As Bai Jingshen's illusionary core grew bigger and bigger, the crown began to struggle. The world around them couldn't keep up the gruesome images and slowly elves came back to life. Dead vegetation began to grow towards heaven again, while dried-up rivers filled up, spending life to all living beings. Bai Jingshen put on a small smile, as the crown already began to flicker.
Suddenly the scenery changed. Bai Jingshen was surprised to see the blurry scene he experienced once bevor. He found himself in the body of a seemingly young man, hurriedly flying away from a majestic sect, which was overran by its enemies. He looked to his left and could only make out the blurry silhouette of a woman he felt intense love for. In front of him multiple elders were running. He easily recognized the strongest of them as his master. Once again he could only see his surroundings as if through a thick mist.
Bai Jingshen didn't realize how his curiosity got the best of him. As he wanted to know what this scene represented, the crown slowly moved towards his head again. The former emperor however was caught up in the man's emotions. He felt such an intense mix of burning anger, wrath, helplessness, and sadness. Never before had he felt emotions this strong. Although these emotions threatened to overwhelm his mind, Bai Jingshen was in awe at how masterfully this man experienced these emotions without being consumed by them.
The former emperor didn't understand where this man came from, who trained the White Illusion Arts to such a level. He could only try to analyze the skillful controls this man used to retain his calmness. This experience alone was worth the taking all those trials, as he could reference this man's White Illusion Arts for his own training in the future.
Bai Jingshen slowly sank deeper and deeper, barely being aware that he was still in a trial. The crown's image around him saw its chance and rapidly began to shrink. Just as the crown's spirit thought it had won, to everyone's shock the man Bai Jingshen had possessed suddenly let out a snort. Afterwards, Bai Jingshen felt himself loosing control as his illusionary core expanded in seconds, quickly overtaking the crown's image.
As the crown stretched more and more it frantically tried to conjure all sorts of images. It showed Bai Jingshen everything he had lived through in the Rising Force World. However, he wasn't in this world for long enough yet. Nothing could garner a strong enough emotional response from him. Even seeing Sam almost being devoured by a beast, Bai Jingshen only got slightly angry and swore revenge, but it wasn't enough to rattle his state of mind.
As the crown began to flicker strongly, already showing some cracks, a childish voice reached Bai Jingshen's ears:
"Stop. Stop! You win. I will follow you."
The former emperor nodded in satisfaction. Although this crown spoke in a sobbing, childish voice, he realized that this was only its last effort. If he showed sympathy here, Bai Jingshen would throw away this chance shortly before winning. Therefore the young man didn't relent at all, pushing his illusionary core and finally shattering the crown.
Suddenly Bai Jingshen opened his eyes again, struggling to stand up. Although not much time seemed to have past, the former emperor felt as if he had just fought a war. He struggled to even keep his eyes open and in the end decided to sit down, breathing deeply in and out.
In front of him the crown fragment lost a lot of its light too. It fluttered a little, giving the impression of having struggles to keep up its flight. Once again a voice reached Bai Jingshen's ears, this time a dignified, kingly male voice:
"You have proved to be worthy of carrying me. Initiate the contract with a drop of blood and I will be your strongest partner on your journey. I hope you will be worthy of the title of a king one time."
Bai Jingshen smirked lightly, as he perceived the slight hurry in the crown's voice. He realized the crown had a hard time staying afloat, but dropping to the ground would damage its dignity. Although this might have been a funny scene, the former emperor wouldn't want to humiliate his new partner like this, so he simply bit his thump and threw a drop of blood towards the crown fragment.
A blood contract was the most common way of binding high-grade artifacts. As soon as the drop of blood landed on the crown's surface, it slowly sank in. The crown took on a slightly red light.
In his exhaustion however, Bai Jingshen hadn't thought about a big issue. Binding artifacts would consume a lot of Qi. He suddenly felt his Dantian rapidly drying up. He began to panic as he realized even this fragment might have been to strong for him to recklessly contract.
Sam was sitting cross-legged in the water. Little fishes swam around him, affectionately nudging him from time to time. He felt an unprecedented closeness to water while meditating. After he received the reward for those trials, Sam was in a state of deep contemplation. As soon as he came out, he realized he had reached the 2nd stage of Qi Gathering, as an incomparably profound cultivation technique appeared directly in his mind. After a short meditation he knew this technique was better than anything he had ever seen.
Observing the young man from afar, one would feel an incredible harmony as he seemingly became one with the water around him. Sam himself, however, knew best how water would forever be his biggest support now. In the future he would have to seek out places of pure water, as his cultivation speed would increase by leaps and bounds in the right environment. However, even without those he would still be among the best and could be called a proud genius of this world. Although Sam was proud of himself, he wouldn't forget how he got here. He would surely be forever thankful to Bai Jingshen.
As Sam was meditating in the lake, he suddenly jumped up with a jolt. His heart was rapidly bouncing in his chest, almost giving him a heart attack. He looked at the source of his shock and saw a translucent crown flying over one part of the lake. Observing the churning water below it, Sam could see his brother diving it the water. He could feel him rapidly absorbing Qi, greatly confusing the young man. Although Sam could be called a genius now, his knowledge hadn't advanced. He hadn't come into contact with high-grade artifacts before, so he naturally wouldn't recognize the crown. He was only able to feel its extraordinary aura.
Just as Sam wanted to jump into the lake to look after his friend, the overseers voice spoke again:
"He… is fine. Don't worry."
The young man was relieved to hear this. So far, the overseer was very reliable, so Sam didn't think this immortal being would lie to him.
Bai Jingshen was a little surprised by his changing situation, but he quickly realized what happened. He thanked the overseer in his in for bringing him here, before fully concentrating on absorbing the Qi out of this water. He realized that the lake seemingly lost a bit of its spirituality, but luckily it was still enough to offset his rapid Qi consumption.
Like this a few hours past as Sam watched his friend absorb Qi. The crown above the lake slowly grew a bit brighter and stabilized its flight, but never recovered fully. Gradually, Bai Jingshen felt the Qi flow slow down and realized this ordeal was coming to an end. If he wasn't under water, he would probably wipe away the sweat on his forehead now.
Suddenly the crown began to spin in the air, before shooting at Bai Jingshen. The experienced veteran didn't panic and simply allowed this artifact to enter his body. There were two places for artifacts to reside normally, so Bai Jingshen wasn't surprised as the crown settled in his mind beneath the illusionary core instead of his Dantian.
A huge surge of information entered Bai Jingshen's mind as the crown quieted down. He finally got to know that this crown was named 'Crown of Ordur', named after the elves' capital city. The crown was never worn by the Supreme Ruler however, but by the light elves' king. Bai Jingshen was especially pleased with the crown's abilities. It gave control over nature and could make a cultivator spread a certain charm, which allowed him to influence other's mind. He was more than happy with the second ability, as it seemed to be in tune with his White Illusion Arts.
Unfortunately, however, there were obvious disadvantages too. The crown would use up a lot of Qi while only working on beings up to middle-grade tier three/ the Foundation Establishment Realm. If he desired to strengthen the crown, Bai Jingshen had to seek out more fragments. His own fragment didn't know about other's locations but would feel them if they got near them.