————————————
The five months went by quickly, Rhys did not prepare but merely talked to Ina about his experience, she listened like a good friend. Even gave advice. He had reached the peak of what the world allowed, if he cultivated once more, he would break into the Immortal Realm and be forced to ascend, thus he could only wait until the timer went down so he could start.
Rhys was laying down on the ground, his eyes closed as his focus was fully emerged in his mind, talking with Ina mentally. It was then that the timer went down to zero, and the monotone voice spoke out immediately.
[The third and final trial will now begin.]
With those words, Rhys was once more teleported elsewhere.
Rhys appeared in a frigid place, where Ice and Yin energy radiated and filled the room. Rhys had a thought of what this might be and indeed, his thoughts were confirmed when the voice spoke out once more.
[The final trial is all about time. You will be given one week to find the formation parts in the area and put them together to take you to the inheritance grounds. Finish it within one week and the inheritance will be yours. Good luck, challenger.]
The voice went quiet after, leaving a shocked Rhys behind, 'Isn't that too easy? Shouldn't it be harder!?' Rhys was not wrong, the trial was easy for the current Rhys, if it was the old him, he would have certainly struggled. Rhys sighed and his soul sense spread outward.
As a Supreme Saint, he could scan the whole area in a matter of minutes, and indeed. It took nothing but a few minutes for Rhys to find the pieces of the teleportation formation. Immediately, Rhys turned into a flash of lavender light and vanished from his spot, with his current speed, he collected every piece in a few more minutes and came back to his previous place.
Rhys felt that it was too easy, yet no matter how he looked at things, he could not complain either, that only meant he got to go home sooner. So without much waiting, Rhys put the pieces together and channeled his energy.
Crack! Space ripped apart above the formation of the ground and a blue gate appeared, where Rhys simply walked through it. He wasn't worried, for Space Laws had already been grasped.
——————
Rhys spent traveling through space for a few minutes before he got out and saw he was in a wide structure. It looked like a vault of sorts. Clearly where all the inheritance was kept.
The moment Rhys got an idea of where he was, the specter, or better yet, the soul wisp of the creator, Divine Eternal Moon Goddess appeared in front of Rhys with a kind smile.
"You passed. Congratulations." Her voice sounded as if she was in front of him, even as a soul remnant of the real deal.
'She looks genuinely happy, unlike the last time I saw her where she seemed to hide sadness.' Rhys pondered as he remembered the smile she gave him the last time they met, filled with other emotions she hid.
"Yes." Rhys replied, naturally.
"As expected of you, the inheritance is yours for the taking, collect everything here, and once done just say so out loud and the teleportation formation will move you back to the inheritance grounds."
Rhys narrowed his eyes and spoke, "Do you think I am stupid? I can see many things you are hiding, both about yourself and the inheritance. Mind speaking? Or will it die with the remaining you? I can see you are expecting something of me."
The soul wisp froze and her kind smile turned into a sad one, Rhys was sure if she could cry she would.
"Ah, yes. How could I forget? I can't tell you, but I can show you. If possible, avenge me." She spoke with hatred in her voice, before her spectral figure walked closer to Rhys and put her hand on his head, a white glow followed as Rhys found himself buried in memories not his, like when he transmigrated.
Memories, from her birth to her death was played out in a mannerly order. Rhys saw her struggles, victories, and sadness. Her meeting of new companions as well as their betrayal. Every second was shown to Rhys. He saw how she got stronger even after all that suffering. Just to think she met the right person to be with only to be betrayed and hurt. Which led to her return to Zolorix, where she made descendants and died sometime after.
Rhys understood now, for in those memories were also the time she spent alone, waiting in the inheritance grounds for a trialist. Until he got here, then he saw her thoughts as well as how the trials worked. The last trial was easier because she played with it. Allowing him to finish faster.
Not only that, she was the reason the spatial formations never activated when Rhys used void travel. The questions she had were answered, but the question he had was why?
'Why would she help me? Is there a reason? I don't think so. Perhaps to ask something of me? I will see.' Rhys thought about asking the soul wisp, but when his eyes opened, it was gone.
'It passed on...' It was a natural thought, she had shown him what she wanted, leaving all her regrets and other emotions behind, allowing her to pass on.
Rhys kneeled and picked up the paper note that was left on the place that the soul wisp once stood on, the note read as followed:
[
𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑹𝒉𝒚𝒔,
𝑩𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏. 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒎𝒆, 𝒊𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒐. 𝑶𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒑 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒚. 𝑰𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑰𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕.
𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.
𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆, 𝑨𝒊𝒚𝒂.
]
The letter finished with those words, making Rhys chuckle, 'Interesting woman, all of this for revenge? Also, her soul acted to me... damn, I really should not meet any more Eternal Moon Spirits, the way they choose partners is scary. How can they throw their whole futures at people who their soul just deems worthy!?'
Rhys slightly shivered before he put the note away in one of his many spatial rings, his eyes turned to one place. Where a sword stood on a pedestal, looking grand and mighty.
'Found you.'
————————————
Author's Note: Yay, this arc is almost done, one or two more chapters, depending on how I do the next.