After killing the Flying Leviathan, Yuan returned to the ship, but it was completely silent upon his arrival.
There was no celebration, and everybody there merely stared at him with dazed looks. Some of them even had a hint of fear within their gaze.
In their eyes, someone who could defeat the Flying Leviathan that they find terrifying is obviously even more terrifying, and their minds could not help but transfer their fear for the Flying Leviathan to Yuan.
“Thank you for letting me protect you all.” Yuan removed the array that confined the Huang Family and the bodyguards.
He knew very well that Huang Chen could’ve broken the array very easily, but Huang Chen didn’t do that and instead allowed him to protect them.
Huang Chen casually snorted, “You’re not done protecting us just yet. We still have to arrive at the Giant’s Continent.”
Huang Xiao Li suddenly stepped forward and swung her arm, giving Yuan a loud and crisp slap on the face.
“I can’t believe you left me behind like that.”
However, before Yuan could even react, she opened her arms and gave him a tight embrace.
“I’m a little tired so I will return to the room now.” She then said.
Yuan nodded, “I will protect you while you rest.”
Everyone there eventually returned to their rooms with nobody really leaving their rooms afterward.
Sea Demons still attacked the ship, but that wasn’t a problem for the ship since most of the guards had survived the Flying Leviathan’s attack, allowing them to continue protecting the ship.
The Raging Serpent encountered three more large-size Sea Demons before they arrived at the Giant’s Continent two days later, but compared to the Flying Leviathan, they were easily taken care of.
“We have arrived at the Giant’s Continent! The Raging Serpent will remain docked here for 14 days before we must return home. Please finish your business and return here by then, or you will have to wait for the next ship.”
As the ship approached the land of Giant’s Continent, Yuan received a notification.
<You have successfully escorted the Huang Family to the Giant’s Continent without any casualties>
After the notification disappeared, the door behind Yuan opened, and the Huang Family came out of their room.
“Yuan, here is your reward for your contributions— for protecting my family.” Huang Xiao Li extended her hands that were holding an opened box to him.
Sitting inside this box was a glowing orb of light that gave Yuan a nostalgic feeling.
‘It’s my memories…’ He thought to himself.
And without needing him to move a muscle, the glowing orb of light flew out of the box and into Yuan’s forehead.
Memories immediately began flowing inside his head, but he didn’t have the time to see them.
“Thank you.” He said to them afterward.
The Huang Family didn’t say anything and merely smiled at him.
When Yuan blinked his eyes a second later, the Huang Family and the ship had disappeared.
He looked around, and sure enough, he had returned to the Stairway to Heaven.
“That’s the end of the second trial? Why does it feel incomplete? I wanted to see some giants, too.” Yuan said out loud.
He was expecting to escort the Huang Family until they traded their treasures with the giants before completing the second trial, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Tian’er’s voice then resounded, “I have no control over your trial. That is for the Stairway to Heaven to decide.”
Yuan sighed at her words.
“Alright. Take me to the next trial.”
“You have one hour to rest. Do you wish to continue without resting?”
He nodded, “I had plenty of rest during the end of the trial.”
Although he could still cultivate the spiritual energy in the Stairway to Heaven, it would no longer benefit his cultivation as much as before now that he’s a Spirit Lord.
Therefore, he decided to just head on to the third trial.
Another set of stairs appeared at the end of the stage for him to climb.
After taking a deep breath, he began climbing the staircase.
“What do you think his next trial will be?” Min Li asked the others in the spectators’ room.
“Well, the Stairway to Heaven isn’t all about fighting, and he’s already had to fight two incredibly powerful opponents. His third trial might be entirely different.” Feng Yuxiang said.
Many minutes later, Yuan arrived at the third floor.
“For your third trial, you must prevent the mortals from being squashed into meat paste.” Tian’er’s voice resounded.
“Huh?” Yuan raised his eyebrows, as he was unable to comprehend the trial at first.
The scenery began to change, and Yuan found himself standing on an invisible platform about 100 meters off the ground.
It looked like he was in the middle of an ordinary village, but when he looked down, he could see a bunch of people kneeling on the ground and cowering in fear.
Amongst this group were the elderly, young men and women, and even children. In fact, half of these people were children. However, they were all kneeling on the ground with their hands covering their head, almost like they were afraid of something falling on their heads.
“What kind of trial is this?” Yuan couldn’t help but mumble to himself
Suddenly, a notification appeared.
<You have started your third trial in the Stairway to Heaven!>
<You must protect the mortals from being squashed for 12 hours!>
<Protect them for 24 hours to receive a reward!>
Right as the notification disappeared, a large shadow suddenly enveloped Yuan and the mortals below, causing him to look up, and to his absolute shock, there appeared to be a massive temple that was made out of pure gold falling from the sky.
Yuan’s immediate response was to dodge this falling temple, but then he recalled the people below him and the trial.
It was at this moment that he realized the true nature of this trial.
‘If I dodge this falling temple, the people below me will die, and I will fail the trial!’ He cried inwardly.