Rise of the Demon God

He didn't hurry in choosing the stairs for him since he believed that all these staircases were the same, and the trials were different. Even if selecting the stairs played some important role, there was nothing he could do about it even if he were the first person to choose since all stairs looked the same, and it just meant taking a guess without knowing what you were trying to find.

One of the disciples tried taking a second step on the Stairs, but he couldn't. 

"These stairs don't let us move," he told the others.

The other disciples tried the same thing, but they couldn't move either.

Long Chen found it to be similar to what he faced in the chess field. 

'There must be some kind of rules,' Long Chen thought as he waited for the mysterious voice to tell them the rest of the trial.

As Long Chen was waiting, a nine faced dice appeared before Long Chen. It started floating before him.

As he was wondering what it was about, he heard a voice. 

"The objective of this trial is to get to the top of the stairs. The one that succeeds will win the Death Sacrifice, and the other Nine will be sacrificed to the Hall of Death."

Long Chen and the others looked back and saw the person standing behind that. It was the Temple Priest that was handling the Death Sacrifice.

"That dice before you will be your biggest weapon in this trial. Each of the stairs has some words written on them, which will become clear when you step on them. When you roll the dice, the number you get will be the number of steps you can take in your current turn. You must follow the words written on the stairs you end up on. The person that gets to the top successfully will be the winner. That's all you need to know. Begin now," The Temple Priests said.

"A trial that's based on luck?" Long Chen muttered as he looked at the screen.

" It depends on more than just luck," The Temple Priest let out as he smiled after hearing Long Chen's words.

Long Chen smiled wryly. He didn't expect that the Temple Priest would hear good words even though he was standing so far away, but he was still careful and only said things that he knew wouldn't get him in trouble.

Long Chen reached out his hand and caught the dice that was floating before him.

He rolled the dice before him. The dice rolled in the air and stopped at the number three.

"Three," Long Chen muttered as he tried moving his head. He was able to move now. He climbed three steps and stopped on the fourth step of the stair.

The stair started shining as some words appeared before him.

" Two hands for a hand, two feet for a feet," Long Chen read the words.

"What does this mean?" He wondered out loud as he frowned. He couldn't understand the meanings of these words in regard to the Temple Sacrifice.

"It means that you can harm your body any way you want, and the others will get double the damage that you receive. If you sacrifice a hand, the others will also lose a hand, but they will feel the pain of losing two hands," The Temple Priest explained the meaning of the words to Long Chen.

The other disciples looked at Long Chen with deep concern as they wondered how he would harm them.

"Listen, man. You don't need to harm yourself for this game. Let's keep this game based on luck only. I'm sure you can have better opportunities to reach the top that way," Some of the Disciples started to persuade Long Chen not to do anything and skip this one. The words didn't say that he needed to harm himself. 

' Do they think that I'm really stupid enough to believe that I'll listen to their words? I can use this opportunity to break their minds with the pain by cutting a hand. I won't do that, though. My body and my blood is more precious than them. I won't harm myself just to give the others some pain and the same punishment,' Long Chen thought.

"I'm not harming myself," Long Chen declared. 

As soon as he said that, the words disappeared before him. The dice also disappeared and appeared before another disciple.

"Good work, man. You're smart. You won't regret it," One of the disciples that were trying to persuade him let out as he grinned.

'That idiot thinks I can't see what he's thinking,' Long Chen thought as he looked at the man with an expressionless face.

The dice was before him now.

The man held the dice and rolled it.

"Hahaha. Number nine! I'm so lucky!" The man laughed as he saw the number on the dice. He had received the maximum roll. He climbed the stairs by nine steps and stopped on the tenth step.

The stairs started shining as words appeared before the man.

'''Let me get a similar advantage. I'll make sure you all cry in pain for hours,' the man thought before he started reading the words. As soon as he read the words, his face turned pale.

He couldn't believe the words he read.

"Cut your right hand?" He let out with a crying face.

"What is this? This simply says that I need to cut my hand. It didn't even mention if others will feel the pain or anything. That can't be all. Please explain the hidden meaning behind these words," the man asked as he looked at the Temple Priest.

"There is no hidden meaning. It just means that you need to cut your hand. Not all tasks or advantages you receive from the steps will be the same. Some can be bad for all whole others can be bad for only you. Some can even be bad for others and not for you. You got the one that's only bad for you, but you must do it. If you don't do it in less than nine minutes, you will be killed," The Temple Priest explained.

With the Temple Priest's confirmation, the man lost all hope of getting out of it safely. He brought a sword out of his storage ring and slashed down, cutting off his right hand.

His separated hand fell down on the stairs. The man watched his hand being absorbed by the stairs as he tried to control his pain that was making his muscles bulge. 

"Good," The Temple Priest nodded his head.

The Dice appeared before another disciple.

It was before Mi Yin now. Mi Yin held the dice and rolled it.

The dice once again landed on the number nine. Mi Yin climbed the stairs and ended up on the tenth step.

Her stairs started shining, and a few words appeared before Mi Yin.

"Move down three steps," Mi Yin read the words.

She did as the words said and moved down three steps. She stood on the seventh step. The stairs stopped shining. The dice disappeared and appeared before another Disciple.

The Dice appeared before a peak Sky Realm Disciple this time.

That person rolled the dice, which stopped on 1. That man cursed as he climbed one step and ended up on the second step.

The stairs started shining once again as some words appeared before him.

"Clear the Maze of Deadly Mind Illusion in five minutes to climb ten more steps. In case of failure, move back one step," he read the words.

"What Maze of Deadly Mind Illusion?" The man inquired in confusion, but before he could turn back to ask the Temple Priest, he saw his surroundings change as he found himself standing in a bloody maze.