Divine Emperor of Death

"Indeed." The silhouette replied, "Excuse my rudeness for not appearing with my true appearance. However, I would like to avoid inflicting you with karma as much as possible until I see a true inheritor of mine. You certainly seem worthy, but it is also important for my inheritor to know how to avoid a clash with the Celestial Transcendent. Hence, this trial. After all, you geniuses think you can overcome any odds without thinking there isn't any option to retreat- no, refuse to retreat while clinging to shameful pride."

"…"

Shirley's brows twitched at the World Master.

She was happy she was considered a worthy inheritor, but all she did was run around like a fool. At first, she was only playing, but later, she became solemn, truly fleeing for her life. She couldn't derive any pride from it, but she wasn't ashamed either, as Davis and Myria had always taught her retreat was a valid option.

However, she wanted to know.

"What happened in the final moments of my descent to the Lower Realms? My nirvanic soul sensed an extreme amount of danger if I'm not wrong…"

Shirley asked and made a statement, expecting an answer.

She refused to believe she was cowardly and got fooled by an illusion.

"Your nirvanic soul was right. You had a ten-minute leeway before that statue reappeared and started firing at you. If you had failed to dodge it and got incinerated before you could reach the spatial node, you would lose your life not only in the trial but also in real life."

"…!"

"Of course, you have the nirvanic soul of the King-Tier Fire Phoenix and Ice Phoenix, allowing you to revive three times, but this is an absolute karmic attack. Even an Emperor-Tier Phoenix with nine lives wouldn't survive."

"…"

Shirley shuddered.

"This trial was never made to be won," The World Master continued, "No matter how powerful you are, the statue of the Celestial Transcendent will always be more powerful. If my inheritor doesn't know how to retreat, then my inheritance will only fall in a fool's hand even if they are worthy."

"…" Shirley absentmindedly nodded.

The World Master's silhouette flashed with pure light, "Death is the price to pay for those who reach the last point of the Ninth Hidden Pagoda and fail to retreat. Otherwise, they could retry at any point if they were to lose to the statue."

"I see…"

Shirley finally responded.

This makes it so that reaching the ninth step made it so that she only required a thousand Crystal Units each time while others had to gather an exorbitant amount of Crystal Units. Dewzai was even going to lose her life as she challenged the Empyrean Beasts to pay the price to enter the Ninth Hidden Pagoda, so reaching the ninth step only made it easier for Shirley.

"But of course, the rewards are also fair and appropriate."

"Take these…" The World Master raised her silhouette, and three jade treasure chests appeared before Shirley, causing her eyes to narrow.

"There are three Gilded Realm Ascendant Pills made from Lower Realms instead of Minor Realms, so handle them with care, for they increase the prowess of Immortal Emperors by three or four levels."

"…!"

Shirley's heart skipped a beat as she heard the description directly from the World Master.

'This… this is even more ridiculous than the Realm Pill that was said to be concocted from the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm…'

Her mind trembled at this fact, unable to see how the World Master could have three of them. According to Davis, there was no way she could go outside and refine Lower Realms. If she had, it would've at least been heard of before, which only leaves-

"You… World Master. Are you refining the realms in your own… universe…?"

"Your husband doesn't hide anything from you even though you're the fourth wife, does he?"

"…" Shirley pursed her lips, blushing a bit under that stern gaze from a silhouette.

The World Master stayed silent for a few seconds before she turned to look back.

"The First Haven World is a growing Greater Realm. It hasn't even reached the tenth of a true Greater Realm's size, and it wouldn't grow. As for the reason, you probably know, my cultivation has been permanently impeded. As for the other realms, they have only grown a bit like the First Haven World, hidden beyond the cosmos. I use some for practice and others for research, but after I saw what happened in the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm, I learned of the refinement method and its intricacies, finally managing to derive my own concoction method to refine realms."

The World Master turned to look at Shirley, her silhouette shimmering like the stars.

"If the realms aren't growing, then it would make sense to refine them and put them to use, wouldn't you say?"

She slowly disappeared, glittering away like a butterfly's last flight.

"…"

Shirley couldn't help but tear up for no reason.

She bit her bottom lips, feeling like they were harvesting her organs- no, the World Master was donating her own organs to them. If three of these pills were the rewards for the Ninth Hidden Pagoda, then how many realms was she going to give up…?

Who would be so magnanimous enough to grant such a boon?

*Whoosh!~*

She landed back outside the Ninth Hidden Pagoda, her expression distraught as she wanted to vent somewhere.

"Dewzai, I-"

Abruptly, she went silent as she saw Dewzai lying on the ground in her own pool of blood, her head crushed. Blood was still spurting from her neck in copious amounts, staining the crystal ground.

"Woahoa~ Talk about timing. I had just crushed a lovely fox's head, and now I am blessed with a peerless phoenix~"

"…"

Shirley looked at a golden-robed woman who held a black hammer in his hand. Her pupils dilated as she recalled this bastard very well.

His name was Fanwain.

He was a fey who had the blood of the Golden Ray Toad and the Golden Armored Rhinoceros, having two bloodlines that made him a variant fey, which made him immensely powerful. With his incredibly noble undulations despite his toad face, it was obvious he was also a King-Tier being.

Even back in the Stair of Regression, he harassed Fairy Thunderblaze, vainly courting death.

Fanwain pointed his black hammer at Shirley with one hand, appearing to boast immense prowess.

"Since one of the seals just shattered, I presume you completed the Ninth Hidden Pagoda? If you know what's good for you, you will hand over the rewards unless you want this vixen to truly die and endure what's coming for you next."

"Shirley, run!"

Dewzai screamed out. She was caught in her soul form between the webs of Fanwain's webbed toad-like hands. Watching this scene, Shirley stared at Fanwain, never having felt this angered before.

However, she saw the odds were against her as four more immortals gathered behind Fanwain while two of them seemed to be dead in the outer zone from the attacks of the Empyrean Stage Beasts.

She could tell they sacrificed two of their teammates to get inside this area, fueling her anger even more. However, part of that anger was even directed at Dewzai.

"Fool! Why didn't you use your Escape Talisman!?"