Chapter 257 - 222: "1

To Su Ze’s disappointment, he scanned his surroundings and saw no sign of a second crystal man general.

Moreover, after he had slain the crystal man general, the crystal man army was left leaderless. Having lost all their will to fight, they became a disorganized mob and fled in a panic.

The army of purple-skinned people gave relentless chase, determined to wipe them all out.

The rest was just garbage time. Su Ze rode the Purple-skinned One-Eyed Beast, hunting down the fleeing crystal soldiers. He charged through their ranks, and even those crushed to death by his mount counted as his kills, granting him all the "experience points."

There was no difficulty or danger involved. Su Ze simply farmed experience mechanically. After an unknown amount of time, the scene suddenly changed, and he found himself back in the Dice Space.

’The third trial is over already?’

’That didn’t feel very difficult.’

Su Ze looked around and saw that the other Trialists had been transported back to the Dice Space at the same time as him. A hint of confusion lingered in their eyes as they looked around, as if they hadn’t yet snapped out of the battlefield mindset.

Some of them were still injured.

"Boss!" Mr. Ya ran over excitedly, all traces of his earlier sadness gone.

Skills were disabled this round, forcing everyone to rely purely on physical strength. Since Mr. Ya’s physical fortitude was genuinely at the Butterfly Stage level, his gains had been quite substantial.

After they exchanged notes, Su Ze asked in surprise, "You didn’t fight the crystal man general?"

"Crystal man general?" Mr. Ya shook his head in confusion. "That guy just sat on his horse, acting all high and mighty. He never made a move."

Su Ze nodded in understanding. ’It seems I had to kill a certain number of crystal soldiers to provoke the general into attacking.’

So, for this third trial, it wasn’t necessary to kill the crystal man general to pass. There wasn’t even a quota for regular soldiers. You just had to survive until the time was up.

However, the rewards for this trial had to be earned through combat. The more you killed, the greater the boost to your constitution. This was especially true for the crystal man general—killing him was worth several thousand ordinary crystal soldiers!

After this third trial, Su Ze’s physical constitution had improved tremendously!

This laid a solid foundation for his plan to absorb a Tier 5 extract, something far beyond his current level.

Su Ze noticed that of the twenty Trialists who entered the third round, not a single one had died this time. However, their gains varied, and many people were seriously injured.

Su Ze discreetly listened to the other conversations but heard no mention of anyone killing the crystal man general. He was probably the only one who had defeated the boss.

After all, the older Trialists had either left or died in the first two rounds. The ones who remained were almost all in their twenties or early thirties, and very few had managed to temper their physical bodies to an exceptional degree.

Hmm? Su Ze noticed that his other teammate, Li Yongguan, was injured.

He went over to check on him. The guy was badly injured—and not just in one spot. He was covered in wounds!

Su Ze didn’t even need to guess; he knew this guy must have fought with reckless abandon during the third trial to get himself into such a state.

With his personality, he was definitely capable of something like that.

Li Yongguan was currently using some Healing Medicine.

Su Ze said, "When the exits open later, you should leave."

Li Yongguan froze for a moment, then said, "My injuries are fine."

It was true. With the help of the Healing Medicine, Li Yongguan’s injuries would mostly recover. But Su Ze was worried that with such a reckless fighting style, he might really die if he kept going.

This third round was the last relatively easy chance to leave. If the rules for the final three rounds remained the same, there would only be six exit spots in total. The struggle for those spots would be deadly!

Looking at the remaining participants, every single one was a top genius from a major power. Su Ze didn’t believe Li Yongguan could win against them. Even with his help, Li Yongguan might still get killed in one of the trials.

Of course, these were all Su Ze’s private thoughts. When dealing with someone as hopelessly proud and stubborn as a mule like Li Yongguan, he couldn’t be blunt. He had to handle him with care.

"Yongguan," he began, "with your talent and strength, you could definitely go much further. But think about it: there are still three of us from Dongli, and the last three rounds only have a total of six exit spots. That means if none of us from Dongli are to die, we’ll have to claim half of all the available spots!"

"Do you think the others would let that happen? Wouldn’t they just team up to deal with us? And even if we did manage to grab three spots, we’d make enemies of every other power here, wouldn’t we?"

Li Yongguan pressed his lips together, holding back whatever he wanted to say. He wasn’t a fool. Though Su Ze was being tactful, Li Yongguan knew that among the three of them, he was weaker than Su Ze and not as good at surviving as Mr. Ya.

It was fair to say that both Su Ze and Mr. Ya were strong enough to protect themselves if they stayed. But his own strength was unremarkable compared to the other remaining Trialists. If the other top-tier geniuses targeted him, he would have to depend on Su Ze and Mr. Ya for protection.

And he had always been unwilling to trouble others, much less become a burden.

"Fine. I’ll leave this round," Li Yongguan said, taking a deep breath.

...

「A short while later」

Four exits opened in the first wave. Su Ze decisively claimed one with Li Yongguan and sent him out safely and without incident.

The others were displeased but had to swallow their pride. No one dared to object, so they could only fight for the remaining exits.

Many people still wanted to leave this round, especially those injured during the third trial. They knew they had more or less reached their limits and wanted to leave now, while the number of exit spots was still relatively high.

The final three rounds would be a battle among the top geniuses; ordinary people wouldn’t stand a chance of interfering.

Some people, however, were still hesitating, torn between the fear of not being able to leave later and greed for the rewards of the coming rounds.

Thus, the Divine Dice tested not only talent and strength but also one’s character, courage, and the wisdom to make sacrifices.

If you didn’t leave when you should, you would likely die here.

Being too afraid of death and leaving early, on the other hand, could also mean missing out on a great opportunity.

Some talented geniuses chose to make an early exit during this third round, while others with less impressive qualifications decided to stay and bet it all.

After Su Ze claimed one of the four spots in the first wave, a conflict inevitably broke out among the others as they fought for the remaining three.

Fortunately, no one died. Everyone was still hoping that the second, random wave would offer more exits, so they exercised some restraint.

Inside the Dice Space, everyone waited with bated breath for the second wave of random exit spots.

The Dice Space began to shake. A moment later, when everyone saw the number of exits overhead, the atmosphere instantly grew heavy.

Fate seemed to be playing a cruel joke on those who had chosen to stay. The Dice had rolled a "1"!

One exit!

Only one person could leave!

And now, there were still sixteen people left in the Dice Space.

Counting this one spot, plus the six spots in the final three rounds, meant that at most seven people could survive. Nine of them were doomed to die here.

Those who had been hesitating about whether to leave now had to consider if they could even leave at all.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

The instant the exit opened, a crowd of people surged toward the single opening...

...

Li Yongguan was the first person to emerge after the third round. The moment he appeared, he sensed something was wrong with the atmosphere outside. Many of the surrounding people were looking at him with unfriendly eyes.

Seeing Li Yongguan emerge, both Zhou Wenshan and Mrs. Yun smiled, beckoning him over.

"How are Su Ze and Yargha? Are they all right?" Mrs. Yun asked.

"They’re both fine." Li Yongguan glanced around, sensing many eyes fixed on them.

Zhou Wenshan shook his head and said via voice transmission, "Don’t mind them. Just get some rest."

Li Yongguan nodded and stepped back to stand beside Zhang Tai. He asked in a low voice, "What’s going on?"

Zhang Tai gave a wry smile. After the second trial, the other Trialists who had come out with him had told everyone what Su Ze had done inside.

Su Ze had single-handedly killed fourteen Trialists, wiping out the geniuses of several powers. This had naturally drawn a great deal of hatred toward Dongli.

Fortunately, powers like Luofan Country, Mu Country, Ancient An Country, and the Evolution Divine Teachings were already hostile toward Dongli, so offending them further wasn’t a big deal.

Besides, the others had attacked first. Su Ze had only been counterattacking in self-defense, so no one could righteously condemn him.

Moreover, with the Venerable Powerhouse Mr. Ji present, they didn’t dare make any rash moves, no matter how much they hated Dongli.

After Li Yongguan, three more Trialists emerged. Then, the Dice began to shake.

The circle of Saint-level powerhouses surrounding the area all watched the rolling Dice intently, as the result would determine how many more could survive.

However, when the Dice stopped on a "1", a wave of sighs swept through the crowd.

No matter how many had died in the earlier rounds, most had been older, less talented Trialists. But now, those who remained were the top-tier geniuses and prodigies from the major powers. The death of any single one of them would be a source of long-lasting grief.

Above the Dice, the single exit opened. Just before it was about to close, a figure bathed in blood finally fought their way out.

Seeing who it was, everyone was stunned... It was Lin Luo of the Lin Family!

Among this batch of Trialists, Lin Luo’s talent was definitely in the top ten. He was also the most outstanding genius of his generation in the Lin Family.

Everyone had assumed that a genius like Lin Luo would stay until the final three rounds. Why had he bailed in the third?

Lin Luo just smiled. He didn’t care about the surrounding looks of confusion.

’As long as I escaped, that’s what matters. I saved my own skin!’

’That fucking rat race was killing me!’

’You guys have no idea how insanely competitive this Divine Dice trial is!’

’If I didn’t get out now, could I really have gotten out later?’

’It looks like there are six spots left, but I know that’s not how it really is.’

’Sometimes, you don’t just have to know your own limits; you have to know your opponents. Sure, I, Lin Luo, am a genius, but my opponents are monsters! Freaks of nature!’

’Especially that monster, Su Ze. He’s guaranteed to take one spot. And Mr. Ya, who’s so close to him—Su Ze will definitely secure a spot for him too.’

’Then there’s Wan Qizhi, who’s also stronger than me. He’s practically locked in a spot as well.’

’Take those three out of the equation, and you have over a dozen people fighting for three spots. And those three spots will most likely all be in the fourth round.’

To take such a risk just for one more round of rewards? Lin Luo felt it wasn’t worth it.