"Uh! I am not dead?" Opening his eyes, Yang Ze saw the familiar yet unfamiliar cave walls around him as well as the glowing entrance.
The last thing he remembered was being pierced by those weapons before being crushed under the weight of that damned puppet. He could still feel the tingling pain in his body.
"You are awake!" Just when he was wondering what was going on, a familiar voice brought him back to his senses.
"....." Looking at the woman he wanted to see the least, Yang Ze didn't know what to say. He wanted to curse her a few times, but in the end chose to keep his mouth shut.
"Don't worry. Like I said... one doesn't die in the trials." Grabbing Yang Ze's sleeves, she pulled him up.
"How was your trial?" Even though she knew that he managed to pass three rounds, she still asked him. The rounds were different for everyone; some made it till the seventh round, some failed at the very first round... Even after two centuries, the Duality sect still hasn't figured out how this trial works. She, for example, managed to pass almost ten rounds.
"..." Hearing about the trials, Yang Ze almost flew into a rage. He didn't know that one wouldn't die inside the trials. So, when those weapons pierced him and the puppet crushed him, he thought he was gone for good.
"Good." This was the only word he spoke. He had made up his mind to never listen to this woman ever again. God knows what kind of fate would await him if he ever mistakenly trusts her.
"How was it? What did you face?" This time, Cang Yue was truly curious. No two people have the same trial. So, Yang Ze's experience was completely different from hers. She wanted to know what he faced.
"Tell me about your trials first." Yang Ze didn't answer her but asked a question.
"Oh! Mine?" Cang Yue thought for a moment before nodding in response.
"In the first round, I was inside a maze and had to find my way out."
"Then in the second round, I was in the Rocky Mountains and had to climb to the top."
"The third round was about a large ocean, and I had to cross it by swimming."
"The fourth round..."
"The fight round..."
.
.
.
"The tenth round was when I was stranded in a snowy mountain, and the storm was at its peak. I wanted to complete it, but in the end had to quit."
Initially, Yang Ze was expecting something similar to his experience, but the more he listened, he more he felt that something was wrong.
Halfway through, Yang Ze even began to wonder if the two of them were talking about the same thing.
And by the time she finished speaking, Yang Ze even began to have doubts about his own existence.
From her words, her trials were all about surviving in extreme conditions. From mountains to deserts, to oceans, to snowy mountains... every single round was focused on surviving nature.
What about him?
His first round was against a puppet, then the second round was against an unholy beast, and the third round was against a murderous puppet. Why was his so different from hers?
"Wait a minute... You said you quit mid-way?" It was at this moment, Yang Ze caught these sentences.
"Eh! Yes." Cang Yue looked at him in confusion before tilting her head. "Didn't you get an explanation when you entered the ruins?"
"If you can not take it anymore, you can just shout to quit, and the trials will end."
"....." Looking at her face, which didn't seem to be joking, Yang Ze almost flew into rage.
'Good... good... good...' Saying good three times, he turned around to look at the gate while gritting his teeth in anger. He then cursed the eighteen generations of whoever made this trial.
After talking with Cang Yue for a while, he understood that everyone who entered here went through similar types of trials.
"What about combat trials? Was there anyone whose trial was about fighting?" He still asked.
"Umm!" Cang Yue thought for a long time before shaking her head. "No."
Hearing her answer, Yang Ze wanted to destroy the walls of the cave to bury this so-called ruin. Clearly, the bastard who designed this was fond of women and hated men. Otherwise, there was no explanation as to why he faced those murderous things, whereas the women only went through different sceneries.
Not only that, but even when he shouted 'Quit' till his throat got dry, there was no response. It was done deliberately.
"So... what about you? What did you face?" Cang Yue still hadn't given up. She wanted to know what this seemingly ordinary 'man' faced.
"Uh!" Yang Ze's corner of lips twitched in response before he, too, made up a few scenarios. "The first round was in a grassland, and I had to find a flower."
"The second round was in the desert, where I had to catch the snake."
"And the third round was in a snowy mountain."
"I see." Cang Yue wasn't too surprised by his answer. It was already a miracle for him to pass three trials with his pitiful strength.
"So, what did you get?" Tilting her head, she looked at him with a curious gaze.
"Get what?" This time, Yang Ze had no idea what she was talking about. Was he supposed to get anything? He came back alive... wasn't this enough?
"YOUR REWARD FOR PASSING THE TRIAL." Cang Yue spoke every word slowly.
"....." Listening to her, Yang Ze was stunned. It was at this moment that he remembered what Cang Yue said before she kicked him inside the gate... 'One can receive suitable rewards after passing the trial.'
Thinking about it, he immediately patted his clothes, hoping to find some kind of treasure, but no matter how hard he looked, there was nothing...
'Maybe it is cultivation?' With no physical reward and no extra set of memories in his mind, this was the only plausible explanation.
Thinking about how he had more than sixty strands of internal energy and would soon have a hundred, Yang Ze hurriedly looked inside his dantian. Perhaps the rewards have already increased the number of Internal Energy strands, and perhaps he was already a late-stage Pulse Opening realm cultivator.
The moment this thought came to his mind, he found it hard to suppress his excitement.
'At least there was something good that came out of this shitty place.'
With a smile, Yang Ze looked inside his dantian.
"....."
"....."
"....."
One second passed.... two seconds passed... one minute passed...
Yang Ze's eyes were looking at the scene inside his dantian.
"Am I still asleep?" Slapping himself on the right cheek, Yang Ze once again looked inside his dantain.
"....."
"....."
"..."
"WHERE THE HELL ARE MY INTERNAL ENERGY STRANDS?"
He almost jumped at the sight of his empty dantian. Earlier, there were more than sixty strands, but now... Now there was nothing.
The entire place was once again surrounded by a black fog. It had returned to its previous state... the one before he introduced his first strand of Internal energy.
In confusion, Yang Ze opened his personal panel.
[Name: Yang Ze]
[Age: 18]
[Realm: Early-stage Pulse Opening]
[Physique: Supreme Dao Body]
[Talen: Mighty Vigour(Blue), Affinity For Water(Blue), Escape Master(Blue), Enlightment(Purple), Persistence(Purple), Trembling Fingers(Purple), All Seeing Eyes(Gold), Inverted Wail(Gold)]
[Skills: Thousand Years Art, Black Tiger Technique(First Grade)]
[Evaluation: Still a weakling.]
Looking at his realm that had fallen from Mid-stage to Early-stage, Yang Ze rubbed his eyes until they were red, wondering if he was under some kind of hallucination.
It wasn't until a few more minutes had passed that he almost threw out a mouthful of blood.
Forget about receiving rewards and increasing the realm; he had actually regressed in the realm after entering the trials.
Yang Ze felt as if the sky was falling. His mind almost stopped working, and the world around him blurred.
Only he knows the pain and suffering he went through to get those sixty-plus strands of internal energy. But now they were all gone... Vanished into thin air.
Yang Ze, who was already mentally and physically exhausted, couldn't take such a blow and fainted in anger.
"Eh!?" Cang Yue, who was still waiting for him to recover, widened her eyes in surprise when she saw the perfectly healthy man losing his consciousness.
"Is it the reward from the trials?" This was the only plausible explanation. Some of the members of the Duality sect got some kind of inheritance from the trials. Their condition was similar to the man in front of her.
The only thing that made her raise an eyebrow was... "Why does he seem angry?"
Cang Yue thought for a moment before shaking her head, "Maybe he didn't like the inheritance."
With a shrug, she just waited there for him to regain consciousness.
As for carrying him out of the cave... This was perhaps the second most secure place after their sect, where was she going to take him from here?
.....
Yang Ze didn't know how long he had been asleep for. By the time he opened his eyes, Cang Yue was nowhere in sight.
"Ugh!" Sitting with great difficulty, he looked around in confusion.
It was the familiar cave. Looking at the glowing entrance in front of him, he almost flew into rage once again.
"Forget it." It took him a lot of effort to suppress his rage. "I will come back here when I am strong and then dismantle this damned place."
He had made up his mind. A gentleman's revenge is never too late. One day, he will take back what he lost with interest.
"As for this skill..." It was only now that Yang Ze understood how he lost those strands of internal energy.
The skill he used in the trial against the puppet was unimaginably powerful. So much so that it was out of his understanding. And it was exactly that he lost all his internal energy strands.
To use this skill effectively, one needs to have ample internal energy. Meaning, one needs to be at least in the Foundation Forging realm to use this skill.
For him to use this skill in the mere Pulse opening realm... no wonder it used all his strands of internal energy.
"Forget it." Even though he was heartbroken, he didn't think too much about it. Sixty plus strands for such a powerful talent... It was worth it.
And just when he was thinking about his next course of action, the familiar figure of Cang Yue entered his vision.
After noticing that he had regained consciousness. Cang Yue walked beside him before patting him on the shoulder and speaking in the same lazy voice.
"Let's go... To our next destination."