All of them went silent after one of the guards who received the text read the words that formed inside his barrier.
"What does that mean...?" Wen Jian murmured.
Suddenly, the guard noticed that the words began to dissipate slowly. He doesn't know the reason why, but he felt that something seems off. His anxiety grew stronger as the words were disappearing in front of him.
"What should I do... What's the meaning of these words!?" The guard spoke while trembling.
On the other hand, the words that also appeared on Ling also began to dissipate. But instead of panicking, Ling calmly assessed the situation, looking for the possible outcome and how to deal with this problem.
(Stay or die... Although I don't know exactly what's the actual purpose of these words, I am sure that the one who built this place arranged all of this like a game. And a game consists of rules that us, the players, should follow.)
Ling looked around, searching for possible clues that might give a hint. He noticed that there's a huge platform below them.
(That platform... It looks like a battle arena. Does the creator of this game wants us to duel each other? Or fight some monsters and those who survive will live?)
Ling looked back at the words floating in front of him. The words was about to disappear completely at any second.
(These words were shown to us, so it means that it is one of the important rules of the game. Either one of them could trigger a sequence, and if my assumption were correct, both of these words should've opposite outcomes.)
Ling decided to choose one of the words in order to test his assumptions.
"Stay."
The words vanished completely after Ling gave his answer. On the other side, the guard couldn't answer on time due to his confusion.
Suddenly, the guard's barrier slowly vanished on its own and disappeared. The guard was shocked by the barrier's deactivation.
"Am I... free?"
Ling witnessed the situation and was puzzled by it.
"Damn it. Was choosing neither of them was the correct answer...?" Ling murmured.
BOOM!
All of them got startled when a huge burst of energy pulsated. They immediately covered their eyes when a blinding light followed afterwards. A loud boom echoed throughout the area that made their ears ring. Despite the confusion, Ling managed to catch a glimpse before the explosion happened, and he found out that the source of the explosion was the star-like object.
(What was that? Did that star-like object released such huge energy blast!?)
Seconds later, the blinding light began to disappear, and what they saw left them in daze.
The guard whose barrier was deactivated got wiped out in a flash, leaving only few of his skeletal remains. His entire flesh melted away from the huge explosion, and his clothes burned into smithereens.
"Wha... ha... haa!?" One of the guards who witnessed the death of his comrade muttered in disbelief.
"Did he just...!?" The other one exclaimed.
Wen Jian also witnessed the death of one of his guards and couldn't believe at what he saw.
(What happened to him? What sort of game is this..!?)
Wen Jian remembered that before the words disappeared, he heard Ling uttered something.
(I remembered that Ling uttered the word "Stay" before those words vanished. He survived after that, while that unfortunate guard of mine got killed after his barrier deactivated and was followed by that explosion...)
Wen Jian pondered for a moment, and a conclusion came to his mind.
(Wait... Does that mean that choosing to either one of those words could trigger a sequence, and refusing to answer would lead to your death?)
The star-like object emit another set of strange lines that flew towards the other guard. Like before, it permeated through the barrier easily, forming into words similar to the ones that the deceased guard received.
Meanwhile, Wen Jian was focused on his thoughts. He couldn't figure out the reason of the existence of the word "Die" as one of the choices.
(But, if I'll choose the word "Die" instead of "Stay", would it be the same outcome as refusing to answer either one of them? Or does that word had another function?)
Wen Jian noticed that one of his guards was chosen. He thought of a way in order to verify his assumption.
"Hey. You're Jiang Xian right?"
The guard named Xiang, who got chosen by the star-like object, heard his name being called. He looked around and saw the patriarch calling for his attention.
"Y-Yes patriarch. I'm glad that-"
"Enough chitchat. I order you to choose the word 'Die'." Wen Jian said without hesitation.
Xian was stunned by the patriarch's order. He was suppose to choose the word "Stay", fearing that the word "Die" or refusing to answer either one of them would lead to his death.
"B-But patriarch...!"
"You dare defy my orders!?" Wen Jian exclaimed.
Jiang Xian felt Wen Jian's intense gaze from afar. His entire body shivered in fear, indicating that defiance isn't an option. He looked around to his fellow comrades, and saw that they try to avoid their gaze towards him.
(If I try to choose the word "Stay", even if I survived after this mess, he'd still kill me for defying his orders!)
Xian noticed that the words began to dissipate. He was conflicted, whether he'll choose to follow his instinct or the orders of the patriarch.
"I... I...!"
His anxiety grew when he saw that the words were about to dissapear. With nothing left to do, he chose to follow his own answer as his last resort.
"Stay! I choose to stay!" the guard named Xian exclaimed.
Wen Jian heard Xian's answer and got furious.
(That damned idiot! How dare he refuse my order!)
Xiang noticed Jian's anger towards him and immediately bowed his head.
"Patriarch! I'm sorry, but I chose to follow my own free will!" Xiang shouted.
Wen Jian calmed down and looked away. Xian raised his head slowly.
"You already know the consequences of your actions, right?" Wen Jian uttered.
Xian gulped upon hearing the patriarch's words.
"Y-Yes... Patriarch..." Xian said, feeling a sense of helplessness.
Meanwhile, Ling got confused as why only one got the question instead of two.
(I thought two people should receive those question? Why does that only one person received it?)
Suddenly, Ling noticed something unusual. He felt a feeble vibration surrounding him.
(What is it? It's the same feeling as before when I opened my space ring. Could it be...!)
Out of nowhere, Ling vanished in an instant. Yao Tian noticed Ling's sudden disappearance and widened his eyes.
On the other side, the guards near Xian was also shocked when Xian also vanished into thin air.
"Xian... He's... He's gone!"