After killing many people with that attack, the Spatial Piercing Bow once again returned to its original state and left nothing but silence in the air.

Time seems to have frozen over, leaving the four forces speechless and somewhat defeated. They’re so worried about their current situation that they didn’t even have time to care for the corpses that have disappeared right after their death!

For a while, they did nothing but sit there to rest.

Since there’s no day or night, the parties could only rely on the hourglass they brought with them to calculate time.

But that didn’t mean they were safe either. On every other day, the bow would shoot a blood arc down at the group with an ever-increasing level of intensity than the last.

After about three or four days later, the state of mind for everyone involved was starting to drain and become sluggish as a result of the pressure.

For one, they may not need to worry about food or water since they brought their own, but that doesn’t excuse the threat constantly hovering above their heads. If it was any other ordinary person placed in this situation, they would’ve gone mad by now because that bow was no longer a treasure, it’s a death scythe ready to reap their life at any moment without notice.

Just when everyone thought that things were going to continue like this with no improvement, a sudden turnaround occurred on the seventh day.

It was late at night when their minds were still fuzzy from sleep. However, they could still make out that beam of light shooting down from above.

“Look over there! The northwest corner.”

After the strange event, a row of words promptly appeared in the sky right beside the Spatial Piercing Bow: If thou want to take the Spatial Piercing Bow then there’s only two paths before your eyes. First, thirty must die for one to survive. Second, shoot down nine suns as Hou Yi did to win over your prize.

Note: Hou Yi is a fabled archer from Chinese mythology. He shot down nine suns to save the land from the scorching heat and eventually became a god or something along those lines.

Though the description was few and short, its nevertheless the much-needed salvation they required.

In short, if one wanted to take the Spatial Piercing Bow out of here as their prize, they must meet one of the requirements mentioned above, which also causes a wave of realization on why they needed thirty-one individuals to enter the second cave passage.

The first option clearly means one person must kill the other thirty people to acquire the precious bow. This one was the most cruel and bloodthirsty, yet its also the easiest one to meet right now since the energy waves from the artifact has already slain over half of the contestants.

Going over the numbers, it definitely didn’t look so good.

Da Xia’s team only had Hong Ming Yue, Hong Yu Long, Luo Song and Zhu Ge Yi.

North Qing consisted of Princess Qing Bi, Cong Lu, Wen Xu and another alchemist from the Dan Palace.

The Kai Jiang Manor lost five guards, that meant Chen Minzhi still had four surviving subordinates.

Now that leaves Ye Ling Yue with the fewest members. However, they were the most fortunately and didn’t lose a single soul during this period. If there’s anything bad, it’s the minor injury Dao Nu suffered when protecting his young lord on the sixth day against the arcing wave from the bow.

No ones going to deny the first option here was very tempting, but since the forces are mostly equal in terms of strength, its pretty much out of consideration, leaving the second option of shooting down the nine light globes as the most viable.

“About the Spatial Piercing Bow’s instruction, I’m sure I don’t need to go over the ancient mythological story of Hou Yi the archer. That’s right, this is the very same bow he used in that story according to what us in the Dan Palace knows. After Hou Yi shot down the nine suns to save the land and its people, the great man then traveled the world and slayed demons and monsters alike for the rest of his remaining years before eventually ascending to godhood.” Wen Xu of the North Qing team kindly explains.

For Ling Yue, this story did ring a bell since it’s a fairy tale that almost any child would come across at some point in their life regardless of their mental state like herself.

According to the fabled legend, Hou Yi was but a mortal, a very ancient mortal who achieved enlightenment somewhere down the line and became a god among gods. And as for his bow here, its also a legendary weapon that could repel evil and even slay a reincarnation master with a single shot due to its material makeup.

From some of the rumors passed down through the ages, it said that Hou Yi secretly hid his powerful bow somewhere in these lands. No one knew the location of course, that’s why its such a surprise to everyone, especially Ling Yue, to learn said item was standing before their eyes.

“We can’t just do nothing like this. Let’s try the second option and shoot down the light globes like the description says.” Cong Lu advises, letting the importance of his words to sink in.

Sure enough, a series of nods returned to the royal guard captain.

“Today is already the eighth day with over twenty days before we can leave. I don’t know how many more of those waves of blood arcs would pop out at us from the bow, but for the sake of everyone’s safety, I suggest we properly arrange a plan to shoot down those light orbs. I don’t mind taking turns here.” Chen Minzhi was the first to offer up a proposal.

“Sir Minzhi’s idea is fair. I second it. As this is still a competition, we will award the treasures inside the light globes according to the one who shoots it down. I believe no one can object to this idea, right?”

The survivors quickly gave a unified nod over that suggestion.

“Feng Shen, why don’t your party join us instead?” Cong Lu offers his gesture of goodwill.

Of the three-member party there, Ling Yue’s team was undoubtedly the weakest. And since Feng Shen stood no chance of succeeding, that left Dao Nu and the girl herself of having a chance.

Ignoring the power level of Ling Yue who was only at the Dan Realm according to everyone’s image of her, Dao Nu had suffered an injury earlier. No matter how the royal guard captain looked at it, that side stood no chance of getting anything at this rate.

“Thank you for your kindness Cong Lu but I think we will mange.” Feng Shen kindly shakes his head before shifting his kind and gentle gaze back over to the girl. The latter returned the attention with a look of approval.

As nice as this was, there’s obviously going to be some who disapproved. From the rear, two snickering sneers could immediately be heard, which originated from Hong Ming Yue and Princess Qing Bi.

After a quick drawing to decide the sequence of who goes first, the results were as following: Da Xia, North Qing, Kai Jiang Manor and Ling Yue’s team as the last.

Since the Da Xia team was going first, it ended up being Zhu Ge Yi who had the pleasure being the first one to take up the task.

Ling Yue naturally grew a bit surprised by the other side’s decision, but that quickly change after some thinking. The old fella may be slightly inferior to Luo Song in terms of strength while being stronger than Hong Ming Yue, he’s nevertheless much more experienced in life. That made him a good candidate to test the water for the rest of his team while not being the trump card or the weakest to make a blunder.