Divine Emperor of Death

Evelynn had her hands raised, extracting the treasure from the five-colored pillar.

She sincerely wished that no one would enter the second floor until she grabbed half of the treasures here, but her hopes were dashed when she saw the timer of five minutes.

That was just… too long.

Now, she just hoped no one would appear until she finished grabbing the Five Elements Treasure. However, she did hope that if someone were to appear here, it would be either Shirley or Isabella.

However, she was also aware that it took two people to contend for the resources on the first floor, which meant it would be quite difficult for Shirley and Isabella to ascend to the second floor.

After all, they would have to waste their chances to contend, and Shirley was down to her last. If she lost the third chance, then she could only have someone contend with her or rely on others to send her above.

A minute passed, making Evelynn take a deep breath.

When she released her breath, it was at the third minute. At this point, she prepared herself to face someone who might try to contend her as soon as they appeared. After all, just by the way the pillars were placed, it was clear that she was trying to take the topmost treasure.

The fourth minute passed.

At this point, Evelynn turned eerily silent. She felt a bit of regret as she imagined she should've tried to inscribe some illusion spirit formation here. She didn't think it would work against Zenova or anyone else for that matter as most of them were Immortal Emperors, and the chamber was small, allowing them to easily find an illusion, but clearing an illusion would at least take a second.

Even if it gave her two seconds of reprieve, she felt that would be great.

This sense of regret grew when she saw a flash of light. Someone had actually ascended to the second floor at the fourth minute and fifty-sixth second.

Only four seconds were left, but they rushed towards her, making her inwardly groan.

========

Shirley came back to her senses and looked at the empty treasure tile before her. The spotlight on it was gone, and so was Evelynn, as she couldn't sense her anymore, which made her joyful. This most likely meant that Evelynn got the treasure and ascended to the second floor.

She was full of joy as this meant managing to defend against contenders would also mean a passage, giving almost twelve chances to arrive at the upper floors.

But more than anything, their family now had the first dibs on the truly important treasures, which made Shirley want to dance.

However, she didn't forget the danger she was in, quickly retreating in the opposite direction.

Her actions were quick, almost instantly retreating as soon as she came back to her senses. However, Shirley saw that Zenova Artoria didn't move.

Zenova Artoria stared at the empty tile in front of her. Her eyes narrowed, but it was unknown if she was frowning or smiling. However, two seconds later, she turned to look at Shirley.

"Don't worry. No matter how frustrated I am over being defeated, I wouldn't risk breaking a rule."

"Oh?" Shirley's brows raised, "I wouldn't trust you on that. I know you broke a rule to attack Davis when he tried to humiliate you in some staircase challenge in the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm."

"It's his fault for doing something like that while, on the other hand, you two sisters did well to defeat me. I did expect you two to team up, so it's not like I expected a fair fight from the beginning. However, don't think it will go the same when we fight for real."

Zenova Artoria took a step forward towards Shirley, her aura and undulations brimming as they soared into the air.

It made Shirley take a step back and tremble under the enormous pressure, making her grin.

'She's a monster…'

Shirley had many battle experiences with competitors, both as a princess and a top disciple in a sect, plus the experiences Myria taught her. She instantly knew she wasn't a match for Zenova Artoria, whose prowess jumped to mid-twelve levels higher with her firestorm energy.

Compared to the ten levels of prowess that she displayed during the Staircase of Regression trial, this was truly mindboggling, but at the same time, she wondered how many had fallen for her bait.

"As expected of- someone we acknowledged."

Shirley was about to say an Anarchic Divergent but didn't, as it would truly expose Zenova Artoria's status to the world.

"Acknowledged?"

However, Zenova Artoria inclined her head, looking intrigued, "I thought you all hated me for what I did to your husband."

"Hehe~" Shirley giggled, "We still do, but it would be different if we saw it from a different perspective."

"…?"

Zenova Artoria narrowed her eyes, unable to get what kind of perspective she was looking at, but she didn't care as time was still of the essence. Just because she lost, she didn't give up. Her mind spun, causing her to smile.

"Shirley, why don't we work together?"

Her melodious yet seductive voice was like the devil's whisper, causing Shirley to reel back.

What kind of scheme was this vixen cooking?

"How about it?" Zenova Artoria extended her hand out, "I promise I won't target the three of your treasures if you leave the fire and lightning types treasures to my choice."

"You're including Isabella as well?"

"Well, if I'm right, she should be appearing by now."

Just as her voice fell, a person appeared on their floor.

It was none other than Isabella, causing Shirley's brows to twitch.

"You're such a smartass…" However, she licked her lips, "I would love to defeat you in your own game. Alright, I accept."

"Eh…?"

Isabella had no idea what was going on, but she appeared near Shirley and adopted a battle stance. Shirley flipped her hand, patting Isabella's shoulder.

"But we send Isabella above first."

"Fine with me."

"…"

Shirley blinked. That was rather quick, considering the consequences.

"Are you sure? You would have to lose another ten percent of your soul essence again and may have to wait for another person to arrive."

"Well, with Evelynn not here, I could probably take the both of you down, but chances are that you three will harass me to death above. I'd rather not face such a situation when collecting the treasures, which should be of the utmost importance."

"…"

Shirley considered for a moment.

"Shirley, things are looking dire down on the first floor. Those idiots who barged in broke the rule of attacking a person. They attacked Hayley, but guess what? Nothing happened to them, but when they targeted a Dewzai who managed to gather a treasure, that person was teleported out, probably to the Ninth Hidden Pagoda, where Empyrean Crystal Beasts lurk. So right now, everyone is trying to collect a treasure so that they could be part of the rules, and those who try to attack them from then without using the rule of contention would be teleported out."

During this time, Isabella sent her a soul transmission.

It made Shirley purse her lips as people would be rushing to the first floor soon after they got contended. Right now, because the newcomers didn't understand the rules, they were probably hesitating about what to do, but she didn't doubt that they would be here soon after quickly figuring it out as none of them were inheritors who passed many trials to gain their inheritances for nothing.

"I tried to pick a treasure accordingly, but seeing that I was an Immortal King, they targeted me, but I destroyed them, killing them in the soulscape. They probably lost twenty-five percent of their soul essence and collapsed on the ground floor. I don't know, but people will soon start coming up. Before I went, I saw Southstar speak with Agnirei in order to contend her…"

Shirley nodded at Isabella, also learning that Evelynn didn't come down, which meant she could only be on the second floor.

She returned her focus to Zenova Artoria.

"Fine. Both of you contend me."

"No, you two contend me. That would be my last condition. Otherwise, I'm not interested in cooperating." Zenova Artoria plainly said.

It made Shirley smirk as she knew that Zenova Artoria wanted to retain her last right to contend. After all, one can only contend three times, while Zenova Artoria had already contended with Agnirei and Evelynn.

Shirley had also used two rights to contend, so she also wanted to retain it for the treasure she laid her eyes upon and wanted but was being extracted by some other person.

Nonetheless, she also wanted to clear the biggest obstacle here, which was Zenova Artoria. She sneakily tried to use up her chances, but as expected, Zenova Artoria saw through that. Now, she could only try to gain Zenova Artoria as an ally and clear the obstacle. As for those other three people in her group, she didn't sense the slightest danger from them as she knew she could stomp them in a soul battle.

"Alright. Isabella, you'll be sent up, so be sure to leave the fire and lightning-attributed treasures to Zenova Artoria."

"Huh? Wouldn't our Emperor need those?" Isabella frowned.

"Yes," Shirley clenched her teeth, "But we must prioritize getting more over the ones we want so it would help us all out.