The person running behind Meera, had small hair, and was quite skinny. However, his footwork technique was surprisingly fast. He is only eight or ten steps behind her, if he tries harder he may even over take her.

  That person's name is Shaurya. He's also a wildcard participant, like Meera. And just behind him, another boy was there, he was Nishant. He was almost as fast as Shaurya, though just slightly slower.

  The top three positions are taken by wildcard participants. They all belong to some powerful branch clan or sect of Crimson Heaven Society. Because of which they had far superior background compared to others. It was only natural for them to be ahead in the trials.

  After Bhavesh's death, there are only five wildcard participants left; Meera, Shaurya, Nishant, Nandani and Sharv.

  However, the fourth position was not held by a wildcard participant. The one running the fastest in fourth place was an ordinary participant, yet extremely quick.

  That person was none other than Adarsh.

  Adarsh was able to run at such speed by using his Nine-Moment Lotus Technique.

  The Nine-Moment Lotus Technique consisted of nine forms, out of which the first six were attack type. These primarily involved the use of palm strikes or sword techniques.

  The remaining three forms were footwork type.

  Martial art techniques can be divided into different types.

  Some techniques are attack type, some are defense type, some are footwork (movement) type, and a few are even healing type.

  Healing type techniques are quite rare, and they do not have much direct impact in real combat, but they still exist. Because of which this type is mostly ignored by the martial artists.

  Many techniques are designed to belong entirely to one type, while others combine multiple types within a single technique.

  For example, the Nine Moment Lotus Technique could be described as half attack type and half footwork type, since it contains both attack and footwork aspects.

  On the other hand, Meera’s Frost Leaf Glide Technique would be classified purely as a footwork type, because it focuses only on movement.

  Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

  ‘Nine Moment Lotus Technique is not entirely a footwork type technique. That is why my speed is not that great.’

  Adarsh thought. If his technique had been like Meera’s footwork technique, one that focused solely on movement, perhaps his speed would have been even greater.

  Behind Adarsh, a girl was running. With long, thick black hair, she was Nandini. And at this moment, she was quite irritated.

  ‘Why is my speed slower than his?!’

  She fumed inwardly as she watched Adarsh running ahead of her.

  She had a lot of confidence in herself regarding most things. However, when it came to running, she was not that skilled. Her footwork technique was not very good.

  While running, she clenched her fists tightly. It did not matter to her that there were others ahead of her. What mattered was that Adarsh, an ordinary participant, was ahead of her.

  If a wildcard participant had been in front of her, she would not have minded.

  But Adarsh was just a normal participant, and she was a wildcard. Seeing him ahead of her filled her with jealousy and resentment. It hurt her pride.

  Yet no matter what she did, she could not overtake him, nor even get close to him. The gap between them was simply too large.

  ‘I will not let this boy off!’

  She resolved in her heart.

  Meanwhile... Sharv was running when suddenly he felt something. Negative energy—meaning Lunar energy and Death Prana.

  - Vijay, Master... Is there some spirit in our range?

  Sharv quickly asked. In response he heard the sarcastic voice of his master.

  ‘Humph! Very quickly you noticed...’

  The way that woman spoke had now completely changed for Sharv. That was only natural. Since she knew that she could neither tempt nor control Sharv’s mind with her words anymore, there was no need for her to keep pretending to be nice.

  However, Sharv had no problem with it. Then Vijay's voice reached him.

  ‘I think it's a Disastrous spirit... Eh?! What the?!’

  Suddenly Vijay's voice startled. Sharv was about to ask him, when his master's voice reached him.

  ‘Disciple! That old hag's spirit is coming nearby again!’

  ‘?!’

  Cold sweat began to drip from Sharv’s forehead.

  He remembered last night’s moment. That middle aged woman had seen in a single glance that Sharv possessed lunar energy in his body. And according to his Master, she was probably a monstrous or mythical spirit.

  ‘I really want to make her my spirit servant... But I can't because of the situation.’

  Sharv couldn’t just make that spirit into a spirit servant openly in front of everyone. Otherwise, many of his secrets would be exposed.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  ‘This... I think this old hag is after that, Disastrous Spirit... Ah! My guess was correct. They started fighting.’

  - ...

  ‘That disastrous spirit is at a disadvantage... Eh?! That Disastrous Spirit somehow tricked her, and it's running away from her!’

  - ...

  ‘That old hag is also gone... But! That Disastrous Spirit is still there, though its negative energy has been reduced considerably...’

  Sharv's master kept speaking one after another. Among everyone present, her ability to sense negative spirits was the strongest.

  Hearing all this, Sharv understood one thing, that is; whatever this Disastrous spirit was, it had no ordinary power. It had forced a spirit one or two ranks above it to retreat.

  If Sharv could take this Disastrous spirit under his command, it would make things much easier for him in the Crimson Heaven Society in the future.

  Sharv used his senses, and got to know that, that Disastrous spirit is very near. And about the Mythical spirit, Sharv can't sense her, she already very far away.

  Sensing her is out of Sharv's current ability.

  At this point, he asked his master for help. It was precisely in moments like this that he needed her assistance.

  Sharv’s Master; that woman listened to him and used her senses to tell him that the mythical spirit had now gone far away, quite far. Hearing this, a smile appeared on Sharv’s face. But it soon disappeared.

  Why?

  Because he wanted to slip away just for a moment and try to capture that disastrous spirit. But among so many people, if he suddenly went somewhere alone, it was obvious others would grow suspicious of him.

  And who knew, perhaps some guards of the Death Hall Master were secretly watching everyone from behind? In such a situation, Sharv couldn’t go near that disastrous spirit.

  So Sharv did something else.

  He released Vijay and his Master spirit from his sacred thread and said to them.

  - You two go and keep an eye on that disastrous spirit. I’ll try to come after some time. Go quickly, and if that Mythical spirit women returns, come back immediately without thinking twice.

  Vijay and that woman agreed to Sharv’s words, and both began heading toward the disastrous spirit.

  Meanwhile, Sharv kept running along with the other participants. He couldn’t do anything else right now he had no choice but to keep running.

  ***

  After approximately 15 minutes.

  The mountain was quite massive, stretching all the way down to the river at its base. Reaching there would take a long time. After some time had passed, they were running through a part of the mountain where the trees were extremely dense so dense that they even blocked the sunlight coming from above.

  So far, everything had been going quite well. No one had faced any trouble. Compared to the previous trials, this trial had been going rather easily.

  But that was exactly what some people couldn’t understand how could it be this easy?

  ‘Why hasn’t anything unexpected happened yet? This trial can’t be this easy...’

  Among them, Vishesh was especially thinking this.

  He was running somewhere around the eleventh or twelfth position. In the first and second trials, he had seen how the Crimson Heaven Society had turned seemingly simple and childish trials into something dangerous.

  Based on that, it was hard to believe that nothing similar would happen in this trial.

  Howl!!!

  ‘?!’

  Just as Vishesh had thought, it happened exactly that way. He heard the loud roar of some animal. When he turned back, he saw five or six gigantic wolves chasing them.

  Those wolves had black fur, but their paws and some parts of their bodies were red. It wasn’t blood their fur was naturally like that, which made them appear so.

  As soon as everyone heard the wolves’ howl, they were startled.

  Especially those running at the very back their hearts nearly stopped at the sight of those wolves.

  Meanwhile, those running in the front; Meera, Shaurya, Nishant, Adarsh, and Nandani were in relatively good condition. But they couldn’t stop they had to keep running forward.

  But just then...

  Howl!!!

  The wolves howled again but this time from the front.

  ‘!!!’

  Meera’s eyes widened. Because on the path ahead of her, many wolves identical to the ones behind had appeared.

  “Shit!”

  “No!... What the hell!”

  “Damn it!”

  The children shouted in anger. They hadn’t expected this at all. This trial that had seemed so easy until now wasn’t easy at all.

  Meera stopped in her tracks because the wolves were now standing right in front of her, glaring at her with fury. She tried to step back, but just then, a wolf lunged at her from the side.

  It was about to reach her, but then...

  ‘Frost-Leaf Glide Technique: Shadow Steps!’

  The wolf tried to slash her body with its claws, but Meera had already vanished like a shadow. Swift and without a sound.

  The very next moment, she appeared above the wolf.

  ‘I can’t fight this beast...’

  She lightly kicked the wolf on its back and, with a long and swift leap, escaped from there jumping over the other wolves.

  Watching Meera leave like that, both the participants and the wolves could only stare.

  Everyone realized one thing until now, Meera hadn’t been using her footwork technique to its full potential. But after seeing her move like that, everyone understood that first place in this trial would belong to her and no one else.

  “And here I was thinking I’d surpass her! Tch!”

  “One has to admit this girl’s footwork technique is something else... Haa! I wish I had such a technique too...”

  Shaurya and Nishant who were the closest to Meera earlier, muttered to themselves. Others were also lost in their thoughts.

  Grrr!!!

  Suddenly, everyone snapped out of their thoughts and remembered they weren’t alone here. There was still one more thing in front of them, the wolves.

  Before they could think any further, the wolves from both the front and the back lunged and attacked them.

  Some participants had their heads torn off, others lost their hands or legs. The wolves showed not even the slightest mercy, they began killing and tearing them apart one by one.

  “AHHH!!!—No! Someone sav...”

  “Gahhh!!!”

  “Kuakkkk!!!”

  One after another, the participants’ screams echoed sharp and filled with pain.

  But Sharv was not among them.

  The truth was, when wolves had appeared from both the front and back, everyone had been shocked.

  At that moment, hardly anyone was paying attention to Sharv which was the perfect opportunity to leave. And he used it well, slipping away without anyone noticing.

  Perhaps some wolves saw him escaping. But what difference did that make? Sharv was only one human. If they all chased him, the rest would escape.

  If one small fish slipped away, so what? There were still plenty left.

  Sharv was now running through the trees. His only goal was to somehow reach the place where his Master and Vijay’s soul were waiting. Then he would go there and make that new Disastrous spirit his spirit servant.

  Excited by the thought, Sharv began running even faster.

  Just then, Sharv saw in front of him near a tree Vijay and his master standing there. And beneath the tree, leaning against its trunk, lay a person from whom Sharv could feel that negative energy.

  As soon as Sharv reached them, he realized that Vijay and his Master had already subdued the Disastrous Spirit, since it was already in quite a bad condition.

  Sharv looked at the spirit.

  From his appearance, he seemed to be around twenty or twenty-five years. His face was decent, his height tall, shoulders broad and on his face there wasn’t even a single strand of beard on his face, as if he used to shave every day when he was alive.

  Sharv didn’t pay much attention to his appearance and instead asked.

  “What is your na...”

  Before Sharv could finish his words, the Disastrous Spirit questioned him instead.

  ‘You!... How can you see me? You are not a soul. You are a living human.’

  Sharv gave a faint laugh. He wasn’t interested in explaining the whole story again. He simply said.

  “My third eye is already opened. That’s why… Anyway, leave that. Who are you? And your name?”

  The Disastrous Spirit thought for a moment.

  He had earlier considered escaping from here, but because of Vijay and Sharv’s Master, he had been unable to. And now that Sharv himself had arrived, escaping in front of them seemed nearly impossible.

  ‘That fucking bitch!…’

  He cursed the Mythical Spirit inwardly. But he couldn't do anything right now. Gritting his teeth, he finally spoke.

  ‘My name is Shivansh...’