"Everything will be made known to you when the right time comes." Long Chen felt like bashing his head on the ground as he heard her reply but controlled himself.
"Why won't you tell me now? Wouldn't that be easier?" Long Chen looked at her as he asked.
"Do you really want to hear why I cannot tell you now? I thought you said that you don't want to be insulted more?" She said with a cunning smile.
"Do not say anything then. I just need to go inside, right?" Long Chen looked towards the doors of the temple as he said that.
"Right." She replied in a straightforward manner.
"I will be going now then," Long Chen said as he started walking towards the door.
As Long Chen tried pushing open the door, but he couldn't open it. Even after trying for a while, it didn't even budge an inch. He stopped and looked back at Xue, who had a wide smile on her face.
"What? Do you know how to open it?" Long Chen said as he saw Xue mumble something.
"Didn't you tell me not to say anything?" She replied.
"Ah, forget that now I am telling you to tell me. I seriously need your help. I don't want to be stuck at the gate forever." He said in a gentle tone.
"Since I am not a little child who fusses over everything, I will tell you," She said with her head held high like someone who's above worldly desires.
"So what you need to do is..." Xue stopped for a moment as she said up to this point.
"You just need to pull that door to open it instead of pushing, you idiot. Hahahah!" She started laughing as she said.
"Since only someone from his bloodline can come here, there is no need to protect against strangers that is why there is no secret to opening this door. You don't need anything other than a simple common sense to open it." She pulled herself back together after laughing for 5 minutes straight as she clarified in a senior like tone.
Long Chen stood there dumbfounded for a minute after which he turned back deciding to ignore that little girl as he pulled the door open. This time it opened without any effort. Long Chen entered this temple without wasting a moment.
"Amazing!" Long Chen couldn't help but say when he saw the interior of this temple.
All the walls were filled with various mysterious patterns which were shining with a violet light. These patterns kept changing constantly, never staying still.
Long Chen could help but be stunned the more he looked at the walls. He could feel there was a mysterious power in these patterns.
"You can't understand the mystery behind them the way you are right now," Xue said as she appeared near Long Chen.
"You are right, I can't understand them. But I can feel some connection with them," Long Chen said in a calm voice.
After a while, Long Chen took his eyes off the walls and started looking around. In the entire hall, all he could see was a door.
"Is there only one room in this big temple?" He said as he walked towards that room.
"Go on, enter that room. That is the place you need to enter to participate in the trial. If you can come out of there successfully, then you will be eligible to know more." Xue said as she pointed towards that door while looking at Long Chen.
"Since you are my self-proclaimed 'Guardian spirit', can you tell me what I will face inside and what I need to achieve to succeed?" Long Chen asked looking at her.
"Of course this great one will tell you. You just need to become stronger," she said while smiling.
"You mean I need to cultivate inside?" He asked with a strange look.
"Nope. Although you can cultivate and become stronger inside, but that is not what this test is about. You will need to increase your strength in a different way to succeed."
"Can you be more clear?" Long Chen asked her.
"I won't tell you too much for now. Just that you will need to increase your strength using your understanding and your potential. Now go inside, figure out the rest on your own." She closed her eyes and just stood there, not saying anything else.
Long Chen opened the door and entered the room. As soon as he entered inside, he didn't know what to think anymore. This wasn't a room anymore as he imagined it to be, it was a completely different world isntead.
Long Chen could see a red sky above his head and a deserted soil below. As far as his eyes could see, Long Chen only saw the dessert with no sign of any plantation or any living thing. There was no sun or moon in the sky, still, it was as bright as a normal day on Earth.
Long Chen could feel the coldness in the air. To him, it felt just like the winter was about to arrive, which contrasted the warm red color of the sky.
"Where is this place? It is so different from the world I am used to," Long Chen muttered to himself.
"What?" Long Chen was shocked as soon as he turned back He saw that there wasn't any door behind him. The door from which he entered had disappeared completely without leaving any trace.
"Did that door disappeared completely, or just turned invisible?" Long Chen thought as he tried moving in the direction where the door was supposed to be. Still, he achieved no success in finding it.
"Looks like it actually disappeared. What did she mean by the statement that I need to grow stronger through my understanding? I couldn't even imagine that I will arrive at a place like this after hearing her words. There is nothing here." Long Chen said as he looked around.
"For now, I can only choose one direction and travel that way, hoping to find someone or something related to this test. There must be something here, for me to come here." Long Chen said as he started walking in a random direction.
"It is really unusual that I don't feel hungry. I do not know the reason, but I hope it stays this way. Even after walking for half a day, I don't see anyone or anything. There is no way I would be able to find any food in this deserted world." Long Chen muttered to himself as he continued walking.
"Is that real?" Long Chen finally saw something after walking for another hour.