A Card In Hand

Chapter 55: A Big Foodie!

Trial Temple.

Grand Dining Hall.

After the new trainees had finally settled their rankings, they headed to the grand dining hall to dine, only to discover a Li Ao quite unlike the persona he displayed on the fighting platform.

There he was, dual-wielding chicken legs, his eating manners akin to a starving ghost reborn.

It was a sight one could mistake for a refugee if unaware of his identity.

Hey, hey!

What happened to the cool, formidable demon king?

What the newcomers found most unbelievable wasn’t just Li Ao’s lack of coolness in daily life, but his exceptionally comical demeanor.

He sat not too far from Shuanghan, and after finishing his own meal, Li Ao actually stood up, bent over, and reached out to grab a chicken leg from Shuanghan’s plate: “Ice Block, you need to eat too, right? You have so much, let me help you out with that. No need to thank me, I’m just naturally this magnificent!”

“…” Shuanghan was utterly speechless. Are we that close?

And do I look like I was raised on ice?

Lie Feng felt envious.

What did Li Ao’s gesture imply?

That he respected Shuanghan enough to make the move, would he do the same for a weaker individual?

Qiuye quickly tried to smooth things over: “Li Ao, Shuanghan, we still have three months until graduation. Why don’t we form a team for an adventure?”

Li Ao, with greasy hands, waved dismissively: “No can do, I’m broke!”

Everyone choked on their food.

You might have been poor before, but you’ll definitely not lack for travel funds in the future.

The Trial’s New King short on funds for an adventure, are you kidding?

The New King always receives a hefty reward, although the exact amount for this session is unknown.

Considering Li Ao could easily outclass previous sessions, the prize money would only be larger, so lack of funds was hardly an excuse.

Fuxi stood up.

This was the moment for him, a major player, to step in. He thumped his chest: “I’ve got it!”

Upon hearing this, Li Ao immediately gave a thumbs up: “That’s the spirit of a big shot, if someone else is covering the costs, I don’t mind at all. I’m here for the food anyway!”

Even if that was his plan, was it really okay to state it so blatantly?

The newcomers were nearly thunderstruck by Li Ao.

Is this the demon king?

He’s clearly just a big foodie!

If it weren’t for Shuanghan and others showing no special reaction, everyone would have doubted whether Li Ao was the same person after stepping down from the platform.

“How about this: after we graduate, we all go our separate ways for ten days to prepare. With ten days, we should be able to ready everything we need,” decided Lie Feng, stepping up as the leader.

He might not be first in combat, but his leadership was commendable; relying on the icy Shuanghan was impossible!

As for the foodie Li Ao, one couldn’t expect him to lead unless it was a fight, where he turned from jester to serious contender.

“Where shall we gather once prepared?” Qiuye naturally supported his cousin.

“In the past, newcomers would head to the Dark Summoning Corridor. It’s been twenty years since anyone has reached the end of it. This time, let’s conquer it,” proposed Lie Feng.

“The Dark Summoning Corridor is too easy!”

Huo Mei felt uninterested.

“Cough, according to my sources, the end of the Dark Summoning Corridor is not the final point. There is actually a sealed hidden space known as the Black Nightmare Amusement Park. This nightmare space is a fragment of the Celestial Nightmare World, and every year countless creatures from the nightmare world emerge from within. If we can successfully pass through the Dark Summoning Corridor, we might try challenging the Black Nightmare Amusement Park,” Lie Feng stood and elaborated.

“Who knows if the Black Nightmare Amusement Park even exists?”

Huo Mei was skeptical.

“I can verify that,” Qiqu suddenly spoke.

“Go on,” Lie Feng eagerly responded.

“My war beast, Grim Reaper of the Play, was obtained from there. I didn’t have the ability to enter on my own; a family elder took me. Even with elder protection, after coming out of the Black Nightmare Amusement Park, I couldn’t sleep for a whole month. You all need to be mentally prepared,” Qiqu warned, startling everyone.

Scared to the point of not daring to sleep for a month?

It seems that the Black Nightmare Amusement Park is super terrifying!

Look at it this way.

Is it really appropriate for us newcomers to venture there? If we’re not careful, we could all be wiped out…

Of course, freaks like Li Ao and Shuanghan probably wouldn’t be, since they have enough self-preservation strength.

The question is, apart from the top few freakish geniuses.

Who else can say they are absolutely safe?

Does Tie Zheng dare to say that?

Does Man Huang dare to say that?

Those summoners who focus on strengthening their bodies really can’t say that!

“What is the strongest creature inside?” Lie Feng quickly asked for clarification.

“Wait, it wouldn’t be your Grim Reaper beast, would it?” Qian Nian turned to look at Qiqu at the same time.

“No, mine is still a young battle beast. I haven’t seen the strongest creature inside, but I heard from my elders that they have seen a Soul-Eating Nightmare Beast! Besides the Soul-Eating Nightmare Beast, there are many powerful nightmare creatures, but it has been several years, and I don’t know if they still exist,” Qiqu spread his hands, in truth, he didn’t know much about the Black Nightmare Amusement Park since he was only taken there once by his elders.

“If you ask me, we might as well go to the Endless Sea.”

Ling Long’s suggestion made everyone shake their heads; the Endless Sea was even less suitable for novices, going there was akin to seeking death.

“Let’s go to the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison!”

Huo Mei made her suggestion.

“This…”

Lie Feng was troubled.

The Nine-Layer Ancient Prison.

It is a terrifying yet opportunity-filled bizarre space.

It was an ancient ruin opened up by the ‘Unparalleled War God’ among the many hidden spaces in Tianfeng Continent thirty thousand years ago.

It has nine layers of space, housing all sorts of incredible creatures.

The Pantheon of Myriad Realms’ summoning creature atlas, which boasts the most complete collection of six million types of summonable creatures in the world, still hasn’t fully cataloged the ancient creatures within the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison.

Because the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison is simply too vast.

It gets bigger as one goes deeper.

Only the first layer.

The area has already surpassed that of the Great Luo Kingdom.

As for the levels beyond the fifth, they completely exceed the entire Tianfeng Continent.

It’s said that even the ‘Unparalleled War God’ from ancient times hadn’t fully explored the ninth layer—it’s unbelievably vast!

Based on everyone’s capabilities, the first layer, mostly populated by Black Iron and Bronze demonic beasts, shouldn’t be a big problem.

The second layer, although filled with Silver-level demonic beasts, could be safely explored with careful teamwork.

However, venturing deeper into the third layer, where Gold-level ancient behemoths are as common as dirt, would be perilous for a rookie team without the guidance of seniors, easily leading to fatal dangers.

“The Nine-Layer Ancient Prison.”

Shuanghan supported Huo Mei’s suggestion.

“What about you, Li Ao?”

Lie Feng wanted to see if Li Ao had any particular opinions.

“I’m not familiar with these things; I don’t care, as long as I get fed, I’ll go anywhere!”

Li Ao, the millennium-old demon, pretended to be a clueless newbie.

Li Ao was willing to go.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Though Li Ao was a big foodie in everyday life, when it came to serious combat, he was still that ruthless great demon king.

Fighting against him was painful for everyone, but having him as a teammate was a different story.

Li Ao would definitely be a qualified team member.

A main force of the team.

And he didn’t vie for leadership or interfere rashly, causing no internal strife within the team. Isn’t this the ideal member for an exploration team?

“Since that’s settled, we’ll venture into the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison. Those with combat power below three hundred stay on the first layer, and those below a thousand stay on the second layer. Don’t look at me like that, I’ve put my words out here. If you go home without even a Silver-level war beast, I really can’t let you follow us to the third layer! We’ll plan the exploration to last a month for now; if there are any changes, we’ll discuss them together. I must declare, the distribution during the exploration will be based on capability, never think about an equal share for everyone, that’s impossible! You give more, you get more! However, I think we can consider taking care of the lower-level fighters at that time, like those who only have Black Iron but no Bronze level beasts. We could provide them with either a low or mid-tier Bronze level beast as a small favor… What do you all think?”

Lie Feng decided to look out for the less powerful rookies.

“That’s fine.”

Tie Zheng and Man Huang and others didn’t care, as early and mid-tier Bronze levels were no longer a need for them.

They aimed for Silver-level, at the very least, high-tier Bronze.

There was no conflict with the lower-level newbies.

Lower-level newbies.

Having a Bronze-level war beast was already more than enough, what more could they ask for?

After all, they were just lucky to be able to mix with the big shots.

Seeing no objections, Lie Feng clapped his hands to draw attention: “If there are no issues, then that’s the plan. We’ll meet at the main gate of the Pantheon of Myriad Realms in Upper Capital. If anyone has special circumstances or suggestions, talk to me privately later. Let’s not make noise now, it’s easy to get chaotic with so many people!”

No sooner had this been decided,

As Li Ao was busy gorging himself left and right, three old men from the Pantheon of Myriad Realms walked in with smiles…