The audience above the pit saw the spider beast almost catch the Hyanid. The Hyanid managed to dodge at the last moment, but the spider beast managed to scratch his right thigh with one of its sharp legs. The audience cheered. If the Hyanid was caught and killed, that would be the end of the trial.

Two elderly Hyanids discussed among themselves as they watched the fight. "What is your take?" One of them asked the other.

His partner answered, "The trial taker must have studied the previous trials. He knew full well how to make use of this trial’s rules."

"I’m not asking about the participant. Aren’t you the caretaker of this pit? Have you learned what caused the energy in that purging hole to degrade?"

The purging hole was what the Hyanid named for the black pond at the center of the pit. The previously black pond was now a light grey pond filled with seemingly calm liquid. From what happened with the spider beast just now, it was clear that the changes in the pond were not only in its appearance.

The caretaker shook his head. "I have visited this pit often since I was a lad, so often that I was eventually appointed to my current position. I have never seen the purging hole behave this way. I have reviewed all the records regarding this pit, dating back to the city’s founding. There had never been occurrences such as this... What about your analysis? You have an S-level affinity to darkness elements. I let you enter the pit for ten days already. Did you sense anything out of place?"

"Not really. All I can tell from these ten days of observation is that the darkness elements in this hole are decreasing at a rapid rate. What causes it, and why it happens, I have no clue. When do you say the energies of this hole began to change color?"

"It began to be noticeable two months ago."

The Hyanid turned to the pit caretaker with a questioning look. "From the way you spoke, you don’t agree that this phenomenon just happened recently?"

"I believe so. I always have a suspicion every time I pass by this purging hole. I somehow feel like it has become thinner."

"Thinner?"

The caretaker Hyanid nodded. "Imagine a filled tube, but the bottom part is being removed bit by bit. We, who only see the top part, aren’t aware of it until whatever is removing the tube is getting close to the top."

"Are you saying... The source of its decay comes from the other side?"

Before he got his answer, a commotion erupted in the audience. The spider beast had caught the participant Hyanid. The Hyanid’s movement had become so slow that he failed to dodge the spider beast’s lunge. Apparently, the spider beast’s legs contained poison. He had been infected from the scratch on the thigh he suffered earlier.

Weakened by the poison, he couldn’t fight off the spider beast. The spider beast pinned him to the ground before stabbing him with a stinger in its midgut. The Hyanid uttered a terrible howl filled with pain. The howl weakened before he turned silent altogether.

The Hyanid was as if a deflated balloon. It became unnaturally thin. Liquid could be seen leaking from the gaps between its carapaces. His insides had turned into liquid. The spider beast jammed its mouth on the Hyanid and began sucking his liquified flesh and organs.

"The trial has ended!" The trial commentator exclaimed. "Sadly, the trial taker failed to pass the trial. This concludes today’s Worthiness Trial."

The Hyanid caretaker was about to deactivate the pit’s barrier and head down with the others to clean the pit, but the sight from the purging hole made him stop. The grey liquid in the hole suddenly crumpled before it vanished, leaving only an empty hole with no bottom in sight.

Everyone about to leave was soon aware of the phenomenon. They stopped and looked at the hole. They saw nothing but the abyss.

Suddenly, a loud, explosive sound came from the hole, followed by a shockwave. This shockwave travelled outward and struck the barrier above the pit, causing another loud, banging sound.

As everyone was shocked by this turn of events, something jumped out of the purging hole. A large human with a bald head landed not far from where the spider beast was still enjoying its meal.

All the Hyanids were lost about what had happened. They only stared at the human down in the pit without moving or saying anything. The human surveyed the place as if he were sightseeing. When the human’s eyes landed on the caretaker Hyanid, a recognition dawned on him.

"Him...? Wait, it’s him!" He exclaimed.

"Who?" His friend asked.

The caretaker Hyanid glanced at his friend but quickly returned his attention to the human. He answered his friend’s question without taking his eyes off the human. "You might not know because you didn’t watch every Worthiness Trials, but as this pit’s caretaker, I did. This human here is one of the trial participants from... I can’t remember, many years ago."

"Past participants...? I have only heard of one human participant these past few decades, and that participant fell into the purging hole."

"He did, and this human is that participant who fell," the caretaker replied.

"Uh, what should we do?"

"I don’t know. He doesn’t seem hostile."

"He didn’t, but those altered beasts don’t seem to share the same sentiment."

"Hey... The Steel-clad Titan seems to respond to that human."

*

Amon didn’t expect he would exit the pocket dimension at the exact time a Worthiness Trial was taking place. He saw four living beings inside this pit. His cultivation sense was dulled, but his danger sense was not. He detected aggression from all these beasts.

The closest one was the spider beast. It stopped feeding on the slain Hyanid and charged at Amon. Amon didn’t move from his spot. He didn’t even spare the spider beast a glance.

When the spider beast was about to reach him, the armored tasset covering his lower abdomen opened. This tasset was a tail covered in hard carapaces. This armored tail struck the spider beast, sending it reeling. Before it could recover its balance, the stinger at the end of the tail stabbed into the beast’s chest.

The spider beast’s skin rapidly turned purple. Uncontrollable swellings occurred all over its body. With a sudden pop, the beast burst apart, leaving only a tangled mess of flesh and blood.

What killed the spider beast was not only the Primeval Scortaur’s toxin, but also Amon’s newest poison. His new poison was the Void Volatile Poison. It forced the air within the poisoned victim to expand abruptly, causing the victim’s body to explode.

The Void Volatile Poison was the content of the vial Amon gave Dao Su years ago. At first, the Primeval Scortaur’s toxin and the Void Volatile Poison rejected one another. However, after long study and many tests, Dao Su managed to develop a reagent that bound the two poisons.

Amon had Dao Su inject the reagent-enhanced Void Volatile Poison into the poison gland of its altered tail. This modified the toxin inside. In its normal state, both poisons kill Lord Stage or Fiendish Stage cultivators, but only slightly affect a King Stage or Supreme Stage cultivator. After merging the two poisons, their potency was enhanced. The combined poison could now kill a King Stage or Supreme Stage cultivator, so long as a sufficient dose was administered.

The spider beast was a Higher Mythical Beast. It couldn’t resist the poison. It died instantly once the enhanced Void Volatile Poison entered its body.

The two other altered beasts that were originally fighting one another stopped fighting when Amon emerged from the purging hole. Like the spider beast, the two also charged at Amon. They arrived later because they were further away.

They didn’t stop even after seeing the spider beast’s demise. They were altered beasts with broken minds. Their decision was entirely based on instincts, and their instincts told them that if Amon wasn’t dead, they would be.

Amon still didn’t move despite the two altered beasts’ approach. His arms remained folded before his chest, and his two feet never left the ground. The only thing moving was his altered tails. He had practiced using it for these past years until he could use it as naturally as he used his fingers.

The tail made one circular swing. Like a whip, it slapped the two altered beasts, stopping their advance and throwing them off-balance. With a fluid move, the tail thrust forward and stabbed one of the altered beasts. It died instantly with a detonated body.

Amon’s scorpion tail thrust toward its third target. The last altered beast jumped away to dodge the stinger. When it seemed like the beast had managed to put enough distance, the scorpion tail elongated. The carapaces opened as the flesh underneath them stretched. This gave the tail additional reach.

The stinger stabbed into the last altered beast. It joined its brethren, died without an intact body.