Reborn as a Mountain: I Defy the Heavens with a Smile

"Old man, what about Brother Ye Chen's reward? If you don't give it to him, then I will beat you with this sword," Lin Xian'er threatened with a pout as she pointed the beautiful moonpetal blade at the old man.

Watching her like this, the old man's face twisted with various expressions and almost everyone here was also the same.

"Ahem! Don't worry, I will not leave his reward behind." The old man coughed a little and then looked at Ye Chen.

"The first place Ye Chen receives 'Heavenly Jade Essence.' This is a tier-9 item that nourishes your soul, body, and even spiritual root. This means your talent will increase and your strength will take another leap. This essence also raises your affinity with Dao, allowing you to gain insights more easily in the cultivation path—be it sword, alchemy, formation, or even a unique personal Dao," the old man announced, making everyone shocked.

Even Ye Chen was no different because he knew about 'Heavenly Jade Essence' from the myriad book.

Just a single drop of this essence needed ten thousand years to form. Furthermore, it has to be within the heart of the 'Jade Spirit Tree,' which grew up under the natural formation of 'Five Elements' for hundreds of thousands of years.

This was too rare! Moreover, the amount of essence one could get from this was just four to five drops.

Yet the old man gave him a bottle that contained not ten, not twenty but fifty drops!

Crown Prince Ji Feng and others did not know about this essence but after knowing the effects of it, their eyes were filled with shock.

Although the rewards were already something shocking, especially the tier-8 and tier-9 treasure, which had not appeared for who knows how many years. However, this was still not comparable to what Ye Chen had received.

The path of cultivation, after all, wasn't related to wealth and beauty but talent! Without it, no matter how much money you have or how beautiful you are, it was useless.

Thinking of this, a few disciples' eyes couldn't help but flash with greed. One of them was none other than Zhu Dong, who had barely managed to clear the trial.

Their reactions didn't escape the old man's and Ye Chen's eyes. However, both of them did not care because they could not do anything.

Maybe after the end of the mystic realm there would be some trouble but since the time had not come yet, Ye Chen did not care.

"Well, since we are done with the rewards, it's time for the official inheritance trial!" the old man declared and flicked his sleeve.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion rang out as the space behind the platform began to tear, revealing a gigantic floating island with a massive palace on top.

Witnessing this, the disciples on the platform and below became stunned with wonder, while Ye Chen's eyes couldn't help but flash with a strange light.

'It would be really good if I could get this floating island,' he thought to himself as he imagined living on it while looking down on everyone.

"Follow me!" As soon as the floating island came out from space, the old man didn't hesitate and jumped.

The distance between the platform and the island wasn't that much, as even the thirteen-year-old little girl could jump. So, no one hesitated and jumped on the floating island.

"Umm? The Qi here is more pure," Lin Xian'er noticed as soon as she breathed a little.

"It's because there is a massive Qi gathering formation, which even purifies the spiritual Qi. How is it? Do you want to be my disciple now? If you become one, you can live here as much as you want." The old man did not hesitate to throw benefits like candy.

But a pity that little girl did not care.

"No." The little girl replied without any hesitation.

Hearing her, the old man could only sigh inwardly, not understanding how she could continue to reject him with how many benefits he was giving.

If it were someone else, they would've long since become his disciple.

Nevertheless, he did not feel disappointed, as there were many chances ahead, so he continued leading everyone, ignoring their shocked look after they found out he wanted to take Lin Xian'er as his disciple.

Even Liu Jiarong was shocked and just as she was happy, she saw Lin Xian'er rejecting it without any hesitation, as if it was the most normal thing to do. She then tried to convince her, but the little girl did not listen to her at all.

Just like this, they arrived inside the massive palace. However, what greeted them was not the hall, but a large, dimly lit room filled with ancient statues of humans and beasts.

"This is an 'Eternity Shifting Place,' and unless you are the owner, all of the doors will lead to unknown places or even traps so do not try anything funny," the old man stated with a deep tone and then pointed at the sculptures.

"There are a total of a hundred ancient sculptures and each one had a spirit. All you have to do is gain their acknowledgment to pass this trial. As for how to get one? Just go in front of the sculpture and you will hear a voice that might give you a question or ask you to do something, such as refine a pill or perform your martial art."

"As long as you gave a correct answer and did what they told you with precision, you will receive their acknowledgment, which will be in the form of a band around your wrist. Remember that once you fail to get acknowledgment, the spirit will ignore you so be careful, as you will need a total of one hundred acknowledgment bands to pass this 'Spirit Acknowledgment' trial."

"But what to do if you fail to get acknowledgment from just one spirit or a few tens? Simple, just fight and snatch the bands from someone! The time limit for this trial is five hours so do not waste any time and hurry up!"

The old man declared with a flick of his sleeve.

Swoosh!

In that instant an hourglass appeared and the sand inside started to flow down. Clearly the trial had been started.

Watching this, the disciples did not hesitate and rushed towards the different sculptures.

Ye Chen, Li Mei, and others also did not waste time; however, they were much calmer and observed the sculptures a little before standing in front of them.

Whoosh!

As soon as Ye Chen stood in front of the sculpture of Crane, it lit up with white illuminance and then a gaze fell on him.

"Human, tell me about your understanding of cultivation. If it is good, then you might receive my acknowledgment," the crane spoke.

While hearing this, Ye Chen was a little surprised; nevertheless, he did not hesitate and answered what he had learned.

"Hmm. It's a little impressive to understand these many things at such low cultivation. Human, you gain my acknowledgment," the crane said and once again it lit up.

Ye Chen felt a warm current at his wrist; looking down, he saw a thin white band appearing.

After this he did not hesitate and stood in front of another sculpture. Once again, he received a question that he was able to answer.

Li Mei and others also did not have any trouble. Not only them but every other disciple was having it easy. They even thought if this was really a trial, as they did not face any difficulties.

Just like this, Ye Chen gained acknowledgment from twenty sculptures and just as he moved forward, he noticed something different.

'This sculpture shouldn't be this dark.' He muttered inwardly with a puzzled look as all of the sculptures were pure white when he saw them first but now this one was a little grayish.

The sculpture belonged to a human and as soon as Ye Chen stood in front, the sculpture illuminated, however not as brightly as previous ones.

"I see another one who wants acknowledgment. Why don't you tell me a recipe for tier-3 pill formula and I will give you one?" The human sculpture spoke.

Hearing this, Ye Chen was stunned. Because at his cultivation level such a question was impossible to answer even if they were alchemists. The tier-3 formula was not a treasure but it was rare after all, so how could anyone know it?

Fortunately, Ye Chen had a myriad of book and had memorized many pill formulas, so it was not a big problem for him and he told a normal tier-3 formula.

"Good, you receive my acknowledgment," the human sculpture said after listening to it and then darkened more than before.

Seeing this, Ye Chen went to another darkened sculpture and received a hard question. But it was not any problem for him so he gained the acknowledgment and asked Li Mei and others to hurry.

However, it was too late, as disciples noticed the more the sculpture gives acknowledgment, the more darkened it will be and the more harder questions it will give to later ones. Which meant they had to be first for an easy one and must not be last if they did not want to fail.

But with twenty-five disciples competing over this, it was hard to be the first one and someone had to be last.