Chapter 191: The Golden Sun Venerable’s Trial

Chapter 191: The Golden Sun Venerable’s Trial

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[You and your party have been deemed worthy of participating in the {Golden Sun Venerable’s Trial}!]

[The entrance of the {Murim’s Abandoned Temple} Dungeon has been sealed until the Trial is either completed or you and your party die. In which case, it will be deemed a failure, and the Dungeon will open its gates for new participants.]

[You and your party must complete the Five Challenges of the Trial to Complete it. The First Challenge: {Challenge of Strength}, will now begin.]

[Ten Disciples of the Golden Sun Venerable have been summoned by his Divine Powers. They might only be their Martial Souls, but they possess almost the same amount of strength as they once did when alive.]

[Defeat all ten disciples to advance into the next Challenge.]

[Dungeon Restrictions: Mana and Magic are sealed.]

[Dungeon Effects: Ki Regeneration Speed Increases by +100%]

The Golden Sun Venerable is a figure equal to an Almighty God in this Abandoned Murim World. There are many Murim Worlds, similarly to how there are hundreds of Hells and Heavens. However, unlike those places, Murim Worlds work with different logic and power systems.

Venerables are titles granted to the strongest of Cultivators, who have reached the pinnacle and have become their world’s strongest. Naturally, they usually ascend into Constellations. The Golden Sun Venerable is one of them.

He belongs to the Orthodox Faction, so he cannot be called a Heavenly Demon. He was a figure of great respect who both protected his world and led it to prosperity. However, when he ascended into a Constellation, he had to leave behind his world.

Without their protector, the World of Golden Heaven Continent quickly perished against the endless invasion from other, fragmented worlds. And like the rest, it was devoured. Whatever fragments are left have become Dungeons, appearing within the Worlds qualified for “Awakenings”.

Do you see a pattern now? It is an endless cycle where worlds are devoured and their fragments become dungeons for new worlds chosen for Awakenings, who are later destroyed in a similar way.

Over and over and over and over and over and over again.

And this fate will be shared with Earth. Indeed, only the strongest of Apex Worlds, amongst all Apex Worlds will ever qualify to “Ascend” into the Greater Beyond.

This is why, from the very beginning, Constellations never had the intention of saving our world. They only want to recruit talented members from it and bring them to their own factions to further strengthen their positions within the Greater Beyond.

Our world means nothing to them; they couldn’t care less.

And that’s why we must fight, because we can’t rely on Constellations, the only ones we can rely on to save our world.

Is ourselves.

"Woah, what with the golden ghosts?!” Kevin panicked, quickly equipping his armor, and summoning his spear. “Ugh...!”

One of the Martial Souls swiftly attacked him, swinging their long sword against him while leaping in midair. A loud clash released a flash of bright light. Large quantities of Ki unleashed powerful pressure, pushing Kevin back!

“Fuck! They’re tough!” Kevin stepped forward, trying to channel his mana to strengthen his body. “Huh?”

However, he couldn’t.

“Why... Why can’t I use Mana?!” Dan Baihe, our magician, was the first to ask this, however.

“I can’t use it either!” Annabelle cried. “What’s going on?! It feels like I never had it to begin with...”

As the trio was confused, the Martial Souls approached rapidly. I swiftly stepped forward, and with Gram in one hand and Aim’s thunder sword form in the other, I unleashed a barrage of slashing attacks. Lightning Ki coursing through my body.

“{Thousand Blades}”

Dozens of slashes covered the bodies of two Martial Souls holding a spear and an axe. They were fast, but I was much faster. Before they could even react, their bodies were sliced into hundreds of pieces, exploding into particles of golden light.

“In this Dungeon, you can’t use Mana nor Magic.” I explained my friends. “You must use your own Physical Strength and Martial Arts, the only energy allowed here is Ki. However, your Ki Regeneration Speed also increases by 100 percent.”

“Ki...? What in the world is that?” Kevin was clueless about it, even though he himself had plenty of Ki even without a Physique.

Why? Well, because he was already a strong Combatant-class Hunter. All Combat-class hunters develop Ki as their bodies grow. Though, unlike me, nobody has a Status or can see their exact stats. Many Combatant-class Hunters simply use Ki naturally as they fight, without realizing it.

“I’ll tell you as we go.” I smiled.

“Anna, look, those golden ghosts dropped these things.” Annabelle pointed at the small golden pearls lying over the floor.

“Oh nice! Let me collect them for you! Hehehe...” I quickly collected all their “drops”.

While Martial Souls dissipated and left no physical bodies behind, a concentration of their pure Ki essence would sometimes materialize and be left behind. These were Ki Pearls, which are used to both restore Ki by absorbing them and also as a currency in Murim Worlds.

[You and your party have slain [Martial Souls (B Rank)] x10!]

[You earned 100.000 EXP.]

[EXP has been saved until your next Rank Up.]

[You have collected [Golden Ki Pearl (B Rank)] x10]

[Lucky! The [Golden Ki Pearl (B Rank)] x10 Rank has increased to A Rank!]

And with my Special Gathering Skill, B-Rank Pearls become A-Rank instead. Such a good harvest! These are also good for awakening Physiques and further boosting their Rank, so we’ll definitely be collecting any of these we find.

“Congratulations! It looks like you were not just brats! Hahaha! I am shocked at how easily you defeated my disciples. I guess they weren’t just the youngest and newest for nothing. They sure had a long way to go...” The Golden Sun Venerable’s voice echoed across the room; his last words came out with a rather sorrowful tone of voice. “Anyways, you’re done with the First Challenge! Rest as much as you want; once you cross that golden door, you’re up for the Second Challenge. Here, grab your rewards.”

[You and your Party have completed the First Challenge of the {Golden Sun Venerable’s Trial}!]

[You and your Party received the following Rewards]: [Ki Enhancing Pill (B Rank)] x5 [Random Martial Arts Scroll (B Rank)] x1]

The rewards materialized in front of each one of us, and they were the same for everyone without any exception. They seemed slightly "lame,” but they were all I was looking for.

“What, a scroll?” Kevin asked. “This Dungeon’s so weird! We get rewards like this?”

“A golden pill? What’s this for, Anna?” Baihe wondered.

“Hmm, they’re bitter! Bleh.” Annabelle tried tasting one but threw it out.

“Don’t throw it out!” I reprimanded her. “Eat those pills! They’ll increase your Ki by a tiny bit permanently! Also, the scroll will imprint martial arts into your body and soul; although it won’t be a skill, it can be useful.”

As I explained, I ate the pills and then used the scroll; there was no point in saving these goodies.

[You have consumed [Ki Enhancing Pill (B Rank)] x5!]

[Your Maximum Ki has increased by +125!]

Consuming the bitter pills was no problem for me. Each one I ate increased my Ki by 25! It wasn’t much, but together, that was a whopping 125 permanent Ki. Not bad at all.

And then, the scroll... It turned into a light that flew into my body the moment I “decided” to learn from it. I could see inscriptions appearing across my skin, imprinting knowledge and information inside of my body and soul.

A powerful technique was imprinted, one that used just my own fists and my Ki.

[You have absorbed the [Random Martial Arts Scroll (B Rank)] x1!]

[The Information and Movements of the {Golden Dragon Fist: Tier 1} Martial Art have been imprinted into your Body and Soul.]

Golden Dragon Fist! I got one of the best techniques that you can get out of the Golden Sun Venerable Inheritance! Sick! I am not really a fist fighter because I lack the proper technique or skill. But this technique could quite literally solve that problem.

The only problem is that it is only a part of it. The complete set of techniques includes four more. The Golden Dragon Scales, for a tougher skin; the Golden Dragon Claws, for a stronger grip; the Golden Dragon Eyes, for greater accuracy and reaction speed; and lastly, the Golden Dragon’s Roar, for a wide-range attack of pure Ki that can paralyze foes as you punch their faces.

This scroll is pretty much a Gacha... So hoping to get them all is unrealistic. Of course, through only the scrolls. Naturally, I didn’t come to this dungeon to just play along by the rules. But for now, let’s just move along. I wouldn’t want the Golden Sun Venerable to get angry at me.

“Anyways, let’s go. We’ve got four more challenges to complete.”

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