Chapter 490: Golden Stream of Light

Zhou Yuan stood on a hill in the vast yellow desert, staring blankly at the silent world, feeling a little lost. The great golden sun in the sky had been crushed by the divine mill, and the burning sensation in his soul had vanished. Everything felt exceptionally harmonious.

Zhou Yuan scratched his head. Compared to the previous difficult trial, this one was over before he even had a chance to prepare.

Buzz! As Zhou Yuan gave a wry smile, a strange sound suddenly echoed from the sky. He looked up to see golden streams of light descending towards him.

The golden light flowed down like water, hovering before Zhou Yuan.

"What is this?" Zhou Yuan stared at the golden light in surprise. As it appeared, the soul in his brow seemed to fluctuate intensely, emanating a profound sense of craving and hunger. It felt as if his soul yearned to devour it.

Zhou Yuan had a premonition that if he absorbed these golden streams of light, his soul cultivation, which had been stagnant for half a year, would advance once more. He might even directly reach the late stage of the Solid Realm!

"Could these golden streams of light be what remained after that golden sun was crushed?"

Zhou Yuan licked his lips, then quickly retrieved a jade bottle and carefully poured all the strange golden light into it. He couldn't discern its origin yet, so he decided it would be best to take it back and have Yaoyao examine it. Besides, this wasn't the right place to attempt a breakthrough in his soul cultivation.

Inside the translucent jade bottle, the golden light shimmered, looking as if it were filled with pure gold. Zhou Yuan carefully put it away, his eyes full of delight. He clearly hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise.

Soon after Zhou Yuan had stored the golden light, the vast yellow desert began to tremble slightly.

"Trial Mountain Path, second stage: Passed."

The indifferent, majestic voice echoed. Hearing this, Zhou Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had genuinely feared that damaging the golden sun would result in an immediate failure of the trial, leaving him nowhere to turn.

As the majestic voice faded, the yellow sandy desert began to warp. Having experienced this once before, Zhou Yuan remained calm, standing still and quietly waiting for the transformation to conclude. The next stage should be the final trial. Surely, passing it would mean success, right?

The yellow sand receded, and the scenery before Zhou Yuan completely transformed. He now found himself standing within an ancient, majestic grand hall. His gaze swept around, then landed on the front, where three colossal stone pillars stood, mottled and imbued with the passage of time. Zhou Yuan's eyes slowly ascended the pillars, and as they reached the top, his gaze sharpened. Atop the three stone pillars, three figures sat cross-legged. All three figures had their eyes tightly closed, unmoving like statues. They emitted no aura, appearing almost like puppets.

Additionally, at the top of each pillar, characters were inscribed.

"Heavenly Sun… Divine Dwelling… Primordial?"

Zhou Yuan mumbled to himself, "Do these represent the power levels of these three figures? The leftmost figure is a Heavenly Sun Realm expert, the one in the middle is Divine Dwelling, and the one on the far right is Primordial."

"Trial, third stage: Move and spin the pointer in front of the three stone pillars to select an opponent. Successfully defeat them to pass."

"You will have two attempts to spin the pointer and choose your opponent."

Simultaneously, the indifferent voice echoed throughout the grand hall.

"As expected."

Zhou Yuan's expression soured. He hadn't anticipated this third stage would be so formidable. Out of the three choices, he could only hope to pass if he selected a Primordial opponent. As for the other two, not only the Heavenly Sun Realm, but even a Divine Dwelling opponent would likely mean certain death for Zhou Yuan. After all, he was currently only at the fifth layer of the Primordial Realm. Even if his true combat power rivaled that of an eighth-layer disciple, there was still a vast gap when compared to the Divine Dwelling Realm.

Fortunately, having two attempts to choose increased his chances of selecting a Primordial Realm opponent. Zhou Yuan forced a wry smile, genuinely unsure what he would do if he ended up choosing a Heavenly Sun or Divine Dwelling opponent.

He shook his head, offered a quick prayer, then stepped forward to the three colossal stone pillars, where a stone pointer awaited. Zhou Yuan touched the stone pointer, took a deep breath to quell his nervousness, then gritted his teeth and forcefully spun it.

Buzz! The stone pointer spun rapidly, sweeping back and forth between the three massive pillars. As time passed, the pointer's speed gradually decreased. Zhou Yuan's eyes were locked onto where the pointer's tip would land. Finally, the pointer slowly came to a halt.

Zhou Yuan slowly, painstakingly raised his head. His scalp tingled, and his limbs went cold. The pointer's tip was unmistakably aimed at the Heavenly Sun Realm pillar! He had unluckily chosen the most powerful opponent.

"Damn it!" Zhou Yuan gritted his teeth, a curse escaping from between them. A Heavenly Sun Realm expert could easily swat him dead with one blow; there was no way he could pass.

Zhou Yuan grimly lifted his head, gazing at the closed-eyed figure atop the Heavenly Sun Realm pillar. Though it seemed lifeless, just its presence exuded immense pressure.

"There's no way I can win this..." Zhou Yuan shook his head. "But thankfully, I still have a second chance to choose..."

Zhou Yuan slowly, heavily raised his hand, gripping the stone pointer once more, preparing to move it and make another selection. He felt the rough stone pointer. Yet, just as he was about to exert force, he suddenly recalled Elder Xuan's faint, almost imperceptible voice from when he first entered the mountain path.

"Remember what you said earlier."

Zhou Yuan's hand froze. Elder Xuan would not utter anything irrelevant.

"What I said earlier..."

Zhou Yuan fell silent, also remembering his own words.

"Do you have confidence?"

"There's no absolute confidence, but no matter the difficulty, I won't fear or retreat."

Zhou Yuan's expression flickered as he mumbled, "Not to be afraid?" He admitted that when the pointer had landed on the Heavenly Sun Realm pillar, he had felt fear, believing it was an insurmountable opponent. That's why his initial instinct was to re-spin the pointer. But now, if he were to push the pointer again and make a second choice, it would signify genuine fear and retreat in the face of the Heavenly Sun Realm. Was re-selecting truly the right thing to do? Would this trial genuinely offer him a second chance? Or was this so-called second choice inherently a trap?

Silence fell over the ancient grand hall. Zhou Yuan's hand rested on the stone pointer, but he couldn't bring himself to push it. After a long silence, he finally lifted his head, exhaled slowly, and gradually loosened his grip. He took two steps back, gazing at the pressure-emanating figure atop the pillar, and mumbled, "So be it if I die... Heavenly Sun Realm, I'm not afraid of you..."

He suddenly raised his finger, pointing at the figure, and roared like thunder, his voice echoing through the hall.

"Heavenly Sun Realm!"

"You're the one!"