The gathered Sovereigns watched as Orloff suddenly took out an Amethyst for refinement, and some of them seemed to guess what he was doing.
"My Lord, could it be that only soul-mutated beings absorb Amethysts differently?"
A middle Sovereign of Fate voiced the thought.
Orloff found this notion somewhat plausible.
His main body remained watching the trial from afar, but his Chief Sovereign projection had already appeared in the Celestial Realm.
Here, there were several soul-mutated individuals who cultivated the Edict of Destruction, but all of them were merely Lesser Gods, so Orloff hadn't brought them to participate in the trial.
"Greetings, my Lord."
Upon seeing the Chief Sovereign projection appear, several individuals immediately bowed respectfully.
"You few—each of you, refine an Amethyst before me."
Though they were curious as to why their lord had issued this command, his words were law, and they naturally obeyed.
Each person retrieved an Amethyst from their interspatial ring and began the refinement process.
Orloff watched them carefully but initially saw nothing unusual—until one soul-mutated individual with dual affinities for Destruction and Earth refined the Amethyst, and a strange energy visibly fused into the man's fleshly body.
In that instant, Orloff came to a sudden realization.
Meanwhile, Sadius, being a Supreme Overgod, had long since noticed Orloff's activities.
"It seems Orloff has figured out the use of divine spark essence," he said to himself.
"But with the Amethyst Mountains completely cut off from the outside world, that knowledge won't help him now."
The trial continued.
Although the Amethyst beasts launched sneak attacks from time to time, all thirty-six trial participants were at minimum Five-Star Fiend level. More importantly, each one of them wielded a Sovereign artifact.
The reason was simple—they had all been appointed as Chief Sovereign Emissarys, in order to give them an edge in this trial.
As time passed, nearly everyone had acquired a large amount of divine spark essence, enough to find one suitable for themselves.
"Is this first trial really that easy?" Beirut and the others were dumbfounded.
If it was merely a maze-like fog formation, it would just be a time sink. With thirty-six participants, all of them should be able to pass the first round eventually.
"No way it's that simple," someone muttered. "The real show's just getting started."
At that moment, an unfamiliar figure emerged from the mist.
The figure was elusive, seemingly merged with the fog itself.
One soul-mutated being under the Sovereign of Death had, after hunting down many Amethyst beasts, determined the approximate location of the mist's exit based on the beasts' spawn directions.
Just when the Chief Sovereigns thought he would be the first to exit—
A terrifying claw suddenly struck out, catching him completely off guard.
Even with a Sovereign artifact used to retaliate and defend, the man was violently thrown backward.
In each of the observation castles, the Chief Sovereigns clearly saw what had just happened.
"My Lord, why is Jingjing in there?" Zijing asked, shocked. From the image, she could instantly recognize the figure—it was her son, Reisgem.
"Reisgem always liked a bit of fun," Sadius said with a smile. "So I made him the gatekeeper of the first trial. Gave him a full set of Sovereign artifacts. He can beat up whoever he likes."
As the Commander, Reisgem—fully equipped with Sovereign artifacts—couldn't even be stopped by a Paragon.
The only participant who posed a real threat to him was the tri-element soul-mutate, Ignis.
But inside this mist, Reisgem's divine sense wasn't restricted like everyone else's. Even Ignis might not be a match for him.
At that moment, Reisgem had just repelled a Highgod. After the blow, the surrounding gravity field shifted once again, disrupting the prior deductions about the exit's direction. Only by slaying more Amethyst beasts could one reach a new conclusion.
Reisgem didn't chase the man after knocking him back.
With his current strength, killing any of the trial participants would be effortless.
But his mission was simply to disrupt them—to keep them wandering lost in the fog.
After all, the Amethyst beasts—strengthened by Sadius' modifications—would continually grow more powerful. If participants lingered too long, they could encounter beasts of peak Shura-level power, and death would become a real possibility.
Throughout the fog zone, Reisgem commanded the Amethyst beasts to attack everywhere.
With Sadius' enhancements, even if the beasts were slain, they would resurrect endlessly—an inexhaustible force.
Reisgem found this trial wildly entertaining.
Just as he launched another wave of attacks, he suddenly received a mental message from Sadius.
Reisgem immediately became excited.
"Go, my little ones! Charge!" he shouted, pointing ahead.
A massive swarm of Amethyst beasts rushed in the direction he indicated.
In the distance, Ignis was easily cutting down wave after wave of the beasts.
Although the chaotic gravitational field made things tricky, he had already calculated the direction of the exit.
All he had to do was fight his way through.
Ignis' combat power was terrifying. He had even created three unique techniques that fused two profound mysteries each—making his strikes ferocious and deadly.
Just as he felt he was approaching the exit—A shout rang out in the distance.
"Someone else?"
Ignis assumed it was another trial participant.
If so, no problem—just eliminate them. One less competitor.
As he turned toward the sound, a massive pack of Amethyst beasts suddenly surged out and pounced.
No time to think. Ignis immediately swung his sword, attacking the horde.
But there were too many.
He activated his full strength, attempting to tear open space itself and shred them all at once.
Yet even with a sword technique that fused five profound mysteries—
He couldn't rip through the space.
Ignis was stunned.
Earlier, when slaying Amethyst beasts, there had been no spatial tears—but he'd assumed that was because he hadn't used full power.
After all, there was no need to tear space to kill a single beast.
But now he realized the truth—the space within the Amethyst Mountains was incredibly firm. With his power, he could only cause minor tremors in the spatial fabric, not tear it.
The Amethyst beasts kept coming. Ignis had no choice but to keep attacking relentlessly.
At that moment, a voice echoed out:
"Ignis, long time no see. It's been a trillion years, hasn't it? I thought you went into seclusion in the Abyssal Plane."
Ignis instantly recognized the voice.
"Reisgem? What are you doing here? Oh, right…the Amethyst Mountains are your and Zijing's territory."
Reisgem laughed. "That's not all. By order of the Supreme Overgod, I'm serving as the gatekeeper of the first trial. No one is getting out of the mist!"
A moment later, Reisgem blew away the surrounding mist in a ten-kilometer radius, revealing himself clearly to Ignis.
Reisgem still had the form of a Divine Beast—but not the juvenile version. He was now in his mature form.
He wore a magnificent physical-defense Sovereign artifact set, which could transform to match his current form.
His four claws were each a Sovereign attack artifact, and even his neck bore a Sovereign soul-defense artifact.