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Upon entering the Trial, I tried relying on my Profound-Rank wind-based fire seed, but even with its elemental advantage, it lacked the stopping power that it had possessed in the lower-Rank Trials. However, the decreased effectiveness of the fire seed wasn’t enough to stop me. This was a Trial designed for a King, and I was wearing the armor of an Emperor. Nothing was able to hurt me, and nothing could withstand a single strike from my staff.

Not knowing how high the Trial could go, I considered pushing the limits to see what happened, but there was little reason to do so. At stage 159, my lightning affinity broke through to peak four-star. I continued for another 10 stages after that, but there were no additional rewards, so I gave up and didn’t waste my time.

Whoever was watching, the Masters of the Peaks, the Sovereigns, the Saint, they would see this Trial wasn’t a challenge for me. If they cared about knowing how deep I could go, they would offer me a reward. There was no reward, so they didn’t care.

Even I had to admit that was fair. At this point, the only thing this Trial was testing was the quality of my armor and weapon. Spending all the energy that had to be required to run a Trial would be an extremely wasteful way to test that.

Upon exiting, I walked casually to the arch back to Dragon Peak. No one tried to stop me, and I didn’t receive any messages from the Master of the Peak. I had a suspicion that this might have been different if I had shown any weaknesses during the Trial.

However, I didn’t let my guard down. The Master of the Lightning Peak had shown what type of person he was in my last life when he sent gu to invade my soul. I could only assume that he was keeping his powder dry for when I attempted to ascend to Heaven City.

After returning to Earth City, I set about advancing to Martial Emperor. Purchasing enough karmic energy for everyone to advance to Emperor 1 was a bit of a hit to our finances, but while LiTing and I spent our time crafting, the others went out on missions to rack up as many points as they could.

During this time, Cai XiaoYu and Jin ZiHan were advancing at a rate of four times a year, and their foundations were becoming a bit shaky, but with a bit of help, they were still able to rush forward fast enough that everyone reached Martial Emperor only six years after we first entered Earth City.

To prepare for the journey ahead, LiTing and I made sure everyone was kitted out with the best equipment we could make given the time constraints. Then, we left the city behind and headed up the mountain.

When we arrived at the path’s six archways at the base of the clouds, I looked around at my friends and allies.

“Do your best to stay safe. Take it slow. Use everything you have. Don’t hold back.”

They all gave short sharp nods of agreement.

I stepped up to the position of the leader. Yan walked to my right and took the door for my lieutenant. LiTing and JiaQi took the two doors to our left. LuYao joined Cai XiaoYu on the rightmost door, and Jin ZiHan took the final one between Yan and the two other women.

After a final glance around and a deep breath, I took one step forward and passed through the arch.

The moment I stepped through the portal, I found myself in the center of the dense cloud bank.

Before I could even get my bearings, I sensed five bolts of lightning empowered with the full strength of a Peak Emperor crashing toward me.

I didn’t even have any time to react. All I could do was await their punishment.

The instant the lightning struck, it disappeared.

All the energy was pulled into one of my robe’s formations that was designed like the explosive formations I had once learned to craft in the Yellow Orchid Academy. The energy was sent on an endless loop, circling in a complex pathway through my robe.

Of course, this formation wasn’t able to contain all the energy from five full power strikes of a Peak Emperor without exploding. When the stored energy reached a critical level, the excess was channeled outward into a powerful burst of electricity.

With that first attack handled, I was able to stand up straight and look around the clearing.

I smiled. If that was all the Master of the Lightning Peak had in store for me, this test would be easier than expected.

After a quick inspection, I found the small path that led up the mountain and began my trek.

Only five meters into this journey, five more bolts of lightning shot down from the sky. Using my peak four-star lightning affinity, I channeled the bulk of their energy directly into the ground, saving my robe from being overtaxed by an excessive amount of qi.

After another five meters, another five bolts were sent at me.

Then, another five meters, another five bolts.

When I crossed the five-meter mark for the fourth time and lightning crashed toward me once more, I couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. My last time on this path, the Lightning Master had shown a propensity for using excessive amounts of energy to hide things, and I had been watching for it.

While it looked like five bolts of lightning were striking down at me, that wasn’t the case.

I ignored the three lightning bolts, pulled out my crescent moon spade, coated it with a thin sheen of the Slicing Winds Fire, and slashed at the two lightning elementals mixed in with the regular lightning bolts.

The poor creatures didn’t have any time to react before they were cut in two. If this had been a normal strike from a normal weapon, the elementals would have been able to reform, but with the Profound-Rank wind-based spirit fire enhancing my attack, the energy that formed the elementals’ bodies dispersed immediately.

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Holding my staff at the ready, I continued my advance.

As I walked, I thought I was ready for anything, but I was wrong. I hadn’t been prepared for what came next.

Nothing.

Sure, there were still the occasional lightning strikes and elementals to defeat, but there were no traps, no overly powerful monsters to fight, and no gu. It was… a normal test.

When the cloud bank solidified around me, I found that my way forward was blocked by the same metal that had been used last time. The one LiTing had identified as a Rank 8 metal.

My gut impulse was to walk forward and snatch it again, but this situation was… different. There was no storm of lightning and gu coming toward me. I was simply left alone in front of an impassable wall of metal.

Starting to believe that this might be a legitimate test, I examined my surroundings more closely.

Unlike last time, I wasn’t being blocked by one solid piece of metal. The wall was formed from several interlocking pieces that created an iris. It was a door. I just had to find a way to open it.

After a quick search, I found a total of nine crystal discs the size of my palm embedded into the stone of the mountain. When I looked around and couldn’t find any more, I began to understand what was expected of me.

Channeling my earth qi, I sent a powerful bolt of energy at each of the nine discs. One of them lit up with a ruddy brown color, but my energy just bounced off the remaining eight.

I smirked. The nine discs were laid out in the same pattern as the arches in the Gateway Plaza. Each arch led to a different elemental peak. Each disc needed a different element.

Using the lightning qi trapped within my robe, I sent a bolt of electricity toward what I presumed to be the correct disc. When the bolt struck it, the disc lit up with a bright yellow light.

Two down. I only needed a source for the other nine elements.

I pulled out a tendril of Slicing Winds Fire and sent it toward the wind disc. When the fire landed, the disc lit up in neon green.

With six more discs to go, the light coming from the earth disc winked out. A quick check proved that another burst of qi was able to light it back up, which meant that there was a simple timer involved in the test. I needed to light all nine before the first one went out.

I could have accomplished this task by using the bevy of spirit fires that I had stashed away in my storage space, but the Master of the Lightning Peak was playing nice. I would give him the courtesy of attempting this challenge in a more suitable manner.

These discs required high-level energy to activate, and I didn’t have the talisman knowledge required to make something that would work here. However, I did have the ability to create something almost as good.

Taking out a large amount of powdered stone, I meticulously crafted nine Rank 6 disposable formations. These were rather simple trinkets, but they were each capable of unleashing a single powerful blast of elemental energy, mimicking the effects of an attack talisman.

After making one formation for each of the test’s nine discs, I placed the formation stones on their proper discs and activated them all at once.

Each of the nine discs lit up simultaneously, and the iris blocking me from advancing opened.

I still considered stealing the valuable metal, but the Master of the Lightning Peak had played everything straight with me in this life. He had complained about me and tried to have me demoted, but he had never sent anyone to attack me, and he never tried to enslave my soul. I would give him the courtesy of not stealing his testing supplies.

After one final glance around, I stepped through the gateway.

On the other side, nearly everyone was already waiting for me. The only ones not present were LuYao and Cai XiaoYu.

LiTing gave me a worried look. “Did he make it hard on you?”

I could only shake my head. “No, it was a fair test… Unusually fair, but fair.”

I turned around and looked at the arches. Five were lit up while one remained dull.

Just as I was starting to worry, the final arch burst into light, and two figures walked out.

A smile crossed my face, and I let out a breath of relief.

After greeting the women, I turned around to see that a new arch had already appeared.

As one, our entire group walked forward.

When we approached Heaven City, I started to get worried. A group of over half a dozen Emperors were waiting for us.

However, once I noticed Jin and Shen leading them, I let that worry mostly slide away. Though, I was still slightly concerned about the woman standing beside them like she was their equal.

The unknown woman was wearing dark red robes, and her hair was slightly graying. She looked to be only several years older than the other two, but since they were all Emperors, she was likely centuries older.

As I entered the village’s gate, the older woman gave me a sharp nod.

“Jin, Shen, I trust you can oversee things from here. Su Fang, I look forward to collaborating with you in the future.”

Then, she turned and led two of the other waiting Emperors away.

I wanted to ask about what was going on, but Jin shook her head.

“Come, let’s get some privacy.

Once we were safe behind the walls of Jin’s conference room, I looked at my two allies.

“What happened? Everything felt too… easy. I was expecting the Master of the Lightning Peak to send something truly horrific against me, but it was just a straightforward test. Then, once we were out, you three were waiting for us. Who was that woman?”

Shen held up a hand to stop my questions. “First, that was Huo NuAn. She’s the Master of the Fire Peak. She joined us to make sure nothing unfortunate happened upon your arrival. It was unlikely, but we wanted to be safe.”

“Oka—”

Jin cut me off. “As for Lei LiuXian, the Master of the Lightning Peak, he can be reckless, but he isn’t a complete fool. He saw where things were headed and chose not to engage. If he tried something and didn’t kill you, he would have only made a powerful enemy.”

Shen continued the explanation. “Make no mistake. He could have killed you if he really wanted to. With your skills and equipment, he couldn’t have done it on his own, but he could have purchased the assistance of the Li Clan. He just wasn’t willing to go into debt and anger his peak’s elders over you. Worse, if he did go into debt and still didn’t succeed, he would have cut off his own future. There was no reason to go to such lengths over an obnoxious brat who will be leaving the sect soon anyway.”

“That… makes sense. I just didn’t expect him to be so… rational. Last time—”

Jin snorted. “Last time he was doing the Li Clan a favor. He wasn’t going into debt. He was putting others in his debt.”

She waved a hand, dismissing the previous subject. “Anyway, that doesn’t matter. You’ve reached Heaven City. You can leave through the Path of the Leader and reach the Summit any time you want. You don’t need to wait until Peak Emperor. So, what’s your plan? We might not see you again after you leave, so we need to be prepared.”

I took a breath and refocused.

“Right.” I looked at Jin and Shen. “There are four years before Emperor Li dies. I want to see what’s going on. Why would he want me to reach the Summit before he dies? I want to find out. We need memory orbs for everyone, and I don’t have time to make them, so I’ll have to rely on the two of you again.”

I focused on Shen. “If possible, I’d also like to use your cultivation cave. Even if it’s not necessary, I’d still ideally like to reach Peak Emperor before heading up the mountain, but this time, I need to make true ascensions using karmic energy. If I destroy my foundations by advancing without it, I might ruin whatever surprise is waiting for me at the Summit, so I need to do things properly, but I still need to advance as fast as I can.”

He nodded and smiled. “Of course, but we will need to discuss that favor you owe me.”

I turned to my friends. “I’m going to be busy over the next few years, and I might not have much time to see you all. Have fun, but try not to die without using an orb first, alright?”

While I tried to keep my words light, I don’t think it worked.

I focused on Yan and JiaQi. “We probably shouldn’t draw attention to him, but it would be good if we knew where YuLong ran off to. We’re going to need to find him so we can grab his memories.”

Yan waved this off. “Don’t worry. I’ve been following his adventures. We might need to step in and save him if things get much worse, but for now, he’s fine.”

I raised an eyebrow, but Yan didn’t elaborate, so I moved on.

“Well, those are my plans. What about everyone else?”

Jin and Shen didn’t deign to share their intentions, and my friends\' plans all boiled down to learning as much as possible in what time they had remaining. They weren’t going to be doing much cultivating. Instead, they would be focusing on improving their other skills.

After a lengthy chat, we broke apart and each left to pursue our personal objectives. I had a lot to do, and time was quickly running out.