Spirit Cultivation

When Xuefeng entered the Ether Temple, he was greeted by the very same voice as in the last five trials. He couldn't help but ask the one important question. 

"Are you actually controlling all nine Inheritance Trials or am I hearing things?" 

Xuefeng was probably the only participant who always chatted with the Trial Spirit as if he was his friend. Because of that, the Trial Spirit actually responded to his questions. If it was someone else trying to gain an advantage by asking questions, he wouldn't receive much of a response.

"I'm indeed in control of all trials. All nine of them are connected with each other underground. I don't have problems handling them all at the same time," the Trial Spirit replied honestly, not in a hurry to start the trial. 

"You must be really powerful for that," Xuefeng commented, stretching his body. 

He already received some information from his wives, describing the trial rules but he still wanted some additional information. Although Nuwa wanted to win, she still shared her experiences with him. 

The trial this time wasn't especially complicated or dangerous but definitely had a higher difficulty than the rest. He still didn't master Ether Element so he was really looking forward to this one. 

Who would love to teleport? With his Spirit Qi, he could only achieve minor teleportation and it was slow but Ether Qi was different. It allowed him to bypass that and instantly shift his body through space. 

"I would say I still have room to improve," the Trial Spirit answered, staying humble. "Are you ready to start the trial?" 

"Sure! What do you have for me this time?" Xuefeng asked eagerly, stopping what he was doing to listen. 

Trial Spirit was more casual with his answers, no longer using his usual monotonous, robotic voice. 

"You will face yourself this time. There will only be one round in this trial and your goal is to kill as many copies of yourself as you can. They will randomly appear and disappear on the arena with their locations different each time. The speed will also increase overtime. You will be eligible for a reward once you clear one hundred clones. Naturally, the more you kill, the better score you can get." the Trial Spirit explained, his reply sounding identical to Nuwa's description. 

With that said, Xuefeng appeared in the middle of the familiar arena and found himself surrounded by a round table with ten daggers on top. 

The Trial Spirit didn't stop there and continued, "You can only use those throwing daggers to kill the clones. When the hit is successful, a replacement dagger will appear on the table. Make sure you aim correctly as once the dagger misses, it won't respawn anymore. You can consider the ten daggers as your lives. Once you lose them all, the trial will end. You also have a time limit of staying idle set to one minute." 

"Can I do anything with those daggers? Like use any skills or art on them?" Xuefeng wondered. 

If he could, the trial would not be that hard for him. He could create multiple dagger copies with his Multiplier and then send them flying across the arena with his Spirit Power. Unfortunately, it would be too good if turned to be true. 

"No. You can only throw them and can't use your Qi aside from your Spirit Awareness," the Trial Spirit denied. "The key to mastering Ether Element requires a good grasp of space which can be trained with Spirit Awareness. All clones will appear and disappear randomly so one has to figure out their position before they vanish. One can only do that by predicting the pattern in which they change locations." 

"Alright, no Qi. Got it." Xuefeng didn't have anything to comment about that, only trying to find some ways to beat this trial as fast as he could.

From what Nuwa told him, she couldn't find any way to cheat. Their Spirit Power couldn't help them this time as apparently, the clones didn't have a physical body she could grasp. 

Xuefeng grabbed a dagger into each of his hands and closed his eyes, releasing his Spirit Awareness. In the matter of seconds, he filled the whole arena with his presence. 

'Any idea?' he asked the girls just in case. They could always advise him in the worst times. 

'I'm still thinking. Aside from boosting your Spirit Awareness and brain capabilities, I don't think I know other ways to help you,' Ming admitted while Ling remained silent. 'Let me try to improve your perception. It should be easier for you this way.'

Soon after, he felt refreshed but at the same time, his mind became much sharper.

'You should hurry and get as many points as you can. I can't sustain this method for long,' Ming warned. 'It will make your mind tired and it isn't easy to regenerate. Make sure to tell me once you get a headache.' 

'I will,' Xuefeng agreed and announced out loud, not wasting any more time. "Okay, let's start."

"As you wish." 

Swish!

The moment the Trial Spirit replied, Xuefeng moved, sending a dagger in a certain direction right when he sensed a ripple in the air. The clone barely spawned when its chest got pierced through. 

"..." He was speechless, not expecting his reaction would be this fast. He didn't have time to contemplate on it though as another clone started spawning. 

——— 

"Are you telling me that Liu Xuefeng killed Big Johny in front of the public?" 

The Ruler rubbed his forehead in frustration, slowly losing it. The day couldn't get any worse than this. 

The Royal Guard who came to report nodded firmly and added, "Yes, Ruler. We stood no chance against them. Big Johny fought against the weakest member of Liu Xuefeng's Guards and he lost. His army of three hundred Spirit Monarchs is too strong. If we were to fight to get our revenge, we would all die for nothing." 

"It's good you didn't…" the Ruler muttered without getting angry but one could see the annoyance on his face. "Leave." 

The Royal Guard quickly bowed and left, already done reporting everything. 

"Is it even worth to fight anymore?" the Ruler asked himself, leaning against his throne. "I can't kill him and I can't fight him. What's the point…?" 

He sighed and pulled out a red pill from his Storage Ring, staring at it, deep in thought. Anyone with brain would figure out it was just a matter of time before they fell. 

He thought of swallowing it on the spot but he held himself back, pulling out a communication crystal instead. 

"Milady, I would like to request a meeting. I can't do this anymore." 

He recorded his message and sent it. Only after a couple of minutes did he receive a reply. 

'In two days, afternoon.'

"Really? Two days? Do you know how many things can happen in two days?" the Ruler talked to himself, smacking his forehead. It was pretty pathetic how low was he treated by the Fate Goddess but there was nothing he could do about it. 

He swallowed his curses and thought, 'Will Royal Family even exist at this point after two days?'