Death... and me

Someone had to ask, though. "Will there be an explanation of the rules beforehand this time?"

Cassia glanced at the guy, who immediately went silent. "Whether we give an explanation or not is up to us. If you're not satisfied, you are more than welcome to retire your participants." Cassia then looked at everyone else. "The same goes for all of you. Does anyone want to give up? If you do, just tell your participants to stay in the guests' hall."

Cassia continued after that. "Alright, open the spatial gates."

The subordinates and elders there immediately followed Cassia's orders. A moment later, three spatial gates appeared in front of everyone. "Luck can be said to be part of one's strength. With that being said, go ahead and choose a gate. Oh, just so you know, passing through a specific gate would ensure that one would die, regardless of the participant's cultivation."

Sure enough, there were no explanations once again. No one knew what to expect on the other side at all. To make things worse, the unavoidable death sentence in one of the gates didn't make the decision making any easier either. This time, even the Huring Country disciples felt apprehensive about choosing a gate straight away.

However...

*Vup, vup...*

As soon as these words were said, two guys entered the middle gate without even thinking, much to everyone else's surprise. Everyone recognized those two as well. Obviously, they were Rean and Roan!

Fabio couldn't help but sigh after that. 'Why do they have to do everything differently?'

Cassia, on the other hand, became even more interested in them after that. 'Could it be that they found out? No, I was the one who prepared these Spatial Gates. No one other than me knows what to expect from these gates.' Cassia then faintly smiled after that. 'Quite bold, aren't they?'

The Huring Country elders then looked at their own disciples. That same small fry country once again took the leading position. Didn't that mean that their Huring Country was more afraid of the gates than some weak candidates? The leading elder immediately looked at his country disciples with a dark expression. 'How long are you going to wait? If I see anyone outside of these gates in the next ten seconds, these people will immediately be excluded from our Huring Country!'

Venali, Dissielle, Ricab, and the others gritted their teeth and entered the gates. They didn't go all inside the same one, though. Each one of them selected a different gate according to their own instincts... except Venali, who chose Rean and Roan's gate. 'Since I don't know where to go, I might as well follow that black-haired guy and get rid of him on the other side...if the rules allow it.' He didn't know if the test on the other side involved killing, after all.

The other countries watched the Huring Country participants go through the gates. They were hoping that some clue would appear so that they could select the safer gates. Unfortunately for them, all three gates were simply identical. Even their elders couldn't tell any difference in them.

Without much choice, they all began to enter the gates as well. Unsurprisingly, Milina, Samanta, and Regio decided to follow the twins. In fact, the majority chose to do the same. Around 50% of the remaining participants entered the middle gate, while the rest selected the other two. Rean and Roan choosing a gate straight away was the only clue they got, even if it didn't mean anything.

Well, the fact was that it really didn't mean anything. Rean and Roan simply felt it was useless to ponder over it. That was the Sacred Land. Obviously, they wouldn't leave a clue behind in these spatial gates. Even Sister Orb couldn't see anything different between them. They were just spatial gates that led somewhere. That was all.

People continued to enter the gates nonstop until finally, no one else entered anymore. However, for some, the 33% chance of most likely dying was way too big. Out of the 45,810 remaining participants, only 38519 went through the gates. The rest gave up right there and then as they had underestimated the death rate of the Sacred Land's recruitment. Not that Cassia cared about it, of course.

Eventually, Cassia waved her hands, and the spatial gates disappeared. Only then was the monitoring formations in the guests' hall activated once again so everyone could watch their participants. Of course, Fabio used his Divine Sense to see what was happening to the twins, Samanta, Regio, and Milina.

Rean and Roan followed the same strategy from the previous teleport. They held onto each other and passed through the Spatial Gate together. That was to prevent them from being separated. Once they arrived on the other side, they immediately felt their cultivation disappear completely. No, to be more specific, all the Divine Energy and Soul Power in their body were sealed by some kind of strange force. Even their fused Divine Soul power was no exception.

Rean looked at his body and couldn't help but say, "It had been quite some time since I felt like just a normal human."

Roan snorted in response. "Normal human? Even though our cultivation and soul power are sealed, our bodies are still many times stronger than a normal person. Did you forget about our upgrades with the Soul Gem System?"

Rean shook his head in response. "Of curse not. You know that's not what I meant."

The twins then put that behind and looked around. "By the way, where are we at the moment?" The twins could tell that they were in the middle of a city, and a very crowded one at that. However, none of the people there gave them the feeling of being cultivators.

It was then that Sister Orb's voice echoed in their minds. [It seems like you didn't notice it at all, huh?]

The twins' interest was immediately piqued. 'Notice what?'

[This isn't a real environment, but a dream world. Your consciousness was captured and sent into this place. As for your bodies, they are sleeping as if nothing had happened at all.]