“Don’t screw with me! You’re just wasting time! Why can’t you tell me what really matters? I don’t care about the other memories!” Yuan frowned at the handsome man’s words.
“Now that wouldn’t be fun at all, would it? Furthermore, who tells a story that starts from the middle— the most exciting part? That makes no sense and will only take away the excitement.” The handsome man casually shrugged.
“Anyways, I won’t keep you here any longer. Have fun with the rest of the trial.”
The handsome man disappeared the next moment, and the scenery began to disappear shortly after.
In just a few breaths of time, Yuan returned back to the arena with a starry background.
“Congratulations on passing your first trial, Master.” Tian’er’s voice resounded.
Yuan looked up into the darkness and asked, “How many more trials do I need to complete before I arrive at the next realm?”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Tian’er said, “I cannot answer that question, Master, as it’s different for everyone. Some require four trials while some only require one trial to ascend.”
“What? How is that even fair? And how are the trials decided?”
“They are decided by the participants’ talent, destiny, and if they are helping others ascend. The more talented you are, the more difficult the trials will become.”
“Destiny? You’re telling me that the Stairway to Heaven can tell someone’s destiny?”
“That is correct.”
“Then can you tell me my destiny?”
“That is not how this works, Master.”
“Whatever. Let me continue my trial then.”
“You are allowed an hour to recover your spiritual energy after every trial. If you wish to advance without resting, just say so.”
Yuan nodded and said, “I will need every ounce of spiritual energy I can get.”
He sat down the next moment and began recovering his spiritual energy.
‘Wow! I should’ve noticed this sooner! The spiritual energy in this place is so pure! I can feel my cultivation base soaring towards the next level as it recovers!’ Yuan was shocked when he absorbed the spiritual energy in the Stairway to Heaven.
And sure enough, right before his one hour was up, he’d managed to breakthrough to the next level, reaching the fifth level of Spirit Grandmaster.
“Congratulations on your breakthrough, Master.” Tian’er said to him.
“Thank you. I am ready for the next trial.” Yuan then said.
“Please climb that staircase for your next trial.”
Yuan looked around until he saw the staircase Tian’er was talking about, and he began climbing it shortly after.
Meanwhile, in the spectators’ room.
“It’s back!” Min Li exclaimed in an excited voice when the pond started working again.
“Hm? What happened? Why did he return to that place? What happened to the trial? Did he pass or fail?” Chu Liuxiang asked.
“Seeing that he’s climbing the staircase, he most likely passed the first trial and is heading to his second one.” Feng Yuxiang said.
Sometime later, Yuan arrived at the second arena.
“The second trial will now begin.” Tian’er’s calm voice resounded.
The scenery changed a few moments later.
Yuan looked around to find himself at some kind of dock with many large wooden ships stationed there.
“What’s my trial this time?” Yuan asked.
“For the second trial, you must escort the Huang Family 100,000 miles until they reach the Giant’s Continent. Your trial will fail if anyone from the Huang Family dies.”
“100,000 miles?! How long will that take?!” Yuan exclaimed out loud when he heard the distance he had to travel.
“The ships are quite fast, so it shouldn’t take too long.” Tian’er responded.
“Even if they move 1,000 miles an hour, it would still take 100 hours to complete the trial!” Yuan sighed out loud.
“I have no control over what trial the Master undergoes,” she calmly responded.
Ding!
<You have started your second trial in the Stairway to Heaven!>
<You must escort the Huang Family 100,000 miles until they reach the Giant’s Continent with all of them alive to finish the trial>
<Finish the trial with all of the Huang Family’s bodyguards alive to receive a reward>
Yuan released a deep sigh before looking around the dock for the Huang Family.
“Excuse me, do you know of the Huang Family?” Yuan asked the people there.
However, it took a couple of tries this time since not everybody knew of this Huang Family.
“Oh, the Huang Family? You can find them at the Silver Peak Restaurant. They are currently recruiting bodyguards.”
“Can you tell me which direction is this restaurant?”
Once he received the directions, Yuan thanked the man before making his way towards this restaurant.
He arrived at his destination about ten minutes later, and sure enough, there was a large carriage stationed in front of the restaurant with a sign that read ‘Hiring bodyguards! 10,000,000 gold coins with bonuses! Must be at least Spirit Lord!’.
‘I’m only a Spirit Grandmaster, but I can defeat a Spirit Lord… Hopefully, they won’t mind it…’
There was already a long line of people waiting to be recruited, so Yuan entered the line and began waiting, silently observing the situation there while he waited.
“If you want to become a bodyguard, you must prove to me that you can protect my family! This man beside me is a peak Spirit Lord, and he will be testing your capabilities! Whether you can become a bodyguard or not will be at his discretion!” A middle-aged man with sharp facial features said to the crowd of people there.
‘He must be the head of the Huang Family…’ Yuan thought to himself.
A few moments later, someone from the front of the line approached the peak Spirit Lord bodyguard.
“You have three chances. Give me your best strike.” The peak Spirit Lord said to the recruit.
The recruit nodded, and without hesitation, attacked the peak Spirit Lord with his strongest attack that was backed by the power of a fourth level Spirit Lord.
However, the peak Spirit Lord didn’t even bother moving, almost like he had no intention of blocking it.
Bang!
The attack landed on the peak Spirit Lord the next second, but to everybody’s surprise, he came out unscathed by the attack.
“He’s an Array Master!” Someone there exclaimed after realizing what had blocked the attack.