Red Haired Warrior

When Yaan woke up, the old spirit and devil spirit were staring down at him.

"…"

"Lord inheritor candidate, you're awake." The devil spirit quickly spoke as Yaan opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place.

"You're in your 8th level residence right now." Old 4th explained as he hid his relieved expression.

Yaan slowly turned towards the two of them.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Almost two months…" The devil spirit replied with an odd expression.

"That's a long time to sleep…what even happened, why did I feel so exhausted?" Yaan sat up and scratched his head, then turned back to the two spirits and asked in confusion.

He remembered all that happened in the 7th pagoda trial. He remembered that in the midst of battle, in the middle of that crisis, he was able to overcome the situation thanks to his mind suddenly recalling two memories that allowed him to rapidly develop a unique, unknown power. The two key memories included his fight against Bluebolt, and his completion of the True-False Illusion Trial.

During his battle against Bluebolt, Yaan had already touched upon the very same power that he used to defeat the remaining eight copies of himself in the 7th pagoda trial. In the True-False Illusion World, he experienced the apex of his own ruthless resolution; a resolution that went so far, that he willingly embraced his own death, just to take another step further along the path of power.

And yet, Yaan was still clueless about what exactly he had achieved. What was that power, how did he manage to manifest it, why did it exhaust him so thoroughly, and most importantly…how could he use it again?

After a moment of silence, during which time the two spirits shared a glance, the devil spirit finally spoke.

"That power is something beyond your means, you are unable to safely use such a thing right now. In the 7th pagoda trial, you only partially manifested that power, yet it still had such a severe backlash."

"But what is it?" Yaan asked again.

"If you wish to learn more, then enter the 5th Trial Realm…"

As Yaan looked back and forth between the two trial spirits, his gaze darkened.

"You're making me take the 8th pagoda trial right now, aren't you?"

"Well, you can rest for another few days…" Old 4th coughed and said.

"Why force me to do this? What's the rush? I'd like to train more before going up against these trials. Especially since I'm pretty sure that you're planning to force me into the 9th pagoda trials as soon as I finish the 8th…"

The two spirits remained silent, confirming Yaan's suspicion. With a sigh, he stood up and stretched.

"Forget it then. But before entering the 5th Trial Realm, I want to retrieve my belongings."

"You mean the elixirs?" The devil spirit laughed, almost sounding disdainful. "Such things are of petty value compared to that which lies within the 5th Trial Realm."

"He also wants his universe treasure bag." Old 4th added.

"A mere universe storage treasure? Don't waste your time, the 5th Trial Realm is beyond these things." The devil spirit snorted.

"Perhaps I'll feel more motivated if you tell me exactly what I might find in the 5th Trial Realm?" Yaan asked, but he didn't feel hopeful. As he expected, the two spirits fell silent once again. It had been like this every single time that he tried to learn more about the 5th Trial Realm, or about any of the trial pagodas on the 7th, 8th and 9th levels, within the 4th Trial Realm.

"Well then, since you won't tell me anything-"

"We have banned inheritor candidates from fighting against others in official matches." Old 4th interjected at this moment, his polite expression becoming more firm.

Yaan paused.

"You're also banned from cultivating."

"Why?!"

Seeing Yaan's barely controlled annoyance, Old 4th couldn't help but smile.

'He really is a cultivation maniac.'

"Essentially, please hurry up and enter the 5th Trial Realm." The devil spirit spoke again in his gruff voice. "Cultivating further will not help you in the coming trials, you should prepare yourself and then continue onwards."

Yaan's eye twitched after hearing this.

Why were they still phrasing it as if he had a choice? He wasn't allowed to cultivate, fight, or even avoid the trial, because if he did any of those things, he would be sent back to the 1st level!

"Whatever. Let's go now then."

Yaan didn't even have the heart to properly look around his new residence. What was the point if he wasn't even permitted to use the resources here for himself? If he was shown all of the things that he was being deprived of, it would only make him feel depressed.

The 8th pagoda was a giant palace of a structure that was situated in the centre of the 8th level. Unlike the 7th level where each residence was lined up along the cliff face, the 8th level spread out further, with many enormous structures all surrounding the central palace.

When Yaan walked in past the giant arch doors, the world was submerged in darkness once again, just like in the 7th pagoda trial. He remained calm, now accustomed to these sorts of oddities, and waited for the trial to begin.

However, when the trial actually began, any feelings of calmness were destroyed instantaneously.

Yaan stumbled backwards for multiple steps as a horrendous pressure bore down on him. He felt as if his cultivation in all aspects had been sealed away, as if he had returned to being a mortal once again!

His eyes were drawn forwards, towards the only light in this darkness. He was reminded of the time he first encountered the 3rd Celestial Demon General…because the entity before him was no smaller! In fact, Yaan couldn't even estimate how large this monstrous being truly was!

Unlike the time with the 3rd Celestial Demon General, Yaan could actually see this entity in its entirety. It was as if, despite being enormous, this being - this man - was so far away that his full form could be easily seen.

Yaan felt smaller than he had ever felt in his life, and as the man's gaze landed upon him, the indifference mixed with pride that could not be hidden from that giant man's red eyes caused Yaan to almost fall to his knees.

This entity, this 'man', was not only enormous, but resembled a god-like warrior from the most farfetched of legends. His eyes and hair were both red, each shining with a dark, murderous light. His muscles bulged with a similar red light, making him look like each fibre of his being was filled with an unfathomable strength. His entire, topless body, exuded killing intent, and it was clear that this was simply the man's innate instinct.

"Tell me…what is dao?"

The entity opened his mouth and spoke slowly, questioning Yaan with a booming voice that seemed to encompass this entire vast space. The deafening voice echoed from every direction and gathered within the depths of Yaan's heart.

The moment this being spoke, a feeling of fear seemed to take root in Yaan's heart. This terrifying feeling rose to such an unbelievable extreme that his legs completely gave out! Unknowingly, he landed on his knees, now unable to move before the might of this red-haired giant.

A look of shock and fear flashed across Yaan's face…this was not something that he showed often, or really ever in recent years.

This fear seemed to emerge from the depths of his heart, but it was only natural to feel this way when an omnipotent being such as this red-haired warrior directed his killing aura into the heart of a mere Foundation Step cultivator.

And yet, Yaan had the strangest feeling that his fear was not only caused by this entity's power. It was as if, hidden deep down, there was another reason that he felt this way…

As he swallowed heavily and forcibly suppressed the doubt and confusion that suddenly threatened to envelope his mind, Yaan barely managed to open his mouth and speak in a dry voice.

"I don't know…"

He answered honestly, giving the answer that lay within his heart. He knew that in all likelihood, this entity before him was related to the master of the inheritance. Perhaps, this man was even an illusion of that person.

The best answer should be the answer that the inheritance master had arrived at, and from what Yaan understood, the master of this inheritance did not follow the Heavenly Dao. Perhaps answering with something overbearing like, 'dao is what I want it to be' would be best, but Yaan could not give such an answer.

The way in which this entity questioned him let Yaan know something; he absolutely had to answer truthfully! Answering with anything other than the truth within his heart would result in his death!

No, maybe, it was simply impossible to defy this being by answering in any other way than with the truth…

Yaan realised that he had fallen to fear. Before this overbearing giant, Yaan was forced to conform to his will.

Whilst this was indeed the smart thing to do, for some reason, it caused him to feel a deep sense of hatred and unwillingness in his heart. Yaan had never been a person who cared about useless things like pride, so this strange hatred caused him to feel totally bewildered when he thought about it.

This was only a trial. It wasn't worth dying pointlessly over, so why would he care about something like this…?

And yet, the deeper he thought about his present actions, the further this hatred grew, until he felt a sense of disgust and loathing towards the red-haired warrior, but also towards his own weakness.

Before he had the chance to think any further, the giant spoke once again.

"Your answer…is barely adequate. Low Grade pass…"

Whoosh!

The world around Yaan rapidly retracted into the distance, until he was no longer able to see the giant red-haired man. Even after he found himself back outside of the 8th level pagoda, Yaan remained still and silent, trying to understand what had just happened.

Why was it that he felt such intense feelings when facing that red-haired entity? Was it really just because of the difference in power between them…?

Unknowingly, Yaan began clenching his fists tightly. He had the distinct feeling that there was more to all of this. Something inside him told him that this was somehow related to his fate, and that this feeling was something that he would not forget.

"Pride…" Yaan muttered as his gaze flashed strangely.

That red-haired entity possessed a deep sense of pride. Anyone could tell this just by looking into his eyes, since he made no attempt to hide it, and even flaunted it so openly. It was as if his very being was based upon this feeling of pride.

'Could it be that I also have a sense of pride? Is that why I feel so pained that I backed down in front of that person?'

Yaan had always considered the 'pride' shown by young cultivators to be something negative. It was a useless feeling that had no benefit to anyone…or so he thought.

But when he considered it more objectively, did he really not have his own pride? Maybe his pride was a bit different, since he wasn't the type to care about what others thought of him, but it was a fact that he felt satisfied with himself whenever he grew stronger and surpassed those around him.

"You passed the trial. Low Grade…but no matter, a pass is a pass."

There were nine gradings for these trials, from Entry Grade to Apex Grade. Low Grade was the second lowest, being just above Entry Grade. Regardless, even Entry Grade was still a 'pass' when it came to trials, and in this trial, it seemed that merely passing was good enough.

Yaan glanced at the devil spirit and nodded lightly, clearing his head and deciding not to dwell on the previous matter for now. The feeling from before disturbed him for some reason, but worrying about this pointlessly wouldn't achieve anything.

He would just do as he had always done; continue on.

"I'll challenge the 9th level pagoda now."