Along with the Emperor's announcement, the pressure vanished completely. Only 50 of the young geniuses remained standing; this included Xiang Shaoyun. As for those who had failed to remain on their feet, a depressed look appeared on all their faces.
They became even more distressed when they saw a fourth-stage King like Xiang Shaoyun walking onto the third floor. They became furious, feeling like they had been humiliated. After all, they were all late-stage Kings, with some of them being at the ninth stage. Even they had failed to withstand the suppression, yet someone like Xiang Shaoyun had succeeded. Nobody could accept something like that.
Unfortunately, that was the rule of the game. Their opinions no longer mattered, and the entire affair no longer had anything to do with them. In any case, at least 20 more people would be eliminated on the third floor, and they believed Xiang Shaoyun would be one of them.
When the group entered the third floor, they found it even more beautiful and serene than the first two floors. A lake greeted them, its waters occupying a large portion of the floor. It was as large as an average lake, and willow trees were growing all around it. Here and there, pavilions could be seen, and numerous lanterns pulsed with light, presenting a pleasant sight reminiscent of a lantern festival.
At the center of the lake was a massive ship 100 meters long and 3 stories tall. It looked extremely luxurious, and coming from it was a melodious zither music playing in the air. The music sounded like it was from the heavens, reaching straight into the depths of one's heart, cleansing one of all pressure and worry.
"Young masters, please come onto the ship," a melodious voice suddenly rang out.
The voice was akin to the sound of a chirping oriole and the sound of a flowing spring. Like the zither music playing in the air, it was extremely pleasant to the ears. Just from the voice alone everyone concluded that the owner was definitely a woman as beautiful as a fairy.
"Haha, Yu Clan beauty, your husband is coming!" said an arrogant young man with a laugh as he started flying toward the ship.
The others were not willing to fall behind and started flying over as well. For some reason, a large number of the young men remained standing. The lake was giving them some sort of pressure. Sure enough, accompanied by a dreadful hissing sound, numerous massive black figures abruptly shot out of the lake.
"Roar! Roar!"
It was too dark, so they found it hard to determine what were the beasts that had shot out from the water. The beasts' sudden appearance gave the people flying to the ship a fright. Some of them were directly struck by the beasts and gravely injured.
If the beasts hadn't been ordered to not kill, they would have died. Xiang Shaoyun pushed his eyes to their limits and found that the beasts had a shape similar to a devil blood bat, yet they were also obviously different from the devil blood bats.
Soon, he heard someone shouting, "Devil fish!"
The so-called devil fish was a species of aquatic devilish beast in the Devil Domain. They were extremely powerful in water and would feast on any life form, an extremely savage species. It was obvious the ones living here had been enslaved by the Yu Clan. Otherwise, with their ferocious nature, the young Kings flying toward the ship would have all turned into fish food by now.
"Those capable of getting through this defensive perimeter will be qualified to step on the ship. If you fail, leave," the same melodious voice rang out from the ship.
Evidently, these devil fish were the second test for these young geniuses. There were more than 100 devil fish in the lake, each of them at least a ninth-stage Devil King. Some were even peak Devil Kings capable of releasing terrifying and powerful devilish energies. The devil fish kept making an odd sound as they looked around with their shiny, sinister eyes.
"Everyone, remain calm. Work together and charge through the perimeter," said Tang Longfei.
"That's a good idea. But those without any draconic aura are not qualified to come with us. Only those with draconic aura can work with us," said Long Yunfei, the Thirteenth Crown Prince.
"I agree," said Xie Gongzi from Dark Devil Sect.
"I agree."
"I agree."
...
All the Kings who had already formed their draconic aura voiced their agreement. There were about a dozen of them, and they were all people who would one day enter the Dragon Ascension Realm, each of them a genius from their respective organizations. It was thus natural for them to despise working with the Kings who had yet to form any draconic aura.
The other young Kings were furious, but they did not dare to say anything. After all, each King who had formed his draconic aura was far stronger than an ordinary King. They had terrifying combat prowess and were not the type of people these ordinary Kings could afford to offend.
Suddenly, Tang Longfei looked at Xiang Shaoyun and said, "You may come with us."
He spoke with a firm tone, as if that was the only choice Xiang Shaoyun had. Xiang Shaoyun looked at Tang Longfei in astonishment. He had a feeling they had met before, but he couldn't remember when and where.
"No thanks," said Xiang Shaoyun with a shake of his head. He did not care why Tang Longfei had invited him. He had no intention of working with strangers, nor had he any intention of owing anyone a favor.
"Sure. Do as you wish, then," said Tang Longfei with a complicated look in his eyes.
They then started charging toward the devil fish. They were each extremely powerful, displaying a combat prowess comparable to even some Emperors'. These were the outstanding geniuses of the various provinces. Common cultivators were completely incomparable to them.
As the geniuses were battling the devil fish, someone else shouted, "They can do their thing, but we should join up and charge over together as well."
"Yes! Working together is better than going at it alone!"
"Let's go! We only need to get across the water! We can do it!"
"Don't hide anything. Use everything you have. These devil fish are no joke."
...
All the remaining Kings drew their weapons and charged the devil fish. Multicolored energy explosions started erupting all over the lake like fireworks.
Rumble! Rumble!
The impact of the unending explosions created numerous towering waves. This was quite a spectacular sight to behold. These Kings were all younger than 30 years old, yet they already possessed such extraordinary combat prowess. However, that wasn’t a surprise as they wouldn't have been able to pass the first test to make it here otherwise.
Shortly after, some of them started reaching the ship. Those capable of arriving before the others would naturally be able to give the Holy Maiden candidate a better impression. After all, this was a world where strength reigned supreme.