Just then, Ling froze. Everyone at the scene didn't dare to say a word.
"How ironic..."
Without warning, he gouged Wen Jian's eyes with his bare hands.
"GAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Blood gushed out from Jian's empty eye sockets as Ling held both of the patriarch's eyeballs.
"...It seems that you're the one who will do the chewing!"
Ling raised Wen Jian's head and forcibly opened his mouth wide. Then, he placed the eyeballs inside.
"Chew it thoroughly, Wen Jian!"
"GAHHHHHHH! AAAAAGHHH!"
The remaining Wen Clan members inside witnessed the horror with their own eyes. An extreme sense of disgust and pity washed over their being.
"You're a total madman, Ling! A devil incarnate...!" Yao Tian exclaimed while trembling.
Due to Wen Jian's intense screaming, he dropped one of his eyeballs to the ground. Ling picked it up and placed it back to the patriarch's mouth.
"Awww... It seems like our ol' patriarch forgot how to chew! Here, let me help you."
Ling held Jian's head and jaw with his hands. Then, he guided the eyeballs to the patriarch's molar teeth and began to grind them thoroughly.
"Mggghhhh!" Wen Jian screamed under his closed mouth.
The other Wen Clan guards couldn't help and started to vomit on their platform. Even Yao Tian could feel his stomach churn.
"Urp...!"
Meanwhile, Ling didn't stop and made sure that Wen Jian chewed his own eyeballs thoroughly. His blood-covered hand held the patriarch's jaw and made it move from left to right. He could hear faint squelching caused by the grinded eyeballs inside Jian's mouth.
"There you go~"
Not long after, Ling released Jian's head. The poor patriarch trembled on the ground as he continued his painful screams that was supressed earlier.
Ling looked at the platforms above. None of the participants dared to look at them. They couldn't muster their courage to glance at the situation below.
"Hm..."
With a swift motion, Ling stomped Wen Jian's head.
The silence caused the remaining participants to take a peek at the battle platform. Just then, their eyes widened in shock.
"That...!"
The two of them could see it clearly; the crushed head of their patriarch to the ground. Some of his brain matter scattered further, with huge amount of blood gushing outward.
"Hiekk!"
And just like that, the current patriarch of the Wen Clan, a fourth-class clan, died with a splattered head.
"This is anticlimactic..." Ling murmured before being sent back to his platform.
With the three participants remaining, the star at the center chose once more. Yao Tian and the last guard was chosen, with both of them choosing the word "Stay".
As the two of them were teleported to the battle platform, Ling couldn't help but stare at the star hovering above their heads.
(Hm. Now that I had three stars, only the two of them had one star each...)
Ling remained silent as the battle commenced between the survivors of the Wen Clan. He did not expect much, as the outcome was clear as a day.
(Now I'm curious what was the purpose of these stars...)
Not long after, the fight ended with Yao Tian emerged as victorious. He was then teleported back to the platform.
After the intense battle of life and death, only Yao Tian and Ling remained at the scene. Ling bore three stars, while Tian had two. The barrier in each platform dissipated not long after.
"What was going to happen next?" Yao Tian muttered, confused.
Just then, the star at the center of the platforms began to spin wildly. After a while, it stopped.
"Hm..." Ling mumbled.
All of a sudden, a sense of dread washed over Yao Tian when he noticed that the two stars on his head vanished in an instant. He could feel the wrongness in the air.
"T-This... What is going on?"
Before he could think of anything else, a mysterious force suddenly pressed Tian's entire body. He was forced to lay flat on the platform on where he situated at.
"Ghk!"
The force grew stronger and stronger, to the point that his body could not handle the pressure.
"AAAAAAGGGGHHHH! FUUU--"
Tian's scream was cut short when the force managed to overwhelm his body. First, his vocal cords were crushed. After that, his five organs failed one after another, followed by his six visceras.
Ling simply watched as the mysterious force pressed Yao Tian to death. Large amount of blood dripped through the edges of his platform.
It was brutal to look at, indeed, but Ling remained indifferent.
"So that would happen if you failed to obtain three stars..." Ling muttered to himself.
Ling looked back at the star at the center. He noticed that it began to tremble faintly. All of a sudden, it began to descend towards the battle platform.
"What was going on? Is it guiding me to a treasure room or something?"
Ling jumped out of his platform and landed into the battle platform and waited for the star's descent. As it drew near the surface, a huge opening widened at the center, and the star entered the darkness beneath.
"Let's see..."
Ling glanced at the bottomless pit. He could see the star, who shone brightly before, began to dim. Eventually, all of its brilliance snuffed out.
Not long after that, the battle platform trembled lightly. Ling noticed the descent of the ten individual platforms as they gathered near at the opening. To his surprise, a massive platform emerged from it, with a strange object placed at its center.
"That's...!"
That object was a massive cauldron, with a size of five meters tall and five meters wide. It had unique carvings embedded to its side, on which Ling did not understood clearly at first glance.
The platform that the cauldron situated at rose higher from the opening, and the smaller platforms entered through it. After that, the floating platform sealed the opening shut, as its size was perfect for the job.
Ling walked closer to see the intricate patterns clearly. Upon closer inspection, he noticed comprehensible phrases between them.
"...Forged from stellar might, triumph by astral light..."
Just then, Ling felt an unusual sensation from his consciousness sea. That didn't stop him from reading the phrases.
"...Comprehend the secret of heavens, embrace the value of existence."