29 Commence the Trials

Chapter 28: Commence the Trials

While Van was busy analyzing the passages, the participants of the trial finally recovered from the aggressive mental transmission from the examiner.

The arrogant young lady was fuming. Her aunt dared to treat her like that! She was an important member of her clan's younger generation.

Everyone started to analyze all of the possible paths. With every path one could expect a danger, some were obvious while others were hidden. Someone spotted a path with a tranquil pond and dove for it. Being at the 5th Stage of Dantian Formation and having an agility Martial Skill, he easily got onto the path. Others looked at him, their anger rising to new heights.

That one path seemed to be the only tranquil one, the other ones were filled with beasts and natural disasters.

"Haha! I got the best one."

The others watched from behind a transparent Qi barrier that had appeared in the door frame when the cultivator had passed. A few minutes later, a beast similar to a Kraken emerged from the water and started to attack the cultivator. It had strength similar to that of a cultivator at the 6th Stage of Dantian Formation.

The cultivator at the 5th Stage of Dantian Formation paled at the sight of such a large monster. Its body size alone had made him forget about trying to find any way to advance. Instead, he ran back and banged on the transparent Qi barrier.

"Help me! Please, guys! We're friends right?!"

He looked at the faces of his associates, a hopeful expression on his face. How shameless! They thought as their faces scrunched up. The cultivators had thought he had found the safest route and immediately abandoned his friends. Now that he was in trouble, he turned back to them for help.

The participants that had been pressing their faces to the Qi barrier previously, were now backing up as far as they could from the barrier. They watched as a tentacle wrapped around the cultivator's leg and dragged down under the water. Luckily, it was an illusion or the cultivator could've actually died or gotten seriously injured.

The participants smiled wryly before sitting down to carefully inspect each passageway. Van felt enlightened. If he picked the right passageway, it would improve his affinity with the associated element and temper his body. He would also gain combat experience from fighting from a beast, despite it being a simulated one.

Van decided to ask Yu Lin for advice on this one. Despite Yu Lin's arrogance and rather annoying attitude, he was still a High Diety and would be able to determine his affinity and which path he should pick.

Some of the paths contained the extremes of more than two elements. There was one with a mighty mountain range that contained two giant stone golems while a thunderstorm raged above. Van hoped he might get an affinity with one of the more powerful elements, like Fire or Lightning.

Van's eyes started shining as he thought of the possibilities. He might even be one of those rare dual affinities or the legendary triple affinities.

"Yu Lin, would you help me out with this?"

The orb had entered his Outer Dantian and started to glow.

"Eh? This is pretty interesting. Despite it being an illusion, it would benefit your affinities. If the examiner is nice enough, she could add a realistic element allowing you to temper your body at the same time."

Van's spirits dimmed down a bit, there was almost no chance that the examiner would give him such a good chance. He barely knew her and was just another Inner Sect Disciple among many others. Van still felt determined to pick the best path. It wasn't every day that he got a chance to improve himself without risk of major injury or death. Or at least, that's what he thought.

"You should pick that one."

Yu Lin sent a mental transmission of a picture of one of the passageways. It was the one with a desert and lightning above it. Van could also see a few rogue tornadoes in the distance.

"Do I have a triple affinity?!"

Van was shocked. He thought that his hopes were only false hopes that could never be realized, but it turned out that they were coming true right before his eyes.

"Don't you trust me? I'm a High Diety! Even though I am currently suppressed in this orb, no one on this current world could compare to my analytical skills."

Yu Lin proudly declared. Van nodded silently. What Yu Lin had said made sense. With Yu Lin's cultivation level, he would have capabilities beyond the imaginations of anyone in this world or any other like it.

Van will have the greatest surprise of his life. Yu Lin thought to himself. The biome actually contained5 elements. Yu Lin was shocked himself when he checked. Out of all the passageways, there was only one with 5 elements and 3 with 4 elements.

Yu Lin hadn't actually checked Van's body yet but decided to check it anyways. Yu Lin's eyebrows started to twitch. After a while, his apparition left Van's Outer Dantian and re-entered the orb. Van could hear sobs coming from the orb.

"Yu Lin? Are you okay?"

Van formed a hand out of Qi inside of his Outer Dantian and knocked on the orb.

"Don't bother with me. I just realized how cruel the heavens are. Go enjoy the rare chance that I havegiven you."

Van looked inside of the orb to see a faint silhouette of a dragon in the corner of the little world. It would be a scene that he would never forget. Maybe he would use this as blackmail in the future. Van kept that picture firmly in his memory. If he ever got a chance to paint it, he would be able to use it as solid blackmail against Yu Lin.

He needed those martial techniques, and the only way to guarantee it was to have some blackmail material to keep the arrogant Yu Lin in line. An evil grin appeared on Van's face before quickly being replaced by a tranquil expression.

Van headed towards the passageway Yu Lin had told him would fit him the best and braced himself for the difficulties ahead.