Chapter 25
After Wang Shitian, it was Xue Wuya's turn. As he moved forward, the ground opened and an identical puppet appeared. It rushed towards him, swinging the sword in its hands.
Lifting his hand up, Xue Wuya cast a spell. Flames shot out from his palm and engulfed the puppet, burning it until it was incapacitated.
When it was Li Tianxi's turn, she used an ice sword to cut across the chest of the puppet. As the temperature increased, the puppet was frozen on the spot.
These puppets were comparable in strength to peak Qi gathering practitioners, but in front of these three, they were like ants. It spoke volumes of their strength.
The stage opened, and a gust of spirit Qi burst out from underneath the stage. Upon examining it, they found spirit stones. At first glance, it looked like a small heap of dirt. Wang Shitian didn't know exactly how many were there, but he was certain there were tens of thousands.
Xue Wuya, who had the strongest spirit sense, easily counted them and soon divided them into three equal parts, with each person obtaining 40,000 spirit stones.
The wall behind the stage cracked open, revealing another stage. This time, they each fought a puppet comparable in strength to a half-step foundation establishment practitioner. They succeeded in their challenges and were each rewarded with pills. The pills were varied and diverse, and there were numerous of them. They stored them and continued their challenge.
They faced a little struggle in the challenge against early-stage foundation establishment puppets, but they succeeded. It should be known that even though these puppets had foundation level strength, they were comparable to the weakest.
After this challenge, they were not rewarded anything. When the wall before them cracked, instead of receiving rewards like the last two times, they saw a world in front of them. It was brimming with spirit energy and full of spirit plants. As far as the eye could see, there were spirit plants. This was a garden, and it should be the garden of an alchemist master. The spirit energy found in the plants here was so abundant because they had been here for more than a thousand years. This was a really great bounty, and it would take a long time to harvest.
At this moment, they didn't realize that two doors, similar to theirs, had opened on two other sides of the garden. From the first one came an old man wearing a faded robe with fire patterns on it.
"Damn it, stuck here for more than 50 years. If the last participant didn't come, who knows, perhaps this old man would have joined his old friends too," he said, glancing at the bones that lay in the cave from which he came. Pain could be seen in his eyes at the thought.
He had come here over 50 years ago and was the first group to arrive. For some reason, the inheritance ground required all three maps to start the process, but once you entered, you couldn't come out until the process was complete. All the friends he came with had already died, and he was middle-aged when he came here, but now he had grey hair and many wrinkles on his face.
On the other side, two women walked out. They looked mature and beautiful, and they were twins. They were dressed in green robes with a furnace surrounded by fire imprinted on the robe.
At this moment, the three parties were aware of each other's presence but didn't know where they were. However, this did not stop them from starting to harvest the herbs in the garden.
Outside the inheritance ground, in the One Leaf Sect, Li Tianming could be seen kneeling down facing the huge throne before him. In the hall, there were also the grand elders, all on their knees behind Li Tianming.
On the throne sat a blue-haired old man with blue eyes that looked similar to Li Tianxi's. The air around the old man was chilly, and all who were in the hall were shivering but did not dare to speak out.
"I see they succeeded in entering that place, but now I can't see what's going on within. Anyway, it's up to them. But I hope you told that little girl not to establish her foundation using any cultivation manual from there?" he questioned, his eyes never stopping their stare in the direction of the inheritance ground.
"Yes, I did. I told her that if her companions don't want it, she can bring it back and contribute it to the sect," Li Tianming responded.
"Good, that was well thought out on your part," the old man paused before continuing. "When they come back, bring her to me. I'll help her establish her foundation using the cultivation method of our clan."
The old man then turned and looked at Li Tianming before speaking again. "After she establishes her foundation, bring all your most talented disciples to take the promotion test."
The old man was about to say more before he stopped and asked everybodyto leave except Li Tianming. After the hall was empty and only the two of them were left, the old man continued speaking.
"The time of the conclave has been determined. It's going to happen a hundred years from now. Those three fellows, especially, have to return to the sect and prepare well with the best resources if they are going to have any chance of participating. As for you..." The old man's words trailed off for a moment before he continued, "I have nothing against you, but you are not yet worthy of being my son-in-law. When you break through to the Nascent Soul stage, I will no longer stand in your way."
Hearing this, Li Tianming couldn't help but reveal an ecstatic expression. This was good news to him. Due to his weak strength and insufficient background, he was not allowed to stay with his wife. But thankfully, his father-in-law was a kind man and gave him a chance, even allowing him to stay with his daughter. However, he was asked to prove himself, and all these years he had been working hard towards that goal.
Looking at the joy on Li Tianming's face, the old man smiled and then spoke. "You should know, Luo'er has already reached the Nascent Soul stage and is now one of the holy daughters of the sect."
"What?" This came as a bombshell to Li Tianming. When he met his wife, she was at the early stage of core formation. But to think that in a short few decades, she had advanced by leaps and bounds all the way to the Nascent Soul stage. Her talent was indeed frightening.
The old man saw that his intent had been passed through and stood up. "Prepare well. The conclave this time is going to be different from the ones before and will be beneficial to you even if you should participate. I am leaving now. Notify me when that girl returns."
As the old man finished speaking, he simply vanished from the spot without causing a disturbance, as though he was never there.