The invitation letter in Tundra’s hand changed slightly a week before the day of the treasure realm. A strand of energy that linked it to some distant master, and the content within changed to reveal the location of where they would meet. It was not too far from the city of Luharlia, just an hour away if a cultivator walked at speed.

  “It’s time.”

  The group of ten gathered for the treasure realm, and set off together on the flying ship. To spare the children of any stress, Tundra would be the only one that led them there. There were likely also participants from other sects, not just their own, and from Severian’s information network, it is likely some from the Crimson Lotus Spire and a few smaller sects like the Greenstone Hold and Baiyar Family would also participate.

  Yavin, Agnia and Julia gathered for a private briefing with Tundra.

  “I had initially hoped that the treasure realms would be a group event, like most treasure realms out there. But since the royal treasure realms are mostly individual events, it’s likely you three wouldn’t be able to protect them. But if there are any group interactions, I ask for you three to keep an eye on them.”

  Yavin tapped his chest. “You have my word, Sect Master.”

  The rest of the three nodded. It didn’t need to be said that the likelihood of their involvement was low, and it was a relief to them. Of the forms of challenges common in treasure realms, the ones Tundra feared the most were those of the mind.

  Illusion arrays and mind arts were those his children were weakest at. He had managed to whip the three descendants into somewhat passable combatants, and taught them the usual tactics for the various sets of common puzzles. But mind arts and the matters of cultivator’s heart were much harder to train.

  At this point, it was too late to do more. He hoped for the best.

  The flying ship brought them to Luharlia, parked, and the group set out to the destination.

  The meeting place was a flat area along the slopes of the many mountains. There was hardly any vegetation in the area, just rocks, stone, and higher up, snow and ice. The meeting place was likely a popular spot for camping for hikers and foragers.

  They were not the first to arrive. There were already at least ten other groups, and a few of them came to greet them. One of them was a familiar face.

  “Lady Blackpetals, a pleasure to see you again.” Zuri came with a group of core and inner disciples. These were different from the ones Tundra met during the Imperial Summons. “I take these are your disciples?”

  “Yes. These are my own direct disciples.” Zuri said. The disciples greeted them, and Tundra gave them some time to just introduce themselves to each other.

  Tundra glanced around and noticed more of the sects were fairly small, about the size of the Verdant Snow Sect. The only exception was the Crimson Lotus, and one other sect, the Greenstone Hold. Greenstone Hold’s sect master was also a 7th realm, but they were a focused sect that mainly worked to reinforce their fortress, so he found it unusual that their sect would approach Princess Luharl.

  “Greetings!” One of the Princess’s men appeared, one he didn’t meet before. He had no presence, and didn’t reveal any aura of someone of a higher realm, but Tundra’s senses tingled. He was probably a dangerous man. “The Treasure Realm these chosen disciples will face is the Golden Bloodpool Realm, it is a land filled with golden blood of once ancient spirit beasts. Each of you will face a series of challenges, some will test your strength, some will test your knowledge, and some, will show you a reflection, and test how well you know yourself, and at the end will be a pool that you can take a dip in. it will reveal to you your strengths, or your challenges.”

  The door opened out of nowhere, and the disciples stepped in first.

  Tundra didn’t know why he felt nervous. He rarely felt that with his disciples, and yet, here he was, sending his children to the cultivator’s version of an imperial examination.

  ***

  Anna walked into a vast land. It was incredible that there was a land so massive was hidden behind the secret realm, folded away from the prying eyes of others. The power of space is the power of higher realm cultivators, for Anna who was in the first steps of the 4th realm, it was incredibly, incredibly hard to fathom.

  In some ways, she didn’t ever think she would have been here. The first few centuries of her life were so ordinary that she expected that to continue till her death. And yet, the fourth realm reinvigorated her soul, and her body with it.

  At that point, a fourth realm spirit beast appeared before her.

  There was a voice that boomed throughout the realm. “Defeat the spirit beast before you, and proceed to the next stage.”

  Anna gulped, and looked at the spirit beast. She recalled some of the tips. “I can’t feel its energies, but it had wooden offshoots and its body appears made of dark colored flesh that resembles earth. Should be a wood-earth spirit beast.”

  The beast stared, but didn’t make a move. They were sensing each other. Anna felt the breath of the spirit beast. It had a snout. Could it use some kind of elemental ability through it? Was it a weak point?

  She reached for her weapon of choice, long steel spears, and she came with five of them. Three of them were on her back, and one on each hand.

  Just like her father, her average quality metal spirit roots led to a focus in Metal element cultivation techniques. Metal energies favored similar steel weapons. She could reinforce them to be stronger, fix them when they broke, and manipulate other metal objects as she moved.

  Her eyes watched, as the spirit beast made a move. The ground trembled as it stepped forward. Its movement was slow, but she wasn’t sure whether she could get close without getting hurt. She moved sideways, and the spirit beast turned slowly to face it.

  Anna sped up, and realized the spirit beast couldn’t turn fast enough to face her. So, quickly, once she managed to position itself to its side she rushed ahead and stabbed it’s back with a long steel spear.

  It roared in defiance.

  Anna retreated, and stabbed one of the long spears on the ground, and replaced it with the one on her back.

  The spirit beast charged at speed, and this time, she was fairly sure it was some kind of wood-earth spirit beast because there was a sheen of greenish energies around it’s body. The brownish spikes grew larger and some of them flew her way.

  She dodged two, but couldn’t dodge the third one. Her spear temporarily transformed into a steel shield and the spikes slammed into it. The force of the impact still launched her backwards, but she managed to regain her footing with the spears.

  The beast ran towards her, so Anna activated Steel Attraction Steps, and she was pulled towards the long spear on the beast’s back. The sudden move allowed her to slam another spear into the beast’s back, this time closer to the spirit beast’s core.

  She pushed it in harder. The spear lodged itself deeper in the spirit beast’s body, but not enough to reach the core. “Agh, I almost got it.”

  The spirit beast flailed in pain, and almost flung Anna around with it. Anna quickly activated Steel Attraction Steps and landed right next to the other long spear on the ground.

  The spirit beast flailed a bit more before realizing Anna wasn’t behind her anymore, and then turned to face it. Anna moved sideways again, and once she got a good line of sight of the spirit beast’s back, activated her ability and landed right next to the long spear behind the beast’s back, and thrust it into the core. The core cracked.

  The spirit beast died. Then, a door appeared out of nowhere, and it led to the next stage.

  ***

  The next stage was a puzzle. She didn’t recognize the puzzle, it wasn’t a common one, but just looking at the strange contraption was that there are multiple solutions to it.

  “I don’t understand this thing.” Anna muttered to herself, trying to understand what it was. “It’s terrible.”

  The contraption has around twenty movable sticks, meant to manipulate something within, but she couldn’t exactly see what was inside. It was likely some test of the cultivator’s ability to visualize objects in the spiritual realm.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  ***

  Edison faced the spirit beast and battered it to death the way he liked. Sheer brute force. He may be a water-element cultivator, but he liked it to be direct. In a way, his personality had some conflicts with the nature of his element.

  He traded blows with the spirit beast, and he took some injuries. But he won. And a door opened for him.

  Only to lead him into another spirit beast. Edison didn’t know that, of course, that some faced only one spirit beast.

  The second spirit beast was a larger stone golem of some sort, similar to those found in the Dragonspine mountains.

  “Another one?” Edison didn’t get it, but Edison fought it anyway. The second spirit beast traded blows with the cultivator, and eventually he won. But he was injured.

  There was another door.

  He felt pain in his hand, and he wondered to himself. “Really? Another door? Why, father? What’s the point of this?”

  Edison wasn’t sure his father could hear him, but here he was, swept up in the royal family’s schemes. He didn’t know why he heard her stepmother’s voice in his head.

  “You either step up, or you will die and another heir will be appointed to replace you.”

  He made it to the fourth realm, but he remembered how the breakthrough felt imperfect. He only made it through because he ate more pills to supercharge his spiritual realm with energy, and held on as that excess energy helped offset the flaws of his attempt.

  He reached for the door anyway, and checked his box. He came prepared with a box of healing pills, and so, ate it. He waited for a while to let his wounds heal, but each use of the healing pill meant the next one would be weaker. Pill oversaturation was a thing, and the body took a while to purge its effects.

  “Alright, is it another spirit beast?” Edison opened the door, and reached a small narrow room where there were four more doors.

  On the four doors were numbers. Half, three quarters, nine tenths, and one.

  “Half, three quarters, nine tenths and one?” Edison glanced at it. There was nothing in the room but the four doors, and he couldn’t peek into them. There was a solid wall. He remembered the words of the Princess’s representatives. “So is this where they test our strength, our knowledge, or our self?”

  Edison looked at it, and decided.

  “Should I go with the biggest number, or the smallest number? No. That won’t be a good choice- Wait, or is this about a reward? Whether we want all the rewards, or half the rewards?”

  After a bit of thinking, Edison walked to the three quarters door.

  “I’ll do three quarters, then.”

  ***

  The door opened and he walked through into a vast, empty arena. There was no one at first, and then, a circle of light appeared on the floor. There was a brief flash of light.

  “Fourth realm, 1st stage, water spirit roots. Top Quarter. All items disabled.” There was an announcer of some sort.

  “Top quarter?”

  At that moment, a door opened to reveal a man that looked exactly like himself. Edison stared at the copy, and realized what this was all about.

  “A copy of myself?”

  There was immediately a punch that almost smashed into his face. One that Edison barely dodged.

  “What the-”

  The fake Edison stared at him and grinned. It taunted him. “Does it feel nice to see a better version of yourself?”

  “Better version of me?” Edison couldn’t believe it, but he had no time to react when there was another attack that this time connected. He blocked it with his arm, and barely managed to reinforce his arms with a bubble of water energy. But the kick of the fake still had so much force that Edison found himself flung across the arena and smashed into the wall.

  He barely managed to protect himself with another bubble of energy.

  “Impossible.” Edison said as he stared at the fake. He looked every bit like himself. Like a person he saw in the mirror. “You’re a creation of the treasure realm, a fake!”

  The fake Edison smiled, his fists swirled in blue. Water emerged from the ground, as they rushed towards him. “Say anything you want, but I am the better version.”

  Edison stared at the wall of water headed his way. This was the Mistburn family’s Rush of Water technique, and yet he had never seen a large wave coming his way. He hadn’t been able to create a wave half as large. He shook his head, he wasn’t going to let this fake get the better of him.

  But he was too slow, and the water surrounded him, it smashed into him again, and this time, Edison felt some of his bones crack as the wave hit him really hard.

  Still, he tried to get up, only to find Fake Edison grinning at him. “You’re weak.”

  “No!” Edison knew he shouldn’t listen, and yet, he reacted to it. A wave of water smashed into him from behind and Edison was forcefully slammed into the floor. He barely managed to protect his head, but more of his body cracked.

  The young master raised his head and tried to get up from the floor, his eyes saw the contemptuous eyes of Fake Edison looking back at him. It could have attacked, and yet it didn’t.. “Weakling. Such potential squandered. I’m not even the best version you can meet.”

  Edison didn’t want to believe it. “No. You’re a creation of the treasure realm.”

  “I am.” The fake answered. “I am a version created by the treasure realm, based on your spirit roots and your bloodline, computed under the circumstances where you made three quarters of your cultivation decisions correctly.”

  Edison’s eyes widened. “Three quarters of my decisions correct?”

  “Yes. If you chose correctly three out of four times, and made progress accordingly, you will be as strong, no, definitely stronger than me. But look at you. You’ve done worse than that.” Fake Edison stood and stared back at him. “You’re not worthy. You should give up.”

  This was an illusion array of some kind, Edison’s partly functioning mind wanted to convince itself. But another half had fallen for Fake Edison’s taunt. “-I didn’t choose correctly?”

  “Failure. Not even worthy of my full strength.” Fake Edison said.

  “You’re lying. You’re saying that to make me mad.” Edison said. He was briefed about the tactics used in such illusion arrays. Father knew this would happen, and yet he stared at the Fake Edison, speaking his own voice, saying those words, he cannot help but feel affected.

  “Weak.” Fake Edison rushed forward, and grabbed Edison by the hair. “See?”

  He wanted to struggle, but he was injured in so many places that the pain was too much.

  Fake Edison stared into his eyes, and Edison saw his eyes glow. “Did you know the Mistburn family has some illusion techniques in their arsenal?”

  Edison didn’t. How did the treasure realm know? Was the power of the Golden Dragon really so profound?

  “You could’ve been me.” Fake Edison held him up. “You could’ve been much better than me. But instead you’re you.”

  The young master felt his mind was pulled into the illusion, and he saw death. A vivid sensation of death. Death in a thousand ways. Death in the hand of fake edison.

  But it was not death that he feared.

  Instead, the Fake Edison then showed him a different version of himself. A version that did well. A version that was adored. A version that mastered the Mistburn family’s cultivation methods, and then went on to master his father’s techniques.

  This was an illusion.

  Yet he couldn’t pry himself away. It was something in his heart he wanted, and all he could do was watch it unfurl in the illusion.

  He stared, and felt his energies drain away by the illusion. “You’re a failure. This is what you could’ve been.”

  The words repeated. A part of Edison knew that illusion arrays often played with hopes and dreams. It preyed on insecurities. Fears. He knew it. And yet he felt those words carve itself into his soul.

  He heard those words spoken by the version of himself. “I am a failure.”

  And he repeated it. “I am a failure.”

  Then he collapsed, unconscious. The treasure realm flashed, and he was ejected out.

  ***

  Tundra walked over and picked up his son. He wasn’t moving. Alive, but temporarily unconscious. It was an illusion array, such things were common, but it seemed his son was not prepared for it.

  He held his son. “Edison. Are you alright?”

  Edison’s eyes slowly opened and he stared at his father blankly. “-am I dead?”

  “No. That was an illusion.”

  “An illusion?” Edison said, his eyes looked at his father.

  Tundra looked at his son, his son was bloody and there were broken bones, but nothing truly serious for a fourth realm cultivation. Nothing a strong healing pill couldn’t fix. Tundra asked, “What did you face, son?”

  “-myself.”

  Tundra closed his eyes briefly, and took a deep breath. He suspected as much. It’s such a common thing for cultivators to create tests where they face a version of themselves. In the scheme of things, that was a moderately strong illusion to use, but most cultivators can overcome it. He sighed, but what use was reprimanding his child at this time? His son was an adult, and if his mind wasn’t strong enough, it is so. “It’s alright. Rest, Edison.”

  Edison nodded obediently, his eyes seemed distant. Blank. His voice was weak, resigned. “Okay, father.”

  Tundra saw his son was broken, and he wiped a tear from his own eyes. He had seen many of his descendants and family die over the years, and yet, even after so many times, it still affected him.

  He spent more time with his family. His time and investment meant he was invested in their journey, and so, even though Edison was immature and foolish, it still hurt him somehow. A part of him felt his son deserved it. After rejecting his help, and goodwill, a part of him said his son deserved this.

  But in the end, he was family. A fool. Unworthy to be the heir.

  He held him, his son may be an adult who lived for quite long, and yet in Tundra’s eyes, they were still a child. His child.

  A part of him understood. An illusion like that was powerful, but not unusual. The trick was always to realize it isn’t real. That it is an illusion. If the spirit is strong, he could snap out of it.

  A patriarch of a cultivation family must train his children and successors in the ways of the cultivation world. Death and suffering was inevitable.

  A Sect Master would discard a failed disciple. A Father cannot discard his failed son.

  “This is a bump in your journey.” Tundra said to his resting son. It may have well been a wall. Edison would remember it, facing a version of himself.

  Tundra would not discard his son. But he had been tested, and failed. He would now have to be placed in a role that better fit his abilities and character, even if he hated it. It is a tough thing to do. Tundra’s eyes were shut as he took in the moment. No father would want to admit their child wasn’t good enough, and to tell them the fact is harder still.

  But the world of cultivation is not a place for weaklings.