Amon looked at the last living thing inside this pit aside from him. The Steel-clad Titan was walking toward him. Like the altered beasts, the titan’s instinct also warned it of Amon. It was a passive spirit beast, but if it felt a strong menace, it would not ignore it.

The spectators above watched the situation with silent fascination. They thought the trial had ended, only for a new participant to join.

The caretaker was as flabbergasted as the others, but his was even more so. As the pit’s caretaker, he was involved with preparing the beasts for the trial. He had more experience with the Steel-clad Titan than most others.

"This... I have never seen the Steel-clad Titan make an advance without provocation."

"Maybe it feels threatened by a stronger opponent," His friend speculated.

They couldn’t sense Amon’s cultivation level, but they could know from the display screen that monitored everything that happened inside the pit. The information from the screen indicated that Amon had the cultivation level of a Peak Supreme Stage.

The caretaker shook his head. "The Steel-clad Titan won’t attack randomly. It is very passive. It will especially avoid a conflict if the opponent is stronger than it."

"Hm, perhaps the threat it feels is not only from its opponent’s cultivation power."

"Perhaps...," the caretaker muttered. "Furthermore, if I don’t remember wrongly, that human was a Peak Malicious Stage cultivator when he fell inside the purging hole. It has been many years, but less than a decade. It is impossible to increase his cultivation level this much..."

*

Down there, Amon watched the incoming Steel-clad Titan. The last time he faced a similar beast, he had to resort to tricks and relied on the assistance of another. This time, he didn’t believe that was necessary.

The Steel-clad Titan lunged once Amon was within range. Amon remained still. The titan’s towering body loomed over Amon as its giant fist came down. Amon finally moved something other than his altered tail, but not to dodge the incoming fist. He widened his stance and lifted his right hand. That hand opened into a palm as the fist arrived.

A loud sound followed by a shockwave occurred when the titanic fist hit the tiny palm. The impact forced Amon to skid back one meter. His palm remained on the fist, and the fist’s advance was stopped.

The audience gasped. Even a Hyanid with the Peak Supreme Stage cultivation would still have trouble against a Steel-clad Titan if the contest were only on raw physical strength, much less a human with a weaker physiology. Yet they saw with their own eyes that Amon stopped the titan with brute strength alone.

The titan lifted its other fist and punched. Amon no longer received this second punch. One test was enough to measure how his strength had improved. He shifted to the side. His tail thrust forward as he moved. A clang was heard when the sharp stinger hit the titan’s defensive plate. It failed to penetrate.

’Too bad,’ Amon thought. He might have to work on the penetrative power of his stinger. Without being able to pierce his enemy’s defense, his poison was useless.

The Steel-clad Titan performed a back swing with its fist. While its strength overpowered most Supreme Stage cultivators, its speed did not. As for Amon, his strength and speed were above those of average cultivators with the same level.

Amon shifted to the titan’s side. With one fluid move, he performed Bone Shattering Shadow Fist. Though this martial art was only a mid-tier practitioner grade, it was backed by the power of the Supreme Stage. Furthermore, Amon executed the art using his mixed energy.

*BANG!!!*

It was as if a cannon had been fired. To the audience’s consternation, it was the Steel-clad Titan who skidded back this time, and the distance it was pushed was way farther than Amon. It only stopped skidding after more than ten meters. A visible crack was on the plate where Amon had hit.

Amon was already performing a second punch when the Steel-clad Titan was getting pushed back. His second punch used the Silent Swift Shadow Fist. This punch struck the same spot. The crack enlarged until the plate split apart, revealing the titan’s flesh behind.

Amon’s tail thrust forward. This time, the stinger sank deep into the exposed flesh.

The Steel-clad Titan roared when the Void Volatile Poison entered its system. Despite it being a Lower Primordial Beast, it also couldn’t resist the enhanced poison. The best it could do was last for a bit longer.

Its final struggle was trying to grab Amon’s altered tail and rip it apart with its two hands. This attempt was foiled because Amon caught the two hands and held them in place. As the two wrestled in strength, Amon’s tail never stopped pumping poison into the titan’s body.

Finally, the lethal dose was too much. The titan’s body ballooned before exploding with a bang. Its defensive plates shot in all directions like shrapnel. Amon himself was bathed with its blood and flesh.

Amon cleaned the bloody mess from his face. He was grinning widely. The Hyanids above were silent at the sight. They were unsure whether the lone survivor standing in the pit was a human or a demon.

After slaying all the beasts, Amon folded his arms and stared at the Hyanids above.

The Hyanids looked at each other. They weren’t sure what to make of this. The human appeared out of nowhere and became the unofficial winner of the trial. They turned to the two most senior Hyanids for guidance about how to proceed.

Unlike during Amon’s participation in the Worthiness Trial, not many Hyanid elders watched this one. The Worthiness Trial was a regular spectacle. The elders didn’t waste their time watching it. Amon’s case was special because he was someone prophesied by Xlasstazh, who might alter the fate of the Hyanids. The caretaker and his friend were the only elders present.

"Can you speak human language?" The caretaker asked his friend.

"Uh, a little. What about you?" His friend asked back.

"I understand the language, but I can’t speak it. Go ahead, say something to him."

"Like what?"

"Anything!"

Amon didn’t understand what any of the Hyanids were speaking. They conversed using their clicking language. He remained still and waited for them to talk to him.

Finally, one of the audience members, who was the caretaker’s friend, addressed Amon in a language he understood.

"Um... Human... From where... You came?"

The caretaker slapped his friend’s arm. They returned to chattering using clicking sounds. The caretaker’s friend soon returned to using human language.

"Survive... the purging hole... How?"

Amon had no time to deal with these pointless questions. He exclaimed, "Xlasstazh. Bring me to him!"

The caretaker and his friend looked at each other and spoke by clicking again. Amon wasn’t sure if they understood who he meant. They probably knew Xlasstazh by a different name, because it would certainly sound different when spoken with clicks. Luckily, he saw from the Hyanids’ gestures that they had an idea who he was referring to.

"Wait here... Stay... We call... Elder Xlasstazh."

One of them disappeared. The others remained watching him from above the pit. A barrier prevented him from leaving the pit. Further above was the large hole in the ceiling. Another barrier was there. He believed he should be able to punch through at least the barrier above the pit with his current power, but he didn’t do that. He didn’t want to antagonize the Hyanids. There might be strong cultivators among the Hyanids above. Additionally, he still had a chance to complete the mission Yao Ai had given him.

Although eight years had passed, he believed the conflict between the Hyanids and the Mercy Faction hadn’t ended. The question was how far inland the Hyanids had progressed. He didn’t believe it would be too far. If it were, Yao Ai would no doubt enter the conflict. When that happened, the Hyanids would have to retreat. Hence, he believed the war should be at a stalemate, and his mission was still valid.

Another scenario that might happen is that the Devotion and Commitment Domains assault the Mercy Domain. That might give the Hyanids the freedom to conquer more lands, but this would only be temporary. Whether the Mercy Domain beat the other two domains back or the two domains defeated the Mercy Domain, they would direct their attention to chasing the Hyanids away from the mainland.

Amon hoped it was not the second scenario. Either way, he would need information from the Hyanids before he decided on his next step.

He waited for around twenty minutes before he heard another commotion from above. A new Hyanid arrived up there. Though eight years had passed and he had only met Xlasstazh briefly, he recognized the elder Hyanid at once.

Xlasstazh shouted something in the Hyanid language. The barrier above the pit was soon gone. He flew down to meet Amon.

"I will be damned!" He uttered. "There are times when I doubt the Creator’s message. I should have known that it was unwise."

"What do you mean?" Amon asked.

"He told me that you are still alive inside the purging hole."