A Test of Willpower?

After some time walking, Li Zhu spotted a cobble-stone road, half covered in sand, and clearly unused.

Beside the road there was a small, wooden, sign, with the words, "Jian Long, follow this path until the end and you will complete this trial"

Li Zhu froze, before looking around him for anyone that may have been watching him. Not only had the sign addressed him by name, but it was his old name, from before he had been forced to change his identity.

'I guess the trials will be personalized for each person...' thought Li Zhu, realizing that for some reason his information had been taken by whatever controlled these inheritance trials. Although he was not sure how, Li Zhu suspected that the information was taken from his own memories, when he had stepped through the door of the inheritance.

'Putting aside the reason of why they know my name, is it possible that the first trial can be passed by simply walking on a road?' asked himself Li Zhu, doubtful. The voice at the entrance of the trials had even said that death was likely, let alone just walking, which anyone could do.

Although he was suspicious, Li Zhu began to follow the stone path, while looking everywhere for possible danger. After all, since this was a trial, there would probably be powerful enemies along the way.

It took a long time, but eventually his theory was proven right, as he spotted a massive scorpion, the size of a human, wandering around the stone road.

"This is my first test!" Li Zhu mumbled, before charging forwards. When he had gotten in line to enter the inheritance, Li Zhu had placed Buddy and Blue in his spirit ring, since he did not know if they would otherwise be separated after they stepped into the trials.

Fortunately, the spirit ring Shen Zan had given him could contain living creatures, so although they were not comfortable, when the two summons came out into the desert, they were as strong as ever.

Li Zhu first fused with Blue, since he assumed that a scorpion that lived in the desert could not handle freezing temperatures.

As he charged at the scorpion, it turned around towards him, before swinging its large tail. Li Zhu easily dodged the strike, but as he was about to hit the scorpion, he noticed a green liquid flying towards his face.

"Its stinger releases poison!" he realized, jumping back, and successfully avoiding the deadly poison. A solemn expression appeared on his face, as he charged forwards once again, keeping an eye on the scorpion's stinger.

The beast was not very smart, though, and it simply repeated the attack from before. Li Zhu, of course, easily managed to avoid the poison, since he had predicted it.

This time, he had dodged forwards, and reached the large body of the scorpion, who tried swiping its tail again.

Li Zhu would not give it this opportunity, though, as he slammed both his hands on its hard shell, infusing as much heavenly energy as he could into Frost Touch.

His assumptions about the beast were correct, and the scorpion began to instantly shiver when he started the skill. Not long after, body part after body part began to freeze, ending in the majestic tail, which had almost injured Li Zhu, to fall to the ground, frozen.

The type of scorpion recreated by the illusion usually lived in areas with extremely high temperatures, and frost qi was its nemesis, since its body simply could not handle the extreme change in temperature.

"Was that it?" wondered Li Zhu, seeing the fallen scorpion, below his feet. The fight had ended extremely quickly, and beside the surprise of almost being hit by poison, it had been quite an easy victory.

"There cannot just be spirit beasts of this strength in a trial!" he stated confidently, assuming that the difficulty would drastically increase for each encounter.

It seemed as though he was wrong, though, as the next spirit beast he met, one hour later, was with another scorpion, equally weak as the previous one.

Li Zhu quickly defeated it with Frost Touch on the first charge, since he now knew about the poison and how to avoid it.

"Can this trial be one of willpower?" wondered Li Zhu, who had already been walking for a few hours in the scalding desert, without seeing the end of the road.

Maybe the trial was not one of strength, but of willpower, to test how long he could resist in the desert, having to occasionally expend his energy with a fight. As long as he kept walking, and never gave up, he would be able to pass this trial, and move on.

'That must be it!' thought Li Zhu, a whole new of determination crashing into him, as he looked at the road in front of him as though he was staring at an enemy.

"I will not stop walking until I pass this trial!" he announced, before continuing his journey on the stone road, confident.

A few hours after this second encounter with a scorpion, Li Zhu had already defeated a few more, and was still walking, a feeling of thirst overwhelming him.

He had now walked for several hours under the blistering sun, without drinking any water. He even tried freezing the air with Frost Touch, to then drink the water that melted off of the ice. This did not work, though, since there was no humidity in the desert, so there was no water to be frozen in the first place.

Li Zhu was still determined to pass this trial, though, as the knowledge that he simply needed to keep walking acted as a driving force for him, something that kept him standing, when exhausted.

This process of walk, fight, and walk some more lasted for hours, and after a certain point Li Zhu decided to stop for a short while, since he needed to recover his heavenly energy. As long as he cultivated for a few hours a day, he would not need to sleep. That said, food and water were a different matter, since he had not yet reached the stage at which he could fast forever. Although he could last longer than mortal humans, he still felt the effect of thirst, which by now was all that he could think of.

'It's fine... I simply need to persevere!' he repeated to himself, before stepping back up, having completed an hour of cultivation, and partially replenished his energy.

Li Zhu was convinced that this trial was a test of willpower, so he continued on for a few more days, cultivating every three hours to maintain his ability to even walk. One could not understand the effect that the sun had on a person until they personally experienced it, though, and Li Zhu finally understood this.

Although he would be tired, Li Zhu could easily last a week without food in normal conditions, thanks to his cultivation. In the desert, though, he was already close to his end, after only four days.

Li Zhu would not give up so easily, and even though by now his whole body felt as though it could collapse at any moment, he persevered, dragging his feet one in font of the other.

"This trial can be bested... so why should I not be able to?!" he yelled, with what little voice he had left, not having drunk any water for many days.

Li Zhu stayed true this statement, as he kept moving forward, even a week after the trial had begun.

A few days later, though, he could no longer stand, and with a loud thud, his body fell onto the hard, stone road.

This did not discourage him, though, since he knew that reaching the end of this road would allow him to beat this trial.

On the road, he dragged himself forward, inch by inch. He was not fast by any means, but he was still moving, and that was enough for him.

This lasted a few more days, and fortunately he did not meet any more spirit beasts, who would have easily defeated him in his current state..

At this point, Li Zhu's hands were full of blood, the act of pulling him forward having slowly eroded his skin.

Although Li Zhu tried to keep going, his arms would not move anymore, so he could only lie on the hot stones, not able to continue his journey.

'Is this how I am defeated... on the first trial?' he wondered, disappointment clear on his sand covered face.

At this moment, though, with his head down towards the ground, Li Zhu noticed a small detail on the rock in front of him... a tiny arrow.

As he checked the other rocks around him, he realized in surprise that they all had arrows pointing downwards, albeit barely visible.

"Down?" mumbled Li Zhu, before slamming his face into the ground, testing a theory of his. He wanted to try to break the ground, but his head was currently the only body part he could move, so ignoring the sharp pain, Li Zhu continue to slam his head into the rocks.

Fortunately, the rocks shattered almost instantly, and a hole was formed in the ground, causing Li Zhu to fall downwards, into the void.

Li Zhu fell for what seemed like an eternity, before he finally landed on a hard surface. His body had now completely recovered, and although he had a few bloody marks on his head and hands, he was alive and well.

Looking around, he noticed that he was in a small room, with only a chest and a sign.

"Since you have reached this point, it is clear that you have finally understood that although willpower is important, sometimes you need to take a step back, and find a different way to solve a problem. Realizing this, you have passed the first trial, and the contents of the chest are your rewards. If you open the door behind the chest, you will be brought to the second trial, which will be tougher than this one. If you do not wish to continue, you can step through the door behind you, and be brought back to the sect"

As he read the sign, Li Zhu smiled in embarrassment, since he had not actually realized that perseverance was not always the way to go, and he had instead just coincidentally noticed the arrows, after being close to defeat.

Still, he was happy that he had passed the first trial, and although knowing that he could have avoided the grueling week and a half that he had gone through made him feel regretful, it also served to teach him a lesson, which he would not soon forget.

'This was only the first trial, yet I cam so close to defeat. The next trial... what will it be?' wondered Li Zhu, while staring at the door in the back of the room, a solemn expression.