Decisions

"Young lad, never mess with the monkey king." The monkey king laughed as the rod in its hand enlarged and lengthened.

The rod emitted a golden aura of royalty and benevolence, the monkey king grinning as it leaped into the sky, the rod swinging down with a swift motion.

Boom!

By the time the two attacks struck each other, the phoenix was already on its last breath from the incoming surge of energy from the golden rod. Yet it actually rebirthed at the last moment after being destroyed and came back stronger to stop the rod.

"Interesting move you have young lad." The monkey king said as it landed on the ground softly. Its carefree manner telling Nightin that the results of the battle was fixed.

How did that happen? Nightin accepted the defeat willingly, his strength was still too weak to defeat the monkey king.

But the second form of the phoenix wrath wasn't recorded in the scroll left behind by Phoenix in his legacy. Was it something that he enlightened himself after creating 'phoenix surge' which somehow merged into this?

"Thanks for the compliment, senior. But it's quite a pity that I would have to forgo the reward since I failed to defeat you." Nightin sighed, but still broke out in a smile.

"Don't worry young fella, I can still give you the reward as long as you agree to help me fulfill a task." The monkey king laughed as it took out an array stone.

Suddenly, Nightin realized that there was a question mark glowing in yellow floating above the head of the monkey king.

"System, why is there a question mark floating above the head of the monkey king?"

"In order to help the host better since you have finally made up your mind on how you should utilise the system, assistant functions have been added alongside a brand new character page that would prove useful."

"From now on, a yellow question mark will show that there's a quest that can be made available. A red exclamation mark will reveal danger with a higher return with rewards, the danger might result in death."

"System, can I view the current statistics of my character?"

Host current realm: Martial Emperor fourth realm (Enough cultivation base in experience pool up till Martial Emperor sixth realm)

Combat strength: Equivalent to a early stage Martial Saint (Compared to the average cultivators)

Skills: Six mystic swords(Unique+), Phoenix Surge(Half god+), Phoenix Wrath (Half god)

Note: The (+) means that the skill can still evolve towards the next grade.

Laws: Samsara law(Comprehended), Life law(Comprehended), Death law(Comprehended), Fire law(Comprehended), Wind law(Comprehended), Aurora law(Comprehended)

Note: From now on, all laws will be divided into five grades. The grades are known as Entry grade, Comprehended grade, Mastered grade, Perfection grade, Profoundness grade (Profoundness grade means that a cultivator has fully comprehended the law and even walked out a unique path)

(From now on, the character profile page will be shown at the end of each chapter, and won't be included in the average word count per chapter. I'll be adding them into the updated chapters as well)

"Senior, may I know what you need help with? I may be unable to do much, but I promise to fulfill your task to the best of my capabilities." Nightin replied politely while keeping back into his soul space, that was where his soul sword truly belonged.

"It's simple, I have been confined in this space for thousands of years in order to wait for someone. That person is you and now that you're here, I need you to bring me out of here." The monkey king said solemnly.

"Quest has been triggered!"

[Bring the monkey king out of this place by signing an equal contract with it. Fixed reward of a three month foundation capsule which helps to stabilize your cultivation for the period of time stated]

"How can I sign an equal contract with you?" Nightin cut straight to the chase, expecting the monkey king to understand his intentions.

"Young lad, I'm afraid that I'll be turning into stone soon. Remember, the only way is to clear all three trials and when choosing a reward, I hope you'll keep your promise."

Before Nightin could ask further, the monkey king had already been petrified by the mysterious force and returned to its initial location.

Left without a choice, Nightin could only progress upon realising that the array stone was kept by the monkey king already.

Seriously, does he doubt me that much? Nightin chuckled to himself as he asked the voice, "I believe I qualify for the second stage of the trial."

"Of course, the second trial will be one that blows your mind. Be prepared."

Before Nightin, three mysterious paths appeared before him. Each of them lead to a gate.

The path to his left was a stable bridge connected to the other side safely, yet the side wasn't barricaded and if one were to slip on the bridge due to some traps, then they would plummet to their death instantly.

The middle path was non-existent, the platform might be on a lower level, but jumping that far without any cultivation base is pure suicide in the dumbest way.

As for the path to his right, it was a very thin chain that looked extremely damaged and rust was already growing on it, but the path was the shortest among the three.

Right when Nightin was still pondering about the path that might end up to be correct, he felt a sensation of danger coming from behind his back.

Out of curiosity and consideration for his own life, Nightin turned back and was surprised to see a wall of spikes advancing towards him.

That wasn't all to the wall of spikes, it was made blunt enough to not cause excessive blood loss or death and poison was probably coated on it. It was designed for torture.

Knowing that further hesitation will probably lead to death, Nightin decided on the right path which was the fastest way out. Knowing that it might just break off at any moment, he made sure to make it as quick as possible with light footsteps.

Yet when he was just halfway there, the chain started to break off. Left without a choice, he ran on the chain and right before it collapsed, he took a leap of faith.

Swoosh

Grabs

Right when Nightin was about to slip off, he realized that his fingers had made contact with the ledge as he made use of that to pull himself up, landing safely on the platform. Yet he understands that the second trial was still far from over.

As expected, the solid ground he was standing on started to feel softer and when he looked down, he was standing on bubbles and the solid ground was already gone.

Looking up, he then realised that the path which he was supposed to take was now elevated to a greater height and the only way to get up there, was to jump on these bubbles forming a weird pattern and direction.

This was a test of agility, balance and precision. One needed to move quickly before the bubble they're standing on pops, during this process they would also have to land in the exact centre of the bubble to centre and balance themselves.

This trial might seem simple for a cultivator even though they are without cultivation, but the constant stress and need to perform these high difficulty actions aren't simple in a short time frame and environment where one slight mistake can result in death.

Closing his eyes, Nightin jumped onto the first bubble on his right about half a metre away and landed on it easily. The path to take had already been formulated in his mind.

Yet, it was only at this point of time that he noticed the test in the second trial was still being underestimated by him.

Apparently, each bubble will show a different word whenever he lands on them and if he isn't wrong, he has to be making these jumps while memorising maybe around fifty words or so.

Yet his guess proved to be wrong when the next word only appeared during the tenth jump which was already taxing on his legs to be doing this with just his raw physical fitness alone.

Damn, I've neglected my physical fitness for too long and my body has already fallen behind my cultivation base without me noticing. Nightin cursed to himself as he tried to link the first two words together.

"Six...Cups…"

By the twentieth bubble, his mind was exhausted and his robe was drenched in his own seat.

By the twenty third bubble, he was only close to halfway there from the total estimated number of bubbles. The trial was much more dangerous than he had expected again. The higher he went, the colder it was and the cold was already sending chills down his spine.

"Damn!" Nightin cursed out loud as his leg slipped on the twenty-eight bubble, was this the end for him?