Kapitel 239: Chapter 235: This is too easy!
"Huh.. I've been climbing this mountain for a while and it doesn't seem like I've even covered any distance.." Duan Li said to himself as he stopped and look back.
Since the slope was still gentle, it created the impression of not making any progress at all. However, the distance that he had actually covered thus far should at least be a few kilometers already!
'This Crafted Space sure is big..'
Wengg!
It was at this moment that a red temple gate had suddenly appeared before him. This temple gate radiated out an archaic aura, almost similar to that of the red temple gate under the Jixue Knights Academy to enter the Eternal maze, albeit significantly smaller.
Next, this red temple gate glowed brightly as it churned out spiritual Qi. These spiritual Qi coalesced to slowly form an apparition which took the figure of an elderly man with a long beard.
With both hands clasped behind his back, this old man seemed to possess the disposition of a scholarly expert!
'Ahh.. here comes the wise one..'
"I am Xuan Tian, and I appear before you in order to test your knowledge on the path of cultivation and immortality. If you are ready, we shall conduct the test immediately." the elderly man said with a voice that was filled with wisdom.
"..." Duan Li.
'Well, that was straight to the point..'
Seemingly being able to read Duan Li's mind, the elderly man chuckled slightly.
"I am a man with less words. After all, the essence of understanding everything is being able to point directly towards the crux of a matter without convoluting it with unnecessary information. Now, we shall delay no more. Here is your first test!" the elderly man then waved his hand.
Huala!
The red temple gate glowed once more, and this time, words began to appear one after another, before forming a whole complete sentences!
"Cultivation realm of the Mortal Wheels of fate refers to the five realms of the mortal cultivator. Name them."
"..."
Duan Li had a blank look on his face as he read that question once more.
Isn't this question too easy?
What cultivator that aspired to be an immortal that does not even know of this?
They might as well just cripple their own cultivation and roll to their grave!
Thus, Duan Li answered them without even giving it a single thought.
"Qi Condensation realm, Foundation Establishment realm, Core Formation realm, Golden Core realm and Nascent Soul realm!"
Tring tingg!!
The temple gate gave out a bell chime and the elderly man nodded in satisfaction.
"Good! You have passed the first test. There will be more to come as you ascend this mountain. The higher you reach, the more difficult it will get. Goodluck!"
Right after saying his piece, the elderly man was about to quickly disappear as his figure becomes translucent before Duan Li called out.
"Wait, old man Xuan Tian! I have a few questions that I wanted to ask regarding this third trial!" Duan Li asked.
The old man stopped dissipating before sighing, as if he was troubled by it.
" I do not make a habit of staying more than I should. However, a wise man once said; the expert shall enlighten, but time is also gold. Therefore, ask one question right now and the others on your next test!"
"..."
Duan Li was totally in the loss of words of trying to describe this old man.
Not only was its name could bring about a total heavenly punishment, as it literally translates to 'Heaven of the Earth', he seemed to also be trying to cosplay of someone who was busy!
Aren't I the only one currently in this trial room? Why are you being so hasty?
"Your question?" the old man furrowed his brows as he stood there impatiently.
"Ah! How high is this mountain actually?" Duan Li snapped back from his thought process and he quickly asked this question.
Hmm?
The old man went silent after hearing such a question from Duan Li, as if he had not expected it and his brows creased together, seemingly to contemplate deep with what he has to say.
Next, tilting his head 45 degrees upwards, he gazed towards the sky, with an expression as if he was forlorn about something.
He then answered;
"This mountain.. its very high. Farewell!"
Right after saying that short sentence, he turned his body around before his figure quickly dissipated into the surrounding along with the red temple gate.
Even a thief that was caught red handed would lose out in terms of their escaping speed!
"..." Duan Li.
It took him quite a while to recover from this shock, and when he did, he spat out with gritted teeth.
"Curse your whole ancestor!"
I know its very high, and I can see that too, or do you think that I'm blind?!
What I wanted to know was a hint of its exact height, or at least how long would it take for me to ascend the mountain towards its peak!
You seemed as if an indubitable expert, but now I'm beginning to have some serious doubts about you!
Hais!
Calming himself, Duan Li thought for a moment.
"Maybe I need to word my question properly?"
But just what is not clear with my previous question?
Sighing in his frustration, Duan Li continued his journey to climb the mountain once again.
After all, if what the elderly man said just now was true, he should be able to meet him again if he climbed higher.
...
Dash! Dash!
Wongg!!
After traversing for a few kilometers, the red temple gate appeared once more, along with the elderly man and his scholarly aura.
'So my previous guess was correct, this old man is indeed the one in charge of the trial here..'
Before the old man could open his mouth to speak, Duan Li had already spoken out first.
"Hey old man Xuan Tian, why aren't you able to answer my previous question properly? Are you in fact, not that knowledgable after all?" Duan Li said in a sarcastic tone with a dissatisfied look.
This was a sentence that he had thought long and hard before, and he was pretty sure that a person of the old man's personality would be baited right into it.
And his guess was spot on!
"Nonsense! Under the Heavens, there is nothing that I do not know about!" the elderly man replied with a snort.
He was the culmination of knowledge itself that the Grand Immortal had created!
For knowledge that originated from one of the Celestial being, this brat in front of him surely does not know any better!
Ignorance sure is a bliss!
Hmph!
He then continued, "What I told you before is already the right answer. This mountain is unbelievably colossal. In fact, that word would be insufficient to describe it at all!"
"Therefore, if even the word colossal could not describe it, how would you expect me to give you its exact height? Hmph!" he waved his hand impatiently as the next question appeared on the red temple gate.
"This.." Duan Li thought about it and he nodded.
'Well.. what he said does indeed make sense. But why does it feels like he was just playing around with his words? Couldn't he just give me a hint of how long it would take for me to climb to the peak?'
Are there no words to describe it too?
Nevermind..
Taking a look towards the new question that just popped out on the red temple gate, Duan Li shook his head.
'This question is still too easy!'
"The answer is... "
...
Dugu Liubai could be seen to be walking around in circles as he cupped his chin while pondering about something.
"If that is really the depiction of Mount Tai, then it would be a lifetime before he could reach its peak.."
Since the restriction of no flying still took place even in the trials, there was no way to quickly scale the mountain.
Surely, he won't be trapped in it for a lifetime then?
The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became.
In the first place, how did such a mountain came to be?
"Even if his cultivation realm was higher than what the trial room was originally meant for, it was still only by one whole realm! Yet, this mountain somehow was trying to depict a peakless mountain!"
Even immortals would still have their peak no matter how unfathomable their cultivation were!
He narrowed his eyes as he thought of this.
'Could it be?'
When this thought flashed in his mind, he shuddered.
Every single person, with no exception, would be tied with their innate potential from birth. This innate potential, while difficult, could be changed or upgraded, especially when one managed to release their first shackle of mortality and reached the immortal realm.
However even then, they would still have their limits!
If limits was not the truth, then how did so many profound and otherworldly cultivators, like the Grand Immortal, could only cultivate until the Celestial state?
Even for those beyond such a realm, they would still be inexplicably tied within the nature's law in one way or another.
Of course, such logic may not apply to those that managed to release all nine shackles of mortality, but that alone was only a rumor and nothing else. Therefore, it could not be considered as the truth.
Thus, he could only count on two possibilities; either Duan Li had no limits, or Duan Li had a very high potential, such that the trial room could not measure it and that was why it was depicting such a peakless mountain!
"En! This second reason is more logical than the first." he nodded to himself.
Perhaps after climbing for a while, the trial room would eventually show the summit..
...
The Grand Immortal, whom was currently sitting cross-legged atop of a boulder on a giant waterfall, opened his eyes.
The moment he opened his eyes, countless stars on the sky started to blink joyously, as if greeting a respected figure across all the universe!
"Hmm.. so he had entered.. and created a ruckus too.. as expected.." this inviolable figure that could make all the lands below him tremble in fear sighed, as if troubled by something unexpected.
During his moment of cultivation before, a tinge of his eternal will that he had left behind within the Eternal Maze had sent him a feedback.
When he reviewed the memories of his will, he found out that a familiar person almost destroyed the whole Compounded Space that he crafted eons ago under the instructions from the one 'above'.
That was practically an impossible feat, as the structural integrity of all the spatial lands that he crafted was basically invulnerable against those under the Celestial realm.
However, when he dug deeper, he was surprised, because he detected a power that was not of Duan Li's, and this power was even more familiar to him.
"Why did you lend him such power? If the Sovereigns, the Lords of All Era, managed to detect this, not only would the child be harmed, even you yourself would get into trouble." he said as he tilted his head towards the sky, as if speaking to an invisible figure.
Weirdly enough, a voice could be heard across the sky in reply to his question.
"I have calculated the possibilities, and even if those Sovereigns were to notice, that would be far in the future. Besides, it is not as if I fear them. If they were to foolishly cross me, the whole multiverse would be at stake." this voice that was filled with countless vicissitudes spoke out indifferently.
The Grand Immortal sighed, "You are still not able to let the past go even after eons had passed.." he shook his head and continued;
"Even if you did succeed in this goal of yours, nothing would change for you. That day when I helped you, it was because of our origin that were one of the same."
The voice was silent for a while before replying, "It is not as if you do not know the motivation that pushed me. However, different from you, I held on to it to this very day. Do not tell me that you do not grieved the moment when she died in such an unjust manner, just because we are an anomaly to their Utopian world!"
The Grand Immortal could detect waves of unstoppable rage coming from that voice as he sighed again.
"I know how you feel, remember.. we are of the same origin. In all this observable reality that we lived in, there are no truths, just decision and possibilities. I too, longed to see her smile once more.." his eyes flashed towards the memories of a distant past that was ever so clear as if it was just yesterday.
He then continued, "But did you not realize? Our actions; me saving you, and you saving the child.. it was as if, this was all but destined by someone."
CRACKLE!!
The sky immediately turned dark as typhoons, thunderstorms and lightnings suddenly poured out like it was the end of the world, sweeping the lands into destruction and nothingness!
"Do not talk to me about destiny!" the voice bellowed out.
"There are no such thing! If there was, I would find that person and kill him!"
BOOMM!!
The last sentence that came out from the voice caused all the solar bodies to explode simultaneously, as if unable to shoulder such a deep killing intent!
"Calm down." the Grand Immortal waved his hand, and all the destroyed lands and planetary bodies in the solar system around his vicinity was restored to their previous state, akin to reversing time.
"I do not doubt on what you would do. However, I pray that your actions would not hasten their doom instead. As you might have realized by now, 'Time' has already begun to make a move." he said as his expression grew serious.
"... I know, and I will take care of it." the voice replied before its presence disappeared entirely.
Sigh..
"Was my decision before, the correct one?" he contemplate and let out another sigh.
If only I could turn back time to how it was before, I would spend more time with her than my cultivation..
"Child, cherish your mother with the time you have.. do not be like us, filled with endless regrets.."
...
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
_Ram_
_Ram_ This here is a 2.5k word chapter, and it took me 4 days to complete (hope you guys understand, as I need time for myself too) but I don't compromise with the quality of my release as you can see from this chapter (might still have some grammar mistakes, English is not my first language after all).
This chap serves to hint on more of the background for these two formidable individuals, and some of you might have made a correct guess, but I won't say who.
still, I was impressed :p
Enjoy!
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein