"What in heaven's name was that technique just now?! I have never seen anything remotely that powerful before!" Feng Yuxiang cried out loud after seeing Yuan decimate an entire army of 100,000 Spirit Lords and Spirit Kings with two strikes.
"I have never seen Brother Yuan use that technique before. He must have just learned it." Xiao Hua said.
"You can actually learn techniques while doing trials in the Stairway to Heaven? How come I have never heard of such a thing? And judging by the prowess of that technique, I dare say that it's at least an Ancient-rank technique if not Mythic-rank!" Feng Yuxiang was in disbelief.
If people realize that they could learn such powerful techniques inside the Stairway to Heaven for free, there would definitely be a massive uproar throughout the Nine Heavens.
Meanwhile, back at the pagoda, Yuan gave up on trying to recover his soul strength after realizing that he didn't have any cultivation techniques that recovered his soul strength.
Unlike spiritual energy, soul strength could not be restored through ordinary cultivation techniques. In order to recover soul strength faster than naturally allowed, one must know a soul cultivation technique, but these techniques are incredibly rare even in the upper heavens.
'Looks like I won't be able to use the God of War's Astral Arts until my soul strength naturally recovers. Fortunately, I can still use my other techniques that only require spiritual energy.' He sighed inwardly.
Despite the God of War's Astral Arts' immense power and seemingly unlimited potential, it was not something he could use too often at this moment. Until he acquires a soul cultivation technique, he will have to limit its usage for life-or-death situations.
After giving up trying to restore his soul strength, Yuan looked at the amount of time he had left.
'Less than fifteen minutes left…'
Sometime later, he returned to the house with the woman who looked exactly like Meixiu.
"Is everything okay?" She asked him as she gently rubbed her round stomach.
"Yes, I have dealt with the intruders. The city is safe again." He nodded.
"That's good to hear. Now our child can grow up in the city that you have painstakingly protected and developed," she said with a beautiful smile on her face.
"Have you thought of a name for the child yet?" Yuan suddenly asked out of curiosity.
"No, not yet. I was hoping we could name her together."
"It's a girl, huh…" He smiled.
"Here you go." The woman suddenly extended her hands, offering him a glowing orb of light.
"Thank you." Yuan accepted the orb of light and absorbed it.
However, his cultivation base did not increase like the previous reward.
Instead, he could feel his soul strength becoming stronger.
<+100,000 Soul Strength>
'Wow, this reward is actually much better than I initially thought. It's definitely countless times better than just increasing my cultivation base.' Yuan thought to himself after realizing what the bonus reward was.
The City of Xian disappeared before Yuan's eyes, and he returned to the Stairway to Heaven shortly after.
"Congratulations on passing the trial, Master. Do you wish to rest? You are allowed an hour to rest." Tian'er said to him.
He nodded, "Yes, I will rest this time."
Even though his spiritual energy was full, he wanted to allow his soul strength to recover even if it's just slightly. He had a feeling that the God of War's Astral Arts was going to be crucial for his upcoming trials.
'Oh? My soul strength is recovering faster than normal out here.' Yuan quickly realized this as he sat down to monitor his recovery.
An hour later, Yuan stood up and proceeded onto the next trial.
"For the second trial, you must protect the Huang Family while they exchange their valuables in the Giant's Continent."
"Oh? Is it the same Huang Family as the previous trial? So we're going to continue where we left off, huh?" Yuan was a little excited to meet with the Huang Family again, especially Huang Xiao Li, who taught him array symbols.
The scenery began changing, and before he realized, he was standing on the ship deck while surrounded by water.
"Why are you standing there in a daze, Yuan?"
A familiar voice suddenly resounded, causing Yuan to turn around.
Standing behind him was a beautiful young lady with a bright smile on her face. Of course, she was Huang Xiao Li, who also resembled Chu Liuxiang.
"It's been a while, Xiao Li." He said with a gentle smile on his face.
"What are you talking about? Are you still daydreaming? You should snap out of it since we're about to land. Look over there— that's the Giant's Continent!" She pointed at the massive island in the distance.
However, Yuan wasn't paying attention to the island. Instead, he was focused on Huang Xiao Li.
'Her cultivation hasn't changed. She's still a Spirit Grandmaster. The same goes for everyone on this boat. It's almost as though I'd never left in the first place for them.' He thought the Stairway to Heaven would scale these people to his level since this was a new and more difficult trial, but that didn't seem to be the case.
Sometime later, the ship stopped moving once it reached land, and everyone onboard started to disembark.
"Yuan, are you ready? We have only 14 days to exchange our treasures and come back, or we will be stuck here for a very long time!" Huang Xiao Li said to him.
'14 days… I really hope this isn't how long the trial will take…' He sighed inwardly as he disembarked the ship with the Huang Family and the other bodyguards.