Chapter 404: Inheritance Trial

Chapter 404: Inheritance Trial

The lava lake welcomed them yet again. It was calm and silent—evidently full of hidden danger.

Yet, after reading the skeleton’s last message, they suspected it was safe.

Jack took the lead. He stepped on the first stone over the sea of lava. Each stone was barely large enough for a foot—one slip could end at a dip in condensed lava.

Of course, Jack could fly, but he didn’t do so. He thought it disrespectful. Instead, he followed the stone steps through the lava, experiencing its blazing heat which made even him sweat. Every root that stood out from the lava was like a dragon head staring him down.

Nothing jumped out. No monster rose with jaws wide open to swallow him. Jack smoothly crossed the lava lake and arrived before the massive tree. He was a speck of dust before it—barely an ant. As he looked up, his gaze was lost in endless leaves and verdant greenery. Though ancient, this tree was full of life.

Back under the volcano, Jack and Brock had discovered a tree that lived and thrived in an underground pool of lava. They did not know its name, but it was certainly a heavenly treasure, a medicinal plant of the highest quality.

But this current tree was far, far superior. Whereas the previous tree lived in underground magma, this one was rooted in lava dozens of times hotter, like substantialized Fire Dao. Moreover, the previous tree had only been the size of a human, while this one rose for miles. Its branches possibly ran under the entire hidden realm.

Jack suspected that this place was the very heart of the realm.

He took a deep breath. Reverence filled him. Then, he took the last few steps and arrived before the tree.

A small square indentation met his gaze. Its edges were straight, as if purposely cut, and innumerable tiny lines spread over its surface. Jack didn’t need to look to know that the size of this square matched perfectly with the key in his hands.

“Insert the key,” a voice rang inside his mind. It was not the voice of someone present, but a pre-recorded message that reached whoever approached the tree. Jack could only imagine that the dead cultivator had heard this message countless times, agonizing over his lack of a key. He must have received no other clues, no messages, no acknowledgement of his existence besides this impersonal requirement he could never fulfill.

Such a death was truly cruel. Who knows how many times the cultivator had shouted at the tree, receiving only silence as a response? How many times he attacked, only for his sword to be bounced back?

Thankfully, Jack had solved the cubes before diving into the hole. He raised the key in his hand and gently pressed it into the indentation, finding that it matched. All the innumerable tiny lines of the key and indentation combined. A perfect union was formed. The key shone green, and suddenly, Jack saw green lines flare to life. They started from the location of his key and spread outward, snaking across the tree. They were like runes—like a divine tapestry that hugged this entire tree, this entire realm.

Before long, the tree was covered in these runes. They were faint, yet clearly present—and they spoke of secrets Jack was not the least privy to. This was not about Life or Death; it was something else.

Suddenly, the tree flared to life as if awakened. The cavern shook. Blazing green erupted from within the bark, and the leaves far above stood straight, suddenly filled with vigor.

“I am Archon Green Dragon,” a voice calmly intoned. It echoed everywhere—the majesty inside it was so dense it gave Jack a sense of awe, as if staring at the endless starry heavens. “And this is my inheritance trial!”

Jack’s mind was shaken. Suppressing the urge to bow, he looked back at his friends, who were busy gawking at the tree runes.

Inheritance trials were not an unknown concept—back in Trial Planet, the Space and Labyrinth Rings were filled with all sorts of inheritances left behind by ancient powerhouses. An inheritance was the sum of its creator’s life, the path of cultivation they had carved into the universe—and they were always accompanied by a trial. Nobody wanted their inheritance grasped by weaklings. The ancient masters set harsh trials for their descendants, testing their talent to deem them worthy.

Across the universe, inheritances and trials were not uncommon at all. However, the inheritance of an Archon was a completely different matter.

This was a being at the very peak of the cultivation world. Throughout the years, how many Archons could there have been? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? Even the Old Gods were only strong Archons.

The inheritance of such a character was absolutely world-shaking, but that was not the first thing that came to Jack’s mind.

The stronger the master, the better the inheritance. And the better the inheritance, the stricter the criteria with which a trial taker was judged. The trial of an Archon would be hundreds and thousands of times harder than a random B-Grade’s. Only the very peak geniuses of the universe could hope to meet the exacting standards of such a powerhouse.

Was Jack such a person?

It wasn’t that he underestimated himself. He was the most talented cultivator of the Cathedral, with potential that vastly outstripped his contemporaries. Yet, before an Archon, that was nothing.

Archons could live for a million years, or maybe even more. Being the greatest genius of a generation meant nothing to them, because they had seen thousands of generations come and go, and their trial would be open to challengers for many more thousands.

Jack was very talented, sure. He had worked hard and fought hard, securing all sorts of lucky chances. Amongst C-Grades, his current potential could be said to be one of the greatest in the universe. But wasn’t that the case for all the peak geniuses of every generation?

Jack’s true competition was not his contemporaries, but the greatest talents that had emerged over the last hundreds of thousands of years. In such a gathering, even Min Ling could only be considered average. As for Jack, he had no idea how he stacked up.

There was a saying in the universe: Three years to the D-Grade, ten to the C-Grade, a hundred to the B-Grade, and a thousand to the A-Grade. That was the minimum cultivation speed of a prime genius at every Grade. They were so far ahead of the power curve that their cultivation galloped forth at great speeds, rushing to the ends of their potential very quickly. When it began to slow down, that was when they knew they were approaching their limit.

Where an exit portal used to stand, there was now only stone. It wasn’t hard to imagine that the rest of the portals had disappeared as well.

They were stuck.

***

On the outside world, the four A-Grades had been calmly meditating before the entrance of the hidden realm. They wouldn’t let anyone enter or affect it. Suddenly, however, all their eyes snapped open. “The portal!” Heavenstar shouted.

The egg-shaped opening flickered. Then, it simply winked out of existence.

Boatman’s eyes widened. “No!” he growled. He instantly arrived at the portal’s previous location and jabbed his hand into spacetime, using his considerable understandings to keep the portal from collapsing.

However, how could Elder Boatman’s spacetime Dao compare with Archon Green Dragon’s? Not only was his cultivation boundary lower, but he also didn’t focus on spacetime to begin with.

Heavenstar did. He arrived only an instant later and spread his perception over the location, investigating the tiniest abnormalities. Everyone looked at him, waiting for an explanation. Finally, Heavenstar opened his eyes, his expression tinged with disbelief.

“Well?” Purity asked. “What happened? Did the portal collapse?”

“That’s not it...” Heavenstar said slowly, in a voice as if even he struggled to believe himself. “It did not collapse. It just...closed.”

Boatman frowned dangerously. “Did someone interfere?”

To affect a portal so close to them without leaving a trace, one would need to be at least a late A-Grade focusing on spacetime. Possibly even stronger.

“I don’t think that is the case.” Heavenstar shook his head. He still sounded puzzled. “It’s like...the portal no longer exists. Any connection it had to our universe has been cleanly severed. Reopening it is far beyond my powers. I dare to say that even if a spacetime Archon arrived here, they would still be unable to open it, because there is simply no connection between here and there anymore.”

“What are you saying?” Ocean asked. “How can there be no connection? Are you implying that the hidden realm is in another spacetime altogether?”

“I believe so,” Heavenstar replied.

They all frowned. Hidden realms were normally adjacent to the universe, like a pimple sticking out of someone’s skin. That was their nature. If this hidden realm was not such a case but was located in a separate spacetime instead, then it could not be the inner world of a dead expert as they expected. There were a few more alternatives, but they were all equally terrifying.

“What can we do?” Boatman asked.

“Nothing. The realm was cut off by its own inner workings. Whether it chooses to reappear or not is completely up to the realm. It could even reopen in a completely different location of our universe—though I estimate it will still be within the Heaven’s Egg galaxy.”

“So our disciples are trapped in there but there is nothing we can do about it.”

“Correct. The only other way would be for someone in the hidden realm to shatter space and reconnect with our universe, but that is completely impossible for them. Even I might fail. So... We can only hope.”

Boatman snorted. His gaze was dark and dangerous—not only was Jack in there, his most recent disciple, but also the incomparably precious death cube! Losing it would be terrible.

If he had known this would happen, then no matter how much he appreciated Jack, he would have never given him the cube.

But, not all was lost. The cube contained a wisp of Boatman’s soul; he had a deep connection to it that could even penetrate spacetime to a degree, and even while being cut-off from him like this, it could still persist for at least a year without extinguishing. If he found a peak A-Grade who specialized in spacetime...perhaps there was a chance.

Naturally, he wouldn’t let anyone else know about this.

“If that is so, there is no point in staying here,” Boatman said. “I’m leaving.”

Space parted and he departed without waiting for an answer. As for Heavenstar, he quickly ran away as well—he wouldn’t stay near Purity without Boatman for support. The two Hand of God Elders also left after some time—there was no meaning to Heavenstar lying about something so minor as a B-Grade hidden realm.

Boatman had rushed to find a peak A-Grade cultivator he had some relationship with and who also practiced spacetime. However, his attempt was doomed to fail. How could the dimension hidden by an Archon be so easy to discover? The only chance was if someone appeared who had considerably deeper understandings into spacetime than Archon Green Dragon, but...that was a pipe dream. Even if the spacetime Old Gods personally arrived, they still might not be enough.

In other words, the green dragon hidden realm had been completely isolated. And the only one with the power to change things...was Jack.