Chapter 1452 — The Ice Palace's Trial, Part One

"Father, there is indeed an important matter I must discuss with you." Yu Xiaochen spoke gravely, then glanced at Yu Yi beside him. Yu Yi had always stayed at his father's side, and so Yu Xiaochen did not know whether he could truly be trusted.

"Speak freely. Yu Yi is a man I trust; he will be a capable arm at your side in the future!" The Yu Family Ancestor read his son's meaning and waved a hand.

Yu Xiaochen nodded, then handed the letter in his hand to his father, the Yu Family Ancestor, and said, "Father, a letter has come from the Ice Palace. The Ice Palace's trial will be held soon!"

"Oh? The Ice Palace's trial is beginning again?" Even a man of the Yu Family Ancestor's steady temperament showed astonishment at Yu Xiaochen's words. He drew a deep breath, opened the letter, read it through swiftly, and said, "This is our chance — the chance of the hidden Yu family! To think the Ice Palace's trial has come round again! In my youth I took part in one; you were not yet born then. After that trial I became an outer sect disciple of the Ice Palace. Five years flew by in a blink, and truly I benefited beyond measure!"

Yu Xiaochen naturally knew of his father's experiences in youth, and knew what the Ice Palace's trial signified.

The Ice Palace's trial was an invitation to trial issued by the Ice Palace, one of the ancient sects — a trial established for the outstanding talents of the younger generation. When the trial ended, those who won the highest places would obtain the chance to remain in the Ice Palace and become outer sect disciples, and once one became an outer sect disciple, one's future was limitless!

Even if only an outer sect disciple, that was already enough! Outer sect disciples — as the name implies — were unaffiliated cultivators permitted to cultivate within the Ice Palace, yet without a master to instruct them directly. Ordinarily they could also obtain some measure of spiritual medicines for their use, though besides cultivation they were also required to shoulder the daily labors of the Ice Palace: fetching water, chopping firewood, patrolling the mountain, sweeping and cleaning, cooking.

And the people within the Ice Palace would, at regular intervals, point these outer sect disciples toward the way. Each outer sect disciple had a term of cultivation of five years, and after five years, unless one possessed particularly outstanding aptitude and could remain to take a master and become an inner sect disciple, all the rest had to leave.

Yet even if only five years, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth where the Ice Palace stood was beyond comparison with ordinary places. The Yu Family Ancestor's soaring ascent began in those five years — from a talent at the peak of the late Yellow Rank to, in five years' time, a talent at the peak of the late Mystic Rank, all at a stroke!

Though such a speed of cultivation could not be called the fastest, it still counted among the foremost, for there were others who broke through to the Earth Rank!

Of course, had the Yu Family Ancestor known how long Qiu Lingshan took to break through from the peak of the early Yellow Rank to the early Mystic Rank, he would likely have died of rage.

"Yes, Father. That is why, the moment I received this letter, I came up the mountain to see you!" Yu Xiaochen said.

"The standard for entry set out in this letter has been raised, but our Yu family is still qualified. The standard for this trial has been raised from above the mid Yellow Rank in the last one to above the early Mystic Rank, and the trial surety has risen to the astronomical sum of a hundred million." The Yu Family Ancestor said, "But these are trifles."

"Yes. But the letter also mentions that there are two forms of reward. Which one are we to choose?" Yu Xiaochen asked, nodding.

The second form of reward was the right to exchange for heaven-and-earth treasures! Put plainly, if there was a thing you wished to obtain, and that thing happened to be held by the Ice Palace as well, then you could exchange for it with treasures of equal value or with money!

But could one not simply exchange directly? Must one spend a hundred million in surety and pass the trial before one could trade? Was that not rather harsh? In truth, it was just that harsh! You might hold a heaven-and-earth treasure in your hands, but that treasure might be of no use whatever to your clan, and in your keeping it would be no more than a precious thing with a price but no market. To exchange it for the treasure you desire was no easy matter! And by the same token, if you had money and wished to buy the treasure you sought, that too was not something you could buy at will. So that was how overbearing they were: if you wished to trade, you did it by their rules!

Of course, you should not underestimate this right of exchange. Each winner, if he did not choose to remain in the Ice Palace and become an outer sect disciple, could obtain one right of exchange — that is, the right to trade with the Ice Palace for the item he desired — and it was valid forever. If there was nothing he wanted at the time, he could exchange for it later.

However, the thing you wished to exchange for had also to be something the Ice Palace agreed to exchange. If you wanted something the Ice Palace itself needed, there was no way on earth they would give it to you.

"Naturally the first. As for the second form of reward, unless a clan has something it particularly needs, no one would suffer such a loss!" The Yu Family Ancestor laughed. "I expect every family is aiming at the first form of reward now!"

"That is true. If the need were not great, who would spend a hundred million to obtain this qualification to trade — and with no guarantee of obtaining it besides?" Yu Xiaochen said, nodding. "Then, Father, who do you mean to send to the trial?"

"Yu Bing and Yu Shan." The Yu Family Ancestor said, "Our Yu family will send two this time. Let them go."

"Yu Bing as well?" Yu Xiaochen was slightly taken aback. As for Yu Shan taking part in the Ice Palace's trial, Yu Xiaochen was naturally in favor; Yu Shan was the child of his second brother's family, and his aptitude was outstanding too. But in every great clan there would be some measure of contention. Yu Shan was outstanding, and so naturally he too wished to become the heir of the Yu family's third generation!

Yet Yu Xiaochen, judging by his own private interests, still wished his own son Yu Bing to serve as the next heir!

"I know your meaning. But I have said it before: the finest of the Yu family's next generation are Yu Ning, and also..." Here the Yu Family Ancestor closed his mouth, glanced left and right, and said, "That matter, I will not speak of. Whatever you do, do not let the Yu family's enemies learn that our Yu family is able to receive a lineage inheritance. Otherwise, the swift rise of our Yu family will threaten the standing of those ancient sects above! The Yu family already has two Heaven Rank talents, and that alone makes men wary. If two peerless geniuses should appear as well, then... it may bring down upon the Yu family a calamity no one could withstand!"

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