"The third round -," it began.

The 9th ranked Ghost White Rabbit was suddenly frozen mid-attack; its red eyes betrayed its furious inner struggle to ignore the weight of the ghostly voice's authority.

Van stared at the furious rabbit with a smirk on his face. Hha, hadn't he calculated it all just perfectly? He had been counting down the seconds since the start of the 3rd round, counting on the fact that the waves of monsters were forced to withdraw from the field at the end of each round when the ghostly voice spoke. It was as he expected – that ghostly voice commanded authority over the monsters and they could not disobey.

"-has ended-" the ghostly voice continued neutrally.

The Ghost White Rabbit's little nose twitched – then it wiggled its fluffy tail. It was resisting against the command to withdraw!

"The fourth round –"

The spectators saw the 9th ranked demon beast frozen in place, unable to attack the red-haired youth and were speechless.

No way… was that kid really about to get away with this? Was stealing a 9th ranked beasts' treasure from under its nose really this simple?

Half the sects admired Van's cunning; the other half were full of vinegar.

Van saw the muscles of the Ghost-White Rabbit bunch furiously as it tried to resist the will of the ghostly voice. Its powerful aura grew more potent by several times. Suddenly, the Ghost-White Rabbit burst forwards a few centimetres.

Van's smile was wiped clean off his face.

Not good!

[Scattering Smoke Steps!]

Lightning-quick, Van leapt several metres back. The fearsome aura of the rabbit sent his stomach plummeting.

The 9th ranked rabbit demon snarled, giant sword-like teeth suddenly filling its mouth.

Van saw its muscles bunching up to leap forwards and he immediately pre-empted it.

[Scattering Smoke Steps]

Van leapt back tens of metres. An instant later, he reappeared only to see the 9th rank demon beast had followed him. It was only a metre away. Cold sweat filled his back.

[Even while resisting the voice the rabbit's speed is on par with mine. If I reacted just a second slower… I will be eliminated right here and lose the right to advance straight to the position of Inner Disciple within the year. After all, the Sect Master specified that I must at least survive til the 5th round.]

"-will commence-"

Suddenly, the Ghost-White Rabbit spasmed violently. An ear piercing, voiceless scream filled the air.

Van winced. The sound was so high-pitched that some of the spectating disciple's felt blood trickle from their eardrums.

The rabbit demon tried to move forwards, but as it did a great, invisible power pulled it back into the darkness.

"-in six hours," the ghostly voice said with a strong tone of finality.

The sound faded away.

The last thing Van saw of Ghost White Rabbit was its glowing red eyes; which were focused unerringly on him.

Then the darkness swallowed its small white form.

The minute it vanished, the fog closed in again, returning the clearing to the smaller size it had been initially. The strange structures that contained ample treasure were swallowed back up again.

The disciples near the edge of the clearing had to run back into the centre.

Finally, Van's hammering heart finally settle back into his ribcage. Elation replaced his anxiety.

He had done it!

The taste of victory was honey-sweet on his lips. His still blood buzzed with the adrenaline caused by a close brush with death. Since the beginning of the round, he had started counting down the minutes and seconds that pa.s.sed by. He had rushed to the coffin to steal the treasure a split second before the end of the trial so that the 9th rank beast would come out just as the 3rd wave ended. He had hoped that this would force the beast to withdraw like what he had seen in previous rounds. However, Van was seriously in trouble near the end there, as his count had been off by a few seconds.

Quickly, he tucked the little key into his waist pouch, disguising the action by suddenly sneezing and doubling over, hiding his waist area from onlookers. For some reason, he felt like he had to hide the existence of this little key from other people.

Using a sleight-of-hand, Van replaced the key in his hand with another treasure he had obtained earlier. It was a small black inkstone. Van made a big show of inspecting the inkstone before placing it deliberately into his waist pouch, looking suspiciously at the onlookers as he did so.

The onlookers were successfully convinced that this was the treasure Van had obtained from the 9th rank demon beast. They inspected the small black inkstone with a critical eye and were disappointed – and relieved – that it seemed like a pretty c.r.a.ppy treasure. Most of them were convinced that it was legitimately what Van had obtained, after all a lot of the treasures they had obtained in this round were decorative or worth monetary value only. Thus was the nature of the types of things people placed in mausoleums. However, a few were not convinced at all, and at the top of this list were Cordelia and Daphne, who were the only other people in the room who had seen exactly what was in that largest coffin.  

Van turned and grinned at the Cedar Sect's five battalions. Shocked and gaping mouths greeted him. Five seconds later, his battalion had run forward and bowled him over. Their excitement and pride were infectious.

"V-an! V-an! V-an!"

The cheers from the Cedar Sect contrasted with the silence of the battlefield.

Everyone in the Zephyr Sect wore ugly expressions. Cordelia in particular looked like she had swallowed a lemon; her lips were pursed and her eyes unwilling. The Boulder Sect was gazing at Van with admiration with their eyes, and the remaining Star-Cutting Sword Sect disciples felt grudging respect.

Daphne sidled up to her sister, her eyes were full of discontent, "Just how many treasures has he stolen from us now?!"

Cordelia was furious, "I need to know what he stole from the 9th ranked demon beast! If he has the saint-ranked skill, we must obtain it no matter what!"

Daphne made eye contact with her sister. Their expressions mirrored each other's.

______

[6 hours later.]

"Be alert, the fourth round begins… now."

Van's eyes flashed open. He stood up from his meditating position, vigorous spiritual power rolling off of him. The six hours between the last round and this one had given him enough time to refill his batteries and also consolidate the insights he had made into his [Heavy Axe Art] after using it against many enemies now. He estimated that the strength of his blow had increased by at least 10%.

['Be alert.' That is the first comment the ghostly voice has made since the first round. It must be another clue again…but I have no idea what it could refer to…]

Van turned to the five Cedar Sect battalions, who looked at him expectedly. Looking over them quickly, Van was pleased to note that they all seemed refreshed and ready to tackle the next round. Due to the better utilisation of their power, they were fully refreshed after six hours of rest.

Other sects, especially those who had lost a lot of members already, looked dispirited and uneasy. As the air in the mausoleum contained little spiritual power, they had only been able to recover an additional 30% of their full power. Ending the 3rd round with about 10% spiritual power remaining, they were now sitting at about 40% full power. This was low enough that they worried intensely about how they were going to cope with the 4th wave, where the monsters would again be stronger.

The battalions of rogue cultivators and smaller sects were doing a bit better, ending the previous round at about 30% as they had declined to attack any treasures guarded by the 7th rank beasts or higher. At the moment their faces looked a lot more healthy than the other three Great Sects, sitting at 60% of their full power.

At that moment, a rustling noise could be heard. It was the noise you would hear when the leaves of a tree are jostled by the wind.

At the edges of the clearing, strange winged-humanoid figures appeared. The rustling noise was caused by the flapping of their paper-thin wings behind their backs. The Night Fey were like nothing Van had ever seen. With dark indigo skin and black, pupil-less eyes, they gave off an eerie and unnatural vibe.

Van was immediately on guard.

"Formation!" He barked. The five battalions a.s.sembled around him.

[Blood Vision!]

Van's eyes glowed red as he activated the skill.

The power of the blood within these monsters told Van that they were all in the 4th rank. This was just one rank below the average battalion member. Starting from this round, skill and tactics would become more important than just minimizing energy usage.

The first of the monsters attacked and Van's eyes were dazzled by the sparling purple light bursting from their spindly finger tips.

Van's eyes felt heavier, but he shook his head and ignored the feeling.

[These are the first monsters in the mausoleum who have preferred to use qi attacks over physical strength. I suspect they will be relatively weak in the physical department, but we should not underestimate them…]

As the first wave of Night Fey hit the ranks of the battalion, purple energy sizzled through the air. The battalion members handled the situation surprisingly well, having enough experience fighting alongside each other to know how to protect each other's backs. On occasion when the numbers seemed too high, a giant wave of icy water qi would sweep away a large swathe of the Night Fey.

The battle raged on for another thirty minutes in this fas.h.i.+on, until Van began fighting one particular Night Fey that seemed different from the rest. It's physical appearance was not different in any way – small pointed face and chin, with large black pupil-less eyes - but for some reason, Van's felt his eyelids grow heavier each time he exchanged a blow.

[That's strange… it's only in the 4th rank… how is it able to exchange blows… with me?]

The Night Fey sprinkled glittering purple power through the air.

Van's movements slowed without him realising it. The flow of spiritual power through Van's fingertips thinned to a sluggish trickle.

Van finally felt that something was not right. He struggled to find the answer.

[My eyelids…feel so heavy…?]

The last thing Van saw before his vision went black was the face of the Night Fey, he had been fighting. It's large, black and pupil-less stared straight into his soul.

It cackled.

Then the blackness took him.

------

"Van... Van, darling. It's time to wake up," a woman's warm voice said. Gentle fingers ran through his hair. 

Hearing this voice, even with his eyes closed, Van's heart started thundering in his chest.

[M-mum?]

Waves of joy and sorrow crashed over him.