“As for the solution to break the first trial, I suggest you to wander around and find the tallest seven ancient trees. Remember, these trees only bear fruit but have no leaves. They represent, indeed, the seven emotions of a human being respectively: happiness, anger, sadness, terror, love, hatred and lust. As long as you can survive the illusions involving the seven emotions, you can pick up the seven spirit fruit on the seven trees respectively. At that time, you’ll successfully pass the first trial. Keep in mind though, the nearer you are to these trees, the stronger the illusions will be. Never overestimate yourself, rather you have to adapt to the situation with calmness and patience. If anything dangerous occurs, please retreat..”

Ye Ruoshui enunciated the secret tips for passing the first Illusion trial. Actually, he had been in the Luo Shen Mountain several times before, but he had only passed the first and second trial. Never had he ever succeeded in the third one. It was fair to say, that his tips on this were quite pragmatic.

“The major problem you’re facing right now is your low cultivation level. I know that you’re stronger upon integration, that is, however, far from enough to tackle the stronger illusions. When you approach one of the ancient trees, you’ll probably be caught in an endless maniacal state. Hence, your priority right now should be to cultivate. In this mountain, you have easy access to the normal spirit fruits, which can ensure your physical survival. In the first year, hopefully you can break into the Realm of the Prince. Only in this way, can you achieve the Realm of the Emperor with the help of your battle beast. Otherwise, you’re most likely not going to leave this mountain alive!”

Ye Ruoshui showed Qinghan the way to success in passing the first trial, but Qinghan was still quite confused because it was the bronze ring, rather than his battle beast, that he relied on to survive in the previous illusions. However, he wouldn’t give out this secret at this moment. This was his last trump card after all.

Soon after, Ye Ruoshui stopped, and told Qinghan that he would talk to him every half a month, to answer Qinghan’s questions. Considering the distance from Ye Ruoshui’s presence and the Luo Shen Mountain, it took a frighteningly strong soul power to convey his voice, even though he was a Heaven-Immortal Realm cultivator.

Qinghan sat on the ground as he digested the knowledge he had received from his ancestor. A little while later, he stood up refreshed, and began to wander around.

With a dagger in one hand, Qinghan integrated with his battle beast, as he walked through the thick white fog. Although Ye Ruoshui had confirmed, that once he was out of the illusion, he would be safe and secure, he still charged forward with extreme caution.

“Are these the spirit fruits?”

After carefully walking for a while, he arrived in front of a small tree, with a height of no more than a meter or two. In the tree, there grew four or five white, and a little bit transparent, nameless fruits.

After having closely inspected the tree, Qinghan was assured that there was no danger in the vicinity, so he picked up one ripe fruit. He didn’t eat it right away, but rather sat down and thought it over. If he refused to eat this fruit, he would probably starve to death. If this fruit was toxic, he would also die. Since the outcome was the same, why not have a try?”

The white fruit was in an oval shape and apple-sized. Interestingly, its skin was somewhat transparent, and if you looked closely, you could even see the pulp inside it. Qinghan took a small bite and instantly felt an overwhelmingly sweet taste on his tongue. The pulp of the fruit melted right away the moment it entered Qinghan’s mouth, like a refreshing stream from a mountain spring, the juice trickled through his esophagus down to his stomach. He had never felt so relaxed and comfortable.

“Yummy! This must be the most delicious fruit in the world!” Qinghan hurriedly finished the fruit. Immediately after that, he picked up another one from the tree with his left hand, and ate it with relish. It seemed, that even if if was poisonous, he’d be happy to die on such sweetness.

Within a few minutes, the tree had no more fruits, as they were all in his stomach. Qinghan licked his lips with great satisfaction, as if he was cherishing the memory of the sweet taste. However.. seconds later, he felt that his stomach was struck by a warm, vibrant flow of energy, which deterred him from seeking more fruits in the nearby trees. Actually, this warm flow seemed quite familiar to him, just like the flow that had emerged back on Ghost Island when Little Black was refining the Dragon Crystal. The difference was, that this flow felt slower and less powerful, and the duration was also much shorter.

In a hurry, he hunkered down on the ground, and diverted the flow into his Dantian through his meridians.

....

Like any other cultivator, when Qinghan was in the Realm of the General, he had to liquidate his Battle Qi; and in the Realm of the Marshal, he had to condense the liquidated Battle Qi in order to create a Dantian Core. Once the core was fully formed, he would then become a Prince-Realm cultivator. The premises for the transition of the Battle Qi state required an enormous amount of reserved Battle Qi. The higher the level, the more the Battle Qi would be consumed.

Fortunately, the spirit fruit provided Qinghan with some faint, yet pure energy, which he could converge into Battle Qi. The amount of Battle Qi released by the five fruits he took in just now could be equivalent to what he could gain with one day’s worth of cultivation.

Of course, Qinghan wouldn’t let go of this convenient way of cultivation. He wandered around, hoping to find more spirit fruit. Half a day had passed, and Qinghan discovered ample amount of spirit fruits along the way. But, his appetite for these fruits had fallen to a degree that he couldn’t take a single one in. Now, since he already had had a dozen of fruits in his stomach, he felt that the energy had stopped coming out, and he was too full to have another one.

Therefore, Qinghan gave up on eating another spirit fruit. He continued wandering around safe and sound. He began to believe in Ye Ruoshui’s conclusion that, besides the three daily illusions, there was no danger at all.

Now, he figured out that he had to find the exact position of the seven ancient trees mentioned by Ye Ruoshui. As such, he moved forward with a clear purpose in mind.

Amidst the foggy surroundings, Qinghan walked rather slowly, due to the small visibility. The places Qinghan was allowed to access were geographically unique: apart from the soil and spirit fruit ridden trees, there were neither flowers, grass, water, nor any stones. The flat ground looked so much exceedingly much like the Bloody Prairie.

An hour later, he had finally found the first tall tree. The gigantic tree looked like a colossal pillar, piercing through the sky. Qinghan couldn’t get a whole view of the tree, partly due to its huge size, and partly due to the white fog.

“This tree looks like scores of meters high, and several meters wide!”

Remembering Ye Ruoshui’s kind advice, Qinghan hesitated whether to approach it or not. Eventually, after some serious pondering, he decided to have a try.

“If I don’t even have the guts to get close to this tree, how can I have the courage to get the spirit fruit on the trees that represent the seven human emotions?” He thought to himself.

The next moment, however, he disintegrated with his battle beast. He wouldn’t risk the life of Little Black, before he was assured of the safety of this place. After all, he could be healed by the bronze ring, but Little Black couldn’t. Without Little Black, he would be doomed.

With extremely slow steps, he moved forward, while inspecting his surroundings. He wouldn’t move further, until he was reassured that there was no abnormal phenomenon around him.

From XianXiaWorld