“Fine, if you can help me, my body will be yours.” Tian Yang said to Elder Sun.
Elder Sun nodded, “It’s a promise. Come here at the same time a week from now.”
“Okay.”
Tian Yang left the hunting grounds and returned to his living quarters to spend the next week absorbing the monster cores that he’d acquired from the magical beasts within the hunting grounds.
Even though he killed at least a dozen magical beasts every week for the last year, he would only get a single monster core for every 10 magical beasts he killed, and that’s if he was lucky, so it was not as if he has a lot of monster cores to support his cultivation base.
Furthermore, cultivating with monster cores isn’t very healthy for cultivators due to how much impurities monster cores contain.
However, unlike Yuan, Tian Yang did not have the ability to swallow monster cores and instantly absorb all of its spiritual energies, so it would take him at least a week to finish absorbing a monster core.
A week later, Tian Yang left his living quarters and made his way towards the hunting grounds.
After arriving at the area that Elder Sun oversees, he waited for her to show up.
About ten minutes later, Tian Yang felt a presence suddenly appear behind him.
He turned around to see Elder Sun standing there, but she had a solemn expression on her face.
“It’s been a long time since I saw you with such a serious face.” Tian Yang said when he saw her face that was basked in moonlight, making her look more beautiful than usual, especially her eyes that glistened like a clear lake.
“I have asked around about your girlfriend, Meng Lili.” Elder Sun said.
“Oh? Let’s hear it. Has she become an inner court disciple by now? Maybe she was even accepted by a powerful master within the sect. Given her talents, I doubt she will be anything other than extraordinary—.”
Before Tian Yang could even finish his sentence, Elder Sun interrupted him, “She’s dead.”
“W-What?” Tian Yang’s eyes widened with shock.
“What did you just say? That she’s dead? How is that possible?”
Elder Sun sighed, “This Meng Lili was accepted as an outer court disciple about five years ago after spending 6 months in the Bamboo Garden, am I correct? Or did I investigate the wrong person?”
“No… It sounds about right…” Tian Yang recalled very clearly that Meng Lili had become the first person to leave the Bamboo Garden, becoming an outer court disciple in just half a year.
“B-But that doesn’t make sense… How can someone so talented die? How did she even die? When did she die?”
“She died shortly after becoming an outer court disciple. As for her cause of death… she was most likely murdered by someone according to the evidences. Another disciple had found her body in the outer court, and she was already deceased by then.”
“Shortly after she became an outer court disciple? Is that why nobody seemed to know her? I thought it was weird that someone talented like Meng Lili would be a nobody…”
“You have my condolences…” Elder Sun sighed.
“Does the sect know who killed her? Did they investigate her death?” Tian Yang asked after a moment of silence.
“No, the sect did not investigate the incident. She was only an outer court disciple, and it’s common for disciples to die in the sect due to our competitive nature.”
“Is that so…”
Tian Yang looked at the moon and stood there in silence for many moments.
He then looked at Elder Sun with a painful expression, “Thank you for everything, Elder Sun. As promised, you can do whatever you want with my body, but give me a few days to clear my head. I won’t be able to focus on whatever you task me with in my current state.”
Seeing Tian Yang’s expression, Elder Sun also felt a prickling sensation in her heart. She suddenly extended her arms and embraced him.
“Take all the time you need, Disciple Tian…”
Although she couldn’t hear any noises coming from Tian Yang, she could feel her shoulders getting wet, presumably from Tian Yang’s tears.
Tian Yang returned to his room shortly after, where he would spend the next couple of days contemplating Meng Lili’s mysterious death.
“When one dies, are they considered powerless because they cannot do anything, or are they invincible because they are no longer bound by the laws of this cruel world, nor do they have to worry about being weak?”
“It appears that my goal to surpass you has already been met without my awareness, and when one achieves their goal, they will find another one. Therefore, my next goal will be to find the truth behind your death and deal with it accordingly.”
“…”
“Why is Brother Yuan suddenly crying?” Xiao Hua mumbled in a low voice when she noticed the tears on Yuan’s face.
“I would be crying too if I was in his shoes right now,” said Chu Liuxiang.
“How long has it been since the trial started?” Min Li asked.
“It’s been almost an entire day,” said Feng Yuxiang.
“Do you think it’ll end soon?”
Feng Yuxiang shrugged.
Inside the trial, Yuan slowly opened his eyes after he finished looking through his memories, and the first thing he did was look at the timer.
<23:14:20>
<23:14:21>
<23:14:22>
‘Less than an hour left…’ He sighed inwardly.
He then looked up at the golden temple that he had been carrying this entire time.
‘If it were not for my breakthrough to Spirit Lord, I probably wouldn’t have survived 24 hours in this trial…’
This made Yuan wonder what would happen if he didn’t finish the bonus challenge and receive his reward. Would he lose the chance to regain a part of his memories forever? Or would it simply delay his process?
Whatever is supposed to happen, he doesn’t intend on finding out.
Forty-five minutes later, Yuan has successfully endured 24 hours of this gruesome trial, putting an end to the third trial.