The spirit wine was similar to beast meat. It not only tasted great but it also gave you a bit of spiritual energy. It wasn't enough to make a difference but it was pleasant. Kind of like small traces of caffeine, not enough to get you hyper but enough to notice.

  "Are you two really in the trial alone?" Nevian asked as he took a sip from his cup.

  I grinned. "Yeah I got a token and it let Xerxes here come with me so here we are. I wasn't expecting so many random people to be here."

  "Ah, you got the token as a quest reward then?"

  "Exactly. Is that unusual so far everyone I've met got it through their sect or kingdom or some similar method."

  He shook his head and gestured to his companions. "No, we all got them through quests. I can't speak for anyone else you've meet while here but the likely explanation is contribution points." I gestured for him to continue his explanation. "Well you might not be aware but trade is a common way to gain points. If you were to earn a thing like a token but have no interest in going..."

  "You trade it for points." It also went without saying that if a prince were to "offer" to give you points in exchange for a token that you would be best served by accepting. "Does your sect ever force you to give up an item? Say in the name of providing someone more talented an opportunity?"

  I got my answer from the looks on their faces. That put a massive downer on join a sect idea. I couldn't be sure but I should be strong enough to be a top tier member at my realm. So it shouldn't be a major problem for me. No the biggest danger for me would likely come from nepotism. "Are family members in the same sect allowed to help each other? Say for example a third or fourth realm person had kid in the first realm. Would they be able to kill people to protect their kid?"

  The foursome looked at each other and a uncomfortable silence fell on us. I was just about to take back the question when Nevian spoke up. "Yes and no. It is not unheard of for people to belong to the same family and be in the same sect. It is also not uncommon for protection to pass down. It is as a general rule frowned upon for elders to interfere in the affairs of the younger generation."

  I slowly nodded. I considered it for a moment and decided to open the Eye of Heaven. I scanned the area half expecting to find some floating eyeball or a camera. With the way he went out of his way to avoid saying something offensive. There was nothing there. I smirked when three of them struggled to tear their gaze away from the eye.

  "Um are you human?" Nevian asked. "I don't know many species that have three eyes especially not such a unique one."

  I laughed and ran my fingers through Xerxes' fur and across his scales. "I am human. Uh lets just say the eye is a new addition. Something I got due to unique circumstances."

  "Ah well I am happy to hear about your fortune. Do you intend to reach the pagoda in the center?" I nodded and he continued. "It may not be safe for a pair such as yourself. I am not sure if you've figured it out yet but the task for the inner ring is to hunt down five beasts. My companions and I have defeated one. It was a kind large beetle that shot acid."

  I cocked my head to the side and glanced at the others. When I saw no signs of confusion or deceit on their faces I nodded. Was I wrong about each token making you fight the same things? Is it a rather race to take out all five creatures? "Have you seen anyone else? Has anyone dealt with more than one of these bosses?"

  He shook his head. "We haven't encountered many people yet. I believe a large reason for this are those princes. They don't seem interested in entering this part of the trial just yet." He looked at his companions and gave them a slight head nod. "We plan on collecting as many useful resources and leaving before then. I don't think we will be able to deal with our list."

  That came as a shock but when I reflect on the gorilla battle it made sense. These guys aren't as strong as I am and I nearly died. Chances are if I had to use physical attacks I would have died. These guys weren't as strong as me. Of course there were four of them so it should be possible. Either way I guess I couldn't blame them. It was disappointing though. "Understandable, are you going to wait until the day they enter or will you leave before then?"

  "Ideally we would leave once we receive word that they have decided to enter. We have a few means in place to that effect. We also have an agreed upon exit date."

  I slowly nodded my understanding. "Right, well have you seen anything odd things since you've been here? Any weird places or places with strange energy."

  They looked at each other for a moment and then shook their heads. "No, none that we can recall. If we encounter such a place we can let you know. If we encounter one another again."

  I resisted the urge to sigh at them. Instead I pulled out a bit of the premade food and passed some over to them. "Take this as both a gift and thank you for the wine. Our cooks are still new but they are fast learners."

  They unwrapped the boxes slowly and then sniffed the food inside. When they smiled I smiled and everyone seemed pleased. "We thank the kind stranger but it would be best for us to leave."

  We said our good byes and I opened a portal with Apportation. Mostly so we didn't have to have an awkward moment. Where we pretend to not know where each group was going. Xerxes and I stepped through and then reappeared five miles away on another tree branch. I waited for the portal to close before rolling my shoulders. "Well they seemed nice."

  "."

  "Yeah, that part sucks. I guess its best to know your limits but it seems like a waste. I assume you want to keep going right?"

  His response was a roar that shattered the quiet atmosphere. I couldn't do anything but grin and unleash my aura. "Come on. Let's see if we can find anything interesting."

  I decided not to cage my aura again mostly because Xerxes wasn't too good at doing it so it didn't matter. His strength was enough to either scare creatures away or draw them to us on its own. I also expanded my soul sense. We ran for a while before we encountered our first opponent. It was a cross between a lion or tiger-like beast and ant. Which was incredibly freaky. Its upper body was ant-like like and despite the weird appearance, its mandibles were incredibly strong.

  I was about to unleash a full assault of psychic blades when Xerxes insisted on dealing with it alone. I was going to refuse but it would be a great opportunity to see just how strong he was now. I took a seat on a branch and watched the pair go at it. Xerxes was incredibly savage. He took every chance to gore and rip at the ant but its mandibles were a serious threat. Several times he was forced to retreat just when he started to get the upper hand.

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  They entered a strange hit-and-run kind of game until Xerxes got irritated. I chuckled as his emotions passed through the bond. He then unleashed his blast of flames nearly point blank. The ant let out a shriek of pain. As it stumbled back a bit. Xerxes' attack wasn't enough to end the battle but it was opposite to the delicate dance they were in. Once that happened the battle slowly shifted. Xerxes took advantage of the bug thing's fear of his fire to make it overcommit.

  He then ripped and clawed at its softer stomach. Through the battle, Xerxes would occasionally slam its head into the beast. As if his horn was there. Which made me curious. The horn was growing though it was more of a blunt nub right now. I would need to see if I could do anything to help it grow. I was pretty sure that Qilin horns were special in mythology books.

  Of course that could become a problem once we entered the real multiverse. I shook my head and returned to the battle just as Xerxes and the ant rushed each other. I half expected him to unleash another blast of fire but he didn't. Instead, he sunk his fangs into the ant's right mandible. From there their moments took them in opposite directions and he ripped the thing off. Green insect blood spilled all over the ground as the ant hissed and cried in pain.

  After that, the battle was basically over. Xerxes swiftly removed the second mandible and then he ripped the bug apart. I considered launching a blade into the things head just to end its pain but didn't. I didn't want to drain any of the kill energy and I would be pissed if he did it to me. Once the beast finally died I leapt down. "Get that out of your system?"

  He snorted at me and then dug out the thing's core. This time I grabbed it with Psychokinesis and put into the ring. "Not right now. We can't afford for you to get drawn into something. Besides we might find some more fun things for you to kill."

  He growled at me for a second and then shook himself like a dog. A sight that was much less cute by the bug guts and blood on his face. It took him a moment to get all off and I had to pull out a water skin to help. "We are starting to run low on supplies so we will have to rough it for a bit. You ready to head out?"

  ""

  We returned to the tree branches and set out again. We encounter another battle but this one is weaker than the last. It was another of the weird squirrels and we decided to take it out together. The amount of energy it provided wasn't worth dealing with. I was just about to call for a break when I caught something odd with the Eye of Heaven

  I shifted direction and went to the forest floor. It wasn't until we got to the clearing with the tree that I realized my initial assumption was wrong. Very wrong. The tree had a complicated array that flowed through it like water. I sent a tendril of energy toward it only to get shocked. It wasn't very painful probably closer to an earth stun gun. Of course that was with my new body. "We are going to take a break. I want to see what this is."

  I took a seat across from the tree and formed multiple tendrils of energy and slowly tested the array. I remembered how to break one but this was much more complicated than the practice ones in the academy. Which only made me more curious. A real cultivator should have been involved with this. Which should mean the loot would be even better. I couldn't help but lick my lips in anticipation.

  The array was almost a work of art. The sigils flowed up and down like water which made it even harder to find the right spot. It was a bit like playing a game where the correct code was spread throughout lines of other words. I needed to select each one in the correct order. Furthermore the intense focused drained my mental energy which made it more likely I would mess up. After two hours I was forced to stop. "Got damn." I groaned and stood up.

  "?"

  I whipped around and glared at Xerxes. I couldn't tell if he was making fun of me or if he was asking genuinely. After a long moment passed between us I decided to let it go. I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Yes and no. It's going to take some time. I wonder if there are skills and spells for this kind of thing."

  I rested for two hours before I got back to work. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I pushed against the array. I formed three mental needles, the maximum I could and poked at every bit I could. I watched the first layer of the array break. There was a deafening crack and then the tree shook. I had finally forced a weakness into the array. It was just large enough for me to fit my energy threads inside. I began slowly widening the flaw. The array's energy made it feel like playing the highest-risk game of operation in history.

  Another crack and I nearly loss control. The arrays was broken but I couldn't let it collapse too fast. I tried to take control of its energy but it was like grabbing water cannons. Instead I diverted it. I let it return to the earth beneath us. The spiritual energy in the area slowly picked up. Either a beast or a cultivator would notice the increase which meant I needed to move faster.

  Another crack and my blood went cold. I scanned the array in search of whatever failure that was. There was nothing? Another crack and it hit me. This wasn't the array. It was the tree. My connection to the array shattered as the last of energy flooded into the ground. I leaped back half expecting an explosion. Instead, the tree opened. A new hollow of at least ten feet opened and revealed a staircase draped in darkness.

  I was about to expand my soul sense but their was another array. This one just as complex as the last. Only it wasn't designed to stop me from going down. It just stopped me from looking. "Well I guess we should see how far this rabbit hole goes." I glanced over at Xerxes and stepped in. As soon as we were both inside the hole closed behind us. I pressed a palm against the new wall but nothing happened.

  "We deal with that later." There was enough space for us to walk side by side so we did. The air in the hollow was stale as if it hadn't been opened in a very long time. There was no sign of life or anything if I hadn't walked through a tree I would have assumed we were inside a building. I wasn't sure how long it took us to reach the bottom of the staircase but when we did several lights flickered on. Or rather appeared in the air.

  This new chamber was around ten feet tall and was perfectly spherical. It had a central stone platform that we stood on and another staircase that traveled further down. Once again I tried to expand my soul sense but it didn't work. I couldn't see more than a few inches beyond my body. "I assume you still don't smell anything?" I stepped up to the balcony and peeked over the edge. A wave of vertigo hit me and I stepped back.

  "" Xerxes replied and for the first time, he didn't sound certain.

  I expanded my Tao field to cover us and stared at the staircase. "You know if this was a horror movie the smart thing to do would be to return to the top and run away."

  "."

  "I know just felt better to get that off my chest. Stay close there might be more of those shadow creatures the further we go."

  We began our slow descent every ten feet or so another light would activate. Something that just barely illuminated the next set of stairs. I circulated the tao of adamance to keep my mind from wandering. Every step and every part of the wall looked the same which made it feel like we made no progress. When we reached the next landing I wanted to jump for joy. This room didn't have an observation area and looked a bit like a library. There was a set of shelves on one side of the room filled with stone slips. Slips that were information stones just in a different shape. They still pulsed with spiritual energy.

  In the middle of the room was a wooden table with a layer of dust that made me think no one had sat there for years. The wood looked like normal earth wood but if we took the situation into account that made no sense. There was a literal magical forest outside so an alternative theory sprouted. This place was old. The energy in the table had just faded over time. There was another staircase but I had little interest in that right now. I turned my focus to the shelves of crystals.

  I picked up a set of ten and moved over to the table. I wiped as much of the dust off as I could and sat down. "Can you keep watch?" I picked up the first crystal and sent a thread of energy inside. There was a brief surge as information flooded into my mind. It was immense, like cramming an entire textbook into my head at once but I could handle it. Once the first burst of information finished I moved onto the next.