“Not bad….” The voice sounded once more through the room. Yuki was currently standing on top of a large mountain of bones. All the bones in the room had once turned back into skeletons only to be destroyed by her. 

Yuki was trying to catch her breath. She had pushed herself beyond her limits. She could feel her spiritual qi and demonic qi spinning rapidly infusing her body with more strength than she had ever thought was possible. She looked down at her body which was covered in wounds and let out a soft chuckle. She had indeed survived. She had long noticed the aura around her body. She had no idea what it was but it began growing slowly as she killed the skeletons and now it was covering her entire body as if it was coming from the bottom of her feet engulfing her body.

“You have passed the first trial. The enemies you fought while not strong were once warriors from many hundreds of thousands of years ago. I gathered their bones and piled them up here. Each one was filled with killing intent and blood lust. You have gathered both of these and formed them into your own aura. Your will to kill was what needed to be brought out. To live in a world of cultivation, you must be willing to slaughter your enemies. Push yourself to the max and push past your current abilities. Without doing so you would never be able to survive. You would be overrun and killed by your enemies. 

“Your movement technique just now was very good. It allowed you to overcome the odds. And you were able to survive due to this. This is your own strength.” The voice tapered off as the room, Yuki was in suddenly changed and she found herself in a small room with a large jade pillow in the middle of it. “Rest here for one day. Then you will take the second trial.”

Yuki pursed her lips as she looked around. “Are you not going to tell me what this trial is for? After everything I just went through, I think I deserve to know.”

“Not yet. Once you pass the trials you will understand. But just know that the next trial will not be easy. So rest. Cultivate. It seems you are close to breaking through a minor realm. Cultivate on the jade bed there and you will be able to break through by tomorrow.” After the voice said this it disappeared. Yuki called out a few more times but she got no answer.

“Just what kind of trial is this….” Yuki looked down at the aura around her and realized it was not disappearing at all. “This aura…. What is it?” 

From all the knowledge she had in her past life until now, she had never once heard of a blackish red aura in any of the stories she had read. To her, it felt slightly weird but at the same time, it seemed comforting to her.

Deciding there was not much she could do. She walked over to the jade pillow and sat down. She had to heal up quickly before she took the next trial. She took out a few healing pills and popped them into her mouth before closing her eyes and circulating her spiritual qi.

- - -

“I thought I was going to die!” Ai patted her chest. She had been chased for so long by that huge demonic beast that she thought she was going to be chewed up and pooped out by it. She was currently in a small crevice she found between two rocks that she hid in to get away from the demonic beast. 

She looked around to see that the crevice she was in was about two of her wide and covered in plants different from the outside. She was curious as she looked around but did not dare to pick anything in case it was poisonous. She had no knowledge of pill refinement, so she had no idea what any of these plants did, if they did anything at all. 

Ai slowly made her way out of the crevice into a large clearing only to stop dead in her tracks as she saw some of the male disciples from the sect. She quickly ran and hid behind a rock not wanting to be seen.

“Hiro, hand over your flags and we won’t send you out.” A young man demanded with a mocking smile. He looked at Hiro who was kneeling on the ground, blood dripping from the wound on his side.

“Just send me out! I will not hand over anything. It’s not like you can kill me here. But just you wait, when I break through to the astral star realm, I will take back all that is mine!” Hiro used his sword as a means of pushing himself back up so that he was standing. His gaze was unwavering. If Yuki were to see this young man and how he was acting she would think he was some kind of protagonist of some novel or movie.

Sadly for him, it was Ai who was watching and she wanted no part in their family feud. She was not a hero wanting to save a beauty. In fact, she did not even think the young man who was about to be sent out of the mystic realm was handsome at all. Of course, while he was good looking, Ai was too used to seeing Ami all day who was quite beautiful. And after her brother’s incident, she had a kind of disgust for men when it came to relations between men and women. After she saw Yuki and Nana together she began to think that maybe a girlfriend would not be so bad. And one prospect had already come to mind long ago. The same girl she had been living with all this time. But she was scared to say anything to Ami. 

Ai just hoped these fools would kill the other guy and hurry on their way. She just wanted to find a flag or two and then find Ami and the others. She did not want to confront any of the other disciples.