99: Generous rewards

The entire platform was deathly silent. Heaven Burning Supreme's expression froze on his face, and the twin blades in the Golden Feather Emperor's hands clattered to the ground. This quantity was practically a crushing victory over the amount of essence submitted by the other trial-takers!

Lin Yuan was secretly amused: If you knew that the amount of law essence I refined was several times more than this, what kind of expressions would you have?

"Verification complete."

A grand voice resounded throughout heaven and earth:

"Gloomy Net has obtained first place in this trial and receives a reward of 50% of the total law essence submitted by all trial-takers;"

"Second place, Heaven Burning Supreme, and third place, Blood Emperor, each receive a reward of 5% of the total law essence;"

"Fourth to tenth place, each person receives a reward of 2% of the total law essence;"

"Eleventh to one-hundredth place shall jointly divide the remaining 26% of the total law essence."

"You now have ten days to refine it. After ten days, the reward recipients will be teleported to the fifth floor."

As soon as the voice fell, hundreds of colored light pillars descended from the sky. Lin Yuan was enveloped by the thickest seven-colored light pillar, and a mountain of essence appeared before him—it was the reward he deserved.

The other trial-takers who received rewards were also enveloped by light pillars. The seven high-level Soul Spirits were currently staring at Lin Yuan with venomous gazes. Other Soul Spirits who received ranking rewards were joyfully taking stock of their gains, while those who received no rewards had already been teleported out of the heavenly soul pagoda one by one.

"Ten days..."

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged and began to refine this massive amount of essence.

On the third day, Lin Yuan suddenly discovered an interesting phenomenon—as his comprehension of the Chaos Origin Law increased, his conversion efficiency for ordinary law essence also improved. Now, the Origin power a single high-level essence could convert into was more than three times what it was at the beginning.

"So that's how it is... the stronger the Chaos Origin Law, the higher the conversion efficiency."

This discovery made him ecstatic. For the remaining days, he put all his effort into refining the rest of the law essence.

By the sixth day, his comprehension of the Chaos Origin Law had reached 3.35%! If this progress were sent back to the Taichu Divine Continent, it would be enough to make those Martial Artists who had wasted ten thousand years on Origin Law comprehension drop their jaws in shock.

When the bell rang on the tenth day, Lin Yuan's comprehension of the Chaos Origin Law was fixed at 3.5%. Although the refinement of law essence had lasted for 10 days, there was still a massive amount of law essence in his storage ring that hadn't been refined. One must know that he had obtained nearly half of the total law essence submitted by 5,000 Soul Spirit experts. There were as many as 100,000 mid-level law essences alone, and about 350,000 low-level law essences. These would all be nutrients for his Chaos Origin Law to grow in the future, and these ten days had only been spent refining those hundred-plus high-level law essences!

The blood-colored light pillar descended once again. Lin Yuan stood up and looked at Heaven Burning Supreme and the others who were also preparing to teleport. That Tier 3 Red Soul Spirit was staring at him with a hostile gaze, his lips moving as he transmitted a clear message:

"The fifth floor... has no restrictions on killing."

Lin Yuan smiled slightly and gave a silent response:

"Just as I intended."

The light pillar flashed, and his figure disappeared from the platform. The trial of the fourth floor had ended, but the true life-and-death struggle had only just begun... The moment the blood-colored light pillar dissipated, Lin Yuan looked around, his pupils slightly contracting. Ten massive dark-red arenas floated in the void, with malevolent ghost totems carved on the edges of each arena. The central arena was a hundred meters higher than the other nine, constructed entirely of some kind of blood-colored crystal, its surface covered in bloodstains that had not yet dried.

"The rules for the fifth floor trial are as follows:"

A raspy voice pressed in from all directions:

"1. The top ten trial-takers automatically become Arena Lords, each occupying one arena."

"2. The remaining ninety trial-takers will choose an Arena Lord to challenge in order, starting from the lowest rank."

"3. The loser dies immediately, and 30% of their cultivation and Law insights will be fed back to the winner."

"4. The final ten surviving Arena Lords will obtain the qualification to proceed to the fifth floor."

Lin Yuan leapt onto the central arena without hesitation. A viscous sensation came from beneath his feet, the bloodstains of some unknown creature. The other nine arenas were also occupied by experts like Heaven Burning Supreme, with greedy light flashing in the eyes of every Arena Lord.

"The challenges begin!"

The 100th-ranked Gray-Scaled Soul Spirit walked onto the field trembling. This Tier 4 Purple Soul Spirit looked around at the ten arenas and finally chose the one at the very edge—the Arena Lord there was a Tier 4 Gold Soul Spirit who had just broken through.

"I... I choose to challenge Golden Halberd Emperor!"

The battle erupted instantly. The Gray-Scaled Soul Spirit gave his all, even going so far as to burn his soul core. Although he had reached over 100,000 combat power, in the face of an absolute strength gap, he only lasted ten breaths before being shredded by Golden Halberd Emperor's claw. His body then turned into a mass of blood-colored energy and was swallowed by the arena. A breath later, a blood-colored light pillar descended from the sky, and 30% of the loser's cultivation and law essence flowed into the winner's body like a trickling stream. Golden Halberd Emperor narrowed his eyes comfortably as a few blood-colored lines appeared on his golden soul armor.

The subsequent challenges were much the same. The lower-ranked Soul Spirits chose Arena Lords who appeared weaker, but even so, the vast majority ended in miserable defeat. After each battle, the winner's Aura would noticeably strengthen.

When it was the turn of the 73rd-ranked Purple-Winged Soul Spirit, this Peak Tier 4 Soul Spirit made a different choice.

"I challenge... the Central Arena Lord!"

The entire audience was in an uproar. The Purple-Winged Soul Spirit spread three pairs of purple light wings and said proudly, "Human, your slaughter ends here!"

Lin Yuan didn't even lift an eyelid. When the Purple-Winged Soul Spirit lunged forward aggressively, he simply raised his right hand, using the Chaos Origin Law to simulate the mysteries of Space Law.

"Chaos · Restrict."

A single simple word caused the space of the entire arena to freeze instantly. The Purple-Winged Soul Spirit was frozen mid-lunge, his eyes filled with terror.

"Extinguish."

Another word was uttered, and the Purple-Winged Soul Spirit's body cracked like broken porcelain, finally turning into a sky full of purple light specks. When the blood-colored light pillar descended, Lin Yuan clearly felt a surge of pure energy flow into his body—to his surprise, after being converted by the Chaos Origin Law, it actually formed a fragment containing a trace of Wind Origin Law!

"So by devouring other experts, I can also directly obtain Law insights through this method..."

"This is...?"

A strange warm current flowed toward his four limbs and hundred bones. Lin Yuan was shocked to find that the "Eternal Evolution Body" talent, which had been dormant in his body for a long time, was actually beginning to awaken! This special Physique, which had evolved into an Indestructible Body during the Gathering Origin Realm, had shown no movement for several months. At this moment, however, it was like a parched riverbed meeting sweet rain, crazily absorbing the special energy fed back after the Purple-Winged Soul Spirit was swallowed by the arena.

Fine and complex patterns appeared on the surface of his skin, and every inch of his flesh was undergoing a subtle restructuring. His Physical Body, which had already reached the Peak of the Indestructible Body, was now rapidly evolving toward a higher level! His bones emitted crisp ringing sounds, a faint purple glow appeared in his blood, and his internal organs were enveloped in a layer of mist.