Chapter 152: Graveyard Of Souls And Countless Beasts!!!

The moment Kranos stepped through the Celestial Soul Gate, it felt as though he had plunged into another world entirely. The world behind them, the cracked sky, the ruins, the crowd, vanished like an illusion being wiped clean.

A world of utter silence greeted them.

The air felt thick. There was no breeze, no noise, or scent. It was as if even time itself refused to move forward in this place.

Beneath their feet was an obsidian black soil that stretched endlessly in every direction. There was no sky above their heads, only a vast, oppressive darkness that seemed to pulse with life.

“Where… are we?” Kevin asked, his voice trembling while glancing in Kathryn’s direction.

Kathryn looked around solemnly. “A pocket dimension within the Divine Grave. The true trial is ahead. We should quicken our pace.”

Just as her words faded, the land beneath them trembled. Cracks ran through the ground, spreading like spiderwebs before erupting with golden light.

A towering obsidian monument rose from the earth, etched with runes that shifted unpredictably and burned with a celestial light.

Then, the voice returned.

“The Trial of Echoing Sins begins. Let your souls be weighed.”

Without warning, spectral chains erupted from the monument and shot toward the cultivators scattered across the field.

Sensing the danger, some of them dodged, while others were too slow. The chains wrapped around several unprepared cultivators and dragged them screaming into the air, then into the monument itself, where they were quickly turned to ash.

Kevin raised his palm to counter an incoming chain, but his technique faltered as the chain simply phased through his attack and latched onto his chest.

“I… I can’t stop it!” he shouted.

Kranos reacted instinctively. His time points decreased drastically as he attempted to slow the chain. Yet nothing happened.

Kathryn frowned. “This trial doesn’t test strength. It tests the power of the soul.”

Kranos froze, then suddenly understood. The name of the trial echoed in his mind. Trial of Echoing Sins. The description said, “let your souls be weighed.” In essence, if one had a weak soul or will, they would be unable to escape the chains.

As Kranos came to this realization, the moment the chain touched him, his body shuddered. Everything around him vanished and he felt a wave of darkness. The darkness became a mirror, and within it, scenes from his life began to play.

He saw the burning wreckage of a village… the helpless screams of children.

He saw his own hands, bloody and trembling.

He saw the moment he turned away instead of saving a dying man.

Kranos’ knees buckled slightly. For a moment, he thought what he had done was wrong, but then his gaze turned indifferent.

“What does it matter to me? As long as you aren’t useful to me, what benefit is there in saving you?”

“In life there are no eternal friends, only eternal benefits.”

While Kranos’ state of mind returned to its usual calm, the mysterious voice returned.

“So, you don’t consider everyone as lives, only valuable pawns?”

As the voice spoke, golden flames erupted from his shadow and began to rise along his limbs. He gritted his teeth, standing firm despite the agony.

Kranos remained silent, as he didn’t have an answer for this.

He closed his eyes and faced the memories that were being shown to him. Sensing that he was no longer affected by the test of his soul, the chains recoiled and the fire which had begun burning from his shadow, receded.

The monument shimmered.

Kranos gasped for air as the darkness around him began to dissipate. He fell to one knee. His robe was charred but didn’t seem to have been burnt much.

Beside him, Kevin lay unconscious, breathing shallowly, but thankfully he was still alive. He, too, had passed.

Kathryn stood tall, glancing around, her gaze unreadable.

More than hundreds of the other cultivators had vanished, consumed by their own sins according to the trial of the soul.

The monument then shattered into fragments of divine light. Everything returned to normal.

…

Just as the first trial had passed, everyone relaxed slightly.

Without warning, the earth beneath their feet rippled like water, and they fell through the ground as if it were liquid.

They landed in a vast forest of silver trees under a blood-red sky. A stone stele in the distance glowed with a pale green light, and from behind them came a growl.

Kranos turned slowly, his heart racing as he glanced behind him to see a pack of beasts made of molten bones and crimson fire emerge from the trees.

They had no eyes, nor mouths, only countless arms and legs. Each one radiated Dao Palace realm pressure.

Kathryn narrowed her eyes. “We must keep moving. If they catch us, we’re dead.”

Kranos didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Kevin’s unconscious form and launched into the air, racing ahead as the beasts gave chase.

As they ran, the forest’s terrain twisted rapidly, with its paths collapsing behind them. At times, trees bent unnaturally to block their path. However, Kranos and Kathryn found a way to maneuver out of it.

The sky bled rivers of red that rained down in streaks, and with each drop that hit the ground, new beasts formed.

Kranos couldn’t help but glance at Kathryn. He noticed that her eyes glowed with a strange red light.

“You knew this would happen, didn’t you?” he asked curiously as they ran.

“It’s not about knowing,” she said with a faint smile. Then fire blossomed on her body and burned everything in her surroundings.

As they fled through the shifting terrain, illusions soon began assaulting them.

One moment, they were fighting shadows of themselves, and the next, they were dragging their own lifeless bodies through a marsh of screams.

After running for what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached a clear lake.

“Cross it, quickly!” Kathryn shouted. The beasts behind them were already becoming too many.

Immediately, Kranos dragged Kevin with all his strength and crossed the clear lake. The next moment, the crimson beasts faded and the forest behind them vanished.

Their location shifted rapidly, and they appeared at another location, standing once more in front of another gate.

Kranos collapsed beside Kevin, panting heavily. Everything had been exhausting. Meanwhile, Kathryn walked ahead and touched the gate.

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