Chapter 1929: Reward Is Incorrect

The world spun before his eyes, and when Lu Ye regained his senses, everything around him had changed.

He was now in mid-air, enveloped by the familiar aura of the realm. Lu Ye let out a breath, and a cold wind blew, making him realize he was covered in a cold sweat from the shock of the previous moment.

The overall situation seemed settled; the Skyfiends had been wiped out, and the bloody cauldron hidden within the brown star was likely destroyed. Yet, who could have imagined that a bright, blooming blood flower would appear on Tianhong's head, the very person who had always watched over him?

That undoubtedly signified that Tianhong had become a Skyfiend.

Lu Ye didn't know what Tianhong had encountered inside that brown star, nor was he clear about the situation of the other Sun Shines, but Tianhong had definitely run into trouble.

Had the trial not ended exactly at that moment, Lu Ye would have had to expend a red talisman to have any chance of escape.

After briefly orienting himself, he flew towards his cave dwelling and soon returned to it. The recent fright had been too terrifying; he needed to calm himself down.

His Asura Token suddenly stirred. Lu Ye checked it and found a message from Abuluo: "Damn it, I was still halfway there. Why did it suddenly end? What happened on your end?"

Lu Ye then remembered that Tianhong had ordered Abuluo to lead the cultivators from the Nether Realm to the battlefield. However, the cultivator army's speed naturally couldn't match Tianhong's, and by his estimation, Abuluo truly hadn't reached the battlefield yet.

His eyes flickered as Lu Ye replied, "What do you mean, fellow cultivator?"

The one who had exchanged Asura Token marks with Abuluo wasn't Lu Ye himself, but the body cultivator who helped people detoxify in the Bounty Hall!

Abuluo's second message quickly arrived: "Stop pretending, who doesn't know who you are!"

Lu Ye sniffed, then, remembering he still had some questions for Abuluo, replied, "The war is over, and our star system has achieved a great victory!"

"I knew it was you," came the reply. "That kid Gu Sheng guessed right."

It seemed Abuluo hadn't been entirely sure if the body cultivator he met in the Bounty Hall was Lu Ye before sending the message; the first message was merely a test, and now he was finally certain.

Lu Ye didn't mind; Abuluo would know sooner or later anyway, so it didn't matter if he was figured out.

"Quick, check your Asura Mark!" Abuluo suddenly sent another message, as if he had made some incredible discovery.

Lu Ye immediately checked. Although this trial had been very strange and he hadn't had many opportunities to truly act, his role in the scenario was significant. Setting aside his work healing and detoxifying people in the Cloud Luo Holy Land, finding a method to instantly kill the Skyfiends was undoubtedly a major achievement. He then continued to eliminate Sun Shine Skyfiends one after another. It could be said that no one's contribution was greater than his.

Therefore, the Asura Marks he received should have been substantial.

As Lu Ye thought this, he focused and took a look, and his brows immediately furrowed.

Something was wrong. The Asura Marks he had previously obtained in the Bounty Hall hadn't been used, and he remembered the exact number clearly. But now, the increase in Asura Marks was negligible. A quick calculation revealed he had only received a mere fifty thousand odd Asura Marks this time.

What was going on? Lu Ye looked bewildered.

Lu Ye sent a message: "How many Asura Marks did you get?"

Abuluo quickly replied, "Fifty-four thousand, you?"

"The same."

Everyone received the exact same reward, with no difference whatsoever.

Something wasn't right. In the previous trial, he had received over a hundred thousand Asura Marks. This time, he had spent more time and played a crucial role. Lu Ye had originally estimated he would get at least two to three hundred thousand Asura Marks, or even more, but what was with this fifty-four thousand?

Abuluo had clearly also discovered this problem, which was why he had sought out Lu Ye for confirmation.

"Come to the Treasure Vault, let's talk in person," Abuluo's message came again. Communicating like this was truly inconvenient.

Lu Ye didn't refuse and immediately set off for the Asura Treasure Vault.

When he appeared, he saw a robust figure emerge beside him; it was Abuluo.

Their eyes met, and Abuluo said, "Wait, there's someone else."

Lu Ye's mind stirred; he vaguely guessed who it was.

Sure enough, a moment later, Gu Sheng's figure emerged from the side. He looked around, saw Abuluo, and asked impatiently, "What's going on?"

He was still recovering from his injuries when Abuluo called him over. He originally didn't want to bother, but he knew Abuluo would definitely go directly to his cave dwelling if he didn't respond, so he reluctantly came over.

"Look who it is?" Abuluo said with a grin, pointing.

Only then did Gu Sheng notice Lu Ye standing nearby. His eye twitched slightly, clearly bringing back some unpleasant memories. However, Gu Sheng, being from the Yellow Dragon Realm, was undoubtedly very well-mannered and immediately cupped his fist in a salute: "Greetings, fellow cultivator."

Lu Ye returned the salute.

The top three on the Moon-Glimmer Ranking had gathered. Lu Ye was one thing; although he was now ranked first, few people had actually seen him. But Abuluo and Gu Sheng were different; their presence immediately attracted a lot of attention.

"Let's find somewhere to talk," Abuluo said, striding to the side.

Lu Ye and Gu Sheng followed.

A short while later, in an uninhabited place, Gu Sheng activated a magic artifact to set up an isolation formation. The three sat cross-legged, forming a triangular arrangement.

Gu Sheng was the first to speak, looking at Lu Ye: "I haven't yet had the honor of asking your name, fellow cultivator?"

Lu Ye and Abuluo had gotten to know each other thoroughly during the previous trial, having spent some time together, but Gu Sheng truly didn't know Lu Ye's name.

Lu Ye immediately introduced himself.

Gu Sheng nodded slightly: "Fellow cultivator Lu, I've experienced your prowess before."

Lu Ye said, "You were injured then, so it doesn't count. Once you've recovered, let's fight again."

He had beaten Abuluo. The encounter with Gu Sheng, however, didn't count; he had been sliced out of the battle arena by a few of Lu Ye's strikes. Moreover, Gu Sheng was clearly a spell cultivator, and Lu Ye was eager to know what kind of foundation this top-tier spell cultivator from the Yellow Dragon Realm possessed. He couldn't find such a good opponent outside, and sparring with Gu Sheng would give him more experience dealing with spell cultivators.

Gu Sheng's eye twitched again. "We'll see, we'll see, my injury... *cough, cough, cough*..."

*No way I'm fighting you*, Gu Sheng thought. If it were any other opponent, no matter how strong, he wouldn't back down; it would just be losing one match, and no one really died in the battle arena. But Lu Ye wielded divine weapons transformed from weapon spirits, whose strange power was difficult to expel, and getting slashed meant spending Asura Marks to post a bounty. His Asura Marks didn't just grow on trees.

Abuluo, grinning widely, said, "So, you can be a coward too, huh? I thought you weren't afraid of anything!"

Gu Sheng pretended not to hear and asked, "What do you need me for?"

Abuluo's expression became serious: "Something's not right, and I wanted to ask you about it."

"What?"

Abuluo then briefly explained the previous trial. Gu Sheng hadn't paid much attention at first, but the more he listened, the more surprised he became.

After Abuluo finished speaking, Gu Sheng looked incredulous. "You two entered the same trial scenario? And neither of you received any clues or information about it?"

"It's strange, right?" Abuluo said with a perplexed expression. "Over all these years, I've entered and exited at least hundreds of trial scenarios, but something like this has never happened."

Gu Sheng said, "I haven't either."

"That's not even the main point," Abuluo continued. "The key is that we both worked so hard and finally completed the trial. Guess how many Asura Marks we finally got?"

Gu Sheng gave him an annoyed look: "Do you think I'll guess?"

"Fifty-four thousand!" Abuluo slapped his thigh indignantly. "Only fifty-four thousand! Is that supposed to appease a beggar? And I calculated, this fifty-four thousand is just the basic reward! Brother Lu and I stayed in that trial scenario for about twenty-seven days!"

For Moon-Glimmer cultivators, there was a basic reward of two thousand Asura Marks for every day spent in a trial scenario. Fifty-four thousand was precisely the amount for twenty-seven days.

Gu Sheng's eyes widened. "In other words, neither of you received any additional rewards?"

"Absolutely none!" Abuluo shook his head.

"That's impossible," Gu Sheng said, finding it somewhat unbelievable. "How could such an outrageous thing happen? In a trial, even doing something minor would grant more than just the basic reward."

"This is what's truly strange," Abuluo said. "In this trial, although we didn't kill many enemies, the role we played was irreplaceable."

Gu Sheng fell into thought. After a long while, he said, "So why did you call me here?"

Abuluo said, "You, Gu Sheng, have many friends, and there are many Sun Shine seniors from the Yellow Dragon Realm here. Help us ask around to see if anything similar has ever happened."

This situation was too strange. If it was just this one time, it wouldn't matter, but he was afraid it might happen again in the future.

"Probably not," Gu Sheng said, but he still took out his Asura Token and sent out messages one after another.

"Actually... there's something even stranger," Lu Ye suddenly spoke.

Abuluo and Gu Sheng both looked at him.

Lu Ye said, "In the previous trial, Tianhong and the other Sun Shines had slaughtered so many Skyfiends and then destroyed their source. But right after Tianhong returned, I found that he had turned into a Skyfiend. I only glanced at him, and he became aware. Just as he was about to attack me, the trial suddenly ended."

Just hearing him say this, Gu Sheng didn't fully grasp the impact, but Abuluo knew Tianhong's power. For such a Sun Shine to suddenly become a Skyfiend and attempt to attack Lu Ye—that sense of horror was bone-chilling just to think about.

"This trial started inexplicably and ended just as mysteriously," Lu Ye said. "I always feel like the trial hasn't truly ended."

Abuluo mused, "There are no guaranteed death trials in the Asura Arena. We've already eliminated the initial Skyfiends, so even if that means the trial's task is completed, it's normal for it to end there. As for Tianhong... perhaps that scenario will continue to exist, and other cultivators might enter it in the future. This kind of thing has happened before—the same trial scenario, but in different eras, with more than one group of cultivators entering it."

Hearing him say this, Lu Ye found it quite reasonable.