Juhua didn't know how much time had passed before he stopped reading the Star Scroll. At the same time, he came back to himself from his exhilarating state of insight.
Whoosh!
Yellow-Haired Great Bear suddenly appeared in front of Ju Hua.
"Senior, is there still plenty of time?" Ju Hua stood and cupped his hands in greeting.
"Only a little over two days have passed!" Yellow-Haired Great Bear replied. Then he asked, "Have you recalled any memories from your previous life?"
"No!" Ju Hua shook his head without hesitation.
"You're not lying to me?" Yellow-Haired Great Bear asked, seeming unconvinced.
"Senior, I lost both my parents when I was young. My younger sister and I have depended on each other ever since. Apart from her, you're the only family I have. If I'd truly awakened my memories, how could I hide it from you?" Ju Hua said earnestly.
"..."
Yellow-Haired Great Bear said nothing. He slowly nodded.
"Ever since I failed my tribulation, I have indeed noticed that my talent is unusual. But I'm just as confused as anyone about the reason," Ju Hua said. He was concealing something, but most of what he said was true. He had noticed his spirit absorbing something strange, but he couldn't be certain whether that had anything to do with the change in his talent. It was all speculation.
"You should be a True God Dao Ancestor reincarnated. You probably haven't awakened your memories because the time isn't right yet," Yellow-Haired Great Bear said.
"This..."
Ju Hua wanted to say that wasn't the case, but seeing how certain Yellow-Haired Great Bear was, he didn't know what to say. In the end, he fell silent. Let the misunderstanding stand. Reincarnation was much easier to accept than the other possibilities!
Yellow-Haired Great Bear didn't bring up reincarnation again. Instead, he said, "When I said earlier that you had a fifty percent chance of passing the War God Hall, I was basing that on your strength from over half a year ago. You've improved a great deal since then. You now have at least a ninety percent chance of passing the seventh level. Do you want to try?"
"Senior, I want to challenge the eighth level!" Ju Hua said.
"Mm, come with me." Yellow-Haired Great Bear nodded, then suddenly paused.
"What did you just say?" he asked.
"Senior, I want to challenge the eighth level!" Ju Hua repeated.
"The reward for the eighth level is excellent, but you're not strong enough to pass it," Yellow-Haired Great Bear said, shaking his head.
"Senior, I had an insight in the Star Hall just now, so I want to give it a try," Ju Hua said with complete seriousness.
"An insight?" Yellow-Haired Great Bear recalled the sword Domain that had appeared around Ju Hua at the end, something even he hadn't been able to understand.
"This is my only chance to challenge the War God Hall while I'm at the Primordial Spirit Fiendgod stage. If I'm going to try, I might as well take on the hardest level! I didn't have the confidence before, but now I want to give it a shot," Ju Hua said with a smile.
"Are you sure?" Yellow-Haired Great Bear asked.
"I'm sure!" Ju Hua nodded firmly.
In truth, Ju Hua's decision came not only from his unexpected breakthrough in strength, but also from another important reason.
Desolate Era had mentioned that when the protagonist, Ji Ning, challenged the eighth level of the War God Hall, his opponent was a true Void-Return Fiendgod.
A true Void-Return Fiendgod could match the strength of the most ordinary Celestial Immortal. They were much like a Loose Immortal who had survived a million years.
If everything described in Desolate Era was true, Ju Hua estimated that whatever opponent he faced on the eighth level of the War God Hall would be in that same range of strength.
At first, Ju Hua hadn't planned to challenge the eighth level. Although he had made considerable progress over the past six months, he still fell short of a million-year Loose Immortal.
Based on Ju Hua's earlier estimate, learning the sixth stance of the Great Sorrow Sword Art would give him the strength of a million-year Loose Immortal. He had mastered the fifth stance long ago, but he was still a fair distance from mastering the sixth.
Under the circumstances, Ju Hua naturally hadn't planned to challenge the eighth level of the War God Hall.
But his enlightenment in the Star Hall had brought him an unexpected gain!
Through this enlightenment, Ju Hua had deepened his understanding of the Great Dao of the Sword and the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. More unexpectedly, he had also managed to fuse a small part of the two.
This wasn't simply using the two Daos in combination. He had truly merged them, making them inseparable! The fusion might not have looked like much, but Ju Hua clearly knew that his strength had soared.
After mastering the fifth stance of the Great Sorrow Sword Art, Ju Hua's strength had already reached the very peak of the top Loose Immortals, just one step away from that of a million-year Loose Immortal. Now, after an unintentional breakthrough, Ju Hua estimated that his strength was no weaker than a million-year Loose Immortal!
He had learned what lay in wait on the eighth level from Desolate Era, and his strength had just made a major breakthrough. That was why Ju Hua had decided to challenge it!
If he passed, of course he would be delighted. If he failed, it wouldn't be a big deal!
Earlier, Ju Hua had wanted to use his sole remaining chance at the Primordial Spirit Fiendgod stage to challenge the War God Hall right away purely because he was about to go to war and wanted to choose a powerful Immortal-ranked treasure from the Treasure Hall to strengthen himself.
But things were different now. His strength had just improved considerably, and this war probably wouldn't be very large in scale. Otherwise, a Loose Immortal like him couldn't have been made the commander-in-chief of the Zhuanshui Clan army.
As long as he was careful, staying alive shouldn't be too difficult!
So Ju Hua didn't care all that much whether he could pass the eighth level of the War God Hall.
Of course, given Ju Hua's current circumstances, the best choice would be to put off challenging the War God Hall until he became stronger and had absolute confidence. That way, he could ensure he obtained a top-grade Immortal-ranked treasure from the eighth level.
For an ordinary Loose Immortal, making a major improvement in strength was as hard as ascending to heaven. But everything he'd experienced over the past six months had shown Ju Hua that, given his current circumstances, he still had plenty of room to grow.
Even so, Ju Hua had ultimately decided to challenge the War God Hall now.
Although many things mentioned in Desolate Era had already come true in his own life, Ju Hua still couldn't be completely certain whether the events described in it were true. That was why, as he challenged the eighth level of the War God Hall, he also hoped to verify whether Desolate Era was accurate.
If the opponent he encountered on the eighth level really was at the Void-Return Fiendgod level, that would at least prove that what Desolate Era recorded was accurate for the range from Earth Immortal and Loose Immortal up to Celestial Immortal.
If not, he would know to prepare himself!
P.S. The number of levels you challenge in the War God Hall is up to you. In the original story, when Ji Ning first challenged the War God Hall, Great Bear told him, "You can choose the tenth level too, but even a ripple from it will reduce you to ashes!"