Upon entering the passage, the group was taken aback. Instead of another large hall and passage as they had imagined, they found a grand hall twenty or thirty meters high, with an altar-like platform in the center, supported by four bronze pillars.
“Look, there are words on that stele!” Xiangli Yanran said, pointing ahead.
She was referring to the pillar to the right of the altar, which was much smaller than the others and hadn't been noticed by anyone else at first.
The five of them approached cautiously and warily. After taking a look at the stone tablet, Qin Yue immediately said with a bitter face, "Oh no, these are plum blossom seal characters. I can't recognize them all."
"I don't know him!" Xiangli Yanran shook her head and said.
"I don't know him either," Li Chongyi replied awkwardly.
"This is plum blossom seal script, I don't recognize many of them. If it were small seal script, it would be fine," Huang Yuqi said, shaking her head after taking a look.
"Let me take a look," said Qin Mu, who was walking at the very back.
Since they knew it was plum blossom seal script and still dared to speak, they must be confident. The others quickly stepped aside.
"I'm not sure I recognize them all," Qin Mu said uncertainly. He had studied seal script, but this was a different world after all. Moreover, his research was only based on the information that was available at the time. He was unaware of some information that some countries had not published or discovered.
"It's alright, let's figure out the general meaning first," Qin Yue reassured her.
Qin Mu nodded, then looked at the stone tablet, comparing each word with his memory.
Under the tense and expectant gazes of the group, Qin Mu observed for half an hour before straightening up and letting out a sigh of relief, saying, "I have successfully completed my mission."
"Brother Qin Mu, what does it say?" Xiangli Yanran asked impatiently.
"First of all, yes, this is the place of inheritance, though the specific inheritance isn't written here; secondly, this altar leads to the final trial. However, once inside, you can only face it alone," Qin Mu said.
"Ah! Facing it alone?" Qin Yue asked in surprise. After all, it had always been agreed that they would enter as a team, but she didn't expect it to change at the last minute.
"Yes, the first three rounds are just a selection process, eliminating some people."
"Alright then, does it say how to activate the altar?" Qin Yue asked.
"The way to activate it is on the four pillars."
"Let's go then!"
"Wait!" Huang Yuqi called out to the group who were about to go up to the altar.
"What's wrong with Yuqi?"
"Does everyone who clears the level eventually end up here?" Huang Yuqi asked.
"Probably?" Qin Mu guessed.
"The orcs have come in too. What if they also clear the level and obtain the inheritance?"
"Yuqi, what do you think?" Qin Yue asked, frowning. This was indeed a problem, since no one could guarantee that they would definitely receive the inheritance.
"Why don't we stay here and kill them one by one as they come?" Xiangli Yanran said, brandishing her greatsword.
“No, we’ve been here for five days already, and we don’t even know how long it will take to get in. Besides, we don’t know if the orcs will even come in, or how long it will take. We can’t just keep waiting,” Li Chongyi objected.
"It's alright. I'll leave a message here using the Qin family's riddle, hoping they'll be the first to arrive," Qin Yue said, somewhat conflicted.
Li Chongyi was right. This was the first time in a thousand years that they had reached this point, and it would be a huge waste to waste time waiting. With that, Qin Yue began to carve lines on the ground with her sword. After a while, she stood up and said, "Open the altar!"
Qin Mu didn't waste any time. He went up to the altar, found the pillar with the images of four figures carved on it, and then pressed down on the right palms of each of them.
"Boom boom boom!" A sound of giant rocks moving was heard, and a dark hole was revealed in the center of the altar.
Knowing that they would be facing off individually below, the group disregarded their formation and Qin Yue led the way, filing in one after another.
I felt a sticky resistance again, and then my eyes lit up and I found myself in a room.
The room was very simple, with just a stone table and a box. Qin Mu looked around curiously, but the room was small and there was nothing else strange about it.
"The matter of inheritance must lie within this box," Qin Mu guessed, then walked to the stone table.
Gently open the box, and inside you'll find a bead the size of a pigeon egg, perfectly round and as white as jade.
Holding the bead in his hand, Qin Mu examined it closely, but he couldn't discern its material or its function. The box itself was unremarkable, identical to those used for storing fasting pills and other materials. Based on his memory, Qin Mu even knew that the array patterns on it were exactly the same.
"Strange! Where's the challenge?" Qin Mu looked around the room again, but still couldn't see anything wrong. He also tried the stone table; whether he moved it or turned it, it didn't budge, so there shouldn't be any mechanism.
In the end, Qin Mu focused his attention on the beads. Thinking of the plot in the novel, he gritted his teeth, took out his sword, gently cut his finger, and dripped his blood onto the beads.
Unfortunately, the blood seemed to drip onto the jade, sliding directly off the bead without any sign of being absorbed.
"Let's try using the Righteous Qi," Qin Mu muttered again.
Without hesitation, Qin Mu immediately channeled his righteous energy into the bead. This time, a change finally occurred; stimulated by the righteous energy, the pure white bead suddenly emitted a brilliant white light.
Qin Mu felt a white blur before his eyes. Before he could close them, the bead flew up and shot toward his forehead, instantly entering his sea of consciousness.
The white bead, upon entering the sea of consciousness, immediately erupted with an even more intense light. This light, like sunlight containing strong ultraviolet rays, stung painfully.
The sea of consciousness can be said to be the location of a person's soul, and it is also the most vulnerable place. Not to mention being attacked from within, even external shocks can make people dizzy.
"Ah!" As soon as the white light appeared, Qin Mu couldn't help but scream. Not only that, the pain became stronger and stronger, causing him to scream incessantly.
Like having his bone scraped by a steel knife, the pain was so deep it went straight to the marrow. Unbearable, Qin Mu had no other thoughts and could only roll on the ground, clutching his head.
Qin Mu desperately wanted to faint, but his mind was perfectly clear, and he could feel every bit of pain clearly.
Unaware that the white bead's light, while causing him immense pain, was also bringing about a tremendous change to his sea of consciousness, its space resembling a scallion, was being dissolved layer by layer by the white light.
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Mu's voice had become hoarse. With a "bang," another membrane shattered within his sea of consciousness, revealing yet another space within it. The two spaces connected as the membrane broke, and Qin Mu's sea of consciousness instantly doubled in size. Numerous specks of silver light appeared in the newly merged space.
The tiny silver lights, like countless stars, were not only numerous but also began to frantically absorb the white light from the sea of consciousness.
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