Just before the path to the next level had opened for Wang Xiong, Lin Wu had started to move. He activated the teleportation formation and had teleported himself to an empty hall. Since he was the one that was gonna give Wang Xiong the inheritance, he had to keep up certain pretenses and couldn't just give it to him directly.

Wang Xiong entered the dark hall and saw that there was nothing he could see at first. But then two red lights suddenly appeared in the dark. They looked like eyes and were staring at him. He felt chills going down his spine, and he didn't know why.

"Is this the new trial?" Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

~Shua~

Suddenly a green light came from around the two red lights and Wang Xiong could not see the outline of a head.

~Shua~Shua~shua~

One by one the green light traveled downwards, and the segments started to be revealed.

"What… in the name of heavens?" Wang Xiong muttered to himself in shock.

In front of him was none other than Lin Wu in his full sized form. He was starring at Wang Xiong deeply and a suppressive aura was coming from his body.

"Welcome contender," Lin Wu spoke for the very first time.

Wang Xiong flinched as he saw the monster in front of him speaking in human tongue.

"You! What are you?" Wang Xiong questioned.

"Well, aren't you rude? ~Sigh~ I should have expected this…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

His mutterings were still audible to Wang Xiong and he tensed his eyes.

"What do you mean by expected?" he asked, but before he could continue, the lights started to illuminate the hall.

~flash~

Wang Xiong flinched as the bright light assaulted his eyes, but soon recovered. He finally saw the monster in front of him properly. It was a long crystalline creature that had multiple segments and two crimson red eyes that glowed like lamps. Its entire body was emerald green in color and looked rather beautiful.

"First of all, let me congratulate you for passing the trial." Lin Wu said.

"Huh? I passed?" Wang Xiong questioned in confusion.

"Yes, you did." Lin Wu replied.

"I… I… I PASSED!" Wang Xiong exclaimed in joy.

"Ahem!" Lin Wu made a coughing sound that doused the excitement of Wang Xiong rather quickly.

He quickly remembered that he was in the presence of some unknown monster that he had never seen or heard of.

"So… what are you and what will happen now?" Wang Xiong questioned.

He guessed that since the monster had not attacked him till now, perhaps it did not have malevolent intentions for him.

"I am called as the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm and I'll be the one to give you the inheritance." Lin Wu said.

This was the first time he was revealing his identity to a human, and he only did this because he had full confidence in being able to control Wang Xiong. If something untoward happens, it would take him merely a second to kill him. Besides, there was no way he was gonna let Wang Xiong leave without a contingency plan.

"You? I see… But what is this tomb, can you tell me?" Wang Xiong questioned.

This was the question that Lin Wu had been waiting for and had rehearsed it a few times in his mind.

"I was gonna do that at the very start, had you not interrupted me. Now… listen well." Lin Wu replied, prompting Wang Xiong to silence himself.

"This is the tomb of the Taiji Celestial, and I am one of his disciples. Since you have successfully passed the trials, you are now eligible to inherit a part of his legacy and become his disciple." Lin Wu explained.

Wang Xiong felt shocked at the first part but had already expected the second part of Lin Wu's words. As it was an inheritance ground, it was obvious that he would get some techniques; becoming the disciple of a powerful cultivator was only an additional benefit.

"You said you are the disciple of the Taiji Celestial? But how? If the Taiji celestial is the one that is depicted in the carvings, then it means that he lived tens of thousands of years ago. Did you also gain his inheritance through the trials?" Wang Xiong questioned further.

"Master lived even before the time that you are thinking of. And no, I didn't gain his inheritance through completing the trials, I was directly selected by him." Lin Wu answered.

"Directly selected… that means… you have lived since that time…" Wang Xiong muttered as a dumbstruck expression appeared on his face.

Usually, the lifespan of a creature was directly proportional to its cultivation base. If what Lin Wu was saying was true, then it meant that the creature in front of Wang Xiong had a cultivation base that was terrifying.

"Hmm… that is indeed correct." Lin Wu lied.

"Then… Senior!" Wang Xiong said before hurriedly falling to the ground in a kowtow.

"Please forgive my rudeness senior!" Wang Xiong said, trembling on the ground.

From what Wang Xiong knew, even the Dao treading realm cultivators only lived for three thousand years. He didn't know how long the immortal ascension realm cultivators lived for exactly, but there was no way it would be comparable to the time when the Taiji Celestia existed.

Wang Xiong could very well tell that the carvings were very old and the world that he had seen in the trials seemed to have something that had gone extinct by now. Particularly in the third trial, Wang Xiong had seen a few plants that he knew had gone extinct at least a hundred years ago.

If he hadn't known that he was in an illusory array, he would have long since gone crazy after finding it there. Those plants didn't even have beneficial properties, but since they were extinct, they would still have a great research value that any alchemist would pay a great price to study.

"Senior, may I ask… what is your cultivation base?" Wang Xiong questioned.

"Hmm… if you consider the current time then… I'm at the Core condensation realm."