The “If You Go In, You’ll Never Be Able To Come Out” Gate. What a crude name.
The three-headed wolf had most likely also detected how dangerous this gate was and decided not to go in.
It had to be said that its animalistic intuition was quite accurate. There really was something very dangerous inside, and even An Lin was struck by a sense of pressure.
However, seeing as he had come here already, he naturally had to go in.
An Lin took a deep breath before pushing the gate open!
A bone-chilling wind immediately swept toward An Lin upon opening the gate.
An Lin hurriedly unleashed a protective spell technique to keep the frosty wind at bay.
What appeared before him was a winding path filled with blue soul power. The blue soul power lit up the path, but it also made it seem a little eerie.
An Lin extended a hand toward that soul power to find that the blue soul power suddenly seemed to have gone insane. It converged toward his palm and tore violently at his protective vital energy.
“I’ve only just come in and this is already such a dangerous place?” An Lin was surprised,
The blue soul power possessed a very high density and was already at the Dao Integration Stage energy.
If the three-headed wolf were to come here, its consciousness would most definitely be crushed by this blue soul power.
However, An Lin was not afraid of a soul power of this caliber, and he made his way down the path.
Boundless blue soul power rushed toward An Lin in a frenzy, but it couldn’t do anything to him.
An Lin was a little disappointed to find that, unlike the soul power that it could engulf from the slain crystal monsters, his consciousness was not interested in this type of soul power in the slightest.
“Looks like my consciousness is a picky eater and won’t eat just any crappy soul power. The purer the soul power, the more delicious it is. Looks like those crystal monsters really are extraordinary beings…” An Lin muttered.
That made sense when he thought about it. A Return to Void Stage crystal monster could somehow bestow life upon a statue, upon which its power drastically increased. Not only that, but it was also blessed with an opportunity from the Spirit Patriarch. Both of these facts were quite startling.
An Lin continued down the path with these thoughts in mind and finally arrived at a relatively cavernous space. There was a ferocious dark tiger diagram carved on the ground and potent soul power circulated through the diagram, making the dark tiger appear extremely vibrant and life-like, as if it was going to pounce toward An Lin.
And then, the dark tiger really did pounce toward An Lin.
“Roar!”
The power erupting from the dark tiger’s body made the space around it congeal. A black divine dao light enshrouded its entire body as its claws shot forth like lightning toward An Lin’s throat.
Slap!
An Lin slapped the dark tiger straight into the ground.
“Piss off back to where you came from!” An Lin harrumphed coldly and stamped down to crush the dark tiger’s body.
The dark tiger diagram on the ground slowly dimmed.
At this moment, the sound of applause erupted.
An icy beauty wearing a blue dress emerged from the darkness through the wall before arriving beside An Lin.
“Congratulations, fated one, you have 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 woman poked her beautiful face closer to An Lin’s as she giggled.
An Lin was startled by this woman who appeared out of nowhere as he did not detect any aura from her body, as if she were something that did not exist, yet at the same time, An Lin was looking at and talking to her.
“Who are you?” An Lin asked.
“Me?” The woman tapped her chin with a faint smile. “Isn’t that obvious? I am the artifact spirit of the Spirit Patriarch Palace! As for a name, you can call me Spirit Maiden.”
An Lin was enlightened upon hearing this. So this woman had fused together with the Spirit Patriarch Palace. No wonder he hadn’t been able to detect her aura; it was because this Spirit Patriarch Palace was her body.
However, An Lin still didn’t let down his guard. Memories of a certain gorgeous and benevolent white-robed research center mastermind flashed through his mind, sending chills down his spine.
He had been traumatized by these beings in ruins, and he instinctively categorized them as bad people.
“So how should I participate in these trials?” An Lin forced a smile onto his face.
The Spirit Maiden nodded with a thoughtful expression. “No one has ever come here before. Let me think about how I can kill you.”
An Lin: “???”
“Wait, did I hear that right? Kill me? Do you have to be so straightforward?” An Lin’s expression darkened. He was prepared to be screwed over by terrifying trials like the ones Bai Ling presented, but never would he have thought that the Spirit Maiden would be so brutally blunt and honest!
The Spirit Maiden replied with an apologetic expression, “The Spirit Patriarch doesn’t like liars, so I was made to be unable to lie. I’m really sorry about that.”
An Lin’s lips twitched, and he repressed the urge to grumble.
She was apologizing for her thoughts of trying to kill him?
What a unique and refreshing apology.
An Lin was very depressed, but there was one good thing that came out of this. At least he would always know the Spirit Maiden’s true thoughts and never be swindled by her.
“Can’t you go easy on me? Even if you’re choosing someone, you can’t go to such extremes.” A beseeching expression appeared on An Lin’s face.
The Spirit Maiden immediately shook her head. “I can’t. The Spirit Patriarch has said that only freaks who can’t be killed no matter what I do have the right to obtain its inheritance.”
What kind of logic was this?!
This was the high and mighty Spirit Patriarch; the most powerful being the Void Spirit Tribe had ever seen! How could its thought process be so crude and unrefined?
An Lin was internally grumbling, but he still forced himself to maintain a gentle smile. “Spirit Maiden, you have to have your own opinion and be able to adapt instead of blindly adhering to rules.
“The Spirit Patriarch has built this palace in order to find a suitable heir, not to destroy all hope. I can show you what a good person I am. I have many artifact spirits as well, and all of them are very fond of me. How about this, you let me refine you first and we can talk about things like trials later…”
The Spirit Maiden looked at An Lin as if she was looking at an idiot. “I am indeed an artifact spirit that cannot lie, but I’m not mentally impaired. Do you want to take the trials or not? If not, then you can piss off right now.”
An Lin: “… I’ll take the trials.”
The Spirit Maiden’s expression finally eased slightly upon hearing this, and she pointed to four gates of light that were situated in different directions. “These are the four holy gates. Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Xuan Wu. All four of them correspond to different soul trials. You may choose how you would like to die now.”
“Soul trials?” An Lin’s expression shifted.
“That’s right. My master, the Spirit Patriarch, specialized in cultivating its consciousness.” A justified expression appeared on the Spirit Maiden’s face as she continued, “Hence, its inheritances are also based around one’s consciousness.”
An Lin was even more depressed upon hearing this.
His consciousness was still dormant, so how was he supposed to participate in this trial?!