The 5th Inheritance Trial

Finally, Yaan was going to learn just what exactly the 5th Trial Realm held in store for the Primordial Devil's 'fated inheritor'.

The fated inheritor was supposed to be the Primordial Devil himself, but when he designed those trials to determine his reincarnated self, he never could have predicted that his rebirth would go so terribly wrong, resulting in the fated inheritor being mistaken, and his heart demon gaining the fruits of his labour!

Of course, Yaan wasn't really here in person, Devil was the one who would be taking this inheritance. That said, even now, Yaan could see and feel everything that Devil could see and feel. However, no matter what happened, Yaan's expression would not change. No matter what he felt in his heart, he would not show it on his face, because he knew that the Primordial Sage was always watching.

It was inevitable that he would be forced to reveal many of his secrets before the Sage; if he wanted to carry out his plan, then this was unavoidable, Even so, he wanted to keep hidden as much as possible.

Under the Devil Spirit's request, Devil stepped back and watched as the Devil Spirit reached out with both hands, pointing his two crimson palms towards the red chandelier hanging from the ceiling hundreds of feet above. Countless complex runes manifest across the surface of his palms, which soon exploded into beams of blood-red light, shooting towards the chandelier and fusing into its many lights.

As soon as this fusion began, the faint red veins which adorned every wall throughout the palace started glowing thousands of times more intensely than before. Even as the chandelier dimmed down and detached from the ceiling, slowly floating down towards the ground, the room remained bright, now illuminated by those red veins.

It became clear now that the red veins truly were pulsating. However, this now gave the feeling not that the veins were alive individually, but that this stone palace hall itself was alive!

A deep, primal, ancient feeling killing intent leaked out from each and every red veins. Under the Devil Spirit's control, the red chandelier reached the centre of the hall, floating a couple hundred feet above the ground.

Devil stared up and narrowed his eyes. He noticed that minuscule tendrils, barely visible even with his extreme eyesight, were slowly growing out from each connection between the countless red veins in the palace's strange network. This tendrils gradually made their way towards the red chandelier.

The chandelier came to a halt, and without warning, it exploded in a flash of red light. The red light spread out rapidly until it formed a globe of 100 feet in diameter, before gradually shrinking back down, until it became the size of a human heart…

But not only was it the size of a human heart, it looked like a human heart too! Of course, this was no ordinary heart; it glowed with a splendid killing aura, making it look like a true divine treasure!

When those countless red tendrils finally reached the centre of the hall, fusing into the glowing heart, Devil realised that this might truly be some sort of strange divine treasure.

Time passed by slowly. With each tendril that fused into the glowing crimson heart, its killing aura grew a level stronger.

After several hours passed by, the formation of the strange heart had reached completion. There were now 10,000 tendrils which had fused into the heart, and as soon as the 10,000th tendril completed its fusion, the heart under went a change.

Boom Boom…Boom Boom…Boom Boom…

The heart, which had previous laid dormant, started beating. As it released shockwaves with each pulsation of its glowing form, a powerful crimson energy was drawn into the heart through half of the many tendrils, and this energy was pushed back out through the other half.

At this point, the Devil Spirit showed a tired expression, but he said nothing and took several steps back, until he was stood halfway between the heart and the edge of the palace's stone black walls. He made sure to avoid coming close to any of the strange tendrils, and after he stopped, he fell silent, watching Devil, with no intention of saying anything.

As the Devil Spirit watched Devil closely, his heart was filled with anticipation.

'This is the final trial that master laid out back then…master said that only his true reincarnation would act properly when faced with this heart…master has clearly gone through many changes since back then, I hope that he is still able to understand. Unfortunately, I am still bound by this final restriction, I cannot provide master with any help here…'

Devil completely ignored the Devil Spirit. For a while, he stared at the pulsating heart, which was currently releasing wave after wave of ancient killing intent…killing intent directed towards himself.

Even Devil felt an immense pressure under this killing intent. He had no doubt that if he hadn't formed the heart of slaughter, these ripples alone would have left him severely injured. Were anyone else to see this strange thing, they would definitely exercise the utmost caution, choosing to retreat and study the heart from afar as they analysed its oddities until they could completely see through its mysteries.

But Devil did not do this…he saw no reason to do this.

"What an interesting killing intent…but to try to pressure me, of all people, with killing intent? I do not know what this thing is. I can't say that I understand this 'trial', either…but all of that is irrelevant."

Devil laughed darkly, and began to slowly walk towards the glowing heart. His domain instantly spread throughout the cavern, and for a moment, the Devil Spirit could swear that the red veins across the palace walls, the 10,000 tendrils linking those veins to the heart, and even the heart itself…all trembled in fear!

Devil walked forwards, with no intention of minding the tendrils in his path. However, as his spirit body, which was now fused with his solidified killing intent, approached those tendrils, they actually twisted and moved out of his way, as if afraid that Devil would touch him, giving him free passage towards the heart itself.

Before the Devil Spirit could comprehend the current situation, he realised that Devil was standing directly before the heart itself!

When he saw Devil reach out towards the heart with a cold, callous gaze, the Devil Spirit wanted to cry out, but he was a step too late. Before he had the chance to warn Devil of the danger that he was about to openly embrace, Devil's palm had already made contact with the heart!

When Devil's hand touched the pulsating heart, the entire network of crimson veins and tendrils trembled. In fact, when Devil squeezed slightly, forcing the heart to become still, making it unable to continue pulsating, the entire 5th Trial Realm violently trembled!

"To dare threaten me with your meagre killing intent…I do not know what you are, but you are deserving of death for this transgression against me."

After speaking this ruthless line to the trembling heart, Devil squeezed down with his hand, instantly shattering the glowing heart!

The Devil Spirit's eyes widened in shock.

In truth, in the 5th Trial Realm, The Devil Spirit did not understand the trial at all. He was just following his master's instructions from back then - he formed the heart and the network within the stone palace, then stepped back, and waited.

His master had told him back then, that his reincarnated self would act properly, passing the 5th Trial without needing to be told what to do. So long as the person to complete this 'trial' truly was his reincarnated self, the Primordial Devil had felt the utmost confidence that he would be able to pass this bizarre trial.

He also felt confident that nobody else would be able to pass the 5th Trial, and that their attempts to do so would result only in death.

Devil was not the Primordial Devil…but he was a being whose existence the Primordial Devil couldn't possibly have predicted.

After crushing the heart within his palm, a wave of ferocious killing intent erupted into the palace hall, crashing through the palace with such ferocity that the world transformed into a blood-soaked realm of blinding red light. The Devil Spirit showed an expression of shock, and even a hint of fear, but he felt a sense of relief when he realised that this killing intent, although ferocious to the extreme, simply phased through him like he wasn't there.

As for Devil…

Devil took the full brunt of this killing intent.

As he felt wave after wave of the condensed killing intent - the killing intent of the Primordial Devil - crashing into him, Devil's face twisted into a malicious smile and he couldn't help but roar with laughter. He could feel that this killing intent was truly trying to kill him…but this killing intent was killing intent in its purest form; it possessed no true power!

Any other being below the Divine Step would be killed instantly by these waves of killing intent, Devil had no doubt about it. However, to he, who had developed a heart of slaughter, and even possessed a domain of slaughter?

Killing intent alone could not even affect him!

However, a moment later, Devil narrowed his eyes. As the heart released a tremendous Slaughter Aura after being killed at his hands so thoroughly, he realised that this Slaughter Aura was unlike any that he had ever experienced in his life before now. This Slaughter Aura contained a dormant power of vitality, the same sort of vitality that was beyond useful for body temperers…

"I see…" Devil muttered, frowning as he found that he was completely unable to refine this Slaughter Aura.

'The Primordial Devil created this place to help his 'fated inheritor' cultivate their vitality to greater heights, further boosting their body tempering cultivation. Perhaps, this sort of immense vitality could even help a 9-Star Immortal body temperer to further refine their body; such a thing is extremely rare. However…I am not a body temperer. I am an Immortal Slaughter Spirit, a soul cultivator, and soul cultivation is basically the opposite of body tempering…'

As Devil thought this, his eyes lit up as he had an idea.

He closed his eyes, feeling the immense vitality attempting to enter and integrated into his spirit body. Naturally, this sort of power was completely incompatible with him…but it was still vitality.

Vitality was a form of life, and all life…could be slaughtered.

Devil concentrated on directing the majority of his killing intent towards the unique vitality contained within the Slaughter Aura which was released by the destroyed crimson heart. As he did this, Devil became elated, because as expected, he found that he was able to slaughter this vitality!

Instantly, the Slaughter Aura which he had been unable to devour previously, underwent another transformation.

Whoosh!

A bloody vortex formed around Devil. He continued to slaughter the released vitality contained within the original Slaughter Aura, transforming it into a new Slaughter Aura that he was actually able to devour. As soon as he did this, a giant crimson vortex formed around him, and it was as if he had turned into a bucket in which the boundless Slaughter Aura could easily be devoured.

Devil became engrossed with the feeling of his Immortal Slaughter Spirit body growing stronger, something that hadn't happened ever since he reached the Dao Immortal Realm.

At the Dao Immortal Realm, it was difficult to improve one's comprehension, meaning the life energy that they cultivated, without attaining some form of divinity. It was difficult…but not impossible. Pursuing this sort of improvement was one of the multiple ways that Dao Immortals and Transcendents alike prepared for their ascension up the Divine Stairway.

At the same time, gradually, Devil's domain was further refined, absorbing more and more slaughter, allowing it to reach heights greater than he had previously believed possible.

However, Devil realised at some point, that his mind was starting to become hazy.

After a few minutes, strange thoughts started flashing through his mind, like memories of a life that he did not remember living. He refused to stop devouring the Slaughter Aura, so he tried to suppress the distortion to his mind…but he failed.

The more he devoured, and the larger the crimson vortex became, the more extreme these strange thoughts became. Devil continued trying to suppress these thoughts so that he could keep a sound mind, but due to his obstinance and refusal to back down, even in the face of the unknown, he eventually lost his grasp over reality.

At this point, Devil no longer knew where he was…

No, more than that, he didn't even know who he was!

Countless memories rapidly flashed through his mind. Unfortunately, the memories passed through his mind so quickly that he was unable to properly process any of them. All he really understood, in his delirious state, was that he…was the Primordial Devil!

He was one of the four original demons in this world…

At first, there were only four of them, but after many years passed by, beasts, then humans and cultivators, started to appear. He stood at the apex of existence for so long that he couldn't help but disdain and disregard these beings. Even when those beings reached the same 'realm' as him - the Dao Immortal Realm - the Primordial Demons were still so much stronger than those cultivators, that even now, they didn't take them seriously.

But those cultivators eventually reached a level beyond what they knew to be possible, and from there, the endless war began…

"Hah…hah…hah…" Devil's pupils rapidly shrank and dilated as he found himself back in the real world. He was drenched in bloody sweat, and for a long time, he stood there with a dazed, confused expression, struggling to differentiate his own memories, from that jumbled mess that had been forced into his mind.

Eventually, after a full day, Devil's sound mind returned to him. He regained his composure, and stared forwards at the now fully reformed crimson heart, which was once again pulsating just like before, as if his previous actions had only been a dream.

"I understand." Devil spoke calmly without taking his eyes away from the heart.

The Devil Spirit appeared behind him and lowered his head, but he listened carefully to Devil, since even the Devil Spirit didn't really understand exactly what had just happened.

"There are three purposes in this 5th Trial Realm. The first, is to discern the true inheritor; anyone other than the fated inheritor will inevitably die under this 'trial'. The second, is to provide the fated inheritor with a massive boost to their cultivation via the slaughter of the crimson heart. And the third…is to transfer the Primordial Devil's complete memories to the fated inheritor. This last point is destined to take countless attempts, since the Primordial Devil of the past possessed three million years worth of memories, and many of those are the overwhelming memories of an apex divinity."

Devil paused for a moment, then slowly, a smile spread across his face. Before long, he broke into a roar of laughter. When he calmed down, he stared at the crimson heart with a burning gaze.

"Until the fated inheritor is able to properly absorb those memories, they will be unable to truly absorb the complete power from the crimson heart. The crimson heart will reform endlessly, until the fated inheritor has reaped the full benefits from the arrangements left behind back then."

Devil smiled, then reached out, and once again crushed the crimson heart within his palm.