Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 181 - Carvings? online for free - AllNovelFull
"Oh, my!" Lin Wu exclaimed as he saw the carvings on the walls.
Unlike the carvings on the door, these ones were very well defined and could be seen clearly. They depicted a great battle between cultivators. There were many different types of them, some were sagely looking, some were demonic looking, some had muscular bodies that were laid bare while others that had beastly looking features.
But the one thing that was the most shocking was that they were all fighting on one side and they had a common enemy. The enemy was strange though; it had no fixed shape or form. It would appear like a cloud and turn into a liquid. It would shift into a solid form and appear as if a rock.
This thing did not seem to attack the cultivators directly, rather it would absorb and take over everything that it covered. It would slowly spread and take over worlds, one by one.
The entire four walls of the hall were needed to depict this and Lin Wu could guess that he would learn more if he went further deep down into the tomb. He thus looked around but couldn't find any entrance to the next level.
"Huh? Where do I go now…?" Lin Wu wondered as he brought up the map window.
There he saw a small depression in the ground near the southern wall. Lin Wu could tell the directions easily due to the navigation markers which made it easy for him to orient himself. He walked to the place and checked it with his spirit sense.
The ground was made out of stone tiles, and this tile did not have anything below it, which meant that the path was likely to be below it.
~Crack~
But when Lin Wu put his tail on it, the tile cracked instantly and the stairway to the next level was revealed.
"Oh, my weight broke it…" Lin Wu realized it.
'Meh… doesn't matter…' Lin Wu thought, before descending down the stairs.
He was checking the map side by side and ensuring that everything was fine down there. Till now no signers of life had been detected by the system, which meant that this place had been completely isolated and the beasts that tried to enter it back then, never got in.
Lin Wu reached the second level and saw more carvings.
This time the carvings depicted how the enemy spread its influence. After it conquered one world, it would explode it and launch its 'seeds' into the void. These seeds would stay dormant till they found something to latch on and then would devour that.
It would often take long periods of time, but the seeds would eventually reach some planet and would then start the same process all over again. Sometimes it was even accelerated by the conscious effort of certain cultivators.
They took advantage of the 'being' and used it to cause war and massacres for their profit. This went on for countless years and the repetition continued.
This was all Lin Wu could understand from the carvings on this level and called to system.
"System, you're recording this, right?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Affirmative" it replied.
Lin Wu nodded his head and tried to find the next staircase. Unlike the last time, though, it wasn't located on the floor but rather on the wall. This part of the wall was also rather unique, as it depicted the part where the cultivators spread the 'being'.
'Seems like there is some meaning here…' Lin Wu thought.
He tapped on the wall and found it to be firm unlike the tile from the previous floor. He put more strength in his push and broke the wall apart. The staircase revealed itself and Lin Wu continued forward.
The third floor had more carvings just as he had thought, but it showed something distinct. The carvings here seemed to be of a much higher quality than before.
"Hmm, system something seems wrong here, can you check it?" Lin Wu asked.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: No anomalies detected.
——
"Huh… am I just over thinking, perhaps?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He glanced at the carvings and felt as if they were much more realistic than before.
This time the carvings depicted only one planet that the being was spreading on. It had already taken up half of the planet and the other half was staunchly resisting it. The Resistance involved strong cultivators the likes of which it had never encountered before.
It was on this planet that the being met a cultivator that was able to resist it. The cultivator was depicted as a young man, whose left half of hair was black and the right half was white. His left eye was white while the right eye was black.
The depiction on the wall ended at the cultivator rising up and standing against the being.
"Interesting…" Lin Wu muttered upon seeing the carving of the cultivator.
He looked around for the next exit but couldn't find it. Looking at the map he realized why.
"What the hell! The entire floor is the exit?" Lin Wu exclaimed.
The reason why he didn't find any difference was that the entire floor was shown in the same shade.
"Feels like I'm in one of those retro games where you had to jump to break the floor…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He then coiled his tail on the floor and used it to jump up. The impact of him falling shattered the floor instantly, and the staircase was revealed. The staircase was winding this time, and Lin Wu started descending.
Lin Wu checked the map and the next level was twice as deeper than before.
'The mountain has been completely hollowed out it seems… but if it is like that then its structural integrity should be poor too. Hmm… how is it still intact, I wonder?" Lin Wu thought.
The sixth level that he arrived on was very small compared to the ones before that were of an equal size.
Report chapter
This room was about square and its sides were three meters wide. Lin Wu had a slightly difficult time moving around due to even the roof of it being short.
Unlike the previous ones, there were no carvings in this room except for one statue that was located in the middle of the room. Lin Wu found the statue familiar and realized that it was the same cultivator that he had seen in the carving on the previous floor.
Except the cultivator looked much more older in the statue. He was wearing long Daoist robes and had the taiji symbol on his back.
Just from looking at him, Lin Wu could feel a strange pressure.
"Hmm… so what am I supposed to do here?" Lin Wu wondered.
He couldn't find any other exits, and even on the map, everything seemed to be the same. Guessing that the statue might hold the answer, Lin Wu probed it with his spirit sense.
"Oh? It's impermeable to my spirit sense." Lin Wu discovered.
He extended his tail and then carefully touched it. But the moment he did that, his vision went black and he felt the world spinning.
'DAMMIT! What the heck is happening now?' Lin Wu thought.
A few seconds later it calmed down, and he found himself in a new place. This time, he felt as if he had no body and was watching a movie from the third person perspective.
At first, everything was silent, but then a thunderous voice spoke.
"I AM THE TAIJI CELESTIAL AND THIS IS MY LEGACY!"
The scene in front of Lin Wu changed again and this time the cultivator who he had seen previously was standing. He looked old like the statue, but his gaze seemed to be a bit dull.
"If you are here, that means you have passed the trials that I set in the levels before." The Taiji celestial spoke.
Hearing his words though, Lin Wu felt extremely confused.
"Huh? What trials? I just broke walls and the floor…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He had thought that the old man would respond to him, but there was no change in him. It seemed like a recording that would only play and could not be interacted with.
"I am the person who is praised by billions as the one who defeated the shadow calamity, but today I confess that it is not true. Rather… I am the part of the calamity itself.
At first, we had no conciousness and only knew how to act on instinct. We would only know how to take and not to give, our hunger never ending. We spread across millions of worlds and destroyed tens of thousands of them. Some worlds were able to resist us while some succumbed to us.
Some of them gave up in despair, while some staunchly defended for millenniums to come. Some took advantage of us and became 'allies' letting us spread even further at the cost of their kin's lives.
No matter where we went, how many times we divided, we could always feel the presence of our fragments. Even separated we were one. We could tell which place we had been defeated in and which place we had conquered.
This continued for a time that even I do not know, until one day when we gained self-awareness. The cost of it was the separation of us into two beings. We had little knowledge of how things worked and thus we named ourselves Bai and Hei.
Back then the only thing we knew was to eat and thus that's what we did. Even if we looked the same, we were different. Bai was aggressive and always wanted to eat while Hei was passive and wanted to rest. Still, we could not do what each other wanted as we only have one 'body'.
Countless years passed like this, and we started gaining knowledge from the beings we consumed. We learned about cultivation, the world, humans, beasts, plants, demons, and countless other things. And with this we also learned what we were… the cultivators called us the Shadow calamity.
For us who never had a proper sense of emotions, we learned hate. The hate came from the beings who were consumed by us. They hated us for taking their worlds, but we did not understand why they hated us at the same time.
We were the same as them. They ate food. We ate food too. They ate other animals, we ate worlds. Nothing seemed wrong to us, and we felt this was the natural order.
More time passed, and we encountered a world that was unlike anything we had seen before. The cultivators there were a strange kind and believed in selflessness. They practiced it to such extremes that they would give up their very lifespans for others.
Their belief system was very simple and incredibly complex at the same time. To them, their lives had to be shared, and thus they created a world which they powered with their own life. Each being that lived there was connected and would have the same life span as others.
They would keep on living as long as the others kept on living, and every time a new being was born, their lifespan would be added to this pool as well.
They were also the first beings who actually welcomed us and thought of us as 'beings' too. They freely let us consume their world. But we did not know the change this would cause in us. Our consciousness started melding with the souls of the cultivators and theirs with us.
We had reached a strange equilibrium, and a cycle of loss and gain was born. This continued for thousands of years until the cycle could no longer be maintained. We had only taken over half of the world, yet for the first time, we felt 'full'.
We didn't know what this feeling was, but when we did; we changed forever.
That was the day 'I' was born."
Report chapter
Lin Wu continued to listen to the Taiji Celestial and felt amazed at all the knowledge that was being spoken.
The scene in front of him changed and now the Taiji celestial was standing on an empty planet.
"After my birth, I was able to create a body for myself. It was created from the people of the entire planet and was the culmination of their will of selflessness. That is how I became a 'Celestial'.
Now having unified, I pondered on myself for a new name. It took me a few years during which I wandered the planet observing everything until I finally chose one. I named myself 'Taiji' after my unity with the positives and negatives.
I saw the black and white in me, which were representations of Bai and Hei. Then I saw the positives of the cultivators in their selflessness and their negatives of sacrificing everything. I was the amalgamation of all and thus the 'Taiji' was me and 'I' was taiji.
Still, after all this, I still needed a goal in my life. Whiteout a goal I would be the same as before, existing just for the sake of it. It didn't take long before I learned it.
I was going to rectify my doings.
My seeds that had been spread across the worlds were cut off from me when 'I' was born and thus acted on their own instincts. Thus I needed to take them back and assimilate them back into myself.
From there on, my new conquest began. At first, I was alone and went to the worlds where the Shadow calamity was present. I would fight against it and absorb it back into myself. But soon other cultivators and great powers of the worlds joined me.
I helped the people of those planets, whether they were human or not, it didn't matter. I created alliances with the other Powers and we created treaties to help the worlds when in need and in times of disaster.
It took me forty millenniums before I was able to finish my goal and by that time my name and fame spread across the realms.
I became venerated as a deity and thus ascended once again. But I knew that even if my goal was complete, there were many more things I needed to do. What I had learned in my life, I wanted to teach others too. I hoped that they may be able to gain something from it and better their lives and the lives of the others in turn.
This is the reason why I am leaving my legacy. If you have come this far, then you have the right to know that I have left my legacies on every world that I visited and helped. You will be one of my disciples from henceforth." The Taiji Celestial spoke.
Lin Wu was left astounded at this and had never expected that his casual decision to visit the tomb would lead to this. But this also led him to question another thing: Why was all this so easy? He had barely done anything.
He had not experienced any trials and had at most solved some puzzles.
'Is it because I came in through the opening at the top? Was that not the intended route?' Lin Wu wondered.
"No, wait! That's not all! If there are more than twenty levels to this, then why did I get the legacy so early on at the sixth level?" Lin Wu questioned.
But his words were in vain as the Taiji celestial did not answer him. Instead, it had just gotten silent and was standing still.
Lin Wu stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Thirty minutes passed and still, nothing had happened.
"Umm… hello? Did you lag out? Did the recording freeze?" Lin Wu asked.
Seeing that there was no response, Lin Wu guessed that there must be some other requirement to continue this.
'Oh yeah he said, I will be his disciple, right? Then I guess I need to do the master-disciple ceremony. I need to kowtow to him.' Lin Wu realized.
He then got into the posture of kneeling as well as he could with his worm form and began to kowtow.
He knocked his head on the floor three times before saying, "disciple Lin Wu pays respects to Master Taiji celestial."
'Let's hope this works…' Lin Wu thought.
~Weeng~
A humming sound was heard as the world started shaking. The thunderous voice that Lin Wu had heard at the start sounded again.
"I THE TAIJI CELESTIAL HAVE ACCEPTED LIN WU AS MY DISCIPLE!"
"Now prepare to receive my legacy!" The taiji immortal said.
He created some gestures with his hands and then pointed towards Lin Wu.
~Shua~
Countless runes started coming out of his hands and started pouring into Lin Wu's head. He felt as if he was hit by a train and started reeling from the shock.
~Ding~
——
DATA TRANSMISSION DETECTED: Data node size is excess.
ACTIVATING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Additional computational A.I. unavailable.
REASSIGNING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Computational A.I. Number 2 and 3 have been assigned to the processing of data transmission.
ANALYZING DATA: Please wait patiently
——
Lin Wu saw the notification from the system and knew that it was something pretty big if it had to stop the others tasks like this. He wondered what things he would get from the legacy and didn't know if they would work for him or not.
Till now, all the cultivating techniques he had seen were only applicable to human cultivators, and even after so many days, the system had not been able to analyze them fully. It needed more time to modify the techniques such that they may be compatible with Lin Wu.
Hate Taiji celestial kept on pouring runes into Lin Wu's head and even after hours didn't stop. If it had not been for the system disabling his sense of pain directly at the start, it would have become impossible for him to last.
After an unknown amount of time later, the Taiji celestial stopped.
~Ding~
Lin Wu finally felt better when the process stopped, and he was able to raise his head normally.
~Ding~
——
DATA TRANSMISSION: Completed
DATA ANALYSIS: 25% completed
OBTAINED CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: Taiji Dual Unity Scripture
OBTAINED QI SKILL: Unity Avatar Technique
NOTIFICATION: Further analysis cannot be done, high grade encryption detected.
DATA BANKS: Updated
HOST DATA: Updated
——
Lin Wu looked at the notifications and was content with it. He had finally received a cultivation technique, but that was not all, even a qi skill had been given to him.
'Hmm… if it is only 25% complete and the latter parts are encrypted then there should be some specific requirements for it.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, what are the requirements to decrypt the data?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The requirements for decryption are actually been given in the data itself. The host needs to become an 'Immortal' and reach the Immortal realm.
——
"Ah, I see. That makes sense… isn't this how the old cultivators in cultivation novels give their inheritances? They only unlock the part that can be used by the character and nothing extra, at least until specific conditions are fulfilled." Lin Wu guessed.
Lin Wu then saw the environment change as the Taiji celestial disappeared from the place. He felt the world spin again before he returned to the same small room, except this time the statue had disappeared as well.
"Huh? Where did it go?" Lin Wu wondered.
~Rumble~
The room suddenly started shaking and the walls started moving. Lin Wu felt as if he was in a Sci-Fi movie with all the moving walls and roof. The floor soon started to lower, and he felt as if he was on an elevator.
~Deng~
About a minute later, the floor finally stopped moving and he looked at the map. Lin Wu had reached the seventh level.
"Whoa!" Lin Wu exclaimed in amazement.
This was the biggest hall he had seen till now. But that wasn't all that was shocking to him, rather it was the hundred of formations that were all working here, combining to form a massive array. His arrival had also caused a change, and a formation appeared around him.
Lin Wu was a bit apprehensive and didn't know if he should do something when a spirit qi wave hit him.
~ding~
——
IDENTIFICATION FORMATION DETECTED: Identity verified
ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION LINK: Please wait patiently
——
"Oh? It already verified me? Is it linked to being a disciple of the Taiji celestial?" Lin Wu wondered.
~humm~
Another sound was heard as the hall started to light up. The walls of the hall became white and Lin Wu could see some words appear in front of him. At first, he thought that the system had made these, but they were different.
Lin Wu was at least able to recognize the characters and understood that they were all in Dao script. He didn't even have to think much before the system started to automatically translate it for him in his head. Even if Lin Wu had learned Dao script from the system, he still could not master all of the characters and combinations.
Thankfully, with the help of the system, it became a piece of cake.
"Welcome, disciple Lin Wu." The word said.
"So it really is linked with me becoming the disciple…" Lin Wu confirmed.
And just as he did this the notification of the system sounded again.
~Ding~
——
COMMUNICATION LINK: Established
ACCESSIBILITY: 100% obtained.
AUTHORITY SET: Highest grade
ADDING VIRTUAL INTERFACE: Multiple Functions Available
HOST DATA: Updated
NEW VIRTUAL INTERFACE ADDED: Taiji Tomb Operation Array
——
As soon as the notifications ended, windows started appeared in front of Lin Wu. There were so many that he was having a hard time keeping with it.
"System, pause this. Show it to me one by one." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
CATEGORIZING: Completed.
NOTIFICATION: Please select the intended function from the list.
——
A long list then presented in front of Lin Wu. He started counting the number of functions that were available and got shocked.
"One hundred and sixty one functions… holy hell! And what are these names? Unity extermination formation? Tribulation Attenuation formation? These are some crazy names…" Lin Wu said. "But what do they do?" He added before checking their descriptions.
~Ding~
——
Unity extermination formation: Destroys an area of 1000 square kilometers (Status: offline)
Tribulation attenuation formation: Reduces potency of heavenly tribulation by 50% (Status: offline)
——
"Oh they're offline…" Lin Wu muttered and saw the symbol next to the function.
'They need energy source to work. I should have guessed, something like this must have a very high cost to run…' Lin Wu thought.
He looked at the different formations that were sorted into functions and soon found one that was understandable to him and also online.
"Activate the Monitoring Formation," Lin Wu selected.
~Hummm~
The formation runes started swirling and new ones appeared in front of them. They morphed into a plane sheet of glass on which pictures started to appear.
This function was the same as that of a security camera and could show Lin Wu the things that happened in the different parts of the tomb. Lin Wu then started scrolling through the different views and felt that this was pretty similar to his previous world.
"They accomplished the same thing using a different method. Instead of technology, arrays are used here instead and formations replace the processors in the computers. The runes are the programming language and the spirit qi is the energy that runs it all." Lin Wu analyzed.
While scrolling through the windows, Lin Wu came upon the view that showed the two servant beasts of his outside in the sky. They were still flying there and kept on circling around.
"Huh, thought they would go and wait somewhere else." Lin Wu muttered.
He scrolled again and came upon a window that showed the entrance of the tomb.
"Oh? Who are they now?" Lin Wu questioned.
On the screen in front of Lin Wu, a group of people were currently doing something.
Report chapter
On the screen, Lin Wu saw a group of seven people dressed in different colored robes. They were obviously cultivators and were looking around, anxious expressions on their face.
"Is there a sound feature on this?" Lin Wu asked.
~Ding~
——
AUDIO: Activate
——
"Ah, thanks." Lin Wu said before listening to what they were saying.
There were five men and two women in the group talking currently.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" A man dressed in a blue robe questioned.
"Can't you see the freaking hill? Do you think those skeletons are for show?" A man dressed in a black robe scolded.
"I can see that of course, but the record mentioned nothing about the inheritance grounds being like this." The blue robed man replied, not offended by the black robed man.
"Su Wen is right, we really need to be careful. The records we found in the sect library are very old, things could have changed. Perhaps the inheritance ground has already been claimed too…" A woman dressed in a light pink skirt said.
"Hmm… we have no choice but to take a chance. Otherwise, we all would have wasted the credits we used for this." A man who looked the oldest among them spoke.
"I don't care if I die here. I'm not bending before that core disciple if I have to go back to the sect, so I may as well die here." The second woman who was dressed in a dark green dress spoke.
She had red eyes, and it seemed like she had been crying. Lin Wu noticed the reactions of the two other men in the group and saw that they particularly paid attention to the woman.
'So they fancy her, huh…' Lin Wu thought.
"Enough, we are going in. This is decided, besides we have the key, don't we?" A man who was bald and wearing tight fitting robes spoke.
His muscles could be seen through the outline of the clothes and he was holding a large Guan Dao in his hand.
"Yes, Senior brother!" Everyone replied.
The Senior brother nodded and took the lead, walking towards the tomb first.
"Pass me the key," He ordered.
The grey robed man took out a tattered piece of cloth that was the size of a handkerchief. There were some characters and calligraphy written on it that was mostly faded.
"Is that a talisman?" Lin Wu wondered.
The Senior brother took the talisman from the grey robed man and held it out in front of him.
~Shua~
Suddenly wind started blowing, and the grey border that surrounded the tomb started flickering. The Senior brother stepped forward and the border split apart to create an opening for him.
"Come on now!" The Senior brother spoke.
The rest of the group ran in quickly and the bordered closed behind them. The talisman that the senior brother was holding also crumbled into dust after they all entered.
"Looks like there's no turning back anymore…" Su Wen muttered.
"Have some courage! If even one of us is able to get the inheritance, we will be rich! We may even become core disciples directly!" The Senior brother said out loud.
The people nodded hesitatingly and followed behind the senior brother.
~Ding~
——
DETECTED INTRUDERS: Verifying access
ACCESS VERIFIED: Tomb key activated
ACCESS LEVEL: Basic
——
"Oh? So that really was a legitimate key. That means the reason why the beasts all died was because of the absence of key… but then how was I able to enter through the opening and why did the sparrow beast not try to claim it himself?" Lin Wu wondered.
He decided to directly ask the sparrow beast about it through their connection.
"Hey, why did you not try to check the tomb when you were able to enter previously?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Master? Oh, it really is you! Your fine, this means." The sparrow beast said feeling surprised.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Now answer my question." Lin Wu replied.
"Didn't you see it? It's so terrifying, that barrier injured me when I tried to get close to the entrance and denied me. A voice said that I am ineligible to give the trial." The sparrow beast answered.
"Huh? What barrier? There was no barrier, and neither was there a trial." Lin Wu replied.
"There are terrifying formations all over the area, master. Did you not see any of them?" The sparrow beast questioned.
Now Lin Wu was getting really confused about the entire thing. He had not seen any barriers nor a trial in the tomb. He had been directly granted the discipleship and given hate inheritance.
"System, can you verify if there really are barriers and trials?" Lin Wu asked.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: There are multiple barriers set up all around the tomb, and each floor of the tomb has a trial that one must pass before proceeding to the next one. They are all illusionary trials and happen inside the contender's mind.
——
"Illusory trials? Barrier? Why did I not see any of them?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The system has reached the conclusion that the formations of the tomb target the contender according to their soul and body. Because the host has the soul of a human and the body of a beast, the formation malfunctioned and did not recognize host as an intruder.
Similarly, the trials never activated because the host was not detected by it. But the formations that granted the inheritance runs on a different set of formation arrays and thus the host was granted it directly due to being considered passed by default.
——
"So I pretty much got this because of shitty programming?" Lin Wu said feeling a bit dumbfounded.
"Affirmative" The system replied.
"Dang! Never expected someone a powerful cultivator like the Taiji Celestial to make a mistake like this…" Lin Wu said.
~Ding~
——
CORRECTION: This tomb was not set by the Taiji Immortal himself, but by one of his followers.
——
"Oh… so it's due to negligence and incompetence…" Lin Wu muttered.
"Well anyway. It benefited me, so it doesn't matter."
Report chapter
Lin Wu was now wondering what sect these people were from. They had not said the name of the sect, and neither were they wearing clothing that was a uniform.
'Wait, could they be the ones that used the beast inciting powder? Hmm… the beetle beast said there were five of them that time, but here there are seven. Perhaps they split up at that point. Also, she did say they were strong, which means they are at the very least at the core condensation realm.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, can their cultivation bases be scanned?" Lin Wu questioned as he looked through the functions.
He had seen one function that could do something like this and was part of the identification formation array. He didn't know if it was activated or not though.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: There is one peak stage core condensation realm cultivator, three late stage core condensation realm cultivators and three mid stage core condensation realm cultivators.
——
Right after the system answered, labels appeared on top of the cultivators that Lin Wu was seeing on the screen and he observed them.
"Hmm… so the senior brother is at the peak, one of the women is at the late stage and the other is at the mid stage. Among the rest of the men, two are at late stage and two at mid stage. A balanced realm, I guess…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
The group of cultivators were continuing towards the depths of the tomb and were currently in the corridor before the first hall. Lin Wu was observing the corridor too, and had no difficulty seeing it due to the monitoring function.
It was actually dark there for the cultivators, but Lin Wu saw it as if there were lights everywhere.
'This is rather convenient…' Lin Wu thought.
The cultivators lit up the area using an illumination spell. It created an illusory lantern that spread light in the area at a 360 degree angle. The one using it was the woman who was at the late stage of the core condensation realm.
They all walked for about five minutes before they reached the hall. If they all had not been walking carefully and steadily, they would have reached it in less than a minute. But they seemed to want to be cautious than rush in, which Lin Wu found very reasonable.
Finally, they came upon the door of the first hall and the formation lit up.
"What's happening?" The mid stage core condensation realm woman asked in an anxious tone.
"Don't make any sudden movement's but be on your guards. We don't know what we will encounter next, since it is an inheritance ground there is meant to be danger in the trials and tests." The senior brother warned.
~gulp~
They weakly nodded their heads before forcefully swallowing down their fear. Lin Wu could see that the weaker ones were already trembling in their places.
~Rumble~
The doors of the first hall opened and the seven cultivators walked in.
~shua~
Suddenly lights appeared in the hall and lit it up, letting everyone see the carvings that were on the wall. Lin Wu looked at them too and found them to be the same as what he had seen before in the first hall he had appeared in.
"Whoa! What is all this!" The cultivators said in shock.
Their reaction was the same as that of Lin Wu, but the Senior brother's expression had darkened instead. He was about to speak something, but before he could his eyes went dull. The others had similar expressions, and it seemed as if they were in a coma.
~ding~
——
FIRST TRIAL: Initiated
NUMBER OF CONTENDERS: Seven
SETTING DIFFICULTY: Level 2
APPROVE: Yes/no?
——
Lin Wu had not expected that the formation array would ask him for the permission.
"Seems like being the disciple first has even more advantages. Alright, I'll approve it, I wanna see what the trials are actually like." Lin Wu replied.
~Ding~
——
TRIAL APPROVED: Beginning in 3… 2… 1… Trial started
——
Lin Wu then saw the screen in front of him change. The seven cultivators' minds had been transported into an illusion now.
"So this is what the trial actually looks like…" Lin Wu muttered as he saw the gloomy scenery.
The seven cultivators were currently standing in an area that was black. Lin Wu recognized this to be one of the planets that had been ravaged by the shadow calamity. A loud voice sounded in the ears of the seven cultivators as soon as they appeared in Lin Wu also heard it due to the monitoring formation.
"Survive for thirty minutes!" The voice said.
The expression of all the cultivators turned grim, and they took out their weapons.
"Get ready for whatever that's about to come!" The Senior brother spoke.
"I'll watch for enemies!"
"I'll guard the rear!"
"I scout the area with my qi skill!"
"I provide defenses!"
One by one, the members assigned tasks to themselves and showed their teamwork.
"Huh? They calmed down rather quickly?" Lin Wu muttered, seeing the sudden change.
'Or is this their fight or flight response?' he wondered.
The cultivators were expecting to fight enemies, but the reality turned out to be very different.
~BOOM!~
The ground in front of them suddenly exploded and dark shadows came out of it.
"RUN! That is not something we can fight" The Senior brother shouted, sensing the aura coming from the shadows.
The aura was terrifying to them, and if it had not been for the fact that it wasn't particularly directed towards them, they would have already frozen and fallen unconscious due to the pressure.
~boom~
~boom~
~boom~
The cultivators had to dodge right and left, as the ground exploded at random intervals. There was no sense or logic to the explosion, and all they got for a warning was the slight tremor that happened a fraction of a second before the explosion.
"Aargh!" one of the mid stage core condensation realm cultivators yelled in pain as sharp rock pierced his arm.
Report chapter
The rock had been launched due to the explosion of the ground and had embedded into his shoulder.
"Heal it!" The Senior brother yelled.
"On it!" one of the late stage core condensation realm cultivators responded.
He created a seal with his hand and then directed it towards the injured cultivator. The wound glowed for a moment before the sharp rock fell out and the wound stopped healing. About ten seconds later, the wound was completely gone.
"Reinforce your bodies with spirit qi, and activate defensive treasures and techniques if you have it!" The Senior brother directed.
The cultivates did as they were suggested and kept on dodging. But their luck seemed to only get worse as they reached a ravine. The ground was about a hundred meters away from them and a stream of shadows was flowing in the ravine.
The Senior brother looked back, and saw that the tide of shadows were about ten seconds away from reaching them.
"What do we do now? Should we fly over it?" Someone questioned.
"Do it! We have no choice!" The senior brother said and gritted his teeth before flying up on his Guan Dao.
The others followed behind him, trembling on their spirit weapons. One could see that the streams of shadows were moving in a haphazard manner, and one couldn't tell where they were coming from. No matter how much they tried to use their spirit sense, it couldn't penetrate the shadows.
It was as if the shadows were eating their spirit sense, which made them even more scared.
Still, they eventually reached the other side of the ravine successfully and landed on the ground.
~Rumble~
"DAMMIT! GO! GO! GO!" The Senior brother shouted.
Their run began again and continued for the next twenty minutes. During this, they got injured by the explosion of the ground but were never touched by the shadows. Eventually, the voice declared the end of the trial, much to the relief of the seven cultivators.
"THE TRIAL HAS BEEN COMPLETED! ALL HAVE PASSED!" The voice spoke.
~Phew~
Everyone took breaths of relief and collapsed on the ground. Even if they were core condensation realm cultivators, they could tell that they were no match for whatever those shadows were. Even if it was just an illusory trial, they still felt the aura from it.
"Those shadows… what in the heavens were they?" Su Wen questioned.
"Look there, that's what they are." The late stage core condensation realm women pointed at the carvings.
They finally got the chance to take a clear look at the carvings and understood what the shadows were. They were stunned by seeing all that had happened in the past. Lin Wu meanwhile was looking at the logs in front of him.
~Ding~
——
TRIAL COMPLETED: All contenders pass
UNLOCK SECOND LEVEL: Yes/ No?
——
"So the trial was to experience the shadow calamity… that does seem a valid way to test someone…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Lin Wu looked at the screen and saw the cultivators trying to find the next entrance. He looked at the map and saw that there was no way for them to proceed unless he unlocked it for them.
'So the entrances were opened by default for me when I entered. Or they would not have shown up on map…' Lin Wu thought to himself.
"Alright, allow them to proceed." Lin Wu permitted.
~Ding~
——
SECOND LEVEL: unlocked
SECOND TRIAL: Waiting for contenders
——
~Shing~
~Rumble~
The cultivates who were looking for the entrance suddenly found the hall trembling. A few seconds later, a section of the wall opened up, and they saw the staircase that led them to the next level.
"Look! There it is," One of them pointed.
"Let's go then," The Senior brother said and took the lead once again.
They went up the stairs and arrive on the second level, which lit up on their arrival. There were more carvings here too, the same as the ones Lin Wu had seen.
~Ding~
——
SECOND LEVEL: Seven contenders found
INITIATE SECOND TRIAL: Yes/No?
——
The notification appeared in front of Lin Wu, and he accepted it right away. He wanted to see what more the trials actually were, as he was getting more information from them and even the system was analyzing it. Lin Wu knew that it would come in use sometime in the future.
~Ding~
——
SECOND TRIAL: Initiated
NUMBER OF CONTENDERS: Seven
SETTING DIFFICULTY: Level 2
——
Lin Wu saw the difficulty level and wondered how that was decided.
"System, what determines the difficulty level?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The difficulty level is determined by checking the average cultivation base and the number of contenders taking part. If it is just a single cultivator at the core condensation realm, the difficulty would be set to level 1. Up to ten cultivators of core condensation realm, it would be at level 2.
The host can increase the difficulty level if he chooses to do so. The max level of difficulty is level 10 and its recommended cultivation base is either an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator or ten Dao treading realm cultivators.
——
"Holy heck! So the trials are set for even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators… wait! Doesn't this make this tomb potentially even more important than the temples of the three guardian beasts?" Lin Wu spoke, feeling a bit shocked.
Lin Wu had learned that the temples could provide blessings to cultivators which could allow them to gain new cultivation techniques, qi skills, or even bloodlines. The blessings were how the three great clans of the Ming Dao world gained their bloodlines as well.
Lin Wu didn't know how many Immortal Ascension realm cultivators there were in this world currently, but there shouldn't be more than a handful.
'Shirong's ancestor should be an immortal Ascension realm cultivator too, and the top sects should have some too. Hmm… he also said how there are very few pseudo immortal weapons in this world and they are in the hands of great powers, thus they should be controlled by the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators.' Lin Wu analyzed.
Report chapter
The seven cultivators arrived in the second trial and were greeted by a similar world that they had seen before. Except, this world's flora and fauna had been strangely corrupted by the shadows.
Lin Wu saw it too and realized that this world was one of the worlds that were taken over by the shadow calamity after they obtained the two consciousnesses, Bai and Hei. That was the reason why the shadows were not as corrosive as before and had not fully covered the ground.
"What is this place now?" The grey robed cultivator questioned.
"The aura is the same as before, but… it's not as violent." The senior brother spoke.
They felt anxious as they knew that if this was the second level it was bound to be more difficult than the first one. If the aura was not violent, that meant something else was gonna be.
~step~step~step~
Suddenly the sound of footsteps could be heard coming from behind them. They turned around hurriedly and saw the being that was standing behind them.
"What in the heaven's name!"
The being that was standing in front of them was humanoid, but had no nose or a face. It only had a wide mouth filled with teeth and eerily long arms that dangled to its side. They went all the way to its knees and were tipped with long claws.
Its legs were shorter than its arms and much wider. There were smaller claws on them, and its skin was wrinkly and oily. A pungent smell emanated from its body as drool dripped from its mouth.
~Screech~
It let out a loud cry that pierced the ears of every one present and filled them with fear.
~shua~
~Splatter~
The screeching cry stopped and they opener their eyes only to see something even bigger standing in front of them. It looked like a huge bird beast and it had bitten the humanoid being in half. But even this bird beast seemed to look similar to the humanoid beast and had similar features.
"What the hell are these things?!" The mid stage core condensation realm woman questioned with horror.
It was now that the voice sounded again.
"Defeat ten Shadow Dread beasts!" The Voice declared.
"Seems like we know what they are now…" The Senior Brother said before swinging his Guan Dao.
"Get ready to fight!" He stated.
Everyone brought out their weapon and flew ahead. The Senior brother attacked the bird like Shadow dread beast first and slashed a wound on its torso. But the beast seemed to be unaffected by it and lifted its large eye-less head towards him and snapped its beak.
~clink~
The Senior brother parried the sharp beak with the blade of his Guan Dao and stepped back.
~Sss~Boom~
A fire ball came and hit the beast on the side of its head, melting a part of the skin.
"It's defenses are not that strong, quickly defeat it!" Su Wen shouted as he controlled his spirit sword to strike at the beast's wings.
~Scree~
The beast let out another ear piercing screech as it flapped its wings, making gales of winds.
~draaa~
A shearing sound was made by the beast as it dived at one of the mid stage core condensation realm cultivators.
"Take this!" The late stage core condensation realm woman cultivator shouted as she released an arrow made out of spirit qi.
The arrow was blue colored and moved at a great speed. In the blink of an eye, it was close to piercing the beast.
~Splick~
The arrow penetrated the head of the beast and splattered black blood everywhere.
~Shua~
~crackle~
A cold air came out of the arrow and the beast's head started to freeze. In about five seconds the beast's head was frozen.
~pow~
~shatter~
The grey robed cultivator, who was at the late stage of the core condensation realm, executed a fist technique and punched the frozen head of the beast, shattering it into icy fragments.
~thud~
The corpse of the beast fell to the ground with a loud thud, knocking up a cloud of black dust.
~phew~
"One down, nine more to go…" Su Wen said.
And just as he said this, more screeches were heard coming from afar. The Senior brother gritted his teeth and spread his spirit sense far and wide.
"There are three of them together this time, we can do this!" he said.
"Yes, Senior brother!" They responded before entering offensive stances.
Lin Wu watched on as the team defeated the Shadow Dread beasts one by one and soon reached the required number of kills to pass. This time they were not uninjured though, they had cuts and scratches everywhere on their bodies and their clothes had been tattered.
Blood dripped from their wounds as their cuts burned.
"THE TRIAL HAS BEEN COMPLETED! ALL HAVE PASSED!" The voice spoke again.
The seven cultivators returned to the second level's hall and collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. Their wounds had been healed as it was just an illusory trial, but the mental strain would be hard to recover that quickly.
"Rest for a bit, we'll precede after we are in a better condition." The Senior brother advised before sitting down cross legged and meditating.
"Hmm… despite his looks and demeanor, he is not a bad leader." Lin Wu stated.
This trial had been beneficial for Lin Wu too, as he actually recognized one of the Shadow Dread beasts that the seven cultivator beasts had fought.
'Wasn't that beast similar to the Shadow claw beasts I killed before I met the mole beast and the beetle beast?' Lin Wu thought.
The beast that the seven cultivators had fought was like a much bigger version of the Shadow claw beasts and had no eyes, but for the rest, its features were the same. Lin Wu thought of its implications and wondered what was the link between that world and the Ming Dao world.
"Either the beast is found in multiple worlds, or… this world is the same as that one…"
Report chapter
Lin Wu pushed his thoughts aside for a bit as he looked at the entrance of the next level. The stairs went in a different direction than were shown on his map. He scrolled through the different layers and saw that there were actually multiple halls on a single floor.
There were even some stairs that directly skipped a level.
"Why are there multiple entrances like this, System, and why was there only one path in the upper halls that came from.?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: Depending on the difficulty that is set and the performance of the candidates, different paths may be opened to them. Because the formations did not activate, the floors were set to the default number, otherwise they can open different paths depending on the performance.
The top floor that the host first appeared in can even go directly to the entrance of the tomb at the bottom if the right path is activated.
——
"Oh… is that so? Seems like I missed this part in the formation array function list." Lin Wu muttered before glancing through the list again.
About half way through, he found the function which allowed him to change the paths as he liked and link them to different levels.
'Hmm… should I try changing the difficulty level in the next level for them?' Lin Wu wondered but then chose not to.
"Wait, can I change the difficulty midway through the trial?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: Changing the trial midway will lead to a proportionate increase and decrease in the final rewards. The final rewards cannot be changed by the Host and are fixed as in independent function in the Trial's formation array.
——
"Hmm… that makes sense. Though… do I want to let them obtain the inheritance?" Lin Wu wondered.
Lin Wu wasn't exactly losing anything if the cultivators got the inheritance, since it was not his to give anything. Though he could make it so that they would all lose if needed. But he didn't know if he wanted to do that, unless he got some benefit from it.
'I should first find out what sect they are from. Perhaps that can give me more idea…' Lin Wu thought.
"Are you all fine now?" The Senior brother spoke, pulling Lin Wu's attention back to that screen.
"Yes, Senior brother. We can continue now." Su Wen and the other replied.
"Good, let's hurry." The Senior brother stood up and went to the entrance of the next level.
They all started climbing the stairs and reached the third level. Their arrival caused the lights to appear, and they were blinded for a moment.
~Ding~
——
THIRD LEVEL: Seven contenders found
INITIATE SECOND TRIAL: Yes/No?
——
"Yes, start the trial." Lin Wu said immediately.
~Ding~
——
THIRD TRIAL: Initiated
NUMBER OF CONTENDERS: Seven
SETTING DIFFICULTY: Level 2
——
With the third trial started, the seven cultivators appeared in the new world. This time it was not a dark and gloomy planet like the previous ones. Instead, it was a normal one, and they were currently located in a jungle.
"This place looks different…" One of the cultivators muttered.
"Our clothes are different too!" the late stage core condensation realm cultivator spoke.
"Seems like we will be assuming the identity of some people in this trial." The Senior brother hypothesis zed.
Lin Wu was also waiting for the trial's objective to be announced, as he couldn't recognize what world this was. He hadn't seen that many worlds during the Taiji Celestials speech, thus it was likely that this was eventually going to happen.
He didn't have to wait long though. The voice echoed soon enough.
"Prevent the enemies from sabotaging the defenses." The voice spoke.
As soon as this was announced, confused expressions appeared on the faces of the cultivators. They looked around the area and couldn't see anyone that seemed like an enemy.
"What do we do now?" Su Wen questioned.
"Let me check the area…" The Senior brother said before scanning the surroundings with his spirit sense.
He looked towards the other side and spoke, "there are a bunch of cultivators there and they're wearing the same clothes as us."
"Let's head there then…" The blue robed cultivator said.
Everyone nodded in agreement and flew towards the location of the camp. About a minute later, the small camp appeared in front of their eyes. There were perhaps a few tens of people in the camp, and they were all looking tense and ready to fight.
The guards that were looking from the watch tower spotted the seven cultivators and shouted. "The reinforcements have arrived!"
"So we're supposed to be reinforcements, huh…" The Senior brother muttered to himself.
"Welcome brothers! You all are just in time. We received intel that the enemies have already progressed to the first line of control. Our goal is to stop them from continuing and destroy their documents." The commander of the camp spoke after the seven landed on the ground.
The Senior brother secretly felt the fluctuations of spirit qi coming from the commander and found him to be at the Nascent Soul realm.
'A mere commander is at the Nascent soul realm? What kind of a world is this?' The Senior brother wondered.
Lin Wu on the other hand already guessed that this was a higher leveled world otherwise something like this was quite unlikely to happen in a world that they were in. He watched on at the cultivators were informed of their aim and then sent off to find the enemies.
It took them about three hours to find it, but Lin Wu could tell that the time in the world was being accelerated. For what was three hours to them was a mere five minutes to him. At first, everything was playing at a normal speed on his screen but soon it sped up.
He was still able to keep up as they weren't really talking as much and were mostly running and flying. After finding the hideout of the enemies though, they had their first casualty.
Report chapter
The Senior brother and the rest of the cultivators were watching the dead body of their companion that was lying on the ground. It had been bisected in half from the waist and they didn't know how it happened.
They were flying towards the enemy hideout and had just discovered it when this happened. They had planned to surprise and ambush the enemies but now that was not possible as the death of their companion had caused noise that the enemies had detected.
~Shua~
~Rustle~
The trees rustled as the enemies could be heard approaching from the camp.
"What do we do now? Is he really dead?" The late stage core condensation realm woman asked.
"I doubt it. This is an illusory array and thus it's likely that he is only dead here and has been ejected back into the real world." Senior brother answered.
"Let's hope that is how it is…" Su Wen muttered and readied his sword for a battle.
A few seconds later, twenty soldiers dressed in armor appeared from the trees. The jungle was densely packed with trees which made it easier for people to hide, but once they were found fighting could become difficult. They would have to either take advantage of the close quarters or need to fight in the sky.
"Ha! Take this!" The Senior brother shouted as he spun his Guan Dao in a circle.
This released a wave of energy that cut the trees around them, and along with the three of their enemies were also killed.
"KILL!" The enemy soldiers shouted.
The two mid stage core condensation realm cultivators lunged ahead to fight when suddenly,
~thud~
"Aargh! My arm!"
An arm had been suddenly cut off out of nowhere. The first one had died because of this too, and they were now scared about how it was being done. But soon the late stage Core condensation realm women realized it.
"It's a formation! There are offensive trap formations set up here!" She said.
Her companions gritted their teeth as they got ready for a tough fight. The fight didn't last long though and they were able to successfully kill all the enemy soldiers.
But their injuries were also quite bad, most of them were covered in cuts and wounds while two more had lost their hands and arms in the battle. The trap formations were almost invisible and gave one barely any time to react.
They created a thin and sharp blade of spirit qi that would manifest close to the intruder and then cut their limbs or bodies apart.
"How do we continue now?" Su Wen asked while holding on to his bleeding stump.
"I'm gonna use 'that' and kill the entire camp in one go." The Senior brother said.
"You can't! If you die with them, who knows if the trial will allow you to continue or not!" The late stage core condensation realm woman spoke.
"Don't worry, I've got an idea about this trial now. As long as I'm alive even a second after the enemies are dead, I'll be able to pass." The Senior brother replied, veins appearing on his body.
The rest of the cultivators looked on in apprehension, while Lin Wu was interested in what he was going to do.
"System, record what he is going to do." Lin Wu ordered.
He had a guess that he was going to use a certain kind of technique and didn't want to miss out on it. Real time observation and analysis would help speed up the process of the rest of the cultivation techniques as well.
The senior brother flew on his Guan Dao, looking like a warrior king as his body started releasing more and more waves of spirit qi.
"You meaningless constructs of a formation cannot defeat our determination!" The Senior brother shouted as he flew up above the camp.
The enemy soldiers had already noticed him by now and were running out of the buildings to intercept him. After reaching a certain level of height the senior brother jumped and grasped his Guan Dao.
"Witness the wrath of I the Frozen cloud sect's Inner disciple Wang Xiong! Glacier Crash!" The Senior brother shouted as a wave of freezing air came out of his body.
The cold air started freezing the water in the air and a large ice chunk started to be formed. The ice chunk soon grew larger and larger. Within seconds, it had reached the size of a glacier and started falling towards the camp.
The Senior brother Wang Xiong was now trapped inside the glacier but he was still alive. His skin had frost all over it and snow settled on his bald head. His eyes were bloodshot as he strained in body and overdrawing his spirit qi.
By the time the glacier had reached halfway to the camp, it had reached a size that was at least five times bigger than that of the camp. But this came at a great cost to Wang Xiong. His cultivation base had already fallen to the mid stage of the core condensation realm and it was still falling.
The enemy soldiers wanted to run, but the freezing air coming from the glacier was also making it extremely difficult to move. It was as if their joints were being locked and all they could do was scream in fear.
~BOOM!~
The glacier finally crashed into the camp and flattened it beneath it along with a large area around it. Even the companions of Wang Xiong had to retreat or they would have been affected by the freezing cold air too.
"Senior brother really did it…" Su Wen muttered.
"Yes, he did… and he even brought out the full effect of the qi skill." The mid stage core condensation realm woman said in shock.
"Indeed… we underestimated his skill even now," The grey robed core condensation realm cultivator that was at the late stage spoke.
Lin Wu was impressed by this sacrificial technique quite a bit and was happy that he had let them progress.
"Hmm, I should extract more of their secrets like this…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Report chapter