Activating The Key

Wei looked down on the sword user as the last breath of life left his body, and the flame of life dwindled from his eyes. Then, his body began to smoke until a blackish purple flame encompassed his entire form, and he burst into a thick pillar of smoke.

Wei lifted his sleeve to cover his mouth and nose, but watched diligently through squinted eyes as his opponents body vaporized. To Wei’s astonishment, as he disappeared, large red wooden gate appeared in his place.

Just like before, the wooden gate was perched directly against the stone cliff wall where his opponent had slammed into the mountain rock face. There was no passing through this gate as long as the cliff remained.

This time, there was no crystal in the wall either, but Wei smiled as he withdrew the crystal he had taken from the previous stage from his robes. Gingerly, he reached out and pressed the crystal into the stone wall while reciting the Pheonix Ascending Hidden Flame mantra in his heart.

Incredibly, the crystal melted effortlessly into the stone. However, the cliff face did not vanish at once. Instead, Wei found himself circulating the Pheonix Ascending mantra even more vigorously. It felt as if there was a suction pulling on his spirit, causing him to rush just to keep up with the origin energy that was beginning to pour through his body and out the crystal into the wall.

After several more moments of time, finally the wall began to fluctuate. Then it became transperant, and finally disappeared.

Wei stepped into a surprisingly plush and comfortable circular room. There were vibrant purple carpets on the floor and a flame brazier blazing in its center. As Wei stepped in, he was hit head on with an incredibly rich origin Chi, the richest he had encountered thus far.

Along the walls were blue and purple silks, and even more incredibly on a table were three jade slips. Surprisingly, above the jade slips a small note was written on a piece of paper. It said the following:

”You may choose one, and only one, of the following jade slips. Once you pick one up, the other two will break. Choose carefully, as you are being watched, your actions being judged.”

Wei gulped. He was being watched? So, all these lucky chances he was having were not by mistake. Someone was watching him, and for some unknown reason, was choosing to help him.

He continued to read the piece of paper. Below, descriptions of each of the jade tablets contents was written:

”1. Tablet containing knowledge of the language of the realm of the Gods. No combat or cultivation value.

2. Tablet containing the movement technique known as the Windswept Step, superior movement technique.

3. Tablet containing the fourth and fifth layer of the Pheonix Ascending Hidden Flame Cultivation technique. Includes five extra sparks to immediately increase your cultivation to the second layer.”

A bead of sweat formed on Wei’s forehead. The third option was exactly what he needed. With that, he would jump straight to the front of the pack in the selection test, and not only that, but he would also have more room to improve later on. Compared to others, who if they were unfortunate would have to start over from the beginning on a superior cultivation technique once the hit the limit on their starter technique, this fourth and fifth layer technique would allow him to extend the lifetime of his first technique, making him more powerful earlier on and also allowing him to conserve some valuable sparks for other uses, rather than needing to waste time and energy starting over again.

However, he was currently lacking a movement technique. In fact, the judges hadn’t touched on movement techniques yet, so Wei could only assume that if he took the Windswept Step technique manual, it would make him immediately faster than anyone else in his selection class. However, a foreboading thought echoed in the back of his head that this technique might consume more sparks than he had available to spend. Of course, if he was at the second layer of the Pheonix Ascending Hidden Flame, he would have extra capacity, but in that case the Windswept Step tablet would break, lost forever!

Therefore, it was likely that if he chose the movement technique now, he might have to wait until later to use it. Furthermore, there was a good possibility that later on movement techniques such as this would become common place. In that case, it was possible that the real bottleneck wasn’t having a movement technique at all, but rather having enough spark capacity to activate it! In this case, this really was a test, and Wei decided firmly he would not choose the movement technique this time. It simply came with too many risks.

That left the strange “language of the realm of the Gods” tablet. It purposely said “no combat or cultivation value.” And yet this was a test. Why was it left there? Could it be reverse psychology? Maybe this was just to weed out the foolish of heart who would actually pick up such a worthless skill.

At that moment, Victor’s ruthlessness flashed before his mind. Then it Hui Li, who had betrayed Aaron and Eliot. Then he saw Zack, plunging his own sword into his stomach as he mourned the loss of Widow.

Wei breathed in softly. He allowed the Pheonix Ascending Hidden Flame mantra to circulate within his body. Obviously, if he took the cultivation technique, he would be guaranteed victory in this selection test. But what then? Was a fifth layer cultivation technique really worth that much long term? If it meant failing this hidden test he had found himself in, the risk was that his growth would stop after graduating from the selection exam, and he would end up as nothing but a second rate martial artist of the Arcane Tower Sect.

That wasn’t a destiny he could live with. Like Zack, wasn’t it better to follow ones heart and chase after destiny at all cost? Perhaps in the future, even if he had to struggle and claw his way through the rest of this test, there would come a time when whoever was watching and judging him from secret would impart some hidden knowledge that could only be understood through the language of the realm of the Gods.

With those thoughts in mind, Wei opened his eyes once more. He had made his decision.

Approaching the table, he sacrificed the movement and cultivation manuals and chose the worthless God realm language manual.

As he lifted the jade tablet from the table, a thick and heavy laughter echoed throughout the incense and origin Chi energy filled room. The laughter was deep, and it was so strong that Wei’s body almost shook.

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He spun around to look for the source of the voice, but there was nothing except the empty room and the brazier at its center.

“Good!” The voice boomed once more, and this time it was clear it came from the center of the fire in the brazier. “So, you’ve chosen to learn to speak with me, have you?” The voice said.

Wei scrunched his eyes together in confusion.

”Are you one of the gods?” He asked.

”I am the dying spirit of a shattered portion of an ancestor from the realm of the gods. Tens of thousands of years ago, seeing my impending death, I chose to shatter my soul into countless pieces. The realm you are in currently was constructed from those pieces of my soul, and positioned between the realm of mortals and the realm of humans.”

”With this connection, countless pieces of my shattered spirit opened portals to your mortal realm. Although each shattered piece of my spirit is unique, over time humans recognized the trials within those portals to be of three different grades. Additionally, they then divided those grades into three qualities, lesser, average, and superior. The spirit shard you are speaking to know is the Lord Spirit of the Arcane Tower Sect. I am a Lesser Second Tier God Spirit Shard.”

”It should be known that not all shards of my spirit have the same temperament, memories, or wishes. Some of my spirit shards, over time, even grew resentful towards humans, and sent demons and beasts to your world. Other shards became detached, opening and closing their gates randomly, providing neither value nor bane to the mortal realm.”

”Some spirit shards, however, such as myself, were imprinted with a desire to mature humans for cultivation, so that they might have the opportunity to ascend to the realm of the Gods in the future. It must be known that even gods such as myself fear death. In fact, we gods fear death the most of all. As there is no higher realm for us, and many gods, enticed by passions and ease of life live countless eons indulging in pleasure, it is well known that when we die, many fall straight to the pits of hell!”

”Therefore, the wise among us make preparations for our death, and do everything we can to provide a path for our future soul to ascend back into the realm of the gods once more. In order to achieve this, we must leave behind some method of discovering our true identity, and determining that we are the reincarnation of our former life.”

”This selection trial is designed to search for one just as you. However, do not think this means you are my reincarnation, yet. You have merely made a few good choices along the way. There have been many others over the last 100,000 years who have come as far as you, who have ultimately failed. Some have even failed as soon as this meeting concluded. Others have fought for years and lifetimes only to prove themselves not worthy of the masters true inheritance, and have passed away having accomplished incredible deeds and yet fallen short in the end.”

”However, I will give you this one gaurantee. As long as you are chosen as a candidate for my reincarnation, as long as you are alive, you will remain the only candidate. I will not select another until you pass away.”

Wei was speechless. He was being chosen as a potential successor to an ancestor from the realm of the Gods? One who passed away over 100,000 years ago? Thoughts and questions flooded his mind, but ultimately he opened his mouth to ask the following.

”Ancestor Spirit, if I may ask, how did the candidate before me pass away?”

”Hahaha, he was killed attempting to retrieve the heart of an Emerald Dragon, and passed away with many of my treasures on his body. Perhaps one day you can retrieve them, and prove yourself to be a redeemer of my inheritance.”

”How many years has it been since you selected a candidate?”

”In terms of human years, 996 years have passed since the last potential candidate was chosen for the succession.”

”You said that there are other spirit shards. Can the other spirit shards also choose candidates?”

”I was a core Spirit Shard to this ancestor’s memories. As the objective of reincarnating into the realm of the gods once more was of the utmost priority to this ancestor when he was on his deathbed, he sealed his entire intention to reincarnate within this one shard. It could be said that the one to redeem this shard, and prove to the other countless shards throughout this world that he is ancestors reincarnation, will have proven himself worthy. For this reason, I, and I alone, can select candidates for reincarnation.”

”However, it should be known that other parts of the ancestors heart were jealous for the reincarnation candidate, and seeing that they were not chosen to be his guide, became resentful. This spirit shards, seeing they were not the true core of the ancestor, chose to test the reincarnations to prove their worth. Therefore, it is possible they will choose champions to come against you in the future. You should do all you can to guard against these forces, as they will seek to undo your progress at every step.”

So there would be others. Not official candidates, but jealous brothers seeking to prove themselves worthy. Perhaps there was little difference between a true candidate and an imposter after all. In fact, there was no gaurantee the other spirit shards wouldn’t tell their chosen candidate the same exact thing.

Only the fact that it had been almost 1,000 years since a candidate was last chosen was assuring. This meant that it was very unlikely many other candidates would be wondering around as long as Wei was alive. Not only that, but as far as he knew, the Arcane Tower Sect was the only sect with an active overworld portal within 1,000 miles.

This meant that even if the next closest powerhouse sect had a candidate, they wouldn’t meet for many years, not until after Wei had finished his training and begun to compete with other sects for resources in battle. Only then would the presence of any other candidate reveal itself.

“Before, I promised that the other two jade tablets would break once you made your choice. In reality, if you had chosen either of the other tablets, I would have indeed broken the other two. However, since you have made the correct choice this time, I will give you both of those tablets as a gift. Use them to achieve victory in this selection test, and if you continue to impress me, it is possible we will meet again. However, remember, if you disappoint me, on that day, as a punishment for uncovering my hidden spirit’s true identity, I will strike your mortal coil from this world and send your spirit to the deepest hell!”

As the spirit ancestor shard spoke these last words, the fire in the brazier raged ferociously. The room darkened and the ancestors voice thundered like a lightning in a terrible storm. Then, without waiting for Wei to speak another word, the flame dwindled, and the origin Chi energy disappeared from the room drastically. After, it only felt a bit denser than the regular origin chi of the trial space.

With the fire gone, the well lit cultivation chamber was suddenly quite dim, having only the light streaming in from outside. As Wei looked at the dying embers in the brazier, he thought to himself.

If I fail this ancestor, then he will kill me immediately. He was stunned. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have chosen the communication tablet. Then he could live a quiet, normal life as a regular martial artist.

But in that case, he realized that he would always regret not fighting for his full potential. He would always be unhappy, disgruntled, wondering what path he had given up. In his heart of hearts, he knew that this was the path he wished to take.

Indeed, the road of a martial artist was laid with death at every turn. It was possible, likely even, that if he made the wrong choice he would still die at a young age anyway. Now, he had come to far to turn back, nor did he want to turn back.

His life as a mortal had been nothing but average. His parents had not cared about him at all, he had average grades and average looks. Until this day, there had never been a single thing special about him at all.

If he died pursuing this insane, once in a millennia goal, what loss was it? So few would ever tread this road, shouldn’t he count himself among the blessed and fortunate already?

He had only one last question, which he whispered aloud to himself in the empty cultivation chamber.

”Ancestor, what if I am not your reincarnation, and yet I prove myself worthy of the realm of the gods regardless?”

He was met with only silence as an answer.