Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 610: Chapter 351 Divine Eye_2

This choice is neither right nor wrong; perhaps in Elder Zuo’s view, it is correct, but in the eyes of cultivators, it might be wrong.

After all, it is the cultivator himself who bears the consequences; Elder Zuo has fulfilled his duty, and that is enough.

“Young Benefactor Li has exceptional talent, and I believe you will certainly pass the ‘God’s Eye Trial’. Come here, and I will be your protector!” Venerable Huike said with an extremely kind gesture.

Elder Zuo smiled and brought Li Shiming to the spot indicated by Venerable Huike. He did not leave but stood beside Li Shiming.

This attitude was very clear; Elder Zuo intended to protect Li Shiming.

The trial of Divine Skills harbored dangers.

If Li Shiming were an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, even if he perished on the spot, it wouldn’t matter much; however, Li Shiming was an Alchemy Master and also the highest-skilled alchemist of his rank on the Beishu Continent. The loss of such talent would have a tremendous impact on Shushan Sect.

According to incomplete statistics, since Li Shiming became an Alchemy Master, the cultivation progress speed of the Golden Core cultivators in Shushan Sect had more than doubled.

Before Li Shiming became a Golden Core cultivator, only those in the Golden Core Early Stage benefited. After forming his Golden Core, now the Golden Core Middle Stage cultivators benefited as well, and with Li Shiming’s cultivation speed, it wouldn’t be long before the Late-stage Golden Core Cultivators would also benefit.

Elder Zuo was also concerned that Qianye Temple might take this opportunity to harm Li Shiming. Although this was unlikely, he did not want to take the risk.

As long as he was by Li Shiming’s side, even if Li Shiming encountered trouble, he could ensure Li Shiming’s safety.

Venerable Huike seemed not to notice Elder Zuo’s wariness; he maintained a benevolent demeanor as he took out a relic from his spatial item.

This relic resembled an eyeball; when Li Shiming looked at the eyeball relic, he always had the illusion that the relic was watching him.

Under Venerable Huike’s control, the eyeball relic flew in front of Li Shiming.

“Enter your Divine Thought into it, and the trial will activate!” Venerable Huike said with a smile.

Elder Zuo frowned slightly; he was somewhat dissatisfied with Venerable Huike, who had not offered any hints, reducing Li Shiming’s chances of passing the heritage challenge.

Li Shiming followed Venerable Huike’s instruction and projected his Divine Thought into the eyeball relic.

No sooner had his Divine Thought entered the relic than the consciousness in his brain that housed this Divine Thought was sucked into the interior of the eyeball relic.

Then this consciousness experienced being in a bizarre world, akin to a kaleidoscope, with the world split into countless reflective surfaces. These surfaces reflected off each other, creating a labyrinthine array of images.

Each surface of this world held a certain allure, aiming to draw Li Shiming’s gaze to itself.

With countless surfaces exerting their unique pull simultaneously, it seemed they wanted to split his gaze into myriad fragments, but lacking the capacity to do so affected his spirit.

Initially, this strain was bearable, but as the kaleidoscopic world began to spin, the toll on his spirit steadily increased.

As the kaleidoscope spun faster and faster, the worlds within the countless surfaces sliced at his gaze and spirit like blades.

This was the trial, and without strong innate talent or having undergone long-term specific training, it was highly likely that Li Shiming would have already suffered mental harm and been forced to withdraw.

This was what Venerable Huike wished to see, but when he looked at Li Shiming’s face, he did not see the expression he was expecting.

It was known that once Li Shiming’s consciousness was absorbed by the eyeball relic, he would lose control over his own facial expressions, with any psychological changes reflecting directly on his face. Observing these expressions would reveal his condition during the ‘God’s Eye Trial’.

Indeed, the trial of the ‘God’s Eye’ heritage was an extreme form of psychic torture; without the corresponding talent, even prolonged targeted training for the heritage challenge would not enable one to pass the ‘God’s Eye’ heritage trial.

This point can be corroborated by the experience of Qianye Temple over countless years.

But Li Shiming’s situation was somewhat special; no matter how much his brain was tormented, this brain was just one of his one hundred and ninety-one brains, and with the IBMz15, his magical artifact, sharing the burden, the impact on him didn’t amount to any pressure at all.

Venerable Huike looked at Li Shiming with some disbelief. Had Elder Zuo not been watching, he would have wanted to investigate Li Shiming’s condition personally.

Li Shiming scarcely looked like he was undergoing the spiritual challenge for the ‘Divine Eye Skill.’ It was entirely as if he was just resting as usual.

If the spiritual challenge for the ‘Divine Eye Skill’ inheritance was really this easy, how could it be that Qianye Temple would only produce a ‘Divine Eye Skill’ inheritor every few hundred or even over a thousand years?

Within the eye relic, the world was no longer rotating in an orderly fashion, but warping irregularly, increasing the strain on Li Shiming’s spirit by many times.

Venerable Huike’s expression grew unpleasant. Judging from the state of the eye relic, this was the final step in the inheritance challenge.

Normally, the challenge for inheriting Divine Skills was divided into multiple steps, each granting a layer of the Divine Skill upon completion.

For instance, in the inheritance challenge for the ‘Divine Foot Skill,’ passing the initial challenge would grant ‘Step by Step Lotus,’ and upon passing further challenges, one could acquire deeper skills like ‘In the Blink of an Eye.’

The ‘Divine Eye Skill’ was relatively simpler but also comprised multiple levels.

Li Shiming only had one chance at the challenge. Initially, Venerable Huike thought that at best, Li Shiming would only gain the ‘Divine Eye Skill’ at the introductory level.

But judging by Li Shiming’s performance, it was feared that he might obtain the full heritage of the ‘Divine Eye Skill,’ merely waiting for Li Shiming’s realm to reach a sufficient level before he could master the entirety of this Divine Skill.

Partial leakage of the ‘Divine Eye Skill’ and the complete leakage are entirely different concepts.

If only a part of the ‘Divine Eye Skill’ leaked out, then no matter how much Li Shiming cultivated it, he could never make further achievements in this particular Divine Skill.

However, upon acquiring the full heritage of the ‘Divine Eye Skill,’ it might be possible for Li Shiming one day in the future, after reaching great proficiency, to create inheritance items like the eye relic himself, and then the ‘Divine Eye Skill’ would no longer belong solely to Qianye Temple.

Venerable Huike felt some regret for having agreed to compensate Li Shiming with a chance at a Divine Skill inheritance.

Fortunately, it was the ‘Divine Eye Skill,’ which could be considered the weakest of all Divine Skills to some extent, and precisely because it was the weakest, Qianye Temple chose it as part of the compensation for Li Shiming.

Although Venerable Huike had various thoughts in his mind, he made no underhanded moves.

Elder Zuo, standing beside, was extremely experienced, and any trickery would not escape Elder Zuo’s perception.

To anger Elder Zuo and have a falling out with the entire Shushan Sect over Li Shiming, at a time when Qianye Temple was at its most vulnerable, contending with internal issues and formidable enemies, was definitely not a wise choice.

The look on Venerable Huike’s face was the exact opposite of Elder Zuo, who had a faint smile on his face.

If it weren’t for the unpleasant expression on Venerable Huike’s face and not wishing to cause Venerable Huike to lose face at his own sect, Elder Zuo might even have laughed out loud.

Elder Zuo also discerned that Li Shiming seemed particularly attuned to the ‘Divine Eye Skill,’ for the challenges of the ‘Divine Eye Skill’ posed no difficulty to him whatsoever.

He thought how fortunate Li Shiming was—perhaps this was where Li Shiming’s destiny brought him; the randomly chosen inheritance of Divine Skills by Qianye Temple happened to be the most suitable for Li Shiming.

As for saying that the ‘Divine Eye Skill’ was the weakest of Divine Skills, it was still a Divine Skill after all. Even the weakest one, once mastered, would greatly benefit advancement to the Nascent Soul Stage.

A Nascent Soul Ancestor who had mastered a Divine Skill compared to one who had not could be said to be on two completely different levels of Nascent Soul Cultivators.