Eight Gates Trial

At this moment, the young disciples of the four great sects, along with those from some third-rate minor sects, numbered roughly fifty or sixty in total.

These young disciples all possessed third- or fourth-grade Bloodlines. Those capable of opening eight Spiritual Apertures were already few and far between.

The larger number consisted of martial artists over thirty years old. At the very least, they had opened nine Spiritual Apertures, and their strength was formidable.

And Lu Ren could be said to be the only one who had dared to enter the Tuoshe Cave Mansion after opening merely seven Spiritual Apertures.

And right at that moment!

Rumble!

A thunderous sound rang out as the cave mansion's enormous stone gate slowly opened. Blinding rays of light surged out from within, making it impossible for anyone to see what lay inside.

A deep, hoarse voice drifted from the depths of the Tuoshe Cave Mansion.

"Those holding Tuoshe Blood Jade and who are Aperture Opening Realm martial artists with Bloodlines no higher than fourth-grade may enter the cave mansion and undergo the trial. Those who pass shall receive my master's inheritance!"

Before the voice had even finished speaking, many martial artists rushed through the stone gate.

"Master, I'm going in too!"

Lu Ren called out to Yun Qingyao, then flashed forward and charged into the stone gate as well.

Buzz!

The moment Lu Ren rushed into the cave mansion, he felt the world spin around him, and dizziness washed over him.

The next moment, Lu Ren appeared in another space.

This place seemed to be an Eight Trigrams Altar, with eight gates corresponding to its eight directions.

The eight gates were respectively engraved with eight large characters: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui.

Seeing this, Lu Ren asked in confusion, "What does this mean?"

"Hahaha! My luck is truly incredible, Zhao Kun actually got teleported to the same Eight Trigrams Altar as you!"

Suddenly, a middle-aged figure appeared before Lu Ren. When he saw that it was Lu Ren, he immediately burst into wild laughter.

Once they entered the Tuoshe Cave Mansion, they would be randomly teleported to an Eight Trigrams Altar.

This time, two or three hundred people had entered the Tuoshe Cave Mansion. For him to encounter Lu Ren right away was naturally tremendous luck.

"Oh? By luck, do you mean being able to kill me?"

Lu Ren could not help asking.

"Of course!"

Zhao Kun smiled. "If I kill you, won't that be one less competitor? Besides, you actually dared to provoke Tang Hao. How laughable!"

"Are you sure you can kill me?"

Lu Ren asked with a frown.

"Hahaha, Lu Ren, I have cultivated for more than thirty years, broken through my limits, and opened eight Spiritual Apertures. I can unleash eight thousand jin of immense strength! I have also cultivated a Yellow-grade Low-rank Saber Technique to perfection. Killing you would be as easy as turning over my hand!"

As he spoke, he took out a Golden Silk Great Ring Saber from his storage pouch and pointed it at Lu Ren. "Lu Ren, go on. What last words do you have?"

Lu Ren's expression remained calm as he asked, "What exactly do these eight gates mean?"

"Since you are at death's door anyway, I'll tell you!"

Zhao Kun withdrew his great ring saber. He seemed in no hurry to kill Lu Ren, and pointed at the eight gates. "Each of these eight gates contains a trial. After passing a trial, you will be teleported to another altar. If you fail, you will be teleported out of the cave mansion. Once all eight trials are passed, you may undergo the final trial. Once it is completed, you will obtain Ancient Emperor Tuoshe's—"

However, before he could finish—

Whoosh!

Lu Ren suddenly sprang forward. The longsword in his hand pierced toward Zhao Kun like a spirit serpent, so fast that Zhao Kun had no way to dodge.

Pfft!

Lu Ren's Fire Spirit Sword pierced directly through Zhao Kun's heart, spraying blood everywhere.

Zhao Kun stared fixedly at Lu Ren and said in terror, "You... you have no martial virtue!"

"You were about to kill me. Why should I speak of martial virtue with you?"

Lu Ren sneered and thrust his sword fiercely!

Pfft!

Zhao Kun spat out another mouthful of blood, then crashed heavily to the ground, dead beyond all doubt.

After killing Zhao Kun, Lu Ren searched him and unexpectedly discovered a jet-black ring on his finger. When he touched it, faint spiritual energy fluctuations came from it.

"A Storage Ring?"

Lu Ren was delighted.

With that thought, Lu Ren took it off and put it on his own hand.

Although his Nameless Treasure Pagoda could store things as well, it was his secret and could not be used casually. With this Storage Ring, he could put away his Fire Spirit Sword and other items whenever he wished.

Lu Ren inspected it and found that the space inside contained quite a few things.

Copper coins: five hundred thousand!

Ten Human Tier Low-grade Martial Skills, three Human Tier Mid-grade Martial Skills, and one Human Tier High-grade Martial Skill.

There was also a secret manual. Its cover was extremely ancient and simple, and Lu Ren vaguely saw several large characters on it.

Lu Ren took it out and exclaimed in shock, "Spirit Burst Secret Art!"

This secret manual was actually a rare secret art martial skill, and it was even a Human Tier Low-grade Martial Skill secret art.

Secret arts differed from martial skills and cultivation techniques. They were extremely rare, and every kind of secret art could display powerful effects.

Once used, they could increase one's combat strength.

Some geniuses relied on powerful secret arts to truly challenge opponents above their level!

However, secret arts were extremely difficult to cultivate and required immense amounts of time and arduous training.

Fortunately, this was a Human Tier Low-grade Martial Skill secret art, the most basic sort of secret art. With Lu Ren's talent, he could cultivate it as long as he trained diligently.

Lu Ren took out the Spirit Burst Secret Art and studied it page by page.

The more Lu Ren flipped through it, the more shocked he became. "This Spirit Burst Secret Art can gather the spiritual energy within the Spiritual Apertures and unleash power more than twice one's own strength. The more Spiritual Apertures one has opened, the more powerful it becomes!"

This secret art was perfectly suited for him.

Lu Ren continued searching and spotted more than a dozen lustrous white stones in a corner, glimmering with a faint radiance. His face immediately revealed surprise.

"Could these be Low-grade Spirit Stones?"

It was said that Low-grade Spirit Stones contained extremely dense spiritual energy. Once absorbed and refined, they could make cultivation ten times faster than absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy normally.

One Low-grade Spirit Stone could save an ordinary martial artist a month of arduous cultivation!

However, Lu Ren had not yet advanced to the Spirit Stream Realm, so he had no use for Low-grade Spirit Stones for the time being.

"Although this man had not entered the Spirit Stream Realm, he had quite a lot of resources on him!"

Lu Ren smiled and placed all those resources into the Nameless Treasure Pagoda.

"If I have enough Spirit Rice, I can cultivate this Spirit Burst Secret Art. When the time comes, even if I face Tang Hao, I will have enough confidence to defeat him!"

Lu Ren pondered inwardly.

Then, his gaze fell upon the thirteen Low-grade Spirit Stones.

When he ate Spirit Rice, he was merely drawing out the spiritual energy contained within it to replenish the spiritual energy in his Spiritual Apertures.

The spiritual energy contained in Low-grade Spirit Stones was even purer. Could they have the same effect?

With that thought, Lu Ren used his Fire Spirit Sword to chop off a piece from one Low-grade Spirit Stone, roughly the size of a thumbnail, and swallowed it directly.

At once, Lu Ren felt surging spiritual energy erupt within his body and sweep through his entire form. The seven Spiritual Apertures within him drank it in madly and quickly reached saturation.

Lu Ren was overjoyed. These Spirit Stones really could replenish the spiritual energy in his body.

He would not even need to eat Spirit Rice in the future. Absorbing merely a thumbnail-sized piece of a Spirit Stone would be enough to sustain several days of consumption.

Ordinary people would starve to death without food. Likewise, martial artists would starve to death if their bodies lacked spiritual energy.

"I wonder how long these Spirit Stones can feed me for."

Lu Ren muttered to himself.

If a Spirit Stream Realm martial artist knew that Lu Ren was using Low-grade Spirit Stones to fill his stomach, they would definitely cough up blood in rage.

It was simply squandering heavenly treasures.

One had to know that Low-grade Spirit Stones were extremely expensive. A single one cost at least two hundred thousand copper coins.

Ordinary Spirit Stream Realm disciples could only exchange sect contributions for them, then use them to increase their cultivation speed.

Using them to fill their stomachs was something they would not even dare imagine!

But Lu Ren did not think so much about it. Resources could be earned again once they were gone. Raising his strength was what would give him greater confidence in passing Ancient Emperor Tuoshe's trial.