Zhao Lung glared in shock as he saw a room lighted with torches. As he looked around, he saw a door, and a sign which read:
"This is the inheritance of the great transcender Mo Fu! Enter at your own risk, as you will not be able to exit. The minimum requirement is Warrior Realm. "
"Mo Fu?! The greatest transcender which had surpassed the Jinje world!" Zhao Lung's body trembled.
"Such a great person died? His inheritance must be a peerless treasure!" Zhao Lung considered entering the inheritance if he could find a treasure of power beyond Jinje World, he would be able to achieve the Mystic realm in a year. Inheritances were rare in general, but one of a legendary transcender was almost unheard of.
Any inheritance had challenges to test the challenger and considering this was Mo Fu's inheritance the difficulty would probably increase a fold. As his mom often remarked, his life was worth more than any treasure, if he entered, it wouldn't be too much different from committing suicide. Considering this, he quickly shook his head and walked out of the room.
As he was making his way through the cave-like hallway to leave the cave. Zhao Lung experienced a violent burst of memories. He saw himself in the previous life sitting down at a table, discussing something with a young man in his twenties. He remembered how he had just earned his first 100 thousand and was talking to an owner of a small company who wanted Zhao Lung to become his investor. After a lot of consideration, Zhao Lung gave the young man 100 thousand to grow his company. A little while after, many news articles criticized him of being too rash when he had just gotten popular. He had remembered the look on those people's faces when he earned a million within the first 6 months. It had been a life-or-death decision for him, but it was required to reach the top.
Zhao Lung awoke from the memory and his face contorted with greed. He walked to the door and after a moment of consideration stepped in.
Zhao Lung appeared in a large courtyard which was used for cultivation. Around him were well-trimmed bushes and beautiful trees. When Zhao Lung was taking his new surroundings in, a loud voice suddenly spoke.
"Welcome to the first stage of my inheritance challenger." A voice, of an old man, sounded.
"This stage will test your cultivation, as I the sign outside said, you must be at least at the Warrior Realm. The best way to test your cultivation is with a fight. Naturally, your opponent will be at the middle stage Warrior Realm, if you can defeat it, you can advance to the next stage. " The voice broke off.
Immediately following the man's words, a shape slightly larger than a human, appeared.
"A Stone Giant?" Zhao Lung was amazed. They were very resilient to elemental attacks and had a strong defense in general.
As Zhao Lung was in the middle of contemplating his situation, a stone fist made its way through the air towards Zhao Lung. He barely managed to put up his arm to block before the fist struck him. Zhao Lung was blasted into a wall of the courtyard and coughed up blood.
"So this is the true strength of the Warrior Realm? At this rate, I have no chance." Zhao Lung felt hopeless. The Stone Giant was faster than he expected, and its strength was far above his. The only thing he was better in was mental energy, as Stone Giants were dumb creatures, naturally, their way of thinking was simple.
"This is the only choice I have." An insane smile appeared on Zhao Lung's face. The Stone Giant charged at him straight on. The Stone Giant changed his direction and smashed into the wall next to him.
The force behind the charge was reflected back to the giant, and the rocks that made up his body charged outwards. Zhao Lung quickly moved to the center of the courtyard, making sure not to get hit by any rocks. The force of the explosion was very high, but it did not damage the courtyard at all, and the rocks that fell to the ground quickly disintegrated.
"I guess it really is harder to control someone of a higher realm." Zhao Lung said as he suppressed the urge to vomit blood. He was injured from getting hit earlier, and using nearly all of his mental energy made him tired. He sat down on the ground and rested for a while before the familiar voice came back.
"You are quicker than most who pass this stage, anyway, since you passed I will now transport you to the next stage."
The surroundings grew dark, and Zhao Lung felt his body growing light. When he opened his eyes, he saw a golden maze before him.
"This is the last stage, the Golden Maze of Greed. You will find many items here, but you can only take one. Naturally, the more you advance, the harder it will get, but the rewards will also increase. The treasure at the end was personally left by me when I was alive and exceeds the value of anything in this world. You can start now." The man's voice spoke.
Zhao Lung realized that the voice was referring to itself as Mo Fu so he must have left behind some of his memory in this inheritance.
Zhao Lung looked at the two tall walls in front of him and the space in between. The ground was made of bare earth, and he could see the path split off into two far ahead in front of him. Having no choice, he walked forward. Soon he came to the fork in the road and turned left, he made a mark in the ground with his foot before walking forward.
About an hour later, when he had just turned at a fork, he heard a bloodcurdling screech and saw a wolf made of ice charge at him. It had a horn on its forehead, which was also made of ice.
"A Horned Frost Wolf?" Zhao Lung was shocked, the Horned Frost Wolf was one of the rarest species that existed on the farthest corners of the Jinje World. Mo Fu actually managed to find one for his maze.
The wolf charged straight at him, while snarling in anger. Zhao Lung tried to use his ability, but its level was too high, and he was too exausted. He felt a piercing pain in his stomach, as it pierced him, and he was sent flying. When he landed, he felt a numbness in his chest, that was radiating from the wound, and the area turned completely white, as though he was made of ice. This was why the Horned Frost Wolf was so dangerous, it possesed the ice element, and was capable of freezing its opponents.
Zhao Lung lay on the ground helpless, and spurted a mouthful of blood. The wolf had almost pierced through his body, luckily he hit a non-vital point.
"Damn, I didn't think I would die this fast." Zhao Lung's vision started fading. At the last moment, Zhao Lung sneeked a peak at the wolf, but to his surprise found it heading back.
______
Zhao Lung woke up, and immediatly tried to sit up to see if he was in danger. Pain welled up in his chest, as the hole in his chest stretched.
"He really didn't go after me, could it be that he is just protecting the territory assigned to it by Mo Fu?" A smile appeared on Zhao Lung's face as he thought of a plan. He took out some bandages from his bag, and applied them to the hole in his chest.
He slowly got up, and started to move around. Zhao Lung circulated his Feather Steps to the max, and sprinted at full speed towards the wolf. The wolf was slightly surpised, seeing as its power was far greater than its, but quickly took off towards Zhao Lung. When he was about to get hit, he changed the direction of the wolf's charge, and sprinted past it. When he passed out earlier, his mental energy recovered and he was able to change the wolf's thoughts slightly even though he could feel it was beyond the Warrior realm.
Zhao Lung was already some distance in front of the wolf, before it had time to turn around. The Horned Frost Wolf was much faster than him, and right as it was about to catch up, it stopped, turned around, and left.
"So there is a certain range which it is supposed to protect. If the range was a little further, it would surely catch up to me and send me flying again!" Zhao Lung's body trembled at the thought of getting inpaled again. After regaining his breath, he walked forward, as that was the only path. Before long, he saw something bright and gold, as he realised what it was his jaw almost dropped to the ground.