The plan to slaughter the kings was initially made known to Hai Qingxue and the others. By the time Ye Chen was about to leave, everyone still hadn't recovered from the shock.
Because this plan was simply too shocking. The young Ye Chen actually planned to eliminate all the super experts with the qualification to delay claiming kingship except for Xia Yang, seizing their identity tokens. This was simply too insane.
However, Ye Chen merely responded with a faint smile before bidding farewell and leaving.
Although reluctant, no one tried to stop him, as they all understood that Ye Chen's main purpose was to head to the eighth checkpoint to rescue the young powerhouses from the Xia Feng Kingdom side.
Before leaving, Hai Qingxue solemnly warned Ye Chen that the one pursuing the Thirteenth Prince and the others was the Eighth Prince of the Tianqi Empire, also a powerhouse among the Hundred Strong Trialists. Perhaps he posed no great threat to Ye Chen, but more importantly, he was the full-blooded brother of the Second Prince, who also held the qualification to delay claiming kingship, and their relationship was very good. She urged Ye Chen to be extra careful.
Ye Chen's expression turned slightly grave. On the Trial Path now, only these super experts with the qualification to delay claiming kingship could pose some threat to him.
Roar—
The Scaled Golden Lion roared, its cry shaking the surrounding forests. Then, carrying Ye Chen, it transformed into a streak of black light heading towards the eighth checkpoint. Along the way, countless demonic beasts retreated and submitted, startling countless people.
Based on the information and even maps of the Trial Path provided by Hai Qingxue and Han Fei, Ye Chen set off in a specific direction.
The Eighth Town was a small town located between the seventh and eighth checkpoints.
Each major checkpoint had a small town where trialists on the Trial Path were allowed to rest. Every trialist entering a checkpoint would receive protection from the checkpoint's law enforcers for the first three days. However, once those three days passed, the law enforcers would no longer offer protection, and any attacks by other trialists would be ignored.
The so-called checkpoint law enforcers were powerhouses from the Tian Du Academy.
The Scaled Golden Lion landed outside the city walls, and Ye Chen arrived at this not particularly prosperous but still lively Eighth Town.
The town wasn't newly built; it had existed for many years, bearing traces of time—ancient and weathered, a relic from ancient times, proving that a prosperous era had once existed in this land before it was discovered. It had later fallen into ruin. Now, with the opening of the Trial Path, the former town had been renovated and served as a major checkpoint and a temporary residence for many trialists.
At least six to seven hundred trialists were resting in the Eighth Town. Wine shops were set up, and there were various treasure-hunting stalls selling all sorts of things unearthed along the Trial Path.
The Trial Path was once a prosperous land, with bustling towns and regions. Many powerful figures had also perished here. Therefore, trialists sometimes stumbled upon the burial sites of past powerhouses from this land and unearthed good items.
Unfortunately, Ye Chen wasn't very interested in these. After such a long time in this town, any truly good items had probably already been sold.
Not long after, Ye Chen headed straight to a pavilion and entered.
This was a relatively spacious hall within a building, a so-called intelligence house on the Trial Path, specializing in selling all kinds of information about the path, claiming to be all-encompassing.
The owner of this intelligence house was rumored to be one of the super experts with the qualification to delay claiming kingship. Therefore, no one dared to cause trouble here, or they would face pursuit from that super expert.
However, there were corresponding rules here. The currency for purchases could only be identity tokens or items of considerable value. Gold coins and the like were not accepted here.
Naturally, the higher the value of the information, the more identity tokens were required.
From Hai Qingxue and Han Fei, Ye Chen had only obtained general information about the Thirteenth Prince. As for his current whereabouts, that was unclear. Moreover, each checkpoint was quite vast, no smaller than the territory of a kingdom. If Old Yan were to use his divine sense to search, it could easily alert the supreme Academy Head who controlled this land.
Therefore, Ye Chen could only rely on the intelligence house's information to find the location of the Thirteenth Prince and the others.
At this moment, there were already several dozen people in the intelligence house, either buying or selling information, making it slightly lively.
A beautiful maidservant proactively approached, her voice pleasant, wearing a professional, warm, and friendly smile: "Greetings, young master. What kind of information do you require?"
Ye Chen said, "Please get me the latest information on the trialists from the Xia Feng Kingdom."
"Very well, young master. Please wait a moment." The maidservant gave a slight bow, revealing a glimpse of snowy-white, crystalline skin at her chest, truly dazzling to the eye, fairer than frost or snow. But Ye Chen's gaze remained steady, and he nodded slightly, waiting for the maidservant to return.
Not long after, the maidservant returned, carrying a rectangular brocade box. Inside the box lay three Memory Jades. She said with a smile, "Young master, these three Memory Jades contain the latest information on the Xia Feng Kingdom trialists up until yesterday. They are divided into three versions: simplified, standard, and detailed. The simplified version requires one identity token, the standard version three, and the detailed version six. The choice is yours."
Even Ye Chen frowned slightly. The intelligence house's method of earning identity tokens was a bit too terrifying; even the most simplified version required one identity token.
As if reading his thoughts, the maidservant said, "Young master, you may not know, but the trialists from the Xia Feng Kingdom have recently become the most eye-catching trialists. The Eighth Prince of the Tianqi Empire even offered a bounty of twenty identity tokens for their pursuit. Therefore, this information is relatively precious."
Hearing this, Ye Chen's brows furrowed even more. It seemed the situation of the Thirteenth Prince and the others was far more dangerous than he had recently imagined. The other party had actually offered a bounty of twenty identity tokens as the price for their pursuit—enough for a trialist to pass the trial's score requirement.
"Give me the detailed version." Without much hesitation, Ye Chen directly chose the most detailed version and handed over six identity tokens.
Fortunately, along the way, he had casually dealt with a few trialists and seized several identity tokens. Otherwise, even if he wanted to buy now, he wouldn't have the tokens.
"Thank you, young master. Welcome again next time!" The maidservant gave another slight bow, her snowy chest fully exposed. Ye Chen took the Memory Jade, extended his divine sense to examine it, and immediately a large amount of information flooded into his mind.
After browsing all the information, Ye Chen's brows deeply furrowed.
Over the past month of continuous pursuit, the trialists from the Xia Feng Kingdom had been eliminated one after another. Now, only those Ye Chen knew remained: the Thirteenth Prince, Princess Hong Rong, Vivian, Hua Shaoyang, Li Hu, Xia Mang, and Yang Yi. When they first participated in the trial, there were over twenty people, but now only seven or eight remained. This was enough to show how relentlessly the Eighth Prince of the Tianqi Empire was pursuing the Xia Feng Kingdom trialists.
The information described how, during the pursuit, the Thirteenth Prince and the others had encountered various dangers one after another—not only being chased but also attacked by Xiantian demonic beasts. Almost everyone had suffered severe injuries.
Even the Thirteenth Prince, the strongest among them, had been surrounded and attacked by the Eighth Prince leading numerous experts. He was stabbed in the abdomen by a sword, losing a significant amount of blood, and his strength was greatly reduced. They were now trapped in a dangerous place called the Savage Beast Valley within the eighth checkpoint, about a thousand miles from the Eighth Town.
This was the latest information collected up until last night. Today's situation was still unknown, and Ye Chen was genuinely somewhat worried.
"Big news, big news! News concerning the Xia Feng Kingdom!" Suddenly, someone rushed into the intelligence house shouting, startling everyone.
"What big news?" everyone asked urgently. News concerning the Xia Feng Kingdom was a hot topic.
"The Eighth Prince is leading numerous experts to attack the Savage Beast Valley, aiming to eliminate all the Xia Feng Kingdom trialists in one go," that person said. "Moreover, the Eighth Prince has declared that experts are surrounding the outskirts of the Savage Beast Valley. If anyone from the Xia Feng Kingdom escapes, just take action, and you'll receive the reward."
"Let's go, everyone, hurry! This is a sweet deal; if we miss it, it's gone."
"Right, let's all go. At this time, the Xia Feng Kingdom trialists are like rats crossing the street—everyone wants to beat them."
Many people grew restless, preparing to set off.
"Let me advise you: if you dare to go, just wait to be eliminated." Suddenly, a cold snort rang out. Everyone looked over and saw a young man in black clothes. They couldn't help but stare—such a young youth participating in the Trial Path?
Someone frowned: "Kid, what do you mean by that?"
The young man blocked the exit, saying, "If you dare to go, dare to surround and kill the Xia Feng Kingdom trialists, I won't mind eliminating all of you."
Hearing this, everyone was first stunned, then burst into laughter as if they had heard the most ridiculous joke. This youth truly didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Did he think he alone could stop all of them?
Someone couldn't help but sneer contemptuously: "Youth, you're too arrogant. Who do you think you are? One of those super experts with the qualification to delay claiming kingship? With just you alone, you think you can stop us? Don't you find that laughable?"
The young man shook his head, then suddenly shot into the sky. A whistle sounded, echoing above.
This action left everyone bewildered. What did this youth want to do now?
Roar—
Just as they were puzzled, a terrifying roar of a demonic beast suddenly rolled in from the distance, shaking the skies above the Eighth Town and causing countless people to look up.
They saw a streak of black light appear in the distant sky. Upon closer look, it was clearly a massive Scaled Golden Lion, flapping a pair of huge wings as it streaked across the sky at an astonishing speed, appearing above the Eighth Town, causing countless people to change expressions.
"What? That's the variant Scaled Golden Lion from the seventh checkpoint! Why has it appeared?" Someone recognized the Scaled Golden Lion's identity. On the Trial Path, this was a quite fearsome demonic beast. Many trialists had been eliminated because of this Scaled Golden Lion. No one expected it to appear above the Eighth Town. What was going on?
"Could it be that demonic beasts from the seventh checkpoint are going to attack the Eighth Town? We need to immediately ask the Eighth Checkpoint Lord to take action and stop it." Many trialists in the Eighth Town changed expressions. The Scaled Golden Lion's reputation was widespread; it was no ordinary ferocious demonic beast.
Some were already planning to ask the Tian Du Academy powerhouses stationed at the checkpoint to intervene. Otherwise, this could be a disaster. Even Hundred Strong Trialists basically had to detour when encountering this Scaled Golden Lion; it was extremely terrifying.
But at this moment, that young figure stood in mid-air. With a whoosh, he flew onto the back of the Scaled Golden Lion—actually intending to ride this variant demonic beast. This left countless people dumbfounded, mouths agape, speechless. This was simply too incredible.
The young man pointed in a direction and lightly commanded: "Head that way!"
The Scaled Golden Lion roared. Under the stunned gazes of countless people, it carried the mysterious youth soaring into the sky, chasing the stars and racing the moon as it charged into the distance.
And that direction was precisely the Savage Beast Valley.