After realizing what he has to do, Yuan quickly retrieves the Empyrean Overlord before releasing the Heaven Splitting Sword Strike at the falling temple.
The Heaven Splitting Sword Strike collided with the base of the golden temple in the air, but the temple completely shrugged off the attack as though it was nothing.
Yuanâs eyes widened with shock when there wasnât even a single scratch on the temple despite being struck by his most powerful attack.
However, he didnât give up and tried it again, resulting in the same conclusion.
âThe temple is indestructible, Master.â Tianâerâs voice suddenly resounded.
âHow am I supposed to protect those people at the bottom if I cannot destroy that temple?!â He cried out loud.
âYou must useâ sacrifice your body to protect the mortals.â
âU-Use my bodyâŠ?â Yuan swallowed nervously when he realized what Tianâer wanted him to do.
âWhy is he just standing there?! Heâll get squashed by the temple if he doesnât do anything!â Min Li exclaimed in a worried voice.
âMaybe itâs because that is his trial.â Feng Yuxiang said.
âA common trial in the Stairway to Heaven is endurance, which normally requires the challenger to endure a powerful pressure for a certain amount of time. In the Young Masterâs case, that golden temple is the âpressureâ,â she explained.
âThat golden temple looks really heavy, though⊠Is it even possible to endure that?â Chu Liuxiang asked.
âThe Young Master has no choice but to endure it, or he will fail the trialâŠâ
Once the golden temple arrived on top of Yuan, he decided to use his body to catch it.
Dong!
Yuan could feel his entire body being pressed towards the ground, and every bone in his muscle was screaming in pain, especially his legs, which were shaking as though there was an earthquake.
âAaaaah!â
Yuan released a painful scream after catching the golden temple that weighed tens of thousands of tons.
And in just a few moments, Yuan was forced to kneel on the invisible platform.
âMasterâŠâ
Tianâer was surprised when she saw Yuan catching the golden temple with nothing but his raw body.
This trial was designed to limit test a cultivatorâs spiritual energy. In other words, Yuan was supposed to cover his body in spiritual energy before catching the temple.
However, Yuan had caught the temple without using his spiritual energy, meaning that heâd caught it with his raw strength, which was an amazing feat considering that the temple could easily crush even a peak Spirit King with ease if they didnât use spiritual energy.
âMaster, use your spiritual energy. You will never survive this trial like that.â Tianâer decided to point him in the right direction even though she wasnât really supposed to do that.
After hearing her words, Yuan promptly activated the spiritual energy in his Dantian.
Spiritual energy quickly began flowing through every vein in Yuanâs body, boosting his strength immensely.
Once his entire body was covered in spiritual energy, Yuan immediately felt the weight on his body lessen by a large amount, allowing him to breath properly.
After catching his breath and getting comfortable with having a huge temple on his back, Yuan stood back up and proceeded to focus on his spiritual energy.
If he doesnât circulate his spiritual energy wisely, he will run out of spiritual energy before the trial ends, which would be disastrous for him.
Therefore, he must use just enough spiritual energy to make carrying the temple barely endurable for him.
âI will have to stay like this for 24 hours? I should have taken that one hour break when I had the chance!â Yuan sighed inwardly, regretting his decision to give up his one hour of peace.
If he knew what he was walking into, he wouldâve definitely taken that break to prepare himself.
Not only is the third trial the most tedious trial thus far, it was also the most boring. After all, he could only stand still and do nothing but carry this immensely heavy temple.
About two hours later, Yuan adapted to his situation and could control the flow of his spiritual energy as easily as breathing, allowing him to focus less on himself and more on other things, such as his memories.
He looked at the time.
[Time: 2:10:12]
[Time: 2:10:13]
[Time: 2:10:14]
âItâs only been two hours? I swear it feels much longer than thatâŠâ He sighed.
He closed his eyes a moment later and began delving into his memories.
Meanwhile, in the spectatorsâ room.
âMeixiu, do you have any knowledge on Greek mythology?â Chu Liuxiang suddenly asked her.
âNot really,â she said.
âWell, Yuanâs situation reminds me of a very famous mythology about a titan that was condemned to hold up the heavens for eternity.â
âHolding the heavens⊠You mean Atlas?â Meixiu remembered hearing about it in school before.
âSo you do have some knowledge. Thatâs right. However, he wasnât doing it for righteousness or anything like that. He was doing it as a punishment.â
âAnd seeing Yuan like that⊠It makes me wonder if heâs being punished.â
Meixiu lifted her brows in a questioning manner, âWhy would he be punished? This is just a trial.â
âI know, but I cannot help but have the feeling that the Stairway to Heaven is punishing him. This might even be the hardest trial yet.â Chu Liuxiang sighed.
âHow long does he have to carry that golden temple? Heâs already been at it for 2 hours.â Min Li suddenly asked.
âIt varies from person to person.â Feng Yuxiang said.
Meanwhile, Yuan recalled his memories as an outer court disciple at Immortalâs Monastery.
For every hour he spends in real-time, he has experienced many months, even years in his memories.
And after watching his memories for some time, Yuan eventually came to the conclusion that his previous life as Tian Yang had an ordinary if not less-than-ordinary life as a cultivator.
He was neither talented nor hopeless. He was just an ordinary cultivator that one could find anywhere in the cultivation world.
However, this only made Yuan more puzzled, as the Tian Yang inside his dreams was incredibly powerful.
How did someone who started out so ordinary become so extraordinary? Yuanâs anticipation grew the more he recalled his memories.