Half a year had passed since Liu Yuan left Spirit City and set out for the place where the God of Death's inheritance awaited.
The moment Liu Yuan left Spirit City, he had hurried toward the place where the God of Death's inheritance awaited, without stopping for a moment.
But his destination was simply too far away.
Although he could catch sight of that black pillar of light in the distance every time, what frustrated Liu Yuan was that no matter how far he traveled, the distance between him and the pillar seemed not to shrink at all. He never got even a little closer.
At first, this left Liu Yuan deeply disappointed. He had traveled for so long, yet the place where the God of Death's inheritance awaited remained just as far away. He couldn't help wondering whether he would ever reach it in his lifetime and receive the inheritance.
But eventually, he saw reason.
This had to be the God of Death's trial for him.
Otherwise, given the God of Death's abilities, he could have used the power that had once transported Liu Yuan from underground to another location and sent him straight to the place where the Death God's inheritance awaited.
The only reason he hadn't done so was to test Liu Yuan's patience and perseverance.
And it made sense. How could a god's inheritance be so easy to obtain?
If Liu Yuan couldn't even pass such a small trial, he would never amount to anything—and would be even less capable of avenging himself on Tang San, Yu Xiaogang, and the others!
With that thought, Liu Yuan steadied himself once more and inched toward his destination.
In the days that followed, Liu Yuan still saw no sign of progress.
But his resolve had become unshakable. Even without seeing the slightest result, he stubbornly kept pressing forward.
As a result, he came across many new sights along the way.
The first was the kindness of Spirit Hall.
In fact, Liu Yuan had already experienced that kindness once through Bibi Dong.
But after that, he experienced it several more times.
During his travels, there were many times when Liu Yuan had run out of money and had to journey on an empty stomach. Eventually, he could barely manage to keep going, and each step became a struggle.
At times like these, it wasn't the so-called nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire or any other organization that came to his aid.
Only Spirit Hall reached out to help him.
Some might think Spirit Hall was just putting on a show, using such petty tricks to win the people's hearts.
But setting aside the fact that there was no basis for that assumption—
Even if it were true, so what?
Even if it was all for show, Bibi Dong and Spirit Hall were at least willing to do something!
But what about Tang San, Yu Xiaogang, and the various institutions of the Heaven Dou Empire?
They treated human lives as worthless and bullied the weak while fearing the strong.
Along the way, Liu Yuan had never received the slightest help from any institution of the Heaven Dou Empire. Instead, he had witnessed plenty of nobles oppressing the common people and abducting women.
Liu Yuan couldn't help sighing.
"Looks like Bibi Dong wasn't wrong."
"Her methods may seem a little too radical, but if these nobles are allowed to keep ruling the Douluo Continent, the common people will never have a chance to rise!"
He continued on his way.
One day, he happened to run into students from Blue Sunshine Academy.
As luck would have it, they were the very group who had clashed with Tang San and the others in the original story.
Influenced by his preconceived notions from the original story, Liu Yuan instinctively took a dislike to them.
He didn't want any trouble, so he planned to go around them.
But to his surprise, they were nothing like he had expected.
First, they caught a thief and helped the locals.
Then they gave financial aid to some of the poor residents.
Later, Liu Yuan asked some locals about them and learned the truth.
Every year, the students and teachers of Blue Sunshine Academy went out on field trips.
They chose poor areas throughout the Heaven Dou Empire as their destinations.
These places had essentially been abandoned by the imperial family of the Heaven Dou Empire, which paid them no heed.
Only the local Spirit Hall branches occasionally brought them some supplies, but it was never enough.
In times like these, kindhearted academies or organizations like Blue Sunshine Academy would step up and do their part.
They would donate some supplies, or give away old clothes the students could no longer wear.
Those things were useless to them, but for these impoverished people, they were a godsend.
Learning this left Liu Yuan reflecting for a long time.
"Some things you can never truly understand until you experience them for yourself."
"Before crossing over, Liu Yuan had liked Bibi Dong, too, because she was beautiful. But you had to admit, she and Spirit Hall had started the wars that followed. There was no excusing that."
"But after traveling around the Heaven Dou Empire, Liu Yuan understood. Rather than saying Bibi Dong started a war, it would be more accurate to say she was leading an uprising."
"The Heaven Dou Empire had become utterly rotten under the imperial family's rule, and the people were suffering terribly. Maybe Bibi Dong chose to go to war at a time like this because she wanted to build a better Spirit Hall Empire."
He continued on his journey.
This time, he traveled for another two years.
At last, one day two years later, Liu Yuan reached the place where the God of Death's inheritance awaited.
Liu Yuan was overwhelmed with excitement.
The previous night, while traveling, Liu Yuan had realized it was getting late, so he had found a spot by the roadside and slept there, planning to set off again the next day.
But who could have imagined that when he woke up, the surroundings had changed—and so had his location? He had somehow ended up right inside that black pillar of light!
Liu Yuan was still staring around in shock.
Then the God of Death suddenly appeared before him.
The God of Death still wore a black robe, with a Great Scythe strapped to his back.
But when he saw Liu Yuan, a broad smile spread across his face despite himself.
"Congratulations, young man. You passed my trial. Now you can receive my inheritance."
The God of Death spoke as he looked at Liu Yuan.
Liu Yuan was excited, too. After a moment's thought, he asked the God of Death,
"So... everything that happened before was part of your trial?"
"What would have happened if I'd given up or decided to rest because I couldn't keep going?"
The God of Death answered with a smile:
"Giving up means forfeiting."
"You would not earn the God of Death's approval."
"As for resting..."
"Each time you rest, the trial period is extended by one year."
"The more you rest, the more years are added."
"You will never reach this place until the entire trial period has elapsed."
Liu Yuan was left dumbfounded by those words.
He felt incredibly lucky.
Thankfully, he had never rested along the way, let alone given up.
At last, all his hardship had paid off!
Now he had a chance to take revenge!
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