Yang Qing's curiosity was drawn to what grade the artifact was seeing how it was instrumental to the growth and survival of the Zou clan.
However, it would remain just that, a curiosity. He doubted if Zou Yi knew much about it due to the restrictions of his age and the level of access that came along with it and the importance of the artifact to the clan. Even if by some slim chance Zou Yi did know enough about the artifact based on the reverence in his tone, it was in doubt whether he would reveal much about it and to someone he just met no less even if said person would be helping them start over.
"From what my father told me, the artifact creates a separate realm with different levels. Each level has different kinds of arrays that the user has to break through before they move to the next level.
The degree of difficulty, sophistication, and quality increases with each level. The arrays one deals with are never the same during each test. So you cannot prepare yourself for them by drawing from the experiences of the previous challengers," Zou Yi paused as he took a drink of the ginkgo tea before he resumed.
"The next head of the Zou clan falls on the person who reaches the highest level. And if there ate ties they look at the time taken. There is no restriction on who can apply for the seat as there are many side-branch descendants who occasionally apply for it.
The test is a chance to shoot for glory in one fell swoop and from what I heard from our seniors every level you clear there are harvests that come along with it. The rewards vary but they all center on the dao of formation arrays. So there is never a shortage of people who apply for it since even if they fail at gaining the clan head seat they could still reap various rewards as long they cleared a few levels.
However, despite how glamorous it seems, it is also a death trap. The lethality of the arrays used in the test increase with each level. There is no talisman or protection mechanism to protect the challengers. If you fail to decrypt an array you may end up paying for that failure with your life depending on how lethal it is.
Other than the danger of the test produced by the artifact there is also another rule that is imposed by the clan when it comes to vying for the seat of the family head, and that is the challenger is not only risking their own lives but their immediate families too.
If the challenger dies in there, their immediate family gets banished from the main clan. They can join the side branches if they wish to but they can never remain at the main family. You even have your names removed from the clan registry.
This method was employed to ensure the new clan head would have an easy transition into power without having to worry about potential backstabbings from those who hold resentment for their dead family members. Thus reducing infighting. Those who choose to vie for the family head seat don't do so lightly since it's not only their lives that they risk.
'You have to be willing to risk your life and your families before you have the right to shoulder the fate of tens of thousands of Zou clan members' is what my grandfather used to say," said Zou Yi as his tone turned heavier.
Zou Liqin had managed to calm down by the time the tale reached this point, albeit just barely, as the waterworks being held at bay in her eyes didn't seem like they would need much effort to drop again.
"Every participant and their families prepare themselves mentally in case the worst happened. Our father did the same with us when he decided to vie for the position.
Even though he did, we were all perfunctory with it as we never thought he would fail. He was touted as a genius, one can only see in ten thousand years.
Many within the clan expected he would be the next head once the test began since there were very few who matched him when it came to formation arrays. At just thirty-three, he was already a blue-grade formation master.
Looking at our current appearance one wouldn't guess we were constantly fawned over by people stronger than even the emperor of this nation as they tried to curry favor with my father.
Right now it takes enormous effort just to earn a few pieces of silver when back then I used to throw around middle-grade spirit stones in the water as if they were rocks," said Zou Yi as he smiled in self-deprecation.
"I never thought my father would lose. It's been three years since then and I still can't believe it. No one did.
In fact, if it wasn't for the clan decree set by the third ancestor my father would have already been handed the seat," Zou Yi paused as he tried to forcefully hold back his tears but that was a battle he lost within seconds as tears kept dropping no matter how much he tried to stop them.
"When the day for the selection came, we all expected our father would win. This was a sentiment shared by even some of the participants who were only there to be seen and reap a few harvests while they were at it. Most of them didn't think they would outdo my father.
When the competition started, it all went as expected at the earlier levels, with our father breezing through them easily.
His momentum only slowed down when he was at the thirtieth level and by that time most of the competitors had either given up, died, or got too injured to continue.
I think there were about twenty people left who were able to keep up with him but the higher he moved the lower the number got. By the time he reached the forty-seventh level only four people were left."
Zou Liqin had decided to take over for her brother who was still struggling to hold back his tears. She could sympathize since just like him, she worshipped their father too and that day that should have been the greatest day of their lives turned into the worst day of their lives.
She could remember how wildly they were cheering every time a display stone attached to the artifact would light up as their father moved up a level.
The stone was an accessory to the artifact. Participants would have their names automatically recorded the moment they started the tests in the separate realm created by the artifact. The stone showed the levels they reached and their state, whether they were dead or alive, and those that forfeited their names would be greyed out on the level they reached.
You could only forfeit when you cleared a level and then forfeit the chance to move on to the next level or if you survived the attack of the array. The chances of the latter happening were always low and mostly depended on luck since you can't bring any artifact with you while taking the test.
"The number only got smaller the higher they moved till by the time they reached the sixtieth level only two people were left. One was my father and the other was someone we all didn't expect.
It was someone from the side branches who no one knew much about even the members from the side branch he belonged to. If it wasn't for the test no one would even know someone like him existed.
Those from the side branch typically never do well from these things since even though they are called that, the main family barely offers them any support other than the Zou family name. Everything else they have to depend on themselves, so their starting point and that of those from the main family are different.
However, despite the disadvantage, someone we knew nothing about kept up with our father, one of the greatest prodigies our clan has ever seen.
While competitors can't see each other within that realm they can track each other's progress.
My father and the other person from the branch went head to head till the 63rd level where a gap started forming. My father was in the 64th level while the person from the branch made it to the 67th level.
I was told by the seniors from our clan that the increase in difficulty between each level once you reach the 60th level threshold is as big as the stars and the earth.
The gap between them may have only been three levels apart but in there the person from the side branch may well have been half a continent apart from my father.
The irony of the situation is that even while lagging behind at the 64th level, my father had already gone past the level the previous clan head had reached which was at the 62nd level," Zou Liqing said as she painfully sighed.
"As for the 67th level, the number of previous clan heads who reached that far is not more than ten. Everyone that day young or old were all in disbelief by what we were seeing.
My father someone dubbed as a genius whose talents may one day rival that of the famous third ancestor was being completely overshadowed by someone unknown and younger than him. If we were that shocked, I can only imagine how stupefying it was for him.
But he still went on and managed to reach the 67th level too but by that time the person from the side branch had set an even more absurd record. He was already at the 70th level.
Only four people have ever made it that far and one of them is the third ancestor. As for the other three, each one of them left a legendary reputation during their time both within the clan and outside."
