Long Chen stepped closer to the sphere of light that was floating in the middle of the sealed room.
Reaching the sphere, he reached out his hand to touch it.
Flicker~
The sphere flickered a bit as Long Chen's hand closed in on it before disappearing completely. Long Chen couldn't even touch it.
"W-what? Where did it go?"
He turned around, finding the sphere of light in the different corners of the room.
"Strange."
He walked closer to the sphere again and tried touching it; however, the sphere again flickered before it disappeared, but letting him touch.
"The heck? Is it trying to mess with me?"
He wanted to use Teleportation to get to the sphere, but he couldn't. He could only fly to the sphere as fast as he could. The sphere didn't disappear until his fingers reached close to it.
It only happened when Long Chen was about to touch it. It was only now that he understood the sphere was playing with him. It could use Spatial Energy to escape his grasp.
"Is it alive or something? It's as if the sphere is shy of touch and only thinks about escaping when it's at risk. Strange..."
He turned to look at the sphere again. "How can I touch it like this? If it goes on, I won't be able to. Is it another challenge by that old man?"
He once again walked closer to the sphere, but this time he didn't reach out his hand.
"If it's scared of my fingers, let's try touching it without fingers..."
He kept his hand behind his back and walked closer to the sphere, letting it tough his body.
Surprisingly, it worked! The sphere didn't disappear. Instead, it moved closer to Long Chen on its own, getting bigger.
The sphere became even bigger than Long Chen, taking him inside it. Long Chen's body disappeared inside the white sphere as it was hidden by the white light.
Inside the Dark Tower, the old man was smiling.
"Congrats, young man. It Looks like my comprehension has accepted you. Now it depends on you as to how much you can grasp from it before coming out. Will you be the same as before, or will you be a new person entirely?"
He disappeared as well, getting back to repairing the Dark Tower for other challengers.
...
"Where is that man!" The Heavenly Emperor roared at the Heavenly Warrior, who was responsible for finding Long Chen.
"I-i don't know. He was inside the tower. And after that, he didn't come out. He must be inside." The Heavenly Warrior had no idea. He started freaking out with the Heavenly Emperor's questioning.
"He isn't inside. I checked it personally. He left the tower. He is somewhere in the prison. I don't care how you do it; I want him before me!" The Heavenly Emperor raged.
He had come to this prison to meet one man, and that man was missing? He couldn't believe how careless the people handling this prison were.
"I will find him! I promise!" The Heavenly Warrior responded. "We should be able to locate him from the Warrior Tower. Since he took part in the Dark Tower, his aura should be registered. We should be able to find where he is!"
"Do it then." The Heavenly Emperor let out.
...
"This... Is... Amazing..." Long Chen couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He found himself on a floating island. There were thousands of slabs floating before him, each having an incredible skill inscribed in it.
"Greetings, Young Man. I see you have made your way to this place..." A calm voice floated in the air as a figure became visible before Long Chen.
"You? So I was right. I'm still inside the Dark Tower? Is this the second stage of the trial?"
"Wrong. I am not him. What you found inside the dark tower was also a fragment of the main consciousness like me, but that was different. That fragment was left to ensure the proper working of the Dark Tower and to maintain the working of prison."
"Then what were you for? What's your purpose?"
"My purpose is simple. It is to protect the comprehension of the main consciousness and share it with a deserving person," The consciousness explained.
"You mean...?" Long Chen didn't understand. Was he talking about some inheritance?
"You aren't entirely correct. It's not inheritance."
"You can read my mind?" Long Chen exclaimed.
"I can. And I can see even more..." the old man said.
"So if this place isn't to share an inheritance, why is this place here?" Long Chen asked.
"It's because of my desire... Or shall I say the desire of the main consciousness..."
"What do you mean? Are you talking about Lord Genso?"
"That should be the name people outside this place knows me as. However, as I was saying, my main consciousness left me behind because of his desire, or should I say my desire."
"What desire?"
"To establish a sect and teach youngsters to become great men who could take my legacy forward. However, before I could do that, I was tossed here by the Heavenly Emperor for no fault of my own. My dream was shattered."
"Since you couldn't establish a sect outside, you decided to make this Prison your sect. Now I understand. That was why this Inner Prison system was established. The Dark Tower for promotion, yearly tournaments, Skill Library, and many such things. You lived your dream even in your prison...."
"You can say that..." The old man replied. "It still wasn't the same though. I tried finding Disciples amongst the prisoners, but most of them were unworthy. They were already too old and too corrupted. Moreover, their style didn't match mine..."
"What happened after that?" Long Chen asked.
"After that, I received the news that I was being released. I could leave and find a disciple outside, but after trying all this while, I was too tired. I just wanted to live my life far away from the Heaven. So I decided to split my consciousness."
"I left one behind in the Dark tower to keep it working. Left others behind here to test potential Disciples who are worthy of my teaching so I could find the right disciple for me. As for the main consciousness, it left. I'm not sure what happened to it since we're just connected now."
"So this place... He's a disciple selection exam?" Long Chen asked, frowning.
"Why inside the prison? I mean, even if your main consciousness was tired, it could make a tower outside for disciple selection there and leave you there as well? Won't it be better? Why leave you in the prison?"