Unbeknownst to Raon, the milky white crystal that had jutted on his forehead due to the elixir he had taken long back saved his life, or rather, him from being taken over.
The crystal had sublimated in its final form to bring Raon outside the dark void in which he would have been lost forever inside.
Surprisingly, all the ones who had entered the ruins and were alive till this point were kicked out, and seeing the test conductors made them go quiet.
The test conductors were shocked to see the result, but they were still relieved.
The only thing astounding to them was how the ruins went back inside, and they couldn't detect or harm it in any way despite being countless times stronger than the disciples who entered it.
It was not like this was the only ruin with such strong protective measures, as they had seen one too many in their lifetime.
The test conductors were keeping a hush just like the disciples, but they were talking via telepathy, keeping the conversation under wraps as the one who announced this test floated forward.
"Congratulations on coming out alive, but the duration to exit the ruins was 5 years, and it's been 3 days past that."
His words were like a bomb being dropped on not only the participants but also the Elders, who were dying to go to the upper realm.
It wasn't like he didn't want to take them, but he really couldn't take that many of them, as that was what he was ordered to do.
"Don't be that upset. The ones who broke through to the upper realm or were already in that and survived till now will be taken..."
His words were not what one would want to hear because the number of survivors in that realm was around fifteen thousand out of the fifty thousand or so that entered the ruins.
The half-a-million participants had it worse because only around five thousand of them broke through successfully and survived.
The total number of survivors was less than sixty thousand, and only five thousand out of them would be sent, but that wasn't the end of his words.
"...Or so I want to say, but unfortunately, that is too high a number to take this time."
"You all know the competition was delayed by one-no-ten years for you, but do any of you know the reason?"
"Somehow someone has succeeded in separating the realms with a barrier that we had to pierce through to be able to come down here."
"We can only take you after dealing with it, but the time required for that is what I cannot say."
"To compensate for that, we have decided to double the rewards on your respective planets. No, worlds"
After that, he explained the rewards and everything, as well as made them all sign an agreement seeking the confidentiality of things.
It was simply that they wouldn't ask for what they discovered in the ruins, and no one would speak about the upper realm.
Most of the Elders thought there was no need to even tell them that, and so did the couple who were sent to 'learn' from the test.
No one knew why they would tell of their failure except themselves and their superiors, but that is not of any concern to Raon or anyone from this generation.
Just like that, things came to an anticlimactic end, with the Elders feeling disappointed as they felt that they were fated to die in this forsaken world.
The only ones who actually enjoyed it were the ones who got the rewards, the disciples, or the participants who survived and found something inside the ruins or during the previous tests.
The ones who benefited the most would be Raon and the man, who was surrounded by countless females.
That man simply took away whatever was of use to him but gave rank-3 stones to most females, while the 7 who were his main were given other resources as well.
The man had crystalline white hair along with clear blue eyes, complementing his sharp jawline and handsome face with a tall, lean physique, making him quite attractive.
Even the females who were scorning him on the surface for having so many courtiers were jealous inside due to his attractive looks.
If one had to compare Raon to him, then it would be the same as comparing a rock on the side to a beautifully sculpted statue.
Raon was able to blend in with others because he appeared average, or at least he made it so.
In actuality, Raon had heard nothing much, as he had been checking his body since coming out of the ruins.
He noticed that he reached the initial stage of the next realm without sitting in a lotus position and concentrating on his breakthrough like any cultivator would need to.
He also felt like some part of him was missing, but he couldn't put his finger on it as he scrutinized his body to find out about the weird feeling.
Unfortunately, he wasn't even aware of what he had lost, so how could he figure it out? But it was not like he didn't find anything, as he ended up noticing his pendant.
His pendant had cracked and appeared as fragile as glass at this moment, so he hurriedly put it inside his storage to check it later.
If only he had tried putting that pendant in his storage before, he would have known something was different, but, alas...
After this, all the participants were straight away sent to their masters, where their respective test conductors reappeared.
"The rewards will be doubled, but we decided to add other rewards that will help you."
"One continent will be given to the power with the most remaining and strongest disciples, which are the Jinmei Sect."
"The second continent given to you is smaller than the first one, but it will have teleportation to other worlds."
"The ones you just competed against will be the destinations, and they'll be placed in all of them."
"The cost of activating them might be too high, but the first time it's activated will be free for you, and it will happen 500 years from now."
"The ones allowed to traverse through it will obviously be selected through competition, but the first priority will be given to the ones who passed this test."
The inter-world traversal was big news for all the powers, but it wasn't immediate, and they had 500 years to prepare for it.
The current adversary for them would be the Jinmei Sect, as it was already one of the eight large powers, and this would further boost their strength.
The issue was that no one could attack that continent for the next 1.000 years, as that was the buffer period given by the upper realm.
Whatever happens after that is up to the power that won it; whether they lose it completely or partially or it gets destroyed is none of their problem.
Well, neither this nor that was something the disciples or participants cared about, as their reward for success would also be given.
The rewards, despite being worse than ascending to the upper realm, were still better than anything they could get at this stage.
All the participants were rewarded with 100 rank-4 stones, something that was very hard for just disciples like them to get.
It cost quite a lot of merit points, yet they collected them to exchange them for rank-4 stones, as they were just worth it.
The legacy or direct disciples of elders obviously got it from their elders, as they were the ones that had access to them, but they were also not allowed to give it to them without a mission.
The sole exception would be Raon, as he got them from Junho and Si-Eun both without being a direct or legacy disciple.
Both of them had decided to groom Raon as much as possible after witnessing his true prowess as he broke through two stages in less than five years.
Even if he had some fortuitous encounter, breaking through a stage and into the next realm in such a short period would affect anyone's foundation.
This was the reason just resources alone weren't enough to break through nonstop and become the strongest cultivator.
Raon had been trying to be as inconspicuous as possible by blending in with the others around him as he kept his cultivation speed lower than theirs.
He himself wasn't sure how he broke through the next realm except for that weird thing that he got from the chained man's heart into his.
After the rewards were given, the upper realm people returned while the participants, along with their respective masters, returned to the hall from where they had vanished.
Raon wanted to go and rest after everything that happened in the end, as those events eluded his understanding completely.
Unfortunately, everyone present had witnessed his talent and was about to come near to poach him from Junho, but they were stopped as Si-Eun made Raon prostrate in front of Junho.
"I accept your bow. I, Junho, accept you, Raon, as my legacy disciple" said Junho as Raon was confused.
The other Elders all had ugly faces as they got late, but this wasn't the end of it as Junho continued.
"I permit you to be under the direct discipleship of my wife, Si-Eun'' as Junho made Raon prostrate in front of Si-Eun as well.
If earlier he was a free meal, then now he was a ludicrous meal that one could only see from a distance but not be able to touch.
In simpler terms, being accepted as a legacy disciple as well as a direct disciple of two Core Elders grants him protection, status, enemies, and most importantly, resources.
His cultivation would simply skyrocket from this point on, but none of the elders except the Sect Leader took it as revolutionary.
There have been such incidents where one's talent was too great to be under only one master, but none of them knew that he, the reputed Sect Leader, owed them and knew part of their secret.