Dark Clouds hung over the Heavenly Domain as William looked at the Giant Gate in the distance. Several days had passed since his first attempt to enter the Heavenly Gate, and his injuries were now fully recovered.
He was thinking of a way to bypass its defenders. After failing the first time, he knew that the same trick wouldn't work twice. The Celestial Army was now aware of his ability, and the Commanders of the Celestial Knights had congregated near the gate.
Zhu and Sha sat beside William as they ate several grilled fishes that they had caught in a nearby river. They were waiting for William's second attempt to reach the gate. The first one caught them completely by surprise, and their admiration for the boy was raised to a higher level.
Even so, both of them knew that the boy would have to try something new if he wished to overcome the obstacles that stood in his way.
William's eyes narrowed as he did several calculations inside his head. Frankly, if that Crimson Knight hadn't appeared, he would have cleared the trial already. However, there was no use crying over spilt milk, and William wasn't the type to mull over this mishap for a long time.
"Zhu, isn't this trial unreasonable?" William inquired. "Has anyone cleared this trial in the past?"
Zhu was about to say that the trial was indeed impossible to clear, but an image appeared inside his mind. A powerful troublemaker that defied Heaven's Will had once challenged the Celestial Army alone and actually won.
This was a story of thousands of years ago when he was still just a captain in the Celestial Army. It took him a thousand years to climb to the rank of General, only to be exiled in his 300th Year of serving the Jade Emperor.
"Oink. There was one person that cleared it in the past," Zhu said with undisguised admiration. "He was an irregular that broke all the rules of the world. Since then, no one else has cleared this trial and all souls that failed were sent to the Cycle of Reincarnation."
William was surprised because he never thought that there was actually a person that had managed to clear the domain. He then tried to pry more information from Zhu, but the Pig Demon didn't say more about that legendary being that challenged the Celestial Army and won.
The Half-Elf looked at the Gate and sighed. He then created several different colored Lollipops in his hand. William used the quota for the number of Lollipops that he could produce in a day. After doing this, the red-headed boy placed them inside his pocket, causing it to bulge.
He currently didn't have any storage items in which to store the lollipops he created. The only thing he could do was carry them along with him.
"Sha, can I ask you for a favor?" William inquired.
"It depends on what kind of favor you want," Sha replied. He didn't reject or accept William's proposed question because he was also curious about what the boy planned to do.
William grinned as he explained the plan he had in mind. "If possible I want you to…"
After he finished making his preparations, William summoned his staff and trudged forward. He placed a chocolate lollipop inside his mouth as he prepared to fight.
His mind cleared up as soon as the chocolate taste spread inside his mouth. His fear and anxiety also decreased by a good margin. Right now, William was in his "A-Game Mode".
William ran towards the Heavenly Gate using the movement technique that he had practiced many times in the past. The weakest Celestial Knights that guarded the gates were of Gold Rank.
According to Celine and the others, William's rank was in the Gold Rank as well. But, that was when he was still in training. Now, William had gone past that rank and had entered the initial stages of the Platinum Rank.
When William was only a mile away from the Heavenly Gate, hundreds of Golden Knights charged in his direction. Some of them flew, some ran, while others allowed their comrades to engage William while they prepared for anything unexpected.
They were not fighting as individual fighters.
They were fighting as an organized group that had protected the Heavenly Gate for thousands of years.
When the first batch of fighters were about to clash with William, the boy threw four grey lollipops under his feet.
A cloud of smoke that extended up to thirty square meters covered William's surroundings. The Celestial Warriors didn't enter the cloud of smoke and merely extended their palms forward. They roared and their Aura exploded from within their bodies.
It caused a repelling effect that blew away the cloud. However, when the smoke was dispersed, the Shepherd was nowhere to be seen. It didn't take long for them to realize that William had vanished into thin air.
"Search for him!" the Captain of the Celestial Army ordered. "Go! He has to be here somewhere!"
""Yes, Sir!""
The hundred strong regiment swept the place where William disappeared, while those guarding the gate raised their guard. They already knew what the boy was capable of so they extended their senses to the limit.
Even the Crimson Knight floated above the battlefield and scanned the surroundings using his aura. Still, they weren't able to find the boy who had completely vanished from their sight.
----
Meanwhile, a thousand meters underground...
"Relentless Dragon Assault!" William thrust his spear forward in order to create a tunnel in front of him. The dirt flew in the air, but the boy didn't mind it. He had his eyes closed, as he continued his relentless assault to create a path under the ground.
Soon, the dust and debris that he had made vanished into thin air as a small black hole sucked it all up.
Earlier, William asked Sha to send him a thousand meters under the ground where he would create a tunnel to sneak up to the Heavenly Gate. The smokescreen he made earlier was just a distraction in order for him to disappear in front of the watchful eyes of the Celestial Army.
Since the lollipop was made out of the power of Divinity, the Celestial Army--who had good vision--was unable to penetrate the smoke that William created. Because of this, he was able to execute his plan and made the entire Celestial Army feel constipated.
Since they couldn't find William they were forced to be on high alert, lest the boy slipped past their defenses again.
William dug, and dug, and dug some more, all while the small blackhole sucked up all the debris that he had made. Sha who was above the ground had a mischievous look on his face as he glanced at the panicking Celestial Army in the distance.
Zhu, on the other hand, was laughing hard because he knew what the boy was doing. His piggy lips curled up into a smirk as his beady eyes narrowed into slits. He was looking forward to seeing the result of William's daring plan.
An hour passed then two.
The Celestial Army kept on searching and even the Crimson Knight landed in front of Sha and Zhu to interrogate them to see if they knew where the boy was. Naturally, the two kept mum and only gave the Crimson Knight a devilish smile.
The Demonic Pig even joked that William had turned into a flea and was currently on the head of one of the Golden Knights that attacked him earlier.
This may have sounded like a ridiculous idea, but the Celestial Army took it seriously. There were some souls, who came from other worlds, that had a transformation ability. In the past, there had been a challenger that could transform into a stone.
He almost succeeded in crossing through the gate. However, a guard, who suddenly felt the need to do some stretching exercises, accidentally stepped on him, ending his transformation spell.
It was a bitter pill that the Celestial Army had to take back then. Even though Zhu was just joking, they still couldn't stop themselves from thinking about the "What if he is telling the truth?" scenario.
Because of this, the hundreds of Golden Knights were ordered to stand in a line while those with powerful senses inspected their hair, and armor, and anywhere else a flea could run to and hide.
This made the Pig Demon roar in laughter which annoyed the more than a hundred Golden Knights that were being inspected by their superiors.
Even Sha, who had a serious disposition, had a smile on his face as he observed from afar.
What William was doing was not just merely creating a tunnel to reach the Heavenly Gate. He was working hand in hand with Sha to create a surprise for the Celestial Army that seemed impossible to defeat.