NOVPUBA few minutes before Aksai's use of the Blood Soul Lamp.
Under the thick dome of living roots, sealed from the outside world, the Verdant Elder lay still.
His massive body twitched now and then, dark green blood oozing from the stump where his front leg had once been. The wound sizzled softly in the air, burning slightly from the traces of foreign Qi left behind by Aksai's attacks.
But outside threats were no longer the problem. At least at this point.
The Verdant Elder had already tightened the dome to its limit, using layers of wood and Spirit essence to keep Aksai from interfering any further. The barrier surrounding him was now fully focused inward.
He could not afford to waste a shred of energy. The breakthrough to the 3rd Order was already dangerous on its own. Adding battle wounds and external interference only made it worse.
He had two choices.
Use his Spirit essence to flush out the silver Qi Aksai had injected into his body—or let it stay and continue with his trials at the risk of carrying hidden dangers. 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
Flushing it out would take time. It would also leave him drained. If he chose that path, his breakthrough might fail. If that happened, his body would be shattered from the inside, and he'd be left crippled, or worse.
So he chose the other option.
He would leave the Qi inside. Let it spread. Let it invade. But he wouldn't ignore it. No—he would turn it into a weapon.
Not against Aksai. Against the trial itself.
The Pain Penance was still ongoing. His bones were still being crushed from within. His nerves were on fire. His shell had already cracked. And now, the burning ache of the missing leg added another layer of torment.
It hurt. It hurt more than anything he had felt before.
But that gave him an idea.
If the trial was meant to test how much pain he could endure, why not give it more pain to test?
He looked down at the raw, bleeding flesh where his leg used to be. Without hesitation, the Verdant Elder opened his jaws and clamped down on the edge of the stump. He growled deeply, and then—
Crunch!
He bit into his own flesh, tearing it apart.
A scream echoed inside the dome.
However, ignoring the unstoppable waves of pain, the demon beast did it again.
And again.
Each time, he tore more of the hanging, twitching muscles from the wound, ripping them off like weeds. His body shook violently. His heartbeat pounded like a war drum. The pain surged so high, so sharp, that it seemed to tear through the layers of reality itself.
One had to admit, the Verdant Elder was indeed as cunning as the most steadfast demonic cultivators—if not more. He was not only cruel to others but also to himself whenever necessary. And his ideas were truly innovative.
One would have to wonder how many human cultivators he had devoured to become this sharp and creative, unlike any other demon beast of his kind.
The waves of pain assaulted the mind and body of the demon beast. But then something strange happened.
The invisible force around him—one that had been crushing his bones, burning his nerves, and stabbing at his soul—began to weaken.
Little by little.
The more pain he brought upon himself, the less pressure he felt from the Pain Penance trial. It was as if the trial recognized that the pain he was enduring had now far surpassed what it was meant to deliver.
And so, it started to back down.
The Verdant Elder's breaths were heavy and ragged. His maw was soaked in his own blood. But his eyes glowed—wild, furious, and triumphant.
He kept going until the invisible pressure was fully gone.
He had passed the first trial.
Not by resisting the pain—but by inviting more of it. By making it his own.
One had to say, this was a very creative way of passing the Pain Penance under such peculiar circumstances.
Putting his stray thoughts aside, the Verdant Elder got to work. It was time to prepare himself before the second trial started. He needed to heal himself.
The Verdant Elder slowly closed his eyes and began to gather the remaining Spirit Essence within him. He made use of the wood-element healing-type Spirit spell that was unique to himself as a mutated demon beast of his kind.
A faint green light bloomed from beneath him.
The vines around the dome stirred, as if waking from a deep sleep. One by one, they slithered across the ground and up the Elder's body. They were gentle in their touch but full of power. Some vines coiled around his chest and shoulders, others wrapped around his broken leg stump.
A thick vine stretched toward the severed leg lying a short distance away. It wrapped around the limb like a hand picking up a tool and lifted it from the blood-stained ground. The vine brought the leg to the Elder's side, where more vines gathered and began to hold both the limb and the wounded joint together.
The healing-type Spirit spell activated fully.
The vines pulsed with green light. The severed flesh began to grow again.
Muscle strands reached out like roots searching for soil. Skin stitched itself slowly, layer by layer. The scent of fresh wood and earth filled the air.
The process wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either. Within a few moments, the chopped leg had reattached itself. The worst of the bleeding had stopped. The deep wounds across his body closed enough to stop being life-threatening.
The Verdant Elder let out a deep sigh.
He stood on shaky legs—both of them. His movements were slow, not yet firm, but he could walk again. He could defend himself if needed.
Though scars still marked his body and pain still lingered beneath the surface, he was no longer at death's door.
He had survived the trial and healed his wounds.
And at this point, he was ready for what came next.
Fortunately or unfortunately, he didn't have to wait long before the Dejection Demon trial started.
