Chapter 187: Difficulty Levels?

The rock had been launched due to the explosion of the ground and had embedded into his shoulder.

"Heal it!" The Senior brother yelled.

"On it!" one of the late stage core condensation realm cultivators responded.

He created a seal with his hand and then directed it towards the injured cultivator. The wound glowed for a moment before the sharp rock fell out and the wound stopped healing. About ten seconds later, the wound was completely gone.

"Reinforce your bodies with spirit qi, and activate defensive treasures and techniques if you have it!" The Senior brother directed.

The cultivates did as they were suggested and kept on dodging. But their luck seemed to only get worse as they reached a ravine. The ground was about a hundred meters away from them and a stream of shadows was flowing in the ravine.

The Senior brother looked back, and saw that the tide of shadows were about ten seconds away from reaching them. 

"What do we do now? Should we fly over it?" Someone questioned.

"Do it! We have no choice!" The senior brother said and gritted his teeth before flying up on his Guan Dao.

The others followed behind him, trembling on their spirit weapons. One could see that the streams of shadows were moving in a haphazard manner, and one couldn't tell where they were coming from. No matter how much they tried to use their spirit sense, it couldn't penetrate the shadows.

It was as if the shadows were eating their spirit sense, which made them even more scared.

Still, they eventually reached the other side of the ravine successfully and landed on the ground. 

~Rumble~

"DAMMIT! GO! GO! GO!" The Senior brother shouted.

Their run began again and continued for the next twenty minutes. During this, they got injured by the explosion of the ground but were never touched by the shadows. Eventually, the voice declared the end of the trial, much to the relief of the seven cultivators.

"THE TRIAL HAS BEEN COMPLETED! ALL HAVE PASSED!" The voice spoke.

~Phew~

Everyone took breaths of relief and collapsed on the ground. Even if they were core condensation realm cultivators, they could tell that they were no match for whatever those shadows were. Even if it was just an illusory trial, they still felt the aura from it.

"Those shadows… what in the heavens were they?" Su Wen questioned.

"Look there, that's what they are." The late stage core condensation realm women pointed at the carvings.

They finally got the chance to take a clear look at the carvings and understood what the shadows were. They were stunned by seeing all that had happened in the past. Lin Wu meanwhile was looking at the logs in front of him.

~Ding~

——

TRIAL COMPLETED: All contenders pass

UNLOCK SECOND LEVEL: Yes/ No?

——

"So the trial was to experience the shadow calamity… that does seem a valid way to test someone…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

Lin Wu looked at the screen and saw the cultivators trying to find the next entrance. He looked at the map and saw that there was no way for them to proceed unless he unlocked it for them.

'So the entrances were opened by default for me when I entered. Or they would not have shown up on map…' Lin Wu thought to himself.

"Alright, allow them to proceed." Lin Wu permitted.

~Ding~

——

SECOND LEVEL: unlocked

SECOND TRIAL: Waiting for contenders

——

~Shing~

~Rumble~

The cultivates who were looking for the entrance suddenly found the hall trembling. A few seconds later, a section of the wall opened up, and they saw the staircase that led them to the next level.

"Look! There it is," One of them pointed.

"Let's go then," The Senior brother said and took the lead once again.

They went up the stairs and arrive on the second level, which lit up on their arrival. There were more carvings here too, the same as the ones Lin Wu had seen.

~Ding~

——

SECOND LEVEL: Seven contenders found

INITIATE SECOND TRIAL: Yes/No?

——

The notification appeared in front of Lin Wu, and he accepted it right away. He wanted to see what more the trials actually were, as he was getting more information from them and even the system was analyzing it. Lin Wu knew that it would come in use sometime in the future.

~Ding~

——

SECOND TRIAL: Initiated

NUMBER OF CONTENDERS: Seven

SETTING DIFFICULTY: Level 2

——

Lin Wu saw the difficulty level and wondered how that was decided.

"System, what determines the difficulty level?" Lin Wu questioned.

~Ding~

——

ANSWER: The difficulty level is determined by checking the average cultivation base and the number of contenders taking part. If it is just a single cultivator at the core condensation realm, the difficulty would be set to level 1. Up to ten cultivators of core condensation realm, it would be at level 2.

The host can increase the difficulty level if he chooses to do so. The max level of difficulty is level 10 and its recommended cultivation base is either an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator or ten Dao treading realm cultivators.

——

"Holy heck! So the trials are set for even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators… wait! Doesn't this make this tomb potentially even more important than the temples of the three guardian beasts?" Lin Wu spoke, feeling a bit shocked.

Lin Wu had learned that the temples could provide blessings to cultivators which could allow them to gain new cultivation techniques, qi skills, or even bloodlines. The blessings were how the three great clans of the Ming Dao world gained their bloodlines as well.

Lin Wu didn't know how many Immortal Ascension realm cultivators there were in this world currently, but there shouldn't be more than a handful.

'Shirong's ancestor should be an immortal Ascension realm cultivator too, and the top sects should have some too. Hmm… he also said how there are very few pseudo immortal weapons in this world and they are in the hands of great powers, thus they should be controlled by the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators.' Lin Wu analyzed.