Jack had long geared himself up in position; excited for the trial, ready for the unknown. He patiently waited for the adjustment… five minutes… ten minutes... thirty minutes... one hour...

The supposed trial never commenced.

Jack slammed his body onto the ground, starting to tap his dagger in a disorganised tempo. He heaved a sigh, strong enough to make his lips vibrate a couple of times.

Many assumptions flooded his mind, the most believable being that the trial had somehow malfunctioned. Fearing the possibility of becoming permanently trapped inside this place, his eyes started probing for an exit.

PLAK~

Unexpectedly, a golden lamp dropped from above, bouncing a couple of times before resting some metres away from his sandals.

The room became silent again.

Jack blinked, assessing the hall for any abnormalities. He quickly jumped to his feet, creeping around the lamp in an always contracting spiral. Noting nothing strange, he leaned his finger towards it.

“Ho ho ho ha ha, ho ho ho he ha.”

The moment he touched the lamp, strange laughter accompanied a spilling stream of qi. The white cloud floated upwards, coalescing and rotating on itself like a leaf swirling along with the wind. Floating and reclined in a relaxed position, a spectre eventually formed.

“Hola!” The petite old man stared at Jack with glassy eyes, wearing a strange ethereal hat. His voice was different from the one that had greeted Jack earlier and he looked nothing like the previous aspect.

Jack’s pupils constricted, raising his dagger. “Who are you? You don’t sound like the guardian of this trial.”

“Ho ho ho he ha, I am now, and the trial started one hour ago.”

Jack tilted his head. “Eh?”

The Spectre narrowed his eyes, his smile becoming more wicked with every passing moment. “How did it feel, waiting one hour like an a-hole? Don’t be mad, don’t be mad. Very normal for peasants to wait for the noble ones. I am indeed a royal presence, an emperor of the sky!”

The strange spectre lifted his head, pulling his chest out, standing tall. He proceeded by extending his right arm, pointing his two little fingers. “You see these? That’s how many minutes I need to crush a peasant like you, ho ho—”

“Enough! I don’t know what’s going on, but if this test isn’t starting any soon, then let me out of this place! I’ve more important stuff to do than listening to your monotonous jabbering!”

The Spectre grinned. “You were instrumental for my plan to succeed, but you are still a peasant after all, with a peasant’s attitude.”

Jack interrupted his rant when he suddenly heard whistling sounds to his left, observing an ethereal arm developing from the wall. The arm pointed the index finger at him, firing a beam of light. He dodged it with ease.

He didn’t have time to relax, though. Soon more and more of these arms began popping up randomly.

Jack nimbly danced back and forth through the various beams of lights. He knew that any of these beams could leave him injured for dead. However, he was confident that he should be able to survive in these conditions for two more hours.

Strangely, the attacks stopped after ten minutes.

Jack rubbed his forehead as he severely glanced at the Aspect. He had the strange feeling that this thing was up to no good.

The Aspect elevated himself further up, like a divine being where his presence was everything, and his words were the law. “Four existences have lived inside this realm since its inception. A mother ghost who safeguards the Lost City, and us three aspects who administer these trials. But this realm has weakened throughout the ages, and so did the mother ghost. Why should I keep obeying that old hag when I can become the supreme ruler? You killing the first aspect has finally allowed me to overpower the second aspect, and I now have full control over this trial as well.” The Aspect laughed madly. “Which means... that I can change the difficulty of the trial whenever I want, ho ho ho he ha.”

The Hall suddenly quaked, the several walls flushing red as an automated voice was heard. “Trial’s difficulty raised to maximum, adjustment in progress.”

Jack shivered. “Shameless bastard!” He didn’t wish to waste any more time. Eyes like an eagle, he threw out his dagger. He followed after it, summoning his sword-less hilt that was already crackling with solidified essence.

The Spectre remained cool without moving, whispering happily. The dagger flashed past through him like he didn’t even exist. The ruthless heavy sword arrived a moment later, and it too cut through his body without injuring him.

Jack backed away immediately, gliding all the way towards the golden lamp. The Aspect had initially been resting inside it, so Jack assumed that it must have some unique properties. He hurled it with all strength he could muster towards his target’s head.

Face full of ridicule, the Aspect placed his hands behind his head as he welcomed the attack. Much to Jack’s disappointment, this attack also had no effect.

Now thoroughly convinced that physical attacks weren’t going to work on this bastard, Jack quickly summoned his own spectre. He was about to supply the 3rd Patriarch’s clone with essence when he noticed the Aspect holding his belly in hysterical laughter. A bizarre idea flashed inside Jack’s mind, deciding to relinquish his control and instead observe how the situation played out.

When the 3rd Patriarch clone recovered his senses, the first thing he saw was another spectre laughing at him. “%#$& What are you laughing at, you f*ckface?”

“What is this joke?! This little fairy here, even my willy is bigger than him!”

The Patriarch’s clone trembled more than the biggest earthquake. “You son of a b*tch!!! How dare you insult me, a Divinity?!”

The Trial’s Spectre rebuked, “A divinity my ass! I bet someone as useless as you is still a virgin. Unlike me who had over twenty concubines, each one more beautiful than the other, ho ho ho he ha…”

“Pfft! Only twenty hahaha! I had so many beauties that if they had to line up, they would cover the length of an entire sect! Duh, Duh, no wonder you only had twenty, a senile old dotard like you... very hard to keep up at that age…”

“You...!” The two spectres seemed to be radiating steam as they kept insulting each other. In the meantime, Jack’s face was losing colour with every passing breath.

Several arms had already begun emerging from the walls almost simultaneously. Besides the previous white-coloured arms, there were now three additional threats: a red finger that burned with a flame, a blue finger that seemed capable of freezing the very air and a black finger that formed spherical Qi of gravitation. All of these appeared to be brewing with the energy of a peak Qi Seeking Realm Cultivator.

Jack was about to take control of the spectre when he heard the voice of the unexpected.

“Kiddo, this monkey doesn’t know the difference between an esteemed being like me and a charlatan like him. Now be a good boy and give some energy to daddy, I need to send this bonehead to oblivion.”

Jack didn’t mind the Spectre’s arrogance this one time as he quickly channelled his essence. Willingly cooperating with Jack, the Spectre began absorbing the essence much more efficiently than usual. His body kept enlarging until reaching the same height as Jack. The golem of destruction then glanced at his opponent with heated eyes.

The Aspect was still having a hard time digesting this sudden transformation. With nowhere to flee, he started running in circles around the edges of the hall. The Spectre accelerated after him.

The Aspect was fuming. He thought he had everything under control, but he never suspected this little boy to have such a secret stratagem. However, when he noticed the fingers charging up, his eyes flashed with hope. “This is the end for you all! Die!”

The several hands all fired in unison. With no way for Jack to avert this attack, all he could do was using his own hands as a shield.

BOOM~

“Arghhh!” The Aspect shrieked as the Spectre’s fist struck him from behind, blowing a hole right through his chest. His eyes were full of incredulity as his mortally wounded existence plunged down, his remains disintegrating shortly after.

The triumphant Spectre remained pensive as he shrunk, Jack’s essence consuming away. Reverting to his former little self, he transformed into a stream of lights, disappearing back inside the fog.

With the Aspect dead, the several hands dissolved back inside the walls. It didn’t take long for the dust to settle, and everything inside the room returned to normality.

Amidst the prolonged silence, a hand holding a broken protection talisman emerged from a pile of rubble.

Jack managed to crawl out of the hole with great difficulty, immediately swallowing some of the healing pills. He remained resting facing the roof, heavily panting and feeling lucky he was still alive. That was indeed a close call.

Even with the pills, it took Jack three whole hours to partially recover. Finally able to walk again, he hobbled towards the third trial’s doorway. As he had assumed, he found an empty room, and he passed through it without any obstacles.

Once out of the trial’s tunnels, he a gigantic cave came into vision. The cave’s roof was covered with thick fluorescent vines, illuminating the cave enough for Jack to see through the other end. Several scattered ruins of what was once a glorious city laid ahead.

Jack felt like he had been transported back to an ancient era as he limped through the various ruins, examining the muddy ground for any treasures. He headed straight ahead, slowly approaching the only structure that stood firm inside these ruins.

It didn’t take long for Jack to eventually arrive at the strange pavilion located at the very middle of the cave. His heart accelerated the very moment he began climbing the vine-covered stairs. He had the strange sensation that back in the day, these stairs had been traversed by an extraordinary being.

Once inside the pavilion, he took note of a cylindrical altar. The promised heavenly scripture hovered above it.

Jack’s body trembled, but he pulled back his impulse for the time being. Instead, he called out with a soft and respectful voice. “Mother Ghost, this humble one requests an audience.”

Jack remained standing on the same tile as his face moved according to his observing eyes. This building was eerie and silent, with no presence of any other living creature.

A soft, ancient voice suddenly rang. “Respect is a virtue few people possess.”

Jack slowly turned around to examine the source, detecting the spectre of an old woman.

She was tall, elegant and mysterious. Just from her looks alone, Jack could tell that her real self was a being of noble status. However, her eyes were concealed by a veil of sorrow. “My master had prophesied that the heavenly dice shall one day return back to this place. After ten million years of endless waiting, this prophecy has finally come true today.”

Jack remained to stare stupefied. The time scale mentioned was too outrageous, and even more ridiculous was for someone to correctly guess a prophecy after all this time. But the most unbelievable matter was that the catalyst of everything was him.

His hands started shivering. “H-how? How do you know I have the dice?”

The old woman sighed, waving her hands. “I know not where you fit inside this complicated puzzle of time. By my master’s orders, my remains had to remain here guarding her scroll of enlightenment. My soul can finally rest now that the dice has reappeared.”

She then invited Jack to approach the altar. “Come, as the heavenly dice’s successor, I need to show you what exactly transpired on that terrible day.”