The angels, demons, and dragons finally reached the top after several hours. However, most of the people in their groups had to stay at the bottom because they quickly reached their limits.
Looking at everyone drenching in sweat, Bruce's entourage were thankful that Bruce in their group. Without him, almost everyone would have been stuck at the 25th stair.
The golden door finally opened after the time limit for the first trial passed. After the first trial, Bruce's group retained all its members. Meanwhile, the demon and angel groups only had five people left. The other human group had 3 people left including the beautiful woman. The dragon group shockingly had 7 people left.
Everyone entered through the golden door to only get teleported to an oasis. The voice in the sky appeared once more.
"Congratulations to everyone who has managed to pass the first trial."
"The second trial is very simple and yet very difficult. For most people, this will be your reward for coming this far"
"In front of you is the Oasis of Rebirth. As the name suggests, your body will be revitalized if you cultivate in the lake."
"You may even breakthrough in cultivation if you cultivate in the lake."
"However, as your body continues to absorb the lake's energy, you may find yourself in the afterlife."
"I will return in one day to check on everyone's progress."
"Those who are too afraid to enter the lake will fail. Those who are too greedy will die. Only those who know the right balance between life and death will move onto the last trial"
"Know your limits and good luck"
The groups looked at one another after the voice disappeared. No one wanted to jump into the lake first because there was a mysterious energy underneath the bottom of the lake. It has an ominous aura that reek of death.
Everyone looked at Bruce for guidance.
"Bruce, what should we do?" Edward asked. With his current talent, Edward should be at the bottom of the stairs, but Bruce managed to drag him to the second trial. He already trusted Bruce with his life.
Bruce didn't say anything and dipped his hand into the water. Bruce felt an intense amount of energy trying to devour him, so he decided to absorb the energy. Luckily, his body was already used to energy from the stars so having another energy in his body was not an issue.
As he absorbed the energy from the lake, he felt his cultivation improving at a rapid rate. He was sure that if he cultivated the entire day in this lake, he would finally breakthrough to Divine King realm.
Bruce took his hand out of the lake and walked back to his group.
"So good news is that the lake is the real deal. The energy is extremely pure and intense"
"However, the energy is not the natural energy that we obtain from the world but from something else more ominous"
The group had an ugly expression when Bruce mentioned the ominous energy.
"I still strongly recommend everyone to cultivate in the lake because if your body manages to cleanse the energy from the lake, it will be beneficial for all of you"
"Bruce, how will we cleanse the lake energy?" Deion asked.
"You need to overwhelm the energy from the lake with your own energy and your body will naturally cleanse the lake energy"
"However, if you take too much energy from the lake, your body will not be able to cleanse it. It's very possible that you may die due to over absorption" Bruce explained.
"I know you guys are scared but this is truly once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us. The energy in the lake is as pure as high level energy crystals."
The group nodded and began to do as Bruce suggested. They all got in the lake and started to slowly absorb the lake's energy. They would get out of the lake occasionally to fully cleanse the ominous energy before going back in. Eventually, everyone got the grooves of it and cultivated in the lake.
The other groups also figured out the trick and cultivated in the lake as well. Some was too greedy and absorbed more nether energy that they could intake, causing them to die instantly. The entire groups took that as a lesson and slowed down their absorption rate.
Bruce was the exception to the process because he crazily absorbed the energy of the lake. His body didn't need to cleanse the energy because it could contain the energy and use it at will. Bruce hypothesized that due to the uniqueness of his family bloodline, his body is compatible with foreign energy.
However, when he felt that he reached the pinnacle of Soul Manifestation, he could not break through to Divine King stage for some reason. Bruce didn't give up and kept absorbing the lake at a rapid rate.
Few hours later…
Few people in the other groups broke into Divine King stage. In Bruce's group, only Deion and Sophia broke into Divine King stage while Edward was at the pinnacle of Soul Manifestation. Meredith and Chelsey stopped at high stage of Soul Manifestation.
Unfortunately for Bruce, he could not break through to Divine King even though his power has increased many folds compared to before. Bruce sighed but still felt happy because his friends all broke through.
"Haha, your trash talent can only go this far monkey" The leader of the dragon group mocked Bruce after he broke through to Divine King. Seeing that Bruce was still stuck at pinnacle of Soul Manifestation, he never felt more alive.
"If you all kneel down and beg for mercy now, I may consider allowing you trash to live" He looked at Bruce's group with a fiendish smile.
Deion wanted to give the dragon a piece of his mind, but he was stopped by Bruce. Bruce walked in front of the leader of the Dragon group and stared at his golden eyes.
"The lake simply didn't have enough energy for me to breakthrough to Divine King, that's all" Bruce lied about that, but he had full confidence in himself to come up with a solution.
"I'm 100% confident that I can cook you in front of your lizard buddies even at Soul Manifestation."
"So why don't you kneel down to me and beg for mercy?" Bruce returned the dragon leader's insult with a mocking grin.
"I won't bother my precious breaths with you monkeys anymore. Just know that your lives are now officially over" The dragon leader walked away with his group to wait for the verdict.
Bruce walked back to his group and told everyone to huddle up.
"Listen, in case that I don't make it back before the exit spawns, I need you guys to do the following…" Bruce handed over several elixirs and pills to everyone in the group.
"Bruce, why are you giving us this?" Deion didn't feel good about the situation anymore.
"This second trial is not even a trial if you think about it. Someone can just dip their toes in the lake and cultivate peacefully."
"I have a feeling that the real trial is the third trial. Its difficulty will be beyond what we have seen so far which is why the trial allowed us to power up here" Bruce explained.
"But why are you saying that you won't be with us in the 3rd trial" Deion still didn't understand Bruce's original statement.
"It's possible that everyone will be teleported somewhere and must fend for themselves in the third trial."
"There's a good chance that I will not be around to protect you guys. Hence, everyone needs to stall for time if the opponents are too strong"
"I promise you all that I can defeat anyone in this trial, but it may take me some time to get to you"
Everyone fully understood Bruce's intention and took the pills he gave them.
After one day, the voice appears once again to give out the last trial of the inheritance.