"It seems like we got our first 5000 participants. Very well, I will now begin the second phase."

Suddenly, all the White Light pools shined as some pods covered with several inscriptions came from inside. Each of them was around 3 meters tall. Krune and the others could see that there was something that looked like a door in front of each one too.

Suddenly, all the doors opened, showing a small space inside of a person's size. Obviously, it was made with the demon beasts in their human form's taken into consideration.

"For some reason, a few idiots were trying to enter the pool, but let's forget about it."

Krune's group and quite a few cultivators and demon beasts felt embarrassed when they heard that.

"Those are the Soul World Pods. Once you enter and the door closes, it will once more sink into the pool. After that, your Soul will be pulled out of your body and sent into the Soul World. At the same time, your body will be put into a hibernation state. Be aware, if you die inside, your Soul will be destroyed. Not only will your body die without a soul, but there will be no reincarnation to speak of."

"In the Soul World, your Soul Power obviously count. Some might say that it wouldn't be fair with demon beasts since they usually have a weaker soul. However, don't forget that the Ice Maze was not fair with the cultivators either. Demon Beasts had an easier time resisting the freezing energy in their real forms. So as you can guess, there are quite a few more demon beasts than cultivators now. This round will more or less balance the sides. Of course, everything is possible. Maybe the ratio of demon beasts will be even higher after the end of the second phase."

"Anyway, in the Soul World, you only have one objective. Survive! It will simulate an entire world where several Nightmare Demons will attack you incessantly. At the same time, your Soul Power will be drained by the Soul World formation. If you want to recover your soul power, it is very easy. Kill the Nightmare Beasts. Simply put, just running away is not enough, and you will probably be one of the first ones to die if you do so."

"Inside the Soul World, you will have the same appearance as you have outside. Humans will be humans, and demon beasts will be demon beasts. All your weapons and skills will be there too, as long as you really have them in the real world, of course. It's just that the power of the attacks you use against the Nightmare Demons will be affected by your Soul Power to a certain extent. The same could be said to your resistance against their attacks."

"Last but not least, if you don't want to die, you can give up anytime you wish. All you need to do is say, "I give up," and the formation will immediately pull your Soul out of the Soul World. Of course, that also means that you will be disqualified. Once your Soul returns to your body, it will then be teleported outside."

"Lastly, only the last 1000 survivors will be accepted."

"Well, that's basically it. Make sure to put up a good show. Don't forget there are thousands of Universes watching your performance."

Krune couldn't help but feel a little smug. After all, they are using the Soul Power as the main factor in this phase. With his Myriad Energies Technique and Heavin's Soul Cultivation, he doubts that there is someone with a Soul stronger than his. However, Krune quickly shook his head after that. That wasn't like him at all.

Laka then looked at Krune and Hanan.

"Well, I guess I'll see you two later."

Hanan smiled.

"Maybe it won't take that long. The guy said that we will be teleported to a Nightmare Demons' Soul World. But he didn't say that we will be alone in there. Chances are that all cultivators and demon beasts will be on the same planet. Who knows? We might meet each other not too long after."

Krune then laughed before saying.

"In that case, they are pretty shameless. That means we can kill other participants' Souls so that the number goes down faster."

Hanan and Laka had to admit that Krune was right.

"In that case, wouldn't it be better to look for each other?"

Laka then shrugged his shoulders.

"How?"

Hanan then commented.

"We are all at the Divine Path Realm at the moment, and we are pretty strong ones at that. Our souls should be more than strong enough to scan a planet with Divine Sense, no? It would be easy to find each other like that."

Krune immediately shook his head.

"I don't believe they will leave such a flaw behind. That would be ridiculous. At most, they will allow Divine Senses to travel a hundred kilometers or so. Of course, those with stronger Soul will be able to see further than those with weaker ones. But the difference won't be much bigger than that. There is even a chance that they will block it completely."

Hahan then suggested.

"We can simply use the cardinal directions. As soon as we arrive, we will all move to the extreme north of that planet. Sure we can eventually bump into each other there, no?"

Krune then shook his head again.

"There are several flaws in this plan. Maybe we won't be able to distinguish which side is north. Maybe many participants also thought the same thing and will go there as well, which would make things more dangerous. We don't even know if this world is a planet to start with. It might even be just a huge flat land that extends for tens of thousands of kilometers."

Laka found all that conversation too annoying, so he simply asked.

"Everything we have in the real world will be replicated outside. In that case, just take this."

Laka then passed a small red pearl to each one of them. Immediately, Hanan and Krune felt a little embarrassed. That's true, Norzulun really said that anything they have can be replicated inside. Locally speaking, you can obviously use tracking spiritual equipments as long as you have it. Laka's three red beads could be used precisely for this purpose.

"Cough, cough. In that case, I also have one here."

Hanan looked away as he spoke.

"I have one too..."

They exchanged their own searching equipments and then entered the pod. As long as the distance between themselves isn't higher than an average solar system, they will be able to find each other. If that doesn't work... well, they will simply rely on themselves and make temporary groups with the cultivators and demon beasts they find.

All the other groups did the same and entered the pods eventually. Once all the pods sank into the white light pool, their souls were dragged into the Soul world together... or so it was supposed to happen.

For some reason, one of the pods was having some difficulty in bringing a certain wisp's Soul out.

Norzulun looked at the Formations Masters, puzzled. If Krune's Soul is not dragged out, the second phase simply can't start. The Soul World would only appear after all the competitors were ready to enter.

The Formations Masters immediately checked what was happening. In the end, they could only smile bitterly.

"There is nothing wrong with the Soul World Pods, it's just that... his Soul is too strong. The pod doesn't have enough 'strength' to pull it out of his body."

Wally, who had been observing on the side, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hahaha! As expected of my little friend, he really is in another league altogether."

Norzulun's mouth twitched, but he didn't answer Wally's words. Instead, he looked at the Formations Masters and demanded.

"Then do something! Increase the power of the formation or whatever. We can't wait forever."

The Formations Masters complied with the order and immediately dived into the Protection Formation. As for Krune, he was utterly puzzled.

"Was it supposed to take this long to start?"

The wisp... didn't even notice that the pod already tried to take his Soul out.

Although everyone felt that something was wrong, they could only wait. Norzulun said that they have run into a small problem, and the Formations Masters are working on getting it resolved. Fortunately, Krune was the only one in that situation, so the Formations Masters were able to work on it pretty fast.

Only when the Krune's Pod's formation was strengthened for souls at the Initial Stages of the Semi-Divinity Level, did it finally pull Krune's Soul into the Soul World Formation.

However, none of the Dalin Management elders or Norzulun were happy about this. The pod was now working at a level where it could pull out an average 1st Stage Semi-Divinity Realm cultivator or demon beast's Soul!

The participants were expected to have much stronger souls than average, that much they already expected. After all, the majority that reached this phase are all Heavenly Divine Soul owners. There are almost no Heavenly Fragment ones. That being said, their Souls were already expected to be at the Divine View Realm level.

To make sure things would work well, the pods were made so that they could drag out even Late Stages Divine View Realm cultivators and demon beasts. They thought that it didn't matter how strong the participants' Souls were, they couldn't possibly jump an entire realm in strength. Well, there was one wisp who did it. Krune's Soul Power is equivalent to an average Peak Divine View Realm!

Norzulun and the elders couldn't help but look at Wally.

'What kind of monster did you create?'

However, Wally innocently looked away.

"You guys are looking in the wrong direction, I have nothing to do with it."