Saint Patron Bôrakos asked for the silence once more, pressuring all the experts down with his own superior cultivation. Once one crossed to the final realm, they no longer had any rivals but themselves and those of said realm. The quantity of opponents didn't even matter anymore either. As such, it was very easy for him to suppress everyone in this room.

He turned to Hae-Hyuk and asked him coldly: "Hae-Hyuk, do you have any explanations?"

Of course, Hae-Hyuk had an explanation. But why should he give one? He didn't infringe upon any rules, the heavens witnessed it. He wasn't struck which meant that everything he did was fair according to their vows. He didn't plan to do give an answer to anyone. They didn't deserve such a thing. He got up and looked at the ceiling before he spoke: "Under the gaze of the heavens, I, Hae-Hyuk, once more state that I haven't broken any of the rules from the sacred vow! May I be stricken by the heavens otherwise!"

Nothing happened. He sat back down while the entire hall fell back into silence. Most of those who created the disruption were aware that he hadn't cheated. There were no ways to cheat the heavens after all. He would have died during the vows if he had tried something.They acted this way for two reasons. The first one was because he was an opponent and the second one was due to jealousy.Many of them didn't even own a grade 6 weapon...

This kind of treasure was far more difficult than one might think. Not only did it require ingredients of a corresponding quality level, which meant containing energies equivalent to those of a cultivator within the 60th stages but they also needed to find a crafter good enough. And to craft such a treasure, you needed someone who had the might to work with these materials, someone within the 60th stages as well. And he had to be skilled in the craft.

All the people in the entire world who had crossed over the 60th stage were here. And out of them all, there were only three capable of forging such weapons. Hae-Hyuk was one of them. They were envious and angry at him. And they couldn't believe that something priceless to the point they couldn't get it could land in the hands of mere champions. Simply put, it was jealousy. A form of greed.

Saint Bôrakos didn't need to speak any further after Hae-Hyuk swore with the heavens as witness. The weight of this was enough and everyone understood that much. Just like the others though, he was very curious about where those items came from. That guy's champions were very impressive this time around. That being said, he would never bet on them.

...

Time went by as more champions crossed over to the second area. In the end, the sentient dragon beasts were the ones to reach the halfway point of the second area the fastest. As they advanced a bit further, they began to drop some beast cores down. It was a well-thought out trap that brought the experts to once again hurl insults at each other.It was because those were elemental beast cores. And, as long as such cores were exposed to their respective elements, the beasts would revive. Well, unless the core itself was destroyed.

This wasn't the case here. The cores were perfectly fine. And in mere minutes, they evolved to become giants, close to a dozen meter tall, with bodies made entirely of the surrounding elements. In total, there were three magma giants and two sand giants. This was the gift prepared by the Dragon contestant to dwindle the competition. He knew that no one could rival his two champions in speed. It was better to trap the real contenders than waste time on the riff-raff at the entrance.

As such, five giant monsters were now roaming two areas.

...

Not much later, a champion ended up facing one of them. It was a tiger sentient beast. However, this one wasn't from the dark tiger tribe. He had golden fur. Right now, he could see a ten meters tall magma giant beast blocking his path. He was easily noticed and the magma beast roared at him in a very weird way. Producing sound while being nothing but rocks and magma probably wasn't that easy.

Still, the sentient tiger didn't even flinch. He breathed in deeply as he circulated his spiritual energy. Moments later, time seemed to have stopped for everything but him in his surroundings.

When one saw a golden tiger, one might first think that his elemental affinity is closer to earth or metal but it isn't the case. In fact, they were one of the rarer types of tiger beasts. They had an affinity with the time-element, one of the deadliest and most difficult elements to use.

The tenth stage of spiritual accumulation was the doorway to meeting and understanding the elements. It didn't mean that one would become able to use every single element however he wanted just because he reached that realm. One would need to train and sense the elements little by little. Comprehending them with time was a must. But time itself... Not just everyone could grasp this element.

It enabled one to affect the present and the future. As one grew in his mastery, he could accelerate the time surrounding him or freezing it in a certain radius. The latter happened here. The sentient golden tiger froze the time of the magma giant and ran forward without looking back.

Only once the tiger was out of range did the magma beast finally move again. It had, however, lost its target and began to roam around again without destination.

As for the tiger, he decided not to end the beast. Not because he was merciful but because it would be a threat to the other rivals. Why should he be the one wasting his energy and time on this beast? It was better to dodge the confrontation and rush forward.