Solanky shot through the sky at incredible speed toward a towering pillar of light in the distance. Such pillars descended whenever a contestant completed a trial, serving as gateways to the next stage of the competition.
The moment he touched the pillar, an irresistible force enveloped him, drawing him into the radiant column before teleporting him away.
During the teleportation, an astonishing scene unfolded within his mind. The entire surface of the competition grounds appeared before his consciousness as though every mountain, valley, and forest had been engraved into his memory.
Moments later, Solanky emerged within a vast mountain range shrouded in dense, silver-gray mist. He calmly entered a secluded cave, placed the protective shield before him, and allowed it to expand into a defensive barrier that completely concealed his presence.
Only then did he sit cross-legged and send a strand of his consciousness into the mysterious scroll the king ape had entrusted to him.
Inside the scroll, countless tiny white dots were scattered across a detailed projection of the trial grounds. Solanky immediately recognized them as the locations of the remaining contestants.
Intermixed among them were numerous red dots.
These represented powerful beasts and beings that had been sealed within this plane after becoming contaminated. Having completely lost their reason, they wandered the trial grounds as little more than mindless puppets.
Scattered sparsely throughout the map were several green dots, each marking the location of hidden treasures, rare artifacts, and secret inheritances concealed within the trial space.
Solanky could not hide his astonishment.
He carefully examined every detail of the scroll from within his internal world.
Suddenly, the seal locking the scroll began to radiate with brilliant light.
A towering projection of the king ape in its amplified form slowly materialized before him.
The projection opened its eyes and began to speak.
"I presume you have broken the seal within an isolated space where no transcendent entity or any being beneath that level can spy upon you."
Its deep voice echoed steadily.
"This scroll was personally entrusted to me by the forsaken god. He ordered me to pass it to any contestant capable of forcing me to unleash every layer of my body amplification by relying upon external means such as armor, weapons, or battle techniques."
"It may seem ordinary to you because most contestants possess such treasures."
"You would be mistaken."
"This round of the competition is fundamentally different."
"If you examine the quality of the weapons and armor available throughout these trials, you will quickly realize that even the finest artifacts increase one's strength by only fifty thousand times the power of an Infinite Source God."
"The forsaken god, through his boundless knowledge and mastery over cause and effect, foresaw that someone with a base strength surpassing that of late-stage entities would eventually enter these trials."
"Being a great existence beyond the transcendent entity level, he instructed me long ago to watch for such an individual."
"You."
The projection looked directly into Solanky's eyes.
"This treasure was originally known as the Scroll of Portals."
"The forsaken god personally taught me how to use it to traverse the trial grounds while searching for the one destined to inherit it."
"Since you have defeated me, the scroll has already acknowledged you as its new master."
"It will guide you through every region of the competition and reveal the hidden pathways of the trial grounds."
"But remember this."
"Always keep it inside your internal world."
"That is the safest way to use it without attracting the attention of the transcendent beings observing the competition."
"I know you have many questions."
"Unfortunately, the forsaken god revealed very little to me."
"He merely said that once the scroll recognized its rightful owner, that person would naturally understand how to use it."
As soon as those words ended, the projection dissolved into countless particles of light before disappearing completely.
Silence returned to the cave.
Solanky frowned slightly.
"How am I supposed to use this scroll?" he muttered.
"If the forsaken god believed I would naturally understand it, then there must be some hidden method concealed within it."
Without wasting another moment, he activated his observational eye technique and began examining every inch of the scroll.
A year quietly passed within the trial grounds.
By then, the majority of the contestants had perished, leaving only a handful of survivors scattered throughout the vast competition space.
During that time, Elisa and the chief encountered one another under circumstances so improbable that it almost seemed as though an unseen hand had manipulated the terrain itself to bring them together.
Meanwhile, Solanky remained seated within the cave.
Inside his internal world, where time flowed according to his own will, ten full years passed as he tirelessly studied the scroll.
By the ninth year, he finally uncovered one of its greatest secrets.
The scroll could be powered by his world energies.
More importantly, it allowed him to manipulate portions of the trial grounds on a limited scale by altering the coordinates and positions of those within them.
To test his discovery, Solanky secretly rescued several contestants from certain death.
Whenever one was cornered by overwhelming danger, he would quietly create a sinkhole beneath them. The sinkhole would transport its victim to another location he had already prepared, making the entire process appear perfectly natural.
Elisa and the chief were relocated in exactly the same manner.
Both eventually arrived just outside the cave where Solanky had secluded himself.
Solanky stepped out to greet them.
The moment Elisa arrived, her extraordinary senses immediately detected his aura.
Although she could not determine his exact location, she knew he was nearby.
Before either of them could react, Solanky sent a telepathic message into their minds.
Remain calm.
Pretend to be confused.
Several transcendent beings are observing us.
Do not reveal anything.
Neither Elisa nor the chief questioned his warning.
With the Scroll of Portals safely hidden inside his internal world, Solanky effortlessly guided the group around every danger while leading them toward the greatest treasure lands scattered throughout the trial grounds.
The true objective of the competition was simple.
Survive.
Acquire treasures.
Exchange those treasures for points after leaving the trial space.
As they journeyed deeper through a vast cave system, mysterious golden engravings covered every wall.
Because he possessed the scroll, Solanky immediately understood their true purpose.
These engravings prevented any existence below the level of the forsaken god from spying upon the caves.
Should any transcendent being attempt to enter by force, the engravings would suppress and attack the intruder without mercy.
For countless years, the transcendent beings outside the trial grounds had recruited peak-stage and late-stage entities to explore these caves in search of treasures and jade slips left behind by the forsaken god.
Some fortunate participants had indeed discovered them.
Those lucky enough to obtain and master the techniques contained within the jade slips experienced astonishing increases in combat strength.
Many became capable of crossing cultivation realms and challenging transcendent beings whenever energy-based or law-based techniques were involved, rendering them virtually invincible against all opponents below the transcendent entity level.
Three million years earlier, one peak-stage entity had stumbled upon one such jade slip.
Not long afterward, a transcendent entity slaughtered the cultivator's clansmen after he refused to surrender the jade slip.
Seeking vengeance, the peak-stage entity infiltrated the transcendent being's territory, massacred his guards and disciples, and confronted him directly.
During that battle, the cultivator severely injured the transcendent entity with a mysterious technique that no one in the forsaken realm could identify.
That technique later became known as the Finger of Terror.
Despite facing a transcendent opponent, the peak-stage entity escaped with only minor injuries.
Unfortunately, his freedom did not last.
The wounded transcendent entity enlisted the aid of two generals from the courtroom.
Together, the three hunted him across the forsaken realm until they finally captured and killed him.
Only then did they recover the jade slip.
After examining its contents, they discovered a shocking truth.
The Finger of Terror had been created by the forsaken god himself.
That revelation sent shockwaves throughout the forsaken realm.
From that day onward, the transcendent beings began offering enormous rewards, prestigious positions, and unimaginable wealth to anyone capable of discovering one of the forsaken god's hidden jade slips.
Yet throughout the countless years that followed, only six jade slips had ever been found after the Finger of Terror inheritance disappeared.
Inside his internal world, Solanky manipulated the Scroll of Portals once again.
Immediately, the pathway before the group split apart.
One passage became two.
Two became four.
Then dozens.
Every newly formed path led toward a completely different region of the trial grounds.
Elisa and the chief stared at the ever-changing labyrinth in stunned silence.
Neither of them suspected Solanky.
The transformation unfolded so naturally that it appeared to be nothing more than another mysterious phenomenon of the trial grounds themselves.