164: Chapter 164 Since We're Here

Outside the vortex.

The great Golden Scorpion let out a massive yawn.

"Dog Bro, that woman has been in there for seven or eight minutes, right? Why did the Blood Refining ones come out so quickly, but the Qi Manipulation one is lasting longer?"

Mad Dog rolled his eyes at him. "You didn't take anything I said to heart, did you? When a Blood Refining stage enters, they face Blood Refining level attacks."

"Oh."

Mad Dog glanced at Tang Long again. "The longer she stays in, the closer she is to success."

Tang Long was still smiling.

With Miao Manman's meager HP, she couldn't even withstand the Open-Ring Forbidden Method; how could she pass the inheritance trial?

If the inheritance trial of the Gate of Heavens Legacy wasn't even as difficult as the Open-Ring Forbidden Method, that would be a joke.

She became Empress twenty-some years later, and even then she was only at the Open Origin stage. It wasn't until she was near death that she barely broke through to the Spirit Map stage... that should be around fifty years from now.

At this speed, she might not even be as fast as Elder Zheng.

Therefore, Tang Long felt her chances of success today were basically zero.

"Isn't success a good thing? It's better than everyone returning empty-handed."

Saying this, Tang Long felt he was being hypocritical; Mad Dog also thought Tang Long was hypocritical, and Ye Qingzhou thought Tang Long was even more hypocritical.

But Jiang Yan and Nie Yu thought Tang Long was great, both nodding to him from a distance.

At that moment, a masked guard galloped over from the distance and whispered a few words into Ye Qingzhou's ear.

Ye Qingzhou nodded repeatedly and cast an appreciative glance at Tang Long.

Tang Long knew that something must have been extracted from the interrogation over there, and Ye Qingzhou was satisfied.

If he utilized this sucker well, he could significantly shorten his plan's timeline.

However, the prerequisite was that Her Highness the Queen could successfully take down the High Priest.

He didn't know if she had made her move yet.

Probably not yet; after all, it was still Christmas Eve.

So the timing she chose to act would definitely be at dawn.

Your Highness, you must do your best, otherwise it'll be hard for me to see a return on these early investments.

Tang Long was muttering to himself in his mind when a loud bang suddenly rang in his ears.

Miao Manman came spinning out and crashed headfirst onto the edge of the large pit.

She looked to be in better condition than the previous few; there was no charring on her body, but blood was streaming from her nose and mouth, and at this moment, she was even shedding tears.

She had lasted until the ninth wave.

The third strike of the ninth wave.

But that attack was simply too terrifying; it was completely unavoidable and absolutely impossible to block.

When shrouded by the shadow of death, people naturally seek a way to live, so... she had unconsciously retreated to the starting point.

But as soon as she came out, she immediately regretted it.

She still had strength left; if she had risked it all, she might have had a chance. It was precisely that escape route that prevented her from persevering.

Ye Qingzhou hurried over to comfort her. "Manman, are your injuries serious?"

Miao Manman shook her head absentmindedly. "I really deserve to die."

"It's not that bad. If you didn't succeed, you didn't succeed. I'll help you find another way in the future."

Miao Manman stopped speaking altogether, looking as if she had been completely broken.

However, at this moment, Tang Long asked loudly, "Boss Ye, is Student Miao okay? Do any more of your people want to try?"

Ye Qingzhou looked back at him and couldn't help but sigh. "Forget it. Even Manman couldn't hold on, so others probably have no hope."

"This is the Gate of Heavens Legacy; isn't it a pity to give up so easily?"

"For the sake of everyone's future, I'm willing to make another concession: one million per person!"

"Is there one million? If anyone's interested, we can still negotiate!"

Ye Qingzhou's teeth itched with hatred. "Tang Long, that's enough! If you keep shouting nonsense, I won't honor our deal!"

Tang Long immediately raised his hands in surrender.

"Don't! I was just joking."

"Sigh, only earned eight million. Eight million is hard to split between three people."

"Oh well, eight million is eight million; it's practically getting it for free anyway."

"I'll go see what the situation is for myself."

Ye Qingzhou was so depressed he almost coughed up blood. He cursed secretly in his heart, May lightning strike you dead, you bastard!

After a blur before his eyes, Tang Long was already standing in the same bluestone corridor as the others.

[You have entered the Trial Corridor!]

[You possess the heavenly legacy key and can re-select an inheritance cultivation method here. Re-select now? Yes/No]

[Moving your feet will begin the trial. Please prepare.]

Tang Long smiled slightly. He didn't re-select a cultivation method, nor was he in a hurry to move. Instead...

[Trial Corridor, Coordinates 0, 0. Respawn point set successfully!]

Seeing that the Respawn point was successfully set, Tang Long laughed out loud on the spot.

"Well, I'll be damned!"

"What kind of Gate of Heavens Legacy is this? This will be my backyard from now on, haha!"

"A lightning-attribute cultivation method is fine too; it's an attribute I'm missing. I'll take it first!"

Tang Long took a step forward, and a prompt popped up again.

[Trial start! The first round of attacks is coming! Progress 0/1]

The humanoid lightning opposite him immediately raised its hand, and a ball of lightning blasted over.

Tang Long shrugged. Without dodging or activating any damage reduction, he took the full hit.

[You have taken lightning damage, HP -381!]

[First round of trial complete! The second round of attacks is coming! Progress 0/2]

Tang Long brushed off a few charred fragments of his clothes and laughed even more happily.

"That's it?"

The damage in the second round increased slightly, reaching around 460.

Tang Long cast a Healing Spell on himself and then deployed his Spirit Astral.

The third and fourth rounds didn't even break his defense, and in the fifth round, each hit only took forty or fifty HP.

In the sixth round, each hit took about 140 or 150 HP, but the attack intervals were actually quite large. After the sixth round, his HP was basically still full.

Starting from the seventh round, the intensity increased; a single hit would take about 350 HP, and sometimes one strike would cause damage twice.

Tang Long didn't hold back and directly activated Super Armor.

At this moment, his Super Armor was still under divine blessing—a level 3 effect with 40% damage reduction. There was absolutely no pressure.

By the eighth round, the Healing Spell couldn't quite keep up, so Tang Long started popping potions. He had so many small and medium health potions on him anyway, and keeping them wouldn't be of much use.

The ninth round of attacks was indeed formidable. Even under the defense of level 6 Spirit Astral and level 3 Super Armor, the damage could still jump to over 400. Moreover, several strikes dealt damage three times, making Tang Long grit his teeth in pain.

This feeling of being struck by lightning was truly different from anything else.

But his HP was high enough.

By the time he endured until the end of the ninth round, his HP was still above 15,000.

[You have completed the trial: Thunder Emperors Eight Scenes Art [Abridged].]

[If you choose to end now, you will obtain the Thunder Emperors Eight Scenes Art [Abridged], which supports cultivation up to the Spirit Map Realm. Proceed to the next stage? Yes/No]

Looking at the information, a question mark couldn't help but pop up in Tang Long's mind.

"What does this mean? This trial just now only gives an abridged version that can be practiced up to the Spirit Map stage?"

"Is it like this for all inheritances, or is it just this cultivation method that's special?"

"Son of a bitch!"

[You have chosen to undergo the trial: Thunder Emperors Eight Scenes Art [True]. Please approach the Spirit of Inheritance to personally experience the true meaning of the Thunder Emperors Eight Scenes Art!]

Following this message, the humanoid lightning at the end of the corridor moved. Originally just a humanoid shape, it rapidly developed more complete human features and appeared to be clad in a layer of magnificent lightning heavy armor.

The bricks around it flipped and expanded like building blocks, turning into a hundred-meter-wide square hall in the blink of an eye.

Lightning extended from its feet, forming an octagonal pattern.

Furthermore, its lightning eyes produced an extremely human-like quality, as if it were anticipating Tang Long's approach.

"Alright then. As the saying goes, since I'm already here."