"Have you heard about Shen Tao's inheritance finally revealing itself?" a gruff voice carried across the crowded tavern.
"I did. It was about time anyway, it's been almost sixty thousand years since he disappeared." another voice replied, thick with anticipation.
"Indeed. The inheritance site is slowly opening. With a little bit of luck, we might get our hands on it."
Jin Feng sat alone at a corner table, nursing a cup of cheap wine while keeping his head low. The wooden tavern buzzed with all too similar conversations, dozens of cultivators had gathered in this coastal town after news of the inheritance spread. The air thrummed with barely contained excitement and greed.
'Sixty thousand years...' Jin Feng smiled bitterly. 'And it just happened to reveal itself when I was there?'
He glanced around the dimly lit establishment, noting the various cultivation levels present. Most were tier two or tier three cultivators, powerful enough to dream of claiming such a legacy, but not strong enough to intimidate the truly dangerous competitors who would surely arrive soon.
"... heard the Celestial Tide Sect has already sent representatives." someone whispered nearby.
"Of course they have. Lady Wuhan herself is overseeing the situation." came the hushed reply.
Jin Feng's blood chilled at the mention of the name. Lady Wuhan's piercing gray eyes flashed in his memory, along with her parting smile that had seemed both kind and predatory.
He drained his cup in one gulp and stood, tossing a few copper coins on the scarred wooden table. The conversations around him continued, growing more animated as wine loosened tongues and fueled ambitions.
Jin Feng made his way through the tavern's maze of tables and bodies, catching fragments of discussion:
"... palace won't open for just anyone..." "...need to be chosen by Shen Tao himself..."
"...fortune beyond imagination..."
The cool evening air hit his face as he stepped outside. The coastal town's main street was unusually busy for this time of night, with cultivators arriving constantly, some flying through the sky, others materializing from teleportation arrays.
Jin Feng snorted and began walking toward the outskirts of town, where he'd arranged to meet Yan Hui. The old man had been acting strangely excited ever since the inheritance appeared, barely able to contain his eagerness.
'He still thinks I'm the key to getting inside.' Jin Feng mused. 'If only he knew how little control I actually have over any of this...'
He found Yan Hui waiting by an old fishing dock, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. The old man's ash colored hair seemed disheveled, and his eyes held a manic gleam that made Jin Feng uneasy.
"Jin Feng!" Yan Hui called out as soon as he spotted him. "Finally! Do you have any idea what's happening? The entire cultivation world is converging on this place!"
"I heard the discussions in the tavern." Jin Feng replied carefully, studying the old man's agitated state. "It seems everyone believes the inheritance is about to open."
"Not just open, it IS opening!" Yan Hui grabbed Jin Feng's shoulders, his fingers digging in with surprising strength. "I went back to observe from a distance. The door it's glowing now, and there are symbols appearing on its surface. Something is definitely happening."
Jin Feng felt his heart race, though he kept his expression neutral. "What do you think it means?"
"It means our chance is coming," Yan Hui said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "But listen carefully, we won't have long once it fully opens. Every major sect will send their best disciples and talents. We need to be ready to move the moment an opportunity presents itself."
"And you still think I can somehow access it?" Jin Feng asked, maintaining his facade of uncertainty.
Yan Hui's eyes narrowed slightly. "You were there when it revealed itself. You felt something that day, didn't you? Some connection to the palace?"
'More than you know...' Jin Feng thought, but simply nodded. "There was... something. But I'm not sure what it meant."
"Then we'll find out together." Yan Hui said with grim determination. "Tomorrow, we go back to the inheritance site."
"And how do you plan on doing that? As far as I am concerned no one is allowed near it, and when it opens, the first going in would be high tier cultivators and talented disciples of the Celestial Tide Sect, then after that the likes of us will be able to try our luck."
"That's where I come in." said Yan Hui with a proud and devious smirk. "You don't have to worry about nothing, just meet me here at dawn."
Dawn broke gray and cold over the fishing dock. Jin Feng arrived early, deliberately positioning himself where he could observe the surroundings while keeping escape routes in mind. His fingers absently traced the outline of the grade two regeneration stones Lady Wuhan had given him. his insurance policy if things went wrong.
'The old man's confidence last night... just where in the world could it come from?' Jin Feng's eyes swept the empty dock. 'What kind of trump card does he think he's holding?'
When Yan Hui appeared, walking with purposeful strides rather than his usual hurried pace, Jin Feng's suspicions deepened. The old man's entire demeanor had changed overnight, gone was the manic energy, replaced by cold determination.
"Ready?" Yan Hui asked, his voice steady.
"As ready as I can be without knowing what we're walking into." Jin Feng replied, studying the old man's face for tells.
They spent the morning in careful preparation. Yan Hui produced items from hidden caches around the town, clothes, documents, small cultivation tools that Jin Feng didn't recognize. The old man's movements were practiced, efficient, like someone who'd done this many times before.
'How long has he been planning this?' Jin Feng wondered. 'And what exactly has he been planning?'
One week later.
The inheritance site had transformed into a military camp. Celestial Tide Sect guards patrolled the perimeter, their blue and silver robes pristine despite the coastal winds.
Jin Feng crouched beside Yan Hui behind a ridge, watching the controlled chaos below. Over the past week, they'd witnessed dozens of powerful cultivators enter the glowing palace door, emerging hours later either injured, dejected or both.
"The real inheritance is still unclaimed." Yan Hui murmured.
They approached the checkpoint with steady confidence. The lead guard stepped forward. "Halt. State your business here."
Without hesitation, Yan Hui produced a jade token that shimmered with internal light. Jin Feng's eyes widened, he'd never seen the old man with anything so valuable.
The guard's entire demeanor changed. Her eyes widened, then she quickly bowed. "Honored elder, forgive me. Please, proceed."
'Elder? This old fool? What in the heavens is that token?'
As they walked past the guards, Jin Feng caught whispered conversations: "... thought he was dead..." "... decades since anyone's seen that token..."
They stepped through the doorway, and the world dissolved into light.
Jin Feng's vision cleared to reveal a stark, circular chamber carved from black stone. The walls were smooth and featureless, stretching up into darkness beyond the reach of the pale light emanating from nowhere and everywhere at once. He stood alone on a platform in the center, with no sign of Yan Hui or the palace entrance behind him.
"Welcome... potential inheritor."
The voice was neither young nor old, carrying an otherworldly quality that seemed to resonate from within Jin Feng's own bones. It spoke with the casual indifference of someone discussing the weather.
"You stand within the first Trial Chamber of Shen Tao, King of the Boundless Sea. Before you lies a simple test."
Jin Feng's throat felt dry from anticipation. "What kind of test?"
"Observe."
The chamber floor began to shift, stone flowing like water until it formed a narrow bridge barely a zhang wide, stretching across a chasm that had opened beneath Jin Feng's feet. At the far end, perhaps a dozen zhang away, stood a simple wooden door.
"The Trial of Sacrifice." the voice continued with disturbing calm. "Cross the bridge and reach the door. Simple enough, don't you think?"
As Jin Feng watched, figures began materializing on the bridge, translucent at first, then solidifying into perfect clarity. His breath caught in his throat.
His parents stood there, exactly as they had looked the day before the storm that killed them. His mother's gentle smile, his father's protective stance. Behind them, other faces from his past, a childhood friend who had died young, his grandmother who had taught him to read, villagers who had shown him kindness in his youth.
All of them blocked his path to the door.
"Each step forward will require you to personally kill one of these echoes." the voice explained, as if discussing crop yields. "They are perfect recreations, they will feel pain, fear, and betrayal exactly as the real people would. They will beg for their lives. They will remind you of shared memories, of love given and received. And you must murder them with your own hands to proceed."
Jin Feng stared in horror as his mother stepped forward, her eyes filled with the same warmth he remembered.
"My son..." she said, her voice exactly as it had been in life. "You've grown so tall. Come to me, let me embrace you one more time."
"The Trial of Sacrifice tests whether you possess the fundamental ruthlessness required for true power." the voice continued remorselessly. "Sentimental attachment is weakness. Love is a chain. To inherit the legacy of a king, you must demonstrate that you value power above all else, including the bonds that make you human."
Jin Feng's hands trembled. His father called out to him now, pride evident in his voice: "Jin Feng! My boy, I'm so proud of who you've become. Come, let's go home together."
'They're not real.' Jin Feng told himself desperately. 'Just echoes, just illusions...'
But they looked so real. When his mother smiled, it was the exact same expression she'd worn when he'd taken his first steps. When his father laughed, it carried the same deep warmth that had comforted Jin Feng through countless childhood nightmares.
"Many cultivators believe they can compartmentalize." the voice observed with clinical detachment. "They think they can commit necessary evils while preserving some core of goodness within themselves. This trial reveals the truth, power demands the complete abandonment of such delusions."
Jin Feng took one step forward. His childhood friend, Li Wei, whose cause of death remained a mystery to this day, looked up at him with innocent trust.
"Brother Feng! Want to go fishing like we used to? I found a new spot by the river!"
Jin Feng's step faltered. His qi began to fluctuate wildly, responding to his emotional turmoil. The faces on the bridge looked so hopeful, so genuinely happy to see him.
Jin Feng froze for a second before he infused his hand with qi. He then hesitantly threw a strike at Li Wei, piercing his small chest.
"That's not how you do it, brother Feng." Li Wei shook his head, his face turning expressionless.
Jin Feng's expression froze. 'He didn't disappear? But I went in for the kill, how is this possible?'
As if reading Jin Feng's mind, the voice explained monotonously. "I told you before, this trial reveals the truth. Try again."
Jin Feng then looked toward Li Wei, only to find his grandmother there.
Jin Feng's heart started racing again, and inexplicable sadness took over him. 'They aren't real, they are all dead, but even so, I can't bring myself to kill them...'
He once again infused his hand with qi, striking at his grandmother's chest.
"Little Feng, why did you try to kill me?"
Jin Feng let out a cold breath, his face deep in thought.
The voice showed neither surprise nor disappointment. "Then you have failed the Trial of Sacrifice. You lack the fundamental ruthlessness required to inherit divine power. Shen Tao's legacy demands absolute commitment to strength above all else."
The figures on the bridge began to fade, but not before Jin Feng saw his mother's expression shift to one of gentle understanding, not disappointment, but a kind of quiet pride that somehow hurt worse than any condemnation could have.
"The trial concludes." the voice stated with finality. "You will be returned to the entrance. Your failure has been... noted."
Then everything went black.