Crack

After successfully choosing five representatives for each sect, the said representatives all went forward to ascend the platform. Amongst the Sky Fire Sect, Sun Quan who was the spokesperson was one of the five from his sect.

Obviously, he had to be recognized within his own sect, for him to be able to become their spokesperson. Following Sun Quan, the representatives stood on the platform with those that were not chosen to stay behind and watch them from afar.

Upon setting foot on the platform, as if the platform had a mind of its own; the platform started moving once everyone had stood firmly on it. Slowly, the platform moved upward into the air at a slow pace, slowly heading up towards a higher plane.

Slowly, the platform rose; allowing those standing atop to get closer to the puzzle that hid the inheritance of a Duke. As the platform rose, the floating boulders shined brightly, as a suffocating pressure was released. Those that were weaker directly passed out, while those that were a little bit stronger kneeled. As for those that were strong, they were left standing with th pressure pressing directly on them.

Reaching a certain height, the suffocating pressure immediately disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. It was as if the pressure was all but an illusion that each and every one of them had fallen into.

Soon, the platform stopped moving, leaving those that stood on the platform puzzled. The sight around them was nothing but large floating boulders that seemed to be randomly placed. This was the puzzle that was the key to revealing the inheritance of the Duke that was left behind.

This was also the same puzzle that those from the Sky Fire Sect could not figure out, which forced them to bring every sect that had entered the Gu Feixu to help them solve it. "This expression of yours is what we had as well. Even though we stayed up here for a few days, we couldn't understand anything."

"The boulders seem to be randomly placed, but I believe that are purposely placed there. There is possibly a certain order in which to move the boulders, or the boulders could have nothing to do with the inheritance at all." Sun Quan spoke.

Nodding their heads, the disciples of the Sky Fire Sect all started to ponder and perceive the floating boulders that were filled with extremely powerful Spiritual Qi. Soon, the disciples of the other sects too began to observe and tried to solve the puzzle to the inheritance.

Whoosh!

Opening his eyes, Yan Lenglei's pupils became golden, while Mo Jidong's became pitch black. The two brothers silently perceived everything around them and made a connection between their surroundings. While other people were clueless and figuring things out, the two brother's eyes returned to normal.

"Are we going to wait until they give up?" Long He Yu whispered. "En, there's still some time to kill before the time is up." Mo Jidong replied. Nobody else could hear their conversation, otherwise they would be extremely shocked.

While they were busy starting from nothing, Mo Jidong and Long He Yu's conversation made it as though they had figured it out already. In fact, they really did figure out the puzzle. With a glance, Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong could perceive everything, along with the secret to the inheritance, as well as how to crack the puzzle.

The puzzle was quite simple. All one had to do to crack the puzzle was to cause every single boulder to emit the same exact amount of Spiritual Qi, which will then cause a reaction that will automatically reveal the inheritance. Of course, they didn't know what the reaction would be exactly since they weren't the one who created it.

While the trio had cracked the puzzle, the other disciples of the sects sat down and tried to perceive everything in their sight. Soon, night fell as none of them could figure it out. The boulders were still in the same place and emmiting Spiritual Qi, while they couldn't figure out any way to move them.

Suddenly, at midnight; a loud rumbling sound was heard above the platform. The sky was dark, and the temperature had dropped greatly. Nobody was affected due to their strength, but they could all see the boulders shining brightly before they all disappeared. In the blink of an eye, the boulders disappeared for a few moments, before they suddenly appeared again.

This time, the boulders were all in different locations. Each boulder was in a different place, while the arrangement was also completely different. Standing up, a few figures on the platform suddenly felt something and all turned in a single direction.

"Not bad, they are starting to figure it out." Mo Jidong muttered quietly as he watched them from afar. The few figures that had moved were the same five figures that Yan Lenglei had sensed earlier in the day who were extremely strong in the Noble Realm and could fight against those many stages above them.

As if they had become one with the boulders, the five figures each started to levitate and were brought closer to the floating boulders. Those below could only watch them, while Ning Lianqi's body also started to levitate as well.

Six figures levitated around tens of floating boulders as each of them closed their eyes. Watching from below, the crowd watching realized that the puzzle was soon the be cracked by the six figures that were floating around the boulders.

One shi of time later, there was no difference, while the six were still floating. By day time, there was still no change between the figures or the boulders. Soon, the six figures started to come back down one by one until they all reached the platform.

"How is it?" Sun Quan asked. Even though he was talented even within the Sky Fire Sect, he wasn't one of the six that were levitating earlier. He could only watch while nervous just as the others around him were until the figures got down.

The six figures all faced each other and nodded, as thought they all shared the same thoughts. "We know how to solve it." one of them replied. "Then?" Sun Quan continued.

"In order to crack the puzzle, every single boulder must emit the exact same amount of Spiritual Qi before the inheritance is revealed."

"So we must absorb the Spirtual Qi, or somehow get them to spread the amount of Spiritual Qi with each other?" someone in the crowd asked. The six had no answer for him, but they could only try. Soon, every disciple on the platform released their cultivation bases and surged their Spiritual Qi towards the boulders.

The Spiritual Qi being emitted by the boulders started to slowly change and were all getting close to being exactly the same. Dozens of minutes later, the boulders suddenly changed. They turned darker in color as if they were angry and then exploded with a powerful Spiritual Qi that knocked back every single disciple. Immediately, everyone that was spreading their Spiritual Qi were injured, while some even coughed out mouthfuls of blood.

As for the boulders, they were reset to exactly how they were previously, causing all their efforts to go in vain. Sitting down to recover their injuries, the disciples spent hours before they were back at full strength. Obviously, they had done something wrong which caused the boulders to erupt which caused a powerful backlash that injured them all.

Now, they could only use a different approach in order to crack the puzzle. As for Yan Lenglei's group, they were expressionless as they watched without getting involved. Once the disciples gave up, they would have their turn and directly crack the puzzle in one full sweep.

*****

Days later, there was only two days until the Gu Feixu would force everyone out automatically. So far, the puzzle hadn't been cracked, while those who tried suffered from a backlash which injured them heavily.

They all tried over and over again, but to no avail. Noticing something, Sun Quan broke the silence and spoke out. "These three brothers, are you not interested in the inheritance? I see that you haven't been concerned at all the past few days and only watxhed us fail."

Sun Quan's voice naturally attracted everyone's attention, causing them to look over at Yan Lenglei's trio. The five who had been peeked at by Yan Lenglei looked at him with an unfriendly gaze, but none of them could sense even a hint of his cultivation base, as if he was but an ordinary mortal. Obviously, this couldn't be true, and neither could he be above the Noble Realm, otherwise he would have disintegrated when he entered the Gu Feixu.

They couldn't figure out why they couldn't sense his cultivation base, but it was obvious that he had a secret that they couldn't figure out. Soon, a few disciples also joined in with Sun Quan. "We aren't as nice with words as brother Sun, you three have been watching for the past few days without helping, why did you even come up here?"

"Did you come to play? Or could you be protecting the little lady over there?" another person said, obviously hinting at Ning Lianqi. Suddenly, a pitch black set of eyes were set upon the disciple who had just spoken, as he began to sweat beads of cold sweat and felt a suffocating pressure on himself out of nowhere.

Facing Mo Jidong's direction, he felt the that the pressure was coming from him and caused him to fear the former. With just pressure alone, he was already unwilling to test them further let alone fight them. He felt that he might be killed in an instant if he continued his words just earlier.

"Enough." one of the five interrupted. "You must be confident if you've only been watching us. Do we look like street performers in mortal cities to you? Since you're so confident, why not crack the puzzle and open our eyes?" another of the five said.

"If you must." Yan Lenglei said. Stepping forward, everyone made way for him to have a go. It seemed like he planned on cracking the puzzle all alone, while there were those that were waiting for him to fail, there were those who wanted him to succeed to bring out the inheritance.

Standing by himself, Yan Lenglei's handsome figure that was dressed in white seemed lonely and desolate. He was just standing, but an invisible aura of desolation and loneliness surrounded him. It was as though he was an invincible figure that had no peers causing him to be lonely as he lived out his life. Soon, Yan Lenglei's eyes shined with gold light, as his entire body started to levitate quickly.

The speed in which he was levitating was many times faster than when the six inviduals had levitated during the past few days. As he levitated upward, an invisible energy was released from his body towards the floating boulders.

Rumble. Rumble.

The floating boulders all shuddered as they all shone brightly with gold light. Each of them started to emit the same amount of Spiritual Qi that was previously purple in color, but had now become golden. As the boulders shook, they all slowly moved and flew towards Yan Lenglei's body as if they were attracted to him.

In an instant, the boulders crashed together and exploded around Yan Lenglei, causing him to be completely buried under the boulders. The boulders shattered and changed shape to meld into a large sphere that was perfectly smooth, but with cracks everywhere like a ball of dirt.

When they had crashed together, it was extremely loud, enough to burst the eardrums of anyone close enough. Within the ball of earth, Yan Lenglei's golden eyes looked around. A powerful Eath Spiritual Qi was seen in his eyes, as he slowly closed his eyes and began to perceive the very Earth Spiritual Qi itself.

It didn't take long before Yan Lenglei completely perceived it, allowing him to comprehend the Concept of Earth. This Concept of Earth that was from a Duke Realm powerhouse was much stronger than ordinar Earth Spiritual Qi, the purple color that had transformed and become golden became much more potent than before. The Concept of Earth that Yan Lenglei had comprehended was extremely powerful and tyrannical.

While it didn't have any special properties, it was much sturdier and more powerful than regular Earth Spiritual Qi by many times. After comprehending the Concept of Earth, Yan Lenglei controlled the ball around him.

Whoosh!

For those watching, the huge ball of earth that had buried Yan Lenglei underneath suddenly cracked and seperated into countless shards that flew everywhere. Many clusters of earth flew far away and started to levitate in the air in a cicular motion. Once this happened, from the sky; a large tablet suddenly appeared and landed itself in the very center of the platform.