“Very well, let’s proceed in order. First, the 5 veteran inner disciples, including disciple Xiao Ling, who is now a core disciple. Along with those 5, the top 3 from the ranking of the new inner disciples. In the coming days, groups of 8 will come here according to the ranking to receive the Soul Challenge. Understood?”

He Ziren asked in a serious tone, looking at everyone.

“Yes, elder!” Everyone clasped their hands and bowed in gratitude.

Rihai, like some disciples, had thoughts beyond what had been said, picking up on small words and actions.

‘Elder He… doesn’t seem even a little humble or respectful when speaking about Xiao Ling, the direct disciple of an inner elder who’s also the grandson of one of the sect’s ancestors. Could it be… all the elders are like this and this sect is really just that different, or does He Ziren also have an ancestor behind him? Normally, in other sects, an outer elder would be flattering such a disciple, not speaking so casually.’

Rihai analyzed silently, keeping her expression neutral.

Some other disciples noticed it too, but since they didn’t know about the ancestor, they just assumed the Infinite Dao Sect elders were special—as they always had been.

And well… this perverted elder really was special.

Seeing that everyone understood, He Ziren decided not to delay further.

“If everyone understands and has no questions, I ask that you leave, except for those who will take today’s challenge.”

He spoke with a serious look.

The disciples glanced at one another and, seeing that no one would ask anything, began to leave after clasping their fists once more to the elder.

As they exited, those who remained before He Ziren were Aotian, Rihai, Xiao Ling, Hui Lang, and Cang Song—who now lost the visual cover the crowd had given him and was left exposed to Aotian’s gaze, who smiled at him maliciously. Three other disciples were also present.

Cang Song, without the protection of the group and receiving that sharp-eyed smile, began to sweat cold.

He wanted to stay far away from this likely ‘Calamity Star’ who, as he feared, seemed to have a shady past and was far stronger than him.

Forcing a smile and greeting Aotian with a nod, he pretended to focus on the elder again, who was speaking at that moment, to reduce the interaction. Still, cold sweat dripped down his back from that brief moment.

“Now that we’re alone, I’ll begin the test. Be prepared. This opportunity isn’t just about the final reward—the process is also extremely valuable for you. There, you can fight without holding back or fearing death, facing an enemy from whom you can learn much. Ready?”

He spoke with a solemn gaze, giving them a precious hint, and everyone took his words seriously, nodding with determined eyes and storing his message deep in their hearts.

Seeing that, he knew they were ready.

“Do not resist.”

Without hesitation, he raised his hand and pointed at them.

The spiritual energy at He Ziren’s roots flowed in special patterns, and an invisible mist began to pour from his fingertips, entering the disciples’ bodies.

Everyone grew a little anxious upon feeling something invade their bodies. Since they couldn’t see it, they even wondered if they were just imagining it.

But then, their eyes began to close against their will, and slowly, all of them fell asleep standing.

In Aotian’s mind, he opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by a foggy white landscape. The ground beneath his feet was gray and smooth, stretching as far as the eye could see before fading into the mist.

From the ground, a lump began to rise. It soon became clear it was a humanoid figure, slowly taking form. Once fully out of the floor, hair, clothes, and color began to appear.

Suddenly, before Aotian, there was another identical Aotian.

Both began scratching their chins and observing each other with mirrored movements.

“Damn, I really am handsome,” the two spoke in unison, with narcissism and satisfied smiles.

The scenery began to change. Grass sprouted from the ground, trees and mountains rose in the distance, the fog dissipated, and in the sky, the sun and clouds floated gently, creating a warm and pleasant atmosphere.

Two beds appeared on the ground, and both Aotians walked to one each, lying down comfortably as a tree grew, casting cool shade over them.

It didn’t look like they were going to fight, but rather take a break.

The Soul Challenge didn’t make much sense for Aotian. Whether he won or lost, he wouldn’t gain anything.

The martial arts and spell proficiency the disciples received were things he already mastered himself. He merely transferred a copy of his knowledge as a gift and reward—something only possible through the Soul Challenge, which allowed that process. Simple as that.

But while it wasn’t useful to him directly, since he didn’t receive anything new, it still brought benefits.

He could teach the disciples, improve their combat experience, and that gave him a certain feedback. Even if small, it was still valuable when accumulated.

It also allowed the sect’s best disciples to quickly reach a high level of mastery in spells—as long as they paid a high price for it… in contribution points.

Aotian had already decided that only core disciples would be allowed to pay for its use, and using this method would cost five times the value of a spell of the same level if they wanted to access it—which wasn’t cheap at all.

Moreover, Aotian had been a bit dishonest. He controlled the clones in the Soul Challenge, making it practically impossible for the disciples to win against themselves—even though he was limited to using their bodies and magic.

After all, several powerful avatars in cultivation, multiple minds, and solid knowledge of thousands of spells was no joke.

Thus, with their defeat guaranteed, the maximum proficiency they could earn from the challenge was Advanced level, which wasn’t bad at all, as it was just below Master proficiency.

He did this both so disciples could gain deeper insights on their own if they later mastered a spell to the Master level—and by definition, he would also receive that insight through feedback—and also so he didn’t hand everything to them on a silver platter, requiring them to put in effort.

And perhaps, a challenging mindset during the Soul Challenge, of trying to defeat an almost impossible enemy, would be interesting too—and would serve to motivate them.

Stopping his thoughts, he focused on one of his other minds.

There, he saw a different scene.

It was a hot, volcanic environment, with waterfalls of lava cascading from mountains in the distance. Ash rained from the dark gray sky, and the scent of sulfur filled the air.

In the midst of that red and black landscape, Rihai stood tall, with another Rihai facing her.

Aotian had to swallow hard in his main body to avoid doing so through the mind inhabiting Rihai’s clone body.

That was because, as the controller of the clone, he could perfectly feel Rihai’s replicated body. In other words, he could feel those two heavy peaks in front of him, and the disturbing absence of something below, between the legs.

Feeling deeply perverted, he immediately struggled to divert his thoughts. He would rather feel those things with the hands of his main body, on the day he married her… and not by experiencing them through a clone of her body at that moment. That was simply far too shameful.

But while he struggled to ignore all of this and the sensation of being a woman, something else hit him. Something deeper, that nearly made him roar.

Fortunately, he shared that emotional spike with his clones, allowing the avatar in front of Rihai to maintain a stoic and impassive face.

What he had felt were Rihai’s spiritual roots.

‘…this is a complete mess,’ Aotian thought, stunned.

His main body’s eyes began turning red from rage, sorrow, and pity for the woman he loved.

Some parts of the roots were so crumbled that he could barely imagine the pain of forcing spiritual energy through them.

To better visualize it, it was as if a power cable had been cut, with a chunk missing — and the only way to conduct the energy from one end to the other was by holding one side in each hand, using one’s body as the conduit.

Rihai’s spiritual roots were the cable, and the conductor was the flesh between the severed fragments.

Even if the pain wasn’t as intense and soul-wrenching as what Aotian had felt when creating his own roots — since it didn’t damage the soul, and her body was more adapted to spiritual energy than his at the time — it was still a constant and agonizing pain whenever she cultivated or used spells.

And yet, Aotian had never seen her gasp or cry out in pain during those long nights of cultivation.

‘She’s endured this pain for over a decade… that’s why I never noticed any change of expression while she cultivated, she was already used to it… I knew it was painful, but I never imagined her roots were this damaged and scattered.’

His heart ached with pity. He felt increasingly useless and powerless in that moment.

He knew her roots were bad, and guessed it might hurt, but since he had never seen her even furrow her brow or complain, he ended up assuming she had a way to deal with it, or that it wasn’t that serious. But now, faced with the stark truth, there were no more excuses.

The woman he loved had been enduring such pain, alone, never troubling him, while he lived his days peacefully, without urgency, content.

He couldn’t help but feel a tremendous rage well up — directed at himself.

‘Idiot… with all these chances, with all this power, how can you still be so dumb and incompetent?! Long Aotian? Arrogant Heavenly Dragon? That name really suits me. Arrogant and stupid, above the heavens, without seeing what’s happening right under my nose.’

Bitterness, fury, and self-reproach flooded his heart.

He wanted to hit himself, to slam his head into the wall for such foolishness.

But he couldn’t — and shouldn’t — run away from this reality, nor just punish himself; he had to solve the problem. A flame of determination began to burn within him.

“STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF!”

In the Soul Challenge setting, Aotian’s main body rose from the comfortable bed, eyes wide with rage, fists clenched in fury.

Feeling the cozy scenery he had just enjoyed only made him angrier.

Under his wrath, cracks began to appear in the skies on the horizon. The bed he had been enjoying moments ago exploded into pieces.

The sun darkened, the grass turned gray and withered, the ground quaked, enormous chasms opened, thunderous sounds echoed, and it seemed as if the end of the world had arrived for that illusory reality.

In that instant, the scene around him completely collapsed.

Opening his eyes, Aotian was outside the Soul Challenge, staring at He Ziren, who wore an expression of fury identical to his own.

Most of Aotian’s avatars not under direct observation by others showed the same distorted face of rage.

Taking a deep breath, he struggled to calm his mind, until his expression became a cold mask. Then, he looked at Rihai beside him, who still had her eyes closed, his chest tight.

The facial expressions of his avatars slowly returned to normal, as if nothing had happened — but inside, they were far from at peace.

Forcing himself to think clearly, pushing away the anger and guilt clouding his mind, Aotian began to search for a way to help her as soon as possible, while he observed the beautiful and strong Rihai, who at that moment remained deep in her Soul Challenge.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep