章 109: Returning to Reality
The first thing that Yaan saw after exiting the True-False Illusion World, were the nine people surrounding him, all of whom were wearing shocked expressions.
Whilst four of these individuals came and went during the past nine years that Yaan spent in the trial, they all returned expectantly when the Yaan in the illusion approached the time of his entry into the True-False Illusion Formation. Those four were unable to see into the illusion, unlike the three spirits and the two elders, but they could still wait for the result, whilst listening to the others recount some of the details of the goings on within.
When Yaan saw the shocked expressions staring at him, he blinked in surprise. He knew that some people were watching him undergo this trial, but nine individuals? And strangely, from what he could tell, they didn't all look like spirits of the inheritance…?
In the next moment, his eyes narrowed and his gaze darkened.
Four auras bore down on him relentlessly as their shock cleared away. Yaan slowly stood up and turned to face these individuals silently, maintaining his wariness, but showing no trace of fear or difficulty when enduring this pressure.
At first, his ability to endure their auras startled those present, but when they thought about what he had just done, it really didn't seem so strange.
This person was so resolute, so ruthless, that he was even willing to experience death just to gain more power. Would someone like that be intimidated by the auras of any of them?
Yaan examined the four who released their auras whilst maintaining a calm expression.
A giant of a man with dark skin, covered in eye-catching black tattoos from head to foot. He was clearly a member of the Aztec Tribe. Right now, he was openly releasing his killing intent.
A girl with an appearance even younger than Yaan's own. She had purple hair tied up in twin tails, but it was her carefree expression that truly caught his attention. Carefree, yet very malicious.
An old man with a full head of white hair. Out of them all, his expression when looking at Yaan was the darkest.
Another man who was very average looking. He was wearing a conical hat which partially hid his face. His robes were plain and black, hiding the shape and size of his body. The robes also seemed to disguise his aura when he was not releasing it.
But right now, all four of these auras pressured down on him…all four auras were at the strength of Rank 5!
These four all cultivated the body, but they all possessed the battle strength of Origin Soul Realm cultivators! Either they cultivated only Vital Energy until the 5-Star Realm, or they followed the true body tempering path to such a stage, or perhaps, they possessed this level of Astral Power!
"Enough!"
The old spirit whom Yaan recognised spoke a single word, causing the four individuals' expressions to change. Immediately, they retracted their auras and stepped back, allowing the other five figures to walk forwards.
Even though they pulled back for now and tried to hide their expressions, Yaan could see the malicious intent in their gazes.
Having finally understood, Yaan smirked darkly.
So, these people were his competition?
"Kid…"
Yaan turned towards the old trial spirit, who currently stood in between the devil spirit, and a woman whom Yaan assumed to be another inheritance spirit. As for the other two, he was unsure about them, but they stood behind this trio calmly.
"Are you still…the same person?"
Seeing the old man's serious expression that clearly held some doubts, Yaan sighed to himself. In the end, he did something too shocking, so much so that even the trial spirit had his doubts!
After the old spirit spoke those words, the expressions of the other two spirits became more grim.
"I am." Yaan cut right to the point, feeling uneasy as he was being watched so closely by these entities, who could definitely kill him on the spot if they so desired.
He was uncertain regarding the inheritance's rules when it came to the trial spirits killing the challengers…
He felt less concerned by those four in the back. Despite being more powerful than him right now, they were still confined by the rules of the inheritance. That is, unless the rules in the 9th level differed…?
In the end, Yaan remained cautious. He needed to choose his words carefully here, incase his life truly was in danger.
"You…your illusion devoured you…" The old spirit couldn't help but say. When he saw Yaan's demeanour, which was clearly on guard and reserved, yet also calm, he actually relaxed slightly.
Although there were some differences, he was acting similarly to the kid he knew from before, meaning that…they should indeed be the same person.
"Right." Yaan nodded. "I should have surpassed a Perfect Grade, right?"
He hoped that by pointing this matter out, they would forget about their concerns over his identity…
"Ah!" The woman beside the old man exclaimed slightly, her eyes widening as she realised that Yaan was right. She blinked her deep brown eyes and turned towards the old man uncertainly. As for the devil spirit, he did not take his gaze away from Yaan. Yaan felt uncomfortable under this gaze, as if it was seeing through all of his secrets…
Whilst the old spirit was in charge of handling this specific situation, Yaan knew that the devil spirit was in command of the inheritance as a whole.
"Indeed…you did not merely break out from the illusion, you completely shattered the illusory world. Of course, you didn't achieve this directly with your own strength, it was done using a ridiculous method…having your complete illusory consciousness form, then by having that consciousness devour your own. The collapse of the realm led to the exposed Sage Power absorbing into your newly formed mind, allowing the new consciousness to return to your body. This method can only be assessed as Apex Grade…"
The old man spoke slowly and carefully, but right now, only Yaan and the three spirits were able to hear what he was saying. He had erected a sound barrier between them and the others, preventing them from overhearing this conversation.
Yaan silently listened to the old man, slowly nodding as he finally came to understand…how it was that he had succeeded.
Sure, he intended for his illusory self to devour his original mind, but everything else? How could he possibly have known that this 'Sage Power' would allow the newly formed mind to integrate back into his body?
Honestly, Yaan hadn't even considered this point, because he hadn't realised that it would be an issue in the first place!
As the old man continued to stare at him intently, Yaan silently observed the others in the room. He was already somewhat familiar with this trial spirit and the devil spirit, but he was seeing everyone else here for the first time.
No, that wasn't quite right…he had actually encountered the female spirit and the two individuals standing behind the spirit trio whilst he was in the temporal acceleration chamber. That meeting was only brief though, whilst Yaan had not been paying attention at the time.
'If my assumption is correct, then this old man should be the overseer for this 4th trial, whilst the devil spirit manages the inheritance as a whole. As for the woman…from the way she acts, it seems that her status is below the other two. Perhaps she is second in command in this trial?'
Yaan's assumption was correct. After staring at him some more, the old spirit straightened up and sighed.
"Well, as absurd as your completion of the trial may seem, you did indeed succeed…with an Apex Grade."
The sound barrier between the spirits and the others behind came down, allowing them to overhear this.
The expressions of the two behind the spirits changed into shock, as did the four behind them. However, those four also looked at Yaan severely…clearly, they were not just shocked, they were also wary.
Glancing back, the old spirit rolled his eyes.
'Well then, since we're already at this point, I might as well make things a bit worse right now, rather than drag this out any longer…' The old man thought as his gaze flashed.
He glanced at the devil spirit and received a slight nod, then turned back to Yaan.
"Since you cleared a trial with Apex Grade completion, you have earned the right to become an 'inheritor candidate'. This means that for you, the rules in the 4th trial will be changing slightly. You are currently the second inheritor candidate, the other being Tu Shan over there."
The old man casually nodded towards the giant Aztec Tribesman behind him.
"From now on, when you challenge others, they will be forced to battle you immediately. At the same time, when others challenge you, you will be forced to fight right away. You cannot use immunity, nor can others evade your challenges using their own immunity. There are now no limitations on the number of challenges that you can issue each day. You may also challenge up to ten individuals at once. You are no longer limited in challenging those only two half abodes above you, you may challenge whomever you desire on your level or above. Haha, if you want, you can challenge those four right now, how about it?"
The old man smiled at Yaan teasingly. Yaan couldn't help but glance back, only to find the four people that the old spirit was talking about, glaring back at him with open murderous intent.
"I'll pass…"
Whilst their auras could no longer intimidate him, challenging any one of those four was simply suicidal, not to mention taking them all on at once.
As if not feeling the tension in the air, the old spirit nodded with a smile. He stepped to the side, as did the devil spirit and female spirit, so that Yaan could face the two behind them. He had been feeling curious about them since the beginning…who were they, and why were they here, when they were clearly not spirits?
"Now, I'm sure you're curious about everyone here, that's only natural since you're currently in the 9th level pagoda." The old spirit went on. "Normally I wouldn't bother introducing you, but since they all are aware of your existence now, it would be unfair to leave you in the dark."
"You seem to have already realised that I am the 4th trial spirit, you can just call me Old 4th. This devilish spirit you are of course familiar with, he is the inheritance spirit. This lady is my assistant, her name is Little Shu."
"Lord 4th…" The female spirit looked towards the old man helplessly. He chuckled and casually waved his hand.
"Fine, her name is Shuanji. Anyway…"
The old spirit then went on to introduce the other six present.
As Yaan expected, those two who bore him no ill will were not ordinary inheritance challengers. He didn't know the specifics of how this came to be, but it seemed that they were once challengers, but were now 'elders' of the 4th trial. They were exempt from the usual rules of the realm, not needing or being permitted to engage in death matches. However, they were not allowed to ever leave this 4th Trial Realm, whilst they worked under Shuanji to manage the various affairs throughout the realm.
Yaan looked at one of the pair and blinked. This man was tall and had a stern expression, but he appeared to be smiling at Yaan with good will. His expression was naturally quite fierce though, so it was difficult to be certain about this. From his chiselled face to his luscious black groomed beard, he really looked like a man with authority.
"We actually met some time ago. Before the time in the temporal pagoda I mean." The man spoke with a slight smile as he greeted Yaan. His name was Elder Gustav.
"You're…the voice from my last battle?" Yaan asked slowly.
"Mm. I have to say, I was impressed at that time, that you could actually somewhat locate my position from my voice and aura alone." Elder Gustav chuckled lightly.
The woman beside him fiddled with her red hair as she examined Yaan curiously. Yaan now knew that like Elder Gustav, she was an elder of the 4th trial called Elder Shia, meaning that she had no reason to harm him. She didn't say anything, but she smiled and nodded, also showing her good will.
Now, as for the other four…
"Another inheritor candidate, huh?" The Aztec man stepped forwards and stared at Yaan with palpable killing intent. His name was Tu Shan, and out of the four, he was the only one who didn't bother trying to hide his ill will towards Yaan.
By now, the other three had calmed their tumulus emotional states. Usually, they wouldn't lose their composure like this, but they were simply too shocked…from Yaan's performance in the illusion, to his Apex Grade completion, to his status as the second inheritor candidate…all of these things were too shocking!
Their expressions were now plain as they examined Yaan carefully. With everyone's auras retracted, the pressure on Yaan was greatly reduced. Even so, his expression remained unchanged.
Yaan was guarded right now, but since he had confirmed that these 9th level residents also needed to stick to the rules and could neither attack nor challenge him right now, he could relax slightly. At most, they would try to make use of those on the lower levels to deal with him.
Out of the four 9th level challengers, the one who made Yaan feel the most apprehensive was not Tu Shan, but the expressionless man wearing the conical hat. He was called Fahun, whilst the young looking girl with purple twin tails was named 'Yiyi' and the arrogant and somewhat murderous looking old man was introduced to Yaan as 'Old White'.
These four were the only four true challengers of the 9th level, since the two elders were no longer considered challengers. They had both given up on the opportunity to obtain the inheritance, opting to remain within the 4th Trial Realm in exchange for peace and resources.
However, Yaan was not given long to assess these people. After the introductions were completed, he couldn't help but ask Old 4th:
"So…where's my bag?"
He noticed early on that his bag, the universe treasure that he earned in the 2nd trial, was missing. The old spirit rolled his eyes before responding dismissively.
"You spent nine full years in the illusion world, that time also passed by within the 4th Trial Realm. Naturally, you missed the challenges that you issued…it's good enough that I helped you out and am allowing you to get away without execution for breaking the rules, but, your possessions and residences were given to those first opponents after it was announced that you lost by default." The old man replied nonchalantly, but Yaan's eyes widened and he was about to protest this.
"I-"
"Anyway, I only took away your spatial bag and its contents, I'm even allowing you to keep that golden armour and stone ring! How generous am I, right?"
Yaan became silent. It was true that he still had his armour and the ring, after all, everyone kept looking at these items with a variety of gazes.
"Now then, you seem to be in good condition, so my assistance ends here. Since you lost your challenges by default nine years ago, I'm sending you back to the 1st level, try to make your way back up to the 9th level as quickly as possible."
And with that, Yaan's surroundings blurred, before he found himself back in the 1st level's wasteland region. This area was far away from the various towns and villages filled with residents, it was also quite far from the pagoda and Battle Temple. There was nobody around, and for some time, Yaan stood here, silent and alone.
"Hah…"
After a long while, he sighed deeply, before scratching his head and trying to organise his thoughts.
"What about my reward for completing the trial though?" He muttered to himself.
In the end, he sighed once again and shook his head.
"It's just as Rui said…spending nine years within an illusion is far too long for someone as young as me…" Yaan murmured as he stared off into the distance dreamily. Looking out across this barren land, this real world that he hadn't seen for nine long years, he felt a complex array of emotions passing through his heart.
"I really can't tell the difference between the illusion world and this one…"
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