"Ha!"
Xinyue's eyes shot open. Her body shot up and her mana mobilized as she spread her awareness and scanned her surroundings.
The confusion set in first.
Hadn't she just died?
The sensation of encroaching death was still fresh in her mind, and though the pain of being crushed only lasted for an instant, with Xinyue's perception, she was able to feel every spark of it clearly.
Her body shuddered involuntarily before she forcibly stopped it and righted her posture.
Her senses slowly acclimated to her new surroundings, and she slowly accepted the fact that she was still alive.
'Alexandra is not here.'
The spirit woman who'd been with her all this time wasn't present in the small room with her. Other than the bed she was currently standing on and a small table on the side, there was only a door leading further into whatever structure she was currently in.
'My awareness cannot pierce this door.' Xinyue realized with a frown.
She widened her eyes, causing them to glow brightly, but even then she couldn't see anything.
'Hmm…'
For her eyes to fail was an incredibly rare circumstance. It either meant that there was an immense opportunity behind that door, or an even greater danger.
"Tch."
Xinyue gritted her teeth and steeled herself. Regardless, she wasn't willing to stay in the room.
She carefully walked up to the door. She circulated her mana calmly so that every part of her body was energized in case she needed to move instantly.
And when all her preparations were made, she flung the door open.
Bang!
She was met with quite the anticlimactic scene.
The room she was in was part of a small nondescript cottage without many standout features at all. Just to be sure, Xinyue even thoroughly swept it with her awareness, but found that, besides her room, the rest of the house was completely normal.
Her next steps took her outside.
She was met with the same silence as before, a beautiful yet empty green plain splayed out in front of her.
"Where is this place?" She wondered out loud.
"This is my domain. You have earned the right to enter."
A booming voice echoed through the wind from every direction,
Xinyue's guard went up immediately. Her mana was already prepared, she just needed to find the enemy.
However, the voice was a step ahead of her.
"Quell your mana. I have no physical form. Attempting to attack me is pointless."
Xinyue's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Who are you?" She asked coldly.
"Hahaha," the voice chuckled lightly and said, "Junior, you've come for my inheritance yet you cannot recognize me?"
"…Sky Emperor?" Xinyue muttered with some shock.
After ruminating about it for a while, she realized that there really wasn't any other possibility. As she had "died" in the Sky Emperor's trial ground, the only culprit for her "resurrection" was the emperor himself.
To be able to pull such a stunt, one needed at least an emperor's strength.
"Xinyue greets Sky Emperor Wu Mo."
Xinyue bowed her body slightly and cupped her fists in respect.
"Mm, considering your identity, this much respect is expected. At least, compared to that person you are far better:"
"That person?" Xinyue questioned.
"You will meet them soon. There is still one final trial before you can obtain my complete inheritance, after all."
Xinyue nodded in understanding. About the whims of higher existences, she couldn't say anything at all.
Nevertheless, she still had a few questions. She wasn't an ungrateful person.
"I participated in the trial with a spirit woman. I do not see her now. Where is she?" She asked.
"This matter is simple. In the final trial, only you were able to pass. In the face of death, you remained stalwart with no regret or grievance. You showed the tenacity and drive to fight even after your last breath, something that woman does not quite possess."
"Your companion is currently resting elsewhere. As a reward for making it to the final trial, I have repaired her spirit body to peak form." The Sky Emperor answered.
"I understand, senior. However, that woman's physical body was destroyed at the entrance of this tomb. Rather than improving her spirit body, I believe it would be best to heal and empower her physique." Xinyue suggested.
"Oh? And why do you believe that?" The Sky Emperor questioned curiously.
Xinyue nodded her head and answered, "Alexandra has not yet broken the shackles of existence and ascended. A complete soul at her current juncture would only harm her progress rather than fuel it. It would instead be better to bring her body and soul to a balance so her future training path can be smoother."
"Hahahaha! How interesting!"
The Sky Emperor's laugh shook the air.
"Come, follow your heart and you will arrive at your destiny. After you've done so, I will return to initiate the final trial."
The Sky Emperor didn't continue the previous topic, and after giving Xinyue a final piece of instruction, his presence disappeared entirely.
'Merely a wisp of soul.' Xinyue thought to herself.
The Sky Emperor was long dead, but a wisp of his soul had managed to survive and maintain his legacy until people managed to arrive to claim it.
It had been at least 100,000 years since the Sky Emperor's existence.
Just how powerful was his soul for him to accomplish such a feat?
As she pondered on this, Xinyue began to move without any specified path. Just as the Sky Emperor's soul wisp suggested, she walked as her heart desired.
Only, her heart was void of desire.
It was better to say she walked aimlessly, knowing that she would eventually reach her destination. If the Sky Emperor wanted to start the final trial, he couldn't do so without her presence.
Unfortunately, she didn't quite follow the trial rules.
She didn't possess the heart's desires that she needed for it.
Actually, the void in her heart was the reason for her amazing performance in every mental trial she'd faced so far.
She saw nothing from the illusion trial but blackness. She had no desire to reminisce during the memory trial, and even in later mind trials that intrinsically dug into one's psyche, she experienced nothing.
It was such a rare situation that even the Sky Emperor hadn't accounted for it.
Nevertheless, just as Xinyue expected, she eventually reached the gates of a gargantuan palace, the place where her so-called "destiny" was kept.
She walked through the kilometer-tall open doors and traversed the halls until she finally reached the throne room.
With a push of her hand, she entered the trial location, which, as she was just learning, doubled as a treasure cove.
Shining jewels and golden antiques littered the floor like trash. An array of artifacts ranging from the most common F rank to the impossible-to-attain God rank was piled up in one corner, and spanning from there to the other side of the room was a vast hill of resources and materials that could greatly strengthen several tens of thousands of people.
Finally, on the other side of the hill of resources was a mound of spiritual fruits and other edible treasures. Xinyue even spotted several fruits with the effect of directly boosting levels. Fruits that could do so for when 4th class beings were one in a million treasures that one could never expect to see in their lifetime.
The stunning image these fruits produced, however, was entirely ruined.
Ruined by a man who sat atop the treasure mound and shoved those ultra-rare fruits in his mouth like a monkey.
