"His mindset, if his comprehension were a little higher, might truly have a chance to pass the trial."
Everyone present felt a sense of regret. Based on Li Zhonglou's displayed combat talent, he was already considered the undisputed number one in their eyes.
It was just a pity about his poor comprehension…
Just as they had predicted, although Li Zhonglou's mood was as calm as still water, it couldn't prevent the inevitable outcome of his death.
The ravenous wolves lunged at him as if they were fearless, attacking with a frenzy. Though he could eliminate one almost every few seconds, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Li Zhonglou sustained injuries continuously.
When there were still over fifty wolves left, Li Zhonglou was utterly exhausted.
"I really can't hold on this time."
A look of helplessness crossed his face. Li Zhonglou watched helplessly as a wolf pounced on him, its sharp fangs piercing his neck in an instant.
However, at that very moment, all the wolves froze.
Li Zhonglou felt a flash of white light before his eyes, and then all the pain in his body vanished.
"What's happening?"
He instinctively turned his head. He saw another version of himself frozen in the posture of his dying moments, but all the wolves were now dead.
"Is that me? Then where am I now…"
He looked down at his body, his gaze passing straight through it to the ground below.
"Soul state?"
Li Zhonglou realized instantly. At that moment, he heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Newcomer, you've finally joined us."
Turning towards the direction of the voice, he finally saw the assembled figures.
"Who are you?"
At this, Old Lin approached with a warm smile and explained, "Newcomer, welcome to the soul body. From now on, we can all exist eternally."
Exist eternally?
Li Zhonglou's brow furrowed. The others noticed that Li Zhonglou wasn't particularly surprised upon seeing them.
"Newcomer, don't overthink it. Once you become a soul body, you can never leave. Let's introduce ourselves first."
Old Lin sighed. His words, however, made Li Zhonglou's heart sink.
Never leave? No! I still have unfinished business!
He immediately spoke in a deep voice, "Is there truly no other way to leave?"
The figures exchanged glances. Just as they were about to shake their heads, Boss An suddenly spoke.
"It's not entirely impossible. Are you familiar with your Arbitrator?"
"What Arbitrator?"
Now it was the others' turn to be confused. If he didn't even know what an Arbitrator was, why would someone help him?
At this point, both sides were bewildered, and the situation fell into a silence.
After a long pause, Li Zhonglou broke the silence, giving a brief account of everything that had happened to him here.
"I see. Then it's likely a friend who knows you found the Arbitrator's location through some channel, which is why they helped you a few times during the recent fight."
Old An explained.
"But I don't have any friends here."
Li Zhonglou looked at the figures, bewildered.
"Then it's even worse. The Arbitrator still has a chance to become a soul body for you, but if the other party isn't close to you, you probably won't have that opportunity."
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Li Zhonglou's body began to tremble.
"Damn it, kid, are you fooling us! If you're not close, why would someone choose to die for you?"
Some of the experienced figures cried out in alarm, while Li Zhonglou was also filled with confusion.
He truly had no friends here. So, who was this person who chose to die for him?
However, sensing that his soul was about to return to his body, Li Zhonglou hurriedly asked the others.
"I don't have much time left. Can you tell me what this place actually is?"
Old An and Old Lin exchanged a look, and the latter quickly said.
"I won't say too much. I'll tell you the important points. No one knows what this place is, and no one knows why we exist. But we do know that if anyone wants to leave here, someone must pass ten trials! And the rule of the trials here is that the stronger you are, the greater the difficulty of the next stage!"
"Kid, even if you can pass without injury later, you must find a way to put yourself in a severely injured state! As long as you can stay alive, that's enough!"
"Also, if you can complete the trial, leave immediately! Absolutely don't…"
Li Zhonglou could no longer hear the rest of his words, as he felt a pulling sensation stripping away his senses, and his body was uncontrollably drawn back towards its original position.
In the blink of an eye, Li Zhonglou felt as if he had regained control of his body. The fangs of the wolf that had died earlier were still lodged in his neck.
He quickly pressed the acupoint to stop the bleeding, pulled out the wolf's fangs and discarded them. His mind was entirely filled with Old Lin's words.
"So that's why the difficulty kept doubling…"
"And also."
Li Zhonglou looked up in the direction of the figures, but he could no longer see any of them.
"You can still see me? And hear me speaking?"
He tried asking a few times, but only silence answered him.
At this, the prompt for passing the stage appeared again. However, it seemed as if the difficulty had reset, and there was no longer a time limit.
Seeing this, Li Zhonglou breathed a sigh of relief and quickly used his Great Supreme technique again to recover his strength.
However, in less than five minutes, over a hundred wolves suddenly charged out from a passage opposite him.
"What's going on?"
Li Zhonglou was startled, but then he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder.
"Little White?"
And the figures opposite him also fell into a silence as they watched the scene unfold.
"Pets can be trial-takers too? This is over. I was counting on this kid to help me reincarnate!"
"Uh, then everything I just said was in vain."
Old Lin looked at Li Zhonglou with a look that was both amused and exasperated. He hadn't expected his hopes to be dashed in mere seconds.
However, compared to their complex emotions, Li Zhonglou was currently overjoyed.
Because he felt the power emanating from the little creature on his shoulder. Little White was unaffected!
As expected, facing the charging horde of over a hundred wolves, Little White didn't hesitate and charged forward. To the astonishment of the assembled figures, it took less than a minute to slaughter them all!
"Damn it, even the pets are this monstrous!"
Old Lin, finally reacting, couldn't help but curse loudly!
But Li Zhonglou suddenly remembered something and quickly grabbed Little White, who had just run back.