THE ARDUOUS TEST FOR THE VACANT SECT

While the colloquial denomination had a different, more historic meaning, the term 'Spirit Beasts' biologically referred to 'beasts who could interact with Spiritual Energy'.

Primordials and Heavenly Beasts were naturally included in that lot; as apex predators and progenitors to the rest, of course.

Keeping the biological connotation of the term in mind, then the first Spirit Beasts had appeared aeons ago. They had been the Primordials, or Primordial Beasts, led by their Four Primordial Emperors. Descendants of the Four Primordial Emperors had been the Four Divine Beasts, the Divine Kings of Worldslord Island. Down the line, as the bloodlines thinned, the offspring of the Primordial Beasts eventually adopted the term Heavenly Beasts.

The blessing of the Heavens would fade further with the later generations, and as such, colloquially, the term Spirit Beast had come to refer to those lower races that would no longer quite qualify as Heavenly Beasts.

Many kinds of Spirit Beasts existed: some were humanoid, while many others were far more feral and animalistic, or not at all; the likes of 'spiritual' plants and living landscapes.

Biologically speaking, it's apparent that Spirit Beasts and other Beastkin, were creatures cut from a similar -albeit inferior- mould of the Heavenly Beasts. Naturally so, while they might not replicate the magical innate abilities of their ancestors, cultivation as a way of life still ran in their blood. Since they could even cultivate, one should assume them to be of similar intellect to humans, or at least to be comparable.

As descendants of Ancients and the Jade Emperor, Humans were not included: both as a consensus and from a biological viewpoint.

The same was true for some particularly touchy and prideful species that instead adopted their own name, often ending with the suffix 'kin'.

Such as the Dragonkin, who prided themselves over their innately mighty bodies, and whose Long-Huo gems let them produce and unleash their renowned Dragonflame.

Unlike humans who rarely demonstrated any inborn or unique qualities from their Ancient ancestors, the bloodlines of Spirit Beasts alone gave them an advantage over the common man.

Still, once a Spirit Beast underwent the first Ascension to the Ageless Realm, they could reshape their flesh. Many would usually take on a human physique and only bring out their true body during a fight or to posture.

With few exceptions, even the weakest Spirit Beast would be innately much stronger than any human. However, the humanoid form had many benefits that beasts spanning whole mountain ranges had not, especially when most lower and middle worlds were populated largely by humans.

That, and then most Spirit Beasts were also fanatics of the Jade Emperor, first Heavenly Lord. As the ancestor of the Ancients, and of the Humans that descended from them, he naturally had a humanoid body, and many sought to mimic his physique as a result...

...

The Ironskin Manrat; a name that by itself was pretty self-explanatory. It was a humanoid Spirit Beast with extremely durable skin, so durable in fact that many sharp blades would bounce straight off.

Most of their kind did not even possess a powerful cultivation base, but simply relying on their sturdy defence allowed them to take on cultivators that barely surpassed them in league, so long as it was only slightly so.

This specimen had an Inferior Stage cultivation base. The lowest of the low.

A human cultivator of the Basic Stage could probably dispatch the manrat without too much trouble, whereas an even stronger expert at the Advanced Stage would barely bat an eye.

However, the standard Inferior Stage cultivator would have trouble fighting off the beast, let alone a cultivation-less kid.

Strictly speaking, Cheng Hao and Goldy had been extremely unlucky with the spell formation responsible for randomly creating the test room.

Not that either of them seemed to care…

"Cheng Hao, you traitorous bastard! How shameless of you to bring this beast along to fight me with sheer numbers! Ah…" Goldy shook his head with a sigh and smirked ruefully, "I never expected such cowardly actions from you, but such is the curse of the mighty…"

It was at this point that Cheng Hao finally had enough of that blabbermouth of a snake he had for a companion. As a vein popped visibly on his forehead, he nonchalantly threw the golden snake head-first into the closest pillar. Before Blindlight could even curse, he was met with an especially cold glare.

"Goldy, my friend, I'll leave you at your one, only job here." Having said that, the golden-eyed youth took out the golden marble from his pocket and tilted his head at the dissatisfied dragon. "You Bastard Snake, won't disappoint me… will you?"

Having sensed a somewhat bloodthirsty aura surrounding the young boy, Goldy felt shivers running down his spine. "Well, gosh!" he muttered with furrowed brows. "And here I thought merging with the kid had gotten you soft! Cheng Hao or Xu Ling, your secretly-ticked-off expression hasn't changed at all if you ask me."

Noticing the youth still staring at him expressionlessly, the small dragon shrugged and immediately slithered around the manrat, disappearing into the weakly illuminated corridor with a feeble cry of, "Of course, I'm neither a bastard nor a snake..."

"...My apologies. Have I made you wait?" Cheng Hao turned around with a bright smile.

'Is this kid suffering from hallucinations? Looks pretty bad.'

The manrat felt a chill and remembered its gramps' wise advice about the deranged: never stick it in crazy-

'No, that's definitely the wrong one gramps!'

…oh, then I don't remember. 'Take them out to dinner first?'

'…'

"...cough, ahem!" The Spirit Beast cleared its throat, "Did you eat something weird before coming here? Some herbs, or mushrooms, maybe? You do not exactly look fine to me..."

"Not quite. I had to listen to the nags of a small golden snake for a few months… It was probably the fatigue from that time acting up. Wouldn't wish that upon anyone." the golden-eyed youth shrugged his tense shoulders, still sore from carrying the heavy backpack.

"Oh… That, uhm… would suck, I guess?" Despite not quite grasping what the child was saying, the Ironskin Manrat still acted as if it could understand the pain coming from Cheng Hao. As it felt awkward standing there, it even scratched its chin and asked, "You really want to do this lad? You could, like, rest a few more hours if you want? I'm in no hurry after all…"

"Oh? Well, that's rather sweet of you!" Cheng Hao smiled. "However…" With a wave of his arm, the golden marble in his hand began to melt. The liquid flowed and whirled, like a spring erupting. Finally, it solidified into thirteen golden crystal swords, each as tall as an adult person. Under the disbelieving eyes of the Manrat, the thirteen weapons started circling behind the smiling child, like thirteen bloodthirsty flying hounds eyeing their prey.

In a world of cultivation, there were of course many kinds of weapons a person could use. Sword, axes, bows, spear, halberds, mops, tables... If you could name it, there would almost certainly be at least one cultivator that had developed their style of fighting around it.

However, upon reacheing a certain level, one would find that primitive weapons forged from iron or other mortal metal alloys simply weren't enough. For that reason, cultivators had eventually created the so-called Flying Weapons.

Made out of countless precious materials, these weapons were capable of properly channelling a Cultivator's Might. A proper medium would let the stronger martial artists split even mountains apart with a single slash, bringing the power of weapon-based cultivation techniques to the next level.

However, Flying Weapons were extremely expensive and rare! The reason was that the materials necessary to craft them varied a lot: from simple ones, such as ores that could be mined underground, to Spirit Beast remains such as horns, scales, bones and the such; only experts could afford to gather or process these materials, and as such, the demand alone was sky-high.

Right now, Cheng Hao was using the shapeless golden drop of blood as if it were a Flying Sword. It was the equivalent of stumbling upon a piece of iron ore and waving it around. However, as this one 'ore' was of extremely high quality, it was way more potent than ordinary Flying Swords.

Even unrefined iron would puncture right through the sturdiest paper shield, and the difference in raw materials was even more unimaginable in the case of that bead of golden blood. Cultivators of this lower world had yet to reach the Ageless Realm, let alone the Immortal Realm. Immortal Ichor would cut through most materials with little complication.

It would be surprising to find a Flying Sword in a mortal Plane of Existence that could stand up with those thirteen golden blades.

'Then again, this lowly world is quite bizarre.'

In any case, until Cheng Hao stepped into the higher planes, very few people would have the means to match him so long as he had a couple more golden drops of blood at hand and the cultivation to make use of them.

As for using it on an Ironskin Manrat that had yet to start cultivating?

How truly extravagant, was the sole way one could possibly put it.

"Thanks for your offer friend… but I am obliged to decline. I don't plan on staying here long, and that means getting rid of you right now, however pleasant you might have been." Cheng Hao sighed, and as he looked at the dumbfounded Ironskin Manrat, his thin lips arranged into an apologetic smile. Slowly, his right eyelid began to lower.

"Unfortunately, there is no other way, and I'll have to dirty my hands this time. Do not worry though, I'll make sure you experience a quick passing..."

By then, his right eye had closed, while his left pupil had remained unfocused for thirteen seconds exactly: immediately, visions of mountains of corpses as tall as the skies, and of a golden sun shining down eerily from above appeared deep in the depths of Cheng Hao's cold gaze.

The corpses bled profusely, so much so a blood ocean had already formed on top of the soil. The mountains of dead bodies stuck out as a macabre archipelago in that vast sea.

The golden sun was cold, glacial. Everything its rays fell upon would begin to lose its colour. They'd grow less and less corporeal, ethereal and immaterial.

The previously cheerful and happy expression on the child's face, also melted away. By then, his lips arranged into an emotionless smile.

Waves of threatening intent began emanating from his whole body, so much so that it was nigh tangible and even the air had begun to tremble. Strands of hair were sent aflutter and, before the Spirit Beast could even register anything, it had already passed out on the spot.

The pretty, eight-year-old child had left his vision, replaced by a twilight of black and crimson smoke. Distorted facial features had began sprouting and emerging from every tile on the pavement, every crack on the wall, every glimmer of the dangling chandeliers. Far away, and approaching ever closer, a fiery grin and a single, grim eye blazed in the darkness... Before the beast could even scream, it was swallowed up as it felt its own body pull further and further away…

The Ironskin Manrat's legs went limp and it fell on its knees, with tears of bluish blood streaking down its cheeks, and its pair of small eyes now as wide as tennis balls, yet blind to their surroundings.

Now standing right before the spiritless beast, Cheng Hao nonchalantly opened his right eye and the illusion in his left pupil disappeared. The waves of killing intent similarly subsided.

Needless to say, he had plenty of methods to handle fodder the likes of the Manrat, even without a cultivation base to speak of. The likes of that illusion were rather nostalgic and effortless, and he especially favoured it among them.

The eight-year-old child sighed as he scanned the aghast Spirit Beast that was right before him. He almost pitied it now. Ah; the hypocrisy of taking a life.

Cheng Hao raised his hand and one of the thirteen hovering swords flew into his palm: from its previous shape resembling a longsword, it began to twist and change as the blade enlarged. In no time, it had shifted into something more similar to a butcher knife, with a wide and flat blade, than an actual sword.

However, it was a breathtakingly beautiful butcher knife at that. It had exquisite engravings of lotuses and flowers on both the handle and the blade. Cheng Hao played with the gorgeous knife: the dreadful weapon in his hands seemed to vanish into a disc as the boy made it twirl around his index and thumb.

First, the motion was slow and a bit awkward, but after a few tries it got faster and faster, to the point the blade jumped from his right hand to the left, behind his back, and then twirled around his forearm and neck.

While he started with a concentrated frown, it soon eased as an unspeakable familiarity guided his hand in place of his thoughts.

Cheng Hao played with the extremely sharp butcher knife with expertise, as if the 'him' who could at first only barely spin it a few times and the 'him' of now were two completely different people. Light danced on the edge of the blade as he kept rotating the blade faster and faster. When it reached the point where there was no more knife but only spinning, golden circles, Cheng Hao finally caught the blade in mid-air...

"I hope you enjoy your stay in the underworld, friend. That place truly is... a living hell."

It was unknown whether it was due to the body's innate terror of an impending death or due to the terrible pun, but at that moment, the Manrat's seven orifices started bleeding even though the poor beast had already passed out.

Cheng Hao took a step forward with one leg and arched his foot… Time seemed to stand still as the blade edged ever so slowly forward-

SWISH!

Cheng Hao's arm, hand, and knife disappeared, replaced by a single arch of golden light. They reappeared like magic on the other side of the Manrat, the golden butcher knife in his hand shining eerily as a single drop of blue liquid fell from the blade's tip. The golden-eyed youth stretched his hips as his long, black hair fluttered behind him. Sparing a consoling glance, he enigmatically added, "Fret not. I remember you. For the day I Reminisce."

The twelve swords hovering behind him melted as they fused with the one he was holding at the wave of a hand.

Under Cheng Hao's direction, the blade consequently turned into a beautiful lotus hairpin. After some hesitation on his part, he eventually waved his hand again: the golden surface bubbled, as bright oyster pearls took shape in the midst of the blooming lotuses.

With a melancholic sigh, he used the hairpin to tie his loose hair into a long ponytail. Examining his looks with a mirror, he was once again reminded of his novel appearance. Even six months later, the wonder never got old.

The child stepped forward and, humming a happy tune, headed towards the end of the corridor. As he walked, Cheng Hao closely observed the floor and with an approving gaze, he looked at the golden snake that had just slithered up his leg, and now rested atop his shoulder. "You did dismantle them all! You did a fine job for once," The boy teased.

The tiny dragon couldn't help but push his small chest out: what Goldy had been doing up until now had been none other than dismantling the traps that had been set on the route leading to the exit.

"Mph, could mortal traps like these possibly inconvenience a powerful, and handsome, and knowledgeable, and handsome, charming Primordial Beast like me?"

"..."

"Of course they'd pose little challenge for the great me! What about you? How did it go?" Having asked that, the snake turned his head to look at the situation behind the child. As soon as he did, his expression darkened. "Cheng Hao, you rash brat... did you really have to mess up this room so badly just to slay a Humanoid Beast that had yet to cultivate? You madman!"

Hearing that, Cheng Hao shrugged his shoulders and smiled dismissively. "It's gonna reset anyway, what's wrong with it? What, I can't show off a bit if I like?"

"…" Goldy raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Cheng Hao blushed under the intense stare of his companion, "Alright! I admit it. I slipped a little… All my former muscle memory is gone, you know? Six months can only go so far! AND, it was only a little!"

"…only 'a little', uh?"

"Shut up! And if I ever hear you utter a single word about this ever again, I swear I'll sell you off to the first snake charmer I find!"

"...not a peep."

With the death of the Manrat, the hexagram at the end of the trap-filled passageway had also lit up, similarly to the teleportation hexagram that had acted as the entrance before.

Cheng Hao stepped on top of the hex in front of him: the teleportation seal whirred and the child disappeared in a flash of golden light, to reappear elsewhere.

At the same time, as soon as the golden glow had subsided, a loud "Crack!" sounded out within the underground room. A deep crevice immediately marked its way on the wall behind the collapsed Spirit Beast, as if it had been carved by an unknown force.

Finally, the Ironskin Manrat's head slid off its neck and fell to the ground. As if that had been some sort of switch to a chain reaction, the pillars holding up the roof all crumbled, the bars of the cells bent uncontrollably, and slab after slab from the roof fell in a rain of debris and dust.

Until, finally, the room collapsed