◎ This is a question of choosing between two paths ◎
“Calm down!”
Lin Shuang pressed firmly on Huangfu Yuan’s head, where strands of hair had begun to thicken and lengthen… the same transformation he underwent when he snapped back at the ruined temple.
Last time it was due to encountering a demonic cultivator—this time, because a tiger demon harmed a fox spirit? Was he going off the rails again?
“Let’s review our answers one more time.”
[……]
“We answered too fast, way too smoothly—don’t you think?”
A deep unease crept over Lin Shuang.
They didn’t even have to travel—Wang Jian had brought them here directly.
It felt exactly like a teacher pressuring a student into making the wrong choices on an exam!
[……?]
[What?]
Lin Shuang grabbed hold of Huangfu Yuan, but in the next moment, the tiger’s roar echoed endlessly—overwhelming like a tide, like a thousand blades piercing their divine sense.
“Shit, Lin Shuang, it’s a divine sense test!”
Meng Zi staggered under the weight of his blade.
Lin Shuang’s breath caught.
{Tiger Demon Li Wei, half-step Nascent Soul.}
{His roar lasts half a stick of incense. For Foundation Establishment cultivators, prolonged exposure may damage the sea of consciousness—severe cases result in 30 days of unconsciousness, unaffected by pills.}
{Disciples, proceed with caution.}
Approaching the 4000th level, the Nine Thousand Trials were turning ruthless.
You could no longer rely on deduction and hidden artifact triggers to pass.
Without true strength, even reaching the final trial meant nothing.
Some would fail—and pay dearly for it.
[If you’re seeing this warning, it means over ten disciples have suffered injury or worse on this level.]
[It’s both a reminder and a warning. Disciples with weak divine sense should consider exiting here, and returning after further cultivation.]
[Yes. Forcing your way through comes with a heavy cost.]
[No matter how you investigate, you’ll always end up tracing it back to the tiger demon.
Endure half an incense stick’s worth of roaring, and you pass!]
As the words floated by, not only the Clearwater Sect but disciples from the other five sects—whether they spent spirit stones or followed Xiaofeng’s route with the tiger hair—were all teleported by their respective “Wang Jian” to face the tiger demon.
Every team now faced the same half-step Nascent Soul tiger’s roar!
Trees trembled. Disciples turned pale and froze in place.
“Assume formation!”
Solemn Inscriptions Sect drew formation runes on the spot.
Ten Thousand Monks Sect sat cross-legged and began beating their wooden fish.
Wandering Blossom Sect formed hand seals—spring, summer, autumn, and winter flowers blossomed around them, enclosing them layer by layer.
Artifact and Pill Sect swallowed pills and activated divine sense-protecting artifacts.
…
Each group had their own methods, but all were clearly struggling.
The most advanced team—Ten Thousand Monks Sect—had disciples only at peak Foundation Establishment Stage 6.
But their opponent was a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator—a Foundation Establishment peak in cultivation, but with divine sense pressure on par with Nascent Soul.
[Thank goodness for the warning. Otherwise, stepping in here without preparation would’ve knocked them all out cold.]
[There are no such reminders outside. Truly, the sects fear something might happen to their disciples inside the trials.]
[Actually, when Wang Jian shouted “Nascent Soul” back in the embroidery room, that was the first warning.]
[Exactly. The trial even created a whole scene of Wang Jian being knocked unconscious by the tiger demon’s roar. Nine Thousand Trials really went all out…]
[No wonder you need Foundation Establishment Stage 5 to even be eligible for the Ascension Board—those details score points too, because they double as subtle warnings.]
The screen filled with commentary.
No matter when, puzzle trials were always a favorite among advanced disciples.
This floor’s trial: endure the tiger’s roar for half an incense stick.
After that, the tiger demon Li Wei—despite his terrifying power—would weaken from overexertion of his divine sense.
After all, his body was not truly at the Nascent Soul stage.
“Hold out! Once the roar stops, we strike!”
Bian Bocai of the Wandering Blossom Sect was drenched in sweat, too focused to wipe it.
“The divine sense attack is already weakening!”
“At most, half a tea’s time remains.”
“No! We must strike before that!”
Senior Sister Zhu Jiao, the leader of their group, flung open a book from her sleeve—petals fluttered out.
“We have to beat Ten Thousand Monks Sect!”
In an instant, petals of red apricot and layered crabapple…
Golden chrysanthemums and ghostly gentian…
Seasonal blooms burst from the book’s pages, drifting around the roaring tiger demon.
[“Compendium of the Four Seasons”? That book costs 20,000 spirit stones! Is she insane?!]
[The Wandering Blossom Sect’s supreme technique—Four Seasons of Time! She’s accelerating time!]
[At Foundation Establishment, it takes two months to craft even one copy of that book!
And she’s using it on the second round?!]
[She has no choice. When it comes to divine sense, who can compete with the chanting monks of Ten Thousand Monks Sect? If not now, then when?]
The moment her petals scattered, the tiger demon’s roar weakened noticeably.
As if he had aged through the four seasons in an instant—drained and sluggish—his divine sense faded as he glared at the three Wandering Blossom disciples.
“Go!”
The trio surrounded him with flying petals.
At almost the same moment, the projection for Ten Thousand Monks Sect began to shift.
The triple beat of their wooden fish gradually overwhelmed the furious roar.
A solemn calm settled in—the look of one glimpsing a Buddha appeared in the tiger demon’s dazed expression.
His roaring fell to a whisper.
The three sacred wooden fish grew massive and struck as one.
Mountain and Sea Sect raised three mountain seals into the ground for defense.
Xiao Qi wrapped his sword in cloth and let it fall layer by layer.
With a hand seal, he released a sky-splitting slash.
[The disciples this year are incredibly strong!]
[Their cultivation levels are nearly the same—solid mid-tier fight.]
[Let’s see who lands in the top three!]
Almost as that comment passed, the projection rapidly updated with all six sects’ progress.
{Wandering Blossom Sect was the first to defeat the tiger demon Li Wei. 50 points.}
{Wandering Blossom Sect was the first to return Huiniang’s remains to Wang Jian. 50 points.}
{“Level 3903: “Darling, just look at me one more time.” — Wandering Blossom Sect: Total score: 115 points.}
{Mission complete: Find Huiniang, bring her home. Trial passed.}
The three disciples from Wandering Blossom Sect vanished from the screen—successfully clearing the trial.
Then, more updates followed:
{Ten Thousand Monks Sect placed second in defeating the tiger demon Li Wei. 40 points.}
{Ten Thousand Monks Sect placed second in returning Huiniang’s remains to Wang Jian. 40 points.}
{Level 3903: “Darling, just look at me one more time.” — Ten Thousand Monks Sect: Total score: 92 points.}
…
{Mountain and Sea Sect placed third… Total: 76 points.}
{Solemn Inscriptions Sect placed fourth… Total: 48 points.}
{Artifact and Pill Sect placed fifth… Total: 32 points.}
“The rankings for Round Two among the six sects have now been determined.”
In the projection, the scene switched to commentary from Wandering Blossom Sect’s Senior Sister Lihua and Clearwater Sect’s Senior Brother Xu Xiang.
“The five other sects have successfully cleared the trial and departed the testing level. Only Clearwater Sect remains.”
“What a shame. Clearwater Sect was leading for most of the way. Especially Junior Sister Lin Shuang, who also participated in the Outer Sect duels—her performance was truly impressive.”
Senior Sister Lihua shook her head.
“But in the face of overwhelming cultivation disparity, cleverness alone is not enough. This is the world of cultivators, after all.”
[Clearwater Sect… once again in sixth place.]
[It’s easy to forget how many points they earned in the early stages…]
“Now then, let’s focus on the three members of Clearwater Sect, still withstanding the tiger’s roar and holding on with all their might.”
On the screen, only Lin Shuang, Meng Zi, and Huangfu Yuan remained.
At some point, Lin Shuang had taken out a small floral cotton quilt from her storage pouch and firmly pressed it over Huangfu Yuan’s head.
[?]
[??]
Meng Zi was counting on his fingers. “Lin Shuang, I’ve tallied it up.”
“Ascension Board: 2 points. Discovering Wang Jian’s cultivation: 2 points. Reaching Wang Jian first: 2 points.”
“Obtaining Huiniang’s journal: 2 points. Huiniang’s portrait: 2 points.”
“Uncovering Xiaofeng’s lie: 2 points.”
“Receiving Wang Jian’s letter and Huiniang’s remaining notes: 2 points each.”
“Tiger hair: 2 points. First to teleport to the tiger demon’s location: 2 points.”
“Points related to Wang Jian: 8 points.”
“Points related to Huiniang: 6 points.”
“Xiaofeng and the tiger demon: 2 and 4 points, respectively!”
[?]
[???]
[Even if you count it thirty times, you’re still sixth place—20 points total… Wandering Blossom Sect has 115!]
“Wrong.”
Lin Shuang kept the small quilt pressed firmly over Huangfu Yuan’s head, shielding the streaks of red and silver in his hair—revealed in his moments of madness.
Huangfu Yuan’s ears were stiff, the back of his neck damp with restrained sweat.
Sweat from Lin Shuang’s own brow slid from her hair and dripped onto his hand.
“How much longer until you’re done losing your mind?” she whispered at his ear.
“… Half a cup of tea.”
“……”
She clenched her jaw, her expression contorted with pain under the roar of the tiger.
After all, she possessed 108 threads of divine sense—especially sensitive.
“How could I be wrong? I couldn’t have miscalculated the spirit stone scoring!”
Meng Zi was not happy.
His face pale under the deafening roar. “Fine, I’ll count again.”
Lin Shuang cut him off. “No, cough…”
Dust stirred up by the tiger’s roar made her instinctively close her eyes and cough lightly.
A low, raspy laugh emerged from under the little quilt wrapped around Huangfu Yuan. “Fourteen points.”
Lin Shuang, still pressing down on his head, turned to nod at Meng Zi.
“Mm. The Ascension Board post was his, he discovered Wang Jian’s cultivation, was directly teleported to him, the portrait of Huiniang was painted by him, Xiaofeng gave him Huiniang’s handwritten notes, the return letter from Wang Jian—all tied to him. Even the teleportation to the tiger’s lair was through his actions…”
“To be exact, that’s a total of fourteen points.”
“Points directly tied to Huiniang: six. The tiger demon: four…”
The so-called final boss of this trial—the tiger demon—only accounted for four points?
One-fifth of the score? How was that even reasonable?
This was a complex, integrated exam problem. And yet the core scoring points weren’t centered on the tiger demon, but on Wang Jian and Huiniang’s story.
“That really doesn’t make sense!”
Meng Zi, drenched in sweat, widened his eyes. “If it were me designing this trial, I’d save the biggest spirit stone reward for the worst villain!”
[Exactly. Killing the tiger demon is worth fifty points… but you didn’t kill him.]
[You dragged it out too long—that’s why you didn’t get the top score!]
Lin Shuang drew a long breath.
“We know Huiniang is gone.”
“Xiaofeng is gone too.”
“The trial is still ongoing. On stage, the only ones left are the tiger demon and Wang Jian.”
This had always been a single-choice question between two options.
Lin Shuang frowned.
Something about it felt off.
She kept pressing down on Huangfu Yuan’s head. Beneath her palm, the powerful spirit beneath the quilt stirred restlessly.
She opened her eyes.
Yes.
Being suppressed leads to backlash and resistance.
The only interference they encountered was when Xiaofeng was about to reveal the name of the one Huiniang feared—and she was suddenly silenced.
Assuming, for now, that the tiger demon was the culprit—Meng Zi had picked up the tiger hair outside.
But if the tiger demon really abducted Huiniang, why didn’t he silence Xiaofeng from the start?
He believed humans and demons couldn’t coexist, abducted and killed her, but spared Xiaofeng?
He supposedly didn’t want Wang Jian or investigators to know of his presence—yet he didn’t destroy all of Huiniang’s writings. He only tore one page, leaving the rest with Xiaofeng.
And instead of killing Xiaofeng, he simply threatened her to stay quiet?
Isn’t that contradictory?
He could have taken all her writings, destroyed them—or killed Xiaofeng outright.
Why didn’t he?
Was this a deliberate clue planted by the examiners?
No. In previous puppet trials, like the one in Li Family Village, cause and effect held true.
Like how Old Li protected Little Fang, the farm dog—there was logic behind it.
All the bizarre elements in these puppet trials ultimately followed an internal coherence.
These puppets behaved like real people.
So if she were the tiger demon—she’d definitely destroy all evidence.
No loose ends.
But if she were Wang Jian…
Lin Shuang closed her eyes.
As he had said, eighty percent of the calligraphy and painting shops in East City belonged to the Wang family.
Though he wasn’t on the streets, he had eyes and ears everywhere.
Even they, as newcomers, could follow clues to trace it back to the tiger demon.
But Wang Jian, a local insider, couldn’t?
A half-step Nascent Soul tiger demon suddenly went into seclusion, and he simply gave up?
When they arrived, Wang Jian acted clueless, never mentioning the tiger demon’s suspicious retreat—letting them dig out the clues instead?
Whether you followed normal reasoning or scoring logic, this entire trial felt… off.
Huiniang’s entry in her April journal: “The way he looked at me was terrifying…”
If that referred to the tiger demon—then the trial was a divine sense endurance test against the tiger’s roar.
But if “he” meant Wang Jian—
Lin Shuang’s breath caught.
Wang Jian was a painting cultivator.
One portrait of Huiniang drunk under the moon had her nearly entranced—unaware of how close she stepped to the painting.
He then used the “Mountains and Rivers Scroll” to instantly teleport them to the tiger demon’s lair.
Wang Jian was clearly a divine sense powerhouse!
“I ruled Wang Jian out at the very beginning when we entered the Wang residence,” Lin Shuang said, frowning.
“How?” Meng Zi asked. “I used Fiery Eyes Technique to read the spiritual flow in his body—there were no fluctuations indicating deception.”
She pressed her lips together, unable to continue.
Wang Jian’s calligraphy and paintings manipulated emotions.
“In the Nine Thousand Trials, most puppets don’t lie—they only conceal. It follows the laws of cultivation.
If a cultivator acts against their conscience, they’ll suffer backlash one day.”
“Those who lie often… have given up on life or don’t seek ascension…”
“I understand now.”
Lin Shuang lifted her gaze to the tiger demon still roaring in front of them—and the bloodless, beautiful fox spirit cradled in his arms.
“What do you mean?” Meng Zi turned.
“The answer to this question,” Lin Shuang said, “Wang Jian gave it to us long ago.”
She pressed both hands down on the soft quilt covering Huangfu Yuan.
Meng Zi: “?”
Huangfu Yuan: “……”
[……?]
From the Clearwater Sect viewing platform, someone shouted excitedly:
“I get it now! This is what Senior Sister meant by ‘read the question carefully’! Even if the elders give you misleading options, they’ll always provide the right logic to solve it!”
[??]
[What? Who was that?]
[What does it mean?]
In the projection, Lin Shuang’s firm voice rang out.
“Wang Jian said it from the start—”
Back when she had stared at the portrait of drunken Huiniang, her eyes clouded with enchantment, he had said—
“That’s not the real Huiniang. Just something he painted…”
Lin Shuang stared directly at the fox spirit in the tiger demon’s arms.
[??]
[!]
[What—]
[If no one else had cleared the trial first, I might have actually believed it—]
And in that instant, a low, hoarse laugh erupted from beneath the little quilt Lin Shuang had pressed so tightly.
The sword rose from beneath the blanket!
Huangfu Yuan, with Lin Shuang still hanging off his back, surged forward in fury toward the tiger demon.
His sword tripled in size—and in a single motion, he slashed down with all his might toward the fox spirit’s body in the tiger demon’s arms.
With a tearing sound—
The beautiful, lifeless body split open from the middle…
As if it were paper being torn, revealing not the tiger demon beneath, but an inky black void—like the night sky itself.
Ink-like substance spilled out.
“Junior Sister, can you get off now?” Huangfu Yuan asked hoarsely.
He didn’t turn back.
Lin Shuang had practically been clinging to his back, pressing down on the streaks of silver and red in his hair.
Finally, she slid off.
“So you weren’t aiming for the tiger demon just now?”
“You could’ve said that earlier.”
Huangfu Yuan remained silent.
Lin Shuang turned to look around. The tiger demon still held his roaring posture, but no sound came out.
The torn paper of the fox spirit revealed a widening fissure.
Far off, Wang Jian still lay on the ground.
Oh, still pretending?
[???]
[!]
[What’s going on?!]
Lin Shuang pressed her finger to her temple. “We were teleported into the painting from the start, weren’t we?”
“Now the outer layer has been torn—but the scroll beneath is still intact.”
Meng Zi let out a whistle, squatted with his blade, and reached into the seam of the torn paper fox spirit.
The sound of tearing rang out.
He reached inside with a strange expression.
“I don’t sense any spiritual energy.”
“Mm. This trial is testing divine sense.”
Lin Shuang smiled.
She unleashed all 108 threads of her divine sense.
“Senior Brother Huangfu, Senior Brother Meng, how about we combine our divine senses?”
Huangfu Yuan’s phoenix eyes widened.
Combining divine sense…
—Then the outside elders wouldn’t be able to detect his divine sense strength, which was at least Nascent Soul level.
—Then the outside elders wouldn’t notice her unique 108 threads of divine sense.
—They could break the illusion quickly and claim the spirit stone reward.
Huangfu Yuan, Lin Shuang, and Meng Zi exchanged knowing smiles.
In perfect unison: “Let’s do it.”
[Are you kidding me?! Can divine senses really be merged?! Are they Dao partners or what?!]
[Stop joking around! That’s not the point—did Clearwater Sect just break the whole damn trial?!]
[They just tore through the damn wall of the Nine Thousand Trials!]
[What next? Are they going to crawl into the next testing domain by accident?!]
[LOL… The tiger demon was supposed to be the boss of this stage, and they went and damaged the bride’s corpse that was supposed to be returned to Wang Jian…]
[Exactly! Wandering Blossom Sect handed over Huiniang’s body to Wang Jian and got 50 points! I’m speechless at Clearwater Sect! They immediately messed up the bride’s corpse, the core of this stage’s mission!]
[Unbelievable!]
[This is what Clearwater Sect meant earlier when they said, “Let’s see how brilliant Lin Shuang is in the puppet stage.” Well, she sure is “brilliant”—]
The comment stream was filled with laughter.
Zhao Keran and the Clearwater Sect disciples all held their breath.
It was true. The other sects had already cleared the stage.
Now what?
The mission of this trial was to return Huiniang home.
But in front of Lin Shuang’s trio, Huiniang was gone…
Just as worry mounted, the projection screen flickered with spiritual energy.
{Clearwater Sect trio has discovered the hidden Fifth-Grade Artifact of this stage: “Within My Painting Lies a World.” 2 points awarded.
First to pierce the first painting layer of “Within My Painting Lies a World”: 50 points.}
[?]
[!]
[Same score as slaying the tiger demon???]
[Huh? So how do the other sects explain their “cleared” missions?]
{Wandering Blossom Sect: mission complete: Found Huiniang, returned her home (False)}
{Ten Thousand Monks Sect: mission complete: Found Huiniang, returned her home (False)}
{Artifact and Pill Sect: mission complete… (False)}
All five sects’ prior completion records changed in an instant!
The projection showed the environment around Lin Shuang’s group had also shifted.
They now stood within an enormous ink painting that stretched beyond sight—they were but ants, unable to see the top of the scroll.
Before them was the tear Huangfu Yuan had slashed—just a tiny split within the vast expanse of ink.
Towering mountains stretched across the painting, clouds swirling throughout.
To the left, the embroidery shop from East City; to the right, the Wang family’s estate.
Wang Jian lay at Lin Shuang’s feet—lively, yet merely a painted speck.
A black ink brush hovered above Huangfu Yuan.
The hand holding the brush wore a pale blue sleeve.
Its owner—the real Wang Jian—was about to apply the next stroke.
[The tiger demon was only at half-step Spirit Refinement stage. The true Spirit Refinement cultivator is the painter Wang Jian, via his divine sense!?]
[Legend speaks of Spirit Refinement painters who can summon armies within their scrolls—five-grade paintings where the brush brings forth real attacks!]
[“Mountains and Waters” Painting… observers merge their spiritual sense into it to comprehend terrain techniques. But low-level cultivators, once trapped, might never escape!]
[Isn’t this too hard? Isn’t this a Foundation Establishment Level 5 test?]
[Wake up. The “False” completion path was the real level 3000 test. Wandering Blossom got the reward… Clearwater Sect triggered the hidden path, which is much harder!]
[Their spiritual sense can’t escape the layered painting… Wang Jian keeps layering ink upon them, crushing their Foundation Establishment level sense.]
[No wonder this stage had repeated Spirit Refinement warnings!]
A collective sigh echoed among the viewers.
“So this is the real Nine Thousand Trial.”
Even the senior sister commentator from Wandering Blossom Sect reappeared after a long silence.
“The fake clear path… truly exists within Nine Thousand Trials.”
Wandering Blossom disciples, who had thought themselves victors, now stared wide-eyed at the screen.
“False clears… How many elders knew about this?”
On the viewing mountain, Zhao Keran sat among Clearwater Sect disciples from the 6000th floor.
She technically didn’t have access to this high a projection.
But she was acting room monitor for Zhenchuan—
So it was fine. She could watch.
And watching, she learned.
“Even the spectators seem shocked by what’s happening in the projection.”
Zhao Keran looked around at her senior brothers and sisters.
“Does this only happen in Zhenchuan and Yuanhe Nine Thousand?”
Her expression beamed with pride.
I’m from Clearwater Sect. I’m proud.
The seniors around her twitched.
No, Junior Sister.
They were panicking.
They didn’t know this outcome was a false clear!
The 6000-floor disciples, led by Dao Fa, all fell silent.
“Junior Sister Zhao, silence.”
Zhou Xuanwu coughed gently beside her.
Junior Sister was once again talking too much.
The inner sect seniors looked thoroughly embarrassed.
“Hehe, so Senior Sister already taught me the way to break false endings and reach the true ending.”
Zhou Xuanwu tried to stop her.
Zhao Keran just sat watching the screen, muttering happily.
The 6000-floor disciples: “…”
Meanwhile, in the projection—
The clearly out-of-tier Lin Shuang trio were struggling under the pressure of the spiritual trial.
But they were on the verge of combining their spiritual sense.
“Wait.”
Meng Zi sat cross-legged and picked a nice spot.
He summoned his flickering divine sense first.
Not particularly strong.
Barely Foundation Establishment level 6.
It looked like… a high-grade spirit stone.
Lin Shuang: “??”
Huangfu Yuan: “…”
First time seeing a divine sense shaped like this.
Meng Zi coughed. “What? Never seen a spirit stone before? Hurry up, where are yours!”
Huangfu Yuan, deep in thought, summoned his divine sense—powerful despite his weak body.
It was a robust, twisted braid—like a scorpion’s tail.
“What is that, hahaha—” Meng Zi burst out laughing.
Huangfu Yuan shot him a glare.
Lin Shuang barely held back her smile.
[What happened to his sense to make it like that?]
[He supposedly witnessed his parents murdered by evil cultivators—the grief nearly destroyed him.]
[Oh, then never mind. Grief can break a man’s organs, let alone divine sense. For him to rebuild it like this is impressive.]
The comments paused as Lin Shuang summoned hers.
Like spider silk—108 threads danced wildly, stretching infinitely.
[????]
Meng Zi: “????”
Huangfu Yuan: “…”
He lowered his eyes.
Mother, even cultivating nine tails separately isn’t the most tragic.
This is worse.
Cultivating 108.
The sensation traveled from his tail to his soul.
His eyelashes fluttered.
“Let’s combine them.”
Lin Shuang smiled.
“I’ll be in the center.”
Huangfu Yuan: “I’ll take the core.”
Meng Zi: “You two cover my spirit stone…”
They all froze.
[……]
[Nonsense! You think that tiny thing can be in the center?!]
Meng Zi slapped his scabbard.
“Look at your divine senses—can I even contain them?!”
He couldn’t.
Huangfu Yuan frowned.
Lin Shuang sighed.
In the end, they had to place Meng Zi’s short-range sense in the middle.
Then Huangfu Yuan’s scorpion braid.
Then Lin Shuang’s 108 threads.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
The three merged their spiritual senses.
A spear was formed—
Meng Zi’s stone at the tip, the scorpion braid as the shaft, the threads as the tassel.
In a breath, it stabbed toward the tear in the ink.
Thousands of ink mountains, endless black abyss loomed.
The spear surged forward.
Their eyes gleamed.
— Merged as one, it’s okay to go all out.
— If it’s too strong, not my fault.
When the spear touched the abyss, it tripled in size.
At the mountains, it quintupled.
Pierced all of it!
Tore through the painting!
[?!]
[!]
[Their senses merged so perfectly? Reaching Spirit Refinement intensity at Foundation Establishment stage?!]
[Weird shapes, yet perfect fit?]
[Ideal partners for dual cultivation!]
[???]
[Wait, three people… dual…]
Comments flooded. Zhao Keran clutched her face.
{Wandering Blossom Sect viewer ‘Liuyun’ has been removed by moderator for inappropriate remarks.}
{Please maintain decorum. No improper innuendo.}
“…”
{Clearwater Sect trio successfully break through the Fifth-Grade Artifact. 100 points awarded!}
[!]
{In five breaths, the real Wang Jian will appear before the Clearwater Sect trio. He refuses to believe you saw through his illusions. He believes his words had no flaws!}
{Can the Clearwater Sect trio shatter Wang Jian’s dao heart and reveal his ugliness?}
Lin Shuang’s group breached the painting.
They returned to the wedding chamber where it all began.
Nothing had changed.
Only Wang Jian, his grief and elegance now gone, looked at Lin Shuang with rage.
“Why? Why don’t you believe me? You doubted me from the start, even though I explained everything! Why do you still doubt me?!”
He clutched his brush, madness in his eyes.
Lin Shuang opened her mouth, hesitating.
“This stage’s mission was to find Huiniang and return her home.”
“Wang Jian, Huiniang is with you, isn’t she?”
[!]
[“Return her home” not to Wang’s house… ha, what a clever wording trap. The prompt fooled everyone.]
Author’s Note:
Zhao Sect Leader’s Notes 53: “False.”
— Wandering Blossom Sect inner disciples: HP -10,000
— Mountain and Sea Sect inner disciples: -10,000
…
— Clearwater Sect inner disciples: -10,000
— Zhao Keran: Woe and lament! In the Fastest Learning, one word is all it takes to hit the target. Truly…
— Zhou Xuanwu: …How has this Junior Sister survived this long?
— Zhao Keran: …
Tomorrow, we wrap up this instance + review the details. See you then~
This level is like early single-player RPGs with multiple endings. “False” is still an ending—less points, but clears the stage. (First level’s tiger demon outcome was crafted by Wang Jian. Second layer: still Wang Jian.)
(If your cultivation isn’t enough, you get the surface clear and the title “Demon-Slaying Hero, Unaware of the Truth.” Congrats, top five sects~ Awwooo~)