There weren’t any real preparations that Qian Yu needed to do besides stocking up on some important herbs for first aid treatment and the next morning, Qian Yu and Zhong Chun met up with the other 40 rogue cultivators outside the city. Soon, a band of 40 rogue cultivators were moving like a small army.

Three days later, they had traveled hundreds of miles as they reached their destination which was a flat grassland with a large circle hovering in the sky.

‘This is pretty flashy compared to before,’ Qian Yu thought as he looked up at the sky in awe like everybody else. 

Looking around, they saw many groups from the regular sects and lots of smaller groups of rogue cultivators as well. Some of the rogue cultivators were anxious that they would get trouble from the normal sect cultivators but their worry was pointless. If conflict were to break out, then both sides could possibly get injured. It pretty much meant you were asking to be handicapped when you went into the inheritance realm and let the other groups do better. The 40 of them soon found a spot to wait as they camped and waited in peace.

Since they didn’t know how the inheritance realm would work, there wasn’t much that they could prepare. From all the records in the past, an inheritance realm could be anything based on the formations set up by the owner of the realm. It could be something complex, like a gigantic dungeon or a simple screening and test. It all came down to the formations and preparation put forth by the owner of the soul world and as such, the possibilities were endless, especially when a cultivator could set up all sorts or rules and laws in their soul world.

Two days passed and it was finally time. The circle in the sky changed color as it started expanding. 

*Whoosh* In an instant, 200 people disappeared instantly. Meanwhile, the thousands of people that were left behind looked around dumbfounded as to what had happened and as to why they weren’t teleported into the soul world. Such was luck, they believed. Others called it fate.

Qian Yu’s vision was pure white for a few seconds before he saw a gigantic tower in front of him. Looking around, he saw that he was currently located in a grassland area and there were a few other people in the vicinity.

It wasn’t long before an aged voice resounded out, “Welcome cultivators. My name is Liu Wang, a Martial Emperor who lived during the First and Second Era and I was renowned for my cultivation technique on fate, Seeing the Stars. This inheritance realm is similar to a maze that will assess your luck, skill, and of course fate. This maze has 9 floors to it. To access the next floor, you and your teammate will need to find certain doors inside the maze. Inside the door, there are spiritual beasts that you must kill and upon doing so, gain access to your reward and enter the next floor. You will automatically be teleported out if your life is in danger or if you surrender and wish to leave.” 

“It will be a race, however, as each floor will have less and less doors. There are currently 100 teams with 2 people in each team and each consecutive floor will have 10 less teams each time. As such, only 10 teams can finish and clear the 9th floor. You will see your teammate now as I teleport you into the pagoda. Remember, everything that happens here is fated. If you do not gain anything from this, it only means you were not fated to. Good luck to everyone!”

‘Interesting rules,’ Qian Yu thought to himself. There were a lot of strong people participating here. Some were cultivators from the sect who were already at the soul foundation stages. As such, there was a good chance that he would just instantly leave if it was a free for all of some sort as there was simply just too large of a gap. This however, made it different so that there was a chance that he could get a strong partner and increase his chances of getting rewards for a few floors at least.

‘Now who’s my partner?’ Qian Yu smiled as he saw the few people around him disappear one by one. 

It wasn’t long until his vision blurred again. Opening his eyes, he saw a figure already waiting and observing him. Looking at the figure in front of him, he easily recognized who it was. While their facial features couldn’t be recognized, there was a large two handed sword on the person’s back. 

‘No way!’ Qian Yu instantly yelled inwardly.

“Hello, my name’s Qian Yu”,  Qian Yu introduced himself as he did a bow of respect for the other party before he approached her. As he got closer, he saw that she was around Zhao Xieren’s height and a couple inches shorter than him. 

On the other hand, the girl was observing Qian Yu as well. Naturally, what she saw was a young and attractive face before realizing that her teammate was only at the 2nd stage of the qi gathering realm. Still, she didn’t do anything but apathetically say, “You can call me Sun Hong”.

Hearing her tone, Qian Yu sighed in relief. He had thought that she would coldly ignore and look down on him since he was extremely weak but that wasn’t the case. Maybe it was because of her nature, or just because they were both rogue cultivators. Of course, she could have simply not cared and not put Qian Yu in her eyes as well. 

After the two introduced themselves, they both looked around. It was a maze so it didn’t really matter which way to go. Still, Qian Yu knew that he should just let Sun Hong lead the way while he would follow her. 

“You should lead the way,” Qian Yu offered as she nodded. Soon, Sun Hong decided on a direction as he followed a couple feet from behind her. Silently, they didn’t talk with each other as they continued navigating through the maze. 

After an hour, they finally found a door and entered it.  

“What the hell is that?” Qian Yu instinctually said as he stared at the spiritual beast in front of him. It was a large monkey looking creature that was 6 feet in height. After the mission on hunting the Demonic Wild Boar, Qian Yu had decided to study the common spiritual beasts found in the Soba Empire but this monkey wasn’t one of the beasts which were listed.

Surprisingly, however, Sun Hong wasn’t confused at all as she said, “Its name is the Brawling Monkey. It is a common grade spiritual beast.” Then she continued, “You handle this.”

Hearing her words, Qian Yu knew that she was trying to test him. There was a large gap between the strength of common grade spiritual beasts, and the Ice Scorpion that Qian Yu had killed countless times was no doubt easier to kill than the monkey in front of him.

“Alright,” Qian Yu said. He was confident that this monkey was no match for him and he even estimated that he could hold his own against weaker uncommon ranked spiritual beasts. This confidence wasn’t unfounded however, and it was the product of the many commissions he had taken over the last few weeks. Although the pay wasn’t high compared to what Zhong Chun had given him, the experience was meaningful. 

Qian Yu didn’t hesitate as he ran forward with the spear in his hand as he engaged the monkey. 

*Bam... Bam....” After a few attacks, Qian Yu had gotten used to the monkey’s attack pattern which was pretty much punching and slamming the ground. 

*Whooosh!* Without wasting a second, Qian Yu dodged the next attack as he slid past the fist before he used his own fist to smash the stomach of the ape. 

*Boom!* a small explosion sounded out as the monkey was knocked a few feet back. Still, it managed to get back up and started attacking again. 

‘Quite tenacious are we?’ Qian Yu thought before he laughed and started attacking again. To him, the monkey was no more than a punching bag. 

*Boom! Boom!* A few more Lightning Spasms occurred after that before the Brawling Monkey fell down and disappeared. Likely, it was a projection of some type using qi that dissipated afterwards. 

‘Not bad,’ the girl in the black cloak evaluated seeing Qian Yu’s performance. Still, her eyes were calm, not too shock or disappointed. For now, he was still miles weaker than her. 

After the beast disappeared, a hidden compartment in the room opened up. Walking towards, the two opened the door and saw another room. There was a table in the room with two scrolls on it and a formation behind the table. 

The two took the scroll and they both took a glance at it before putting it away. The scroll was a sky ranked cultivation technique but to the two, it was completely useless. 

“Let’s go to the next floor,” Sun Hong said.

After the first 90 people passed onto the next floor, the 10 people that didn’t make it onto the next floor immediately sent out reports to their respective sect with the details of the inheritance realm. 

“Nobody is allowed to talk about or mention Liu Wang and the cultivation technique, “Seeing the Stars”. Send whatever Elders are free to the area surrounding the inheritance realm,” an old sect leader said. 

Similarly, the same thing happened in the other sects in the Soba Empire. However, with spies and informants hidden everywhere, the secret was easily exposed and the rumors of Liu Wang’s inheritance realm were known throughout the world in a span of hours. Before long, powerhouses of varying backgrounds throughout the world were on their way to the Soba Empire. 

It was the start of the many waves that would shake the world.