Xu Shi was in a separate room for her test. She had now reached the 98th level, taking the third spot. However, she knew it would not be long before her other two competitors caught up and surpassed her.
She then focused on the first two positions and squinted her eyes. She did not say anything but concentrated on her reward for this trial.
“With this power, I should be able to begin building the Immortal Aperture.”
The Primordial Chaos Art and the Primordial Chaos Physique are perfect for each other. Her husband thought of absorbing the other physiques in the first place because of a secret page left in the scripture that people with Absolute Chaos Physique could only access.
The Primordial Chaos Art is an excellent body refining technique divided into four layers: Yellow, Profound, Earth, and Heaven. In each layer, the cultivator will create something called Apertures inside their bodies, which is an energy organ or hidden treasure of the body like Meridians, Acupoints, or Orifices. As such, in the first layer, they would create the Yellow Aperture, then the Profound Aperture for the second, and subsequently for the other layers.
Each Apertures will temper the cultivator’s body to an extreme height, and based on the cultivator’s Willpower, the tempering is different for everybody. Spiritual Qi and other resources are required to cultivate any aperture. Still, it’s best to use the Chaos Aura released from an owner of the Absolute Chaos Physique as the foundation of the Aperture.
For most cultivators, the Primordial Chaos Art only had four layers. However, there is a hidden fifth layer for the Primordial Chaos Physique. The physique owner can use the natural Chaos Qi created by their bodies to condense an Immortal Aperture.
According to the scripture, this technique can allow someone to break the boundary between mortal and Immortal and reach the battle strength of 1-3 Leaf Immortal Venerable.
Xu Shi reviewed the information about this art one last time before beginning. She lamented that if this technique’s fifth later were not restricted to only people with the Primordial Chaos Physique, it would be an even better body refining technique than the [Ancient Desolate Body Refining Scripture.]
She concentrated on the power inside her body to begin building the [Immortal Aperture]. She could sense four small spaces inside her body similar to her Divine Sea, and each space contained a black gold rune.
The lowest one was not that complicated, but the Heaven Aperture was as intricate as the best Quasi-Emperor Formation. Xu Shi knew this was another difficulty in cultivating this technique: it is impossible to do so without some talent for divine runes.
Using the unknown power of the trial, she opened the fifth Treasured Space–as they were called. Her body shook slightly as the power generated by opening that space traveled throughout her body, destroying everything in its path. Then, the destruction healed and increased her fleshly body strength in the process.
Immediately afterward, she used the remaining energy and the Chaos Qi that her physique condensed to build the Immortal Aperture, constructing thousands of interconnected divine runes. Regrettably, she only had the resources to make a tenth of it.
The incomplete Immortal Aperture trembled as it released a power that began to temper her body and elevate it to a higher level. The pain was unbearable to 99% of cultivators, but it was nothing to her as she did not even grunt.
To Xu Shi, there was no greater excruciating pain than losing the love of her life.
After an unknown amount of time, the process ended. So, Xu Shi clenched her hands to feel the power coursing through her veins. She felt her strength, endurance, regeneration, and defense greatly enhanced.
She believed that once she finished creating the Immortal Aperture, she would have the strength of a 3-Leaf Immortal.
‘By then, I will also be able to survive the attack of a 1-Leaf Immortal. Better yet, I can easily defeat one,’ she thought, reminiscing about that previous shocking battle.
She stood up, feeling better than before.
‘I cannot believe this technique is an incomplete one.’
She knew from her inherited memories that the creator mentioned higher layers such as Dao Aperture, Chaos Aperture, and Primordial Aperture. She could not fathom how powerful someone would be after creating these apertures or the resources needed for them.
“It does not matter. After I prove the Dao, I can search for the remaining of this scripture.”
(AN: Before anyone asks: No, Wang Wei will not get his hands on this scripture. He cannot have ALL the good things.)
Xu Shi then proceeded to the next level. She reached the 145th level with her newfound strength, taking the third spot. As for Ye Dafu, he came in fourth in the 110th level, and Mu Lei came fifth in the 105th level.
In his trial, Wang Wei finally received the notification that the competition had ended, and as the second place holder, he had a special prize. Then, a book appeared in front of him.
[Twelve Zodiac Powers]
He flipped through the book, and his eyes lit up slightly. The book was a battle technique that used his acupoints to recreate the 12 Chinese Zodiacs and allowed a cultivator to display many powerful and weird abilities.
‘This is the perfect technique to allow me to display the power of my fleshly body to its full extent.’
He was satisfied with this reward. Suddenly, he heard Lord Spirit’s voice inside the pagoda.
“The minimum required points for a seeded player to challenge another is 500 points. Unfortunately, only the second-seeded player acquired enough points. So, we will immediately begin the second round of the trial.”
Every participant can have two points for each level they reach, and the first seeded player had an extra 500 points. Since no one other than these two reached the 250th level, the competition continued.
The environment changed, and Wang Wei found a massive pillar of jade divided into five before him. He received the instruction to instill his spiritual power into the pillar, so he did so after checking things.
The first section that indicated a standard quality of soul lit up. A few seconds later. The remaining four sections show the classification of a soul’s quality: bronze, silver, gold, and jade.
Wang Wei easily lit up all five sections before waiting. A few minutes later, a new list appeared in front of him.
Wang Wei: Peak Jade Quality, Unknown Soul Mutation, 2000 Points.
Chu Luo: Peak Jade Quality, Samsara Mutation, 1500 Points
Liang Shixian: Peak Jade Quality, Incense Mutation, 1440 Points
Ji Lanfang: Advanced Jade Quality, Sword Mutation, 1200 Points
Jingwu Hua, Medium Jade Quality, Yang Mutation, 1100 Points
Shi Qian: Peak Jade Quality, 1000 Points.
Tong Ruobing: Peak Jade Quality, 1000 Points
Feng Heng: Peak Jade Quality, 1000 Points
Xu Shi: Low Jade Quality, Chaos Mutation, 990 Points
Ye Dafu, Peak Golden Quality, Thee-eye Mutation, 950 Points
Mu Lei, Peak Golden Quality, Star Mutation, 900 Points.
Khutulun, Advance Golden Quality, Golden-Light Mutation, 890 Points
Tolui, Advance Golden Quality, Golden-Light Mutation, 850 Points
…
Everyone reacted to this list differently. Chu Luo frowned at the fact he was not first but did not focus too much on the result since he still held the overall number one position. Nevertheless, he wondered why this trial could not identify Wang Wei’s mutation.
Liang Shixian was genuinely surprised as he thought he would shine in this part of the trial since he was an expert on the soul. Li Lanfang did not care about the final outcome; he was just looking forward to fighting some powerful people to prevent his sword from being dulled.
Nevertheless, as a pure swordsman, his result in the first trial was abysmal as he only reached the 12th level. So, he was glad he had enough points to challenge some seeded players.
Jingwu Hua could not control her anger. She thought after using the method her father left for her, she was guaranteed to eclipse all her peers and prove the Dao in her second attempt. However, everything so far has hinted that she had awakened in the wrong generation.
Shi Qian was frustrated. As an Immortal Child, she was born with a powerful soul. And as a light race, as long as she commits acts of kindness that generate positive Karma, she can purify her soul. She thought she had reached the limit on that process, but this trial gave her a wake-up call.
Tong Ruobing acted calmly after receiving the news; she now thought of how to mutate her soul like the others, and she already had a feasible plan.
‘This Wang Wei is like a gift that keeps on giving,’ she thought with a smile.
Feng Heng also did not care. He hid the mutation of his soul to prevent others from discovering his Buddhist nature.
Xu Shi frowned as she figured out the reason she did not have a higher quality soul; she did not inherit everything from Lin Fan since she did not cultivate all the laws he did. For example, he understood Soul Law, but she did not. So, she decided to find a way to raise the quality of her soul.
Ye Dafu and Mu Lei were not surprised by this outcome. They both focused more on their bodies than their souls. Nevertheless, they still decided to make up for this shortcoming once they returned home.
Wang Wei watched the results while analyzing the list. He instantly could tell that Feng Heng should be higher on that list. However, he focused on something else that caught his attention: the soul mutation of the Barbarian siblings.
He found it odd to be Golden-Light when it should be related to the Ancient Spirit they contracted. So, he decided to watch out if this anomaly was important or not.
“We will begin the second part of the Soul Trial: Quantity,” the Lord Spirit communicated to all the participants in the pagoda. Then, the pillar in front of them changed, removing the sections.
The participants then began to instill their spiritual power without stopping. While doing so, the participants can see the lived ranking of the others, fueling their competition.
Half an hour later, the third spot and below had a result, but Wang Wei and Chu Luo were still fiercely competing for the first spot. After an hour, Wang Wei had reached his limit, and he could tell he would lose in the quantity department, but he did not want to.
So, he slightly removed the seal in his Primordial Spirit and accessed some spiritual power from his past life to compete with Chu Luo. Then, after another hour, the Spirit Lord suddenly decided to give both of them the first spot and award them 1000 points each.
The Third spot did not change as the Divine Race, Liang Shixian, took it, but not by much. The fourth spot went to Jingwu Hua, who tied for the same points as Shi Qian.
Finally, the group left the pagoda, and everyone became tense.