From within the marble, Jin was in despair. He sat down sighing. He fucked up. It had seemed so easy that he just... He got baited. As he looked at the man who tricked him from within the marble, he questioned himself. Was this man jumping in anger responsible for this outcome? Or was it his own foolishness?

The truth that neither of them knew was that it was simply a coincidence. One had a reflex while the other didn't expect the reflex.

But regardless, the outcome was now fixed. One was sealed while the other lost his primary weapon that he relied on throughout the entire trial. Both of them were unhappy about the results yet nothing could be done but move forward. Well,Jin could not even do that now. He was stuck within the marble.

He calmed down. And he began to think of his next move. What could he do? He tried to hit the walls of the seal with his spear and then the sword to no avail. He tried to use corruption as it worked wonders until now. It failed this time though. This marble was similar in toughness to a grade 6 treasure while his corruption had the quality of a first grade... The difference was too big. Will and spiritual energy didn't do anything either.

He grasped the sword and activated it. He thought that maybe the ghosts could be sent out? As he sent a ghost towards the seal, it exploded upon it. But nothing else happened. A soul ghost was wasted just like that. Not that he cared about it.

But all this pointed to one single truth: he was stuck.

He sighed and gave up trying to escape. Either the one that put him in would free him or someone else would. Otherwise, he would die in there. It did not seem to stop the time like the barrier in which he was taught by Sarina.

As he was thinking, Cao Lei's disciple moved the marble in front of his eyes and glared hatefully at the ant within. He cursed at it: "Once I'm done with this trial, I will ask Master to help me torture you for eons. I will make sure that you repent for the sin you committed or I'm not named Dae-Jung!"

Jin snickered and did not bother retorting. This kind of threat was meaningless. If that guy broke the seal himself, Jin would kill him. Of course, if it was his master that broke it, Jin might have to kill himself to escape the torture. It might be better to end it all than to end up like that...But then again, would it happen? That weakling still needed to win the trial first and even if he did, he would be killed by his master. In the end, what would happen to Jin and the marble he was in would never depend on that fool's desires. Because that idiot was walking towards a single end: death.

Of course, Jin did not plan to tell him. Putting aside whether or not he would be believed, he had no reasons to. Quite the opposite even...

Not earning the expected reaction filled with despair from his captive, Dae-Jung put the marble away next to the dragon's one. Both of those fuckers were the same. They did not believe his words. He would show them. He had high expectations for the torture that he planned to inflict upon these bitches. Should he go for the soul or the body first? What a question!

Still, there were better things to ponder about at the moment. One of them was to find the next way up. Neither a stairway nor a vortex had appeared... He decided to check around in case it was something hidden.

Jin couldn't do much but there were still some things he could do. One of them was to take medicine and slowly revolve his energy to heal himself. Since he was indirectly provided with the opportunity to heal, he wouldn't give it up. He did not hesitate to swallow a few pills and enter a meditative state. Whatever happened next didn't matter since he couldn't do shit about it. He made the decision to focus on what he could do instead.

...

Meanwhile, in the grand hall, everyone was heating up. This was the quarterfinals after all! Many of them even placed bets with one another. And they weren't the kinds you saw every day. Every single item bet was worth an entire city. Needless to say, the result of the first battle between Jin and Dae-Jung created quite a wave of despair. Very few people in the grand hall bet on Dae-Jung and, as such, a lot of them lost a fortune. It was insignificant compared to their total wealth but who would be happy about losing something they owned? No one.

That's why, right now, the experts were bickering and calling foul all over the place. It was noisier than a mortal's marketplace. The four Saints on the platform were enjoying themselves, teasing and joking with the experts. They didn't bet so they didn't mind aggravating the situation. Even Bôrakos joined in on the fun since it wasn't something related to the laws of the trial.

The ones mostly impacted by the results were Cao Lei and Hae-Hyuk though. Hae-Hyuk, on one hand, didn't care. He was focused on Min-Su's battle which was quite intense at the moment. His opponent was no weakling to have reached this far. As for Jin, he never placed his hopes on him. He trained him to the best of his abilities for the sole reason that he made up his mind to do so and didn't want any regrets. He did not want to think that he could have done more. And so, he did his best to teach both. But in the end, the champion that he truly set his sights on was Min-Su. And he wasn't disappointed at the moment. The battle was turning in his favor.