Rise of the Demon God

The Princes of the Esteria Empire were enraged. How dare these people to insult their Empire just because their father wasn't here.

"You-" The Second Prince was about to say something, but he stopped when he saw the gesture of his Elder Brother, who gestured for him not to say anything.

"Respected guests, As you may all know, there was no time limitation on when the first trial was supposed to start.  So complains that my father is late in starting it aren't exactly true," the Crown Prince said softly.

"Furthermore, when you criticize the hosts for something that isn't wrong, it can be taken as an act of hostility. What you're doing isn't even criticizing, honestly. It's insulting the place where you came to take part in the trial."

"I would suggest you refrain from doing that because it doesn't paint a good image of the place where you came from," he further added.

He had just finished speaking when the door of the hall once again opened.

Everyone inside the hall felt a suffocating aura coming from the gate.

A smile bloomed on the face of the crown prince. He realized who it was that had come. Finally, the wait was over.

He looked at the gate only to find his father, the Emperor entering with comfortable strides.

His father was followed by the envoys from the nineteen worlds that had come here with the Youngsters.

'The Emperor of Esteria had a calm face without any emotions.

"Greetings to the Emperor."

As the Emperor entered, everyone greeted him as per proper manner since he was the authority in this world.

"Hmm."

The Emperor simply nodded in return to acknowledge their greetings.

Long Chen observed the face of the man to see if he would recognize him or not. It hadn't happened last time, but Long Chen still wanted to be sure.

'It seems as if he still doesn't recognize. The Mask of Mischief is really an incredible item. Who even made it? Even the Emperor of the strongest continent can't see the true face. How did such a thing end up in such a small place?' he thought as he noticed nothing to make him worried.

"Didn't the ring in your hand also end up there? The ring is an even better treasure of the best Calibre," Xun told Long Chen.

'The ring was a part of a scheme. Such rings were tossed out to find the right prey. That makes sense why someone threw the treasure. What I don't get is why someone threw the mask? It doesn't seem like a bait. And it was in a small pond as well,' Long Chen thought to himself, but he didn't let Xun hear his thoughts.

Something about this mask was just odd. He hadn't thought of it before. It's certain that the abilities of the mask were limited, and he had to carve some formations on it to make sure that he could impersonate better and to remove the time limit.

That still didn't change the fact that the illusion of this mask was overpowered that people who were in a few higher realms compared to him couldn't see the problem with his disguise.

While Long Chen was lost in thoughts, the Emperor stopped. The Envoys also stopped near him.

"Welcome to our world. I have already greeted you separately, but it's better to do it collectively. I'll tell you all about the trial, which will begin in a few minutes. But first, it's better if you can all introduce yourself again so we can give you the respective items that will be necessary for this trial," the Emperor informed the youngsters.

He pointed towards an old man behind him.  "He is our best artificer, Master Hu. He will give you a token with your names that will be linked to you. The token is where you see your rankings. It will record your achievements in the trial and also transmit the ranks to your respective worlds accordingly."

" You all begin one by one from left to right," he said before he looked back at an old man. "Master Hu, you may begin."

The old man stepped forward. He brought a table and a chair out of his storage ring. Placing that before him, he sat down on the chair before he spread out sixty small stone tokens on the table. He picked up the first stone before he gazed at the youngster that was standing in the left-most portion.

"Hanzi Lue, from the Seventh Heaven World"

The old man placed his finger on the small stone token and closed his eyes. The token started shining as a name was carved on the token. It was the name of the person and the name of his world.

It only took ten seconds for it to be completed. Master Hu opened his eyes before he extended his hand towards the young men. "Here, take it. Always keep it with you."

The young man stepped forward after nodding. He took the token from the old man's hand before he walked back.

"Next," Master Hu called out.

"Ming Lu, Seventh Heaven World," the next person introduced himself.

The old man repeated the same procedure to make another token.

The process continued as people kept naming themselves and took their tokens.

The process continued smoothly. It didn't take long before half the people got their token.

Long Chen and his team were standing in the end on the right side, so they were going to be the last to get a token.

The Dark World's team got their numbers first.

"Ning, Dark World."

It was soon the turn of the Dark World's team leader who introduced himself.

As these three were important, Long Chen remembered his name.

"Mu, Dark World."

"Han, Dark World."

'They all have single names, or are they too lazy to name themselves properly?' Long Chen asked Xun.

"That's how they are. They only get their first name when they're born. Only the married people in the Dark World get the last name," Xun informed him.

The line kept moving smoothly, and it was soon the turn of Long Chen.

"L-... Pei Zen from Fengshu."

Long Chen introduced himself, almost naming his true name. He controlled himself at the right time.

Du Liang didn't think much of it, but Qian Yu gazed at Long Chen, frowning.

The old man proceeded to make a token for Long Chen as well.

Long Chen was the last person to get the token; with him getting it, the process was completed.

The Emperor nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Now we can begin. The trial that will decide the ten people who move to the second stage..."