The Test

Along the way, Shi Ziteng occasionally turned his head and smiled, greeting some of the enormous spiders on either side of the road. Clearly, they were important beings within Demon Spirit Lake and held considerable standing.

"A bearer of Double Pupils? Extraordinary indeed, just as the ancient texts described."

An aged, enormous spider approached. Its eight legs were exceptionally thick, covered in long hairs interspersed with sinister spikes. They radiated an eerie chill, making it a terrifying sight.

It stood in the middle of the road, blocking their way.

"Master."

Shi Ziteng bowed respectfully to the aged spider. Years ago, a chance encounter had brought them together. Recognizing his talent for cultivation, the spider had taken him as a disciple.

It ranked among Demon Spirit Lake's foremost experts and held a lofty position. Its cultivation stood in the array formation realm, making it a King Marquis by human reckoning. That was precisely why Shi Ziteng had been allowed to break precedent and cultivate within Demon Spirit Lake.

"Mm, is this your own son? Not bad. He has the makings of something great." The old spider nodded.

"Yi'er, this is your Grandmaster. Hurry and pay your respects."

"Yes. Shi Yi pays his respects to Grandmaster," Shi Yi said.

The old spider nodded slightly. Its eight eyes stared fixedly at Shi Yi, as though seeking to see through him inside and out. When it spotted the glowing bone within his chest, a look of astonishment appeared on its face.

The bone contained intricate symbols, like the stars of all the heavens, unfathomably profound. Even an expert as powerful as the spider grew dizzy after looking directly at it for too long.

"The Supreme Bone! What astonishing talent. Combined with Double Pupils... this child's future is impossible to predict. Perhaps he will become a supreme being who overturns the balance of the Desolate Region." The old spider gave him an exceptionally high appraisal.

Then it stepped aside and told Shi Ziteng, "Go on. The ancestor has been waiting for a long time.

"The legendary supreme gift that won an invincible reputation in a battle during the Ancient Era-Double Pupils. The venerable ancestor has long looked forward to seeing it."

Shi Ziteng nodded.

The "ancestor" his master spoke of was not the Azure Demon Black-Eyed Spider in the venerable realm, but the lord of Demon Spirit Lake, an incomparably powerful old Golden Spider.

It was a pure-blooded being with the purest Heavenly God bloodline. After reaching the venerable realm, it had swept through that realm like a storm, scarcely finding a worthy opponent.

Led by Shi Ziteng, Shi Yi arrived before the grandest and oldest palace in the ancient complex.

They pushed open the heavy stone doors. Inside, golden light shone brilliantly over carved beams and painted pillars, magnificent beyond compare. Lifelike carvings were everywhere, recounting the legendary deeds of a golden spider in the Ancient Era: defying heaven to become a god, forcing its way into the Heavenly God realm, and establishing Demon Spirit Lake, a Primordial Divine Mountain.

Shi Yi's gaze shifted as he paused among the carvings.

Just then, an aged voice came from deep within the palace. It belonged to the lord of Demon Spirit Lake, an immense Golden Spider.

Its entire body gleamed as though cast from gold. Even after shrinking itself to stand within the hall, it was several dozen feet long. In truth, the Golden Spider's true body was as vast as a mountain.

Its aura was terrifying. It remained motionless, like an ancient fossil.

Yet the Golden Spider's eyes were open-all ten of them. Golden divine light flowed through each one, and wherever its gaze fell, an indescribable pressure descended.

Shi Ziteng dared not show any disrespect. He immediately pulled Shi Yi into a deep bow.

"Shi Ziteng pays his respects to the founding master."

"Shi Yi pays his respects to the founding master."

The great hall was spacious. Golden patterns lit up across its floor, wreathed in chaos mist.

The venerable-realm Golden Spider held all ten eyes open as it looked down upon the human father and son. It did not speak immediately, instead fixing its gaze on Shi Yi's Double Pupils as everything it knew about them surfaced in its mind.

During that glorious war in the Ancient Era, a bearer of Double Pupils had burst onto the scene and shone with dazzling brilliance. Proclaimed invincible, that being had left an indelible shadow over many races.

Now, at last, it had seen a possessor of that gift with its own eyes.

The Golden Spider said little. It merely extended one leg and lightly tapped toward the lower part of the hall.

At once, runes surged forth, like golden stars gathering and arranging themselves in the void. They formed a small spider roughly ten feet long, golden from head to toe and endowed with terrifying blood energy.

When its legs moved in unison, they could unleash tremendous force that struck terror into the hearts and minds of blood moving realm cultivators.

The little Golden Spider moved its legs and charged at Shi Yi, stirring up gusts of hurricane wind. In an instant, pressure capable of toppling mountains and overturning seas swept toward him.

Shi Ziteng did not intervene. Instead, he darted aside and cleared the way. He knew the old Golden Spider was testing Shi Yi's abilities.

Whether Shi Yi could secure Demon Spirit Lake's wholehearted support depended on his own fortune. If he defeated the little Golden Spider, a tremendous opportunity would be assured. If it defeated him, things would be much harder to say.

With his profound cultivation, Shi Ziteng could naturally see that the little Golden Spider surpassed Shi Yi in both blood energy and control over runes. By ordinary reasoning, Shi Yi would lose a clash between them. But Shi Yi possessed Double Pupils, so the outcome remained uncertain.

Boom!

Hurricane winds swept through the entire hall. Five-year-old Shi Yi stood within them like a pillar holding firm against a raging current, towering and unmoving. Yet his robes and hair streamed in the wind, snapping and fluttering.

Facing the Golden Spider's ferocious charge, Shi Yi displayed a composure beyond his years. His eyes blazed, and strands of Order Divine Chains danced within his pupils, piercing illusion and gazing straight into the source. He countered motion with stillness.

Imperceptibly, faint mist spread around him, blurring his figure. His entire being entered a strange state, as though he had stepped into an Absolute Domain belonging to him alone.

The Golden Spider attacked with astonishing speed. Its legs danced across the sky like golden scythes slicing through the void, each carrying terrifying force. Shi Yi reckoned that a single hit would split him in two on the spot, leaving him dead without even a place to be buried.

Fortunately, his Double Pupils had created an environment favorable to him, slowing his opponent's movements. So long as its speed did not exceed his by too much, it could not negate this power of law.

Shi Yi then struck one strange pose after another in midair. Every movement was perfectly measured, avoiding the Golden Spider's lethal legs by just the right margin. Even with eight legs swinging until they practically smoked, it could not harm him in the slightest. He evaded them all.

Still, the Golden Spider's superior physical capabilities allowed it to slice off several pieces of his robe's hem, and frightening slashes could also be seen across the fabric.

Suddenly, Shi Yi stopped dodging and planted himself in place. Astonishing blood energy surged from his body, accompanied by the faint, resounding toll of a bell. He attacked with all his strength, swinging his right fist toward the Golden Spider's abdomen.

It was too fast. The entire attack erupted in a single instant, from a cunning angle and at precisely the right moment, leaving his opponent nowhere to evade.