Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 438 - 423: Ancient Spirit

Zhou Leng did not expect the Cyan Flame to have pre-exam syndrome, so he joked and laughed to ease his tension.

After the meal, the two took a demonized carriage to the Teleportation Array on the Ancient Spirit Road.

Other innate Demon Spirit Masters arrived one after another.

Nearly half of the innate Demon Spirit Masters, like the Cyan Flame, were accompanied by a Demon Spirit Assistant; some even brought a Giant Dragon or Giant.

However, the realm of the Giant Dragon or Giant is only the initial True Liquid Innate, while most Demon Spirit Masters are Blood Shocking Innate.

The realm above Innate cannot enter the Ancient Spirit Road.

The Cyan Flame greeted some familiar innate Demon Spirit Masters and then chatted with Zhou Leng.

When the time arrived, everyone entered the Teleportation Array one after another.

Coming out of the Teleportation Array, there was a huge black-gold giant door in front of them.

The giant door was over a hundred meters high, carved with countless strange demons, majestic and awe-inspiring.

In front of the giant door, a Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master read out the rules and rewards of the Ancient Spirit Road.

Zhou Leng had already read them many times but still listened carefully.

All the Demon Spirit Masters present did the same, only some Demon Spirit Assistants lazily dismissed it.

After reading the rules, the hundred-meter giant door opened with a rumble, and ten passages formed in front of it, each with a Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master and several innate Demon Spirit Masters standing by.

The Cyan Flame looked serious, approached the door, and was too tense to speak.

Zhou Leng followed behind the Cyan Flame, relaxed and looking around, learning about different cultures and civilizations from other worlds.

The trip was meant as a journey; after all, the Demon Spirit Trial was unrelated to him as a Martial Artist.

The importance of this trip was less than joining the Ice Snow Divine Sect.

It’s not that he didn’t want to help the Cyan Flame; it’s that he had no idea how.

Anyway, once inside, just do your best.

Although there might be no chance to intervene.

Soon, the two stood in front of the Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master.

"Your Demon Spirit Assistant?" asked the Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master.

"Yes," said the Cyan Flame, handing over a palm-sized black-gold plaque engraved with a large bird.

The Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master slapped the black-gold plaque, and two beams of white-light birds flew out, landing on the brows of both, leaving a white mark.

Zhou Leng looked at the black-gold plaque, vaguely recalling seeing it somewhere but couldn’t remember.

"Go ahead," said the Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master, glancing at the High Priest Badge on Zhou Leng’s chest.

The two of them walked in.

As Zhou Leng entered the door, a beam of light flew out from a handkerchief in the Magic Spirit Bag, landing in the Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master’s hand, transforming into an Ancient Spirit Bird plaque.

The nearby Demon Spirit Masters were stunned, puzzled.

The Grandmaster Demon Spirit Master signaled the queue behind to stop, pondered for a moment, and reluctantly smiled, "That Martial Artist casually strolled like a tourist, probably intended to be just a Demon Spirit Assistant, but received the Ancient Spirit Bird plaque from the Ice Snow Divine Sect or elsewhere, unknowingly brought it here, thus becoming both a Trial Taker and Demon Spirit Assistant."

"Isn’t that against the rules?"

"Demon Spirit Masters are prohibited from being both Trial Takers and assistants, and other casters are barred as Trial Takers, but not Martial Artists."

"He’s not exploiting a loophole, is he?"

"A Martial Artist can’t exploit loopholes that Demon Spirit Masters can’t get through; he can only watch."

"Exactly."

"Next."

Ice Snow Divine Sect, side hall.

The Frosty Hand and many disciples of the Ice Snow Divine Sect sat on chairs, gazing at the magical light screen in front of them.

On the magical light screen, the densely packed names appeared.

The light screen connected to the display screen of the Ancient Spirit Road, showing the trial ranking in real-time,.

Including Zhou Leng, the Ice Snow Divine Sect has ten people participating in the Ancient Spirit Road this time.

"What do you think, how many can Zhou Leng, this Martial Artist, rank in the end?"

"He can’t even rank in the top nine thousand."

"I hope the other nine work hard, otherwise being surpassed by a Martial Artist would be too amusing."

"Let’s do this, whoever falls behind Zhou Leng draws twenty lashes and cleans the Magical Beast dung circle for a month, how about it?"

"Sounds good."

"What if Zhou Leng ranks better than other disciples, what reward should we give?"

"Let’s see the ranking; the higher the ranking, the higher the reward, calculated three times the ordinary disciple’s reward."

"Three times? That’s stingy; he’s a Martial Artist. I say make it five times."

"Five times is too much; if he’s too high up, at least reward him with a legendary Demon Spirit Artifact."

"There are many Martial Arts treasures in the Ice Snow Divine Sect; if he’s truly able to achieve a good ranking with the Ice Snow Divine Sect’s status, reward him."

"Good."

"It’s a pity that he’s not a Demon Spirit Master."

"Too bad."

Behind the Ancient Spirit Road door, Zhou Leng suddenly remembered.

After the initiation ceremony, during the banquet, the Ice Snow Divine Sect had gifted him many treasures.

It’s just that he was so drunk then, he paid no attention.

Among them was the Ancient Spirit Bird plaque.

Zhou Leng searched for the Magic Spirit Bag, but it wasn’t there.

"Could it be that the Ancient Spirit Bird plaque seen at the banquet was someone else’s, and I mistook it while drunk?"

Zhou Leng was puzzled; since he didn’t have it, he didn’t mention it to the Cyan Flame.

Meanwhile, he sensed that the Mother Tree Leather Armor on his body was suppressed by an invisible force and could not be activated.

Here, the use of legendary-level powers is forbidden.

In front is a large square.

The large square is filled with dozens of blue teleportation gates.

The Cyan Flame pointed at the teleportation gate and said, "There is the entrance to the first trial of the Ancient Spirits’ Path. The first test is about the fundamental powers of mana and demon spirits. Just stand by my side, you don’t need to take any action."

"Alright."

The two walked into the blue teleportation gate, a flash of light appeared before their eyes, and they found themselves in a magnificent palace.

The palace was like a closed sports stadium, with a depth exceeding two hundred meters.

The sides and upper levels of the palace featured dense protruding reliefs.

A black horizontal line was drawn on the floor in front of them.

The Cyan Flame glanced at it and smiled, "This is a standard demon spirit attack test, you can rest now."

Zhou Leng looked around, finding the architectural style here quite peculiar, mostly resembling the styles of the Demon Spirit World, but some parts were distinctly discordant, apparently remnants of other civilizations.

Shortly, an elderly voice sounded.

"The first trial of the Ancient Spirits’ Path, the Basic Route, begins."

As soon as the old man’s voice fell, the reliefs on both sides began to crack, and various demons scurried around the palace, some slow, some fast.

A few demons were moving at speeds close to the speed of sound.

The Cyan Flame unhurriedly controlled two demon spirits on his shoulders to cast spells and initiate the attack.

Zhou Leng had seen the Cyan Flame’s spell attacks before and quickly lost interest after watching for a while.

This was likely the simplest attack test, as those demons didn’t even rush forward.

Zhou Leng patiently stood for a moment, then walked around observing the non-Demon Spirit World style buildings.

After all, this place was built on the Trial Ground of a High Civilization, discovering any divine texts could be hugely rewarding.

Ever since knowing the outcome was predetermined within the Three High Towers, Zhou Leng realized he might not gain anything from this demon spirit trial.

Rather than wasting time, better to take in more of the advanced civilization ruins.

Even if no divine texts or treasures were found, it could still broaden his understanding.

Zhou Leng carefully observed and gradually made discoveries.

"This fragment looks like a piece of a shield, but alas, it can’t be unearthed..."

"This fragment seems to be a part of some massive building, likely a flying treasure."

"This is probably a divine text, but unfortunately it’s incomplete, useless."

"Hmm? There’s actually a fragment of the mother tree here, too bad it can’t be extracted."

Gaining interest in this place, Zhou Leng thought if he could acquire the mother tree fragments, the rewards would be unimaginable.

After a full twenty minutes, the Cyan Flame, sweating profusely and pale-faced, heard the old man’s voice, signaling the completion of the first Ancient Spirits’ Path. Trial takers and aides could move to the second level.

The Cyan Flame sat in meditation, drank a magic potion, and restored his mana.

Only then did Zhou Leng approach Cyan Flame, preventing accidents.

Waiting for the Cyan Flame to restore his mana, the two moved forward entering the palace gate.

Through the gate, they proceeded down the corridor to enter the second palace, much smaller than the previous one.

This palace was octagonal, each side featuring a door, with doors on both sides leading to separate rooms.

"Luck is on our side," the Cyan Flame smiled.

The elderly voice sounded again.

"The second trial of the Ancient Spirits’ Path, the Path of Inheritance. In the six rooms, each contains trials related to spell inheritance. Choose one, complete the cultivation, then pass."

The Cyan Flame said, "You can practice your martial arts here. I’ll be learning spells for quite some time. It’s very safe here, only testing spell learning ability."

"Are you sure you don’t need me?"

"No need indeed."

The Cyan Flame then walked into a room.

Zhou Leng said, "I’ll follow you and take a look first."

"Alright. In this first room, there are multiple wind elemental demon spirit techniques..."

"The second room contains records of fire elemental demon spirit techniques, I’m highly likely to choose this one."

...

"The sixth room is a trap, we all know. Inside tests not specific spells, but demon spirit knowledge. Such rooms are remnants of old ruins, full of divine texts."

"There are many rooms like this. Even demon spirit masters who are adept at divine texts would not choose it..."

After touring the six rooms with Zhou Leng, introducing each one, the Cyan Flame returned to the second room, sat by the central demon spirit fire, chose a fire elemental demon spirit technique to begin studying.

Zhou Leng glanced at the Cyan Flame, noticing he had a calm expression, was fully focused, and had completely shaken off his morning weariness.

With his talent, he would surely master the fire elemental demon spirit technique and pass the second trial.

Zhou Leng waited for a while, seeing the Cyan Flame immersed in his studies and entirely secure, then headed toward the sixth room.

The other five were spell rooms, looking wouldn’t be beneficial, but this one was different, a divine text room.

The style of this room was entirely different from the others.

The other five rooms were patched and mismatched, evidently repaired in later stages, appearing quite dilapidated in many places.

Yet here, aside from a damaged door frame, everything else was quite intact.

The room stood columnar, painted with various patterns in colorful pigments on its walls and dome.

The pigments’ colors were very peculiar, glowing subtly, magnificent and dreamlike, shining in brilliance.

To others, the patterns on the walls were merely decorative, but to Zhou Leng, they were entirely floral divine texts.

The nuances of divine texts shifted, yet the overall style was coherent, making them not difficult to learn.

Like the printed and cursive scripts in Dragon Country’s writing system, there are differences, though not vast.