We waited for more than twelve hours, but still, no one arrived. Even if the others were fighting, it shouldn't take more than an hour. And even if they did fight for over an hour, the other teams should've caught up and reached the third level by now.
But that didn't happen.
During this time, I pushed my points a bit further and reached a total of one hundred thousand.
Just as I was wondering what could've happened to the rest, a cold voice echoed from the sky.
"Cultivator Bai Xiao and his partner were first to achieve 100,000 points and have completed 1/4 Secret Tasks."
Before I could react, the scenery twisted, and we were teleported.
The new area was unlike anything in the previous levels. Elements filled the entire space—water flowing like rivers suspended in the air, flames burning without fuel, spirals of wind rotating endlessly, and dense earth floating like islands. These I recognized. But there were also elements I had never seen or sensed before.
I didn't bother guessing where we were or what we were supposed to do. In every previous level, someone would appear to give instructions—at least a cultivator, a puppet, a projection, something.
But even after waiting for two whole minutes, no one came.
This was strange. Secret levels, no sign of any participants on the second level, now no guide for the third… too many things weren't adding up.
But confusion wouldn't help. If this was truly a secret level, then the others on the second level must've also unlocked a secret route somehow. That was the only explanation I could think of for why the third level had stayed empty for thirty hours.
From my guess, secret tasks were something obtained only by achieving ridiculous feats in a level. For example, getting one hundred thousand points meant killing at least thirty-five thousand three-star beasts. In this inheritance, core formation was the highest realm—so achieving that number should've been nearly impossible for anyone else.
It also seemed that secret tasks didn't come with explanations. That explained why no one came to fetch us—secret routes were meant to be figured out by the participants themselves.
It fit the style of an inheritance left behind by a Nascent Soul powerhouse.
With this, my last suspicion about the inheritance vanished. They had gathered a large number of cultivators, but in the end, only one group would be chosen. They needed to thin the numbers drastically. The third level had already cut many, but it wasn't enough. They needed something harsher.
The main goal of this inheritance was to choose a new protector—someone to strengthen the king's faction.
But there was a flaw: if someone from a big family won, they could easily escape the responsibilities while still obtaining the essence. For major clans, it would be a win-win situation.
"Narrator here—Gu Chuan has resolved some doubts, but he missed a crucial point. Why would an inheritance this large only have a million cultivators when there are four billion on Velora? Maybe he isn't smart enough… or maybe the author isn't, hehe. Since the main character can only be as smart as the author, guess how big Gu Xue's plan is and what percentage Velora holds in it. Only one guess per reader. Reward: 30 chapters."
I focused back on the current level.
The place was filled with elements—that meant the task had to be about elements. The only thing I knew for sure was how to create elements: adding or removing protons and neutrons using Qi. Water, for example, had eight neutrons and ten protons—or, in simpler form, three atoms combined into a molecule.
The process was simple: use Qi to replace atoms and add new ones. Cultivation guides explained that Qi had connections to every Dao, so it had the potential to modify atomic structures.
Instead of creating something from scratch, we could also use nearby elemental sources. But the control we had over naturally existing elements was always lower compared to elements we created ourselves.
Fire and earth were troublesome. They weren't elements in the true sense. So I used substitutes: limestone for earth, and heated iron to create fire-like energy. There were many ways, but iron was the easiest to handle.
That was why I didn't know all the elements present in this level. Especially the one in the corner—the one emitting the strongest aura. At first glance, someone might think it was a dark element. But it wasn't. There were many dark-type auras around, but this one was far stronger.
Dark element was easy to create and not that powerful. But whatever this was, it wasn't dark, and it wasn't something I had ever encountered.
I considered another possibility: if so many elements were present, maybe the task was to master them all as quickly as possible. Most cultivators chose only a few elements—maybe one or two—to focus on their entire cultivation path. No one cultivated everything.
So maybe the secret task was to master every element.
This felt like the most likely answer. What else could we do with elements except use, learn, or master them?
But then another thought struck me.
Why would elements appear in an inheritance that was mainly based around arrays?
I almost felt stupid when the answer hit me.
Arrays weren't just for trapping or gathering Qi—they were also used to create formations. And formations needed both defensive and offensive components. Qi alone wasn't enough. Using elemental energy was always more efficient, more stable, and much stronger.
So a level meant for mastering elements wasn't strange at all. It was completely logical for an array-type inheritance.
I exhaled slowly.
This level… wasn't simple.
It was testing adaptability, comprehension, elemental control, creation ability, and possibly even fusion. A test only a few array masters could pass.