

She didn’t object to me trying to investigate the past.

From that standpoint, she’s trustworthy in the sense that she has nothing to hide.

– — -and also that there were things not even she knew about during that period.

Ifshe knew everything, she wouldn’t let me waste the time and effort investigating the events of the past.

Even as the High Deity ofHuang Quan, she isn’t fullyprivy to the secrets of the Samsara…

For some reason, Gu Qing Shan felt a sudden chill.

“The Samsara…”

Gu Qing Shan muttered under his breath.

Over the deck of the ship.

As the flaming words saw that nobody was asking anything else, it condensed into a small flame before flying in front of the ship and expanded into a wall of fire.

Even here, they were able to faintly see the intense fluctuations from the other side of the wall of fire, a completely different world and time.

“1 hour… ‘ a candidate muttered.

That’s quite a long time, seems like the competition is quite fierce another candidate commented.

The ship slowly steered itself into the wall of fire, then abruptly vanished without a trace.

Their surroundings were filled with fog.

As the 17 candidates took a closer look around themselves, they saw that the ship was floating over a completely silent sea.

As if it had lost whatever force was driving it, the ship was now not moving forward or backwards at all.

Gu Qing Shan first retracted all of his presence and retreated to the shade of the ship’s main cabin.

Holding the Chao Yin sword tightly in one hand, he grasped the Delimitation Divine Sword from the void of space with his other hand, then pulled his Inner Sight back completely before remaining still.

After all, with so many people on the ship, any sudden moves would alert the rest.

–he had detected an omen of death, and was now trying to analyze it.

Each of the remaining 16 people all acted as well, some retreated from the crowd just like Gu Qing Shan and stood by themselves, while others began to carefully examine the situation.

The green ooze Wraith muttered something to himself, then grunted: GO, examine the ship J

A ferocious red glow abruptly rose from his body before separating into three masses of light.

One of the masses swiftly made its way into the hull of the ship, while the other two masses went in opposite directions into the ocean below.

After a few moments.

The three masses of light returned to his hand, revealing themselves as a

bunch of scrawny imps.

The imps hissed and screeched towards him.

Strange, there’s nothing in any direction at all, is this really the Huang Quan realm of the past? J the Wraith muttered.

The others also found that to be a bit strange and started to exchange glances.

Like a meditating monk, Gu Qing Shan remained completely silent and kept to himself.

Suddenly, he looked up at the sky.

A gigantic hand appeared in the sky.

The hand moved seemingly very slowly, but managed to swiftly catch the Wraith with very little trouble despite all of his attempts to avoid it.

r Bastard, who exactly are you? Looking down on this great one!? J

The Wraith angrily shouted and put his hands together to unleash several spells in a row.

As the spells struck the hand, they didn’t cause any damage at all; but they managed to trigger some of the hidden runes that surrounded the hand, which gave off colors of the 5 primary Elements.

Seeing that, everyone was shocked.

This hand was created by a spell.

– -that is only a spell!

Could it be, all of us, as well as this ship, and even this silent ocean are actually under the effects of a spell?

Everyone couldn’t help but have the same thought.

A second later.

A giant mouth appeared in the foggy sky.

The hand paused briefly before pulling up towards the sky and shoving the Wraith into the mouth.

The mouth then began to chew.

The Wraith’s desperate screams resounded before eventually dying down.

Gulp.

The sound of something being swallowed was heard.

The Wraith’s voice abruptly ceased.

It was swallowed alive by the mouth.

The deck of the ship was completely silent.

– – – -one of their fellow candidates had just been eaten in front of them all just like that.

It has been disqualified!