Hearing this, Xu Ziqing and the others turned toward the speaker.
He was a handsome young man with distinguished features, but his expression was languid, as though he could scarcely summon the energy to move. He leaned against someone standing behind him.
That man, however, gave off an exceptionally dangerous feeling.
He was a giant more than nine chi tall, his muscles knotted and solid as cast iron. Standing there like a steel tower, he was deeply intimidating.
Yet he remained motionless, letting the youth lean against him. His eyes held no emotion, except for a trace of loyalty whenever he looked down at his young master.
They appeared to be master and servant.
The youth was only at early Golden Core, whereas the giant had reached the peak of late Golden Core and seemed almost halfway into Nascent Soul. His aura was stronger than anyone else’s in the chamber.
As soon as Yun Lie arrived, however, the giant focused on him.
The sensation of being targeted by a ferocious beast left the Core Transformation disciples beside Yun Lie unable to move.
What a powerful man!
Yun Lie met the giant’s gaze across the chamber, looked at him coldly, then turned away.
The giant withdrew his pressure as well.
Their brief test had ended.
Xu Ziqing was astonished. He did not dare use spiritual sense to probe the giant, but the aura that escaped him was enough to reveal that he was stronger than any cultivator Xu Ziqing had previously met at the peak of late Golden Core.
And such a man seemed to be nothing more than a servant.
Who was this lazy young man who could command someone so formidable?
Most others in the chamber were surely wondering the same thing.
Yet when the youth spoke, nobody challenged him. Something must have happened earlier to establish his authority.
Seeing that the six newcomers were puzzled, he raised his eyebrows and smiled. “We all damaged the forest and found the array’s eyes to reach this place. I presume you did the same?”
He was looking at Yun Lie.
To him, only the strongest person among them was worth addressing.
Yun Lie rarely spoke, but he was not unreasonable. Since the youth had asked him directly, he answered, “Indeed.”
The youth snorted. “You sword cultivators do have strange tempers.” Then he explained, “Now that you’ve arrived, don’t delay us further. Read the stone stele and decide what to do.”
Xu Ziqing followed his gesture and saw an ancient stele standing before a wall.
Embedded in that wall were forty-nine beast heads, seven rows of seven. Each was vividly carved, its mouth wide as though roaring.
As the last six arrivals, Yun Lie and the others promptly extended their spiritual senses to read all the tiny characters on the stele. At last they understood the youth’s words.
This was a place where an ancient cultivator had left his inheritance. He was called Perfected Master Luofu, but the title meant something quite different from a present-day Golden Core perfected master. This was an ancient expert of profound cultivation.
In ancient times, cultivation realms were divided differently from today. There were only five stages: Drawing Qi into the Body, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit to Return to Emptiness, and Refining Emptiness to Unite with the Dao. Cultivators also endured five minor heavenly tribulations and four major ones. Only after passing these trials could they become Heavenly Immortals, which modern cultivators called ascending immortals.
Only ancient cultivators who had reached Refining Spirit to Return to Emptiness could adopt a Dao title and call themselves Perfected Masters. Their power was worlds apart from that of modern Golden Core perfected masters.
But that was beside the point.
Since ancient cultivation realms had differed, so too had their methods. Far more people ascended in those days, which made the inheritances they left exceptionally precious. Even without fully inheriting an ancient master’s teachings, comparing them to one’s own cultivation could bring great benefits.
The stele introduced Perfected Master Luofu and explained that his art, the Luofu True Scripture, could be practiced without abandoning one’s original cultivation method. There were nevertheless requirements. The first was that the practitioner follow the immortal path.
Xu Ziqing understood immediately.
No wonder the three demonic cultivators had easily emerged from the forest while immortal-path cultivators like themselves could not find an exit. The array was evidently a test intended for people of the immortal path.
The next passage confirmed it. In ancient times, immortal and demonic cultivators had largely minded their own business rather than attacking on sight. The array merely expelled those whose arts were unsuitable. Those allowed to remain had to be above Foundation Establishment and below Nascent Soul. Otherwise their own Dao would already be too settled for the inheritance to help, and the ancient cultivator’s lingering will might even shake their Dao hearts.
The six newcomers had arrived, so the necessary number was now complete. Anyone still in the forest who had failed to find the Eight Trigrams entrance would be expelled. The formation harbored no malice. Its sole purpose was to seek an heir.
Reading this, Xu Ziqing became even more fascinated by the ancient cultivator.
The stele next explained why exactly forty-nine people were needed. The arrangement followed the principle that ‘the Great Dao numbers fifty, and Heaven unfolds forty-nine.’ They had entered through the Taiji eyes of the Eight Trigrams, the point of emerging life. Together, the forty-nine entrants formed a completed pattern that could unlock the inheritance.
Perfected Master Luofu had left instructions stating that only one of the forty-nine would receive his main inheritance. But he had also left many precious treasures, and everyone had a chance of gaining something. The least fortunate would merely be expelled, never killed by the trial.
His words suggested an ancient elder who was generous and in harmony with the principles of Heaven. His cultivation art ought to benefit its practitioner.
After reading the inscription, Xu Ziqing developed deep respect for Perfected Master Luofu.
Compared with many present-day cultivators who jealously guarded their possessions and were narrow-minded or selfish, this ancient figure deserved to be called a true seeker of immortality. Most admirable of all was his refusal to take lives indiscriminately despite his extraordinary cultivation. Such openness and uprightness commanded respect.
Soon everyone had finished reading. The languid youth spoke again. “If no one has questions, we should open the inheritance now.”
Nobody objected. They had all read the stele and understood what to do.
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie stood together. Each raised a hand and sent spiritual light into a beast head’s mouth.
When all forty-nine beast heads had swallowed the light, roars of countless beasts echoed through the chamber. The stone wall shook with thunderous noise and collapsed.
The entire chamber shattered like a reflection in a mirror.
Everyone discovered they were standing in darkness.
Five lights shone before them, each illuminating a long path.
Only one of those five roads could lead to the main inheritance.
The inheritance brought trials but also depended upon fortune and affinity.
The people here had reached this point through a combination of their own discernment and favorable fortune. Which path they chose, however, and what luck awaited them on that path, could not be controlled.
Precisely because of that, the forty-nine made their choices without much hesitation, each taking the road that felt most suitable.
Some paths attracted many people, others only a few.
Geng Zheng and his companions trusted their instincts and did not choose the same road as Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie. Xu Ziqing felt a peculiar attraction and entered the fifth path, which lay in the middle. Yun Lie accompanied him.
Xu Ziqing did not ask whether his senior brother had felt the same pull. There was no need. Whether Yun Lie had come to protect him or they were both fated to take this path, either possibility filled him with happiness.
Nine others were traveling with the brothers, making their party slightly larger than an even division of the forty-nine would suggest.
Xu Ziqing was surprised that the languid youth and his formidable servant chose this road too.
As soon as the group stepped past its entrance, the other four roads disappeared, leaving only the one they had chosen.
At the same moment, this path transformed into a passage.
It was like a corridor cut through a mountainside, connecting many rooms.
The left wall was smooth bluestone. A luminous pearl as large as a fist was embedded every two chi, filling the corridor with a hazy white glow.
On the right were numerous stone chambers, spaced apart and sealed with stone doors.
Nobody knew whether these chambers held treasures or traps, but the stele’s words suggested that treasures were much more likely.
If everyone chose a different room, what if one room contained the inheritance and someone took it alone? No one wanted to put in the effort only to benefit someone else.
For a moment, the group exchanged uncertain looks.
Several cultivators who had arrived in the earlier chamber long before the brothers looked toward the languid youth, evidently hoping he would decide.
Xu Ziqing smiled faintly. Yun Lie said nothing and tacitly accepted the arrangement.
The youth glanced at the brothers, his expression growing even more indolent. “Why don’t we go in together, searching room by room? That way we can avoid trouble from dividing things unevenly.”
Everyone agreed, and they opened the stone door together.
The door opened easily, with no mechanism or trap. But the sight inside fascinated everyone.
In a wash of luminous blue, countless grains of crystal sand glimmered like stars. Each seemed to have gathered the brilliance of heaven and earth, sparkling with extraordinary clarity.
“Ganges Star Sand!”
“Yes, that’s Ganges Star Sand!”
Several cultivators exclaimed softly, astonished by the sight.
Ganges Star Sand could usually be found only in the deep sea, the territory of formidable sea beasts. Ordinary cultivators rarely ventured there. Most of the sand was controlled by powerful ocean overlords.
Only experts of sufficient cultivation could trade for it.
Core Transformation and Golden Core cultivators like those present could scarcely obtain it without paying an enormous price.
Even if they could obtain some, however, who had ever seen so much at once?
The blue radiance seemed to contain tens of thousands of grains at least…