Divine Emperor of Death

Zenova Artoria narrowed her eyes as she stored the treasure she contended from Agnirei in her sleeves. It was extremely displeasing not to have a spatial ring, but she ignored that feeling and kept the container in her sleeves.

"Well, you paved the way, but you won't be having all the treasures. Oh- what's this?"

She looked ahead, panning her gaze but couldn't see any treasures sites having lost their spotlight. After all, once treasures were taken, that spot tended to lose its light as though ti was no longer of significance.

"You haven't taken anything yet?"

"Not yet. Why don't you take a look around and choose first?"

"Oh my~ Hunting one of my chances, are we?" Zenova Artoria smiled amusedly, "That's very bold of you when even your husband wouldn't dare do such a thing and remain careful of my actions."

"Ridiculous…" Evelynn's gaze turned sharp, "You are nothing but an ant to him. At that time, you wouldn't have been alive if he hadn't had some misgivings about using his dangerous powers. You are very lucky…"

"I-"

"If you think you can surpass him just because you obtained a Gilded Realm Ascendant Pill, think again. He will have one too, and even if he doesn't have one, you will always be incapable of defeating him."

Evelynn extended her hand out and waved, declaring as she coldly gazed at Zenova Artoria.

Zenova Artoria's brows raised, wondering if they were the ones who completed most of the Hidden Pagodas, as she still found the fact that they were together more than suspicious.

However, Zenova Artoria continued to look at Evelynn with an amused gaze.

"Lovely~ Such a passionate first wife. I can see why he wouldn't want to give you up~"

Zenova Artoria took a step forward, walking past Evelynn. She looked around, beginning to browse the treasures. Evelynn also looked around, trying to complete the list of treasures she would need so she could have some others get it.

The two acted like nothing happened and scoured the entire first floor, making sure that there were two hundred and forty-three Peak-Level Immortal Emperor Grade Treasures. Such a number made their minds tremble, but the rarity of these treasures practically made them tip-toe, causing them to make sure they didn't leave anything out.

However, there was one thing that they didn't do, and that was trying to acquire a treasure.

It seemed like they were waiting for another prey to enter, and one finally appeared.

"Yay!~ I'm up!"

Someone shouted, but Evelynn's eyes lit up as she knew it was Shirley's voice. She quickly appeared before her and shared the list of treasures using soul transmission, telling her to pass it to others.

Shirley also shared the plan they made to have everyone in their group come up. She heaved a sigh of relief as there seemed to be enough treasures for everyone. However, she also relayed a bad news that a few inheritors had entered and could jeopardies their plans or even their safety.

"About seven more, huh… they could make some plans too if they realize what's going on…"

"Yeah, but trust is hard to come by, or even that Southstar or Raigen would've risen up. They're all trying to get here but are afraid of becoming vulnerable in the split-second the circle of contention disappears, and the barrier comes down…"

"I see."

Evelynn nodded. Even if they needed all their people to come up, then Founder Rocksunder should be the last to come, or they could get decimated as it was unknown if battles outside contention were allowed.

The first one to try would either successfully kill a person or fail to kill and be teleported out as a penalty. Otherwise, it didn't make sense to bring the rule of contention.

No one wanted to try it out and were waiting for others to do it and the newcomers could probably make such a mistake in their urgency. At least, that was what Shirley reasoned.

"Alright, pick a treasure of your choosing, big sister. I'll send you up~"

Evelynn blinked at Shirley's cheeky words.

Did she want her to use up one of her nine 'common right to acquire' chances? However, she realized it sounded different.

"Oh. Do you want to see if contending and losing would send the acquirer up?"

"Exactly." Shirley nodded, "If it works, it would mean we will have a maximum possibility of twelve chances to move to the upper floors, nine from the common right to acquire, and three from contending. You have already used one right to contend, and I have used one right to contend as well, but I'm prepared to lose another in order to check what happens and enter the second floor after Isabella."

"…"

"Alright, I'll listen to fourth sister~"

Evelynn thought for a moment before she nodded. Shirley giggled and happily went to choose a treasure.

However, they were confronted by a wild Zenova Artoria.

"Fellow cultivators, don't be shy and share your plans with me. I can make it beneficial for all three of us."

"Go away…"

Shirley ran, and Evelynn followed.

"It's useless. No matter where you go, I'll be there within a minute~"

Zenova Artoria's voice echoed out as though she was haunting them, causing Shirley to feel the shivers.

Shirley clenched her teeth as she came to a stop. It seemed running around like she was constantly changing her target to acquire, as though she was undecided wasn't going to work out. After all, Evelynn's illusion was broken.

Zenova Artoria turned to look around, but Shirley and Evelynn, on the other side, disappeared.

Unexpectedly, they were playing with her perception, trying to not let her get closer to them while tip-toeing around the rules of battling, garnering her respect, but she didn't fall for their trap easily.

"Leave it, Shirley." Evelynn heaved a breath, "You'll just have to quickly step in to contend and protect yourself after our exchange. I trust that she's not foolish enough to start a battle."

Shirley nodded, and Evelynn began extracting a treasure.

It was called the Starry Iceland Rose.

It was a stunning flower that sparkled like ice crystals, possessing a frosty, bluish-white hue. It was a treasure capable of evolving an Earth-Tier ice spirit to Heaven-Tier. How could she not take it for Iesha?

As soon as she started the acquiring process, the circles emerged, and Zenova Artoria shot towards them with an insane speed, practically crossing the distance in a mere second. However, Shirley was faster.

She took a step forward and stood in the circle without missing a beat, her gaze falling on Zenova Artoria, who zoomed toward them. The latter was as fast as a lightning bolt, but as soon as she stopped, she smiled at them as though she had won.

"..."

Evelynn didn't understand.

However, her pupils dilated when she saw a third circle appear along with a new set of instructions.

[Stand in the other circle if you want to contend. However, the contention circles will not activate unless there are two contenders. Otherwise, this ownerless treasure will have a new owner in a minute and will belong to them until they leave the Mystical Herb Mansion.]

"That's not good…"

Shirley tapped her lips, feeling herself going into another world the next second.

When she came to her senses, she saw her big sister and Zenova Artoria in two other directions.

Looking above, a new set of rules for this soulscape battle appeared.

[This is a battle between souls. Defeat your opponents' souls to acquire the treasure.]

[An opponent can be defeated in two ways. One way is to kill them, causing their soul to be injured by fifty percent. Another way is for them to admit defeat, causing their souls to get injured by ten percent.]