After Su Ping arrived at the Demigod Burial, he merely waited at the random landing spot for a short while before a god was sent over by Joanna’s true self, to escort them to her residence.
As soon as they arrived, Joanna summoned her trusted follower and inquired about Heaven’s Test.
The answer was to Su Ping’s relief.
It had not started yet.
But that middle-aged god had sensed the summoning and could initiate it at any time.
He was waiting for them to arrive.
That was Joanna’s order before she left!
There was something else, another pleasant surprise. During the time that they were away, another two at the peak of the titled rank had sensed that their Heaven’s Tests were approaching and wanted to go there to pass the test.
In the news Joanna had spread out, she mentioned that every one who showed up to pass the test would be given valuable artifacts to help them, and would also receive other heavy rewards as well. Many people at the titled rank were considering the offer. Who would want to turn down the free benefits?
Of course, some of the more prudent people chose to pass the test on their own.
They worried about the possibility of a conspiracy.
Su Ping was glad that things went well. Without further ado, he followed Joanna to meet those people.
Soon, they went to the place where the three about to go through Heaven’s Test were living.
That was a hillside chamber on the mountain where Joanna’s castle had been built.
At the moment, the three at the peak of the titled rank were outside, discussing something. Some at the True God Realm were there guarding, in case the three would run away. After all, they were in an important place.
The three at the peak of the titled rank were not pure gods. They were the result of gods mating with other races.
The middle-aged one who first arrived had the blood of the god race and of the sirens. Sirens were a race that originated from the Demigod Burial’s distant past. Sirens were born to seduce.
Of the other two, one had the horns of a bull and a sturdy body, and the other one had a strong build with cyan inks on his body. Both had reached the peak of the titled rank and could make the breakthrough at any time.
When Su Ping and Joanna arrived with all the Celestial Gods and God Warriors, the three to be tested were startled. All of them stood up and looked at Joanna in fear.
“Your highness…”
“Your highness…”
The three seemed to be quite nervous.
Anyone of the three could have ruled over a continent on the Blue Planet. However, in front of Joanna, they were like kids who had been caught stealing candy. Su Ping felt speechless. He had stayed in the Demigod Burial for a long enough time to have become used to that scene. His vision had been broadened thanks to this.
“Hi.”
Joanna nodded. “Are you ready?” “Yes, Your Highness,” the three said in a hurry; they couldn’t help but stand up straighter as they answered.
Joanna asked Su Ping, “When do you want to start?”
“Now will be perfect. Will this place be okay?” Su Ping wondered.
“Of course.” Joanna smiled. “There’s no other place better than here. No one can break in here. I will have those people leave later, in case their aura affects the test.”
Since Su Ping knew little about this, he would just follow her advice. He nodded. “So be it. I will leave everything else to you.”
“Uh-huh”. Joanna gave out her orders. Soon, all the Celestial Gods on this mountain’s peak withdrew to the hillside. The three at the peak of the titled rank followed Joanna and Su Ping to the peak who were still accompanied by the God Warrior.
“There’s a defensive formation for the castle, but it can’t be activated to help you fend off the strikes or else the test will become harder. You will undertake the test in the sky. Have you brought the artifacts I gave you?” Joanna asked the three.
“Yes, we have. Thank you, Your Highness.”
The three nodded at once.
“Okay. Let’s start with you. Go ahead,” Joanna said to the middle-aged man who arrived first.
The middle-aged man nodded. He bowed to Joanna and flew up to the sky. He began to wear a serious expression, while he adjusted his mind to be ready to face the test.
Taking the test was not a joking matter. At the moment, he could only rely on his strength, his pet and the artifact Joanna had bestowed upon him. His influence and status in society meant nothing there.
The thought of Joanna’s artifact calmed him down a bit.
Su Ping summoned his battle pets immediately as the middle-aged person flew up. The Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon hopped out. As for the Little Skeleton, since it had reached seventh-rank, it could no longer be trained there because the Little Skeleton’s death could not be reversed. Su Ping had to leave the Little Skeleton out of the energy refinement process.
This time, Su Ping’s focus would be on the Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon.
Su Ping planned on saving the Purple Python for later, after the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound succeeded.
“Heaven’s Test…”
Su Ping gazed into the sky. This was his first time to observe Heaven’s Test. This was the test that people had to take to reach the legendary rank!
That would be hardly seen in a century on the Blue Planet!
Boom_!
When Su Ping looked up, there came a clap of thunder in the sky that was blue and unpolluted. The thunder was deafening; it seemed as if a heavy hammer had suddenly been thrown out of the void and were pounding on the sky. Su Ping was startled by the clap of thunder. Hearing the noise, the elementary rules of thunder that he had just learned were summoned in his mind; he could once again see the bolt of lightning that came into his mind the other day.
The profound meaning became vivid on his mind.
He seemed to have been enlightened.
But that feeling passed away in a flash.
Pop!
A bolt of lightning came and tore the clear sky. Electric arcs began to dance around wildly in the air.
More bolts of lightning surrounded the middle-aged man. In the sky above his head, a dark cloud floated over and grew. In an instant, the dark cloud had blotted out all the light over the peak of the mountain!
The dark had to be at least one thousand meters in diameter! “This Heaven’s Test might is just so so…” the God Warrior escorting them commented with a smile.
Su Ping took his gaze away from the lightning in the sky and asked with curiosity, “Might? How can you tell?”
The God Warrior looked at Su Ping. Knowing that Su Ping was Joanna’s honored guest and a mysterious human being, the former replied with a polite smile, “Mr. Su, here is the thing. The strength of the test can be seen from the scale of the dark could. Usually, the stronger the test is, the larger the dark cloud will be. After all, the dark cloud from which the lightning is generated needs to have energy ready as well. The scale of the dark cloud can be regarded as an indicator of the level of strength.” “The cloud?” Su Ping stared at the dark cloud. He had a feeling that this reminded him of the ninth-rank skill, Thunder Storm.
Of course, this dark cloud was much larger than the one he could make using Thunder Storm. Besides, he could tell that this dark cloud was also conjuring a stronger power. Something special, something like the feeling of… destruction.
Such a sense of destruction was never seen in the Thunder Storm skill!
“Heaven’s Tests vary from person to person?” Su Ping had other questions.
The God Warrior smiled. “Yes, naturally. The strength of the test is dependent on the strength and aptitude of the one being tested. Even though they are all at the peak of the ninth-rank, they have various strengths. Throughout the ages, the blessed talents always have to go through a dark cloud with a ten thousand meter range. The average ones would have to produce a cloud reaching a thousand meter radius to be good enough.”
Su Ping had never expected that Heaven’s Tests could be so complicated.
All of a sudden, he thought of a critical question. “If the Heaven’s Test for this person is only average, when my pets freeload on his test, the effects they’re going to get would also be average, right?”
The God Warrior was at a loss for words for a moment. He actually didn’t have an answer. To be honest, he didn’t even know why Su Ping was sending his pets to the Heaven’s Test.
Joanna darted Su Ping a look. “In regards to strength, Heaven’s Tests are only relevant to the one being tested. Your pets will only be refined by the test without receiving ‘presents’ from the process. As such, for you, the strength of the test is irrelevant!
“Think of water. When you try to wash something, the amount of the water flow won’t be critical. Besides, the strength of the test will be more than enough to ‘wash’ your battle pets completely!”
Su Ping finally understood.
This Heaven’s Test was common in strength but it could refine his pets nonetheless. The effect of the refinement had nothing to do with the strength of Heaven’s Test.
“Then, what do you mean by presents?” Su Ping asked.
Joanna was apparently fed up with those nonstop questions. “You will know when you reach the legendary rank. It’s like a reward given by heaven, by nature.”
“All right.”
While their conversation continued, the dark clouds in the sky were growing more and more violent. The bolts of lightning that were several meters thick created a suffocating environment.
Su Ping could feel that pressure on the ground. It wasn’t the same thing as when he was facing a beast. This was something he couldn’t figure out, something majestic and terrifying at the same time.
It was because of that terror that he was awed.
Su Ping looked up. He felt he was looking at the ‘divine providence’!
“It’s starting,” Joanna cautioned him.
Su Ping instructed his Dark Dragon Hound to go first.
Following Joanna’s advice, Su Ping didn’t let both pets go together because it would increase the strength of the test by three fold!
Su Ping planned to have his pets take turns. Boom_! When the Dark Dragon Hound was within the range of the Heaven’s Test, there seemed to be a hand stirring up the dark cloud in the sky. The cloud’s size doubled rapidly and was able to reach a two thousand meter range. Even the hillside was covered by its shadow.
“Your Dragon Dragon Hound’s strength is approaching the legendary rank,” Joanna said calmly.
Su Ping nodded. After the Dark Dragon Hound went through skill strengthening, its combat strength had increased to 9.8, more powerful than beasts at the upper position of the ninth rank. But compared to other beasts of the peak of the ninth rank, the Dark Dragon Hound would not stand out yet.
Boom~!
Right then, the cloud over the middle-aged man’s head began to tumble; the cloud’s edge was extended further out, showing no signs of stopping!
In an instant, the dark cloud was extended to three thousand meters!
Joanna was surprised. And so was the God Warrior.
“That’s how strong the… Dark Dragon Hound is?” Joanna frowned. The dark cloud would adjust its size based on the person tested, in regards to strength and potential. The higher the potential was, the stronger the Heaven’s Test would be. That was why people would say “heaven was jealous of heroic geniuses”. Su Ping was perplexed. Potential could also be an influential factor in Heaven’s Tests? That was to say, people with great aptitude would have to endure a stronger trial, right?
Su Ping gazed at the Dark Dragon Hound.
What kind of Heaven’s Test would the Dark Dragon Hound trigger?
The thundercloud kept on developing. Soon, it had grown to four thousand meters, five thousand and… from six thousand to seven thousand meters!
But the growth had not stopped yet!
The middle-aged man standing in the sky was confident at the beginning. However, as he saw how the cloud kept on stretching out, he couldn’t help but begin to tremble.
He couldn’t control his body.
His heart, liver, blood, and spleen were all shaking in fear!
In the blink of an eye, the cloud had reached ten thousand meters!
That was ten times the initial size!
Still, that wasn’t the end!
The middle-aged man started to feel short of breath. His eyes were bloodshot, which indicated he was in extreme terror. He turned around and stared at the black dog that was using a Wind Feather skill to fly into the sky. His lips trembled and suddenly, he felt an urge to cry. He had researched Heaven’s Tests.
He was a bit disappointed when he saw that his cloud was covering two thousand meters. But he was aware that he just had common potential.
However, the cloud began to expand as soon as the black dog joined him!
As he looked at massive thundercloud, the middle-aged man almost had a mental breakdown. The cloud could blast him to death!
Also, how could a dog have such a huge potential? What was the logic of that? “Ten thousand meters…” Joanna stood in a daze. She understood that Su Ping’s Dark Dragon Hound was better than the other average Dark Dragon Hounds, having gone through multiple training rounds. Even so, she had never expected that the Dark Dragon Hound would have been able to trigger such a powerful test. His Dark Dragon Hound could even compare to some powerful beings in the Demigod Burial!
The God Warrior was also staring at the sky in disbelief.
How could a pet have such great potential?
While they had surprised looks, the thundercloud kept on moving out…
The thundercloud was still tumbling over and over violently as it grew in size. Soon, the cloud had blotted out the light over the entire mountain.
Fifteen thousand meters, seventeen thousand meters… twenty thousand meters…
The development continued and there seemed to be no limit!
Joanna had turned pale by the time the cloud had expanded to twenty thousand meters. She thought of something. At this rate, not even the artifact she gave to the middle-aged man was enough to protect his life!
At this thought, she glared at Su Ping with complicated feelings. She wondered if she would be angrier or more frustrated.
He had created so much trouble for her by getting such a freaky battle pet involved!
I think I’ll have to use the Shield of Ares. She took a deep breath. She placed her hand over her bracelet and suddenly, a small oval shield of golden color came out. The image of a handsome man was engraved on the shield.
She passed the shield to the middle-aged man with her mental power.
At the moment, the middle-aged man in the sky was about to pass out as he stared at the growing thundercloud. His mind was blank. He had never been so afraid before.
He regretted his decision. If time could be rewinded, he would have never gone there. This was indeed a conspiracy! In a state of desperation, he heard Joanna’s voice on his mind; his anxiety was cleared away in an instant. He turned around and saw a golden shield flying toward him.
The middle-aged man was stunned as he got a clear look at the shield.
It was the shield!
The legendary Shield of Ares! An artifact that was well-known in the Divinity!
The middle-aged man stared in a daze and finally came back to his senses to grab it after it was close enough. Then, he heard Joanna’s instructions.
His eyes reddened and he burst into tears!
He had experienced death and life in this short while!
Gratitude!
The middle-aged man gazed at Joanna, at her perfectly flawless face. He would commit that look into his memory. At this moment, he decided he would risk anything for her, even his life!
Taking a deep breath, the middle-aged man turned around. Calmness had returned to his face. He quickly built a connection between himself and the contract following her words.
Heaven’s Test. Go ahead!