Fang Tian stroked the trunk of the Dragon Canopy Tree—or rather, the Rising Dragon Plant, as the land spirit had named it. This being had once been his companion during his days of isolation, and a symbiotic relationship had formed between them.
But now, Fang Tian found himself far stronger than this beast that had once caused him so much trouble in his early days. Still, for the sake of the past, he used his methods to accelerate the creature's growth.
"Grow well, my companion. I will return someday and take you with me. But for now, you must remain here."
The massive tree's branches trembled slightly under the touch of Fang Tian's powerful hand. He withdrew his hand and instead took out a storage Gu worm containing numerous precious Wood Path materials.
He left these materials for the Rising Dragon Plant so it could grow stronger by consuming them and absorbing their dao marks. After doing so, he turned his gaze toward the stone chamber located at the end of the second inheritance hall.
That hall had been filled with excellent refinement materials, perfectly suited for Li Hua's inheritance. Even for someone as wealthy as Fang Tian, those materials held significant value.
He stored them using several Gu worms, then exited the second hall and looked toward the third door.
The door stood eight meters tall, crafted from dark blue stone that emitted an aura of calm and tranquility. Barely visible small words were engraved upon its surface:
"Angry spirits roam within… Become the strongest among them."
Fang Tian attempted to investigate what lay beyond the door, but he could only obtain vague hints at best.
"But this is already enough. With the information from Li Hua's will, the third trial should relate to strengthening the soul. From this text, it can be inferred that there are soul beasts inside, and they likely cannot be killed except by Soul Path methods."
Fang Tian found this suspicious. Li Hua had not left behind any means to deal with soul beasts in the hall preceding the third one. Instead, she left methods to strengthen the soul using the cores of those beasts. However, that method was deeply flawed—it gradually eroded one's sense of self after consuming a substantial number of soul cores.
"So this was your plan!"
Fang Tian realized the cunning scheme Li Hua had prepared for him. By lowering his guard with the generous rewards offered in each inheritance hall, he would be eager to pass the third hall. But the third hall must be extremely difficult, and since she left behind a method to strengthen the soul using soul beast cores, the third hall must provide such resources.
"Something isn't right. How am I supposed to gather soul cores without killing them? Li Hua didn't leave behind any method to kill soul beasts."
Fang Tian frowned deeply at this complicated issue and activated one of his Wisdom Path Gu worms. Numerous wills were generated in his mind and he began to think. These wills resembled Fang Tian himself, though miniature in size, and they were consumed at a rapid rate.
"Oh—the door! That's right! The door is made of a strange material that must belong to Soul Path and likely has an effect on soul beasts… Li Hua was truly desperate to arrange things this way. Unfortunately for her, I left Mount Ju Xian for a long time. Many things have changed, and now that I've returned, I'm prepared in every aspect. Perhaps if I had never left, this trick would have worked on me since it would have been my only option."
Fang Tian stepped toward the door. With a powerful punch that summoned the phantom of a dragon behind him, he shattered the door into pieces.
He could not help but be slightly stunned by the sight inside the third hall.
The third hall was enormous. Even if the previous hall were ten times larger than its original size, it could not compare to this one. Inside, the environment was dark and ominous, filled with death energy, with blue lines protruding along the walls.
Fang Tian pierced through the darkness by activating Crystal Eyes Gu.
A thin layer of glass formed over his eyes, allowing him to see clearly inside. Thousands of ordinary soul beasts were sleeping within the hall. But when Fang Tian shattered the door, the loud noise awakened them. They fixed him with cold gazes.
These soul beasts appeared as gigantic birds, twisted tigers, distorted humanoid forms, and other grotesque and nauseating shapes. Soul beasts were formed from Soul Path dao marks after the death of living beings. They were peculiar creatures that did not reproduce naturally but were instead born from death.
"Fortunately, I instructed the land spirit to purchase a batch of Soul Path Gu worms to guard against Soul Path Gu Masters. Who would have expected they'd prove useful here?"
After activating Soul Robe Gu and Soul Hardening Gu, Fang Tian charged at the soul beasts. What followed was nothing short of a massacre.
Even if these soul beasts had once been rank three or rank two beings when alive, they were now in a weakened state and posed no threat to Fang Tian.
He grabbed the last soul beast with one hand and thrust his other hand into its body, tearing out its core. The soul beast let out a horrifying wail that caused the soul robe surrounding Fang Tian's soul to tremble slightly—but that was all.
The soul beast turned into gray dust resembling salt. Above it, Fang Tian looked at the soul core in his hand before storing it away. Now, throughout the hall, thousands of rank one, rank two, and even rank three soul cores lay scattered everywhere.
This was a tremendous fortune. After all, soul beast cores were first-rate refinement materials.
Fang Tian collected the soul cores and the gray dust left behind after their deaths, storing everything within one of his Gu worms. Then he advanced toward the massive stone chamber near the end.
This chamber was made of the same strange blue stone as the giant door leading to the third inheritance hall—but it was far larger.
Fang Tian could discern a large Gu formation covering the chamber. It would have been easy for him to destroy it, but he refrained, wary of triggering parts of Li Hua's malicious arrangements. After all, he still remembered how Li Hua had once told him through Rewind Gu that he was free to leave the inheritance—only to later warn him that it would have been destroyed had he done so.
Fang Tian entered the chamber. Contrary to his expectations that it would be filled with treasures like the previous halls, it was nearly empty.
There were only six massive flower platforms inside.