Shui exits early

With how slow Shui was moving, the scout laughed while casually taking his time to follow him. To him, Shui seemed like a desperate rabbit trying to run away, so his guard was completely down. When Shui tripped and exposed his fallen self to the scout, he smirked and got ready to strike with his knife. He believed this wasn't an opponent he needed to waste nature energy on. Right as the scout got two steps closer to Shui's body that was squirming in pain on the ground, the ground under his feet lit up and he suddenly found himself trapped in a red cage decorated with blood-soaked chains that gave off a nauseating scent.

"Huh? What the hell is this?!"

The red cage had such an intense killing aura that even a seasoned veteran like the scout was trembling. As the scout began to panic, Shui easily stood on his two legs and laughed despite the occasional blood that was forced out of his mouth.

"Thanks for following me so easily, you really helped me out."

"What, you? Get me out of here! Right now!"

To the command that the scout shouted angrily, Shui snorted. Only an idiot would listen to this trapped fellow.

'I need to finish this quickly.'

Shui activated the offensive array that the scout was trapped in and continued his trip to the Primordial Library. When the scout saw him leaving he was about to shoot a spell at him, but then his limbs were restricted in place by the chains and a long blade appeared at the top of the cage and started lowering towards his head.

"Wait, no, don't do this. Don't! Stop!"

The blade easily pierced through his head all the way to his anus before the red cage disappeared, leaving a crumbling corpse that had its blood and essence quickly sapped away. From a distance, Shui confirmed the functioning of the offensive array and corpse decomposition array that he had left there.

One of the best things about arrays was that they could be used offensively. These arrays worked differently from other arrays since they needed supporting materials in addition to the fluid used to draw the array. These materials were used to form what was known as the structure of the array, and in this case, the material was a knife that had killed over a hundred people which had been used by a Clite clan assassin. As the structure of the array, this blade acted as the center and amplified the residual killing intent on it, then used that intense killing intent to solidify the image of the red cage and chains. Unless it was one with a soul strong enough to ignore the cage, there was no way someone in the Soul Realm would be able to make it out of this array alive.

Theoretically, it was possible to make an offensive array without any extra materials but Shui wasn't at that level yet.

There were many experiments of his lying around so it wasn't that hard to find one good enough to kill a peak Soul Realm expert. However, that didn't excuse the major drawback of this plan.

Since he couldn't let the scout know that he was walking into a trap, he had to wait until he was near it to activate it, and to activate it close by without giving off any signs required him to use his own nature energy as the trigger. It would be easier if these arrays were constantly on, but then the scout might not have walked into it in the first place.

Due to him being forced to use a sizeable amount of his nature energy, the delicate balance that had been maintained for four years was broken and Shui's cultivation began slipping. He quickly slapped two layered 'Seal' talismans on his chest to stop the progress, but this was only a temporary fix. With the time he gained from this fix, Shui made it to the waterfall, but before he went into the Library he had to tie up a few loose ends. He didn't like the fact that he had to assume he wouldn't make it back, but he knew his priorities.

Shui took out a piece of paper and wrote instructions on it, then folded it along with a lock of Lilia's hair. He then tied this paper along with a bundle of cloaks and 'Hide' talismans. Once the package was made, Shui took out four talismans of 'Pinpoint', 'Direct', 'Float' and 'Move'. By using these four talismans together, the package would float towards Lilia's location. After mastering high-level inscriptions, Shui came out with several combinations to achieve certain objectives and this 'message-carrier' was one of his favourites.

Once the package was sent, Shui took out a 'Talk' talisman. His vision was becoming blurry and his focus was dropping into dangerous territory but he had to finish this before he entered the Library.

"Lily, I'm sending people to Cyrus. If you mention my real name they'll trust you. Please take care of them."

"Master?! Are you okay?! Why do you sound like th-"

"Please."

"...Yes, Master. Please, come visit again."

Shui cut the connection there. He didn't know what would happen to her if he didn't make it out, considering her oath, but he hoped she would be able to keep on living.

'I'm sorry for being such a lousy master.'

With his business finished, Shui finally entered the Library. If he hadn't needed to use his nature energy, then he would have used this time to treat his fatal injury, but now that the balance had been broken, and he had to forcefully stop it with a 'Seal' talisman, even if he used the same method as last time he would be lucky to stay at the first level in the Mortal Realm. And by only relying on his transcendent force, even with the herbs he had the hole in his gut would kill him. There was only way he could make it out of this alive.

"Can I take the trial in this condition?"

[Affirmative. While the trial is ongoing your body's time will be frozen while your soul is pulled into the trial space, but if you fail the trial your body won't be strong enough to bring back your soul.]

Shui knew this because he had once asked what would happen if he failed the trial. At that time, he was so glad that he could repeatedly attempt the trial and planned to do so as soon as he fixed his mutated veins, but he also knew the principle behind the connection between the body and soul. Even if his time was stopped, without his body being in good enough condition, its connection to his soul wouldn't be strong enough to pull it back. In other words, he would die.

However, there was no other choice. This was his only path.

"I want to take the trial."

[While the trial is taking place, you will be unable to leave this place until it has ended and there is a high chance you will die in your current state. Do you still wish to take it?]

"Yes."

Since he made up his mind, there was no hesitation in Shui's voice. If he was lucky, he would get a divine body and maybe he would be able to defeat the force attacking the clan by himself, and even if the trial went on for too long and he couldn't come out in time, he could still take revenge.

If he was unlucky, he would die. As simple as that. This wasn't what he expected, but life-threatening situations normally happened spontaneously. If he wanted to criticize his past carelessness, that would have to wait until he made it out alive.

'It's all or nothing. Not the type of gamble I prefer, but beggers can't be choosers.'