It was like a bajillion needles, were currently inside him, stabbing in and out, weaving through his insides like stitches…

He tried to push some of his Qi around but soon found out that they seemed to intensify his pain as he screamed;

​​

Arrggghhh!

But that scream only served to release the little air he still had within his lungs, causing his vision to start blurring from having shortage of oxygen in his brain…

Blergh!

Min Hong puked purple-black blood with a retch so hard his gut tugged…

"Sect Leader?"

Sect Leader Mei asked, whilst the Sect Leader simply looked over to Patriarch Chu Huang as if confirming something, but after seeing Patriarch Chu Huang shake his head, the sect leader reclined back into his seat before muttering;

"Let's see how things unfold first…"

All the affiliate sect leaders, as well as the merchant alliance head were stunned, they were obviously witnessing the trials being rigged to the extent that the life of a talented disciple was threatened, but since the sect leader had spoken, who were they to say anything otherwise...

Thus, they just kept watching but with displeased and mocking expressions at not only the Shen Tang duo who were about to capitalize on Min Hong's situation, but at Elder Peng, who had not only once but twice acted disgracefully and belittling…

There were some other experts who noticed everything that was going on, including the unfairness and now the point blank cheating that had just ensued, but having the same thoughts as the affiliate sect leaders, they also chose to hold their tongues…

Gong Yi and his group as well as Long Sha and co, all saw everything that happened, even though Min Hong didn't…

The moment Min Hong defeated those three, his eyes had gone back to normal, and when the Shen Tang duo entered, they had used the massive explosion and the ensuing flames to block everyone's view, or so they thought, and then Shen Tang had sprayed the powder he had gotten from his father into the air before everything cleared…

The particles of this poisonous powder is not only too tiny to be seen with the naked eye, but was also odorless, and as a result, Min Hong had no idea about what had transpired before the smoke cleared…

But despite all that, the moment he saw them blocking their nostrils, he knew something must have happened, but the realization came in too late as he had already inhaled a significant bunch of the poison…

"Little Fei?" Min Hong mentally called out;

"You can manipulate Qi now, but it would still take a while to purge this out of your body…" Little Fei responded lightning fast…

Then Min Hong activated his physical body power which he still had 60 percent energy left, since he couldn't use any major techniques for now, he was going into close quarters [melee], but he knew fighting them at once would be impossible, thus, he had to think of an alternative tactics…

Kneeling there on the ground, still clutching his chest and puking purple-black blood, Min Hong continued to retch whilst the entire spectators began to gasp, they were now feeling sympathetic because of his actions in the previous round…

That action really got to them…

Back at home to, Min Qing's eye had swollen red, and it was the same for Qing Tan and Min Rou, whilst Princess Cui suddenly found her nose itchy, but as for everyone else, they had rage boiling in their bellies including the princess's guards as well, what they were seeing was an action too despicable that their morality as cultivators could stand in the face of…

Shen Tang and Xi Wong split in opposite directions as they approached Min Hong from both flanks with swords in their hands…

They didn't want a battle of massive techniques that might kill their opponents instantly, nope, they wanted to see blood…

They wanted to cut Min Hong in so many places that he would bleed to death…

They wanted to cut his limbs one by one and cut him open to study his internal anatomy before harvesting his organs and taking them as trophies…

They wanted him to die a torturous death and they were happy he was now poisoned and they had a lot of time in their hands which was because the individual battles of the 'War God Trials' had no time limit…

They bolted towards him from both flanks with insane momentum and arrived at the same time, and it was like as if they had both been practicing together for years as they slashed down simultaneously;

Clang!

The attack was precisely initiated at the same time that only one sound was made despite there being two attackers…

Min Hong's body was blasted away till his back slammed into the chains that caged the entire stage…

Min Hong would have thought of flying if not for the barrier that was blocking them overhead…

He spat out another mouthful of purple-black blood as he stood to his wobbly feet, with his 'Soul Slayer Blades' in hand…

"I really have to hand it to you…"

"Not only have you been weakened by the first two rounds of this trials, but you were also able to survive the 'Poison of the Condemned', a poison so potent that it had the ability to severely weaken and injure a Peak Nascent Soul expert and kill anyone below it…"

Shen Tang spoke with a mischievous grin plastered on his face as Xi Wong completed his sentence;

"…and now, you are still able to hold your ground against us both… If you hadn't killed my Xi Mei, I would have wanted to be friends with you…"

The Shen Tang duo didn't hide their statements or neither did they mumble, and as a result, everyone spectating the trials heard them clearly which caused most of them to gasp; in awe of Min Hong for having the balls to kill their young mistress of the third strongest Super Clan, but in utter ridicule of the Shen Tang duo who had skins so thick that they could actually brazenly admit it…

Min Hong finally stood upright as he wiped out the blood trailing from the corners of his mouth, before bickering;

"Not only did your beach of a sister tried to kill my friend by staging her opponent in her 'War God Trials', but your shameless brother was brazen enough to actually publicly molest her, if I had ten lives, I will still hunt them down and hang their heads on a pike in front of my apartment as signposts!"

The entire crowd gasped in shock, it seems they were just getting the full story and the whole picture of the feud between these guys;

"Mind you, you can pass a message to your brother Shen Wang and tell him to never sleep at night, because he might just never wake up!"

Min Hong added with nonchalance and a suave swagger that hinted at his superiority and how lowly the duo in front of him looked and he backed up his words by spitting a purple-black blood to the side with the expression of someone who had just eaten a cow dung…

The affiliate sect leaders, and the rand elders couldn't help but give an helpless smile as they shook their head; they were really impressed by Min Hong's guts, and all hoped that he would survive and perhaps even go on to win the challenge…

The sect leader, fifth and Patriarch Chu Huang simply watched on with interest, wanting to see what surprises Min Hong was going to pull out, and as for Chu Huang, Min Hong had already left a deep impression on him, and he was thinking he truly had to meet this guy, not just because his grandfather told him to, or because their reign on the empire depended on it, but because he just wanted to personally know him, as a friend, helper, colleague or whatever Min Hong wanted to call it…

Whilst the Gong Yi quartet also approved of his mental inclinations, as they began to think that having Min Hong undergo their personal entrance selection battle might not be a bad idea…

"Then what about Yue Yao…"

Shen Tang had almost burst into a puddle of blood from the immense amount of rage and hatred that was boiling within him, not only has this 'walking corpse' face-smacked him in public, he also had the nerve to still threaten his baby brother in his presence…

But rather than lashing out instantly, he still stuffed his rage and asked a last question seemingly praying that Min Hong would say something to piss him off even more, so he can lash out and kill him, after all, his father had promised to intervene, and he was sure that the highest the sect leader would do is to expel him…

Xi Wong was also there stewing in a pot of hot fury when he heard Min Hong say that even in ten lifetimes, he would still kill his sister and hang her head on a pike before using it as a sign post, and as if in tandem, they both waited for Min Hong to answer the last question, before lashing out to sate and cool their burning rage…

Then Min Hong answered;

"That beach deserves a death worse than both of theirs combined, and then multiplied by a hundred folds…"

The entire crowd and even the affiliate sect leaders, grand elders, and both imperials gasped, and it was as if a cord snapped at the back of the duo's heads as they pounced at Min Hong like a starving tiger on a plump, meaty and juicy rabbit…