The First Screening

Just as Lu Yan'an made up his mind...

On the throne in the main hall, energy gathered and coalesced into the figure of "Lu Yan'an" in white robes, which was a wisp of consciousness left behind by the Xin Dao Ren.

"Have you thought it through?" The Xin Dao Ren stood up and slowly walked down, his gaze towards Lu Yan'an below extremely indifferent.

Hearing the slightly cold tone, Lu Yan'an let out a long breath and then respectfully replied, "My lord, I have thought it through and decided to accept your inheritance!"

"No regrets?" The voice of the Xin Dao Ren echoed in his ears, and for some reason, Lu Yan'an detected a hint of relief in it.

"No regrets!" Lu Yan'an replied firmly. If he couldn't seize such a tremendous opportunity, then he would truly regret it!

"Very good!" The Xin Dao Ren nodded slightly, then pointed to the floor of the main hall and softly commanded, "Rise!"

Boom!

The main hall immediately began to rise, and a huge circular stone slab floated up, revealing a deep, dark hole. Looking into that hole... a faint crimson glow appeared, with occasional wisps of red energy twisting and turning...

"Since you are willing to accept the inheritance, then go down." The Xin Dao Ren pointed to this deep abyss and said, "The inheritance I left behind has already determined how to choose a successor. If you truly meet the conditions, then as you pass through many trials, you will gradually come into contact with the inheritance. Once you come into contact with the inheritance, it will be a life-or-death crisis. Successfully accept all the inheritance, live! If you fail to accept it completely, and only accept a trace... you will surely die!"

"If you're scared now, you can still regret it before you go down! But if you do go down, there will be no turning back!"

"If you give up, then return to that group!" The Xin Dao Ren's gaze swept over the sleeping powerhouses present, a fleeting hint of contempt in his eyes. "Choose." His figure then dissipated like dust, vanishing into nothingness. Only Lu Yan'an remained, staring solemnly at the deep abyss...

The circular stone slab floated high in the air.

An endless crimson passage is revealed below. Should we go in or not?

"If I succeed, there will be no more obstacles on my path to becoming a Universe God!" Lu Yan'an. "Besides, I am only a Universe Venerable! Even if I truly perish, I still retain the possibility of resurrection. I dared to fight to the death before, so how can I shrink back now?"

Joke.

Perhaps he considered many things at the beginning of the decision, but once he made it, how could he back down? Since embarking on the path of the strong... the danger of death has never been far away. They may be unwilling to die, but none of them fear death. For the sake of the powerful inheritance of this Ancient Civilization, they are all willing to fight to the death! This is why Lu Yan'an insisted on fighting the cold current to the death before! When they are certain they will make a breakthrough, everyone is willing to give it their all!

Wow!

A black lightning bolt flashed by, tracing a curve, and flew directly into the deep passage, disappearing without a trace.

"Well!"

After Lu Yan'an entered the deep cave, only a deep sigh remained in the entire space from the Xin Dao Ren!

Flying into those crimson waves, one feels a distortion of space and time, as if flying through Cosmic Passage.

Wow!

My eyes lit up.

Ahead lay a hall shrouded in a light white mist, its materials the same dark gray as the passageways and cabins in the previous illusion. At this moment, only Lu Yan'an, a solitary figure, stood within this vast hall.

As Lu Yan'an landed in the Mist Hall, an invisible energy suddenly began to gather beside him, coalescing into a figure—the white-robed "Lu Yan'an" Xin Dao Ren.

"Now that you're in, you've passed my first screening!"

The Xin Dao Ren looked at Lu Yan'an, a hint of kindness appearing in his eyes.

"Filter?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan'an's heart tightened immediately. He didn't know when the selection process for the successor of the Xin Dao Ren had begun.

"Rise!" The Xin Dao Ren Daoist pointed to the floor of the hall, and a whoosh...

The ground suddenly split open to the sides, and a strange machine gradually emerged from it. It was a Rubik's Cube-like instrument, dark red in color, with numerous Law Secret Pattern on its surface. The Law Secret Pattern were so profound that even with Lu Yan'an's mastery of Secret Pattern Secret Pattern Diagram, he could not fully decipher their deeper meanings at first glance.

Crack! Suddenly, a door opened up in the Cube Device.

"Since you're here, let's test your soul essence!" the Xin Dao Ren said directly. "Although I don't really want to waste time, since I'm already here, it doesn't hurt! After all, soulless life forms are not qualified to inherit my legacy!"

"Soul essence? Soulless life form?" Upon hearing this familiar term, Lu Yan'an's heart tightened. As a being born from the Primal Universe, he naturally possessed a soul, and was a pure human. But the problem now was that what had arrived was merely his Time Demon Beast Clone, and this Time Demon Beast happened to be Energy Lifeform, inherently devoid of a soul!

"Go!" The two simple words spoken by the Xin Dao Ren seemed to possess boundless magic. Under the influence of this magic, Lu Yan'an involuntarily began to take steps, heading directly towards the Cube Device and stepping through the door.

Inside the instrument, however, was a completely separate void.

Lu Yan'an hovered in the void, and it took him a long time to recover from the influence of the two short words from the Xin Dao Ren. Immediately, cold sweat poured down his face like rain! It should be noted that Lu Yan'an's will had already reached the level of Void True God, yet he was still easily influenced by the Xin Dao Ren, which was enough to demonstrate the Xin Dao Ren's power! Or rather, the will of Universe God- level being already in another dimension, even now reduced to just a single thought, its strength less than one-billionth, yet crushing any powerhouse below the Chaos Realm was as easy as turning one's hand.

After letting out a long sigh, he looked around but couldn't find any exit.

"Boom..." "Boom..." "Boom..."

At this moment, twisted Secret Pattern began to appear in the void. The dazzling white Secret Pattern instantly covered the entire void, and strange and unpredictable powers were born, directly penetrating into Lu Yan'an! This strange and unpredictable power directly drilled into his Divine Body. At this moment, Lu Yan'an felt as if all his secrets had been exposed. From divine power to Divine Body, and even Spiritual Force and Heart Power, everything was laid bare by this power.

This invisible and eerie power continuously penetrated into the Divine Body, into every ounce of divine power, making him completely one with Lu Yan'an. After a moment, as the distorted Secret Pattern in the void began to dissipate, the eerie power vanished completely.

"Card!"

A door appeared in the void ahead.

Lu Yan'an then stepped out of the door into the outer hall, still filled with doubts about what had just happened inside the Lu Yan'an 'Cube Device.

"Oh? A Clone without a soul, that's quite interesting!" The Xin Dao Ren nodded, a smile appearing on his face. "Then consider you passed! At least you possess a soul, while I am a being of flesh and blood!"

Mist Hall.

The Xin Dao Ren looked at Lu Yan'an and said with satisfaction, "In that case, you have successfully passed the first round of selection! You might be wondering now, what was my first round of selection?"

"Indeed!" Lu Yan'an nodded. "If it's just because I'm a soul-type life form, that doesn't seem to be the reason I passed the selection!"

He clearly remembered what the Xin Dao Ren had just said: this soul test was just a formality, and he had already passed the first round of screening before this.

"Good memory!" the Xin Dao Ren replied noncommittally. "This first round of selection is the choice I left for you before!"

"If you can remain steadfast in your determination to inherit the legacy despite the threat of death, then you have passed this first round of selection!"

"But congratulations on making the right choice! You know, sometimes when you choose the wrong answer to life's multiple-choice questions, there's no chance of ever turning things around!"

The Xin Dao Ren's casual words immediately sent a chill down Lu Yan'an. Its meaning was crystal clear: if he had truly chosen to leave while still outside, that would have been a dead end!

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