Around half a month passed.
On top of an avian magical beast were three human figures, leisurely resting on the back as they enjoyed the surrounding scenery during the travel.
Davis and Evelynn sat together on a spot to the left, a little away from Isabella who was at the right side.
Evelynn exposed a worried expression on her face frequently, mostly because she was well aware that she hadn’t made improvements in her Body Tempering Cultivation ever since the events of the Grand Sea Continent Meet.
Instead, she only changed her cultivation method to a Sky Grade one that was present in the Loret Royal Family.
Her body cultivation had stagnated from that time since she was fearful of the pain she received while cultivating Body Tempering Systeme in the past.
Before, she gritted her teeth and cultivated up to the Iron Stage but still easily lost to Davis, losing the deal she made at that time. This made her lose hope in Body Tempering Cultivation since it seemed a bit unrewarding while even having the possibility of ruining her voluptuous figure.
Now, in these few days, she had trained her Body Tempering Cultivation for most of the time during their travel along with Davis’s personal guidance.
The avian magical beast which was the Golden horned Wyvern had maintained a stable course in the sky and Davis had helped her cultivate from any disturbance by using his soul force.
For example, he had curbed the wind resistance from disrupting her training session numerous times and taken care of tiny little problems that cropped up during this time.
Even so, Evelynn still had cold feet that curbed her from having positive thoughts for the upcoming trial.
Davis had consoled her numerous times that she should be able to clear the trial with her current strength as long she maintains an edge over the opponents, but she knew it was all baseless and he said that only to cheer her up.
Evelynn slowly opened her eyes as she finished her cultivation session, rather, she had sensed the humongous Capital City of the Ruth Empire that slowly emerged in front of her.
Davis’s eyes flashed.
A few kilometers away from them was a city that stood tall, and had a great wall stretching to about 1,000 kilometers in a circle.
The wall was about 200 meters tall and grandly sculpted with their own sense of cultural architecture, giving the viewers a breathtaking feeling, but the onlookers from far away could still see some structures which were even taller than the wall.
The tallest of them, the Royal Palace of the reigning ruler, at a height of about 1000 meters high in the sky. The Palace of the Ruth Emperor.
"The Ruth Empire sure is rich in history and architecture..." Davis unknowingly commented while looking at the tall and high rise buildings stretching through the horizons.
"Your words are of high praise, Prince Davis..." Isabella softly said with a smile, her face quite proud.
According to history, the Ruth Empire was the largest Empire as well as the Empire to exist through the annals of time.
It has existed for more than 1,000 years according to the records of the other empires in their respective libraries but for how many years exact... No one knew other than the main branch of the Ruth Empire’s Royal Family.
Even the noble families present in the Ruth Empire have changed at least every 500 years, while not even one of them managed to beat the decline of talents in the presence of time.
Only the Ruth Emperor and his elders knew about the history of the Ruth Empire, or even Isabella since she received the inheritance and was once an Empress before giving it up to her father.
The Golden Horned Wyvern which had grown a few meters long and wide since its breakthrough to the Fifth Stage. It flew above the walls and approached a structure that was 700 meters tall and 300 meters wide.
Landing on a platform that was designed for entry through the air, the Golden Horned Wyvern lowered its body, letting the ones were riding on its back down.
Isabella gestured them to follow her while the other two complied in tacit understanding.
The three of them then entered the building and headed towards a hall that occupied 20% of the size of the building.
Once they entered the hall, Davis found a few things that garnered his attention.
The architecture and design of the hall seemed vastly different from the ones outside, with dragon patterns decorating all over the walls and pillars.
Other than this, he found a few youths and Emperor Ruth discussing about something before they found out about their arrival.
"Hahaha! Davis, you grew up! Welcome to the Ruth Empire..." Emperor Ruth laughed uproariously as he enthusiastically approached Davis.
Davis clasped his hands and slightly bowed, thanking him for the favor especially when he considered they allowed Evelynn to participate in the trials.
He did decide that it should be Evelynn who should participate in the trials but the choice to make the ultimate decision ended up on the Ruth Empire’s Ruler to make.
"Mark, when does the trial start?" Davis couldn’t keep his curiosity curbed since it involved Evelynn’s growth as an individual cultivator.
It was fine if she stayed at home but both of them wanted to give meaning to their lives and travel together at some point. For this, he needed her to be strong and possess a powerful will.
What place other than a trial would suffice for this matter?
"Hahaha! You still remember what I said about calling me by my name! Good! Good!" Emperor Ruth laughed as he shook his head, "Aren’t you hasty? Don’t worry! The trial will begin in a few hours once I request a passage from this place..."
Immoral Inheritances didn’t have infinite energy to support numerous participants in the first place. For this matter, the inheritance would close up for some time before opening again in the near future.
This was was also the reason why Davis wasn’t able to send Evelynn or himself to the Immortal Inheritance in the Firzen Island, the one where Clara participated and managed to clear the Emperor Grade Trial; the Ice Phoenix Immortal Inheritance.
He originally thought that he would take the trial of either the Ice or Fire Phoenix but it seemed like he would only be able to do that after the necessary time had passed for the Immortal Inheritance to re-energize its trial conducting formations.
He learned this from Claire after he gave Evelynn the opportunity to participate in the Earth Dragon Immortal Inheritance. It was at the time when talks with Isabella about who would participate in the Earth Dragon Immortal Inheritance was unofficially decided.
It was at that moment he knew that he screwed up his chances to increase his cultivation base quickly but as a husband-to-be, he truly felt that if he were to take back his words of wanting to share this opportunity with his wife-to-be, he would be a scum, a personality he disliked to the extreme due to personal reasons.
Emperor Ruth left in the direction of a wall as a tunnel opened as if it sensed someone approaching it. He entered the tunnel and went down for a few minutes before coming back.
"Alright, I’ve initiated the trial! All of you prepare yourselves!"
Emperor Ruth shouted at the youths who were gathered in the hall, there were 14 of them.
Davis recognized three of them as they were also participants of the Grand Sea Continent Meet. One of them was in the top ten and the other two were in the top twenty.
The youths all sat and entered the meditation state as soon as they heard their father yapping.
Davis saw their negligence but also fear in a form of respect in their closing eyes. He inwardly mused about the life Emperor Mark Ruth has lived while ruling this empire for decades.
It didn’t click in his mind at first but now looking at it from a close perspective, he recalled the fact that this man, Emperor Mark Ruth, had married 57 women in his entire lifetime.
The youth who were all present here, including Isabella, was all from the wombs of those 57 women, making them the Emperor’s children.
He couldn’t guess what type of a cruel man would it take to have a relationship with this many women but on second thought, he realized that it wasn’t cruel and that was how the way things worked in this world.
Even an upright individual couldn’t resist the temptations involuntarily exuded by beauties.
’The strong do truly enjoy their lives here unlike the fake ones in the mortal world...’ He chanced upon a realization.
Emperor Ruth walked towards Davis and informed the necessary details about the competition which Isabella elaborated on before.
There were three things to remember.
One, a person can only use their Body Tempering Cultivation while in the trial.
Two, if a person used any other cultivation other than Body Tempering Cultivation, the person would be disqualified.
Three, disqualified meant death!
When Davis heard that, his spine experienced an influx of chill, and so did Evelynn.
"These three rules haven’t changed from time immemorial. Just make sure that she doesn’t use any other cultivation no matter what might happen, otherwise, it’s difficult to keep on living. This is the basic courtesy the Earth Dragon Immortal asked of us and our ancestors..."
Davis nodded his head when he heard Emperor Ruth’s speech.
He turned to Evelynn and warned her again out of worry. He was no longer was excited at the prospect of Evelynn completing the trial. If there were to be any accidents... He didn’t want to even think about it.
Even if she failed, he just wanted her to come back safe.
Evelynn nodded her head and repeatedly assured him that she will not use any other cultivation other than Body Tempering Cultivation.
Davis nodded and finally a smile lit up his worried face. He turned to ask Emperor Ruth, "Mark, I wonder if you can divulge the contents of the trial... I know that I’m asking too much and I can pa..."
Emperor Ruth shook his head with an angry expression on his face, "Aiya! What are you saying, Davis? Aren’t we close!?"
Saying so, Emperor Ruth elaborated, "So far, Earth Dragon Immortal had trials based on only one aspect... Strength!"
"As for the specifics on how the trial will go, the remnant soul of the Earth Dragon Immortal will decide..." Emperor Ruth sheepishly said.
The sight of it was quite comical but Davis’s face was quite stiff.
If they didn’t know the contents of the trial then how was he supposed to come up with a counter plan for Evelynn?
The more time passed like this... The more he was afraid of sending Evelynn to a trial of unknown content.
Meanwhile, Evelynn who was meditating on the floor was filled with determination towards the unknown.
A few hours passed and a flash of light streaked through the tunnel as it shortly blinded everybody on the hall.
"It has opened..." Emperor Ruth solemnly uttered and gestured the youths to enter.
Four youths stepped forward with a brave disposition and entered the tunnel leading to the trial.
Emperor Ruth nodded and explained, "Davis, only four of them can enter at a time. I assume you don’t want her to enter with the first batch?"
Davis nodded as he cast a thankful glance.
Emperor Ruth knew Davis’s thoughts as he could see the young man being worried about his woman.
Honestly, he felt that this woman was so lucky to gain favor from this lad who he had acknowledged as a peer.
He cast a glance at his daughter, and a sudden thought flashed through his mind before he wryly shook his head.
’There’s no way that could happen, right?’
A few hours passed as the youths present continued to mediate on their state of mind.
Suddenly, the tunnel flashed again and a few minutes later, the four youths who had entered before, appeared.
Davis’s expression went stiff. They were all more or less powerful than Evelynn in terms of Body Tempering Cultivation, yet they were all bloody and battered.
Once they came out, they ask kneeled and shouted with a pitiful expression on their faces, "We have disappointed you, Royal Father!"
The moment they finished uttering their sentence, the keeled over and fainted simultaneously as if they planned beforehand.
Yet, the truth was that everyone present knew that they were not acting.
Emperor Ruth hurriedly ran over and fed them pills with a worried expression on his face.
While he kept muttering "Useless! Useless..." there was still a worried expression on his face, indicating that he wasn’t vicious enough.
The youths who saw this had solemn expressions on their faces.