Chapter 893: The Assessment Begins
TL: BluVerse
That was a kind-looking old man with benevolent eyes, wearing a gentle smile on his face. He looked at Lan Xuanyu with a smiling expression and said, “Welcome to our Seven Holy Abyss. The first assessment is about to begin, and it’s a simple one.”
As he spoke, he waved his hand, and everything around them suddenly underwent a dramatic transformation. The once dark cave turned into a magnificent bedroom. Compared to the previous pitch-black stone cave, this room was incredibly luxurious.
The floor was covered with soft, long-fur carpets, and the air carried a faint fragrance, intoxicating anyone who breathed it in. Every decoration and every piece of furnishings seemed perfectly placed. A prominent feature was a large bed with velvety blankets that made one tempted to just dive onto it.
“Elder, what is the first test about?” Lan Xuanyu curiously asked.
The old man chuckled, “It’s a test of sleeping. Lie down on the bed and rest well. If you can get up from the bed after waking up, then you pass.”
A test of sleeping? How peculiar was that? Could there be something on the bed testing his cultivation?
Lan Xuanyu was cautious about the Seven Holy Abyss. His teacher Tang Zhenhua had warned him about the dangers and difficulties here. So, he wouldn’t believe that sleeping was the real challenge.
However, before he could ask more questions, the old man had already disappeared. He didn’t say anything else.
Looking around the suddenly luxurious and comfortable room, Lan Xuanyu carefully inspected it but found nothing unusual. Finally, he walked to the bed and cautiously lifted the covers.
He suspected that a soul beast might suddenly appear from under the covers.
But the fact was, there was nothing. Under the covers was just a comfortable mattress.
Could it really be about sleeping? Or was there something to encounter during sleep?
Lan Xuanyu searched the bed for any mechanisms for a while but found nothing. Eventually, he lay down on the bed.
The moment he lay down, he immediately felt a change. It was so comfortable, incredibly comfortable. The bed was soft and elastic, perfectly fitting the curves of his body. The pillow was just right in height, and lying down felt like being cradled in his mother’s arms. The blanket naturally wrapped around him, warm and soft, gently hugging his body. Lan Xuanyu suddenly felt drowsy, as if all the tension and fatigue from his usual cultivation had melted away at this moment.
Unconsciously, he fell asleep.
This sleep felt like sleeping into oblivion, it was just too comfortable. Whether it was physical or mental exhaustion, everything seemed to release and relax in this deep slumber.
As Lan Xuanyu gradually woke up from the deep sleep, he felt his whole body was limp. He didn’t want to move a finger, he just wanted to sleep a little more.
Well, let’s sleep a little more, there’s nothing urgent anyway
Subconscious thoughts like these appeared in his mind, but deep down, he still held onto a thread of tension. Suddenly, the words of the old man from before echoed in his mind. If he could get up after waking up, then he passed.
In other words, he needed to leave the bed. Wanting to turn over and sit up, he found that even the slightest movement seemed to be in opposition to his entire body. There was not a single thought in his body to move, completely resisting his desire to leave the bed.
For an ordinary person, feeling so comfortable would lead to quickly falling asleep, but Lan Xuanyu’s spiritual power was close to the pinnacle of the Spirit Abyss realm. The more comfortable he felt, the more his spirit slightly shook, realizing something was wrong.
Taking a deep breath, his consciousness delved into his bloodline, and he immediately noticed that the rotation speed of his bloodline vortex was much slower than usual.
This was not right, definitely not right!
Lan Xuanyu’s body didn’t move at first because the lazy feeling on his body was too comfortable. In contrast, it contrasted with all the negative emotions left by years of hard training.
He wasn’t in a hurry to confront his own lethargic thoughts. Instead, he used his spiritual power to stimulate the dragon core within the bloodline vortex. Under the stimulation of soul power, the dragon core trembled slightly, the bloodline’s aura surged, and a faint seven-colored halo circulated, urging the acceleration of the bloodline vortex.
However, at this moment, the strange sensation that he had felt when entering the Seven Holy Abyss appeared once again. He clearly saw that within his dragon core, which contained a seven-colored halo, two peculiar lights emerged. In the air, the rich vitality and the destructive energy with a strong aura of destruction appeared once again. It seemed to be absorbed by his body.
This absorption was fine; the originally slow-moving bloodline vortex suddenly accelerated. The fatigue on Lan Xuanyu’s body disappeared in an instant. What surprised him even more was that the dragon core seemed to have expanded in that instant, and he immediately felt more energized.
With a swift movement, he sat up from the bed. Then he realized that around his body, there were faint purple and green halos lingering.
Yes, purple and green, the same two colors that appeared in his dragon core.
Undoubtedly, green represented life energy, pure and massive life energy. Besides the life source from the Eternal Tree given to him by Elder Shu, the vitality here was the most abundant.
As for the purple energy, it was the presence of a highly destructive aura, and he didn’t know what it was.
Just then, a flash of light and the old man who had appeared suddenly reappeared before him. For some reason, Lan Xuanyu found that the old man’s appearance seemed a bit panicked.
“Elder.”
Lan Xuanyu had just called out when the old man waved his hand, and he felt the ground beneath him disappear. The once luxurious room vanished completely, returning to its original cave-like appearance.
“You passed, you passed,” the old man exclaimed urgently.
Lan Xuanyu noticed that the green and purple energies around his body had diminished by half with the disappearance of the room but still lingered in subtle threads, being absorbed by his body. These two energies seemed to be greatly nourishing for his bloodline vortex. He instantly felt that it would have been better if he were still in that room.
Before he could speak to the old man again, the figure disappeared in a flash. Then, another flash, and a hunched old woman with wrinkled skin appeared in front of Lan Xuanyu.
As soon as she saw him, she immediately asked anxiously, “What is your view on lust? Can you control your desires?”
Lan Xuanyu was momentarily stunned, then replied, “Desires should only be directed towards the one you love. I already have someone I love, so my desires are only for her.”
“Ah, yes, very well. You passed,” the old woman said, and her figure disappeared in a flash.
Another trial? How many trials were there? This seemed too simple compared to the previous sleeping challenge; it was much simpler!
In the next moment, another flash, and a stern-faced stranger appeared before him. This person had a serious expression, his eyes looking toward the sky with an air of disdain.
“How do you view pride and arrogance?” the old man asked in a deep voice.
Lan Xuanyu responded, “A person can have pride but should not have arrogance. I may be proud of many things, but I will never be arrogant.”
“Passed.”
The figure disappeared in a blink.
Another trial?
Immediately after, another old man appeared, stout with a protruding belly, smiling.
“Young man, do you like to eat?” the old man asked.
“Yes, I do!” Lan Xuanyu nodded.
The old man continued, “How much will you eat? Will you eat too much?”
This question puzzled Lan Xuanyu, but he answered, “As long as I’m full. Eating is not just about enjoying delicious food but also about replenishing the body’s energy. Eating too much is not conducive to digestion and is uncomfortable.”