An Lin fell silent.
The Spirit Maiden was a little disgruntled by his silence, and she urged in an impatient voice, “Which trial are you going to choose?”
Which trial? None of them, of course!
His consciousness was still dormant, so doing a trial like this would spell his death!
Of course, An Lin was not going to tell her the truth.
“Ahem, I need time to prepare.” An Lin explained, “Before I enter any trials, I have to adjust and get myself into peak condition.”
The Spirit Maiden felt like this was reasonable. “How long do you need?”
An Lin thought for a moment before replying, “About twelve hours.”
The Spirit Maiden nodded and did not reject him.
She had been waiting for countless years anyway, so even a wait of a hundred years didn’t really mean anything to her.
An Lin pretended to adjust.
He suddenly thought of something. “By the way, Spirit Maiden, there are a dozen or so Void Spirit Tribe beings trying to force their way through the Spirit Patriarch’s enchantment barrier.”
“Hehe, arrogant fools. How can a formation set up by the Spirit Patriarch be broken by mere ants like them? They won’t be able to break through it even after ten thousand years!” The Spirit Maiden chuckled coldly.
An Lin was very relieved to hear this. His worst fear was that a bunch of powerful enemies would confront him right when he was feeble. Things would become very dangerous for him then.
Ten hours later.
Boom! The Spirit Patriarch Palace tremored violently!
“Crap! The entrance to the Spirit Patriarch Palace has been broken!” The Spirit Maiden’s expression shifted drastically.
An Lin: “…”
“Are you serious? Didn’t you say that they wouldn’t be able to break it even after ten thousand years?” An Lin’s expression darkened.
An Lin was getting a little suspicious about the Spirit Maiden’s supposed inability to lie. She was the most convincing liar he had ever seen!
The Spirit Maiden blushed from shame, but she still tried to find a way out for herself. “Even saints make mistakes! Nothing is completely predictable, and I’m not a god, so I’m not omniscient, and it’s normal for me to make a mistake from time to time!”
An Lin rolled his eyes. She couldn’t be blamed for this, but she was the one who had all but vowed to him that the entrance wouldn’t be broken even after ten thousand years. In the end, it was broken in ten hours… Wasn’t she off by a little bit too much?
A ferocious expression appeared on the Spirit Maiden’s face, as if she was trying to change the subject and save some face for herself. “How dare they break into the Spirit Patriarch Palace without a key! Do they really think that I’m a pushover? I’m going to show them what a true nightmare looks like!”
“Have you thought of a good way to strike back at them?” An Lin was quite excited.
The Spirit Maiden nodded with an enraged expression. “I’m going to bring all of them into the four holy trials, then use the most terrifying soul power to torture them to death!”
An Lin’s face convulsed slightly. “Is there a difference? You’re making it sound like your original objective wasn’t to kill them.”
The Spirit Maiden faltered slightly before blinking with a blank expression. “You’re right…”
An Lin: “…”
Had this artifact spirit become stupid from being secluded for too long?
“Charge…!”
“Roar! Why are they all empty?”
“That b*stard An Lin must have taken all of it! I’m going to rip him apart with my bare hands!”
“There’s another gate here! He must’ve gone this way!”
The voices of the Void Spirit Tribe powerful beings erupted from the distance.
An Lin’s heart shuddered upon hearing this. His consciousness had not awakened yet, and he didn’t want to fight them for now.
“Spirit Maiden, find a place for me to stay in peace. I still haven’t adjusted myself to peak condition yet,” An Lin immediately requested.
The Spirit Maiden pointed at the four gates behind her upon hearing this. “That’s simple. All four of the holy trial gates were crafted from Ancient Dark Soul Metal. If you enter one of the trials, those guys won’t be able to get to you even if I give them ten thousand years!”
An Lin shuddered upon hearing the term “ten thousand years”.
He was allergic to that term now. “Can’t you find another adjective?”
The Spirit Maiden shook her head and provided an honest reply, “I can’t. This term sounds more bad*ss.”
An Lin’s lips twitched. Sounding bad*ss was probably its only function.
As for just how bad*ss it was and how long it could keep everyone out for, An Lin really didn’t know. Ten thousand years seemed to be just an arbitrary number to the Spirit Maiden.
“Also, I’m not prepared to participate in the trial yet as my consciousness is still not ready,” An Lin added.
“No problem. I’m the boss in this place, so you can just go hide in the trial for now. I won’t activate the trial for another two hours, so you can rest during that time!” the Spirit Maiden replied.
An Lin was greatly assured upon hearing this.
He looked at the four different trials and instinctively chose the Vermilion Bird trial.
Xiaolan was the Divine Phoenix Maiden, so perhaps that would give him some sort of blessing?
The Spirit Maiden nodded and waved a hand, upon which the gate to the Vermilion Bird trial was lifted.
At this moment, the anguished cries of Void Spirit Tribe mighty figures were already erupting from within the blue soul power passageway.
There were clearly some Return to Void Stage mighty figures who wanted to enter through that passageway, only to be slain by the blue soul power.
Not taking into account other matters, that passageway alone could block all Return to Void Stage mighty figures. Well, An Lin was an exception, of course.
“By the way, can you broadcast the images of them being tortured to me? I want to admire your brilliance when dealing with intruders!” An Lin requested again.
“This…” The Spirit Maiden was curious. “Don’t you need to adjust for two hours? Won’t looking at a live broadcast distract you?”
An Lin replied with a serious expression, “Watching them being tortured will help me reach peak condition!”
The Spirit Maiden couldn’t help but feel like something was off here.
However, she thought about it for two seconds before agreeing to his request.
An Lin happily entered the Vermilion Bird trial, and the gate closed with a loud rumble.
Within the Vermilion Bird trial, he saw a cavernous and extremely lavish place with very luxurious decor. Regardless of whether it was the winding path, the tall pillars, or even the walls, all of them shimmered with golden lights. Aside from that, there was a Vermilion Bird projection laying on the ground in the extremely far distance, striking him with a very potent sense of peril.
“Stay there and don’t move,” the Spirit Maiden’s stern voice sounded.
Immediately afterward, an image appeared, depicting the space he had stayed at before.
Sure enough, only the Dao Integration Stage super mighty figures managed to pass through the blue soul power passageway. However, to his surprise, there was one more Dao Integration Stage super mighty figure alongside the Chaotic Demon Ball, the Sword Essence Emperor, and the Dark Soul Emperor.
This was a vibrant, rainbow snake with a translucent, sword-like little tongue.
An Lin knew that this mundane-looking little snake was the Dao Integration Initial Stage Bright Soul Snake, who had apparently once inflicted severe injuries upon a Dao Integration Intermediate Stage super mighty figure with its poison.
A dark tiger leaped up from the ground again before pouncing toward the four Void Spirit Tribe super mighty figures.
Its attack was comparable to an attack from a Dao Integration Stage super mighty figure.
However, none of the Void Spirit Tribe super mighty figures were fazed.
The Sword Essence Emperor drew one of its swords, and a dazzling sword projection appeared in the air, instantly tearing the dark tiger in half.
“Howl…” the dark tiger howled with anguish before returning to the ground again.
“Hmph, what a joke.” A disdainful expression appeared on the Sword Essence Emperor’s face.
At this moment, a sinister blue monster appeared before the Sword Essence Emperor.
“Kukuku… Congratulations, fated ones, you have all passed the preliminary trial and now have the right to undertake the hidden trials established by the Spirit Patriarch. If you can pass those trials, you will be able to obtain the Spirit Patriarch’s core inheritance!” The sinister blue ghost chuckled.
An Lin’s eyes lit up. The show was finally about to begin!
…
