37: Chapter 37 Fortune Star Temple, Nine-Level Trial

Fara faced the three thousand fanatical warriors behind him, suddenly raising his battle axe, the blade pointing directly toward the direction of the Temple of Fortune ruins.

"Army! Advance!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One thousand level 45 Goblin Tyrants took heavy strides, the earth trembling beneath their feet. They felt not a shred of hesitation or fear, following their king as they marched resolutely into the unknown darkness.

Archers, warlocks, and shamans followed closely behind, the entire legion resembling a steel torrent, disappearing into the wilderness in an orderly and swift manner.

After this period of conquest, over 3,000 followers had reached level 45, and more than 5,000 were above level 40.

This was the result even with Fang Chuan hoping to avoid casualties; if he hadn't cared about the cost, he could have advanced to a demigod by yesterday!

Getting back to the point, the Temple of Fortune ruins were not close, but given the current strength of his followers, they reached the entrance of the ruins in less than an hour.

The pale cyan barrier in front of the gate was already very weak, almost invisible.

Fara stepped forward and split the barrier open with a single swing of his axe.

The ruin gate opened with a boom, revealing a five-colored spatial portal.

"Enter!"

...

After a bout of dizziness, Fang Chuan's vision suddenly cleared.

The scene before him made him pause, even though he was accustomed to the magnificent scenery of the Divine Kingdom.

This was a bizarre and surreal independent space.

The sky was a magnificent purple, dotted with countless star-like luminous bodies, and the ground was covered with a layer of soft, shimmering fungal carpet. The air was filled with a rich aura of life and a peculiar fluctuation.

The entire space was unimaginably vast; his elite army of three thousand, once dropped in here, seemed as insignificant as a single drop of water in the ocean.

"My Lord, the spatial laws here are very stable, and the energy is extremely abundant." Yi's voice resonated in Fang Chuan's mind, his eyes flashing with a silver light as he rapidly scanned the surrounding environment.

Fara took a deep breath, an intoxicated expression appearing on his face.

"What a great place! I feel like I'm full of strength!"

Fang Chuan ignored them; his attention was completely captured by the things visible everywhere on the ground.

They were plants of various shapes and sizes, emitting a lustrous, precious glow.

"This is... a Tier 1 spiritual herb, 'Dew Grass'? And that one over there, is it a Tier 2 spiritual herb, 'Moonlight Flower'?"

Fang Chuan's breathing nearly stopped.

These spiritual herbs, while not top-tier goods in the outside exchanges, would still cost over a hundred faith points each. Yet here, they were as common as weeds, everywhere!

Looking out, they were packed so densely that they were impossible to count!

"Is this a herb garden? With so many, there must be tens of thousands, right?"

Fang Chuan thought in astonishment.

He quickly estimated that just in this area alone, if he harvested all the spiritual herbs, he could sell them for at least several million faith points!

But why sell them? Later, I'll set up a fully automated alchemy palace and turn them into pills; the profit would be dozens of times higher!

Fang Chuan immediately ordered them to start harvesting!

"Understood!"

The three thousand-strong army instantly split into countless small squads, and like a plague of locusts, they began a carpet-style search of the space.

Just then, Fang Chuan's gaze was drawn to a sight in the depths of the space.

There, a massive white staircase made of unknown jade extended upward, disappearing into the mist-shrouded void with no end in sight.

At the entrance of the staircase, a behemoth was coiled there, resembling a small blue mountain.

It was a blue giant python, seventy or eighty meters long, with scales larger than millstones reflecting a cold, eerie luster under the purple light of the sky. It seemed to be sleeping, its steady, thunderous breathing echoing through the space.

"A guardian?" Fang Chuan's eyes narrowed.

Seemingly sensing the commotion caused by the army's arrival, the blue giant python slowly raised its massive head. A pair of lantern-like golden slit pupils snapped open, locking onto the Goblin Tyrant army that was busy "zero-dollar shopping."

A cold and tyrannical aura instantly enveloped the entire area.

"Humble intruders..."

A dull and ancient voice resonated directly in everyone's minds.

"I am the guardian of the first layer of this place, 'Deep Sea Throat'."

The giant python spoke in human language, proudly raising its head to look down upon the ants below.

"Only by defeating me will you have the qualifications to step onto the staircase leading to the upper levels. Otherwise, go back to where you came from!"

At the same time, its attribute panel clearly appeared before Fang Chuan's eyes.

[Name]: Deep Sea Throat

[Level]: LV40

[Rank]: Silver-rank Beast

...

[Combat Power Assessment]: 69000

After reading the panel, Fang Chuan nearly laughed out loud.

"That's it? Silver-rank? Combat power less than seventy thousand?"

He watched the giant python's posturing, feeling like he was watching a clown.

"Fara." Fang Chuan lazily gave the order, "Finish this quickly, don't waste time."

"Yes, my Lord!"

Watching Fara charge over like a cannonball, a flash of disdain crossed the blue giant python's golden slit pupils.

A short, ugly goblin?

Daring to challenge it, the great guardian?

It was simply an insult to it!

"Ignorant ant, let me show you what despair is!"

Deep Sea Throat let out an angry hiss, suddenly opening its blood-red maw. A deep blue stream of water instantly gathered in its mouth, turning into a high-pressure water cannon that shot toward Fara!

This move was its signature skill, "Deep Sea Impact." Not to mention flesh and blood, it could instantly pierce even tempered steel!

However, facing this attack capable of piercing steel plates, Fara couldn't even be bothered to dodge.

He didn't even activate any defensive skills, simply charging straight into it.

Boom!

The high-pressure water cannon was like a deep blue laser, tearing through the air and slamming into Fara's chest with a piercing sonic boom!

The impact force of the violent water flow was enough to level a hilltop.

However— "Clang!"

Amidst the ear-piercing resonance, not even a white mark was left on the dark gold lionheart battle armor, and the violent water flow instantly turned into a mist filling the sky!

Under this impact, Fara hadn't even retreated half a step!

"What?!"

Deep Sea Throat's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

How is this possible?!

Since when did its Deep Sea Impact become so weak?

Or could it be... the armor on this goblin...

Before it could figure it out, Fara had already charged in front of it.

"Die!"

Fara let out a violent roar, his sturdy body leaping high into the air. Gripping the rune battle axe with both hands, he used all his strength to slash down fiercely at the giant python's massive head!

This axe strike carried the terrifying power to split mountains and cleave rocks!

Deep Sea Throat felt a fatal threat; it wanted to dodge, but it was already too late.

It could only watch helplessly as the giant axe, shimmering with rune light, grew larger and larger in its pupils...

Puchi!

A crisp sound like slicing into a watermelon.

The massive rune battle axe sliced into the giant python's head without any resistance, cutting all the way down to its jaw.

Deep Sea Throat's mountain-like head was cleanly split into two halves.

Blood and brains sprayed out like a fountain.

Its massive body twitched violently a few times, then with a "boom," it crashed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

One-shot!

From Fara's charge to the end of the battle, the entire process took no more than three seconds.

Fang Chuan watched all of this calmly, his heart without a ripple.

Just kidding, a level 48 Five-star Believer wearing a King-rank set with explosive attributes—if he couldn't even one-shot a level 40 Silver-rank mob, that would be too embarrassing.

Just then, an unexpected change occurred.

The giant python's corpse, which had been split in two, suddenly turned into specks of blue light and dissipated into the air.

The next second, at the entrance of the staircase, the light gathered again, and Deep Sea Throat's massive body reappeared, completely unharmed.

"Huh? It resurrected?"

Fara also frowned, gripping his battle axe once again, ready to go up and hit it again.

However, the tyrannical and arrogant aura on the resurrected Deep Sea Throat had vanished without a trace.

"Challengers, congratulations on passing the first layer's trial."

As it spoke, it opened its mouth and gently spat out an object.

Fang Chuan swept his divine sense over it and immediately recognized it.

"A fragment of the fortune star emblem?"

He already had one piece of this in his possession, given to him by Uncle Zhang earlier.

He didn't expect another one to appear here.

With one more, he would be able to assemble a complete fortune star emblem!

The giant python spoke again: "You may choose to withdraw or challenge the second layer."

Fara asked: "How many layers are there in this trial? Does every layer have a guardian like you?"

"Yes, respected powerhouse." Deep Sea Throat said succinctly, "The Temple of Fortune has nine layers in total, and the guardian of each layer will be stronger than the one before it. Only by defeating the guardian can you proceed to the next layer."

"Nine layers, huh..."

Fang Chuan gripped the emblem fragment in his hand, a shocking gleam shooting from his eyes.

If the first layer dropped an emblem fragment, what else was on the eight layers above?

A complete emblem?

Or even... more heaven-defying artifacts?!

"Second layer, let's go!"

Following Fang Chuan's order, the three thousand ferocious Goblin Tyrant army stepped onto the white jade staircase and surged toward the second layer!