Divine Emperor of Death

Using this technique, the Ice Phoenix Clan survived many onslaughts from other phoenixes due to their opposite nature, which bordered on yin flames while all the other phoenix flames were yang flames.

Shirley was confident in her concealment. She made her way around a bit and continued to head further outside, not looking to stay in one place. She felt she needed to find other spatial platforms if she needed some kind of breakthrough in the fight against this ridiculous statue.

But in the distance, there was a flash of light.

Shirley narrowed her eyes, wondering if another mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration was launched, but her pupils dilated as she saw the statue disappear.

'Dodge!'

She inwardly screamed and sidestepped to the right using all her might.

*Bang!~*

That statue landed right on the place where she stood, almost crushing her to death.

'No freaking way…!'

As Shirley slid out of the way and the intense undulations attacked her, her concealment came off. Her figure was revealed, her crimson-blue hair flailing as she slipped and rolled on the spatial platform before she quickly picked herself up while rolling and retreated again with back steps, each step taking her away hundreds of meters.

She gazed at the stone statue and saw it charging for another mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration, leaving her mortified as she pressed her lips against each other.

This statue could teleport directly above her and try to crush her into meat paste.

She didn't think she could escape something like that no matter where she ran, much less defeat it.

'It's no wonder Dewzai felt it was unbeatable…'

Just as she was feeling at her wit's end and a mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration came her way like a divine arrow, her brows widened.

'Wait a minute… Darling always said that if we were to encounter the Celestial Transcendent, we must do everything in our power to flee…'

Shirley's gaze shook.

A divine white fire phoenix crashed straight into her.

*Boom!~*

She was engulfed in white-hot flames that disintegrated her into ashes.

But somewhere in the opposite distance, she stepped out of an icy mirage again, her face solemn as she narrowed her eyes.

'Could it be… this trial is not to defeat this statue strangely modeled after that person but to escape from it…?'

Shirley thought.

This trial was too overpowered. She knew she was one of the most powerful Candidates out here in terms of prowess, but if she couldn't defeat it, then she could barely see others defeating it.

At the same time, the statue's prowess was off the charts for a single attack even though it was the same cultivation base as her, which proved one thing: that this trial wasn't meant to be completed through force.

"If that's the case…"

Shirley felt she was searching for the wrong spatial platforms, knowing she must descend to the lower layers instead of remaining here.

Her eyes carefully surveyed the surroundings. It was only five seconds before another mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration came spear diving at her but she dodged with familiarity, blocking the waves of fiery undulations that hit her before she continued her way.

She continuously looked around, her phoenix eyes sharply focusing on the empty space around her.

She knew she needed to find a spatial node no matter what or become prey to one of those attacks sooner or later as she was running out of energy at this rate since she had used three Divine Techniques already.

Her energy could only spare one more. Even if she had more energy capacity, she couldn't use it soon as her meridians were burdened with the simultaneous usage of such powerful techniques.

Even for the Frostveil Mirage Wisp Reversal, she didn't use it on the statue, afraid that it would learn the technique and keep appearing beside her. If that happened, she was finished.

*Boom!~* *Boom!~* *Boom!~* *Boom!~*

About four mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagrations later, her eyes finally widened.

She spotted a spatial node in the distance. If she considered its place from the initial zone, it was around two thousand and eight hundred kilometers away from the center, causing her to curse inwardly.

However, she also knew there should be multiple spatial nodes if this trial wanted to be somewhat fair.

She rapidly approached the spatial node and pounced, her hand reaching to touch it.

*Whoosh!~*

Shirley disappeared. The next moment, a divine white phoenix fell on that place, engulfing it in an eternal pyre.

"…"

Shirley looked around.

The circular spatial platforms were still big, but she jumped, rejoicing as she was back in the inner and outer eight-point stars! She knew this was the Upper Realm Star Map of the Celestial Transcendent Galaxy, so she knew she was right in her theory.

'Descend to the lower realms to escape the pursuit of the Celestial Transcendent…! I see, I see… so these trials are meant to teach how to survive…! At least, the ninth trial seemed to be designed this way…'

She finally smiled brightly, looking all delighted. She saw she stood in the southeastern circular spatial platform of the outer eight-point star but her expression quickly sank.

That same stone statue materialized in the center of the circular spatial platform she stood, causing her eyes to tremble.

"Damn you!"

She screamed out and fled again.

The circular spatial platform was only a few kilometers away, so she quickly made her way to the edge and jumped, gliding all the way until she landed on the edge of the southwestern circular spatial platform of the outer eight-star point.

Instantly, she noticed the color of it change slightly to more blacker. This was the same even when she landed on the previous circular spatial platforms while making her way up to the Celestial Transcendent Greater Realm, making Shirley shudder as she finally knew what was happening.

She dodged, and a mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration landed in her place, causing the circular spatial platform to suddenly turn white.

"Shit…!"

She sped up at the fastest speed possible and jumped. At the edge, another mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration landed and burst into a pyre of eternal white flames. Cracks spread across the southwestern circular spatial platform before it finally shattered, causing its collapse.

Shirley clenched her teeth as she stood on the northwestern circular spatial platform.

'Does this mean the circular spatial platforms could only endure three attacks?'

Shirley wondered.

She stood on the southwestern circular spatial platform first, causing its color to turn more blacker. Then, an attack landed, turning it white before another attack caused it to shatter. This meant she couldn't travel to that circular spatial platform or travel in that direction anymore.

It severed her path, but to where…?

'To the Lower Realms!'

Shirley instantly knew she had to descend further to the lower layer, but if she couldn't find the spatial node before the stone statue shattered all the circular spatial platforms, then she could guess it would be her defeat!

With the previous circular spatial platform having collapsed, the statue remained at the southeastern circular spatial platforms but she didn't let her guard down, knowing it would most likely appear in the current circular spatial platform she stood or somewhere else near.

She quickly ran towards the eastern direction, intending to jump to the northeastern circular spatial platform, but at the same time, her eyes desperately searched for a spatial node in the sixteen- no, fifteen circular spatial platforms left.

'Where is it…?'

Her gaze swept through the horizons. Each of these circular spatial platforms were a few kilometers wide but the spatial nodes were only like a dot in space, extremely difficult to find as the background was also dark.

Her senses couldn't extend as well, so she relied purely on her perception to find it.

*Booom!~*

A mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration fell on the northwestern circular spatial platform, causing its color to turn white. However, before it could take more damage, she managed to jump and land on the northeastern circular spatial platform.

However, she felt things were bad as the next stop was to the stone statue itself.

She couldn't find the black dot, inwardly feeling despair as she didn't think she could survive this if all she did was run around and discard the circular spatial platforms that allowed her to remain in this trial.

"Fine, you're asking for it!"

Shirley clenched her teeth and straight towards the statue, heading south.

The statue was still in the southeastern circular spatial platform, so she quickly made her way before the statue could even launch an attack and glided towards it.

Then, finally, its attack was launched.

A mini Eternal Pyre Phoenix Conflagration soared into the air and dived at Shirley.

She had just landed when the divine flaming attack was almost near her, causing her to slide on landing and turn around to jump again. She made it out, but-

*Boooom!~*

"Aah!"

The white-hot flames surged as they exploded, sending Shirley flying with her back set ablaze in white flames. Her expression winced in pain, but she turned around and landed back on the northeastern spatial platform on her back, trying to erase the white-hot flames with the spatial platform's strange power.

With her own energy surging out, her actions somewhat helped to diffuse the eternal flames of the fire phoenix.

Standing up as she made a new robe for herself with martial energy, she saw that the southeastern circular spatial platform had collapsed and sank deeper into the darkness, but most importantly, the statue also fell.

She smirked, thinking she had won, but her expression sank again as she saw the statue disappear mid-air.

"You-!"

She raised her hand, wanting to beat up whoever created this ridiculous trial.