Chapter 287: An Impossible Task

"Congratulations, you have encountered the selection of the King Xuan of Great Xuan Nation, triggering the mainline task. Please check the task panel for detailed information."

Relying on foresight, this was the second time it had happened, the first being back in the Sky Wolf Valley.

Suzanne's eyes were filled with anticipation as he immediately opened the task panel.

Mainline Task: The Path to Sovereignty

"Due to your slaying of the King Xuan of Great Xuan Nation, the royal family of Great Xuan is forced to select a new ruler from among the five princes. With your ability to change forms, you see an opportunity to impersonate one of the princes and gain the position of King Xuan."

"However, achieving this won't be easy. You'll need to pass multiple layers of tests to meet the requirements, and the consequences of failure are dire."

"Task 1: Qualify to become the King of Great Xuan through screening."

"Task Difficulty: Three Stars"

"Task Rewards: Profound-level Demon Manual, Profound-level Bloodline, 45 points of Demon Power."

"Task Countdown: 12 hours"

"Let me impersonate a prince and obtain the position of King Xuan? This task is great!"

Suzanne's lips curved into a pleased smile.

He had been considering impersonating the Fourth Prince and passing the test at the Grand Temple to become King Xuan. Now, the mainline task had given him exactly that opportunity, essentially handing it to him on a silver platter.

Even if this task didn't exist, he would still attempt it. 

However, something caught his attention as he looked at the task details. 

"Strange, why is the first part of this task only rated as three stars?"

The first part of the task required him to qualify to become the King of Great Xuan through a screening process, which didn't seem as simple as impersonating one of the princes. 

Since it was a screening process, it likely involved passing the Grand Temple's tests, and from what he'd seen so far, the Grand Temple was extremely dangerous. 

He had died multiple times while inside, primarily due to the enigmatic entity that seemed to be the Shrine Demon.

Given the perilous nature of the Grand Temple, he believed that this task should be rated at least four stars, if not higher.

"Am I overthinking it? Maybe the task is straightforward?"

He started another foresight to find out.

Just like before, it consumed three foresight opportunities.

As he observed the events unfold, he noticed that everything seemed normal within the Grand Temple until he died inexplicably. 

"Again, this mysterious death!"

"Where are the tests?"

Suzanne's brow furrowed. He had died twice in a row without any hint of what the actual test was.

"The Shrine Demon likely wields the power of soul manipulation. What if I enhance my soul to its maximum potential? Would I discover something?"

He initiated another foresight.

One minute later, nothing unusual happened in the Grand Temple. 

Two minutes later, it remained eerily silent.

Three minutes later, he died again.

"Another death!"

Suzanne's complexion turned grim. He couldn't understand where the problem lay.

"If I'm not killed upon entering, it means my disguise is not the issue, and the Shrine Demon probably can't easily detect any anomalies on my part. Otherwise, I would have been killed the moment I entered the Grand Temple."

"Then, if my identity isn't the problem, what could it be?"

Suzanne pondered.

Each time he entered the Grand Temple, he died in three minutes, and he didn't even know what the test was.

"First, let's find out what the test is!"

He initiated another foresight.

This time, Suzanne took a different approach. Instead of extracting blood from one of the princes or entering the Grand Temple himself, he calculated the timing and entered the Grand Temple using the mark obtained from a guard three minutes after the five princes had entered.

He wanted to see what tests the other princes would face.

"Utilize the Celestial Transfer. You successfully entered the Grand Temple, but your sudden arrival immediately attracted the attention of something inside."

"You died."

"Before your death, you saw the five princes seated separately, their eyes closed as if they were trapped in some kind of illusion."

"An illusion?"

Suzanne's eyes flickered, and he wasn't entirely surprised.

If there was a powerful Shrine Demon inside the Grand Temple, it would undoubtedly require divine ritual tools to construct a divine soul space.

He wouldn't be surprised if the entire palace was constructed as an illusion using divine ritual tools.

However, knowing it was an illusion didn't change anything.

The Shrine Demon was too formidable; even when he used his full power of the soul, it had no effect.

Unless... he used his incarnation!

The thought suddenly crossed Suzanne's mind.

An incarnation would remain unaffected by illusions without the presence of a divine soul. He had already verified this in the God's Ruin Realm.

If he assumed the form of one of the princes and entered the Grand Temple using his incarnation, what would happen?

Suzanne couldn't resist trying it out, even though he was skeptical.

Unfortunately, he was disappointed.

For some reason, even when he entered the Grand Temple using his incarnation in the form of the Fourth Prince, he was instantly killed, not even lasting three minutes.

"I refuse to believe I can't find a way to overcome this!"

Suzanne was unwilling to give up.

He continued to use foresight repeatedly, consuming all of his available opportunities, over a dozen times in total.

Only when he had around twenty foresight opportunities left on the panel did he stop.

During this time, he had exhausted every possible method and tried everything he could think of, but each attempt ended in failure.

"This won't work if I keep relying on foresight!"

Suzanne halted his attempts and carefully reviewed the information from each foresight to find the key to the problem.

The entity inside the Grand Temple was too inscrutable!

He still didn't understand how the Shrine Demon in the Grand Temple had detected his anomalies.

"This task is not easy to complete!"

Looking at the mainline task "The Path to Sovereignty," Suzanne sighed inwardly.

The first part of this task was rated as three stars, and for him, with the ability to foresee the future, it should have been relatively easy to accomplish.

However, now, after consuming over forty foresight attempts, he had made no progress.

"Should I give up on this task?"

Suzanne was unwilling but felt helpless.

This task was time-limited, and the first part had a 12-hour time limit. He didn't know if he could continue with the subsequent tasks if he missed the first part.

"12 hours..."

"Does this mean that as long as I qualify before the task deadline, it should be fine?"

Suddenly, Suzanne had an epiphany, and his eyes lit up.

"Right, why am I trying to follow the Grand Temple's tests step by step when the task is simply to qualify as the King of Great Xuan? Although passing the Grand Temple's tests is the usual way to achieve this, I could skip the middle steps and go directly for the final result!"

Suzanne slapped his forehead, realizing he had been on the wrong track.

He was an impostor; there was no need for him to follow the same path as the real princes. He could bypass the middle steps!

To achieve this, it was quite simple for him.

"In a previous foresight, the King Xuan's ancestor mentioned that as long as I endured until sunrise the next day, it would count as passing the test."

"If that's the case, why don't I stay in the Grand Temple for a while, then leave and return at sunrise? It seems feasible!"

Suzanne had a revelation and immediately initiated another foresight.

Unlike the previous foresights, this one consumed a significantly higher number of attempts—up to twenty times.

"Twenty times! Did it work?"

...

"With the Grand Temple's doors closed, the temple fell into silence. You exchanged glances with the other four princes, and none of you spoke."

"One minute later, there were no abnormalities in the Grand Temple. Realizing that staying here would inevitably lead to problems, you decisively chose to leave the Grand Temple."

"You used Celestial Transfer to appear outside the palace, and your departure didn't cause any changes. While waiting for the Grand Temple's test to end, you controlled your incarnation to deal with the warriors trying to capture you."

"To avoid instilling fear in the major clans, you only used the power of a mid-level spiritual practitioner."

"After four hours of intermittent engagements, you had successfully killed all the spiritual practitioners sent to capture you by the major clans."

"Your plan worked well. Rather than instilling fear in the major clans, your actions made them furious. They collectively decided to send even more powerful warriors to capture you."

"Six hours later, the sun rose, and you knew the Grand Temple's test should have ended. You used Celestial Transfer once more and appeared back in the Grand Temple."

"Returning to the Grand Temple, you found that the four princes were still sitting cross-legged, their eyes closed. However, they had already lost their vitality, and all of them were dead. You knew you couldn't linger here, so you immediately opened the Grand Temple's doors and left."

"When you appeared outside, several King Xuan Nation ancestors who were guarding the Grand Temple were overjoyed. One of them asked you what had happened last night."

"You pretended to be confused and told the ancestors that you had fallen asleep as soon as you entered the Grand Temple and had only just awakened, not knowing what had happened last night."

"The ancestors found it strange but didn't press further. They congratulated you on preliminarily gaining the qualifications to inherit the position of the King of Great Xuan."

"Success!"

Suzanne breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out that when he transformed into the Fourth Prince, the Shrine Demon in the Grand Temple could detect his anomaly but needed time to do so. As long as he didn't stay in the Grand Temple for an extended period, there were no issues.

"All four princes are dead. This was no test; it was simply a death trap."

A chill ran down Suzanne's spine. All four genuine princes had died. If he continued with his previous plan of trying to pass the test, it would most likely be a futile endeavor.

"Seven hours later, one of the King Xuan Nation ancestors informed you that to inherit the position of the King, you needed to go through two more steps. The first step is called the 'Soul Baptism,' and it requires at least two days to complete."

"This step is extremely dangerous, and for those who haven't passed the test, there's a high probability of death. Only those who have passed the test can survive, and after completing it, your soul will greatly strengthen."

"You inquired about the reason, but the ancestors didn't tell you. They instructed you to return and rest for five hours, then come back to the Grand Temple. Helpless, you had to temporarily return to the Fourth Prince's sleeping quarters to await further instructions."

"Soul Baptism?"

"Only those who passed the Grand Temple's test can undergo the baptism?"

Suzanne's face darkened, and the joy he had just felt vanished.

Seeing this, he had no doubt about how he had died again. It was undoubtedly the Shrine Demon in the Grand Temple!

"No wonder the first step's test is so dangerous, and it's a prerequisite for the second step. So, if I continue with my shortcut approach, it's impossible to complete the second step?"

"Twelve hours later, you returned to the Grand Temple and found that four of the ancestors were waiting inside."

"One of the King Xuan Nation ancestors asked you to kneel before a stone statue. Then, the other ancestors knelt as well, muttering incantations."

"One

 minute later, you didn't notice anything unusual."

"Two minutes later, apart from the low muttering of the ancestors, there were no other sounds in the Grand Temple."

"Three minutes later, suddenly, an immensely powerful soul force surged into your body. You instinctively tried to resist, but the force was far beyond your imagination, and you couldn't withstand it."

"Before you could understand what was happening, a furious voice resounded in your ears."

"You died."

As expected, he had died once again in the Grand Temple.

"Is this the Soul Baptism? Could the soul force that entered my body be from the Shrine Demon?"

Suzanne's expression turned serious, as he quickly thought of a possibility.

If the second step, the Soul Baptism, required the intervention of the Shrine Demon, then this path to becoming the King of Great Xuan was likely to be impossible for him to follow.

(End of this chapter)