The trial ground trembled as Tian Jue reached the final stage.
A vast stone arena unfurled before him, walls lined with glowing runes. The oppressive presence weighed heavier than before, and this time it wasn't just pressure—it was as if the heavens themselves conspired to crush him.
From the sky above, a storm of astral lightning crackled, merging with fiery waves that surged from the ground. Every breath scorched his lungs, every heartbeat felt like a hammer against his chest.
The voice of the presence echoed coldly:
"Endurance is not merely flesh. Endurance is spirit. Endurance is the will to defy."
Tian Jue's body screamed in protest. His skin tore, blood sizzling as it hit the molten floor. His muscles knotted and trembled. But the new physique cultivation he had been refining began to reveal its worth—wounds knitted themselves closed, spiritual energy surged into ruptured veins, and his dantian pulsed with a regenerating rhythm like the beating of a second heart.
Still, the test was merciless.
The lightning strikes became more frequent. Each impact felt like a mountain collapsing onto his shoulders. His legs quivered, but he forced himself upright. His arms, heavy as lead, refused to fall to his sides.
He thought back to his journey—Wolf Back Mountain, the bitter herbs, the battles with beasts, the curse that shadowed him through lifetimes. Compared to all that, was this truly worse?
A low laugh slipped past his cracked lips.
"Endurance… heh… I've endured betrayal. I've endured loss. I've endured my very soul being shackled with curses. This? This is nothing."
As if mocking him, the trial intensified again. A torrent of spiritual fire and lightning fused together, forming a cataclysmic beam that sought to disintegrate him wholly.
Tian Jue's eyes burned with madness and determination. Instead of dodging, he spread his arms wide, letting his entire physique cultivation bear the brunt of the storm.
Every pore exhaled steam. Every tendon tore and mended. His bones cracked—then reforged stronger. The agony transcended pain and became something higher, purer.
Finally, the world fell silent.
Tian Jue stood in the center of the ruined arena, chest rising and falling heavily. His robes were burned away, his skin blackened and then shed in flakes, revealing new, radiant flesh beneath. His meridians throbbed with a river of Qi that felt endless, like his body itself had become a reservoir.
From the void above, the presence spoke again, this time softer, almost approving:
"You do not merely endure. You devour suffering. Very well. You pass."
Before him, a golden platform formed, and at its heart lay a glowing seed-like crystal—the first inheritance reward.
The vast trial ground fell into silence, its once-roaring illusions collapsing like shattered glass. Tian Jue sat cross-legged on the platform, his body drenched in sweat and blood that had already started to dry and flake off under the radiant spiritual mist surrounding him. The pressure that had nearly crushed his bones moments ago was gone, leaving only a sacred stillness.
He closed his eyes and began circulating his cultivation method, pulling in the dense energy from the inheritance ground. Each breath caused his battered meridians to mend, his bones to harden, his flesh to pulsate with renewed vitality. The endless cycle of destruction and regeneration during the trial had polished his foundation far beyond what he expected.
Ten minutes passed. Suddenly—
Ding!
The cold, familiar tone of the Infinite Leveling Panel echoed in his mind.
[System Notification]
Level Up!
Current Level: 30
Constitution: 80
Strength: 45
Dexterity: 35
Spiritual Power: 127
Intelligence: 67
Wisdom: 60
Tian Jue exhaled deeply, his lips curling into a faint smile. As I thought… with the sheer intensity of those ordeals, a breakthrough was inevitable. His body felt like a war drum, every fiber humming with explosive potential.
But what caught his attention was not the stats—it was the golden line of text that followed.
New System Function Unlocked: Deduce
[Deduce]: The system can simulate, extrapolate, and perfect cultivation methods, techniques, or theories based on the host's knowledge, perception, and resources. Incomplete arts can be mended. Contradictory paths can be harmonized. With enough data, future progressions can be glimpsed.
Tian Jue froze. His eyes snapped open, shining like stars in the dim hall.
"Deduce…?" His voice trembled.
He read the description again, each word pounding against his heart like thunder. His mind was dragged back to fleeting memories of his first life—of dusty mortal novels where protagonists wielded mysterious systems that granted them heaven-defying abilities. Back then, he scoffed at such ideas, calling them childish fantasies.
And yet… here it was, in his very soul.
His breathing grew ragged. His fists clenched. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, but he nearly choked as a thick strand of saliva almost escaped from the corner of his mouth.
"This… this is the true golden finger! Not just numbers and panels, but the ability to forge perfection itself!"
His imagination ran wild. With Deduce, every incomplete herb recipe he encountered could be perfected. Every fragmented martial art could be completed. Every cultivation bottleneck could be simulated before he even touched it. The very heavens and earth became raw material to be calculated and refined!
A deep shiver coursed through him. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand, but his lips still curled upward in an almost feral grin.
"Hah… hahahaha…" He couldn't stop himself. His laughter echoed in the inheritance ground, sharp and wild, like a predator that had finally found its fangs.
At the same time, he forced himself to calm down. His excitement was boiling over, but his rational side whispered caution.
If this function is as powerful as it seems, then I must guard it carefully. Even among the heavens, such an ability would draw greed from immortals and gods.
Still, his eyes gleamed with uncontainable light. For the first time since his reincarnation, Tian Jue felt that the weight of his cursed fate might finally be countered.
This was not just a step forward. This was the birth of his true path.
The cavern split into two winding paths. Tian Jue had already vanished into his trial ground, leaving behind faint echoes of his grunts and the crackling hum of energy. Huan Tao stepped deeper into his own path, his footsteps pressing against stone tiles carved with ancient runes.
The air here was different—sharp, oppressive, saturated with a metallic tang that stung his nose. As he moved further, the passage widened into a dome-like chamber.
At its center floated a monolithic stone tablet, cracked in several places, leaking threads of blood-colored light. Unlike Tian Jue's path of endurance, Huan Tao instantly sensed that his trial was not one of body, but of will and spirit.
A voice echoed from the tablet, resonating directly in his mind:
> "Child of Wood and Blood, you carry the trace of ancient ferocity. To inherit this path, you must withstand the devouring of your spirit and prove your identity."
The ground beneath him rippled, and from the shadows emerged beastly phantoms—wolves with blazing eyes, serpents coiling from thin air, even giant talons that slashed without a body. They struck not at his flesh, but at his very soul.
Huan Tao staggered, clutching his head. Agonizing visions poured into him—his family tree's withering roots, the orchard burning, peach blossoms scattering to ash. Each illusion clawed at his will, whispering:
> "Give up… let it end here. You cannot hold against us."
But Huan Tao bared his teeth, forcing his spirit flame to burn brighter. His qi pulsed violently, forming the faint outline of a peach tree phantom at his back. The branches swayed, pushing away illusions with bursts of emerald light.
"Spirit beasts? Phantoms? You think I'll let you trample me? I swore to protect my orchard, my family's legacy—do you think mere shadows can shake me?!"
The trial escalated. The phantoms fused together, forming a colossal Blood Serpent that coiled around the chamber, its head blotting the ceiling. Its breath pressed down on him like mountains stacked upon his soul.
Sweat dripped from his forehead as veins bulged in his temples. His spirit flickered on the edge of collapse. Unlike Tian Jue's body-focused trial where healing herbs and regeneration mattered, Huan Tao's trial stripped him bare—no medicine, no time to recover. Only his raw mental willpower kept him standing.
At the brink of breaking, something stirred in his dantian. A drop of blood essence—an inheritance from his clan he had never fully awakened—ignited. His peach tree phantom suddenly morphed, the leaves sharpening into jade-like blades. With a roar, the phantom tree lashed out, severing the Blood Serpent's head in a burst of crimson light.
The oppressive illusions shattered like glass. The chamber fell silent, the cracked tablet stabilizing as threads of light mended themselves.
> "You have endured… but you are not complete. Half the path remains sealed."
Huan Tao dropped to one knee, panting heavily. His vision blurred, but he felt something surging inside him—a new force, a hidden inheritance awakening. Unlike Tian Jue, whose panel ticked with clean numbers and system rewards, Huan Tao's gain was wilder, unpredictable, blood-fused power of ancient beasts.